Page 2 of Be Less Panda

‘I’ll make us some tea to celebrate.’

Em smiled. Nancy’s answer to everything was a hot cup of Earl Grey. Em tapped out a message to Jack.

Your mum already knows - Nancy guessed weeks ago! xx

His reply was almost instant:

Really?? Xx

Em texted her best friend Lucy next. Lucy already knew, but Em had sworn her to secrecy, even making her promise not to tell her partner, Mark.

All fine. You can tell Mark now.

Lucy replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

Em went back to her work. A few minutes later, Lucy texted her back.

He knew! Jack told him weeks ago.

This was ridiculous. ‘Has somebody taken an announcement out in The Times?’ Em said to Nancy. ‘I was looking forward to surprising everyone, but you’ve all worked it out already!’

Nancy tried to reassure her. ‘I’m sure there are some people who don’t know.’

‘A few monks in Outer Mongolia might have missed the news, I suppose.’

‘It’s fairly obvious to anyone who knows you well.’

Em smiled. ‘I guess it doesn’t matter now. The important thing is the baby is well.’

‘Have you got a scan picture?’ Nancy asked as she put a steaming mug of tea down on Em’s desk.

Em showed her the photo on her phone.

‘Amazing, isn’t it, seeing them before they’re even born. I didn’t have that with my first.’ Nancy zoomed in on the image. ‘I think it’s a boy. And he’s definitely got Jack’s nose.’

‘Really?’ Em didn’t want to refer to the baby as he or she yet, though Jack had named them Bob. “Just as a temporary name. We can’t keep referring to our first child as it,” he’d insisted.

Em looked at the scan picture again. The baby’s head hadn’t got much of a nose at all yet, though if Bob did end up with Jack’s nose, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Jack’s was fairly appealing as noses went.

‘Is your father pleased?’ Nancy asked.

‘Hopefully, he will be. I haven’t told him yet because his fiance is as bad at keeping secrets as Olivia is.’

‘Why don’t you tell him now? I’ve got some washing to put away. I’ll leave you to it.’

‘Before you go, this came for you.’ Em handed Nancy an envelope that had arrived in this morning’s post. It had a German stamp, and the address was handwritten. Em guessed it might be from the friend Nancy had visited in Berlin last year.

Nancy gasped. An unusual reaction for a personal letter. ‘Is everything ok?’ Em asked.

‘Yes, yes. It’s just … I’ll take my tea in my study.’ Nancy said, dashing out of the kitchen just as Jack phoned.

‘How is my gorgeous wife?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know about the gorgeous one, but the tired and queasy one is fine. I’m not sure Nancy is, though. I’ve never seen her so flustered.’

‘She’ll be wondering what to do about your maternity leave.’

‘No, it’s not that. She was fine until I gave her a letter that arrived this morning. She went very pale, and she’s not even opened it yet.’

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