**Bad Timing**
“Goodbye!” Emily stood from her chair and headed for the door. She needed time to process everything.
“Take care. Dont forget your vitamins. Well text your next appointment,” the doctor replied flatly, barely glancing up from her notes.
“Right” Emily murmured before hurrying out into the corridor and then onto the street.
She had to make sense of the news. Deep down, shed suspected the cause of her fatigue, but until the ultrasound and blood tests confirmed it, she hadnt dared believe it.
Emily was forty-four. Shed grown up in a large family, the eldest of five. Her parents often relied on her to watch the younger ones. It wasnt an unhappy childhood, but too often, while her friends were out having fun, Emily was stuck at homehelping her brother William with homework, fetching her twin sisters, Lily and Daisy, from nursery, or cooking dinner.
By her twenties, shed sworn: one child, no more. Her husband, James, felt the same. A year after their wedding, their daughter Charlotte was born. Emily was twenty-eight then; James, thirty-two. Charlotte would be their only childEmily had had enough of raising kids. Now it was time to live for herself.
Charlotte was seventeen now, in her final year of school, doing well. She was a good kidsometimes asking for a new phone, clothes, or makeup, but never causing real trouble. Life had settled into a comfortable rhythm. James worked as a department head at a construction firm. Emily was an accountant at a local company. Charlotte had her cheerleading competitions, school, and friends. Weekends were for lazy brunches, occasional tripseverything predictable, easy.
Now, sitting on a bench outside the hospital, Emily tried to process it. She was pregnant. Three weeks along. James didnt know. Neither did Charlotte.
Her mind racedexhaustion, sleepless nights, gossip at work. “Forty-four and pregnant? Shell be a laughingstock!” And her friend Sarah would just roll her eyes
Her dark thoughts were interrupted by Charlottes call.
“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. Ill be back soon. Heat up some lunch, alright?” Emily kept her voice steady, but her chest was tight.
“Fine. Bring me something too?” Charlotte chirped.
“Of course” Emily forced a laugh, though it sounded strained.
She hung up, sighed, and glanced around. More worries swirledanother child meant more expenses. A pram, cot, clothes When Charlotte was born, prices werent so steep. Things had been simpler then. Or maybe youth had made it seem that way.
She exhaled heavily. She should be happy. But all she felt was dread. Too many “buts”her age, the judgment, the upheaval. She didnt want to leave her comfort zone, didnt want to drag her family into this.
She had to act. Since shed lied about the shopping centre, she might as well go there.
That evening, she tried to act normal despite the nausea.
“Em, you alright? You look wrecked for someone who had the day off,” James joked.
“Just a headache.”
She waited until Charlotte was out with friends before breaking the news.
“James I saw the doctor today. Im pregnant.” She watched his face carefully.
“Bloody hell, Em! I thought you were ill!” He laughed, then paused. “Youre sure?”
“Positive. They did a scan.”
“Blimey. So Im going to be a dad again? Brilliant!”
“Yeah.”
“Boy or girl?”
“Too early.”
“Then why the long face? Everything alright?”
“Physically, yes. But James were not twenty anymore. What will people say? And Charlottehow do we tell her?”
“Who cares what people think? Our parents will be thrilled, Charlottes nearly grown, and if anyone at work gossips, its just envy!” He hugged her, beaming.
Part of her was relieved. But doubts gnawedher age, Charlottes reaction. A baby meant sleepless nights, less freedom. Their two-bedroom flat would feel smaller. And with Charlottes A-levels next year, tutors, university applications
Later, she tried again.
“James are we really ready for this?”
“Why wouldnt we be?”
“Think about it. No more lie-ins, no spontaneous trips. Night feeds, nappies And what if somethings wrong?” Her voice cracked.
James was silent for a moment. She wondered if he, too, pictured himself exhausted in stained joggers.
“Em, dont be daft. Were only forty-four! The Harrises had their second at forty-eight! And lookRobs never been happier.”
“Thats them.”
“Honestly, love, youre just hormonal. Remember when I climbed next doors fence for apples when you were pregnant with Charlotte?” He grinned.
She laughed, wiping her eyes. “I remember.”
“Good times,” he murmured, holding her.
The next morning, they told Charlotte over breakfast.
“Char, how about a little brother or sister?” James asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Dont tell me youre actually having another.”
“We are. Mums pregnant.”
“Youve lost it! Im going to school.” She stormed out.
“Charlotte! Come back!” James called, but the door slammed.
“Maybe this was a mistake,” Emily whispered.
“Dont worry. Shell come round.”
All day, Emily was on edge. That evening, bracing for another argument, she heard Charlottes voice.
“Mum, wait.”
“Char? I thought you had practice.”
“Coach cancelled. Mum is it true?”
“Yes. I didnt plan this. Im not even sure”
“Dont be. Ill be off to uni soon. You and Dad will need something to do.”
“Sweetheart” Emily hugged her, tears falling.
“Im sorry.”
“Dont be. Lets go home.”
There were awkward conversations at work, tough weeks of morning sickness, a rough deliverybut it passed.
*****
Months later, Emily and James strolled with the pram.
“Asleep?” James asked.
“Out cold,” Emily whispered, peeking in.
“Em Im so glad we have Oliver. If youd told me two years ago Id be a dad again, Id have laughed.”
“Thank you, James.”
“Me? You did the hard part.”
“No, you were wiser. I doubted everything.”
“I did too. I imagined our lives ruined. But now? Ive never been happier. A sonits all I didnt know I wanted.”
“Our son,” she corrected.
Charlotte, back from college, joined them.
“He asleep?”
“Like a log,” they said in unison.
“Ill walk with you. Dont fancy being home alone.” She took the pram handle.
They walked together, knowing they were a familyand that, somehow, everything would be alright.
**Sometimes, the best things come when we least expect them.**
