Dr. McQueen smiled at her. “Sounds like you’ve made up your mind. All right. I’ve given you my best ‘are you sure?’ lecture, so let’s move on. I’ll meet you in the examination room. After double-checking you’re physically good to go, we’ll figure out when we next expect you to ovulate. There are a couple of options and we’ll go over them. How does that sound?”
“Perfect.”
Twenty minutes later, when Dr. McQueen finished the exam, she didn’t look happy.
“What’s wrong?” Zennie asked. She’d just had her annual four months earlier. Her Pap had come back completely normal. What could have changed in that short a time?
“Nothing’s wrong,” her doctor assured her. “It’s just...” She smiled. “Zennie, my best guess is you’re ovulating right now. Not to rush you, but the lab is here. We could confirm you’re ready with a quick ultrasound, have your friend’s husband come in and make a deposit, so to speak. After the lab does their thing, we could make an attempt right now.” Her voice softened. “Or we could wait a month if you need time to process all this. I know it’s very quick.”
The news was a little disconcerting, but if she was going to do this, why wait another month?
“Let’s find out if I’m ovulating,” she told the doctor. “After that, I’ll decide.”
A little warm gel and time with a wand later, she had her answer. Zennie’s heart thundered in her chest. She was both scared and excited.
“I want to do this,” she told Dr. McQueen. “I’m going to call Hayes right now and have him get over here.”
Dr. McQueen grinned. “I’m going to leave you alone for that conversation,” she said with a chuckle.
Zennie got her phone and dialed. Hayes’s assistant put her through right away.
“Hey, Zennie, what’s up?”
Zennie drew in a breath. “Hayes, I know this is really fast, but I’m at the doctor’s office. She gave me a clean bill of health, and it turns out I’m ovulating right now. So if you want to get started today, you have to get here right away.”
There was a moment of silence. Hayes cleared his throat. “So you’re saying I would be, ah, providing the sample.”
Zennie sighed. Men were so delicate. “I’m sure they have a room here where you’ll be able to make that happen. No pressure.”
“Oh, there’s pressure. Right now? Okay. I’ll clear my calendar and be on my way.”
She gave him the address and hung up, then went to tell Dr. McQueen’s nurse Hayes was on his way.
Zennie looked at the clock on the wall and knew Bernie would still be at school. Zennie texted her the information, along with the address for the doctor’s office, then prepared to wait.
Less than three hours later, Zennie lay flat, with her feet slightly elevated, Bernie holding her hand.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” her friend told her. “Zennie, thank you so much.”
“You know it could take a couple of tries, right? I’m unlikely to get pregnant the first time.”
“I know, but still. You just did it, you didn’t even think about it.”
“I’ve already said I want to do this. Why would I wait?” She looked at the door. “Hayes isn’t joining us?”
Bernie grinned. “He went home. I’m not sure he wants to face you right now.”
“It was kind of weird. I did my best not to think about it while it was happening.”
They both giggled.
“How do you feel?” Bernie asked. “I heard there could be cramping after artificial insemination.”
“There’s barely anything. A slight achiness, but it’s already fading.” She looked into Bernie’s eyes. “We’re doing this. We’re making you a family.”
“I know. I can’t believe it.”
Dr. McQueen knocked once, then entered the room. “All right, Zennie, you’re ready to go live your life. I’ve sent your local pharmacy a prescription for prenatal vitamins. Start taking those right away.” She put several papers on the counter. “These talk about what to eat and what not to eat. Also, there’s a basic list of restrictions. No alcohol or caffeine. Avoid hot tubs. You can do a home pregnancy test in two to three weeks. Come back and see me, regardless of the results. If you’re pregnant, we should talk and if you’re not, let’s get you going on monitoring your cycle. Fair enough?”
“We have a plan,” Zennie told her.
Dr. McQueen smiled at Bernie. “Good luck. I hope I get to see a lot of you at the visits.”
