Kylie & Jack 2: Slice of Heaven

4. Moment of Truth

Wednesday 8th Jan 2020, 12:45 PM

"Kylie Foley?"

Kylie hitched her handbag up over her shoulder and walked towards the doctor, Jack close by her. She felt like she had swallowed a jar full of butterflies when her doctor, a small South–East Asian woman with a motherly appearance, smiled at her in greeting.

"How are you, Kylie?" Dr Cueto asked, leading them to her consultation room.

"O–ok ... tired ..."

Dr Cueto waited until Kylie and Jack were seated adjacent to her desk before closing the door and beginning the consult.

"What can I do for you today, Kylie?" in the same breath, Dr Cueto turned to Jack, extended her hand and introduced herself.

"Well ... ah ... I think – I mean, we're, um, think I'm pregnant –"

"– oh congratulations!" Dr Cueto beamed and then quickly backtracked. She had a lot of female patients and knew sometimes pregnancy didn't always receive such a positive welcome from the unwittingly expectant mothers.

"If that's the case, that is?"

"Oh it is! It is! We were just ... just wondering if you could, I dunno, confirm it?" Kylie stammered. All of a sudden she felt like a complete moron.

"What Kylz means is that we – well, she – did a test a week ago and it was positive –"

"– so I take it you've been wanting to conceive?"

Kylie and Jack nodded.

"Alright – so Kylie, have you been experiencing any fatigue, nausea, feeling any aversions to food, perhaps? Bouts of dizziness, maybe even throwing up?"

"Oh yeah ... every day."

"And any idea how far along you think you might be?"

"Well ..." Kylie looked to Jack nervously for a moment before continuing to answer Dr Cueto's question.

"I think Kylz is about seven weeks." Jack answered. He sounded slightly more confident than Kylie did whenever she opened her mouth.

The consultation lasted another twenty minutes and ended with an appointment for next week to see an OB–GYN for Kylie's first prenatal visit. Although what they took away from this appointment was that Kylie indeed was pregnant.

In the car, Jack turned to face Kylie. It was obvious he was trying not to smile, that he was waiting for Kylie to meet his gaze. When she did, Kylie whispered his name. Her eyes were bright with nervous excitement.

"Jack ..."

"Baby ..." Jack replied, his mouth beginning to curl into a wide, genuinely happy smile.

"Baby ..." Kylie whispered breathlessly and beginning to smile herself.

"You ok, Wombat?"

Kylie nodded slowly. She felt like she was hypnotised, her eyes couldn't keep focus and her brain kept spinning around.

"We're having a baby – Jack – we –"

"– we're having a baby." Jack said and leant across the console to kiss Kylie. When he had pulled back far enough, Kylie let out a loud, near shrill squeal and shook her balled fists in the air. Jack watched her little happy dance with a laugh.

Once home, they hugged and cried "we're having a baby" over and over again. It seemed surreal, to say the least, that their every moment of joy was hijacked on an hourly basis by the latest news of the fires. It was also next to impossible to not tell every living soul they saw about their news.