Shawn and Eddie Wagner have three daughters and experienced a miscarriage, but are divorced and expecting another baby, and the reader gets to see them find their way back to one another. Shawn Wagner is pregnant with their fifth child. She and her ex-husband, Eddie have three beautiful daughters age five and under and she had a miscarriage. As she enjoys the beach with her daughters, she remembers back to the night she spent with Eddie four months ago that led to her current pregnancy…and sees him walking on the beach with his girlfriend. The same girlfriend he was seeing four months ago and she had not told him about the new baby yet.
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Shawn and Eddie were happy for many years and it was the miscarriage she suffered that really ended their marriage. He blamed her, she blamed him for not helping with the kids and house more and they just couldn't get past that loss. When their youngest daughter turned two, he moved out and they got divorced.
However, she is not sure how much longer she can hide this pregnancy. And when she tells him, she is shocked at his reaction. He loved all of their children and it is very clear they both considered her miscarriage to be a tragedy and their fourth child. However, he is neither happy nor unhappy about this baby, he is simply accepting and she is concerned he won't treat this baby the same way treats the children they already have. He says he won't, but she is still concerned at what she sees as his ambivalence .
Eddie told his current girlfriend Jayne about the new baby and even though he knows that he misses his family and still loves Shawn, he continues to sleep with Jayne. He also spends a lot of time criticizing Shawn because she is disorganized and often late. Although he doesn't yell about the new baby, it seems that he is very conflicted. Due to their divorce and the awkward situation they are in now, he is not a very involved parent with the new baby, which is ironic considering they fought so much after her miscarriage.
As her pregnancy progresses, there are many questions that she is forced to answer from family, friends, co-workers and their daughters. They do become closer and you can tell at various points, they wished they were still married and there was a scene where Eddie felt the baby move that showed they were definitely still a family.
Finally, Eddie steps up and apologizes to her and completely ends his relationship with Jayne. He offers to help out with things around the house, including setting the crib up, and by the very end, proposes. Everyone assumes she will have a girl, but at the end of the novel, it is unclear what the baby's gender is.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved this story, only because of Shawn. She got divorced, got a job and figured out how to raise three girls on her own. She didn't lean on Eddie and was very responsible about only saying good things about Eddie to their daughters, even when there so many bad things she could say.
Best scene in story:
In a beach scene with Shawn and their daughters, they unexpectedly ran into Eddie and his girlfriend. Shawn was so classy and his girlfriend obviously felt uncomfortable, but she was consistently polite and encouraged Jayne to talk to the girls. A lot of ex-wives would not be so nice, especially since Shawn was pregnant at the time with a baby she and Eddie conceived when he was still dating Jayne.
Opinion about the main character:
I didn't like Eddie and he didn't deserve to get his wife and family back. He slept with Shawn, while sleeping with his girlfriend and never really apologized and he blamed his wife for the miscarriage although she had already had a baby a year or so for three years. In addition, he criticized Shawn because she was often late and disorganized, but he is exhausted and messy after an afternoon with kids and can't wait to get them back to her.
