Chapter 28 - the real pregnancy scared avice more than anyone expectedThe call came fourteen months after the wedding.
Cesare knew immediately from Julian’s voice.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Eliza’s pregnant.”
Cesare went silent.
Not because he was unhappy.
Because he knew exactly whose face Julian was imagining.
“Avice?”
“We haven’t told her.”
“Good.”
Julian exhaled.
“I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“Tell her the truth.”
“That’s what started the last disaster.”
Cesare’s voice hardened.
“No.”
A pause.
“The last disaster started because people lied.”
Julian became quiet.
Cesare continued.
“You are not responsible for making Avice happy about this.”
That was difficult.
“You are responsible for making sure she is not displaced by it.”
Julian and Eliza told Avice together.
At home.
No ultrasound photo hidden inside a gift.
No T-shirt saying BIG SISTER.
No surprise camera.
Just words.
Eliza spoke.
“I’m pregnant.”
Avice froze.
Her face emptied.
Julian waited.
No one filled the silence.
Finally:
“For real?”
The question broke Eliza’s heart.
“Yes.”
Avice looked at her stomach.
Eliza was only eleven weeks.
Nothing visible.
“How do you know?”
“Blood tests. Ultrasound.”
Avice stared.
“Can those be fake?”
Julian felt sick.
Eliza answered carefully.
“They can be faked by someone who chooses to fake them.”
Avice looked up.
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Can I see?”
“Yes.”
Julian immediately reached for his phone.
Eliza stopped him.
“No.”
He looked confused.
Eliza kept her eyes on Avice.
“You don’t have to prove it to yourself tonight.”
Avice started crying.
“I do.”
“Okay.”
Eliza retrieved the printed ultrasound herself.
She handed it over.
Avice stared.
Small shape.
Medical text.
Real.
Still, her hands shook.
“What if it dies?”
Julian closed his eyes.
The fake miscarriage.
The invented grief.
The years of confusion.
Eliza sat several feet away.
“That can happen.”
Julian looked at her.
She did not promise certainty.
“I hope it doesn’t.”
Avice cried harder.
“Then everybody will be sad.”
“Yes.”
“And what if it lives?”
The question came out almost angrily.
Julian moved slightly.
Avice backed away.
He stopped immediately.
She looked at him.
“Am I gonna be old?”
“No.”
“You said watch what you do.”
“Yes.”
“So what are you gonna do?”
Julian’s voice broke.
“Keep doing the same things.”
“What if the baby needs you?”
“It will.”
“What if Eliza needs you?”
“She will.”
“What if I need you?”
Julian could barely answer.
“Then you still get me.”
Avice shook her head.
“There’s only one you.”
The most logical objection.
Julian nodded.
“Yes.”
He sat on the floor.
Far enough away.
“I cannot promise everything will stay exactly the same.”
Avice listened.
“That would be another lie.”
Cesare would later be proud of that sentence.
Julian continued.
“A baby changes schedules.”
Avice cried.
“It changes sleep. Money. Time.”
Her face crumpled.
“But it does not change whether you belong.”
Avice whispered:
“Diane said the baby was the real future.”
Julian’s face shattered.
“She was wrong.”
“What am I?”
“You are not the old future.”
He struggled.
“You are not the first family.”
He looked directly at her.
“You are my daughter.”
Simple.
No ranking.
No replacement.
Avice looked at Eliza.
“What am I to you?”
Eliza swallowed.
“You’re Avice.”
The same answer from the bookstore.
That mattered.
“You don’t become less because someone else exists.”
Avice held the ultrasound.
Then asked the question no adult expected.
“Can Grandpa come?”
Julian called immediately.
Cesare arrived twenty minutes later.
Avice ran into his arms.
He held her.
No explanations.
No speeches.
After a long time she whispered:
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Does that make me mean?”
“No.”
“What if I don’t love it?”
“You don’t have a job yet.”
Avice looked up.
“What?”
“The baby isn’t asking you for anything.”
Cesare wiped her cheek.
“You are allowed to meet a real person before deciding how you feel about them.”
Avice breathed.
For the first time that night, her shoulders lowered.
Cesare looked toward Julian and Eliza.
He could see their fear.
He could also see something else.
May you like
Nobody was asking Avice to make this pregnancy easier for the adults.
That alone proved how far the family had come.
