The Truth About Ever After (Three Girls)

by Rachel Schurig

  “Eric, will you please lower your vice,” I said looking over my shoulder. “She’ll hear you!”

  “Kiki, I couldn’t care less if she hears me. I’m going to wait in the car. Please tell her we’re done for the day.”

  And without another word, he stalked out of the house, leaving me alone in the kitchen. A moment later, I heard the front door shut—luckily, he had the manners not to slam it. I sighed, and headed upstairs, trying to think of some excuse to give Jen’s mom.

  Eric didn’t say much to me on the way home, but I could tell he was really angry. It scared me a little, only because it was so rare. Eric was always known as the laid-back one, the guy with the easy personality. Everyone always said it’s the reason we worked so well together—he tempered my over-excitement and I brought him out of his shell. When he did lose his temper, you knew he was really, really mad.

  Once we were back in the condo, he went straight to the kitchen to grab a beer. I followed him, feeling timid, and perched myself on one of the bar stools at the island.

  “I’m sorry,” I finally said. “We should have talked about a budget first.”

  “You’re right,” he said, his voice tight. “We should have.” He was quiet for a moment. “Kiki, were you planning to let your father buy us a house?”

  “No!” I said, feeling offended. I would never do something like that without talking to him.

  “Then where was the nine hundred thousand dollars gonna come from?”

  I squirmed on my seat. “Uh, I guess from my account.”

  “Your trust fund?”

  I nodded, watching him closely. He sighed, and closed his eyes.

  “What’s wrong with that?” I asked. “Eric, that money is for me, for my future. How does this family not fall under that?”

  “You should have talked to me about it,” he said. “I don’t want to start our family life in a house you paid for alone.”

  “Why? That makes no sense. When we got married we said what was mine was yours, and vice versa. That’s why we have the joint account.”

  “Yeah, which does not include your trust fund.”

  I frowned. He was right about that; my trust from my parents was in a separate account, at least the part of it that I had access to right now.

  “Kiki, we made that joint account with the intention of using it for our household stuff, our family stuff. That’s why we both have our pay put there. That account is what we’re supposed to use to pay for things for this family.”

  “I know,” I said quietly. “I guess I just figured buying a house would fall under the bigger picture category. And isn’t that what my trust is for?”

  “Kiki, when you said you wanted a house I assumed we were going to use our savings—our joint savings—for a down payment and then get a mortgage for the rest. That’s what people do.”

  I tried very hard not to roll my eyes. “Eric. Why on earth would we spend tens of thousands of dollars on interest for a mortgage that we don’t need?”

  He was quiet for a moment, clearly struggling with this.

  “You knew I had this money, Eric,” I continued, my voice soft. “You knew it when we got married, and it never bothered you.”

  “Of course it did.” He laughed once, a dry, humorless laugh, and I stared at him.

  “What?”

  “Kiki, of course it bothered me. You’re loaded, your parents are loaded. It’s completely unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It took me a while to be okay with it.”

  “How are you just telling me this now?” I whispered, feeling almost like he had slapped me. “We’ve been married for three years.”

  “Kiks, no,” he said, catching sight of my face. He came around the breakfast bar and took me in his arms. “I meant when we started dating. Way back at the beginning. Not once things got serious.”

  I still felt shaky. “You should have told me this before.”

  “We had just started seeing each other,” he said, shrugging. “It seemed like a weird thing to bring up. Besides, by the time we got serious I had come to terms with it.”

  “But why is it a big deal now?” I asked, feeling like I wanted to cry. At that moment, I hated the fact that I had a trust fund. All that the money had ever done was cause people to treat me differently. It had always been that way.

  “Maybe because you just tried to buy a nine hundred thousand dollar house without talking to me about it?” He looked down at me, the humor now returned to his face, and I felt a jolt of relief. He wasn’t angry anymore.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have talked about it with you. I just got…”

  “Excited?” he asked. “Whoever would have thought it, from you.” He grinned at me, to show he was teasing, and I smiled back.

