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Yes. That would work. “Okay, hon. I’ll get the boys ready.”
“And pack for yourself.”
She couldn’t promise him that. “I’ll see you soon.”
Just over a half hour later, they stood in the middle of their tiny kitchen, sans four small children, face to face and neither one budging.
“The reservations aren’t refundable, Helen.”
Helen rubbed her back. “This is so unlike you. You know our budget.”
“I know things that you don’t.” He winked at her. “But I’m sure excited to tell you.”
Perhaps he’d gotten a raise at work—and that was something to be celebrated! But not a couple hundred dollars’ worth of celebration. Not when bigger bills were looming on the horizon.
Sighing, her hands fell limp at her side. Time to just be out with it. “Kevin, I’m pregnant.” Her throat swelled as she got the news into the open, and a giant tear leaked from one eye.
Lips parted, brown eyes wide, her husband stared at her for more breaths than she could count.
Oh dear.
“But . . . but we . . . we were preventing that. Right?”
Helen bit her lip and looked to the floor. “It didn’t work, I guess.” Shouldn’t be that shocking. Birth control had failed them before.
The space between them filled with more awkward silence with each passing breath.
Then his low, quiet chuckle startled her out of her misery, and her attention zipped right back to his face. Kevin crossed the four feet of space between them and cupped her face with both hands. “Is that what’s been going on with you?”
Blinking, a handful of tears escaped. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I thought maybe you’d grown tired of me.” He winked and then brushed her lips with his. “Now I know. I’m relieved.” He wrapped a firm embrace around her and cradled her against his chest.
Helen settled in, savoring the warmth of him, the strong rhythm of his heartbeat, and the comforting scent of wood shavings and the Avon aftershave she’d given him for his birthday.
“Should I tell you my secret now?” he whispered.
Helen sniffed. “Is it a good one?”
“Not as good as yours. But yes.”
Her heart puddled at his words. All this time she’d been worried that he wouldn’t be happy. Perhaps because rather than wonder at the miracle of another baby, she had worried instead. She hadn’t been able to imagine that Kevin wouldn’t do the same, and she’d felt certain that he would feel even more pressure.
She lay a palm against the steady beat of his heart. “Then tell me.”
Kevin leaned back and looked down at her. “Only if you promise to be an obedient wife after and come with me on this getaway.”
Helen sighed. “I just don’t—”
With pinched fingers, Kevin gently stilled her lips. “A nod will do.”
Seemed she had no choice, so she complied.
Kevin replaced his fingers against her lips with another kiss and then grinned. “I wanted to tell you at dinner tonight. But this will work, I suppose.” His smile widened, and he reached into his back pocket. Between two fingers, he held a legal sized envelope, which he placed into her hands. “Read it.”
A promotion, certainly. Helen summoned enthusiasm because truly, it would be good news. Not reckless-spending-level good news, but good news nonetheless.
It took less than a sentence for her to discover that she’d been grossly mistaken.
