The Plus Sign

Harry and Anna taking a pregnancy test

 

They both stared at each other, the stick in Harry’s trembling hands holding the answer that could – and would – change everything. The anxiousness that weighed on their chests wasn’t necessarily a negative emotion. Quite the opposite, actually. Excitement was rushing through their veins, both hoping for a plus sign as they sat perched at the edge of the tub, side by side.

“Ready?” Harry whispered with his eyes widening a fraction.

Anna nodded slowly. “Yeah.” She eyed him, almost bashfully, before asking, “You?”

He let out a withheld breath, laughing lightly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m ready.”

“Okay..”

Nodding once to confirm they were, in fact, prepared for what was about to happen, their attention cast down and landed on the impending results.

The plus sign.

After a pregnant pause (no pun intended), the air rushed out of their lungs. Misty eyes devoured the confirmation that they were – indeed – about to become parents.

“It’s…positive,” Harry stated the obvious, his earthy voice a bit more deeper, more thick than usual.

A sniffle from beside him reached his ears. Harry’s head snapped to the side and caught the lone tear that rolled down Anna’s flushed cheek. Her eyes remained glued to the blue and white stick, unaffected by the brush of his thumb softly caressing her skin.

“Yeah,” she finally whispered, swallowing through the lump in her throat.

It was positive. There was no mistaking it. But Anna had known all along it would have been. She had been feeling different for a couple weeks, her breasts were more tender, her emotions spiraling out of control, and fatigue settling in her bones. At first, she had blamed the stress of planning the wedding of the year while juggling the new pressures of royal life and maintaining her already full agenda of military wife duties.

But something, maybe her instincts or a gut feeling, pushed the possibility of being pregnant to the forefront of her mind.

And it had been correct. She was pregnant. They were going to have a baby. They were starting a family.

Harry gave her another moment, fear swirling in his belly. The last time they had gone through this, although it had been a false positive, she had been less than thrilled at the prospect of carrying his child. She hadn’t been ready then, understandably so. And if he were being honest, he hadn’t been either. However, this time was different. They had spent a great deal discussing when they would try for a baby, when they’d like to extend their family. He was certain they were on the same page….It felt right.

Granted, it wasn’t exactly the best of time with all the chaos that surrounded them with the wedding and his deployment creeping up. But did that really matter? He didn’t think so. Not with this. What mattered was that he knew he was more than ready to be a father, and Anna repeatedly assured him she wanted nothing more than to have a large family with him, the house feeling incomplete without the pounding of tiny feet on the floorboards.

This was it. This was their time. Finally.

So why wasn’t she saying anything?

“Annalisa..”

Anna’s head shot up at the wavering way he called her name. She instantly felt guilty. The fear of rejection was written across his face; he thought she wasn’t happy, he thought she was about to flee – like she had done last time.

Her mouth curved up, forming a pleasant smile, relief immediately washing over him. “Oh, Harry,” Anna giggled, curls bouncing around her soft features as she shook her head with enlarged, shining eyes. “We’re…pregnant.”

It wasn’t long before Harry’s delighted laugh echoed in the air, eyes dancing. “Oh shit, baby. You scared the fuck-”

Her arms flung around his neck, halting his speech and loosening the grip he had on the pregnancy test. The plastic hitting the tile floor wasn’t audible to either of them, certainly not with Anna showering his face with obsessive pecks of her lips. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

Chuckling with eyes tightly shut, he basked in her sweet affections. “I love you, too.”

She pulled back after giving him one more squeeze, arms still loosely hanging around his neck. “Holy fuck. We’re pregnant. This is…CRAZY!”

Before Harry could bark out a laugh, her face began to crumble, the grin vanishing from his face. “Peaches…”

She tried to swat his hands away but he refused, wanting to wipe away every single tear that fell from her pretty eyes.

“What is it?” He asked, his brow creased in confusion.

“I’m just so-” She hiccuped before adding, “-happy…and stupid hormonal. God, I’m such a mess now! I haven’t even started getting fat yet!”

Harry erupted with amusement, then pressed his lips tenderly to her forehead. “Well,” he murmured against her soft skin, “I can’t promise to bite my tongue when you’re acting like a mad woman, but I do promise to love every inch of you.”

“Even when I get as big as a house?” She pouted, leaning in to his touch.

Harry couldn’t fight the grin playing at his lips. “Especially when you..” He searched for the appropriate, less hurtful word, “…expand.”

Anna groaned while pushing against his hard chest. “I hate you for doing this to me already.”

“Ha!” Nuzzling her nose with his, he added after a brief pause, “Hey, congratulations, Mummy.”

A broad smile spread wide on her face. “Congratulations, Daddy.”

Neither one would mention the elephant in the room for days – his deployment.