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  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Debbie said.

  “No, be… uff, seepy… head, be… uff, tire.”

  “I know, baby. I’m glad you got to be awake with Robert for a while.”

  “Be… uff, luf… mae—” The word was lost in her yawn.

  Debbie reached over to rub Gini’s arm. Gini immediately curled up into a ball. “No, be… uff… tuss.”

  “Baby, what is it? Are you not feeling well?”

  “No, be… uff… tuss. Be… uff, goo.” She raised her voice at the end in an attempt to indicate nothing was wrong, but she would not let Debbie get near her.

  Debbie’s visual assessment was Gini didn’t seem to be sick, and she wasn’t crying so she probably wasn’t hurt or scared, but she had no idea why Gini didn’t want to be touched.

  “Okay, so let’s get you up and get some food in your tummy.”

  “No, be… uff.” Gini burst into tears. “Bay… be, be… uff, tummy. Bay… be, gill, be… uff, tummy. Rob… ber, bay… be, Jess… eeca.”

  “Gini, are you trying to tell me you’re pregnant?”

  “Oh… yes,” Gini said through her tears. “Rob… ber, say, Guiney, no, have, bay… be. Be… uff, bad. Dee… bee, bay… be, no, be… uff, bad.”

  “Gini, you know I’m a nurse, right?”

  Gini nodded her head on the pillow.

  “So, can I check you to make sure the baby is okay?”

  “Bay…be, be… uff, goo.” The words got lost in Gini’s whimpers, but she turned over on her back and straightened out.

  Debbie went and got some latex gloves and checked Gini out, first pressing on her abdomen, then doing a pelvic exam. Gini was right, her uterus was enlarged. If she wasn’t pregnant, then definitely something was going on.

  “Baby, when did you get pregnant?”

  “Hooney… moon, night, two.”

  Gini had only had a couple of periods since Debbie had known her. Normally, she’d question that Gini could conceive, but she had to remember Gini was pregnant with twins when she had her accident.

  “Did you tell Robert about the baby?”

  “Rob… ber, be… uff, mad. Rob… ber, no, wuan, bay… be, gill. No, wuan, Jess… eeca.”

  “We don’t know that.” Since Robert had said nothing about Gini being pregnant, Debbie knew Gini had not told him of her suspicions.

  “Do you use protection when you make love?”

  “Oh… yes.” Gini was still sobbing. “Be… uff, rub… ber, con… dom.”

  “I’m going to call Dr. Nelson and see if she can work you in today. It’s a good idea to be examined by a doctor just to make sure you and the baby are okay.”

  “Bay… be, be… uff, goo.”

  Dr. Nelson told them to come in around eleven-thirty, and since Gini was so upset, she had arranged for Maggie to be there, just in case there was a psychological issue.

  It was obvious from Gini and Debbie’s conversations that at some point Robert had told Gini he would not want Gini to get pregnant because it was too dangerous. And she figured out that sometime between their lovemaking and when they woke up, Gini had physically felt her hardened uterus and knew Robert would be upset, so she didn’t want him to touch her and feel the bump.

  When they arrived at Dr. Linda Nelson’s examining room, Maggie and John were also there. Linda checked Gini out, finding the same results as Debbie. She could hear the baby moving and a faint heartbeat with her stethoscope. She agreed with Gini that the conception date was the last week of October, exactly when they were on their honeymoon.

  After further discussion with a tearful Gini, Maggie determined Gini had told Robert she had a baby in her tummy when they were in Mexico, and Robert, not fully understanding what she was saying, had told Gini she would never carry and deliver a child. It was just too risky for her. Gini had known from the day she was pregnant and hadn’t told anyone because she didn’t want Robert to be upset. When asked how long Gini thought she could hide her tummy, Gini got more hysterical, saying she hadn’t thought about how to hide it. Maggie and Debbie finally got Gini calmed down.

  John went through all of Gini’s records since the accident. He felt Gini was as healthy as any other mother-to-be.

  “Where’s Robert?” Maggie asked.

  “He got out of surgery about thirty minutes ago,” John reported.

