Page 10 of Against the Odds

Katy is standing at the sink, staring into the basin like it holds the answers to all her problems. I can’t imagine what her life is like at this stage of her pregnancy. I have zero experience with kids unless you count going to birthday parties for cousins’ and friends’ kids. Yet, even I know, the last few weeks of a pregnancy must be emotional and exhausting. I do have television and have seen a romantic comedy or two.

“Hey, you okay?” I ask as I approach her from behind. Dammit. She sniffles and wipes under eyes. “Don’t cry, Katy. We can order in something. Felicity’s son was telling me about this taco place in town. I can run over and pick some up.”

Her sniffles continue and I’ll admit I’m a little uncomfortable. Do I hug her? Is it even appropriate to touch her arm? I mean, I touched every part of her before but it’s been months.

Unable to handle the crying, I step forward and place my hands on her upper arms. I don’t miss the way her body reacts; the shiver is barely noticeable but the way her shoulders drop is obvious.

“Come on. You go rest and I’ll grab us some tacos. Sound good?”

Katy turns to face me, eyes lined in red and flushed cheeks, she looks dejected. I hope she didn’t go to too much effort for this dinner. Hell, I wasn’t expecting anything. I thought we’d hang out, maybe grab some takeout and just talk. Not like we were going to have a repeat of our last time together.

“I’m sorry, Ian. I don’t know how to do this and I think I overshot my abilities. Or, more accurately, I underestimated this one and the willingness to give me an hour to focus on one thing.”

“Like I said, no biggie. You go rest and I’ll go grab food. Okay?”

She sniffles and nods her head. Then something she said comes back to me.

“Uh, Katy, why did you say this was my fault?”

“Umm... well. Uh. Dammit. Again, not how I thought this would go. The baby has been using my bladder as a trampoline for months but these last few weeks, I think it is running out of room and every fifteen minutes I’m in the bathroom.”

Her words are spoken as if I should understand this information. I mean, I suppose it makes sense. I’ve not given much thought to pregnancy. Actually, I’ve spent half my life avoiding the topic.

“Sorry?” I have no idea why I’m apologizing but here we are.

“I should have written this out. I do better with a plan. Then again, nothing has gone as planned. I mean I sure didn’t plan this. We didn’t plan this.”

“You’ve lost me. Is your blood sugar low? Let me get you some juice.”

I move to the refrigerator and grab the bottle of orange juice from the shelf and begin opening cupboards for glasses. I’m pouring the juice when her words spill just like the juice in my hand.

“Ian, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to rip the Band-Aid off. We’re having a baby.”

My body is frozen. Her words run through my head at super speed and then slow like they are stuck in quicksand. Katy must think I don’t understand because she says, “Ian, we made a baby.”

ChapterEight

KATY

This has not gone as planned at all. Nothing has been my usual life since the night I met Ian. In fact, it’s been the opposite. I was in a funk for two weeks after the trip to Vegas. Full of regrets, I hated that we didn’t exchange any personal information. I couldn’t look him up on social media or do some online sleuthing.

My mind ran with scenario after scenario of unknowns. Was his name even Ian? Could he be a serial killer and I was lucky to get away? Worst of all, a family man with a beautiful wife and two kids who adore him?

When I confessed my one-night stand to Felicity, she demanded I go to the doctor for a full workup. She showed me website after website of all the diseases I could have contracted. The one thing neither of us considered was the two words the doctor spoke. “You’re pregnant.”

Our friend, Addy, is a nurse and was in the office for my appointment. She confirmed I turned a scary shade of white and thought I might pass out. No kidding. I am a single woman living thousands of miles away from my family and got myself knocked up by a man I’m not even sure was real. Clearly he was real, but I mean everything he told me could have been a lie.

“Ian?”

It’s a little like approaching a feral cat. I move cautiously as I take the seat next to him and hold out a glass of water. I’ve scared the poor man into a trance. He’s not spoken or even looked my direction since I blurted out the baby news.

Once I set the glass on the coffee table, my hands go straight to my belly. I love resting them there, feeling the baby kick and move around. Each night as I lie in my bed, I run my hands up and down my bare skin and talk to my child. I confess my fears and make promises I’ll never break.

A kick to my side draws a groan, which seems to be the trance breaker. Ian’s head spins quickly to look at me, eyes wide as they focus where my hand rests. Carefully, I reach for his hand and move it to rest gently on my stomach. The baby kicks again but this time I’m prepared and don’t flinch. The same can’t be said for the daddy-to-be.

“Whoa.”

“Pretty cool, huh? I mean, for you. For me it’s become a little less cool the last few weeks.”

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