Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

I want to take a pregnancy test right now. Meg said a long time ago you’re supposed to take them in the morning, but I don’t want to wait.

Pulling back to look at Mateo, I ask, “Can you send someone for a pregnancy test?”

“No need,” Meg says brightly. “I have a spare in the medicine cabinet.” Pointing to her tummy again, she says, “I bought the two-pack. Made more economical sense.” Then, glancing at Mateo’s face, still lacking any excitement, she points down the hall. “I’m gonna go get that right now and give you two a minute alone.”

His arms are still around me, but the hold isn’t tight. I pull back just a bit, looking at his tie instead of his face and running my hands down his lapels. “Why aren’t you excited? Don’t you want to have a baby with me?”

His response sounds measured. “I do want to have a baby with you.”

“You were a lot happier than this when Meg got pregnant,” I state, still avoiding his gaze. “Both times.”

One of his hands drops from around my waist and he catches one of the hands playing with his suit, bringing it to his lips and placing a soft kiss on my knuckles. He doesn’t say anything though, so the tender gesture only serves to further unsettle me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask quietly.

“When was your last period?”

I shake my head, trying to think. I don’t know dates. I don’t keep track of that, but I try to remember the last time in terms of what was happening. “Before the Bahamas,” I finally say.

His gaze sharpens. “Right before, a week or so before, long before?”

“I can’t remember. I remember being relieved that it would be over before our trip. Honestly, I’m surprised you don’t keep track of this stuff,” I say lightly, poking him in the chest.

“Well, I would’ve, but I wasn’t supposed to get you pregnant.” That’s reasonable, I guess. He’s not looking at me, he’s lost in own thoughts, his eyes sharp. There’s no point talking to him when he’s like this, so I just wait.

Maybe he got me pregnant in the Bahamas. While he was not supposed to get me pregnant prior to his break-up with Meg, periodically he gave me chances anyway. Usually just one night here or there where he would skip a condom, but since the Bahamas was my birthday trip, he brought no condoms. And we were in a tropical paradise with hardly any clothes ever on our bodies; we had lots of sex.

We also had unprotected sex the night we came home and he was supposed to go to Meg, but he wanted more of me.

I do a little figuring of my own. Man, that would mean I’m already two months pregnant. Holy shit. My hand leaves his chest, moving down to rest on my still-flat belly. I can’t help smiling.

I’m going to be a mommy.

“Man, I wish Meg would hurry up with that pregnancy test. I’m afraid to get too excited. Maybe I’m not pregnant and I’m just dying or something.”

Oh, shit. The wedding!

I gasp when the realization hits me. Mateo meets my gaze, almost expectant. He must’ve thought of it, too. “I’m not going to fit into my dress.”

He frowns. Then it clears and he sighs, but wraps his arm around me and pulls me close, dropping a kiss on top of my head.

Meg comes back with the test. I grab it and run back into the bathroom. I fiddle with the directions, but I’m so full of nervous excitement that I can’t focus on anything. I probably don’t need to read them. You pee on the stick and wait however long—not terribly complex.

So I do. And I wait. But I barely have to wait any time at all, because in less than a minute, the second line starts to show up.

Oh my god.

I grin helplessly. My heart taps out a celebratory drumbeat in my chest. Should I keep waiting until the two minutes are up? Could the line disappear? It probably isn’t going to disappear. I’m tossing my cookies at dinner, and Mateo is totally right, my breasts have been sore. Last night’s the first time I told him, because they were just so tender and I couldn’t pretend otherwise, but I’d felt it before. I just didn’t know that was a symptom, seeing as how I’ve never been pregnant before.

But I am.

Life could not get any better than it is right now.

I, the future Mrs. Mateo Morelli, am pregnant.

Chapter Twenty Four

Mia

The mood is a little more solemn than I expect when I share our exciting news. A lot more solemn, actually. Even Meg is more subdued now, like Mateo’s solemnity has rubbed off on her. Before she went and got the pregnancy test, she seemed excited for me, but now they both just nod. Meg looks at the ground. Mateo stares off at nothing.