“Meg, I want you to know something,” he started.
“Yes,” she said.
“Regardless of whether or not you’re pregnant. Regardless of whether you keep or abort any child, I will stand by your decision,” he said.
Meg wrapped her arms around him. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you too,” Luc said holding her tight. “Gods I love you!” he thought. “And that was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever said to anyone.”
*
The trip down the mountain was quick. When they got to camp, they packed up in record time. They headed down the trail to the car. When they got there, they tossed the stuff in the back and hopped in. Luc drove to the radio chattering away. Meg was distracted, and he didn’t know if he should interrupt or just let her be. Finally, he couldn’t take it any more.
“Meg, what are you thinking?” he asked.
“Um… I’m trying to figure out if I’m pregnant, and how I got there on the pill. I’ve never forgotten it. Never skipped a pill. Ever. And then, my mind is going in about eighty directions. Do I keep it? Abort? Wait? Trying really hard not to panic too,” she said.
“Okay. Do you want to talk or just sit in silence?” he asked. He really felt out of his depth on this. “This is Ginny’s area of expertise,” he thought.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I never thought about having kids. Hell, I haven’t had a decent relationship except for you and …” she trailed off again.
Luc reached his hand out and took hers in his. He gave it a squeeze. She squeezed back. They drove the rest of the way home like that.
*
They stopped at the grocery store and Meg ran in to buy a pregnancy test. She was looking it over as she got into the car.
“It says that it might not test right if I’m not pregnant enough,” she said.
“Okay. Is that why they give you two?” he asked.
“Yeah. If the first one is negative, you’re suppose to wait a week and test again. Gods, I don’t know if I can take the stress,” she said. “Oh, and we have to wait until the morning to do it.”
“Huh?” Luc asked.
“It says to do it the first time you have to pee,” she said.
“Oh. Okay. Do you want to talk to Ginny?” he asked as they turned down the street to their house.
“Do you?” she asked.
“Yes!” he answered. “I’ve never felt so out of my depth in my life. Ginny has always been there when I didn’t have an answer, and I’ve been thinking about her all the way down the mountain,” he admitted.
“So have I,” she said. “I’ll call her when we get inside.”
“Okay,” he said as he parked the car. “I’ll get the packs while you call.”
Meg nodded and headed inside. Luc unpacked the gear while Meg phoned Ginny. He could hear the conversation. Some days having wolfish hearing was a benefit.
“Ginny will be here in about twenty minutes. I didn’t tell her what we wanted to talk about, just that we needed to talk to her,” Meg said.
“Okay,” Luc said and wrapped his arms around Meg.
*
They were still standing like that when Ginny popped into the living room.
“So, what has the two love puppies upset?” she asked.
“How do you know we’re upset?” Meg asked.
“I could smell it!” Ginny said exasperated. “Did you run into some Sierra people up in the mountains? Guns fired at you? What?” she asked. They all sat down, and Meg looked at Luc. Neither one of them wanted to broach the subject.
“Um,… my cycle is late,” Meg said.
Ginny looked at the two of them, sized up the situation and thought for a moment before she opened her mouth. “And neither one of you knows whether to be happy or upset?” she asked.
“Yeah,” said Luc.
“Well, to be honest, don’t worry until you are or aren’t. Fretting about it right now will just make things worse. If your cycle is late due to stress, you aren’t helping it. So, get some sleep, take that test you probably bought and then decide what you want to do when you know for sure,” she said. Standing up, she went to Meg and hugged her.
“We’ve all been there,” Ginny said. “Not everyone is cut out to be a mom. I know I wasn’t. Didn’t make it easier though. I thought I should be happy I was pregnant, and when I lost baby after baby, I just figured it wasn’t meant to be. So, I love my brother’s kids as mine.”
Meg looked at her and hugged her tight. “I… I didn’t know,” she said.
“I don’t exactly announce it to the world. However, it does mean I can have a great time and not worry,” she said trying to lighten the mood.
Luc smiled and wrapped his arms around both women.
Meg came out of the bathroom around 5am. Luc rolled over and tried to wake up. It was probably the first night in ages he hadn’t shifted. Instead, he’d held her all night and finally fell asleep about 3am.
“It says I’m not pregnant,” she said holding up the tester.
“Okay, and how do you feel?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I think I want to sleep on it,” she said and crawled back into bed. “I read all the early symptoms of pregnancy, and they are the same as your cycle almost. That didn’t help.”
“No, can’t see that it would. Well, we have the day off, what do you want to do?” he asked.
“For the moment, sleep,” she said and snuggled up to him.
Luc held her and they slept.
They spent a quiet day trying not to talk about it. The next morning, they headed to work. It was a busy day. Luc swore that for every day he took off, the work piled up twice as deep. He was beginning to curse Ginny for arranging the day off. “No, can’t think like that. It wasn’t her fault that Meg noticed her cycle was late up in the mountains. Nor is it her fault we suddenly have so much work,” he thought.