“Your blood work shows that your hormones are a little off and that might be due to the new prescription we tried this last time,” the doctor told her solemnly. “But as far as I can tell right now, there’s nothing wrong with you, Mrs. Lincoln.”
“Oh, okay,” Sierra whispered as she swiped a tear as it started down her cheek.
“I take it from your reaction that you want to be?”
“I think so,” Sierra glanced at me and I nodded. She smiled brightly at her doctor and confirmed, “Yes. I want to get pregnant.”
“Well, then that’s an entirely different conversation… ,” the doctor said as he turned and picked up Sierra's chart.
I let the doctor’s voice fade into the background as I watched Sierra’s face. Her tears were gone now and had been replaced by a hopeful smile.
We were going to have a baby, just not quite yet.
~*~
ROWDY
Sierra had been off her birth control for a little over three months now and I knew that she was getting antsy waiting for the day she found out for sure she was pregnant. Her hormones had been out of control for the first few weeks after her doctor’s appointment and the girls and I spent a lot of time in the barn together.
It was hard being away from Sierra so much, but it seemed like all we did was argue so I felt like it was better for all of us to stay away. Lexi and Leia ran into the same problem with Sierra a few times and that’s when they started coming out to the barn more and more. Even though I missed being with Sierra, I enjoyed my time with the girls and had fun teaching them new things.
“We should head out if we’re going today,” I told Sierra. I watched her stop pacing and look at me. “Unless you want to go to the next one.”
“No, let’s do this today. No sense putting it off again. Both of us are ready and Reagan has already agreed to pick up the girls and take them to school.”
“How soon before we get the results?”
“We should have them within minutes,” Sierra assured me.
“I’m nervous,” I laughed as I opened the door for her. “Are you?”
“I’m terrified.”
The drive downtown was short and neither of us said much, both absorbed in our own thoughts. When I parked the truck, I reached over and took her hand.
“If something goes wrong, we can just try again.”
“I know,” Sierra smiled. “We’ve got this, Mr. Lincoln.”
“Yes, ma’am. We sure as hell do.”
◆◆◆
Sierra and I were both laughing when we walked through the big metal doors and out into the sunshine. I spun her around and picked her up in my arms, twirling her around a few times just so I could hear her laugh.
“Do you feel better?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I honestly never thought I’d make it. I was so nervous.”
“Me, too,”
“I take it from the uncontrollable smiles and the twirling and shit that the two of you passed?” I heard Marcus yell. I put Sierra on her feet and we both turned toward Marcus’s voice.
Walking across the grass toward us was a group of our friends. Reagan held a bouquet of flowers and I saw that Marcus was carrying a bottle of his good whiskey. Our daughters walked between them and they were both smiling from ear to ear.
“Congratulations, Dad,” Leia yelled as she jumped into my arms. “You did it!”
“We did it!” I smiled at my little girl, proud of myself for once in my life. “You girls helped us study our asses off. I bet you two could go in there and ace that test right now.”
Lexi was arm in arm with Leia and both of them were smiling. Marcus shook my hand and gave me the unopened bottle of whiskey.
“You can open it now or wait and I’ll celebrate with you when you get your next bit of good news.” Marcus knew that Sierra and I were trying to have a baby and he also knew that I was terrified. His offer to sit and drink with me was as much for celebration as it was for me to sit with him to get my head straight once we found out a baby was on the way.
“Thank you, brother,” I told him. “I’ll hold onto this for a while.”
“I’m so proud of you both,” Reagan beamed. “You worked so hard and finally got your GEDs. Are we going to be attending a college graduation for one or both of you someday?”
“I’m thinking of enrolling in a few classes,” Sierra said shyly. “I haven’t decided which ones yet, though.”
“Brenda and I are always looking for an associate we can trust,” Reagan told her. “You should consider getting your real estate license. You can help people find their forever home. It’s actually a very rewarding job.”
“I’ll consider it. I might have to pick your brain a little bit about the details,” Sierra told her friend. “Right now, let’s go and celebrate together with lunch!”
“Wait a second,” I told our little group. “Our girls are skipping school to see that their parents finally got their GEDs because years ago they dropped out of school. Anyone else see an issue with that?”
“Well, we thought it would be good to bring them up here since they helped you first drop out of school and then study to pass this test,” Reagan laughed at his little pun. “Get it? They helped you drop out.”
“That was horrible,” Marcus shook his head. “Fucking horrible.”
The girls and I were laughing and finally Marcus was, too, even though he shot an exasperated glare at his partner first.
“Did you get everything packed up like I told you?” I asked our daughters. When they both nodded, I smiled at them. “You guys have fun this weekend.”
“Fun? Where are they going?”
“I’ll be honest. I knew they were going to
