Epiphany (24 page)

Taking Mira in my arms as “Here and Now” by Luther Vandross plays on the speakers,
I softly sing the words in her ear while she plays with my hair.

“You know that this isn’t it, right? I sprung this wedding on you because I wanted
you to know exactly what you mean to me. If you want the whole shebang, we can do
it. I just couldn’t wait another minute for you to be my wife.” I didn’t even think
that she would be missing out on all those things girls dream of doing before they
get married. Feeling like a jackass, I pull her tighter, slowly swaying to the music.

“This is the most perfect wedding I could have ever imagined. Yeah, I won’t get to
do some of the things I thought I always wanted to, but watching Kylee plan her own
wedding, I’m glad I won’t have to deal with the stress. It’s just you and me, Mr.
McBride.”

“Well, Mrs. McBride, what do you say we get out of here and pretend we’re on a deserted
island somewhere celebrating our honeymoon?”

“Let’s go home,” she whispers, pulling my hair gently, letting me know she needs me
just as much as I need her.

We try to sneak out of the makeshift reception, but we’re caught before we actually
get out of the quad. Jacoby tracks us down, wanting to hold a conversation when all
I want to do is have sex with my wife.

My wife.
I can get used to this.

“Hey, guys. I wanted to make sure you got your gift before you took off,” he says.
Kylee walks up next to him, holding onto his waist and him kissing her head.

“You didn’t have to. We’re just happy you guys are here. It wouldn’t have been the
same,” Mira says, accepting the card Jacoby’s handing her.
Another plus to not having an actual wedding—no need to return six toaster ovens and
place settings.
I might be a genius.

Mira fingers open the envelope, pulling out a card. Reading the front, she opens
it and a business card falls out.

“Oh, here.
You must have put this in here by accident,” Mira says, trying to hand it back to
him. From here it looks like some kind of appointment reminder for a doctor visit
or something.

“Nope, that’s for you.” Mira cocks her head to the side, looking at the business
listed. Her jaw lax, she fumbles for words. Taking it from her hands, I recognize
the name as well.

“Why do you have this?” I ask, angry he would think to bring this up to Mira tonight
of all nights. I finally have her in a wonderful mood, and he’s going to go and ruin
it.

“Mira has an appointment next week to begin her fertility treatments,” Jacoby says
flatly, like we should have known and not questioned him.

“I don’t understand,” Mira mutters, looking between Jacoby and Kylee, who shrugs her
shoulders, not knowing what he’s up to, either.

“Listen. Mira, I adore you. Not just because you’re my future bride’s best friend,
but because you’ve always been real with me. I want nothing more than to help you
achieve every dream you have, professionally and personally. If all that’s standing
in your way of having a baby is money, I have enough of that to share. And that’s
what I’m doing. My wedding present to you and Skylar is paying for this round, and
any additional round, of in vitro. You will get your baby, Mira. I told you earlier,
you’re going to make an excellent mother, and I want to be around to witness it.”

It would appear Mira’s knees give out and she slinks to the ground, clutching her
stomach, crying. I follow her down, cradling her protectively in my arms and I rock
her gently. “Are you okay, Sweets?”

“This is the best day of my entire life. I don’t want to go to bed. I’m scared it’s
all going to be a dream and none of this actually happened. You guys are the absolute
best and I’m so lucky. God, I’m so fucking lucky,” she laughs, taking Jacoby’s hand
to stand up and hug him.

“Where did Danny go? I wanna tell him the news,” Mira says, scanning the guests still
by the picnic table, unable to locate Danny.

“He had to rush back to the airport. His flight is in about an hour. I told him
to stay the night, but he wanted to get home to Maddie.”

Mira raises a brow, pursing her lips, “Maddie, huh? Don’t know why I didn’t see what
one coming.” Giggling, Mira and Kylee dance around the quad, when Kylee suddenly
stops, running up to Jacoby.

“Marry me,” she says out of breath.

“Set a date,” he responds sarcastically.

“Right now.”
Jacoby searches her face.

“Pastor Mike, wait a minute.
Got another wedding for you!” Jacoby yells, grabbing Kylee’s hand and dragging her
back to the altar.

