Page 11 of Lucky Girl

“Just tell me,” I demand, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I’m pregnant.” I turn and look at her blankly, registering what she just said. She’s still young, barely thirty-eight, but pregnant. I never thought. After Farrah, it just never happened again, though we did nothing to stop it. “Are you going to say anything? I’m kind of freaking out. I mean, I haven’t had a baby in eighteen years.”

“Pregnant?” I say, swallowing thickly. I’ll be seventy-two when the child graduates from high school, but this isn’t about me. “This is amazing, Fee. Amazing,” I say, wrapping her up in my arms.

“I thought you’d be mad. We were just about to start traveling.”

“Of course, I’m not mad, baby. A baby is always a blessing no matter when it comes.”

“The doctor called it an advanced maternal pregnancy, Eamon.”

“Okay,” I say, not understanding what that means.

“It’s a geriatric pregnancy. I’m old. My womb is old.”

“Don’t cry. You’re not old, baby. It’s just medical nonsense,” I tell her.

“A baby, though.”

“A baby. Everything will be fine,” I promise her.

“I know. I know you’ll make everything better.”

“Always,” I say, leaning over to kiss her. Using my thumbs, I wipe her tears.

“This is happening,” she says, taking a calming breath, which I mirror.

A son, Edwin Neil was born nine short months later and our lives were never the same.

Fiadh always says she’s a lucky girl but I’m the lucky one for sure. I know that I am the luckiest man in the world because she’s by my side every day, making me a better m and I wouldn’t change that for a fucking thing.