Twenty-One
Porter
I sat on the bathroom floor in front of her, my left leg extended straight while my good knee was bent up. I held three tests in my hand as Asher sat on the toilet in front of me.
“I can’t pee with you watching.”
“Just piss, Asher.”
She scowled down at me before grabbing the tests. To be completely positive, we—okay, so I—grabbed two different tests that gave lines in response, and another that clearly stated Pregnant or Not Pregnant.
“What if I don’t have enough pee?”
“Just pinch it off.”
That earned me a full glare and I couldn’t help but grin up at her.
“Close your eyes.”
I rolled them first before doing as she asked, resting my head back on the wall.
“You could probably plug your ears too.”
“Just pee.”
I heard her mumble under her breath a few seconds before the sound of the stream hitting the porcelain bowl filled the room. I heard the stream break and could picture her moving the tests under her.
I wasn’t dumb enough to think that now that the last hurdle was cleared, things were going to be golden and gravy between us. I still had the slightest of fears that she’d do her running act again.
But if she was pregnant…
Fuck, I wanted her to be pregnant.
“Okay,” she said, and I opened my eyes to catch her putting her leggings in place before flushing then stepping over my foot to wash her hands. “I can’t look at them.”
I pushed myself up to stand and reached for the tests.
One had a ticker on it, another we had to wait three minutes, and the third had a five-minute wait time.
The ticker one was already half way there.
“Come here,” I said, reaching for Asher’s hand and pulling her out of the bathroom. At our bed, I placed the tests down on my nightstand and sat against the headboard, bringing her between my legs. Asher’s back was to my chest as I wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m scared they’ll say I’m pregnant,” she admitted quietly.
“I’m scared they’ll say you’re not.”
My grip around her tightened when she tried to pull away. Instead, she turned her head to look at me. “You want them to be positive?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think the timing is all that great, no, but yeah. Yeah, I’d love for you to be pregnant.” It would certainly ease that last lingering fear of her leaving.
She took a deep breath. “You’re not scared? Of having a baby?”
I chuckled. “A little bit, yeah. But we were eventually going to get there, weren’t we?” We’d never talked about kids.
“I don’t know,” she said, her words soft.
“You’ll be an excellent mother, Asher,” I told her, reading between the lines. “You’re great with Cael’s kids, with Ella. The kids you take pictures of.” I squeezed her a little tighter. “And nothing you went through, will ever touch our kids.”
“Plural.”
Grinning, I pressed my lips to her temple. “Maybe one at a time.”
She sighed heavily, letting her breath out through tight lips. I could feel the energy rolling off her. “Okay. Check the one.”
I reached over the grab the ticker test.
“I’m going to be sick.”
My hand stopped mid-reach and I looked at her. “Seriously?”
Asher’s eyes were squeezed shut and I watched as she struggled to take deep breaths. Finally, she settled back into me. “Okay. I’m okay.”
I grabbed the test then and brought it in front of us.
This was the one that would spell it out in words.
I put the result panel against my palm, closing my fist over it before moving my hand in front of her again.
“Ready?”
Her breath hiccupped but she nodded. “Okay. Yeah. Alright.”
With my arms in front of her, I unfisted my hand and turned the test forward.
“Pregnant,” I whispered, emotion completely overtaking me in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
“Yeah?” Asher’s voice was watery and I looked down to see she’d closed her eyes.
“Open your eyes, beautiful.”
She did and again, her breath hitched as she saw the word in front of her. “Oh God.”
“It’s okay, baby.”
She nodded a few times and swallowed. “Okay. Alright. That’s one. Maybe it’s wrong. How much time do we have?”
“Thirty seconds.”
“Okay. Alright.”
I put the test down and wrapped one arm around her again, pressing her back into me. I could feel her heart pounding against her chest.
She really was terrified.
“We’ve got this, Asher. You and me? We’ve got it.”
She nodded again. “Okay. The next one.”
I kissed the back of her head before reaching for the three-minute test.
“Oh God,” she mumbled in front of me. “That’s two lines. That was pregnant, wasn’t it?”
I couldn’t help it, I grinned into the back of her head, nodding as my lips rubbed against her hair. “Yeah, baby. That’s positive.”
The next two minutes were long, but only because Asher dug her nails into my forearm.
Me, though? I was over the moon ecstatic. I didn’t need the third one to tell me what the other two did.
We were having a baby.
Asher had a little something of both of us, resting in her belly. I wanted to fucking cry, I was so damned excited.
“Ready?” I asked her when the last of the countdown ended. I reached for the third test.
“It says pregnant, doesn’t it?”
I pulled it in front of us and looked at it. It was the generic test and the directions weren’t as clear-cut as the other two, but…
“Yeah, Asher. It says we’re pregnant.”
“We’re having a baby.” Her voice dropped and while still ringing with nerves, I could hear a hint of wonder in her words.
“Yeah, Ash. We’re having a baby.”