  “Can we just forget about the house for now?” he asked. “Kiki, we have this great condo, which, due to the kindness of your parents, we don’t have to pay rent for. Which gives us the perfect opportunity to start saving for a down payment.” He paused and his face turned serious. “For a much more reasonable amount of money.”

  “Okay,” I said. “We can forget about the house for now. But I’m not giving up on the idea of using the trust for it, Eric. There’s just no reason to pay interest when we don’t have to.”

  “It’s a good point. Can we table it for now?” He leaned down and kissed me, pulling me flush against his body. “There’s something else I’d rather be doing right now.”

  “Oh?” I asked, my heart rate increasing. “What’s that?” He kissed me again, harder this time. “Oh,” I whispered. “That.”

  Suddenly, Eric swept me up in his arms, causing me to squeal. “You know,” he said, carrying me down the hall toward our bedroom. “There’s one bad thing about us never really fighting.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, breathless.

  He grinned, and tossed me on the bed, making me laugh. “Not nearly enough make-up sex.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I knew I got pregnant that night—I just knew it. I told Eric of my premonition but he simply rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, babe.”

  I decided to drop it, but I didn’t doubt myself, not even for a minute. I immediately went out and bought a pregnancy test, leaving it in my underwear drawer, ready for use as soon as I missed my period.

  And, just as I expected, two weeks later, I did. The box said I could take the test the first day after a missed period, but I somehow managed to hold out for an entire week—I really wanted to be sure before I told Eric. Finally, on a Saturday morning in January, I woke up early, leaving Eric sleeping in bed, and headed into the bathroom, ready to have my suspicion confirmed.

  Five minutes later, I ran back into the bedroom, jumping on the bed next to Eric. He mumbled in his sleep and rolled over, but I would not be deterred. “Eric,” I whispered, leaning over him. “Wake up, baby.”

  “Kiki,” he groaned. “What time is it?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I said, lining soft kisses across his jaw. “Come on, babe, wake up.”

  He finally opened his eyes, looking at me blearily. “Morning,” he mumbled before closing his eyes again.

  “Morning, Papa,” I said, kissing him one more time. I sat up on my knees, waiting for my words to sink in. It didn’t take long.

  “What did you say?” he asked, his eyes snapping open.

  I grinned. A face-splitting, uncontrollable grin. “I said good morning, Papa.”

  “Kiki,” he whispered. “What are…are you—?”

  “I’m pregnant!” I squealed, grabbing his hands. “I just took a test; we’re having a baby!”

  Eric just stared at me for a moment. Suddenly he sat up straight, pulling me into his lap and burying his face in my shoulder. I laughed gleefully at his reaction. “Are you happy?”

  He lifted his head and looked right at me, holding my face with both his hands. “Of course I’m happy,” he said, his face alight. “Oh my God, Kiki. Is this for real?”

  I felt
like my heart was going to burst with happiness. “It’s real,” I whispered, feeling my eyes start to fill with tears—the happiest tears I’d ever known. “We’re having a baby.”

  ***

  Eric and I decided to wait a while before telling people. I was only just pregnant, and it seemed prudent to at least get a few weeks under my belt before we shared the news. In theory, it was smart. In practice, it was much harder.

  “I told my mom,” I said to Eric the next day. I had gone out shopping with my mother that morning and I couldn’t help myself—I’d told her within minutes of getting in the car. Her reaction had been priceless, crying and laughing and screaming at the same time. This from a woman who made a career of being in control of herself at all times.

  Eric snorted. “I fully expected you to,” he said, taking my sweater and kissing me. “Was she happy?”

  “Very,” I told him, slipping out of my shoes and smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her like that.”

  “Come and sit down,” Eric said. “I’ll get you some tea.”

