Page 52 of Finding Jacob
He asked questions, ones that couldn’t necessarily be answered like, how many fingers and toes, but some that could.
“Everything looks normal. Your baby is healthy, the right size and weight. I have absolutely no concerns. Do you want to know the sex?”
I answered in the affirmative immediately, Jacob paused. We both looked at him. Finally, he looked back at me and nodded. His smile was the broadest I’d ever seen.
“Yes,” he said, and then closed his eyes.
“You are having a little...” Cue the dramatic pause! “Girl.”
Jacob jumped from his seat, causing it to shoot across the room. He punched the air. “I knew it!”
I started to laugh.
“I bloody knew it. See, I told you we were having a girl.”
“You did.”
His excitement was infectious and by the time we had our copy images, and I was cleaned up and dressed, he was coming up with names!
“Slow down,” I said, linking my fingers with his and chuckling.
I felt conflicted. He was excited, as was I. He wanted to shout from the rooftops, laugh, and be silly, as did I. But I also wanted to grieve for Jules. I felt like I should be crying, mourning her, but also know she would have hated that. I should have called her parents, sent at least a card of condolence, and vowed to do that once I was back in the office.
“Shopping. Let’s go shopping,” Jacob said.
“Okay, until lunchtime, then I have to go to work,” I replied.
He flagged down a taxi and we headed to Selfridges. Jacob, who claimed to shop only once a year, was like a whirling dervish. The minute I said I liked a cot, he ordered two. He had the poor salesgirl running ragged behind us. It was fun. No pondering just to return to the first item, no umming and erring. No indecisiveness. Within one hour we had two cots, two Moses baskets, two sets of matching nursery furniture. We added two nursing chairs, two rugs, blankets, bedding, changing bags, car seats, and two prams. I had objected to two prams, but he’d argued if I had to fly to him, there wasn’t the room for a huge pram, particularly the Silver Cross I’d chosen. I was caught up with the excitement, laughing along with him, correcting the salesgirl when she got confused about what had to be shipped to which address. We settled on delivery dates and, without even knowing the total price, Jacob handed over a credit card.
“Right, what’s next? Clothes?”
We headed over to the clothes section and I pulled a few items from the rails. I didn’t want to necessarily do the ‘all pink’ thing, neither did Jacob, and I was dismayed at how gender specific the clothes were. For example, there was a fabulous hoody I loved in the boys’ section, in the girls’, it had a unicorn on it. I bought the boy one. We mixed an array of colours from white to blue, reds and greens, added in some pink when we liked the items, and before we realised, we had a trolly full. Again, Jacob paid for it all.
“Nappies and all that shit?” he asked as five large bags were handed to us.
“I can do that online or in my shop. I’m done in now,” I said.
“Okay, let me call Nathan and we’ll grab a coffee while we wait for him.”
I nodded my agreement, needing to sit and get my shoes off my feet. While he did that, we walked to the coffee shop on the ground floor. I sat and slid my pumps off, allowing my feet to cool on the tiled floor. I was sure it wasn’t the most hygienic, but it was needed. I ordered a tea for me, coffee for Jacob, and water. I gulped the glass, asking for a refill before the server had even left.
While Jacob took a call, I texted Dory with a list of what we’d bought. She demanded pictures, of course. I told her to come on over that evening and we could sort all the clothes together. I was going to ask her to be godmother but realised that I ought to mention that to Jacob first.
Our drinks were placed on the small bistro table, and after snagging one of my bags in her heel, the server left us alone.
“I asked Nathan to be the godfather, I hope you don’t mind,” I said. I wanted to add I’d done that before telling him he was about to be a father but didn’t deem it appropriate.
“Great, what about a godmother?” he asked.
“Do you have anyone you’d like to ask?”
He slowly shook his head. “I’m quite the loner, Anna. My family is long dead.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Maybe Dory? She has been my best friend for years. I know you haven’t met her yet, but...”
I didn’t continue, just looked at him. He smiled. “Sure, Dory it is.” There was a slight tinge of sadness in his voice.
The strangest thing came to mind. I didn’t know him well enough to expand on that, feel comfortable asking about his family, yet I was carrying his child.
