“Everything is fine,” she started to say when I released her, “don’t worry.” Her tears kept coming. I pulled out some Kleenex and wiped them for her. “I was so scared...so scared that I’d lost our baby. They need to do more tests, but the doctor said the baby’s heart rate was strong. He even showed me on the ultrasound.”

I held her hand as she told me the rest. “The doctor will come by to explain everything to you. He wants to talk to you, too. He told me that I’m going to be on bed rest and will most likely have a cesarean. He’s hoping that the baby will hold on till at least two weeks prior to the due date, so I need to be on bed rest for about a month. He’s going to let me know what dates are available.”

I kissed Becca’s hand. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’m going to take care of you. I’m also going to hire someone when I have to go into the office. I can do most of the work from home, but I’ll have to go in for meetings. We have the New York Fashion Show to get ready for, but I won’t be going.”

Becky nodded with a smile. It was the first time I’d seen her so vulnerable. My Becca the firecracker was scared, and though I needed to be strong for the both of us, a part of me was, too.

“Should I call your parents?”

“No. Let’s see what happens. I don’t want to worry them. I’ll call them later.”

“Jenna, Max, Nicole, and Kate are waiting in the waiting room. Do you want to see them? You don’t have to if you need your rest.”

“I do. I think Jenna stopped my fall. It could have been worse.”

“Yes, it could have, but it’s all good. Let’s be thankful for that.” I said those words more for me, because the thought of Becca hitting her head, or hurting any part of her body—or worse, something happening to our baby from the fall—was driving me insane. I had to think of something positive. “I’ll go get them.”

Becky

Matthew tried to hide that he was scared, but I could see right through him. Never had I seen him distraught before, except for the time he found out about Amber killing Tessa. I knew the reason why. He was most likely blaming himself for not being there. Although I hated the idea of being on bed rest for a month or so, I had to do it for the safety of our child and for me. At least this would force me to catch up with all of the submissions deadlines.

My friends didn’t know how to act around me when they first entered the room. Their smile was plastered on their faces, somewhere between genuine and forced. When I let out a snort, they laughed with me.

“How are you feeling?” Jenna asked, standing in front of Max, who offered a warm grin. “You gave us a big scare.”

“You had to make a big scene so Jenna couldn’t pay the bill,” Nicole scolded playfully, narrowing an eyebrow at her.

“That was the plan.” I shrugged. “You know me. I like to win.”

“Next time, use a different tactic,” Kate added. “We’re so relieved you’re fine.”

“I’ll make sure to do that. I’m not planning on doing this again.” I glanced over to Matthew. After raking his hair back with a soft sigh, he finally took a seat. At least his serious face softened. He appeared a bit more relaxed than when he’d come in. Looked like Matthew and Max were either discussing work or me.

“What did the doctor say?” Jenna asked, rubbing my arm. “What happened to you?”

“My blood pressure was too high,” I answered, feeling bad for causing all of this trouble.

“I didn’t call your parents. I didn’t—”

“I’m glad you didn’t. I’ll let them know what happened. My parents will be coming to visit soon. They want to see their grandbaby after all. Meanwhile, I’m going to need lots of visits from my dear friends. I’m stuck at home.” I frowned.

“Don’t think of it that way. It’ll be a great excuse to get together. Party at Becky’s,” Nicole said.

“Which place?” Jenna asked.

“It’ll have to be at my new place. The lease on the apartment where Jenna and I used to live ended several days ago.” Stupid pregnancy hormone was making my eyes teary, but that was my excuse. “You’ll have to excuse the mess, though. There are still unopened boxes.” I looked at Jenna when I said those words. It saddened me that the place where we made memories was a place of the past. There were a lot of happy and sad memories that were created there, memories that molded our friendship and made us the persons we had become.

Jenna took a deep breath and blinked rapidly as she smiled at me. She was holding back her tears. We had a deep level of friendship that we didn’t have with Nicole and Kate. I loved them dearly, but Jenna and I had been through growing pain wars together. We cried. We laughed. We argued. Pretty soon we were going to be sisters-in-law. Pretty soon we were going to become mothers, whether we were ready or not.

“That sounds like a plan,” Nicole said. “We should probably have the baby shower at your new house.”

“That might be a good idea.”

“Great. Let’s do that. It will work out perfectly. I’ll call our guests to let them that we’ve changed location. Kate and I just need to take care of a few things. And...oh, I informed everyone that we didn’t know the gender of both babies.”

“Okay.” I yawned and closed my eyes a bit.

“I think we should get going so you can get some rest.”