Life's unexpected Gifts

A HEARTLAND story

I woke up in our little trailer we call home to find my wonderful husband cooking breakfast, although it wasn't exactly "Wonderful" because I felt sick and had the worst headache.

I sat up and looked at Caleb. "Hey, ash." "You've been asleep a while." "Ya, just been really tired lately." "Working at Maggie's everyday for ten hours can do that." He kissed me and put a plate in front of me. "Ugh, you know I'm not that hungry." I pushed the plate away with a disgusted look upon my face. "Ash, you love bacon! What's wrong with you?" "I think I've just got the flu or something..." "Well, I'm going to take a shower, feel better." He walked off and I heard the sounds of running water from our tiny bathroom. I heard the phone ring and it was Amy wanting to go for a ride since I was off work today. I said I didn't feel up to the ride but I would meet her at the diner.

I pulled up to a parking spot and went in. Amy was already there waiting for me. She greeted me with a shocked look. "Wow, you look…" "Horrible? Ya I know." I shot back at her. "Are you o.k.?" she asked now concerned. "I don't know… I think I've got a cold or something." I said "Well, what are your symptoms?" asked Amy "Let's see... Headache, I feel like I'm gonna throw up all the time and I've been really tired." Just then I was interrupted by Mallory who was of course hearing our whole conversation and sat by Amy. "Hmm, you know that sounds exactly like what my mom was going though before she had me."

"Ugh! Mallory I really don't need your advice." I said "You know maybe you should listen, that's what I was about to say..." Amy said.

"So, your saying I might be…pregnant?" I looked at Mallory who said "Ya, Maybe you should take at test." "This is so stupid I shouldn't even be having this conversation! I mean there is just no way I can be pregnant!" I almost shouted Mallory and Amy gave me that sympathetic look and said "Better safe than sorry." Just then I looked

Around, people were looking at me with horrified looks. I realized I was so loud the whole restaurant could hear me.

"I can't believe I'm even doing this!" I said as we were walking though the isles at the local Calgary drug store. "It's obviously going to be negative and I'm just worrying over nothing." "Or it could say you have a new O'Dell on the way…" Amy rolled her eyes at Mallory and faced me with a weak smile and said "Everything is going to be fine."

I finally got to the trailer and noticed Caleb was sitting at the table and he was eating a sandwich. I walked to the bathroom with my brown paper bag and tried no to be seen. "Hey, what you got there ash?" "Oh! Nothing just something I picked up for my cold today..." I turned and fled to the bathroom. I took the small white emphasis test in my hands and read the fate for the rest of the next nine months and the rest of my life. Positive. My hands started to shake and the thoughts all started to whirl in my head. "How? This can't be happening I'm only 19 I can't deal with a baby right now!" My thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the bathroom door. "Ash! You o.k.?" Caleb said franticly.

"Yep…Be out in a sec!" I walked out of the bathroom and looked at Caleb; I knew I had to tell him. "Hey, Babe, what took you so long?" Um, I...I need to talk to you." I said shakily "What's wrong?" He placed a hand on my knee. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm, Pregnant."

"What? How? We…" "One time and that's all it takes." I said trying to hold back my tears. "I Know was married already but, this is still a really bad situation!" "What are we going to do!" "Ash, calm down we'll figure this all out don't worry." Caleb said as he was trying to get me to sit down. "Oh my god! I have to tell my mother!" "Let's not worry about that right now." "Caleb!, she's going to find out once I start looking like a whale!" "You won't look like a whale to me…" He kissed my cheek and held me close. How are we going to do this?" "We can hardly afford to keep this little dinky trailer afloat! And now this?" I said now screaming at Caleb who gave up trying to console me. "You're looking at this the wrong way, Didn't we agree to have kids sometime?" He said looking hopeful "Yes, SOMETIME in the future not now when we are broke, living in a trailer that isn't even big enough for us both!" I said. I turned around now facing the stove we call our "Kitchen" Caleb grabbed my arm and turned me around to face him. "Look, we'll make this work I promise." He said with a smile on his face.