Page 25 of Bred

Perhaps it had to happen like this. She had to be sent here, because God knew I never would’ve met her on my own. And maybe I had to drive her just crazy enough to make her realize that she belonged here.

Whatever it was, I was walking on air as I slipped out to the restroom to get cleaned up as Wren dozed. There, lying on the counter, was the test, nearly wrapped up just as she left it in the face of her disappointment.

I stared at it, something in my gut clamoring for attention as I watched. I tilted my head. Wren said she wasn’t bleeding very much at all and the pain wasn’t bad. She was just tired. I reached for the wrapper, heart pounding in my throat as I did.

It couldn’t be, I mused, holding my breath for a moment as indecision pulled at my chest. Then with a snap, I ripped the rest out of its packaging.

Staring back up at me from its plastic container was a little white oval window and two utterly perfect dark-pink lines.

Two.

I stared from the window to the little explanation on the test and back again. Two lines meant pregnant.

My stomach fell through my body, making my skin turn cold as I stood there, waiting for reality to shift or for something to be wrong.

But it didn’t. And a full minute later, I found another emotion spreading through my body.

Joy.

It blazed a burning trail from my suddenly over full heart and straight to my eyes, falling in tears down my cheeks.

Because my Wren was pregnant. And I could barely stand the perfection of the moment. With a deep breath, I moved back into the bedroom, where Wren was curled in the middle of the bed, scrolling through her phone.

I climbed onto my side of the bed. “Wren, baby, look at me.”

Lovely blue eyes, still a little red, met mine in curiosity, and then she rolled onto her back to look up at me. “Loren, what’s going on?”

I leaned down, pressing my hoodie up and exposing the smooth lines of her belly to my eyes. I didn’t stop myself from brushing a soft kiss against that belly just then. The thought of my baby in there, growing safely, surrounded by love, made my heart kick painfully in my chest.

I breathed against the softness of her belly again. “Hello, sweetheart.” My voice was thick.

“Loren, what are you—”

Her voice died as I reached into my pocket and slowly brought out the test.

She took it, face full of shock and wonder. “But how?”

“Plenty of women have a little bleeding those first few weeks. I think we should get you to the doctor soon, but princess, you’re pregnant.”

Wren’s brilliant eyes filled with tears, and the hand not holding the test slipped down to cover her bare stomach. “I’m pregnant. We’re having a baby!”

With a laugh of joy, I slid down the bed again, laying my face just at her ribcage so that my hand could rest against her hip bone. I stoked the skin there, happiness I never thought I would find sweeping over me and holding me tight.

I was home, truly home now, and it had never felt better.

THE END