“I saw Zac cry when he was talking to you earlier Lauren, I know that something is wrong because he just changed the subject when I asked him what you were talking about. I will get it out of him so either you tell me or he will.”
I feel too sick to argue with them, what’s the point anyway, if there are any complications and we choose not to continue with this pregnancy, I am going to need my friends anyway but abortion is a highly emotive subject and I could lose their friendship with whatever choices I make in the end. I let out a deep breath and look each of them in the eye.
“I’m pregnant.”
“What?”
“No fucking way.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’m pregnant Jem, yes fucking way Jo, absofuckinlutely serious Sam, never more so.”
They all look down at me stunned. “Well that’s a first, I’ve shut you all up.”
“How pregnant are you?” Sam asks.
“About eight weeks.”
“You whorebag.” Jo and Jemma both say together and we all laugh.
“Yep. Whorebag, only been together ten weeks and I’m already eight weeks up the duff.”
“Well at least you know its Gabe’s and not the other fuckers.” Jo states.
“Well yeah, that is a bonus I suppose.” Jemma says. I look over all three of them again.
“What? What else is there?” Trust Jo, she’s like a bloodhound when there’s a story to be sniffed out, I can’t help but smile now, mainly because I am actually happy about this fact, I look at Sam to see if she is working it out, she starts to shake her head.
“No way. Oh my god Lauren, is it what I think?”
I don’t know if its nerves or shock at the fact that I am telling them all but I start to giggle and can’t stop myself. “We’re having twins.”
“Fuck Loz. Four kids, your crutch is going to be like a bucket!” Is all I get from Jo, Jemma bursts into tears and Sam throws her arms around me and sobs. I spend the next ten minutes, telling them the facts and swearing them to secrecy; we emerge from the toilet giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls with a story all planned about how I’ve drunk too much and not eaten enough but nobody else seems to have noticed we were missing; we sit ourselves back down around the fire and Jemma removes all traces of Bailys from anywhere near me. I look up as everyone suddenly emerges from the house; Ava is beaming from ear to ear, she makes a big production of telling everyone to come and sit around the fire and she gets the blokes to bring over bar stools for her, Gabe and Jen, they all have guitars with them; Gabe sits in the middle of the girls and everyone falls silent.
“This song Lauren.” Gabe laughs and looks down at his guitar, then up at me and swallows, oh my god, he’s fighting not to cry, my hand goes to my mouth and Jemma reaches for my free hand.
“This song is a favourite of Ava’s and she said to me the other day in the car that every time she hears it, she thinks of me singing it to you…And I’ve got to say, despite the fact I am not and never will be a fan of One Direction, this song really could have been written by me, for you.”
He nods his head and counts the girls in the three of them start to play their guitars and Gabe starts to sing a song about how much he loves my belly and my freckles and the fact that I can’t fit in my jeans and how I was made just for. I cry like a baby and so do Sam, Stella and Jem, I even see Ryder wipe a tear from under his eye; there is complete silence when Gabe finishes singing, until Ava lets out a big sob and throws herself into her Dads arms, I get up slowly and join the pair of them in a group hug.
“I’m so happy Lauren, I love you so much and I love that you make my Dad so happy.”
I’ve cried so much my head is pounding and my eyes are sore, I really want my bed but everyone else now seems to have decided that they want to party; Stella finds the karaoke show on one of the music channels and we all take turns singing into empty bottles to our favourite tunes; the kids are all either sent to bed or inside the house to play on the play station and the adults, except for me of course, all enjoy a little smoke of something that has been grown hydroponically. The sun is starting to rise and the kookaburras are laughing by the time Cooper and Jake help me get Gabe into bed, there are blankets and bodies everywhere as I leave them all to it and I crawl into bed, exhausted, beside my very drunk, very stoned, very happy, gorgeous husband to be after what has been, quite possibly, one of the best nights of my life.
CHAPTER 24