Overreaction

Kieran turned around. His eyes were red-rimmed. I shot to my feet. ‘Honey, are you crying?’ He blinked away the tears and held up the pregnancy stick. ‘What is it? What does it say?’ I craned my neck. He threw his arms around me. ‘We are having a baby.’ ‘Oh.’ I kind of guessed it from his reaction. ‘We are having a baby!’ He shouted. ‘I’m finally getting a daughter!’ I peered at the pregnancy stick. ‘Can those tests tell the baby’s gender now? Wow.’ ‘No.’ He chuckled and pulled back. ‘I just wish it’s a girl. Then she’ll have a big brother to protect her.’ ‘Ken’s going to be a good brother.’ I concurred. ‘He’ll be thrilled he can have someone to watch Tom & Jerry with.’ Kieran read and re-read the pregnancy test result. He was all choked up. It wasn’t until later that I figured out why. He wasn’t there when Ken was born. He never said anything about it, but I knew how much he regretted it. Being there for the birth of our second child was a redeeming act for him, though I never blamed