Amelia watched the woman as she jabbed the needle into her arm. The lab tech attached one tube at a time until each of the three tubes were filled with Amelia’s blood.
“All done,” the lab tech said. “You’re free to go. Careful standing up, because you might get a little light-headed.”
Amelia took her time and stood while she leaned against the countertop. The lab tech had not lied – she felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. The lab tech placed her arm around Amelia and said, “Don’t worry, it won’t last that long.”
The technician assisted Amelia out into the hallway and handed her off to Zach, who had stood by the doorway the whole time to keep an eye on Amelia. “You have a fine young gentleman, Amelia,” the tech said and she smiled at Zach.
Amelia watched Zach’s face turn a bright shade of red. Zach looked at Amelia and smirked while he turned beet red. Amelia shook her head and grabbed his hand. She guided him out of the doctor’s office after she left a sample of her urine for the overly nice lab technician.
Chapter Twenty
“I’m so tired,” Amelia said. She put her purse down on the table and collapsed into the chair. “But I have to call my mom.”
Zach held a hand out for Amelia to help her out of the chair. “Then I suppose you better call her.”
Amelia sighed. “I should. Otherwise she’ll be worried if she doesn’t hear from me.”
Zach reached and helped her out of the chair. He planted his lips on her cheek and said, “I’ll be waiting for you in here.”
Amelia smiled. She broke away from the kiss and said, “A hot date or a snooze fest?”
Zach shrugged. “I’m up for either.”
She walked away from him and to the kitchen. She turned to face him in time to catch his gaze fixated on her as she moved. She laughed and slapped the air. “Stop looking at me like I’m a piece of meat.”
Zach tossed his head back and laughed. He raised an eyebrow. “A piece of meat? I was thinking more on the lines of my sweet and sexy fiancée.”
The tone in his voice sent chills through her. It sent her body into full attention mode. She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed the phone and dialed her mother’s phone number.
“Hello?” her mother answered the phone.
“Mom, it’s me,” Amelia answered.
“Amelia Jean, how’d your doctor appointment go today?” her mother asked with concern in her voice.
“It went great,” Amelia said with excitement in her voice. “We got to hear her heartbeat and see her.”
“Oh, how neat!” her mother exclaimed. “What’d the doctor tell you?”
“He had scheduled me for a bunch of random tests today,” Amelia informed her mother.
“What kind of tests?”
Amelia could hear the worry in her mother’s voice. Amelia knew it would not take much to get her mother to worry. “They drew blood and had me leave a urine sample,” Amelia explained. “They want to test me for gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and a few other things.”
She debated whether or not to tell her mother about the Down syndrome test.
“Are they testing for anything else?” her mother asked.
“Like what, Mom?” Amelia asked nervously. She really did not want to mention the blood test that would tell her and Zach whether or not their child had an extra chromosome.
“I thought I read somewhere in one of my magazines they’re testing for Down syndrome.”
Amelia felt weak and her stomach knotted. The thought of her mother worrying over nothing unsettled Amelia. “Yes, they drew blood for results on that today, too,” Amelia told her mother.
“Does the doctor think she’ll…?”
Amelia interrupted her mother. “No, Mom, Dr. Bohage says it’s a routine test they perform on all expecting mothers. I could have opted out of the test if I had wanted to.”
“You wanted the test done?” her mother asked with a shaky voice.
Amelia could tell her mother was holding back from crying. “Mom, of course I wanted it done.”
She could hear the hesitation from her mother’s end of the line. “But, why?”
“Mom, it’s nothing serious,” Amelia tried to explain to her mother. “It’s something routine and they test every pregnant woman and baby.”
“Do you think she’ll…?”
“No, Mom, I don’t.”
“Then why have the test done?”
Amelia waited for a minute and explained, “Honestly, I feel if there’s a chance she does have an extra chromosome, Zach and I should be prepared for it.”
