Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

The waistband of my skirt dug into my belly while I searched through a filing cabinet. I just needed to get through the day, and then I could change into some leggings. And then, of course, I had to call my aunt and uncle to give them the good news. My stomach rolled.

* * *

“We can do my family first, if you want,” Alex said that evening while unpacking a bag of takeout. “And then yours.”

“That works,” I replied, swallowing hard.

“Okay, good,” Alex said happily. He was practically bouncing with excitement and trying to hide it. I guess I wasn’t doing a very good job hiding my nervousness, either.

“Did you get to work on time today?” he asked as we ate, grimacing as I looked up at him.

“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word. “Barely. You know you don’t have to check my car every day, right? It’s a little excessive.”

“It’s not a big deal,” he replied, smiling. “Happy to do it.”

I looked at him in disbelief. I don’t think he understood what I was trying to say, so I tried again.

“It just takes up so much time, you know?” I said. “Waiting for you to be ready so we can walk out together. Especially on days when you’d normally leave later than me.”

“I don’t mind leaving early,” he said with a shrug. “And we get to leave together, which is kind of nice.”

“It’s driving me nuts,” I finally blurted, making his eyes widen in surprise. “It takes ten extra minutes that I don’t have unless I wake up earlier.”

“Oh.” He paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. “Okay. Well, don’t wait on me tomorrow—just leave whenever.”

I watched him as he dug into his food. His agreement had come too easily.

“You’re just going to do it before I’m ready to leave, aren’t you?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied with a nod, not looking up from his food.

I watched him eat, love and tenderness for him washing over me in a wave. He was the sweetest person I’d ever met. Knowing that I’d almost turned away a man that cared so much about me that he checked my car every morning made my chest ache. What a horrible mistake that would’ve been.

“It’s my brother,” he said when his phone rang. He looked at me with big questioning eyes.

“Go ahead,” I said, laughing. God, he was too cute for his own good.

“Abraham!” he answered happily, his eyes meeting mine as he smiled. “What’s up?”

He waited for a second, then chuckled. “Yeah, man, I’m fine.”

Silence again.

“I was actually going to call you tonight.”

I dropped my hands to my lap and clenched them together. We’d taken for granted that his family would be happy about our news and mine wouldn’t, but what if we’d been wrong? What if Alex’s family wasn’t as excited as we’d assumed they would be? What if they thought we were idiots? What if they said something that took away the shine of excitement in Alex’s eyes, made his smile disappear?

“We’re having a baby,” Alex announced.

I watched him carefully, looking for any change in expression, but none came.

“Yeah, the doctor said July.” He paused. “Ha ha. We took all the precautions, but clearly my sperm are superior.”

Alex reached over and put his hand over mine, rubbing along the white knuckles.

“Thanks,” he said into the phone. “We’re pretty stoked.” He scoffed. “I can say stoked. You can’t, because you’re a grouchy old man in a young man’s body.”

Alex dropped the phone to his shoulder. “He’s going to get Ani,” he whispered, practically giddy. “I’ll put her on speaker so you can hear her reaction.”

“He’s happy for us?” I asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah.” Alex leaned forward and kissed me. “He knew something was up,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. “More of that woo-woo twin stuff, but he was waiting for me to fill him in. He finally lost patience.”

“That’s so weird,” I murmured.

“Makes it hard to keep a secret,” he replied. Then his eyes widened, and he put his phone on speaker.

“Hey, asshole.” Ani’s voice rang out. “What do you want?”

“You’re on speaker,” Alex replied. “Can you at least act like you like me?”

“You’re pregnant!” Ani yelled. “I mean, Sarai’s—hell, you know what I mean.”

“How the hell did you figure that out?” Alex complained, laughing.

“Because you put me on speakerphone, idiot,” Ani replied. “And you already eloped. What the hell else would you have to tell me?”

I couldn’t fault her logic. Alex smiled at me and I tried to smile back, but my face felt frozen. Why was I so nervous?

“That’s awesome! When are you due?” Ani asked. I felt the muscles in my shoulders relax a little in relief.

“July,” I answered, my voice coming out a little rough.

“Wow, you guys didn’t waste any time,” she replied laughing. “Congratulations.”

A couple of minutes later, Alex hung up and then called his parents. My worry disappeared as his mom squealed and cried, and his dad told us that he was “real excited” for us in his calm, quiet way. They were surprised, but there was nothing but excitement and happiness in their responses.