  I managed not to roll my eyes at his retreating back. Since I had told him the news yesterday Eric had been treating me like I was a highly breakable doll. He had been following me around the house, asking me if I needed anything, and had insisted I sit with my feet up for most of the previous evening. It was cute that he was so concerned—but I knew I was going to have to put a stop to it soon. No way could I take nine months of this.

  I flopped down on the couch. It did feel good to sit. One thing I was noticing was that my feet were getting sore a lot quicker. I wasn’t sure if this was really a pregnancy symptom (did you even have symptoms at this stage?) or if it was in my head. I wondered if I was going to have to start wearing flat shoes soon. I hoped not.

  “So, what’d you guys shop for?” Eric asked, handing me a warm mug of tea and sitting beside me, pulling my feet up into his lap.

  I ducked my head a little, and Eric laughed. “Let me guess: baby stuff?”

  “We couldn’t help it!” I said, laughing. “We were so excited!”

  “Did you buy anything?”

  “No, we actually spent most of our time looking at nursery stuff.”

  “Nursery stuff, eh? Like cribs?”

  I felt a surge of excitement. “Cribs, and changing tables, and the sweetest bedding. Oh, Eric, I can’t wait to pick out a theme and colors. Do you think we should find out the sex of the baby? I mean, it would be so fun to be surprised. But for all the planning, oh, it would be nice to know. Because I don’t really like yellow, and they had the cutest girl stuff—”

  “Kiki,” Eric said, grabbing my hands. “Chill, babe. We have plenty of time to talk about all of that.”

  I sighed and leaned back into the cushions. “I know,” I said. “It’s just so exciting.”

  “You’re right,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “It’s very exciting. But I don’t want you to getting too worked up. You’re supposed to be taking it easy, you know?”

  “Eric, pregnant women aren’t totally fragile. We can pretty much do everything just the same as always.”

  He frowned a little. “That’s precious cargo you’re carrying there. I just want to make sure you’re both healthy.” He reached a hand down and spread it over my tummy. The simple motion brought a rush of warmth to my chest. He could be so sweet, my husband.

  “What do you want it to be?” I whispered, placing my hand over his. “Boy or girl?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, rubbing my skin through the thin fabric of my t-shirt. “Guess it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s healthy.” He looked up at me and grinned. “Bet you want a girl. So you can go nuts with the pink and the glittery stuff.”

  “A girl would be fun,” I agreed. “But so would a boy.” I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder. “I can picture you with a boy. A blond little thing just like you. Running around the yard playing with a ball.”

  “I’d teach him to be a baseball player,” Eric said. “None of that hockey junk like his Uncle Matt.”

  “I can’t wait to tell Jen and Matt,” I said. “Oh, wouldn’t it be awesome if they got pregnant soon too? Then the cousins could grow up together.”

  “That would be pretty cool,” he agreed. “It was great being so close in age with Jeff. Especially when we were kids.”

  “Did Matty play with you guys?” I asked, picturing a little towheaded Eric running around his parents’ house.

  “Sometimes, when we were younger. He usually bossed us around. He always wanted to pretend he was a police officer and we had to take turns being the bad guy and the girl he rescued.”

  I burst into laughter. “What a mean big brother.”

  “You’re telling me.” But I could hear the smile in his voice.

  “I hope we have at least two kids,” I said, thinking of how many times I had wished for a baby sister to play with. “I don’t want our baby to be an only child.”

  “At least two,” he agreed.

  ***

  When it was finally time for my first pre-natal visit, I was so excited I could barely sit still in the car.

  “You’re doing that jumping thing, Kiki,” Eric said, a warning note in his voice. “We’ve talked about the jumping thing.”

  “I can’t help it!” I squealed, not caring one bit that I had once promised him I would refrain from jumping around “like a puppy” when I was in his car—not that it was something I did regularly, or anything. “Eric, do you understand that we might get to hear the heartbeat today? Do you know how awesome that will be?”