  Maggie looked at her watch. “I’d better talk to him in my office before he sees Gini.”

  “Robert. It’s Maggie,” she was heard saying as she left the exam room. “If you have a minute can you come to my office?”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “Just want to talk to you for a minute.”

  “Okay, on my way.”

  He was ushered into her office when he arrived at her reception.

  “Man, what a day,” he said.

  “How’s your patient?”

  “He seems to be holding his own. I think we got the bleeding stopped. It was a close one, but I think he’ll be fine.” Robert sat on the couch in the room and relaxed back.

  “Robert.” She paused.

  He looked at her puzzled. “Maggie, what is it?”

  “Gini’s in Linda’s office.”

  He immediately slid to the front of the couch. “I did hurt her. What’s wrong, tell me. Why didn’t Linda or Debbie call me?” He was up on his feet.

  “She’s okay. Really, she’s just fine, but a little upset.”

  “About what?”

  “Robert, Gini’s about twelve to fourteen weeks pregnant. She thinks you’ll be ang—”

  “Absolutely no pregnancies.” Robert dashed to the door.

  Maggie ran to keep up with his fast pace. “Robert, stop, we need to talk.”

  “No, Maggie. I told her she was not going to carry a child, and that is that.”

  The minute Gini heard Robert’s bellowing voice coming in the room she started crying again.

  “Linda, she needs an abortion immediately,” he barked.

  “Rob… ber. Bay… be, gill. Jess… eeca. Rob… ber, bay… be, gill.”

  “Gini, hush.” He put his right hand on the top of her head and wrapped his left hand around her arm lying on the bed.

  “She is not going to have a baby,” he said sternly.

  Debbie had never seen Robert so enraged. She stepped back from the examining table.

  There was silence in the room.

  “Look, Linda. Look and see when you can schedule to end this pregnancy.”

  “Bay… be, gill.”

  Robert looked then to Dr. Meyer. “Help me out here, John. Tell them this can’t happen.”

  “First of all,” John started, “you need to calm down. You’re scaring your wife. Gini is perfectly healthy, healthy enough to be a mother.”

  “Rob… ber, bay… be, gill, Jess… eeca,” Gini kept repeating through her tears.

  Robert put his head back and took a deep breath.

  “Pease, Rob… ber. Guiney, be… uff, goo. Bay… be, be… uff, goo. Rob… ber, lah… uff.”

  He put his head back down and looked at her lying on the bed, then he started rubbing his thumb gently back and forth across her forehead. “Okay, if I agree, tell me how we’re going to do this.”

  “I’ll get a new brain scan,” John said. “But you know how good her last one looked.”

  “I’ve got a rush on her blood work,” Linda reported. “We’ll treat this as a high-risk pregnancy, mainly because of the hypoglycemia. We’ll do a C-section long before she goes into labor. We can manage this, Robert; we can.”

  There was silence again in the room.

  “Okay, just so you all know, if there are any problems—with the baby, with Gini’s physical or mental health—and I mean any, this fetus will be aborted. No questions asked. Understood? I am not going to lose my wife. I’m going to protect her.”

  Gini rolled closer to him. “Rob… ber, bay… be, gill. Guiney, no, be… uff, seek, be… uff, goo.” She rubbed his hand on her face.
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br />   He closed his eyes and took in a long, deep breath. He needed to calm himself, push the fear way, and try to think straight. He would never suggest to one of his DAI patients to go through a pregnancy. But Gini wasn’t a typical severe brain trauma patient. She wasn’t on any medication, and she was functioning to her full capacity. She had worked so hard to live a normal life, and having a family was about as normal as a woman could get. Did he have the right to take that away from her, from them? He’d seen the joy and love in Lenny and Lisa with their child—envied it, really. Deep down he wanted to be a father, and he knew it. And John was the best in the field. If he thought Gini could handle carrying a child, then she could. Robert trusted him.

  Linda smiled and squeezed Gini’s other hand. “I’ll go get the sonogram machine, and we’ll take a look.”