Mira and I look at each other, rolling our eyes, knowing we’re not going home any
time soon. Walking back to the gazebo, we take our places—Mira to the left of Kylee
and me to the right of Jacoby. It looks like we’re not going to have our own anniversary.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Mira

Over the next six weeks, my life is pretty much insane. Taking daily injections of
fertility drugs does mean things to a woman’s body. I’m pretty much having the same
mood changes as if I were pregnant without actually carrying a baby. I thought this
would be simple, but no, it’s not—not even close.

The beginning of May, Skylar and I go to the clinic for the doctor to retrieve my
eggs and Skylar’s sperm. I’m beginning to think this entire procedure is a little
archaic. While I’m having a minor, non-invasive surgery to get my eggs, Skylar gets
an orgasm out of his end of the deal. I wouldn’t mind an orgasm right about now.
It’s been weeks. The whole being pumped full of drugs to make me ovulate and having
sex don’t mix, according to the doctor, anyway.

We followed the rules, no matter how difficult. Skylar, my sweet husband, even vowed
to not masturbate because I couldn’t have sex. One thing’s for sure. When we leave
here today, we’re probably not going to make it out of the parking lot before I molest
him. I doubt he’s going to put up much of a fight, either.

Once our business at the clinic is handled, I hold true to my thoughts and rock his
world in a park near the doctor’s office. Not wasting time to get out of the car
and get in the backseat, I screw his brains out right in the driver’s seat. For those
of
you
who want to try it, make sure the seat is pushed back as far as it goes. There’s
no worse feeling than a steering wheel obstructing you from grinding—it’s quite frustrating
actually.

Three days later, Skylar and I meet Jacoby and Kylee at the same office for her to
be inseminated with our fertilized embryo. My nerves are beyond shot. I just want
everything to work and not have to do another round. Honestly, I won’t let Jacoby
pay for more of this. He’s given us a twenty thousand dollar wedding gift. I know
he has money, but shit.

The doctor takes Kylee back, only allowing one other person and of course I defer
to Jacoby. She’s going to want her husband, anyway. How fucking crazy is it that
Kylee and I are both married? I still can’t believe it. For those of you who were
thinking it was a dream like I was, you’re wrong, too. This is very much real life
and I couldn’t be happier.

After an hour or so, Kylee and Jacoby come walking out from the back, Kylee smiling.
“Did it work?” I ask, needing to know every aspect of this process.

“He said we won’t know for a few weeks. It only took a few minutes for him to put
the embryo inside my uterus. I had to wait a while; the doctor said it would be best.
Now, we just wait for it to attach to my uterine wall and have a positive pregnancy
test.”

“So we just go home and wait?” Patience is not a virtue that I possess. I’m more
of an instant gratification kind of girl.

“Yep,” she answers nonchalantly.

Alright, it looks like the waiting game is on.

I spend the next two weeks, finding every possible way to keep myself busy so I don’t
concentrate on the fact that Kylee very well may be pregnant with my baby. Working
longer than usual hours, date nights with Skylar, joining him at the club house, and
cleaning only fill the hours when I’m awake. It’s the times where I lie in bed, trying
to fall asleep, where all my wildest dreams play out in my head.

At the fourteen day mark, Kylee and Jacoby come over to our apartment for dinner.
Kylee barely makes it in the door before I’m ushering her to the bathroom with every
kind of pregnancy test I could by.

“Whoa whoa, hold on a second, baby girl,” she says, sitting on the closed toilet seat.

“Why are you just sitting there? Here, pee on this.” I shove one of many tests in
her hand, but she doesn’t take it. She’s also refusing to make eye contact with me.
Oh fuck, this is bad.

“Kylee, talk to me,” I beg, sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

“Mira,” she whispers, a tear falling from her eye, streaming the entire way down her
cheek.

“It’s okay. We tried.
Everything for a reason, right?”
I know what she’s not telling me. She already checked and isn’t pregnant. I shouldn’t
have gotten my hopes up, I should have waited. I couldn’t help it, though. Everything
seemed so perfect.

“Let’s go eat dinner,” I say, the sadness apparent in my voice.

Kylee stands, putting her purse on the vanity and turns on the water.
When she’s done washing her hands, she reaches into her purse, pulling out something
wrapped in a napkin.

