Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 42 of 70

After the last plate was dry and the kids were down, Lymber went back to the bathroom and locked the door. The test strip was still on the counter where she had left it. She peeled the wrapper. She sat on the edge of the tub and waited. Three minutes. The window filled in slow. Two lines. One pink and steady, the same pink as the last two times. She set the strip on her knee and looked at it. Jett was one. Violetta was almost three. Her hand went to her stomach without her deciding. She carried the strip to her office and shut the door. She sat at her desk and opened her notebook to a clean page. She wrote Paul at the top. Under it she wrote what she wanted him to hear. Not in a bathroom. Not with a bundle at the door like last time. She thought about the kitchen, then crossed it out. Violetta was in and out of the kitchen all day. She wrote, office, after bedtime. She wrote, tell him tonight. She wrote, tell him before Mom. She underlined that twice, then drew a line through it. Polly's rule was Polly's rule. She wrote, tell Mom tomorrow. She sat with the pen a minute and then wrote, don't cry. She knew she would anyway. She slid the strip into the notebook and closed it and put it in the drawer with the lock. Paul came home at seven. He kissed the top of her head at the counter and went upstairs to see the kids. She heard him laugh at something Violetta said through the vent. She heated his plate. He ate at the table while she watched him from across it. She waited until his fork was down. She said, Come to my office when you're done. He looked at her. He said, Now. She nodded. He stood up and followed her back and she shut the door behind them and turned the lock. She opened the drawer and took out the strip and put it in his hand. She said, Three. He looked at it. He looked at her. He sat down on the edge of her desk and pulled her against him and held on. He said, Okay. He said it again. Then he said, Your mom. Lymber said, Tomorrow. Me first. He nodded into her hair. She felt him breathe out and knew the telling was done. The rest of it, the counting and the clinic and the town, was still ahead. But tonight the person who needed to know first knew. She kept the strip in her hand and did not put it back in the drawer.