A Short Walk Home by David Cry Read Free Book Online

twice the food—twice the
everything
. While it was by no means certain, the prospect now existed. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t contemplate every option.
    The following week, Jaymee and I did our best to distract ourselves. In five days, Jaymee would have a blood test done to determine whether things took. We were both nervous, not the least because of our high expectations. After all, shelling out tens of thousands of dollars with no guarantee of success is not an easy task. I wanted to know immediately, which was of course impossible. I had to be patient. Needing to be patient was becoming a theme in my life.
    Friday morning finally arrived. Jaymee left early to go to the doctor for her blood work, while I sat at home, trying to keep still. Finally, about an hour after she left, I got the call.
    She was not pregnant. I felt the life drain out of me; I hadbeen so certain that we’d be successful. So certain that, in my mind, it was already a done deal; I was ready to start picking out names. Learning that we were
not
successful upset me, to say the least.
    There was, at least, a small silver lining to Jaymee’s news. It was still
possible
that she was pregnant; it might just not be showing up in a blood test. Never one to linger, my mood turned for the better; there was still hope.
    As soon as we hung up, I began to move. We needed to get away; we needed to go somewhere we had never been, have a nice dinner, and come home on Sunday rested, relaxed, and optimistic. I made the necessary reservations, and as we headed out to who-cared-where, we agreed on one thing: we would not discuss babies.
    This agreement didn’t last long.
    “Baby, I know that you’re pregnant.” I was the first one to break the silence, as usual. I said that being patient had become a constant in my life; I never said I was getting better at it. But I knew for a fact that she was with child; I could
feel
it.
    Jaymee giggled. “That didn’t take long.” She knows me so well.
    We spent the night watching a bad movie in a decent hotel. Being away was good for us; we had both been under tremendous pressure for months. We tried to keep off the topic of children, but despite not wanting to stress each other out, it was difficult not to think about.
    Monday morning arrived before we knew it. Jaymee left early to have her blood work done again. I sat in my office at home, thinking of little else. It felt like a repeat of Friday, though I prayed it might have a different, happier ending.
    When the phone rang, and I saw that the caller ID read thenumber of our doctor, I snatched up the phone from its cradle as fast as I could.
    “Hello?” I didn’t bother trying to hide my anxiety; what would have been the point?
    “David? Is Jaymee there?” the nurse asked. Of course she wasn’t; she’d left for work after finishing at the doctor’s office.
    “No, she’s at the office,” I answered. I hesitated for a moment. “May I ask …” I saw no reason why I should not hear first, given this abrupt opportunity.
    “Congratulations, David. You’re going to be a dad!” The nurse’s own excitement at the news was obvious; she could barely keep her voice down.
    “Thank you so much!” I was thrilled, and already beginning to plot ahead. “Do me a favor,” I said. “Don’t call Jaymee. I would really like to be the one to tell her.”
    “Honey?” I tried to speak in a normal voice, not wanting to give the game away too soon.
    “Yes, baby, what is it?” She sounded tired, and a little harried. Jaymee’s mornings are always busy; making time to speak, if only for a moment, was always tough.
    “Well, I got a call a few minutes ago,” I said, drawing the moment out. I was in the mood to tease her a little—perhaps a little bit more than I should have.
    “What is it, David? Is everything all right?” While she wasn’t
quite
losing her temper, she was definitely not enjoying my dragging this out, whatever it was.
    “We
are
having a