Chapter 14 - The News
I was pregnant.
We'd been trying quietly for almost a year.
When the test finally turned positive, I sat on the bathroom floor staring at it until Justin knocked.
"Chloe?"
I opened the door.
He looked at my face.
Then at the test.
Then back at me.
"Is that—?"
I nodded.
Justin cried before I did.
We waited twelve weeks before telling family.
Virginia and Walter came for dinner.
After dessert, Justin handed Virginia a small box.
Inside were baby socks.
Virginia stared.
Then covered her mouth.
"Oh."
Walter looked over her shoulder.
His face collapsed.
"Oh, my God."
Virginia stood.
Then stopped herself.
"Can I hug you?"
That nearly made me cry more than her reaction.
"Yes."
She wrapped her arms around me.
Carefully.
Later, she touched my hand.
"I have one promise."
I smiled cautiously.
"Only one?"
"I will not tell you how to raise your baby unless you ask."
Justin burst out laughing.
Walter said, "Get that notarized."
Virginia glared at him.
But she kept the promise remarkably well.
When she slipped, she corrected herself.
When she wanted to buy something large for the nursery, she asked.
When we chose a name she wouldn't have chosen, she said it was beautiful.
I knew she was lying.
I loved her for lying.
At seven months, complications put me on temporary bed rest.
Virginia offered to come.
The old history made me hesitate.
She understood.
"You can say no."
I looked at Justin.
He left the decision to me.
"I'd like you to come."
Virginia stayed five days.
She cooked.
Cleaned.
Did laundry.
And never once told me how anything should be done.
One afternoon I watched her washing dishes.
"There are no maids in this house," I said.
Virginia froze.
Then slowly turned.
I couldn't keep a straight face.
Neither could she.
We laughed until my stomach hurt.
But beneath the humor was something neither of us needed to say.
The woman who had once expected me to serve her son was now helping because I'd asked—and because she wanted to give without controlling.
The difference was everything.
Our daughter arrived three weeks later.
May you like
And when Virginia first held her, she whispered a promise that brought our entire journey full circle.
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