Miranda woke up in the dead of night, and immediately knew that something wasn't right. She felt nauseous and queasy. Knowing what was going to happen next, she threw the covers back and ran to the bathroom. A minute later, she'd lost her dinner. But she felt no relief of her nausea. So she stayed in the bathroom all night long, not daring to go back to bed.
Her husband, Birk, woke up the next morning to find that his wife was gone. He got out of bed and walked around the room, calling out her name. "Miranda?"
Miranda awoke upon hearing the sound of her husband's voice. "In here dear," she called back weakly.
Birk heard her and raced to the bathroom door. "Miranda?" He called through the door. "Can I come in?"
"Yes," she again said weakly.
Birk opened the door and looked around. He found her on the floor in front of the toilet. He raced over and sat down next to her. "Miranda! Are you alright?"
"I-I honestly don't know."
"What happened?"
"Well, I woke up last night feeling nauseous so I came in here and I lost m-my d-dinner!" She buried her face in her hands and started crying.
"This was happening all night long?" She nodded "Why didn't you wake me?"
She sniffed. "You were sleeping so soundly, and I didn't want to wake you."
"Oh Miranda... I would have understood that you're not feeling well."
"Speaking of which..." She leaned over the toilet again and puked.
Birk tried to help her as best he could by rubbing her back soothingly. "Miranda, perhaps you should go to the doctor. This isn't normal."
"Oh, I'm sure it will pass in about a week. Let's give it some time first, okay?"
"Okay, whatever you say. I won't force you because it's your body."
"Thank you," she said gratefully.
So Miranda and Birk waited a week to see if her illness would get better and go away. But rather, it got increasingly worse as time went on. She found it hard to do her work because he had to constantly keep running to the bathroom. She couldn't cook either, because the smells just made her nauseous again. She was going to the bathroom a lot more lately too, which was very unusual, and her emotions were everywhere. One minute she was happy, and the next minute, she was crying. Finally, after much persuasion from Birk, Miranda finally relented and he went with her into the village doctor's office. After many questions and tests, the doctor gave them a diagnosis.
"Well, it looks as though congratulations are in order for you both." the doctor said.
Miranda and Birk looked at each other, then back at the doctor. "Congratulations for what?" Miranda asked.
"Well, let's just say, that you are perfectly healthy..."
"But how can that be?" Birk asked.
"I'm still nauseous," Miranda said.
"You didn't let me finish," the doctor said. "You are perfectly healthy, and the baby is too."
A few seconds passed by before it finally clicked in the young couple's minds. "What?" they said in unison.
Dr. Kim chuckled. "That's right! Congratulations to you both!"
"Thank you Doctor," Birk said.
"Thank you so much," Miranda added.
"You are very welcome and congratulations again."
"Thank you," they said before leaving his office.
As they were walking back home, Miranda said to Birk, "We need a room for our baby and maybe some paint for the walls."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. We can start this weekend."
A few weeks later, Miranda and Birk had just learned she was going to have baby girl. Right after that, Birk had Miranda take some shoes outside for delivery, while he helped the last customers of the day. Then, Birk heard the sound of a carriage coming up the road. He looked outside and saw Miranda in front of the oncoming carriage. Without even thinking, Birk just ran out to get his wife and unborn child out of the way. Miranda didn't know that it would be the last time she would ever see her husband. When the carriage driver stopped and moved to the side of the street, Miranda ran to his side and cradled his head in her arms with tears pouring down her face.
"Birk, wake up... please," Miranda choked. "Our daughter needs you... I need you," she whispered. But Birk was gone.
Miranda sat up bolt right in bed. She was sweating and breathing heavily. She looked around the room, reality setting in. She realized where she was. The jolt of her sitting up awoke Roland.
"Miranda? What's wrong my love?"
Tears filled Miranda's eyes as she recalled the memory of seeing her late husband killed. "Oh, Rollie," she whimpered. "I just relived Birk's death through my dreams."
With that, the floodgates opened and she sobbed. Roland pulled her body against his and she sobbed in his chest. Roland held her in a loving embrace and stroked her hair while she sobbed. When she finally calmed down, she pulled back and kept her head down, the tears still falling. Roland kept his hands on her shoulders. Using his left hand, he lifted her chin with his thumb and fingers so that she would look at him.
"Hey," he said softly. "You're safe now. I'm here."
"What would I do without you?"
"Let's hope you'll never have to find out. I can tell you this though. For as long as I live, I will always love you. Don't ever forget that."
"How can I forget when you remind me every single day?"
"That's exactly why I do it, so you will never forget. Therefore, I will remind you for the first time today-since it's the second hour- I love you."
"I love you too Rollie."
Roland leaned forward and gave Miranda a sweet kiss that was enough to melt her heart. Then, they laid back down and Miranda rested her head on her husband's chest. Both of them fell back to sleep in each other's warm and loving embrace. Miranda slept soundly throughout the rest of the night in her husband's arms, knowing that he would always protect her. And no matter how many times he said it, she would never get tired of hearing Roland openly declare his deep love for her. This man cherished her immensely beyond measure, and it was beautiful.
A/N: Sofia 2015 and I wrote this together and asked me to post it, so here you go! For anyone who doesn't know, 'the second hour' that I mentioned in the story, means it was two o'clock in the morning. Hope y'all liked it! please R&R!