  He reached over to take my hand, brushing his fingers across my palm. The action had the effect of calming me, which I’m sure was his intention. “It would be really cool. But you know it’s still really early and they might not be able to show us yet. The baby book said you can’t always hear a heartbeat at ten weeks. Don’t go getting all disappointed.”

  I rolled my eyes. Eric just had no idea. Nothing about this baby could make me feel disappointed. If we couldn’t hear the heartbeat today, it would just be something else to look forward to.

  We arrived at the doctor’s office right on time for our appointment. Eric had driven at a snail’s pace, a practice he had picked up whenever I was in the car in the weeks since I had taken the pregnancy test, and we only just made it to the appointment in time.

  A very nice nurse led us back to an exam room where I was instructed to put on a paper dress and lay on the exam table. Eric helped me up and we waited in silence for a few moments.

  “This is weird,” he finally said, his voice low.

  “Why are you whispering?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he whispered back. “I feel like I’m in the library or something.”

  I snorted and the doctor entered the room before I could respond. “Mr. and Mrs. Thompson,” she said warmly, holding out her hand for us each in turn. “So good to meet you.”

  Dr. Bishop didn’t waste much time with chitchat, instead jumping right into her list of questions. How far along did I think I was? What was my diet like? Any morning sickness? Did I drink, smoke, take mind-altering drugs?

  When she was finished she instructed me to lie back on the table.

  “We’ll do an ultrasound now,” she said, “which will allow us to get some measurements and give you a better idea of your due date.” She smiled at me again. “And we might be able to hear the heartbeat, though it sounds like it’s probably early.”

  Eric held my hand as the doctor squirted some goo on my belly and began to move the ultrasound wand around. I stared at the static on the screen, mentally urging it to turn into something I could recognize.

  “Ah,” Dr. Bishop said suddenly. “I think we do have a heartbeat.”

  She turned a knob on the screen and a steady, rapid pulsing noise suddenly filled the room. “Oh, my,” I whispered, immediately feeling tears in my eyes. “Wow.”

  “That’s pretty awesome,” Eric said, his
voice sounding a little shaky. I wondered if he was freaking out, but I couldn’t seem stop looking at the screen long enough to check.

  “Everything looks pretty good,” Dr. Bishop said. “I’m going to put your due date at September tenth. It’s really important that you stick to your diet now, and don’t forget to keep taking your folic acid. I have a list of things you can try for the nausea. And you can always call us if you have any concerns.”

  I hoped Eric was paying attention to what she was saying, because I was having a hard time focusing on anything except for the little blob on the monitor. We were having a baby. Like, for real. That little smudge right there was going to grow and grow until I was holding it in my arms.

  “Any questions?”

  I finally managed to tear my eyes away from the screen. The doctor gave me a knowing smile. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  “Yeah.” I sniffed a little. “Really cool.”

  “I want to see you again in six weeks,” she said, writing something on a piece of paper. “You can get dressed and take this out to reception.”

  She shook our hands once more and left the room, leaving Eric and me alone.

  We were silent for a moment, just staring at each other. Eric’s eyes were wide with some emotion I couldn’t quite place.

  “You doing okay there, Papa?’ I asked.

  “Yeah,” he breathed. “I mean, that was crazy, right? Awesome, but crazy.”

  I laughed a little. “Yeah, pretty crazy. It’s hard to believe…”

  “That it’s real? That’s what I kept thinking. That’s our baby.”

  “I know,” I sad, reaching out and grabbing his hand. “I can’t believe it.”

  Suddenly he leaned over to kiss me. “Let’s get out of here,” he said against my mouth. “I want to go celebrate.”

  I laughed at his eagerness. “Okay,” I said, sitting up and reaching for my shirt. “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Something. Anything. We need to, like, honor this occasion.”

  I tried to hide my grin as I bent to do the buttons on my shirt. Eric, talking about the need to honor occasions? He must be more affected by this pregnancy than I had realized.