Updated Mar 13, 2026 • ~6 min read
Two years after Vegas.
Life has settled into a comfortable rhythm.
Holden’s career is booming. He signed with a major agency, represents some of the biggest names in football. He travels more now, but we make it work.
My business is thriving too. I have a full-time assistant and two part-timers. We handle a dozen weddings a month. I’m featured in wedding magazines. Asked to speak at industry conferences.
We bought a house. Not huge, but ours. Three bedrooms in a neighborhood we love. A backyard. An actual garage.
We’re living the dream we didn’t know we had.
Today I’m at the garden venue—the same place where we got married—coordinating another wedding.
Everything is going perfectly. The bride is happy. The groom is emotional. The families are getting along.
I’m in my element.
Then I feel it.
A flutter.
Low in my stomach. Unmistakable.
I press my hand to my abdomen.
Wait.
No.
I count back. Try to remember my last period.
Oh my god.
OH MY GOD.
I’m late. Very late. How did I not notice?
The flutter happens again. Like butterfly wings inside me.
I steady myself against a chair.
This can’t be happening.
Except it is.
I’m pregnant.
I finish the wedding on autopilot. Smile. Coordinate. Handle emergencies. But my brain is screaming the whole time.
PREGNANT.
I’M PREGNANT.
When Holden arrives to pick me up, I’m sitting on a bench outside the venue. Staring at nothing.
“Hey, wife,” he says cheerfully. “How was your day?”
“Interesting.”
“Good interesting or bad interesting?”
“I… I don’t know yet.”
He sits beside me. “What’s wrong?”
“I have news.”
“Okay?”
I take a breath. “How do you feel about babies?”
He blinks. “Babies in general or…?”
“Baby. Singular. One specific baby. Our baby.”
Silence.
Complete, total silence.
“Tessa,” he says slowly. “Are you saying—”
“I’m pregnant.”
More silence.
Then he’s pulling me up, spinning me around, shouting at the top of his lungs.
“WE’RE HAVING A BABY!”
“Holden, people are staring.”
“I DON’T CARE! WE’RE HAVING A BABY!”
The wedding guests still lingering in the parking lot start clapping.
I’m laughing and crying and overwhelmed.
“You’re happy?” I ask.
“Happy? Tessa, I’m—I can’t even—YES. Yes, I’m happy!”
He kisses me. Right there in the parking lot. In front of everyone.
When he pulls back, we’re both crying.
“I can’t believe this,” I whisper.
“How far along?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t been to a doctor. I just—I felt it. Today. During the wedding. A flutter.”
“A flutter?”
“The baby moving. I think.”
His eyes go wide. “The baby is moving? Already?”
“If I felt it, I must be at least four months. Maybe more. How did I not notice?”
“You’ve been busy. We’ve been busy.”
“Holden, I’m PREGNANT. How does someone not notice that?”
He laughs. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
The next day, I call my doctor. Get an emergency appointment.
Holden comes with me.
We sit in the waiting room holding hands. Both terrified.
“What if something’s wrong?” I whisper.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I can absolutely know that. You’re healthy. Strong. Everything is fine.”
When they call my name, we walk back together.
The ultrasound tech is cheerful. “Let’s see what we have here.”
She puts the wand on my stomach.
And there it is.
A baby.
OUR baby.
Moving. Real. Right there on the screen.
“Oh my god,” I breathe.
Holden squeezes my hand so tight it hurts.
“Looks like you’re about twenty-two weeks,” the tech says. “A little over five months.”
“FIVE MONTHS?” I nearly shout.
She laughs. “It happens more often than you’d think. Some people don’t show much. You’ve been feeling movement?”
“Just started yesterday.”
“That’s perfectly normal for a first pregnancy. Everything looks great. Healthy heartbeat. Good size. Want to know the gender?”
I look at Holden. He nods.
“Yes,” I say. “Please.”
The tech moves the wand. Smiles.
“Congratulations. You’re having a girl.”
A daughter.
We’re having a daughter.
Holden is crying. Full-on sobbing.
I’m crying too.
The tech prints pictures. Gives us information. Schedules follow-ups.
But I barely hear any of it.
Because there’s a baby girl growing inside me.
And everything just changed.
We tell our families that weekend.
Both sets of parents at the same dinner. Eleanor and my mom and dad all together.
“We have news,” Holden announces.
Everyone looks up from their food.
“We’re pregnant,” I say. “Five months. It’s a girl.”
Chaos.
Complete, beautiful chaos.
My mom screams. Eleanor screams. My dad starts crying. Noah jumps up to hug us.
Everyone is talking at once. Asking questions. Making plans.
“When are you due?”
“Do you have names picked?”
“Can I plan the baby shower?”
“Have you bought anything yet?”
“FIVE MONTHS? How did you not know?”
We answer as best we can. But mostly we just laugh.
This is our family. Loud and chaotic and so full of love.
Our daughter is going to be so loved.
Later, when everyone has calmed down, my mom pulls me aside.
“How are you feeling?” she asks quietly.
“Overwhelmed. Excited. Terrified.”
“That’s normal.”
“I don’t know how to be a mom.”
“Nobody does at first. But you’ll figure it out. You and Holden—you’re going to be amazing parents.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
She hugs me. And I let myself believe her.
That night, Holden and I lie in bed. His hand on my stomach.
“A daughter,” he says softly.
“Emma,” I reply. The name just comes to me. “I want to name her Emma.”
“Emma Reid.”
“Perfect, right?”
“Absolutely perfect.”
We lie there in the darkness. The future suddenly very real.
In four months, we’ll be parents.
Four months.
“Are you scared?” I ask.
“Terrified.”
“Me too.”
“But also excited.”
“Me too.”
We fall asleep like that. His hand on my stomach. Our daughter between us.
Two years ago, we woke up married.
Now we’re having a baby.
Life is wild and unexpected and absolutely perfect.
END OF CHAPTER 28
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