“I couldn’t wait. I wanted to tell you,” she says, handing me whatever she’s holding.
“Open it.”

Taking her directive, I unfold the napkin, only to see a pregnancy test. I hand it
over to her, not wanting her to think I wouldn’t believe her. She wouldn’t do that
to me. “Kylee, you don’t have to prove you’re not pregnant. I know you wouldn’t
lie to me like that.”

“But what if I want to prove I
am
pregnant,” she says, raising a brow and handing the test back to me.

“You’re pregnant!” I scream, turning the stick over to reveal two little blue lines,
indicating she is with child.
“Oh my God, Kylee.
You’re pregnant. It worked. I’m going to have a baby.”

“Yeah.
I wanted to surprise you. I’m having your baby,” she says.

“Skylar!
Get in here!”

Moments later, Skylar and Jacoby come bounding into the bathroom that’s barely big
enough for one, let alone four. Gripping my shoulders, he turns me around. Glancing
down, he sees the stick and his eyes fill with tears that match mine.

“We’re having a baby,” he whispers, kissing me a little too passionately in a bathroom
with my best friend and her husband.

“I’ll go open a bottle of champagne,” Jacoby says. Kylee and I both turn toward him
wearing scowls.

“You can open a bottle of sparking juice, no booze for my baby mama.” Squeezing Kylee’s
hand, she rolls her eyes, probably already regretting being my baby oven.

*****

“These pants don’t fucking fit,” Kylee fusses, throwing another pair of jeans across
the room.

“Ky, you’re pregnant. Let me buy you some maternity clothes,” I say, trying to cheer
her up with shopping, but that only pisses her off more.

“I’m only sixteen weeks. I shouldn’t need maternity clothes yet. I’m just getting
fat. Look at my ass, it’s fucking huge. Huger than huge, it’s giant,” she whines,
shoving her legs into a pair of leggings and pulling a baggy tee shirt over her head.

“You’re beautiful. Don’t forget it. Now, hurry your ass up, Skylar and Jacoby are
meeting us at the ultrasound clinic. They can’t get started until you show up, mama.”

The first few weeks weren’t as bad as this. She had that pregnant glow about her,
always showing off the tiny baby bump that appeared around ten weeks. Now that she’s
really showing, she’s not happy. For someone who’s relied on her outward appearance,
I should have thought this wouldn’t be easy for her—gaining weight and getting a bigger
ass—she’s got to be freaking out.

Sometimes I feel guilty, wanting her to be happy, but then she reminds me that she
loves me and she’s more than happy to be the temporary home for my baby burrito inside
of her. I can’t say that I’m exactly excited she gets to experience all the things
I’ll never be able to, but it’s nice to be able to share these memories with her and
she doesn’t shut me out.

“I’m coming. They better remember I’m the star of this show and nobody’s gonna be
happy if they piss me off.” Kylee waddles out of her bedroom, down the hall and into
my car.

When we finally arrive, they rush Kylee and me back to the ultrasound room where Jacoby
and Skylar have been waiting for twenty minutes or so.

“It’s so nice of you to make it, Kylee,” Skylar sneers, only to be met with a grimace
that’s sure to give me nightmares. Rule one—don’t fuck with the pregnant lady.

The tech comes into the room, kills the lights and gets straight to work. Putting
the jelly on Kylee’s belly, he starts playing with the buttons and suddenly the heartbeat
of my baby is heard loud and clear by everyone in the room.

“140, looks good,” the tech says, taking notes on his chart. “Do you want to know
the baby’s gender?” he asks.

Looking at Skylar who’s nodding his head rapidly, I guess I know my answer. “Can
we find out this early? I thought you couldn’t tell until twenty weeks.”

“Well, Mrs. McBride,
I
know the gender, the question is, do
you
want to know?” It’s great that this clinic knows our situation, and directs all
questions like this to me and Skylar. It’s kind of like I’m an active participant.

“Yes, we’d like to know.”

Printing a picture of the baby’s profile, the tech hands it to me and Skylar. When
we both look at the baby, who, by his advice, looks perfectly healthy,
tears brim my eyes and I look to the ultrasound tech to tell us if we’re having a
boy or girl.