I give her a wobbly smile before I have to take off running for the bathroom. Before I can sit back after emptying my stomach of all contents, strong arms come around me and a hand helps to hold my hair back. Celeste went and found Sterling when she realized I was sick.
"You alright, baby doll?"
"Ugh, I have no idea. I think I may have eaten something that didn't agree with me or the stress of the wedding is getting to me." He sets me on the sink and hands me a warm rag to wash my face with, then hands me my toothbrush.
"Or maybe it could be something else."
My eyebrows furrow. What else could this be? The flu? Something worse?
He rummages around in one of the cabinets, "Perhaps it's about time we use one of these." When he comes back over to me he's holding a pink and white box in his hands.
"What...what is that?"
I take the box from him and look it over. When I do my eyes widen and a feeling of shock and awe shoots through me. It's a pregnancy test.
How long has he been keeping these stashed here? Are they some kind of weird hold over from his old life without me? I understand he said it was years since he was...with someone but maybe it just felt that long ago?
Anger bubbles up inside of me at the thought I might not have been the first lady he thought he got pregnant. "Don't those things have expiration dates on them?" I say it as snidely as I can.
"I have no idea but they should be good considering I only bought them after you missed a period."
"A...after I...oh my God! I did miss my period." I sit on the edge of the sink stunned. "Wait, how did you know...?"
"Kane told me he wasn't as lucky as we are and that Talia got hers and that she said you guys where so close you normally get them around the same time. That was a week and a half ago."
What the hell? Their like old women sitting around discussing our periods, trying to knock us up. "And you didn't think it might have been the stress of thinking you were a ghost, finding out you were alive and I could bring you back, almost getting shot by your brother -twice- and planning a wedding? That never crossed your mind?"
"Yeah, that's why I got more than one. So if at first we don't succeed we can try, try again."
I roll my eyes at him and clutch the box to me. What if we are pregnant? Talia wasn't. Is she sad? She didn't say a word about any of it. I find myself becoming sad that me and my best friend might not be as close as we once were.
"Oh, by the way, they are expecting. It was just splotching."
I fight to keep the grin off my face. "You mean spotting?"
"Yeah, spotting. Which we read is common but he took her ass to the doctor anyway and the doc confirmed it. She's knocked up."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"Because I didn't want to take away from your big day." A very pissed-off Talia is standing in the doorway of the bathroom. "I can't believe he told you. I told him we were going to tell you all after the wedding so you could have your special day and Kane had to go blabbing to you!"
I fight back tears as she comes over to give me a hug. Damn, that orange bridesmaid’s dress looks good on her. "I'm just glad it’s not because we're not close anymore."
She rolls her eyes at me and gives me a big bright smile. "As if. Now, find out if our little nugget is going to have a cousin to run around with when he or she finally gets here."
I take the test but I don't look at it until after we say 'I do'. We have the ceremony in the backyard and the day couldn't be more beautiful. As soon as he sweeps me into his arms and carries me into the house we both rush to the bathroom upstairs to find out what the test says.
It turns out Talia's little nugget is going to have a playmate about eight months from now. Married and expecting all in one day? It might be too much for some women but I've found the best way to live is in full color, out loud, and with no regrets. I was the woman with a ghost for a lover after all. Nothing surprises me anymore...well, almost nothing. Sterling still finds ways of making my life unexpected but then he was the ghost in that little scenario.
Epilogue I
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Sterling
Ten Years Later
I watch as my wife paints cat whiskers on our little girl. She has reminded me several times she can't be a cat without her whiskers. Our oldest child, Marian, is going as a witch so Sarah has someone to hold her hand. While our three boys are going as a dinosaur, a dead body...and Santa.