world? That 33% of the time it’s the girl’s fault; 33% of the time it’s the guy’s fault; and 33% of the time, they have no idea. They’ve run every test on the planet on the two of us, and lucky us, we fall into the third category. No one knows why I’m not getting pregnant. There’s not a damn thing wrong with either one of us. I mean, other than my car wreck back in 2017. Three years this month for that lovely anniversary.”
Even if Iris was walking today without her cane, Carla worried that her strength was going to give out, and decided to steer them towards a bench tucked off to the side, thanking the heavens above that it was actually empty. As many people as there were at the festival that day, she was sure this bench was only empty because it was so out of the way from the normal traffic pattern.
They settled down in the shade, Carla listening as her friend unburdened.
“They say the car wreck didn’t affect my, you know, ovaries and such, and shouldn’t be a factor in me getting pregnant, but I don’t know. I think it’s my fault. Why we can’t have kids, I mean,” she said miserably. “I feel terrible. Declan could have a happy life with someone else, and I’m just—”
“Now you hold on a minute here,” Carla interrupted. It was rude to interrupt, of course, but she couldn’t let her friend continue to spout such craziness. “You and Declan were a year ahead of me in school, sure, but I still watched you two. I’ve never seen a guy more head-over-heels in love than Declan was with you. When you two broke up and he ended up at the U of I without you, everyone was in shock. You two were the perfect couple. I’m a florist – I have a sense about these things, you know. You two were meant to be together. Declan doesn’t want to marry someone else, kids or no kids.”
Silence. Iris was working up the courage to get to the real problem, and Carla gave her the space to mentally steel herself to say it.
And then…
“Ivy is pregnant.”
Even as Carla’s heart broke from the pain in Iris’ voice, she was grateful she’d said the news out loud. Now Carla could stop pretending she was in the dark about the whole thing.
“She finally took a pregnancy test this weekend,” Iris whispered. “She missed her period, but she waited weeks to test anyway. She’s happy – so happy – but Carla…if that were me…I wouldn’t have waited one extra moment to take the pregnancy test. The fact that she could even wait…”
Iris’ voice broke as tears began trailing down her cheeks again.
“I’m on a bunch of hormones,” she added dully. “The doctor told us that they’ll increase my chances of getting pregnant, but that they’ll also screw with my emotions. I haven’t gotten pregnant yet, but I can tell ya, they got the emotions part right.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Declan hates seeing me cry. He doesn’t know what to do when I’m over in the corner, bawling. I try to hide it from him. Ugh! Guys are so damn lucky,” she announced, straightening her back and glaring at Carla, as if she’d dared to contradict her on this topic.
Carla wanted to laugh at the rapid mood swing her friend was going through, but decided that wouldn’t be advisable under the circumstances, and nodded instead.
“Declan gets handed a girly magazine and a cup, and sent to the bathroom to go—” she lowered her voice and leaned towards Carla confidentially, “—jerk off. So they can do a semen analysis on him. Do you know what I have to do?” She straightened up again, her face alight with righteous indignation. “Get undressed and have some guy stick a cold metal spatula up me so he can poke around. It hurts. And then all of the shots…No one hands me a magazine and tells me to go have some fun.”
Carla wanted to both laugh and cry. “It really isn’t fair,” she agreed, pulling her friend up against her into a one-armed hug.
“I just want to be happy for my little sister,” Iris whispered, her shoulders slumping. “Austin is the best thing that’s ever happened to her, and she deserves this. I just want it too. Is that so much to ask?”
“No,” Carla whispered. “It’s not. I…” She hesitated for a moment and then plunged in, feeling like this