“Oh, absolutely. I totally get it. I can keep my mouth shut.” I let out a breath.
“Good. That’s good. I had to tell my parents on Sunday and it went a lot better than I thought it would. They were over the moon. Hell, they were over the moon and into another galaxy.” I laughed and grabbed the strawberry donut. I was absolutely starving. That eating for two thing was no joke.
“Is there anything I can do for you? I’ll be sure to bring you decaf only,” she said, grabbing a sticky note from my desk. I had a ton of them around and they always made me think of Lucah when I saw them. Love made you blush when you looked at office supplies.
“That’s really important. I’ve been given a huge list of all the things I can’t eat anymore and Sloane actually made me lunches for the next week.” I pulled the containers out of my bag and showed them to her.
“It’s really out of hand, but I hope that they’ll get tired and give up in a few weeks,” I said, giving the containers to Lilia so she could put them in the fridge in the kitchen for me.
“Okay, well let me know if you need anything pregnancy-related and I’ll get it for you.” I was certainly getting away with a lot lately.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it. You and Lucah are the only ones who work here who know and I’d like to keep it that way as long as I can. At least until after the wedding. I’d rather not have disapproving looks from the more conservative guests about me getting knocked up outside the bonds of marriage.” I made a face at Lilia and she shuddered.
“Do people even say ‘wedlock’ anymore? That’s a word I haven’t heard in a long time,” she said. I snorted because I’d thought the same exact thing.
“I have no idea, but I’ll get to find out when I start showing. Unless I want to lie and pretend that it happened on the honeymoon, but that seems like way too much work. I honestly don’t care what people think. It’s not their life.” I doubted they would see it that way, but I meant what I said. It was my life. Mine and Lucah’s and BG’s.
“Okay, I’m going to go and get you some decaf and put this away and I’ll be right back,” she said, bustling out of my office. I gathered up all the cards and presents and moved them to the floor so I could deal with them later. Between the wedding and BG, a lot of presents were going to be coming my way for a while. No idea where we were going to put them all.
~*~*~
It was a struggle to get through a day without caffeine and more than a few people asked me if I was okay, or if I needed something. I was going to have to invest in some better under eye cover up.
I just smiled and told them that it was the wedding. That did the trick and I got lots of advice and knowing looks from those who were already married.
Lucah texted me several times throughout the day to ask how I was. My nausea had been intense when I first woke up, but it steadily went away. So far, so good as far as morning sickness went. I’d ordered some of the books April had recommended and stayed off the Internet when it came to looking up the details of pregnancy. It wasn’t easy. Call it morbid curiosity. I just wanted to know what I had to look forward to, as long as it wasn’t too gory or graphic or permanent.
My computer dinged and brought me out of my head and back to my work and I had other things to think about for the next few hours.
~*~*~
Lucah met me at Lilia’s desk at five. Unlike a few weeks ago, I was more than ready to be out of there. I had almost fallen asleep on my desk several times and I was so worried that someone was going to catch me and figure out why I was suffering from so much fatigue.
“Hello, Miss Clarke,” he said. “Did you know that this is the last week I can call you that?” I tilted my cheek toward him for a kiss. I was more open about affection in the office, you know, since we were tying the knot and everyone would know that we were married and married people kissed every now and then.
“I know. It’s one of the only things I can think about. I’m sure you can guess what one of the other things is.” Lucah winked at me.
“I bet I can.” Lilia looked left and right to make sure no one was within earshot and leaned over her desk toward us.
“Congratulations, by the way. Rory told me, but don’t worry, I’m not going to share it with anyone,” she whispered.
“Thanks, we really appreciate it,” Lucah said in the same tone.
“No problem,” she said back and Lucah took my bag from me.
“I can carry this, you know,” I said, but he just ignored me and kept walking. I waved to Lilia and then it was time to go home. Home, where my bed was. My glorious bed that I could finally sleep in for hours.
~*~*~
“Do you want me to come with you?” Lucah asked on Wednesday as we were getting ready for work. My first doctor’s appointment was at three that day and I was totally nervous. So nervous that my hands shook as I tried to twist my hair back. Lucah stepped behind me and took over. He was better at it anyway.
“No, I’m sure they’re not going to do much of anything. It’s not like it’s an ultrasound or something,” I said as his nimble fingers made quick work of my honey-colored hair and turned what was once a mess into a sleek bun at the base of my neck and then pinned it in place.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yeah, I asked April,” I said as I turned my head from side to side to check for stray hairs. It was perfect. I walked out of the bathroom and toward the front door so I could gather my bag. Summer had finally arrived and the weather had been balmy and warm for the past few weeks. It was so nice not to have to think about snow and slush and dressing for the cold weather anymore.
“Oh, fine. Just call me after and let me know how everything goes,” he said, pretending it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was for him.