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19
LAYLA
All morning, I’d been twisting my hands and unable to sit still, waiting for Zac’s call to let me know if we were good to go shopping later. When the doorbell rang, I frowned, looking at the clock. That couldn’t be Zac and Grayson, right? It was too early. He’d said they were going to have breakfast and talk about things, and they’d pick me up around eleven so we could go to lunch after we shopped. It was only nine.
I stepped over to the door and looked through the peephole, rearing back when I saw it was Aria. I swung the door open and gave her a once-over. “Aria? What are you doing here? Don’t you have a wedding at Starlight today?”
Lyndi was in her room getting ready to photograph it, so I knew I didn’t have the wrong date.
Aria pursed her lips and looked down. “Yes. But I had to come by and talk to you first.”
“Okay,” I said, holding the door open and letting her in. “What’s going on?”
“Well, I’ve been keeping a little—okay, huge—secret, but now that I’ve finally told Will …”
I stared at her with wide eyes for a long moment. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“If you think I’m saying that I’m pregnant, thenyes. Nine weeks.”
A delighted scream tore out of me, and I jumped up and down a few times before throwing my arms around her. Lyndi’s door flew open, and she charged over to us, frantically finishing with the high ponytail she’d been securing on top of her head.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, her smile cautious as she looked between us.
“Aria’s pregnant!” I told her, releasing my friend.
“No way!” Lyndi yelled, lunging for Aria and squeezing her tightly. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you,” she replied. “I found out a few weeks ago, but I wanted to wait until I saw a doctor to tell anyone. Including Will. I just told him this morning, and I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you guys. I’m headed to Shelby’s before I get back to the venue.”
“I’m so happy for you guys,” I said, reaching out and patting her arm. “What did Will say? Was he over the moon?”
“He was, yeah. A little shocked, since we really didn’t think it would happen our wedding weekend. We planned to start trying when he got back, but we’re both so happy about it.”
“Aw, good,” I replied.
It really was good. Will came from a troubled past, and one of the reasons it took him and Aria so long to get together was because he worried he’d turn out to be a monster like his dad. He didn’t want to get married and have kids knowing that was a possibility. But once he and Aria worked through that, it didn’t surprise me at all that they’d start having kids right away. They’d known each other their whole lives, so why wait?
“Anyway, I just had to tell you because I’ve been freaking out with this info for the last three weeks and no one to talk to about it.”
“Well, now that we know, we’ll be excited to talk to you about it as often as you want,” I said.
“Thank you. I’m excited for that.”
“How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?” Lyndi asked.
“Not really, no. I must be lucky. Right now, the only thing I’m stressing about is the fact that I’m going to look so different by the time Will gets home. He leaves me looking like I always do, and he’s going to come back to me looking like I have a basketball under my shirt.”
Lyndi and I laughed at that, and I waved a hand. “No, I’m sure you won’t. You’ll be adorable with just the right amount of belly for it to be cute without it causing too much of a waddle.”
I didn’t have any actual knowledge or experience in this area, but I knew that much. Being a bridesmaid in seven different weddings often came with the added benefit of watching people start their families and listening to them talk about what pregnancy was like. Before Zac and I reunited—heck, even before that—it was nowhere on my radar. But as I took in Aria’s legit pregnancy glow, I had to admit it: the idea of adding to the family Zac and Grayson and I shared had me totally lit up from the inside. My, how things change.
Lyndi looked up like she was counting, holding her fingers out with a frown. “Wait, I’m bad at this. When are you due?”
“May tenth,” Aria replied.
“And they get back in March, right?” Lyndi asked.
“Yep. Seven month deployment. I guess I should be grateful he’ll be here when the baby’s born. He said he knows a few guys who’ve had to come home and meet their first kid when they were already a few months old. That would be so hard.”
