Chapter Two
Telling
She had yet to say anything to them – her two best friends, the people she was the closest to, in some ways even closer than she was with Zane. Still, telling them before the first trimester had passed had felt like a bad idea, and now that she’d passed that magical three month mark, she had to figure out a way to break the news. She would start showing soon, her petite frame not leaving all that much space for a baby to grow in without showing.
She wondered what it would be like to be pregnant as a mermaid. She had enough trouble seeing herself as pregnant – despite the constant morning sickness, which didn’t stick to mornings at all, and the general feeling that something was different – and imagining herself with a well-rounded belly swimming along in the ocean, a golden tail instead of legs, seemed very, very strange.
“You seem a million miles away,” Emma said. “Is something wrong?”
They sat at a café in town, having exchanged the JuiceNet café’s juices for coffee a while back. Of course, Rikki had almost completely stopped drinking coffee – she didn’t want the baby to deal with a caffeine addiction from birth.
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Rikki said, shrugging and smiling.
“You sure?” Cleo asked.
Rikki rolled her eyes. “I’m sure. Now, where were we? I’m sure we have something more interesting to talk about than me.”
“Nope,” Cleo said. “I’m finished telling you about Ronnie’s latest tricks, and Emma’s all done about her college courses. It’s all about you. What’ve you been up to?”
“Oh, nothing big,” Rikki said. “You know, college and stuff.”
“And living with Zane,” Emma said.
“Yes, what’s that like?” Cleo asked, cocking her head to the side. “He treats you right?”
“Of course he does!” Rikki said. “Come on, guys – we’ve been together for four years, isn’t it time you started trusting him? He’s helped us out on more occasions than I can count, and he always keeps me safe on the full moon and stuff.”
“Yes, we know,” Emma said. “It’s just that we’ve known him since we were kids – and he wasn’t particularly pleasant.”
“He’s fine,” Rikki said. “More than fine. He’s wonderful. People do change and grow up.”
She wondered what they would say if she simply blurted it out, I’m pregnant, just like that. Would they be thrilled for her, or just barely be able to hide their revulsion that she was carrying his baby? After all these years, she’d thought they were past that, but obviously not quite. She didn’t understand why; she’d never bitched about their boyfriends, despite the multitude of boyfriends Emma had gone through, or the stupidness that was Cleo’s boyfriend Lewis. Lewis had, just like Zane, helped them out on countless occasions, but he could still be as dumb as a troll and equally socially competent – but Rikki didn’t point that out, at least not nearly as often as Cleo and Emma said negative things about Zane.
“Yeah, but it’s still Zane,” Cleo argued. Emma nodded in agreement.
Rikki suddenly felt very tired of them.
“Actually,” she snapped, “We’re having a baby together.”
Then she stood up, and turned to stalk out of there – only to feel the blood rushing in her ears, and her vision swimming until everything became black, and she fell into unconsciousness.
She came to a minute or two later, already moved to a couch at the back of the café. Emma was fighting off what looked like a worried café worker, insisting that Rikki did not need a wet towel on her forehead, and Cleo sat beside her.
“Rikki?” she asked, as Rikki opened her eyes and looked around. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Rikki said, heaving herself up to a sitting position. “What happened?”
“You fainted,” Cleo said.
“Oh.”
She’d done it once before since finding out she was pregnant, getting out of bed in the morning. Zane had been there to catch her at the time. It had something to do with low blood pressure. Now, the world was swimming a bit even as she sat on the couch, taking steadying breaths.
“Is it true? Are you having a baby?” Cleo asked cautiously.
Oh, right. She’d told them. She closed her eyes and nodded. “Not quite the way I’d planned on telling you. Or, well, I hadn’t planned it much at all.”
Cleo smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Congratulations. To both of you.”
Emma came over, the worker finally leaving upon seeing Rikki awake. “So it’s true, then? You’re not just kidding?”
“Would I really kid about being pregnant?” Rikki asked.
“I guess not,” Emma said. Then she smiled too. “I’m so happy for you.”
Rikki gazed at them. “Even though Zane’s the father?”
“Yes!” both girls chorused.
“Did you think we’d—you don’t think we judge you for being with him, do you?” Emma asked incredulously.
“It seems like you do, quite often,” Rikki said. “You’re always asking if he’s good to me.”
“We just care about you, silly,” Cleo said. “We want what’s best for you.”
“But I don’t ask if Lewis is good to you,” Rikki said.
“That’s because it’s not the kind of question you ask,” Cleo said. “Emma asks me that instead.”
“You do?” Rikki asked.
Emma nodded. “And Cleo asks the same about my boyfriends.”
“Huh,” Rikki said, smiling. “Well then.”
“So,” Cleo said, and Rikki could see that the bouncy energy that she got when she was excited about something was starting to bubble out of her. “When are you due?”
“Not in another six months,” Rikki said. “September fourteenth. I’m just three months along, that’s why I haven’t told you.”
“You’ve been keeping this a secret from us for three months?” Cleo asked.
“Not really,” Rikki said. “I’ve only known for six weeks. And there’s this superstition about telling other people before the first trimester is out—I didn’t want to risk anything.”
“But everything’s good?” Emma asked.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” Rikki said. “We haven’t been to the doctor.”
Both Emma and Cleo started asking why, but caught themselves as realization dawned – none of them wanted a doctor to draw their blood, or happen to use a water-based gel, or something like that. It was far too dangerous.
“Lewis could probably do it,” Cleo said. “He’s doing his marine biology stuff, but I’m pretty sure he could learn anything and everything there is to know if we need him to. It’s not like he hasn’t learned to do stuff for us before.”
Rikki was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of Lewis getting such intimate knowledge of her – he’d driven her mad with his constant requests for hair, nail and other samples, and allowing him free reign over her pregnancy might be to invite trouble. However, she didn’t have much choice – it was either Lewis, or going through this pregnancy with only what she could get out of books as knowledge. Though neither was a particularly inviting option, Lewis was still the better of the two.
“Okay,” she said. “You can ask him.”
Cleo clapped her hands in excitement, grinning widely. “I’ll ask him tonight.”
“Great,” Rikki said.
At that moment, Zane burst into the café, and ran to her side, hand running over her face, gaze scanning her for injuries. “Rikki? Are you okay? Cleo called me and said you fainted—”
“I’m fine,” Rikki said, rolling her eyes. “It’s just the baby doing funny things to me. Or not so funny things.”
Zane looked at Cleo and Emma. “They know?”
“I just told them.”
Emma and Cleo grinned. “Congratulations, dad.”
Zane paled a little at that, and the girls laughed at him, before Rikki pulled him in for a kiss.
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