Taking Chances

“Bailey!” Rebecca called through the door before knocking softly, as if I wouldn’t have heard her before. Her voice was shrill and hyped-up with excitement. “Are you ready yet?”

I bit my lip and reached over to open the bathroom door. “How much time do I have left?” I questioned.

Rebecca checked her ever-present watch on her left wrist. “A minute and thirty seconds.”

I wrung my hands together as I stared at the stick sitting on the sink. Three years of marriage to Zayn, and we were so close to having the baby that we’d been talking about for a while.

Unfortunately, Zayn wasn’t in the country at the time to be any kind of support. In fact, he wasn’t even aware that I suspected I was pregnant. He was over in Australia, doing a round of shows for One Direction’s farewell tour. It was sad, that everything was ending, but the boys were still on really good terms with one another. They were simply splitting up because some of the boys wanted to do different things, since everyone was reaching their mid- and late twenties.

As for me, I was in the process of recording my fourth album, and I was revamping it to appeal to a wider audience, trying to get some people my own age more interested in my music. I told Simon point-blank that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go on tour for the CD, and he seemed to understand I meant that I wanted a family. He was really cool with it and said he’d be more than happy to make the tour smaller, so I just had to travel around the UK and Ireland. He really was a way better record producer than I ever could have imagined.

And, clearly, Rebecca and I had decided that we didn’t want to return to the States, both of us having made permanent settlements in England.

“Okay,” Rebecca broke through my thoughts, “you can check it now.”

I took a deep breath, trying to hold down all the butterflies that were going nuts in my stomach. My heart was beating a million times a minute as I reached over and picked up the stick.

And right there in the tiny window was a tiny plus sign.

“It’s positive!” I squealed. “REBECCA, I’M PREGNANT!”

I went to throw my arms around her, but she stopped me. “Bails, you have a stick with your pee all over it in your hands,” she reminded me with raised eyebrows.

I blushed as I put the stick back on the sink and washed my hands thoroughly. Once I finished, I turned and threw my arms around her.

“Congratulations!” Rebecca cheered, patting my back comfortingly. “But before you get too excited about it, you should probably get checked out by a doctor. An at-home pregnancy test doesn’t have a hundred percent accuracy.”

I pulled away from her and stared at her math-and-logic-loving face. “Rebecca, honey, just let me dwell in my excitement right now, okay?” I took a deep breath before continuing, “And think about it: I’ve missed two periods the past couple of months when I’ve never missed a period in my life, I’ve not been able to eat breakfast because I’ve felt nauseas when I typically vacuum up every food in sight. And I just have this feeling.” I put my hand on my lower stomach and sighed. “I can’t explain it. But I just know that I’m pregnant.”

Rebecca grinned at me, knowing how much I wanted this. “Are you going to tell Zayn?”

“No,” I responded sarcastically, “I figure that I’ll keep it a secret, and he can come home from the tour, and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, by the way, here’s your kid.’”

She backed up, pretending to be offended. “Well, then.”

I burst out laughing, thrilled to the point of giddy, before I walked out to the living room of our mid-size house in a small suburb outside of London. “God, how do I say this?”

“Just go with it,” Rebecca replied as she waltzed into the room after me. “You know you’re going to do it anyway, even if you do come up with a plan.”

Hm. She had a point.

So without further thought, I dialed Zayn’s number before putting my telephone up to my ear.

“Bailey!” Zayn’s voice came over the line, excited. “I’m so glad to hear from you, babe. How’s it going?”

“Great,” I told him. “Everything’s wonderful. How are you?”

“That’s lovely to hear. And we’re great. The fans are fantastic, as usual. It’s really bittersweet, saying goodbye to all of this.”

“I know,” I soothed. “But just think about it this way: soon, you’re going to be a dad.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s-” he started before stopping. For a long time. A very, very long time. Finally, his voice came back, much more high-pitched than usual. “Holy shit, did you just say what I think you said?”

“I dunno,” I teased. “Did I?”

“Am I really going to be a dad?! Are you pregnant?!”

“YES!” I exclaimed, unable to hold back my emotion anymore. “I took a home pregnancy test, and it came back positive. I have to go get confirmed at the doctors, but I just…know.”

There was a series of screaming and yelling on the other side of the line before it finally got coherent. “OH MY GOD, BAILEY. I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS. I JUST…PART OF ME WANTS TO COME HOME RIGHT NOW.”

There was a muffled sound in my ear, followed by the vague noises of people talking back and forth. And then there was another eruption of excitement.

“Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker,” Zayn burst out before a beep sounded in my ear.

“CONGRATULATIONS, BAILEY!” the accented voices of the boys chorused back at me.

“We’re so proud of you, love,” Louis chuckled.

“Uh…” I trailed off. “Proud of me…for…?”

The boys laughed at Louis’ wording. “I guess a better way of saying it would be that we’re happy for you…?” Louis offered.

“Much better,” Harry approved. “Unless you’re saying that you’re proud of her for being fertile or something. But I think we already knew that.”

I thought back to the time when I told them I was buying pads when we were on tour with one another, and how many times since then I whined about my cramps. Not that I cared, since we were all basically one big, happy, dysfunctional family.

“Alright, I wish I could talk to you forever, but we have to go for sound check,” Zayn told me. From the difference in his voice, I could tell that he put the phone back on its normal setting, talking to me one-on-one again.

“Okay. I should probably call the doctor to set up an appointment. And then call my mother.”

“Oh, yeah, she deserves to know.” He chuckled. “I love you so much, Bailey. I wish I was there.”

“I know,” I replied. “And I love you, too. I can’t wait until you come back. Give all the boys kisses for me.”

“Will do. Make sure you don’t drink or smoke.”

“Yeah, that’s a danger we have to worry about,” I responded, rolling my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me.

“Just making sure,” he chuckled. “Bye, honey.”

“Bye.”

I hung up the phone and put it down on the table, rubbing circles next to my eyes. “God…it’s so hard to believe I’m pregnant.”

Rebecca grinned at me. “Don’t worry, Bails. You’re going to be a great mom.”

“I hope so,” I sighed. “But I don’t have to think about that just yet.”

“True." There was a short pause before Rebecca spoke again. "By the way, I’d call the doctor now to make sure you get an appointment.”