Her mother hesitated once again. Amelia could tell her mother had doubts and was scared. Amelia had no idea how to help her mother understand that it was not as bad as it sounded. “What if she does?”
Amelia chuckled. “Mom, stop,” Amelia said. “There’s a very slim chance she will have the extra chromosome. Actually, Down syndrome is quite rare.”
“Will you let me know when the results come back, please?” her mother asked.
“I will, Mom,” Amelia promised. “But promise me something?”
“Anything, dear.”
“Please don’t worry about the baby,” Amelia pleaded.
“Okay, I won’t, dear,” her mother stated.
Amelia knew her mother would worry no matter what, but at least she could say she tried to get her to not worry.
“Okay, Mom, I have to go,” Amelia said. “I have a hot date with an amazing guy tonight.”
“Well, you two have a good time,” her mother said. “And don’t forget to call me when you find out those results.”
“Love you.”
“Love you too, dear.”
Amelia hung up the phone and hurried into the living room. Zach sat on the couch and patted the spot next to him. “I have an empty spot here that isn’t taken,” Zach said. “If you’d like?”
Amelia smiled and gently plopped down next to him on the couch. “How did I ever get so lucky to have you in my life?”
“I’d have to ask the same thing,” Zach said with a grin on his face.
Amelia playfully slapped his arm and said, “Hey, now, you better watch it.”
“Or what?” Zach asked as he leaned against her and kissed her on the side of her head. “What are you going to do about it?”
Amelia sat up on her knees and climbed over him. He allowed her to tackle him. She pinned him against the couch and kissed him. “I could do a lot of things,” she told him. “There’s nothing that can stop me now.” She tossed her head back and let out a playful evil laugh.
Zach wrestled to free his arms. Once his arms were free, he shifted his weight and tipped her backwards into the couch. He pinned her against the couch and left a trail of kisses over her body. “What was it you were saying?” Zach asked between kisses. Amelia tipped her head back and arched her body beneath him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Amelia pulled her calendar off the wall. She sprawled the calendar open on the table and sat down. She picked up a red pen and wrote Bai’s Wedding neatly in the square for October 26th. She wondered how the wedding would turn out if she wasn’t in it. She shook her head and scribbled a note to herself on the sticky pad next to her. Pick up wedding planner at store. Bailey had not mentioned if she had someone to plan the wedding for her. Amelia took it upon herself to make the arrangements.
She picked up the phone and called Bailey’s mother, Linda. After three rings, Linda answered, “Hello?”
She sounded rough, like she had not slept in days. Her voice seemed shaky and weak.
“Hi, Linda, it’s Amelia,” Amelia said into the phone.
Linda hesitated and said, “Oh, yes! Bailey’s friend!”
Amelia rolled her eyes and tapped her fingers on the table. It had not been too long ago that she and Bailey had visited Linda. Amelia wondered if Bailey’s assumptions were true about her mother with drinking again.
“What can I do for you?” Linda a
sked in a polite tone. To Amelia, she seemed a bit in a hurry. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, it is,” Amelia stated. “I was just wondering if you were planning the wedding, or if you needed help…”
“Wedding? What wedding?” Linda asked. “What wedding are you referring to, hon?”
Amelia swallowed down the nauseous feeling that had crept upon her. For some reason she thought she should have known Bailey would not have told her mother about their upcoming wedding. Amelia covered her eyes and shook her head. Leave it to me to mess things up. She stared at the calendar on the table. She knew it was not her place to tell Linda about her daughter’s upcoming event. She needed to figure out a way to bypass this conversation – and now.
“Amelia, hon,” Linda said through the phone. “What wedding are you talking about?”
Amelia inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly. “Bailey hasn’t told you?”
“She hasn’t told me anything, dear,” Linda confirmed Amelia’s suspicion. “Wait…is there something I should know about that she hasn’t told me yet?”
