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At four months, Annie found out she was going to have a girl, too.
“I have all Tina’s clothes for you girls,” Maggie said.
It was Sunday and everyone was at Bayou Cottage. The sadness had been building for days and as much as she hated to admit it, there were negative feelings creeping in about her friends’ pregnancies that she was having trouble dealing with.
“But what ifyouhave another girl?” Annie asked.
“I’ll get them back from you. You guys are ahead of me.”
She turned her back and the tears came. Katrina saw it first, her tough friend’s shoulders shaking.
“Maggie, are you crying?” she asked, stunned, her hand on Maggie’s shoulder.
“I am. I’m sorry, you guys. I am happy for you, I truly am. But I’m jealous! I hate it. I’m not pregnant, and you two are, and I never really wanted to be anyway, but now that I’m not, I’m so angry.”
Taking her hand, Annie smoothed her cheek. “Honey, of course you’re going to have feelings about it. Anger is a symptom of depression. And eighty percent of depression can be a chemical imbalance. I know how you feel about it.”
“I’d be fine if I could get on a horse right now, but I can’t live on horseback! Eventually, I have to come back down to earth.”
“You go. Get on Dale now and we’ll take care of Tina and the babysitters,” Katrina said. “Annie, you can go, too.”
“Chris will have a fit. He doesn’t want me to ride again until the baby is born.”
“Wow, talk about nerve,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, he’s got a lot to say about what I do,” Annie replied, laughing. “It’s okay. He’s older and this kid is going to be nineteen years younger than Ben. It’s been a while since he’s been around a pregnant woman.”
“I understand,” Maggie said. “Justin tried to control everything I did when I was pregnant with Tina and it wasn’t going to happen. Anyway, if you’re sure you don’t mind, I’ll take off for half an hour.”
“Go!” they chorused, waving her away.
Their toddlers played with the sitters in the play yard and Katrina and Annie sat on the porch with glasses of iced tea. They heard hooves pounding on the ground and looked out just as Maggie flew by, headed to the trail through the woods, her hair flying in the wind.
“I’m worried about her,” Annie said. “I’ve never seen Maggie like this before.”
Katrina didn’t reply, watching her son and his little cousins through the screen. Finally, she turned to her friend.
“I regret making a big deal out of saying we’d wait till Lent, and then you got pregnant without even trying and Dave and I said let’s do it and the next week I was pregnant. I took it for granted that Maggie would get pregnant right away, too.”
“You don’t have anything to feel guilty about,” Annie said. “You’ve been the best friend to both of us. Think of it, Stevie is two! I would never have gotten through it without you or Maggie. We just have to support her until she does get pregnant.”
The thunder of hooves got their attention as the guys came through the trees on horseback, headed to the barn.
“I feel like I’m watching an episode ofHeartland,” Katrina said.
“Chris looks so amazing on horseback. I can’t wait to get horses!”
“What’s taking so long? I thought you’d have them by now.”
“I’m not sure. I don’t say anything because he’ll start pressuring me again about moving in with him and I’m just not ready. Chris and his sons have a routine that I don’t want to interrupt. I don’t see how me, a toddler, and a newborn fit in. It’s such a bachelor pad with the pantry stacked to the ceiling with Gatorade and Heineken. I feel like he’s trying to make up for the years he wasn’t living with them.”
“I’m not sure that can be redeemed,” Katrina said softly. “He just needs to continue building a relationship with them as adults. What happened to Kirk?”
“He sold the house in Mobile and bought one in our town with room for the boys, so that should be interesting.”
“Well, I’m rooting for you and Chris to be together. It will be too hard for you when the baby comes to do it alone.”
“Yeah, I already did it with Stevie. Not anxious to relive those days anytime soon. If it hadn’t been for you and Maggie, I wouldn’t have survived.”
