We're going to need more than five minutes

Are you going to tell him?

Meanwhile, Lana just kept looking at Bex in utter disbelief and shock, still hesitating to take the test from her.

„What's wrong, sweetie? You can take it... It's positive, I swear! I even think it's the most positive pregnancy test I've ever seen. It's impressive, actually!"

Finally, she held out her hand, very slowly, and took it with shaking fingers. She looked at it, as if she could see anything through the veil of her tears, but with a lot of imagination she could see that it indeed showed two bright red lines instead of one. She was completely speechless, just kept on sobbing, quietly.

Her friends grouped around her, calmly stroking her back and her hair and gave her a moment of peace and quiet to let sink in what she had just learned. Eventually, Trish whispered. „How do you feel? Why are you crying?"

„I just... I just cannot believe this, this cannot be real."

„Why not? Didn't you always... I thought you always wanted a child?"

„I did, I mean... I do! Of course, I... I want to be happy about it, I really do. I'm just... so so scared."

„Scared of what?"

„I think you're right, Bex. I think I've known for a while, somewhere deep down. Or at least I've been suspecting it. But I didn't want to let it anywhere near my heart, you know? What if it wasn't true? I couldn't get my hopes up, I just couldn't... And still now, I mean... a positive test is one thing, but that doesn't mean anything yet. I'm just too old! I...", she started crying harder again and buried her face against Bex' chest, mumbling into her dress, „I don't want to lose this baby! I can't..."

„Shhh, don't talk like that!", said Bex, holding her friend, „You're not going to lose this baby!"

„How do you know that? No one knows that..."

„Of course not, but why would you? I mean, look at me! I'm just as old as you are. And you are so much fitter and healthier than me. You're going to be a great mom, everybody knows that."

She eagerly shook her head. „Don't say that! Don't call me mom! Not yet."

„But you are! Sweetheart, you are! You already have a child. It may not be born yet, but... Come on, give me your hand!"

She frowned, then sniffled and wiped away her tears before reaching out her hand. Bex took it and gently placed it onto her of course still perfectly flat stomach. „That's your baby, Lana, in there. You already are a mommy."

Of course there was nothing to feel yet, but being forced to acknowledge the little life growing inside her in such an intense way made her break out in tears again and she was back to being a sobbing mess. What had she done to her poor little munchkin over the past few weeks?"

Eventually, after putting Milo to bed, Bex decided that Marc made himself useful by taking the dogs out for a walk to give the women some privacy. He didn't ask any further questions.

„I did everything wrong", Lana sobbed, „I treated my baby in the worst possible way. What if it's... what if it's already", she sobbed again, „... gone?"

„It's not! The test is positive NOW. Here, I tell you what, I'm going to call my OB-GYN right away, I have her emergency number, and we'll make an appointment for first thing Monday morning. And you can take another test every day over the weekend if you like, just to be sure, I still have a few. Because you're staying here, you're not going back home to sulk all by yourself, I hope that much is clear."

Lana tried to calm herself down and nodded. „Okay..."

„Please don't worry too much about it, huh? That's not great for your little one either."