Page 75 of Brother to Brother

“What did you do!?” she cried and I frowned.

“What do you mean?” I looked down at myself and what she was pointing at and found the entire front of my tee shirt wet from my right breast.

“Oh my god!” I cried.

“What’s the matter?” Ashton asked and Hayden frowned.

“I think I leaked,” I said in disbelief.

“Leaked?” Dani asked.

“Leaked,”I reiterated and had to roll my eyes at the three of them. “Leaked! As in my boob just leaked as in I need a pregnancy test!” I cried.

All three of them started screaming excitedly and began to jump up and down while my mind started to work furiously.

“Nope, no dollar store pregnancy test, we’re taking you to the doctor and are having it done right!” Ashton declared and I felt myself blush.

They did, too. They made me drop everything and took me to the doctor, but unfortunately they were so close to closing all I could do was pee in a cup for them.

“No worries honey, a day or two and you’ll have the results in the mail,” the nurse assured me and I smiled, said thank you and tried to put it from my mind. I couldn’t believe it would takea day or twoto get results from a pregnancy test! I guess gone were the days of same day results…Thank you ever so much, Obamacare.

Now, here it was, three days later, my living room was done and I was sitting at my dining room table waiting for Archer to get home. Two letters in front of me… both the best and the worst possible news on the same frickin’ day.

I watched Noah play in his playpen nearby and listened to the front door open. When Archer came in, he frowned, and asked, “What’s up?”

“You want the good news or the bad news first?” I asked softly.

“Gimme the rough stuff first,” he said and tearfully, I handed him the letter stating we were indeed being sued for custody of our son. Archer read over it carefully and gave a one shouldered blasé shrug.

“This is why I got that lawyer on retainer. It’s going to be fine,” he said tossing it on the kitchen counter. He opened the fridge and got out a beer and looked over to me, “What’s the good news?” he asked.

I stood up and went to him, looked him in the eye, took a deep breath and said, “I’m pregnant.”

Crash!His bottle of beer slipped from his grasp and hit the floor shattering, before I could even jump he had me up in his arms and his mouth fiercely pressed over mine. My tears borne of fear and frustration disappeared, instantly replaced with ones of joy at just how happy Archer was. He sat me on the counter and started working at my jeans.

“Noah!” I gasped quietly.

“Is in the living room, can’t see us, is safe in his playpen, and Baby, I’ll only take a minute – or wait… can we still have sex or do I gotta wait nine months?”

I laughed and dragged his lips to mine and kissed him, he worked at the front of his jeans and sprang free of them almost instantly. I raised my hips so he could get mine off and when he dragged me to the edge of the counter, I parted my knees willingly.

His reaction to the news made me love him even harder, despite how nearly frozen with terror my heart was. I knew, I justknew, that this time would be different. That this time I wouldn’t be alone in the delivery room. That this time, if I said something about my body, that Archer would defend me to the last, and that he would only sway if my life or the life of our child were in danger.

He slipped into me and I arched, wiggling my hips to take him in all the way. It was a slightly awkward angle, against the counter like this, but we made it work, and god did it feel good. He was right, he didn’t last very long, but then again, he didn’t need to and I didn’t need him to either. The timer was about to go off for Noah’s chicken nuggets.

***

Later that night, we lay in bed together and Archer asked, “If it’s a girl, what do you want to name her?”

“I don’t know, honestly… I’m only a couple of months along according to the letter. I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“Did you get sick? Is that how you knew?”

I laughed slightly, “No, we were painting the living room and I leaked.”

“What? Like pee?”

I laughed, high and bright, “No, that comesmuchlater,” I said, “Breastmilk, I leaked breastmilk. I bent over and the next thing I knew, my whole bra and shirt was wet.”

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