Chapter 14: Beta Test
Sam
There's not a single word said between the two of us as we get in my truck on Tuesday afternoon after we leave the fertility clinic. It feels like there's a big chunk of lead in the pit of my stomach. I grip the steering wheel tight between my fingers and stare out the windshield.
Next to me I hear Lia sniff, and then suddenly she begins to sob uncontrollably. Ignoring the armrest between us that's now digging in my side, I pull her into my arms the best I can and kiss her hair. I can feel her tears against my neck. Her whole body is shaking against mine.
"Babe, hey, it's OK," I say softly.
"I don't know why I'm crying," she admits through her tears. She pulls away so that she can look at me and I cup her face between my hands, drying her tears with my thumbs, but it's no use because more of them just keep tumbling down her cheeks.
"It's OK," I repeat.
"It must be all these pregnancy hormones," she giggles.
"Must be," I grin.
"I'm so happy! Sam, we're gonna have a baby!" she beams at me as another wave of sobs racks her body. I can't help but grin as I hug her tight again. It's not often I feel like crying. I don't, but I sure come damn close.
I know she was really worried it didn't take, especially since she hasn't been feeling any different. She hasn't been feeling sick. She hasn't been moody. We were joking about it over the weekend, but a craving for Dairy Queen while out shopping isn't exactly out of the ordinary for either one of us. Everything was just too normal.
I'll admit it, I was worried too.
Her hCG levels are well over a hundred, which in normal English is really fucking good. There's a ton of other numbers and letters to keep track of, but it all essentially boils down to the same thing. We're going to have a baby sometime around May 13th next year.
There'll be another blood test in a few days to make sure her levels are where they should be, and she still has to take hormone medications for a few weeks, but essentially now it's all a matter of waiting to see if we're having one baby or two.
"Holy shit, this is real," I chuckle as she starts to kiss me over and over again, on my lips, on my jaw, on my neck. The way she's going at it, I'm afraid (but not enough to stop her) she's about to strip me naked and take me in the backseat.
"It's real. You're gonna be a dad," she whispers against my lips.
Regretfully, we don't end up in a compromising position in the backseat. Instead she fixes her hair and makeup and I stick the key in the ignition, driving us back in the direction of our small town. We don't talk much, except to agree on whether or not we want to do groceries. She's not sure we have enough stuff to put together a decent dinner.
"We should probably wait before we start buying baby clothes," Lia says accusingly.
"I didn't say we were going to," I reply, glancing over at her.
"I know, I'm trying to convince myself... They've probably got really cute things at Target, and we're gonna have a summer baby, so we could probably still get summer things," she adds, pointing toward the red sign we're about to pass. "I wanna do everything now! I just want to tell everyone and put it all over Facebook!" she grins widely.

YOU ARE READING
Waiting For You
RomanceAmelia always knew she wanted to have lots of kids one day, but being married to a transgender man in a small southern town means the journey to parenthood won't be so clear-cut. Sam knew when he started transitioning that life wouldn't always be ea...