Chapter 73 Another Tiny Gift
After spending the day with Byron and the new dog, Emily put on a shiny evening dress and got ready to meet the girls for drinks.
Byron was nearly asleep and happy to let her go out by herself. After ‘playing’ with him for a while, she had quite exhausted him and left him to recover from his pleasant daze.
Meeting up with her girlfriends at a neighborhood bar made for the perfect ending to her day.
“I have a new dog!” Emily blurted out when she went to order drinks with Pam. “I wanted to name her Sandy because I met her on a beach, but then to make it more interesting, I called her Shandy.”
“That’s awesome,” Pam said, “you’ve waited so long to have one!”
They waited to get the bartender’s attention, but he was swarmed with customers.
“I might also have something new...” Pam said.
“What is it?” Emily was intrigued.
The bartender turned to them, and Emily ordered a gin and tonic while Pam ordered ginger ale. Emily started to understand what was likely going on.
Pam leaned closer to her ear.
“Don’t tell anyone, but...” she whispered, “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh my God! Congratulations!” Emily hugged her friend carefully. “Is this why you were worried about being overweight?”
Pam nodded. “I was completely off my head. I was afraid of being bloated at the wedding.”
“You don’t look fat at all,” Emily assured her, “Although you will when the baby bump starts showing,” she added teasingly. “I’m kidding. You’re going to look lovely no matter what.”
“Yeah, right. I’m going to look like a whale.”
“But you’re happy?” Emily asked.
“Of course! I couldn’t be happier.”
“Does Mike know?”
Pam shook her head emphatically. “I don’t want him freaking out before the wedding.”
Emily took a sip of her drink thoughtfully. “Why would he freak out?”
“You know he’s a nervous fellow,” Pam said, “and weddings can be stressful. It might all be too much for him.”
Emily smiled as she saw her other friends arriving. “It’s nice to see how protective you are,” she said before they joined the others. Even though she didn’t think Pam should keep her pregnancy a secret, Emily didn’t want to argue with her friend and stress her out in her sensitive state.
When she got back home, Byron was reading in bed, and she plopped down beside him.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“I found out something!” she said in a sing-song voice.
“Something interesting, I gather?”
“Okay, promise not to tell anyone,” she began, “Pam is going to have a baby!”
“Oh, wow.” Byron raised his beautiful eyebrows. “Why is it a secret? Is it someone else’s baby?”
“No! I’m sure it’s her fiancé’s,” Emily said, “but she doesn’t want him to be nervous before the wedding, so she’s keeping it under wraps for now.”
“Well, he’ll find out eventually,” Byron said, moving closer to her on the bed. “Why did you tell me?”
“I don’t like having secrets from you,” Emily said, kissing his cheek.
“So if we had a baby, you wouldn’t keep it secret?” he asked casually.
“Byron!” She was shocked that he would bring that up so suddenly. Although it wasn’t that sudden since they had been talking about babies. Still, it was a scary topic for her because she wasn’t sure she would ever want to be weighed down with the responsibility of children.
“What, is the thought of having a baby with me so horrible?” he asked, grinning.
“No, it actually sounds kind of sexy,” Emily admitted. “But I’m not even nearly ready.”
“I know,” he said. “No pressure. We already have a couple of furry babies to take care of.”
The next morning, Byron put together all the information he had learned in recent days, trying to make an educated guess about Emily’s state of mind. It was much harder to predict than the rise and fall of the stock market as the information seemed so contradictory.
He really wanted to propose to her, but at the same time, any kind of commitment seemed to scare her. Byron decided to talk to Pam in private and get a better sense of what Emily thought about their relationship.
