I grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. She pulled back and laughed.

“As much as I would love to do that, babe, I really have to go. Ellie and Heather are waiting for me at Emma and Garrett’s place.”

“Let me grab my hat, and I’ll ride with you. I have to meet Gunner and Josh at the house anyway.”

***

One the way over to the ranch house, Ari barely spoke two words to me. When she did talk, she was a nervous wreck. I really hated that she wouldn’t let me go with her.

I watched as Ari drove off with Ellie and Heather. The moment she saw Ellie, I could see her relax. Emma hugged her and whispered something into her ear while Gunner just stood there and stared at me. I felt like the fucking black sheep of the herd. I was part of it, yet I was also an outcast because I was trying to do the right thing by Rebecca.

The rest of the morning, all I could do was think about Ari. I kept checking my phone to see if I might have missed a call. I silently said a prayer for her tests results that she wasn’t a carrier of the Fragile X gene. Ari was so stressed over it. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t love any child we had together because I would. I adored Matthew with all my heart.

I walked over to the Jeep and pulled out a bottle water from of the ice cooler. I took a long drink, pulled out my cell again and hit dial.

It was time for me to make plans with my little buddy to go fishing. The moment Susan put Matt on the phone, my heart swelled up with love.

Yeah, it really didn’t matter. I just wanted kids with Ari, I just wanted our home to filled with laughter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ARI

Sitting on the table in Dr. Wyatt’s office, I just stared at all the pictures of pregnant women, babies, and big tummies. The whole bulletin board was covered in pictures. I smiled when I saw a picture of my mother holding Matt from nine years ago. I was standing in the picture next to them, holding up rabbit ears behind my mother.

Dr. Wyatt came and sat down on the stool. He smiled at me, and I smiled back, but I felt like I wanted to throw up.

“Well, Ari, we drew all the blood we needed, and I should get the genetic tests back in two weeks. Your urine test came back positive for pregnancy. The next thing I would like to do is a transvaginal sonogram, so that way we can take a look and maybe see how far along you are. From our earlier conversation and the date of your last period, I’m guessing that you’re about nine weeks. That would put us at a due date of January thirtieth.”

My head was spinning. Nine weeks! Oh. My. God. I have a little baby in me…growing inside of me...holy hell.

“Um, when do you think I’ll start showing?” I asked as I pulled at the gown I was wearing.

Dr. Wyatt reached up, taking my hands in his.

“Ari, I know you’re scared for a number of reasons. Let’s just take this one step at a time, okay? There’s nothing we can do about Fragile X until we get the results back. Don’t stress yourself out. Now, to answer your question, you’ll probably start showing around the first week of October. Keep in mind though that everyone is different though.”

I shook my head. Dr. Wyatt asked me to lie back on the table. He stuck his head out and called for a nurse.

As a nurse joined us, Dr. Wyatt said,

“I need you to relax now, Ari.”

I kept my eyes on the monitor while I started to take deep breaths. Then, I saw it. It looked like a little peanut. I could hear it’s heart beating like crazy. My eyes started to tear up, and I looked away.

“Ari, honey, are you okay?” The nurse asked me.

I looked back at her and smiled.

“He should be here. I should have told him,” I said while tears poured down my cheeks.

The nurse took a hold of my hand and gave it a little squeeze.

“Honey, there are tons of women who come in here and get the first sonogram alone. You’re not always one-hundred percent sure that you’re pregnant. Some women like to wait until they know for sure before they tell the fathers.”

I tried to smile at her. When I looked back at my peanut, my smile grew bigger as I saw her little arms moving back and forth.

“She’s waving to you,” Dr. Wyatt said with a laugh.

“She?” I asked as I looked at him. There’s no way they can tell this early.

“Well, I usually call them all she until we find out for sure. It’s an old habit I picked up years ago,” He said with a laugh.

***

After Dr. Wyatt and the nurse left the room, I sat there for a few seconds, looking at the picture I held in my hand of my peanut. I placed my hands on my stomach, I closed my eyes.

“We just need to hold off another month, baby. Once Daddy finds out that the evil witch is not carrying his child, we can tell him about you. There’s no fucking way- oh god! Oh. My. God! I just swore at you. Oh, holy shit, I’m gonna make a piss-ass mother. OH! My! GOD! I did it again!”

I jumped down off the table and quickly got dressed.

I wondered how Heather doing with the use-your-boobs-on-Bruce- to “find-out-any-information-about-Rebecca. I couldn’t believe how much she belly ached about wearing a low cut-shirt. I’d simply asked her to flirt with him and then ask her friend, Rebecca. Somehow I was counting on tit-loving Bruce to spill the beans.

The moment I walked out into the waiting room, I heard Ellie raising her voice. Who the hell is she talking to that loud?

“Listen, you don’t own this doctor’s office, lady. Ari has been coming here for years, so you need to back the fuck off!”

Holy hell. I stopped dead in my tracks.

Rebecca.

Ellie looked up when she saw me. She immediately came over and stood next to me.

“What are you doing here? Your appointment isn’t until next week,” I said in a stunned voice.

Rebecca just smiled at me and tilted her head.

“So, Jeff shares that information with you, does he? He really is excited about this baby. I wish you could have seen the way he smiled at me when he had his hands on my stomach Saturday. Oh wait…you can’t because you’re not supposed to be anywhere near me.”

“Listen here, bitch,” Ellie started to get in Rebecca’s face.

As I pulled her back, I said,

“I had a doctor’s appointment, Rebecca. How was I supposed to know that you would be here? Wait, where is Jeff? Does he know your appointment is today?”

Rebecca’s face fell for just one brief moment. “I tried to call him a few times today to let him know I had to move it.”

I looked down at her stomach. No way. This bitch was about to pop.

Smiling , I walked up to her.

“I’m on to you, Rebecca. Whatever game you think you’re gonna win, you won’t. You see, I don’t play very nice on the play-ground with other kids I don’t like. I win when I choose to, sweetheart, and I don’t like to lose. If you think for one minute that I’m to just gonna sit back and let you take Jeff away from me, you have another thing coming. Pregnant or not, bitch, I will take your ass down.”

Rebecca’s smile faded. She looked over my shoulder at Ellie and then over at Heather who was still standing by Bruce. Heather really does look like a slut dressed the way she is.

“Bruce, can you please call the police? She just threatened me, and I actually have a restraining order out against her.” Rebecca said.

I looked at Bruce, who looked totally confused. The new girl sitting next to Bruce immediately picked up the phone and started to talk to someone.

I turned back to see Rebecca smiling at me.

“I hope you have fun sitting in jail, Ari.”

The next thing I knew, Ellie was pulling me out of the way as she got all up in Rebecca’s face.

“You will get what is coming to you. You will not get away with this. You’re not only messing with my best friend, you whore, you’re messing with my brother. Have you ever heard of karma? That bitch is going to come back around and bite you in the fucking ass, you douche-twat whore!”