Amelia swallowed. Her stomach knotted and her palms were full of sweat. She needed to think of something, quickly. Why wasn’t anything coming to her to help her out of this hole she had somehow dug herself into? Then, like a light bulb that had clicked on inside her head, she blurted, “I can’t believe she hasn’t told you!”
“Amelia, will you cut to the chase and just tell me already?” Linda impatiently asked. Amelia envisioned Linda on the other end of the phone line – tapping her foot or smoking like a chimney as she paced back and forth in her living room.
“Zach and I are getting married!” Amelia announced. She had no idea baby brain was an actual thing. She hoped she had not sounded as stupid as she felt. She wondered why Bailey hadn’t told Linda about their upcoming wedding. She jotted a note to ask Bailey later.
“You are?!” Linda exclaimed. Her high pitched voice shrieked through the phone. Amelia held the phone away from her ear.
“Yes, we are,” Amelia stated. She found it strange Bailey hadn’t mentioned the wedding events to Linda. She would have to remember to ask Bailey about it soon. She looked at the note on the table with the scribbled note to ask Bailey. She circled and highlighted it.
“When’s the big day?” Linda asked.
“We haven’t set a date yet. When we do, I’ll let you know,” Amelia assured Linda. “I better get off of here and get some things done around the house.”
“Okay, thanks for calling,” Linda said.
Amelia hung up the phone and raced to the living room. She walked into the living room and looked at Zach. He was curled up on the couch with a blanket on his lap. He was sound asleep. Amelia wanted to wake him and tell him what had just happened, but decided to let him sleep.
She turned to walk back into the kitchen. She looked at the note she had left herself. “There goes the idea of having her mom help with planning Bai’s wedding,” she said as she picked up the phone and dialed Bailey’s phone number.
“Who can’t help with Bailey’s wedding?”
Amelia put the phone down in its receiver and turned around. She looked at Zach. He stood in the doorway with sleep in his eyes. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. Her arms barely fit around him because of her pregnant belly. She chuckled lightly as she looked down at her stomach. He placed a hand on her stomach and said, “She’s going to be like her mother.”
Amelia smiled. “Aww, that’s sweet of you to say.”
Zach smirked. “She’s going to be the center of attention, just like you.”
Amelia rolled her eyes and stepped out of his embrace. “Thanks a lot.”
Zach chuckled. He ran a hand through his hair as he let his gaze fall onto the calendar that sat on the table. “What are you doing with the calendar?”
Amelia pulled a chair away from the table and sat down. She watched Zach as he combed through the details she had wrote down for the month of October.
“October will be a busy month for us,” he mentioned.
Amelia nodded. “And look at this,” she said as she pointed at the dates of the wedding and the baby’s due date. “How am I going to pull that off? She wants me to be the maid of honor.”
Zach shook his head. “Does she know your due date is that week?”
Amelia shrugged. “I thought I had told her, but that’s beside the point.”
Zach’s gaze lifted from the calendar and studied her. “What’s the point that I’m missing?”
Amelia exaggerated a sigh. She moved from the chair and walked to the cupboard and to the refrigerator. She swung the door open in a dramatic fashion and poured herself a glass of milk. She steadied the full glass as she walked back to the table. She remained silent with as much focus on the milk as possible until she set it on the table.
“They shouldn’t have to choose a date that works for me,” Amelia said. “How is that fair to them?”
Zach chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “How am I supposed to know how any of this works?”
Amelia loved how innocent he acted. She watched him as he studied the calendar. “I can’t say ‘Hey, you guys are going to have to change the date of your wedding because there’s a chance I’ll be having this baby’”.
Zach laughed. “I know that, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could?”
Amelia sat back in the chair and crossed her arms on top of her pregnant stomach. It saddened her to think about missing her best friend’s wedding because she might be in labor.
Zach reached a hand across the table and landed it on top of hers. “Hey, let’s not worry about it. Let’s take one day at a time.”
Amelia nodded. “That’s easier said than done.”
Zach shrugged. “It may be, but what other choice do you have?”
