Invisible String

47

I grab my phone with one hand while Baylor sleeps soundly in the other, his tiny fingers still curled against my chest. Travis is sitting at the foot of the bed, pulling on a hoodie, watching me with a soft smile like he knows exactly what I’m doing.

“You gonna tell them?” he asks.

I nod, already pulling up the group chat. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

I scroll through my photos until I land on the perfect one—the one we snapped this morning: Baylor all bundled up in his yellow sleeper and matching hat, swaddled tight in the hospital bassinet, blinking up at the world like, hi, I’m the main character now.

I attach it, fingers trembling just a little with that cocktail of exhaustion and joy and adrenaline that’s been running through me since labor ended.

Then I type:

---

🎄 Merry Christmas from our little surprise! 🎄
Swipe to meet the best gift we’ve ever gotten:

Baylor James Kelce
Born December 25, 7:42am
7 lbs 6 oz — 20.5 inches
He shocked us… and yes, even Mommy and Daddy 😅
We’re so in love. ❤️

---

I glance at Travis before I hit send. “You ready?”

He nods. “Let’s blow up some phones.”

I tap Send, and a beat later, the little photo preview lights up in the group chat. Three dots pop up almost immediately, and I don’t even get the chance to put my phone down before the notifications start exploding—Kylie, Donna, Andrea, Jason, even Patrick and Brittany.

One message after another:

“WHAT!!!!”
“OH MY GOD TAYLOR!!!!”
“You had a CHRISTMAS BABY!?!?”
“He’s PERFECT.”
“I’m crying 😭😭😭”
“Surprise to mommy and daddy??? EXCUSE ME!?”
“Wait. YOU DIDN’T KNOW?!”

I grin, dropping my head back against the pillow and laughing while Baylor lets out the tiniest sigh in his sleep.

“Merry Christmas, world,” I whisper. “You just met Baylor.”

Just as I’m getting Baylor settled against my chest, trying to help him latch, my phone starts buzzing on the tray table. I glance over and see Mom lighting up the screen. My heart skips. Oh God. She saw the text.

Travis is already grabbing it, glancing at me like, you want me to get it? I nod. My hands are full—literally—and also, I’m kind of still recovering from the fact that I just found out I was pregnant yesterday and had a baby this morning.

He answers and hits speaker.

“Hey, Andrea.”

There’s a pause on the other end. Then:

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!”

Travis bites back a smile and I wince, adjusting Baylor again as he starts rooting. “Hi, Mom,” I say softly. “Um… Merry Christmas?”

“Taylor! Are you seriously telling me you had a baby?! Today?! You didn’t even tell me you were pregnant!”

I swallow. “We didn’t know either.”

Silence.

Then: “I—what do you mean you didn’t know?”

“I thought I was having period cramps yesterday,” I say, voice shaking a little as I look down at Baylor’s impossibly tiny face. “I kept waiting for the bleeding to start, but it didn’t… and then the cramps got worse, and—yeah. Surprise.”