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Chapter Thirty-Two
Tessa
“I can’t wait to tell everyone we know,” Dylan whispers in the darkness of the bedroom, his voice quiet, but I can hear the excitement in it. He’s been this way since I told him, attentive and loving and wanting to be as close to me as possible.
His fingers trace soft circles on my stomach, and he lets out a contented sigh. It’s like he needed something to ground him, to push him to realize that being all-in isn’t so bad when you find the right person. I fell in love with him weeks ago but saying it out loud still felt scary. I guess we both just needed to jump in headfirst. And now here we are, navigating falling in love and having a baby.
“You know we can’t tell anyone for a while, right?” I ask, wondering if he has any idea that most people don’t announce their pregnancies until the third month.
“Why?” he asks, propping himself up on his elbow, a confused look on his face.
“Well, I’m like two seconds pregnant,” I say, laughing a little since I know he’s going to have no idea how this all works. “We should wait to tell people until we’re certain everything is going well.”
“Everything is going great. I couldn’t be more excited about all of this. We’re going to move in together, I love you and someday we’ll get married.” He shrugs like the relationship is what I’m referring to.
“I don’t mean what’s happening between us. I mean that we want to make sure everything is good with the baby.” I rest a hand on the side of his cheek, kissing him softly.
When I pull back, his face has gone white, his eyes wide, and here it is. The shock is setting in and he’s finally realizing he’s going to be a dad, something he’s about to admit he’s not ready for. I knew it was coming, and I prepared myself to give him a long speech, the one that he cut off when I first told him.
“Fuck me, is this what it’s always going to feel like?” he asks, and I have no idea what he’s talking about.
“Feel like what?”
“So fucking worried. Now you have me terrified that something is going to happen to our baby. And oh my fucking god, something could happen to you,” he says, his voice loud now, and I feel his chest rise and fall rapidly, fear taking over. Except it’s not the fear I expected. He’s scared for his little family, and I swear I’m going to start to cry. It’s seriously the sweetest thing he’s ever said.
“You don’t have to be worried. It’s just that when it’s this early in the pregnancy, people wait because the woman could have a—”
“Don’t say it. I’m already attached,” Dylan says, slapping a hand over my mouth. “When do we get to see the baby on that screen and get those pictures that people show you and all it looks like is an alien, but they’re super excited? I’m totally gonna show people our alien baby.”
He makes me laugh out loud, his description of the ultrasound is hilarious and kind of spot-on. Having him around through this pregnancy is going to be a blast because he’s so clueless. It’s going to be a laugh a minute.
“I’m not sure. I have my first real appointment in two weeks. That’s when I’ll be eight weeks along.”
“I’m going to come with you,” Dylan declares almost immediately. “I’m going to come with you to every appointment and I’m going to ask them to print me alien baby pictures so I can show everyone.”
“I love that you’re excited, but can we come up with something other than alien baby to call the baby?” I ask, laughing. He has been quite entertaining already.
Dylan reaches over and grabs his phone from the nightstand. I watch as he types “baby names” into Google and begins scrolling through. I had no idea he’d be this invested right from the get-go, but I’m loving every minute of it.
“You know what we shouldn’t name the baby?” he says, flashing the list at me. “Jack. It’s in the top ten and he’d swear we named the baby after him.”
“Or maybe we should name the baby after him,” I suggest, jokingly. “He is the one who pushed us to get together.”
“He does not need that to boost his ego even more. He loves taking credit for setting up Tommy and Penny, we don’t need him thinking he helped us,” Dylan says, shaking his head.
“By the way, I’m guessing Jack knows that I’m pregnant,” I say, sheepishly.
“Why?”
“Well, I told Lauren and I’m sure she’s told Jack, possibly even Tommy and Penny since they are all living together.”
“Wait, you told Lauren before you told me? Is that where you went yesterday instead of coming back here?”
Shit, I hope he’s not mad that I told Lauren, but I really needed someone to talk to. In my defense, I had no idea Dylan would respond the way he did. I truly thought I would be on my own by now and Dylan would be long gone.
I wrinkle up my nose, my teeth clenched. “Sorry, I really needed some advice on how to tell you I was pregnant. She actually guessed I was pregnant before I even told her, so maybe it doesn’t count.”
“At least I don’t have to keep it a secret at work now, I guess. It’s keeping it a secret from Hannah that’s going to be the biggest issue. She has this way of getting me to tell her everything without saying anything. I think it’s an older sister thing,” Dylan jokes.
