Beyond the Stars by Kelly Beltz

for the thud of her body hitting the floor but heard nothing. Finally, I spoke. “Mom, did you hear me?”
    “Yes, of course I heard you, Sami,” said my mother sharply. I braced myself for the unavoidable lecture that I was about to endure.
    “What does Jack think about this?” she asked carefully, trying not to pry.
    “He doesn’t know yet. I haven’t even taken a pregnancy test. I know I am, though. I’m four weeks late!” I shouted.
    “Okay, Samantha—calm down. You’re going to be fine. You are going to keep the baby, right? I mean, the way you talk about Jack, you have to—”
    “Yes. I could never hurt any part of him,” I answered without so much as a second thought.
    My mother let out a sigh of relief. “Are you going to get married?” she asked in a faint voice.
    “I don’t know, Mom. This just happened. I haven’t even told Jack. I hope he doesn’t freak out.” Jack was such a good guy. He was almost too good to be true. I hoped that my being pregnant wouldn’t make him want to run. It would crush my view of him. I had never been so in love in my life. I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
    “It will be okay.”
    “Mom, are you sure you aren’t mad at me?” I had to ask. Why wasn’t she yelling at me? Shouldn’t I be married and have money saved up?
    “Sami, you can’t always plan everything so carefully in your life. Sometimes you just have to be grateful when you receive such a precious blessing,” she said reassuringly.
    “Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
    “I love you, too, Sami. You’re going to be a great mom. Dad and I will help you with whatever we can. Tell Jack. I think he’ll be happy,” she promised me.
    I hung up the receiver and looked up at the clock. “Oh, no … Jack ,” I screamed when I remembered I needed to get ready. I was supposed to go to dinner with him in fifteen minutes. I stood up from the kitchen stool slowly, in case I needed to make another run to the bathroom.
    I was surprised by how normal I felt. I was fine. Amazingly, I didn’t have one ounce of nausea.
    I thought about my mother’s reaction. I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. My parents had always supported me in my decisions. They had also suffered from infertility before they miraculously had me. They had tried fertility treatments and in-vitro fertilizations many times without success. They had all but given up on having children and spent their lives dedicated to their careers and taking extravagant vacations. My mother didn’t get pregnant with me until she was forty-six years old. She thought she was in menopause. My dad was thrilled. Although he was nervous about being an older father, at fifty, he wanted me just as much as she did. I knew they would have liked to have had more kids. But being an only child had some advantages. The best one was all the adult conversations I was privy to because they would forget that there was a child in the room. It’s amazing what you can learn. One thing I know for sure is that they secretly worried about never having the chance to become grandparents since they had me so late. To make matters worse, I never dated anyone who moved me the way Jack did. I had only a few boyfriends in the past. Usually, I was attracted more to their minds and ignored the physical part. I was never a smitten teenager in love. I think they worried that I’d become an old maid. But Jack, he was attractive both inside and out. I couldn’t hide my excitement if I tried.
    Jack arrived at my apartment exactly at six. I invited him in so I could deliver the news at home. Besides, my apartment was geographically closer to the nearest emergency room than the restaurant in case he went into shock.
    “Jack, I’m late,” I told him as he stood in my entryway. Why not just come out and say it?
    “You look ready to me. Come on, I’m starving,” he stated, not understanding the meaning behind my comment. I took his hand and led him to the kitchen barstools to sit