  Debbie was still standing away from the exam table, not really sure how she felt about what she had just witnessed. Robert so out of character, Gini hysterical, and herself feeling both excitement about the baby and worry for Gini. She didn’t like the way Robert handled his fears, but she knew exactly what he was talking about. She remembered Gini as she had first met her, so wounded, not even knowing her babies were dead. She knew Gini remembered being pregnant but not how much she understood. Would this bring it all back? What did that even mean for someone with brain damage?

  John told Robert he would arrange for the brain scan. Maggie patted Robert on the shoulder. “Come talk to me.” Dr. Meyer and Maggie left the room with Linda.

  Robert leaned down to Gini and kissed her on the lips. Gini reached around his head, and they kissed again.

  “Here we go,” Linda said, coming back in the room.

  She smeared the gel on Gini’s tummy and moved the wand all around. She had positioned the monitor so that all of them could see it. Debbie stepped closer to the examining table.

  “There,” Linda said, pointing at the monitor. “Yep, I’d say about fourteen weeks.”

  “Rob… ber, bay… be, gill.”

  “It’s too early to determine the sex, but the fetus looks healthy and good,” Linda said.

  Robert picked up Gini’s hand and kissed her fingers and then held her hand to his lips. Debbie put her hand on her chest. She was choked with emotion.

  Gini looked at Robert with her eyes wide open, wearing a big smile with her dimples prominently in place. “Jess… eeca.”

  Robert checked his buzzing phone, a message from John.

  I’ve set the scan appointment for one.

  Okay, thanks.

  Linda was still waiting for the blood work. She left the room to check on it after capturing a still frame from the sonogram, which she gave to Robert.

  “Gini, I don’t want you to ever keep anything from me again, okay?” Robert said in a kind voice. “We’re a team now, and we don’t keep secrets from each other.”

  “Rob… ber, be… uff, Guiney, mad… uff, tell.”

  “I probably would have reacted the same, but at least I would have known a long time ago. I love you, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I can’t live without you.” He put her fingers back on his mouth and a tear trickled down his cheek. “God, I love you.”

  “Rob… ber, lah… uff. Bay… be, Jess… eeca, lah… uff, Rob… ber.”

  He started to weep. Debbie walked up to him and rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll go find some place for us to go so Gini can sleep before her scan. She’s had quite the morning.”

  “I have a resting room with a bed,” Linda said, coming in the door. “She can sleep there. The blood work all looks good.” She handed the report to Robert. He wiped his cheeks and took the sheet of paper.

  After a few minutes, Gini was up and dressed.

  Robert got a page and looked toward Debbie. “I need to go check my patient.”

  Debbie stood next to Gini, holding her hand. “Go ahead. I’ll stay with Gini while she rests.”

  When Robert left the critical care unit, he headed straight to Maggie’s office.

  “Come on in, Daddy,” she said, smiling big and hugging him. “Congratulations.”

  “Oh God, Maggie, how did this happen?”

  “Really, Robert, do I need to explain the birds and the bees to you?”

  “Of course not.” He gave her a glaring look, then sat down.

  “If you didn’t want her to get pregnant, maybe you should have figured out a way to prevent it.”

  “I always use a condom. I thought about a vasectomy, but, well, our lovemaking is very sporadic, mainly because I’ve been working so many hours, and she hardly ever has periods. I just figured she couldn’t conceive.”

  “Don’t you remember she was carrying twins when she had her accident?”

  “Yeah, I guess. But I promise, every time we made love I used a condom.”

  “How about the second night of your honeymoon, did you wear one then?”

  He sat up straighter. “Well, no, I mean she completely surprised me when she wanted to make love. I didn’t have any. I didn’t think she knew anything about sex. How did you know?”

  “Gini said that’s when she got pregnant, and she told you, but you were emphatic she was not going to carry a baby, so she stopped talking about it.”

  Robert sat back and started trying to recall any such conversation. Then it hit him. He had told Gini about John and Vicky becoming grandparents for the first time and thought it funny when Gini rubbed her own tummy and said baby girl. That was when she told him, and when he told her no children.

