I am …
Hermione
They had been married for eight years, and for the last five they had been trying desperately for a baby. They had expected it to happen quickly, as most people do, not more thought beyond that was given to it. However it had not happened, for all the attempts and the test, they had not conceived a child.
"Susan, love, we can try again," Philip Granger said softly as they stared down at the pregnancy test, a single red line, how much they had begun to resent that single red line. The constant sign of their inability to create a life, their child.
"Yeah, we can try again," Susan murmured, stared tearfully down at the plastic stick in her hand. "Always try again."
"Hey, don't be like that," Philip told her softly, he kissed his wife's temple and got up off the bed, he looked around their room and sighed, their bedroom seemed to hold the happiest and saddest of memories.
"We've got work," Susan said finally, throwing the test in the bin, as she got up and walked to the wardrobe, unwilling to further torture herself with the failed test.
"Yeah." Philip said, he looked at his wife and smiled slightly. "I love you, regardless of anything, Susan."
Six months later Susan was on her way to work, Philip was beside her driving their family salon car, as they approached the car park outside their private dental practice she turned to her husband.
"Did you cook those eggs properly?" She asked him, adjusting in her seat; she'd been fidgeting the entire journey, but seemed more uncomfortable now than before.
"'Course I did love," Philip said as he parked the car beside the practice, turning to look at his wife with concern etched into his features. "You gonna be alright?"
"Yeah," Susan muttered, her brow furrowed as she got out of the car, and perhaps it was the head rush, but suddenly she doubled over and threw up the contents of her breakfast. Splattering the mess across the pavement, drops staining her shoes.
"Sus!" Philip yelped, and rushed around the car, and held back his wife's hair.
"Philip!" Susan yelled when finally she was done, and had wiped at her mouth with the handkerchief that her husband had handed her. "You fed me bad eggs!"
Philip was staggered at what to say to his apparently furious wife. The eggs weren't bad, that much he was aware of, because he'd eaten them too, and he'd not gotten ill, in fact Susan had been getting ill after breakfast for a couple of days now. Each time she'd blame whatever she had eaten, Philip knew he was a good cook though, and was reluctant to take the blame.
"Susan, love, I didn't feed you bad eggs, I would have been sick as well," Suddenly Susan burst into tears.
"Are you calling me a liar!"
"Mandy, could you possibly hold my appointments, Susan is ill again," Philip said, as he quickly popped into the practice, talking to the young woman who sat behind the large desk, who sat up when he appeared.
"That's the third time," Mandy pointed out, but of that Philip was fully aware. He was the one who had to take his wife back home after, she couldn't work while she was ill. "Is she pregnant or something?"
Philip froze.
"MUM!" Susan screamed as she rushed to her mother, they were telling the family today, and Susan could barely control herself. "Oh it's so great to see you!"
"Oh, Susan, it's lovely to see you too," Susan mother said, looking slightly bemused, true she was delighted to see Susan, but she was usually a little more reserved. "Darling, are you alright, you look a little flushed?"
"Mum, I'm twelve weeks pregnant!" Susan blurted out, and her mother let out a loud shriek and engulfed her daughter back into her arms, her eyes welling with tears. Philip rolled his eyes; they were planning on telling them over dinner. Clearly Susan had other ideas all together, he chuckled despite himself.
Susan was not at all happy as she looked at herself in the mirror; she was thirty weeks pregnant and ridiculously fat. Philip and her friends and family had assured her on numerous occasions she was not fat, she was pregnant, and there was a very big difference, mainly that she was carrying another person within her, but that was totally beside the point.
"I don't want to go," Susan said, she looked like a hippo from every angle, even wearing black could not make her look any slimmer.
"Love, you look stunning, and everyone knows your pregnant, remember the massive phone bill about six months ago? That's because you told everyonethey aren't going to think you suddenly put on loads of weight," Philip assured her, gently ushering her out to the car. "And you've been looking forward to this for a long time, you can't possibly deny yourself this, just because you think you look fat."
"True." Susan mused as she looked down at her stomach, sure she was huge, but wasn't it worth it after everything?
"Now let's get to the baby shower."
"Oh Susan, you look fantastic!" Lauren, Susan's best friend of several years said, hugging her.
"Thanks Lauren, I'm so glad you could make it," Susan said, taking her best friends hand in her own.
"Make it?" Lauren said mock insulted. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world, you're having a baby, finally."
"Philip, can we just have the one?" Susan asked as she lay on the bed, her legs held in the air by some contraptions she had forgotten the name of, it was uncomfortable, but that was due to the pain she was feeling as the contractions hit.
"If you only want one," Philip said, smiling down at his wife, and kissed her sweaty forehead. "I love you so much." Philip said, and Susan would have replied if it weren't for the contraction.
"PUSH SUSAN! PUSH!"
Susan screamed as she pushed, her whole face glowing red, and in Philip's mind she had never looked so gorgeous, well maybe their wedding day…
A Piercing cry broke through his mind, and he blinked his eyes and the nurse smiled up at him. He looked at the sight before him, it was in many ways the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Do you want to cut the cord?"
"Susan she's beautiful," Philip said, as he sat beside his wife, she was holding a small pink bundle, and looking… words could not describe the beauty before him.
"She's everything," Susan murmured, kissing the top of her daughter's head. "My little Hermione."
"Hermione?" Philip asked, his eyes shining, as the name slipped from his tongue. It was unusual, different, Hermione was an intelligent sounding name, a proud daughter, beautiful and strong. Hermione.
"Don't you think it's perfect, it sets her apart from the rest of the world?" Susan said as she looked back down at her beautiful baby girl, sleeping soundly in her arms.
"Perfect." Philip said smiling down at his wife and daughter. "Hermione."