Amelia shook her head. “I don’t have much of one.”
Zach rubbed his hands together and said, “So, who’s planning Bai’s wedding for her?”
Amelia raised an eyebrow. “You’re looking right at her.”
“You and who else?”
Amelia shrugged. “Definitely not her mom.”
Zach raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
Amelia pointed to the sticky note that edged the calendar. Zach’s eyes traced over the note and he looked up. “That’s why.”
“Her mother didn’t know about them getting married?” Zach asked. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, you better believe it. Her mom didn’t have a single clue,” Amelia told him. “I mentioned a wedding and she about had a nervous breakdown when she tried to figure out whose wedding I was talking about.”
“What’d you tell her?”
“Oh, you mean after I dug myself into a tiny hole? That, mind you, I had to quickly backfill?”
Zach laughed. He held up his hand and said, “I know, it’s not funny, but it really is. I’m sure you panicked. I wish I could’ve seen and heard that phone conversation.”
Amelia tossed a pen at him. It smacked his chest and fell into his lap. He picked it up and set it on the table. “It wouldn’t have been funny if Bailey found out I almost spilled the beans to her mother. That she obviously has tried so hard to keep a secret.”
Zach chuckled. “She can still find out.”
Amelia narrowed her eyes at Zach and glared at him. He held his hands up in front of him in defense. “Okay, I’m sorry. I won’t say anything like that again.”
Amelia nodded. “Good.”
“So, who’s going to help you plan her wedding?” Zach asked. He flipped through the calendar. “There’s only a few months left for them to figure it all out.”
Amelia nodded. “I wonder if she even knows who’s going to plan it for her,” Amelia said. “I wonder if she’s planning it herself.”
Zach shrugged. “You should ask her.”
Amelia nodded. She scooted off of her chair and said, “I was going to call her before you walked in here.”
Zach smiled. “Do you want me to get out of here?”
Amelia smacked the air. “You stay right where you are,” she said with a wink. “When I’m done on the phone with Bai, we need to discuss a few things of our own.”
Zach nodded and busied himself with a nearby magazine. He flipped through the pages while Amelia dialed Bailey’s phone number.
“Hello?” Bailey answered the phone.
“Hey, Bai,” Amelia greeted. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
Bailey laughed. “Don’t be silly. Of course you aren’t interrupting anything. What’s up?”
Amelia stretched the cord around the doorway and stretched across the table. She grabbed the calendar and her notepad with her pen. “I was wondering some things about your wedding.”
Bailey sighed into the phone. Amelia was not sure if it was a good sigh or an irritated sigh. “Amelia, what’d I tell you?” Bailey asked. Without waiting for a response, Bailey said, “I told you not to worry yourself over anything to do with my wedding.”
Amelia chuckled. “Well, as your best friend, and your maid of honor, I need to know who’s doing what and when.”
Bailey laughed. “You have no need to worry about all that.”
Amelia was confused. “Well, why not?”
“I have Benny’s mother taking care of the wedding stuff,” Bailey said. “She has plenty of time on her hands.”
Amelia leaned against the counter. She felt faint. She fanned her face with the notepad. “Bailey, I called your mom this morning.”
“You what?!” Bailey hollered into the phone. With panic in her voice, Bailey asked, “You didn’t say anything about my wedding did you?”
“Bai, I…”
Bailey interrupted Amelia. Her voice was full of disappointment and frustration. “I didn’t want her to find out. I wanted to surprise her with it this weekend.”
That answered some of Amelia’s questions. She had wondered why Bailey had not told her mother about the wedding. Now there was only one thing left to ask. “Why don’t you want your mom to help with the wedding?”
Bailey’s silence overwhelmed Amelia. Dread filled Amelia while she waited for Bailey to answer. They were best friends. Amelia should be able to ask her best friend anything. Besides, didn’t she have a right to know? She was the maid of honor.
Fair Chances (Fairshore Series Book 3) Page 12
