Chapter 42: Bryn

This is not how I expected today to go, but sitting in the living room with my family and seeing everyone looking relieved is a nice change from busy college life. Sawyer is sitting next to me and is basically plastered to my side. I keep catching him looking at me with this weird smile on his face. He’s being so cool about everything, like he wanted this to happen, but I’m still in shock. How am I going to finish school when I’m dealing with morning sickness and a growing belly? I don’t know how I’m going to manage it all and still graduate on time. I’ve already started a year late, and now I may have to put more time on hold to take care of a baby.

I can feel the fear growing the longer I think about it. Sure, I helped take care of Milly when she was born, but I wasn’t her mom. I was her fun aunt, but that won’t be the same with my own kid. What if I’m not a good mom?

Oh god I think the soup I just ate is about to make a quick exit.

“Bryn, are you okay, sweetie? You look a little pale.” Mom says suddenly, and it triggers my gag reflex like nothing else.

I’m on my feet and racing for the downstairs bathroom like it’s an epic race to the finish line. I drop to my knees in front of the toilet and let everything out. The soup tasted so good going down, but not so much coming back up.

“B! What’s going on? Are you okay? Did you catch whatever bug Milly has? Maybe we should take her back to the hospital.” I can hear the worry in my sister’s voice.

I so badly want to tell her that a cold isn’t the reason I’m throwing up right now, but my stomach I still protesting.

“It’s okay Poppy, she’ll be okay.” Sawyer says trying to calm her down, but she is asking him how he knows that.

He won’t tell her that I’m pregnant because I asked him not to, but if I keep throwing up in front of my family this weekend, then they’ll get even more worried. I need to tell them. Especially since we’ll be going back to school and I won’t be able to see them for several weeks. It would be harsh to keep this a secret and then show up here with a baby bump. My mom would be heart broken that I kept this from her.

“Guys!” Everyone gets quiet when I speak.

“Here B, have some water.” Zach passes the cup to Sawyer, who’s currently crouched down next to me.

“Thanks.” I take a generous gulp of the water and another before I hand the cup back to Sawyer. “I don’t have a cold. There is something I need to tell you all. I wanted to wait because Milly was sick, but if this keeps up, I don’t want you to worry.”

I glance at Sawyer, and he nods.

“I’m pregnant.” I blurt out.

It’s best not to beat around the bush, I always say.

There is only silence. I give Sawyer a panicked look, but he’s biting back a smile and holding three fingers up. I’m not sure what he’s doing until he drops them and when there are no fingers left, the room erupts with noise. I get startled by the sound of everyone laughing and crying and clapping, so when everyone rushes toward me, I’m not ready. My mom is the one who helps me to my feet and then I’m wrapped in an epic group hug like I’ve never been in before.

“Oh, sweetheart, this is such amazing news.” My mom says while she both laughs and cries.

“Son, I have no words. Congratulations.” Sawyer’s mom hugs him and Zach squeezes his shoulder.

“Congrats bro. Welcome to the dad club.” Everyone laughs and Sawyer breaks away to wrap an arm around my waist.

“Thanks everyone. I’m glad you’re happy for us.” He says.

“Of course we are. Another grandchild? I couldn’t be happier. How far along are you?” My mom asks.

“About eight weeks. Apparently, my IUD fell out at some point.” I explain and my mom and sister start laughing. “What?”

“I was on the pill when I got pregnant.” My sister says.

“What?” I’m shocked!

“I was also using birth control when I got pregnant with your sister. I guess we Raven women are ready to carry a baby no matter what. Nothing will stop it.” I shake my head and bury my face in my hands.

How could this be a real thing? Three women in the same family all getting pregnant from contraception failure. What is the point of using them then?

“Come on, let me make you some tea,” Mom says.

“I still have some nausea tea from when I was pregnant. I’ll go grab it.” My sister leaves first and my mom ushers everyone else out except for Sawyer.

He turns to me and pulls me into his chest and rests his chin on my head.

“Oh, and Sawyer…” Sawyer looks toward the door where my mom is still standing. “You better marry her or I will kill you. Take your time in here.”

I want to yell after her to stop talking crazy, but she is closing the door before I can.

“She is unbelievable! How can she just threaten someone to marry me?”

“I do plan on marrying you so she can say it all she wants.” Sawyer says.

When I look up at him, he’s smiling like he didn’t just basically propose. “What?”

“I plan on marrying you, Bryn. Of course, I already decided on it a week after we started dating, but I didn’t want to scare you off. Now that you’re pregnant, there is no reason for me to pretend I’m waiting to ask you. Plus, I figured you would want to get married before you start showing, so you can wear any dress you want.”

Is he serious? He wants to marry me? Before I start showing! That means it would have to be soon…How could we do that?

“I’m not sure if you wanted a big wedding, so I planned on asking the other women in the family what that would entail, or we could-“ I cut him off by grabbing his face in both my hands and lifting myself on my toes and kissing him.

When I pull away, I’m crying. Happy tears, of course. “You want to marry me?” I ask just to be sure I heard him right.

“Yeah, I do. Will you have me?” He asks after he wraps his arms around my waist.

I nod quickly. “Yes! Of course I will! I would never marry anyone else.”

Okay, that came out way too fast and a little like I only ever thought of marrying him. That probably sounds stockfish, right?

He laughs. “I couldn’t marry anyone else. We were meant to be little Bumble Bee.”

I laugh when he leans close and touches the tips of our noses together.

“We’re really doing this?” I ask him.

“We are.”

“Then I don’t want a big wedding. As long as our family is there, I don’t care about anything. We could go to the courthouse and that would be fine with me.”

He looks a little suspicious. “Really? Because don’t most girls have a dream wedding or something? It’s a big deal, isn’t it?”

“Some girls think so, but I don’t care about being a spectacle. This is about us, so why do we need to have a big party for everyone else? Plus, we need to save up money for the baby.”

His eyes lower to my stomach, and he moves one of his hands to rest on my stomach. “Yeah, he’s going to need a lot of stuff.”

“He?” I gasp as if it’s the most offensive word I’ve ever heard.

“It’s a boy, I can feel it.” He says confidently

“You can’t know that! Besides, Poppy had a girl, and she read that the men’s little swimmers determine gender. Your brother gave my sister a daughter so…”

He shakes his head. “Nope. It’s a boy. A little hockey player to be.”

“Hey! Maybe he’ll want to be in sports medicine!” He ignores me and continues rubbing my still flat stomach.

There is a knock on the door, and I hear my mom on the other side. “Come on, you two! We need to talk about wedding plans.”
Oh my god! This family has gone mad. I just dropped the bomb that I’m pregnant and suddenly everyone is ready to plan a wedding. No way. We are not having a wedding like Poppy and Zach did. If I’m marrying Sawyer, then I want to do it our way.

We met and grew up here in this house. On the rink, we made behind our houses when we were ten years old. There is no other place that’s more us than that rink, and it’s perfect for a wedding.