  “Oh, Maggie, I’m such a bad husband. You’re right, she did try to tell me. But really, how did she know she was pregnant the next day? Is that possible?”

  “A lot of women know. They say their bodies immediately feel different. However, most don’t know the sex and have a name.” She smiled. “I’m convinced Gini has a sixth sense.”

  “It’s going to take me a while to get my head around this,” he said, smiling.

  “I’ve been a parent for a long time. If you have any questions, I’d be glad to try and provide an answer. Our girls are in high school now. Soon they will be off to college.”

  “High school, no, Maggie, they can’t be that old already.”

  She shook her head yes.

  “I remember the tears you shed for each of them when they started kindergarten.”

  “Yeah, time goes by so fast. My advice is to enjoy every single second you have with your children. It’s a fun ride, believe me.”

  “Children, let’s not get too far ahead. One will be enough. Maggie, I was a bachelor for so long; I didn’t think I knew how to love. And then this whirlwind came into my life. Every time I think I’m back standing up straight and steady, I’m twirled around and round again. I didn’t think I could love anyone so deeply.”

  “Well, when the person is a perfect fit, it’s easy; right?”

  “How can I find more love for a child?”

  “There’s plenty of love in that heart of yours, believe me.”

  He smiled, looking at his watch.

  “I’ve got to get going. I’m a little frightened with all of this. If she has trouble being a mother—if it hurts her—” He stopped.

  “You’re going to be fine. You’ll love that little girl.”

  He started to the door. “Yes, apparently named Jessica.”

  Maggie laughed as the door closed behind him.

  The brain scan was nearly the same as the last one. If anything had changed, it was for the better. John once again reassured Robert that Gini was capable of having a child. A lot of young women had babies after traumas in their lives. It was a way they could prove to themselves they were still alive and as normal as they could be. Robert had to admit, Gini was very happy about having a baby. He just hoped he could be strong enough for anything that happened.

  That night after Gini had gone to sleep, Robert apologized to Debbie.

  “Deb, I’m so sorry for the way I acted today. I don’t know what came over me.”


  “Fear, pure fear,” she said in her firm tone.

  “Yes, I am fearful, but I could have handled it in a much saner way.”

  “You were pretty scary.” She turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, then started laughing. He chuckled.

  “I totally get how you feel,” she said. “It’s a big unknown. But I’m excited, as well. I love holding little Timmy, and now we’re going to have a sweet baby in our house.”

  Robert let out a long breath. “Yeah… scary.”

  Chapter 4—Moving On

  After the big news about Robert and Gini becoming parents, Gini was having no problems, and the only issue Debbie had to deal with was keeping enough food prepared for Gini’s constant hunger pangs. Gini’s baby bump was dramatically visible within a few weeks.

  Robert had come to terms with becoming a dad, although they still didn’t know the sex for sure—except Gini, who never wavered in her belief that it was a girl. Debbie hoped she wouldn’t be disappointed if it turned out to be a boy. Robert didn’t really care as long as the baby and Gini came through the whole ordeal healthy.

  Lisa was at the condo a lot, preparing Gini for motherhood and helping Debbie look up online what newborns would need immediately. Lisa shared that she and Lenny had had no idea what they were doing and ended up taking several emergency runs to get needed items. Debbie marveled at how much more mature Lisa had become since she’d had a family—motherhood brought out more of her loving and caring sweetness. And Debbie could see a new confidence in her. Lisa’s actions were those of a mother with other children. She had showed Debbie how to bundle the baby, tie him to her body with a wrap baby carrier, and how to rub Timmy’s back, while he was on his stomach in her lap, to get a gentle burp. Debbie found herself often staring at Lisa when she was breastfeeding or rocking her sweet son to sleep. He could have been the baby they shared together if things had happened differently.

  There was a soft pillow-type device—similar to a donut shape—made for children to hold their new brother or sister safely. Lisa brought one for Gini to try to hold Timmy. Gini’s eyes opened wide and glistened when they put Timmy comfortably in her lap. She ran her hand softly on his face and leaned over and kissed him. Debbie smiled. She knew Gini was going to be able to hold her own child with no problems.