“Is Kallie okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine. She’s watching cartoons,” Alice managed to say through her laughter. I was confused as hell until she handed me the pregnancy test thingy. I smiled when I saw the positive, but still couldn’t understand why she was on the floor laughing. “Are you gonna be okay?” I asked, wondering if maybe this wasn’t some weird side effect of pregnancy or something.

“Yeah,” she replied. “C’mere.” 

“On the floor?” I asked, dumbfounded. I’d just cleaned it, but still. It was a floor.

“Please?” she asked, looking up at me. That was all it took. I was on the floor in an instant, hugging her. Her joy was catching and pretty soon I was just as excited as she was.

The next few months were a whirlwind for me. After going that first morning to have everything confirmed, my life utterly revolved around Alice and making sure she was as comfortable as possible. At first it was no big deal. She still ate well and did her workout with me in the mornings, and we both started reading a ton on getting ready for the baby.

We didn’t want to know whether it was a girl or a boy, which threw Shane for a loop since she was the one helping with the nursery. “Are we doing green again?” she complained. “I wanted to make it either pink or blue.”

“Get your own baby then,” Alice snapped playfully. Shane just glared.

“Hire a decorator then,” she retorted, which made Jenny laugh. 

“Come on children, settle down!” I admonished them. That made all three of them laugh.

Eventually we decided on leaving the walls white and putting a wallpaper border with teddy bears on it, since it would work for either gender. It was mostly Jenny’s idea, but it wasn’t bad. While we were deciding, Alice went to the kitchen and made a huge plate of nachos with dill pickle slices. She came back as I was telling Shane that we could use Kallie’s old crib instead of her making a brand new one.

Jenny was the first to notice the nachos, and her eyes kept getting bigger as Alice approached, holding the plate out to Jenny. “Here, have some. They’re really good!” she exclaimed, her mouth full. I glanced at Shane, and she was mouthing the word “NO!” at me. I gave her a panicked shrug, having no idea what to do.