Flynn

“How’s the packing coming along in there?” I paused in the narrow hallway of our city apartment, craning my neck to try to see my wife in the bedroom, where she was supposed to be filling the multitude of cardboard boxes that crowded the space.

“Um, what?” Her voice floated out to me. “Sorry, I got a little, ah, distracted.”

“Oh, babe.” I set down the pile of bags I’d been carrying and maneuvered my way into the bedroom. “Did you start reading your books instead of just putting them into the boxes? You know that way lies madness.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

I followed the sound of her words and found Ali sitting in a corner, surrounded by sweaters and jeans. When she spotted me, she shoved something small behind her back and lifted her face to me.

“What was that?” I rested my elbow on the top of a box tower. “And why do you have a guilty look on your face?”

“I do not have a guilty look on my face. You just surprised me. I thought you were taking those bags of donations down to the car so you could drop them off when you pick up dinner.”

“I was, but then you sounded weird when I passed by, so I stopped to check on you. What’s going on?”

“Nothing is going on. I mean, besides packing. Because that’s what I’m doing. Packing.” She patted the sweaters. “See? Packing.”

“Uh huh.” I nodded, watching her. “Ali, baby, how long have I known you?”

“Ummm . . .” She screwed up her face adorably, her eyebrows drawing together. “Let’s see. Sixteen years?”

“Yeah, about that long. And do you not think I can tell when you’re keeping a secret from me?” I tapped my fingers on the box. “‘Fess up. What are you hiding?”

“Flynn.” Ali gazed up at me, her eyes wide. “When we found each other again, after I told you about Bridget, we promised no more secrets. I wouldn’t break that vow.”

“Okay. Yeah, I know that. But you just seem . . . weird.” I shrugged. “If you’re sure you’re okay, I’ll go grab us some sushi.”

“Sushi?” Her voice rose. “That’s what you’re getting us for dinner?”

“Yeah. Remember? We talked about it this morning. You said since this is our last night in the city for six months, you wanted to have something that we can’t get in Burton.”

“Oh . . . well, you know, that was this morning. Now that it’s dinner time, I think I feel like something else.” Ali stuffed a few pairs of jeans into a box. “Maybe a burger or something. Or how about a couple of salads from the deli on the corner?”

“I could do that. I was kind of in the mood for sushi, though. You sure you don’t want me to get us some?” There were a lot of benefits of living part of the year in our hometown. Getting good Asian food–especially sushi–wasn’t one of them.

“I just–I think–” Ali stammered for a moment, her cheeks going pink. “Oh, hell. I can’t do this.” She pointed to a small square of carpet that wasn’t covered with stuff. “Sit down a minute.”

“What’s wrong?” I dropped down and managed to fold my long legs into something resembling a pretzel.

“Listen.” Ali sat up straighter and took a deep breath. “I know we said we were going to wait until we’d been married a little longer–until we’d gotten used to the six months here, six months there schedule. And I know the timing isn’t great, with us going back down to Burton where I’m supposed to be working on the farm with Sam for the next few months.”

“The timing for what?” I was bewildered. “What does the farm and our schedule and everything else have anything to do with sushi?”

She laughed a little. “Sorry. Sometimes I forget that you weren’t around when I was pregnant with Bridget.”

“No, I wasn’t, but what does that . . .” I trailed off as suddenly the pieces fell together. “Oh, my God. Ali. Babe. Are you saying you’re–are we pregnant?”

She blinked at me, her eyes luminous. “I’m sorry. I know that we didn’t plan this–“

“Why are you apologizing?” I rose to my knees and reached to gather my wife to me. “Babe, this is the most incredible news. Are you okay? When did you find out? Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

“Wait a minute,” she said, breathless as she held onto me. “I’m fine. I found out about two minutes before you asked me how packing was going. So I actually did tell you right away, but I was thinking I’d wait until we got home to say anything–I don’t want to add to your stress right now.”

“This isn’t adding to our stress, sweetheart. This is ading to our joy.” I lowered my hand to touch her stomach. “And this time, I’ll be here for everything.” I brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “You know that I couldn’t love Bridget more than I do. But I’ll always regret that I wasn’t there for either of you back then. This time, I’m not going to miss anything.”

“I’m so relieved that you’re okay.” Ali looped her arms around my neck. “This is a good thing, right? We’ll make it work?”

“Of course, we will.” I chuckled. “I can’t wait to tell Bridge. She’s going to be so excited.”

“She’s wanted a little sister or brother forever. She’s going to freak out.” Ali sighed. “And your mom will, too. And Maureen–oh.” Some of her pleasure faded a little. “Meghan. This might be hard for her. You know, with what happened last summer.”

“She’ll be happy for us,” I assured her. “But maybe we should keep the news to ourselves for a little while. For the first few months, anyway. It’ll be kind of cool for us to be the only ones who know.”

“That’s probably a good idea. During the first trimester, sometimes people don’t say anything.” She nuzzled my neck. “Hey. you know, we didn’t take our bed down yet. Want to go celebrate this big news in a very special way?”

“Oh, baby.” I scooped her up into my arms and bent my head to kiss her. “You know what I like.”