“Jackson.”

“I like Jackson. Homage to Pollock, of course.”

“A drunken, lunatic womanizer?” Tina said.

“Ornot,” Bette amended, looking up from the vegetables she was chopping.

“Jarrett.”

“I don’t know. Jarrett. It’s kind of stiff, don’t you think? What could you shorten it to?”

“Bette. You found a way to shorten my name from four letters to one. I’m sure you’d come up with something,” Tina said, rolling her eyes.

“What’s next?”

“Jasper.”

“Our neighbors in Philly had a German shepherd named Jasper. He got hit by a car.”

“Nix on Jasper,” Tina said, turning her attention back to the book of baby names Bette had brought home.

“I can’t believe you haven’t given this any thought yet. Last time we” Bette stopped herself abruptly.

“Last time we what?” Tina asked.

“Last time we were talking about names almost right away,” Bette finished quietly.

“Come here,” Tina said.

Bette walked over to the kitchen table, stood in front of Tina’s chair and combed her fingers through the cool silk of her wife’s blonde hair.

“Last time we talked too much about some things and not enough about what we should have been discussing,” Tina said, leaning in to rest against Bette’s chest.

Bette kissed the top of Tina’s head. “So what should we be discussing now?”

“Let’s discuss how you’re feeling about suddenly having parenthood fall out of the sky and into your lap. I mean, I’ve had more than five months to get used to this idea. You’ve barely had five minutes,” Tina said.

Bette sat down at the table, picked up Tina’s hand, and laced their fingers together.

“You and I have been talking about a family forever. It’s not like this is completely unexpected. And it’s certainly not unwanted. A year ago we were doing everything humanly possible to get to this point.”

“But at what cost? I lost myself. We lost each other. And we lost the baby,” Tina said.

“Which is why we need to keep talking. About this. About everything. We can’t shut each other out again. We can’t retreat into neutral corners,” Bette said, squeezing Tina’s hand for emphasis.

“I just don’t want you to feel pushed or pressured or manipulated about this baby. I made the decision to get pregnant on my own while we were apart. I’ve always wanted to have children so that was the right decision for me. But if this is something you don’t want or are having reservations about”

“T. Before you and I got together, I’d never really considered being a mother. You know that.  I’d always loved kids, but I never met anyone I trusted enough to make that kind of commitment with. If you and I weren’t involved, it’s very likely that I’d never be a parent. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be. It means I don’t want to be with anyone but you,” Bette whispered, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

“You’re sure?” Tina asked.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my whole life,” Bette said, punctuating her point with a kiss.

“Okay,” Tina smiled.

“Okay,” Bette said, standing up. “So. Where were we?”

“Mmmmm. Jasper. Hit by a car.”

“Right. What’s next?”

“Jonah. Jonathan. Jordan. Joshua” Tina said, skimming through the Js.

“Wait. Go back.”

“Joshua? Like, Joshua won the battle of Jericho?”

“No. Jordan.”

“Jordan Kenter. Jordan Kenter,” Tina mused aloud.

“That’s a boy’s name?”

“It could go either way. There was a female character named Jordan in The Great Gatsby,” Tina said. “I think I actually like it better as a girl’s name.”

“Professor Jordan Kenter is our keynote speaker tonight,” Bette tried.

“Dr. Jordan Kenter, please report to the ER,” Tina offered.

“President Jordan Kenter will be meeting with the Prime Minister in the Oval Office,” Bette said.

“No pressure,” Tina soothed, rubbing her abdomen.

“Jordan, if you don’t clean up your room right now, young lady”

“Jordan Kenter. Let’s definitely put Jordan on the list.”

“And let’s definitely keep talking,” Bette said, holding Tina’s gaze.

“That’s already on the list,” Tina smiled.