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about this now, but I bit my tongue instead.
    "I'm not saying never to kids. I just need time to process belly buttons and baby acne. Time...Can you give me that?"
    I sighed, though the tightness in my shoulders did not let up.
    Time? Yeah, I could give him that.
    I nodded and buried my head further into his shirt, taking in the masculine scent of my man.
    Marriage was forever, so I could give him a little more time.

Chapter 4
    B eth :
    I sat at the edge of the bathtub, gripping the piece of plastic between my fingertips. A sheen of sweat broke out on my brow and I stared, unblinking. Life must be playing some big grand trick on me.
    Two pink lines. Not one. But two.
    My hands shook as I held out the pregnancy test, unbelieving how my life from this moment forward would be irrevocably changed.
    A little embryo was growing inside of me.
    Embryo. Little Em.
    I exhaled a shaky sigh then shook my head, realizing that I had already nicknamed the little baby.
    I wouldn't believe it if I didn't have three other pink sticks scattered at my feet, each revealing two pink lines, the white plastic a large contrast to the black marble floor. The pink popped out like an accessory against a dark dress, bright and pretty.
    But this wasn't a happy, jolly moment. Especially since Kent and I hadn't talked seriously about children. It had been at least three weeks since our dinner with Caroline and Jeff and we hadn’t broached the subject yet. I had assumed I had a couple of years before I was barefoot and pregnant.
    I was never late. Ever. In the back of my mind, I had known something was off. At first, I thought it was just bad gas, but that gut-wrenching premonition only intensified every day after my little friend hadn't paid me a visit. I’d been in denial, but when my monthly friend hadn't made an appearance, I’d ran to the drugstore down the street to purchase a three-pack of pregnancy tests.
    Why couldn't the manufacturers have made it yellow? Why pink? Pink automatically meant girl. Why not blue? At least yellow was a more neutral color.
    Heat formed behind my eyes, an indicator that I was going to cry any minute. I had seen this in our future, but I’d thought it would be a planned event, when we’d both decided to start a family. I'd be lying if I wasn't scared out of my mind to tell him.
    I tried to think back. It had to have been when we’d made love passionately in his car without protection. So in actuality, this was his fault. That was the only time I could recall that we hadn’t used a condom.
    I shook my head. His fault?
    I hadn’t exactly denied hopping on board with his lunch time plans. He and his horny self had impregnated me, because after Caroline had come over, I swore he'd stocked up on condoms. If he could’ve slipped one condom over another condom, double bagging, I knew he would have.
    Kent's voice echoed from the foyer, and I jumped up from where I sat on the side of the tub. My heart leaped into my throat, forcing me to a standing position.
    He was already home.
    Gathering my display of pregnancy tests from the floor, I opened my drawer on my side of the sink and stuffed the tests inside.
    When he jiggled the double doors to our bathroom, I rushed to open it. My face flushed red and pure panic tore through me as I looked into his unknowing eyes.
    "What's wrong?"
    One look from my face and he knew something was off.
    "Nothing. Why do you think something's wrong?" My tone hitched up an octave higher as sweat formed behind the back of my neck. I was experiencing my first hot flash.
    He glanced behind me, over my head. "Is someone in there?"
    I realized I still had the door slightly ajar and was peeping through the crack. I threw the door open. "No one." My arms flew out wide as though I was about to take flight, in a dramatic effect, and he furrowed his eyebrow.
    Yes, his wife was hormonal and a tad bit crazy.
    He walked through the door, turned around, and stalked inside. A dizzying current raced through my