9. Marnie

Marnie

“An island?” Jolene blinks like she can’t believe what she’s hearing, and I giggle.

“It was his grand gesture to show me how much I mean to him.”

“That’s some gesture,” she says, digging into the ground with a hand shovel. She tells me we’re planting a sweet pea garden to give the front of their cabin a womanly touch.

“It was, and once I got over my surprise, I was really touched.” I hand her a pot of pink flowers. “It’s so beautiful there, Jolene. You and Gavin should go. Especially since you haven’t had a honeymoon yourselves.”

“I think we’d like that, thanks.” We smile and work together in comfortable quiet before she asks, “What’s it like being married to a billionaire?”

“Besides the extravagant honeymoon, it’s pretty normal. I mean, Danny doesn’t act like most wealthy people do—not that I have much to compare it with, but when you think about the rich people you see on TV, Danny doesn’t fit that. He’s down to earth, and he makes me feel I belong somewhere. I never had that before.”

Jolene releases a happy sigh. “Me either. Gavin makes me feel like I belong too.”

“You seem like you love being a mountain man’s wife.”

“I do. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but ever since my parents came up here and extended the olive branch, I’ve been feeling really at home. All the pieces have fallen together, you know?”

“I’m so happy for you, Jolene,” I say, leaning in to give her a hug.

“I’m happy for you too, Marnie. Who’d have thought two best friends would fall in love so fast and get married on the same day? Maybe one day we’ll have kids on the same day too.”

“Wouldn’t that be something?” I say, placing a hand on my stomach before doing a little math. “Come to think of it, I haven’t had a period since the wedding.”

Jolene gasps. “Me either.”

We stare at each other with wide eyes. “Holy shit!”

* * *

We leave the men behind,babbling about needing to go into town for supplies, when really, we’re rushing to the drugstore to get pregnancy tests. We buy one of every kind and take them all back to my apartment where we chug bottles of water and wait until we need to pee.

“Do you need to go yet?” Jolene asks, bouncing her knee as she reads the instructions on the box.

“Not yet? You?”

“I do,” she says, drawing the words out.

“Then why aren’t you going?”

“Because I’m afraid. What if I pass my problems onto my child? What if they get it worse than me?” Tears brim in her eyes.

“Oh, Jolene.” I drop on the carpet in front of her and take her hands in mine. “You are the most loving and caring person on this planet. You are going to love this baby no matter what, and Gavin will too. You deserve to have your dreams come true.”

She nods. “I really want to be a mom.”

“I know you do,” I say, giving her arm a squeeze. “So why don’t you go pee on that stick to find out?”

Taking a deep breath, she stands then makes her way into my bathroom. Only a couple of minutes pass until she’s out again, capped stick in hand. “It says to wait a few minutes,” she says. “So I thought you could pee on yours, and we’ll look at the same time.”

“OK.” With a test in hand, I go to pee, my heart beating wildly in my chest as I perform my ablutions then head back out to where Jolene is waiting for me with her test hidden under a Kleenex.

“I didn’t want to see accidentally,” she says, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear as she waits for me to sit across from her.

I grab myself a Kleenex too and place it over my test while we wait out the required amount of time. “Are you ready?” I ask.

Jolene nods. “As I’ll ever be.”

“One. Two. Three.” We both whisk the Kleenexes off the tests and stare at the little windows. My eyes go wide, Jolene makes a little squeak, then we look at each other.

“I’m pregnant.”