Chapter 29: It’s True, It’s True

September – Year 1

We took Erin to the doctor on Monday and he declared that she was doing well. She did tell him about the past Friday and going onto work and he admonished her but said that it did not seem to do any harm. We stopped at Applebee’s for lunch and then stopped at the store for groceries.

We performed like a well-oiled machine. I hit the meat department, Lynn hit the dry good and Erin hit the fresh fruits and vegetables. We shopped on every one of my paydays and we budgeted $50 per person. We usually came in under that, unless the fruit was really good or if we were going to cook something special. When we were done, if we had money left over then it was time for a treat. Sometimes it was a nice bottle of wine or a gallon of ice cream.

We met at the check-out and took our things to the car and drove home. The unloading was just as efficient and then we sat down somewhere inside or out depending on the weather and cuddled. Since it was Monday and summer, there was nothing good on TV and we had seen all of the movies we wanted to see on the movie channel, so we sat there getting bored when Erin jumped up and in her funny little, jaw wired shut voice said, “I have an idea!”

“Great! What have you got?”

“Come on Paul!” She took my hand and led me away.

“What about Lynn? Can she come?”

“Nope!”

Nope? Erin said Nope to Lynn being with us. I was totally confused. I remained confused when we went into the bedroom. I was thinking strange things about going to bed with Erin when she continued to lead me into the bathroom. Erin opened up the drawer on the vanity and pulled out a bag.

“Here open this.” She handed me the bag and then sat on the toilet.

I opened the bag to reveal a box with the big letters on the side E.P.T.

“Paul, we are going to do the pregnancy test.”

“But lover, they took tests in the hospital.”

“I know, but the Ob/Gyn I talked to said that the tests were only about 10% accurate because it was still before my period was due. He said to be really sure wait until about a week after it was late and today is the day.”

I looked at the box and froze. Erin might not be pregnant? What if she was not? What about all of the happiness and joy we had been sharing? Shit, I was suddenly scared to death.

“Paul.” Erin spoke in a soft and quiet voice. “We need to know. I need to know. I don’t want to wake up in three months with a little belly and realize it was not true. I’m scared too.”

“Don’t you want Lynn here?”

“I talked to Lynn about this. Right now she is downstairs scared as we are and praying her heart out for a positive test. She wanted this to be between you and me. If it is negative, she will be there for us. If it is positive she will be there too.”

“Ok. What do I do?”

“Well what do the instructions say?”

“It says to take the stick out of the foil pack.” I did that as Erin watched.

“Then take off the cover to expose the absorbent end. Use the test right away after 10 minutes it will not be accurate.” I left the cover on.

“Then it says that you should hold onto the handle and hold the absorbent tip in the urine stream for 5 seconds. It says that the tip should always be held tip down and never tip up.”

“It says that one of three things will then happen. After about three minutes, a blue plus sign will show, which means you are pregnant. A blue minus sign will show, which means that you are not. Or nothing will show which means the test did not work.”

“Well ok then. Are you ready?”

“I guess.”

“Do you have to pee?”

“I did.” She smiled weakly.

“Do you want me to go? I know sometimes in the locker room if another guy is next to me I can’t pee right away. Maybe you will if I am not here.”

“Oh no mister. We did this together and we are going to find out together. I can do this. Get the thing ready. You hold it.”

“You just want to pee on my hand!” Erin laughed as the tension broke.

“Ok.”

I pulled off the cap and held it tip down. I looked at Erin and gave her a kiss for good luck. She spread her legs and I waited for her to pee, it suddenly occurred to me that I really didn’t know where the pee came out! I waited and then it happened. A strong yellow stream appeared and I stuck the tip in it and it splashed all over my hand. I counted to 5 and maybe a little more and stood up with the tip still pointed down.

Erin finished and after cleaning herself stood and we walked to the bedroom. We sat on the bed. I held the tip down between my legs and did not look at the test stick. We held hands and waited.

“I think it has been three minutes. Let’s look.”

I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer and brought the stick up to eye level. It was backwards so I turned it over and there was a bright blue plus sign. I looked at Erin and she looked at me, both of us tearing up. We hugged and tried to kiss. Then I called for Lynn to come up.

When she walked into our bedroom, Erin was sitting on the bed crying and I had tears running down my face. I showed the stick to Lynn and she screamed at the top of her lungs!

She jumped around and screamed and dove into my arms and hugged and kissed me. Then she hugged Erin. The three of us hugged and kissed together.

“I gotta tell Dara!” And with that Lynn was gone.

“I suppose I should tell my son and daughter too. I wonder how they are going to react. I mean the baby is going to be five years younger than my youngest granddaughter.”

I looked at Erin and she had a very serious look on her face. I sat next to her and held her hands.

“Are you ok?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Yeah I know, I was there when you peed on my hand.”

“No. I AM pregnant. This is no longer a hope or a dream. I AM pregnant.”

“What is wrong?”

‘What if I lose this one?” She broke down in heavy sobs on the bed.

“Lynn!”

I called to my other wife while I was holding on to the other. Her sobs wracked her body. Lynn came bouncing into the bedroom and saw her wife broken down in tears and stopped cold in her tracks.

“What is wrong?”

“Lover, she is scared. She is worried about losing the baby.”

Lynn sat on the other side of her wife and held her. She stroked her hair and began to rock her. I suddenly felt that something was going on so I let go of them and sat quietly until the truth was revealed to me. Lynn continued to rock her and stroke her and hum to her until she stopped crying.