“Goodbye!” Emily stood from her chair and headed for the exit. She needed time to process everything.
“Take care. Dont forget your vitamins. Your next appointment details will be sent via text,” the doctor replied flatly, barely looking up from her notes.
“Right” Emily murmured before hurrying out into the corridorthen outside.
She had to make sense of what the doctor had just told her. Deep down, shed suspected the cause of her fatigue. But until the ultrasound and blood tests confirmed it, part of her refused to believe it was real.
Emily was forty-four. Shed grown up in a large family, the eldest daughter, often asked to mind her younger siblings. Her childhood hadnt been unhappy, but there were plenty of evenings when, instead of meeting friends, shed been stuck at homehelping her brother, James, with homework or picking up the twins, Sophie and Lily, from nursery, making sure they were fed.
By her twenties, shed decided: if she ever had a family, one chid would be enough. Her husband, David, felt the same. A year after their wedding, their daughter, Charlotte, was born. Emily had been twenty-eight then, David thirty-two. Shed been certain Charlotte would remain their only child. Shed had her fill of childcarenow it was time to live for herself.
Charlotte had grown up well. Now in Year 11, she was doing brilliantly. A low-maintenance sort of girlyes, she asked for new phones, headphones, clothes, makeupbut nothing too taxing.
The Thompsons lives had settled into a comfortable rhythm. David worked as a department head at a construction firm. Emily was an accountant for a local council office. Charlotte attended school, went to cheerleading practice, occasionally travelled for competitions. When David and Emily went out, they could leave Charlotte alone without worry. Life was predictable, calmexactly how they liked it.
Now, sitting on a bench in the hospital garden, Emily grappled with the news. She was pregnant. Three weeks along. David didnt know. Charlotte, of course, was none the wiser.
Emily pictured herselfexhausted, a baby in her arms. What would work think? Theyd laugh behind her back. And her friend Sarah? Shed just roll her eyes
A call from Charlotte snapped her out of it.
“Hi, love, whats up?”
“Mum, where are you? I thought you were off today. I came home and no ones here.”
“Oh, I just popped to the shopping centre. Be back soon. Heat up some lunch if youre hungry.” She tried to sound normal, but her chest felt tight.
“Alright. Get me something, yeah?” Charlotte chirped.
“Of course” Emily forced a lightness she didnt feel.
She hung up, sighed, and glanced around. Her thoughts spiralled. Another child meant more expensesa pram, a cot, clothes, endless bits and bobs. When Charlotte was born, prices werent like now. Back in the early 2000s, life had felt simpler. Or maybe that was just youth talking.
Another heavy sigh. Shouldnt she be happy? Instead, dread sat in her stomach. Too many “buts” swirled in her headher age, the judgement, the upheaval. She didnt want to leave their cosy life behind. And she certainly didnt want to drag her family into chaos.
Time to act. At the very least, she had to swing by the shopping centre nowshed lied, after all.
That evening, she played it cool despite the nausea.
“Em, you alright? You took the day off, but you look knackered,” David teased.
“Just a headache.”
She waited until Charlotte was out with friends before telling him.
“Dave I saw the doctor today. Thing is Im pregnant,” she said carefully, watching his face.
“Blimey! Thought you were ill! Em, thats mad!” He laughed.
A beat of silence.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Had the scan and everything.”
“Bloody hell. So Im gonna be a dad again? Brilliant!”
“Yeah”
“Boy or girl yet?”
“No, too early.”
“Then why the long face? Everything alright?”
“Fine, I suppose. Just were not twenty anymore. How do we tell our parents? Works going to be a nightmare. And Charlottewhat do we even say to her?”
“Overthinking it! Parentsll be thrilled, Charlottes old enough to understand, and who cares about work? If anyone says anything, its just envy!” He hugged her.
Part of her was relieved. But doubt gnawed at her. Forty-four wasnt young. Charlotte wouldnt be pleased. Their two-bed flat would be cramped. Money was already tight with Charlottes tutorsnext years exams would be worse.
Later, she broached it again.
“Dave are you sure we want this?”
“Why wouldnt we?”
“Youre not getting it. A baby changes everything. No nights out, no lie-ins. Nappies, walks, screaming. And what ifGod forbidsomethings wrong?” Her voice cracked. Tears came.
David paused. She wondered if he was picturing himselfworn out, in tatty joggers, rocking a crying baby.
“Em, dont talk daft. Forty-fours nothing. Remember the Harrises? Hes forty-eight, shes forty-sixjust had their second! Reckon its kept him young.”
“Thats what he says!”
“Youre just hormonal. Remember when you were pregnant with Charlotte and sent me scrambling for apples at midnight?” He grinned.
“Course I do.” She wiped her eyes, laughing.
“Good times” He squeezed her shoulder.
“Yeah”
The next morning, they told Charlotte over breakfast.
“Char fancy a little brother or sister?” David asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Dont tell me youre actually having another.”
“We are. Mums pregnant.”
“Youve lost it. Im off to school.” She stood.
“Charlotte, come back!” But the front door slammed.
“Dave maybe this is a mistake.”
“Relax. Itll be fine.”
Emily spent the day on edge. That evening, braced for another row, she heard Charlotte call out.
“Mum, wait”
“Char, thought you had practice.”
“Coach is ill Mum, are you really pregnant?”
“Yeah. Didnt plan it. Not sure its the right thing”
“Dont be daft. Ill be off to uni soonyoull need something to do.”
“Love” Emily hugged her, crying.
“Mum, Im sorry”
“Dont be. Lets go home.”
Then came the work gossip, the tough weeks on bed rest, the gruelling birth, the worries
*****
That evening, Emily and David pushed the pram along the lane.
“Asleep?” David whispered.
“Out cold.” She peeked in.
“Em Im so glad weve got Oliver. Two years ago, if youd told me Id be a dad again, Id have laughed.”
“Thank you, Dave.”
“Me? Its all you.”
“No. You were right. I doubted everything.”
“I had my moments too. Imagined wed ruined our lives. Now? Happiest Ive ever been. Got a sononly thing missing.”
“Weve got a son.” She smiled.
“Asleep?” Charlotte jogged up behind them, schoolbag slung over her shoulder.
“Like a log,” they chorused.
“Mind if I walk with you? Dont fancy being home alone.” She took the pram handle.
They strolled on, knowingwhatever came nexttheyd face it together.