“Me, too.”
The doctor left. Bernie stepped back. “I’ll leave you to get dressed. And once we walk out of here, we’re not going to talk about it at all. Not until you take the pregnancy tests. I don’t want you worrying that I’m going to overmonitor you. I’m not even going to think about it.”
“Me, either.” Zennie sat up. “Although we’re both lying when we say that.”
Bernie laughed. “We both so are. But we’ll pretend to be normal. How’s that?”
“It’s a great plan.”
* * *
Saturday morning Ali wanted nothing other than to sleep in and be lazy, but that wasn’t an option. She’d promised her mother to help finish going through the bonus room. Mary Jo would be working, so it would just be the sisters. If the three of them hustled, they should be able to finish in a few hours, or so Ali hoped.
She parked next to Zennie’s car and walked up the front walk, pausing when her phone buzzed.
Zennie joined her on the porch, then let her in the house.
“Did you get a text from Finola?” her sister asked by way of greeting. “She’s canceling on us.”
“No way.” Ali pulled out her phone. Sure enough, there it was.
Sorry to bail. I just can’t face more memories today. I’ll make it up to you.
Ali wrestled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand she understood her sister was going through a lot. On the other, there was still work to be done on their mom’s house and it wasn’t as if Finola was the only one going through emotional turmoil.
“Go ahead,” Zennie said as they went upstairs. “Tell me why I shouldn’t call her a selfish bitch.” Her tone was more cheerful than chiding. “You always take her side.”
“Not always. Just sometimes. As for today, while I appreciate what she’s dealing with, the least she could do was send us a minion to do her share of the hard labor.”
Zennie laughed. “I like your style.”
They reached the loft and stood staring at the half-open boxes, the mostly empty closet and the cabinets and drawers yet to be tackled.
“Ugh,” Zennie said. “This totally sucks. Tell you what. We’ll work until noon, then call it a day and go to Bob’s Big Boy for lunch.”
Ali grinned. “That is a perfect plan. You’ll probably get a salad, but I swear, I’m getting a burger and a milkshake.”
Zennie wrinkled her nose. “A salad? You’re confusing me with Finola. I’m a burger girl all the way.”
“You say that now, but Finola eats the way she does to stay skinny. You eat healthy because you’re athletic and see your body as a temple or something. It’s seriously depressing.”
Zennie gave her a strange look but before Ali could ask about it, she turned away and pointed to the cabinet. “Do you want to tackle that first, or finish the closet?”
“Let’s finish the closet. That way we’ll have space to stack the stuff we think Mom’s keeping. We’ll keep the junk and giveaway piles out of the closet.”
They carried out bins and boxes. Several fancy dresses hung on a rack.
“We might as well leave those,” Zennie said. “I have no idea if Mom wants to keep them, but whatever decision we make will be wrong.”
Ali agreed. Once the closet was empty except for the dresses, they moved in all the “keep” boxes before sitting on the floor to go through what was left.
Ali opened a bin full of old Halloween costumes. Some were really elaborate while others were the inexpensive store-bought kind. She tossed out the premade ones and saved those her mother had created. She held up a beautiful mermaid dress.
“I never wore this one. Did you?”
Zennie shook her head. “It’s Finola’s. All the good ones are. I never wanted to be a princess or anything girly, so Dad helped me be a pirate or whatever.”
Ali remembered the family discussions around Halloween. Zennie was right—she and their dad would go off to the garage and make something. By that point Finola wasn’t interested in going trick-or-treating, so Ali went to the grocery store with her mom to pick out a costume.
Ali fingered the handmade costume with its beading and fringe-fishtail. At some point the costume would have fit her—not that it had been offered and she hadn’t known about it so hadn’t asked.
For a second she thought about all the times she’d been the odd kid out. Her mother had been all about Finola and her dad had been all about Zennie. There’s been no third parent to be on Ali’s team.