Mandy lost complete track of her thought as a fluttering sensation moved across her abdomen. “What on earth?” Heart racing, she placed her hands over her stomach and felt it again. The very first movements of her baby.

Oh, my God, it was incredible, absolutely amazing. She reached out and clutched Damien’s linen shirt with her free hand, suddenly light-headed.

“Are you going to throw up again?” Damien grabbed her elbows, looking left and right as if seeking help.

Mandy laughed. She was going to be a mother. There was a child growing inside her, and she/he was swimming laps back and forth from the feel of it. An almost overwhelming surge of love stole over her for this baby, and she wanted to share such a perfect moment with someone. Had to explain to another person that her whole world was shifting and morphing and she was settling into a wondrous kind of excitement over those changes.

“I’m not going to be sick.” She grabbed Damien’s hand and laid it flat on her abdomen. “Can you feel it, Damien? The baby’s moving.”

“The baby?” he squawked, eyes the size of dinner plates. “What baby?”

Now he looked like the one capable of tossing his tea and toast. “My baby. The one I’m having in approximately twenty-three weeks.”

His mouth moved, but nothing came out. His gaze dropped to her stomach, where his hand was pressed over the coral sundress. Mandy put her hand over his, so he wouldn’t pull back. She wanted someone to feel the same miracle she was experiencing. Maybe it was too early for someone else to feel the movements, but if it wasn’t…

There was a quick push outward, as if the baby had jettisoned off a springboard, and Mandy broke into a smile as awareness dawned on Damien’s face.

“Holy shit,” was his opinion, and he looked a little as though he’d walked into a wall after drinking a fifth of gin, but at the same time his thumb stole over her belly in a little soft stroke.

“That’s amazing.” His eyes locked with hers, and she saw the same wonder in them that she felt. “I actually felt it.”

Tears of joy blurred her vision. “I think I just fell completely in love with my baby.”

“Your baby,” he repeated softly, before pulling his hand back and rubbing his forehead. “Your baby.” He shook his head. “Want to tell me exactly how that is possible?”

Then he quickly held his hand up. “No, wait, that’s not what I mean. I don’t need a detailed description of conception. But…can I ask…who’s the father? Where is he?”