The Future Freaks Me Out

[Emma Macmillan]

Emma counted in her head.

"Months," she said, "Spring - guessing, I would have to say May." Hopefully May, or at least late April - anything earlier and the child would likely die or be as sick as its sister, who had been a handful of weeks earlier than she ought to have been. Anything later - well, Emma didn't want to be pregnant until the summer.

  

[Killian Macmillan]

Killian knew it would be some time yet; she wasn't showing any of the signs as with Megara. Still, the word May felt like a punch to the gut. It was an eternity away. A parade of months to get through. He'd known of the one miscarriage and only because the nurse had told him. He couldn't justify ruling out the possibility that there had been more. And that meant their odds could be even longer.

"May." he echoed, setting his hand down on the fountain, accidentally brushing against hers.

  

[Emma Macmillan]

Emma tugged her hand closer to herself as if she had been burned. "I know," she said. There was so much time for something to go wrong, so much time for her to lose the baby - and she didn't know if her marriage could handle that again.

  

[Killian Macmillan]

He nodded and then nodded again. And then a third time. As if nodding could physically manifest the resolve wanted to feel. He didn't like feeling like there was nothing he could do about their odds. He didn't like feeling like the odds were stacked against him. He just wanted a son... a healthy child, even. He didn't think that was so much to ask for. Everything else he could work at or do something about. But this was out of his hands and he didn't like that feeling.

He continued to watch the shadows of the party-goers pass in front of the illuminated windows. In a short while, when Emma was feeling better, they'd go back and act as if everything was just the same. He'd not tell anyone that his wife was pregnant... that they were expecting a child. He understood the private nature of pregnancy but some small part of him wanted to tell everyone he came across.