“Talia,” I call out, lifting an arm.
She looks like she’s seen a ghost when she wheels around, and my spirits drop. The surprise was a bad move—I’ve blundered again. Her aunt sold me on the idea that it would be “romantic” if I showed up to the clinic unexpectedly, with a winning smile and an armful of roses. In my haste, I’ve even neglected to get the flowers.
Colossal failure…
I pause as I round the car. Her fingers tighten on the door handle, and she slips the square of paper into a pocket of the handbag slung across her body.
“How are you… here?” she asks.
I take a few steps nearer. “I wasn’t sure whether you wanted me to come to the appointment, but I spoke to your aunt and she suggested I surprise you. Claimed it would be ‘like something from a movie.’ Flowers, and…” I trail off hopelessly and give a general sweeping wave, as if gesturing at the world. “But there were countless delays.”
“Amovie?” Natalia echoes with a wry look. “Maybe Auntie Min and I like different movies. Because I would’ve preferred a phone call to warn me. But instead?” She shrugs. “Radio silence from you. Which didn’t feel too great.”
A ruffle of wind musses her hair. She rakes it impatiently out of her face, then folds her arms against the chilly air. I go to her anddraw the coat from her arm, holding it open. She pauses only a moment before removing her handbag and slipping into the coat’s sleeves. When she turns, I fasten the two center buttons.
“Guess it didn’t occur to either of you,” she goes on, “that if you just show up and I’m not thrilled to see you, I look like a jerk after you’ve flown a gazillion miles. No pressure, right?”
“I’m doing this very badly, aren’t I?” I rub my face, sighing. “May we talk?”
“We are talking.”
“Let’s not spar with semantics, Talia. You know what I mean.” I glance up at the dark-streaked sky, which threatens rain. “Can we go somewhere? Even sitting in a car is fine.”
She scrunches her lips to the side in the peevish thinking way I know so well. I can’t help wanting to kiss her every time she does it. She catches me looking at her lips and takes a step back.
“I… Yeah, sure. We should sit in whatever you rented, because Auntie Min’s Jeep is forty years old and drafty as a barn.”
I offer an elbow. She snakes her arm through it and walks with me to my hire car, a black Audi sedan. I open the passenger door for her, and when she sits and I bend to lift the hem of her long coat, she reaches for it at the same time and our hands collide. She snatches her hand away, then leans to grab the door and pull it shut before I can.
The rain begins just as I take my seat on the driver’s side. Natalia watches raindrops blotch the windscreen and twists the strap of the handbag in her lap. I can smell her hair, and the familiar amaretto scent causes a tug of sorrow in my chest, knowing I don’t dare to pull her close.
“Are you well?” I ask her. “What did the doctor say?”
“It’s a midwife. And she said it looks great so far. Everything’s as expected. I won’t know more for a few weeks, when I have the tests.” She finally turns to look in my eyes, and the wild blue of them takes my breath away. “Do you want to know what the baby is—girl or boy?”
Adrenaline floods me; that simple question has suddenly made things startlingly real. “They could tell?”
She nods, pulling a thin paper photograph from the pocket of her bag and handing it to me. “Not super picturesque yet. Babies look like space aliens at this point.”
I’m a little embarrassed at how my hands shake. My heart thuds in my ears and joy melts the sharp edges of my anxiety as I greedily take in the strange-yet-unmistakable curled shape.
I smile, my eyes burning. “Hello, small traveler,” I manage, just above a whisper. “I look forward to meeting you.”
Natalia thankfully allows a long pause for me to study the sonogram—if she asked me a question now, my reply would be choked and raspy. She delivers a pat to my thigh.
“You can keep that one,” she tells me, her voice husky with repressed tears of her own. “They gave me a bunch.”
I look down at the square of paper. “Beautiful.”
Natalia closes in to look too, leaning on my shoulder. “Isn’t she?”
The words catch up to me a beat late, like an echo in close quarters. I look at Natalia, then back at the photo. “A girl?”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re not one of those sexist jerks who’s all, ‘I must have a son! An heir for my kingdom!’ are you?”
“She’s perfect.” Natalia’s hand is still on my leg, so I take a chance on twisting in my seat to embrace her. “Thank you,” I say into her hair.
“You, uh… It’s… I mean, ‘thanks’ aren’t called for. A person isn’t a favor or a gift.”
