We were just settling into our small family life when Lucy looked at me with a small secretive smile. Scott was just weaned from breast feeding for about two months and I didn't think there would be much danger in Lucy getting pregnant again so quickly. Both of us were young and very much in love though.
By my calculation, we'd only really been together for twenty-two months (and married for seventeen) when Luce asked me if I'd thought any more about giving Scott a little brother. Lucy, before I'd married her, always said she'd wanted a big family, but that had gone out of my head the day she'd given birth to Scott. She had yelled at me that the next time we decided to have a child, I would be the one to carry and give birth to the child.
Not that it's actually possible for the male body to become pregnant.
But the day Lucy had raised the question with me, I don't think I was paying all that much attention to her. I was busy trying to sort something out (I forget what now) for the company I was starting up. She got my attention when she dumped Scott into my arms and said she needed the restroom.
I stopped what I was doing to secure my hold on my son. "What?" I voiced. Getting up from the table, I moved through our small two bedroom apartment to the restroom. Lucy was bent over the ceramic throne, throwing up the last of her breakfast.
My nearly nine-month-old son grabbed for my ear as I tried to make heads or tails out of Lucy's illness and question. My jaw dropped slightly as Lucy rinsed her mouth and handed me the pregnancy test she'd done earlier. It took me a few moments to realize what I was holding (with the little positive sign) before I grinned. "You sure?"
"Yeah," Lucy had said, returning my grin. I happily pulled my wife into my arms and kissed her forehead.
Looking down at the son I held, I said to him, "You know what, Scotty, we're gonna have a bubba."
Scott, by the look on his face, didn't really understand what I was saying. But he laughed anyway. Anyone could tell you a baby's laugh is infectious. Well, that always seemed true to me with my own children. Both Luce and I joined in with Scott's laughter.
Lucy couldn't understand my fascination with her pregnant body. It wasn't until her third trimester she found it's usefulness when her ankles got swollen and I offered massages. I couldn't keep my hands off her.
The day that John Glenn was born, I was with Lucy in the delivery room the whole time. I was kicking myself for putting her through the pain of bringing a newborn into the world. But as soon as the blue-eyed blond was placed in my arms and looked up at me, I lost another little corner of my heart.
Mother brought our Scott in once Lucy and John were cleaned up. The first time Scott held his little brother, we knew he'd take his big brother role seriously.