Mary quickly adjusted to her return to the world of the sighted. She already knew her students well by the sound of their voices and the contours of their faces, so being able to see what color their hair and eyes were simply supplemented what she already knew about them.

She never tired of seeing Adam's face. Even when he didn't look his best, when he'd just awoken and was bleary-eyed with rumpled hair, to Mary he looked utterly adorable.

In the evenings and weekends, Mary spent many hours strolling the fields, her eyes drinking in all the wonders of nature that had been denied her for so long. Adam often accompanied her for the companionship, enjoying her lively prattle as she eagerly described everything she saw to him.

Mary was so absorbed in readjusting to the world of sight that at first she didn't even notice the subtle changes that were taking place in her body. She grew much sleepier than usual, and a bit hungrier as well, although the smell of certain foods she'd previously enjoyed now made her queasy. One morning she realized with a start that she'd missed her monthly courses for a couple of months in a row and knew that it was time to pay a visit to Dr. Baker.

That evening, Adam could tell that there was something different about his wife. He couldn't see her smile, of course, but he could sense that her movements were more brisk than usual, and he could hear her humming to herself under her breath.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I paid a visit to Dr. Baker this morning," she told him. "Oh, Adam, we're going to have a baby!"

"That's wonderful!" Adam grinned and embraced Mary. "When?"

"In about seven months. Oh, Adam, I'm so excited! I can't wait to hold our baby!"

"You're going to make a wonderful mother," Adam told her.

Mary's pregnancy passed smoothly. Her occasional nausea soon passed and she became voraciously hungry, sometimes having to restrain herself out of fear of looking like a pig.

One day toward the end of her pregnancy, Mary received an unexpected visitor.

"Grandpa!" she exclaimed as she embraced her grandfather, Frederick Holbrook. Then she looked around in confusion. "Where's Grandma?"

"Your grandmother passed away during the journey here," Mary's mother quietly told her. "Her body's been taken to the church, and her funeral will be tomorrow."

"Grandma's gone? Oh, no!" Mary began to cry. Adam heard her crying and came to see what the matter was.

"My grandmother died," Mary told him.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry!" Adam held her and comforted her as she cried.

Mary spent the rest of that day visiting with her parents and grandfather, reliving old memories. That night she lay in bed crying, and Adam held her and comforted her.

"How I wish she could have lived at least long enough to see her great grandchild!" she sobbed.

"I'm sure she's watching from above," Adam said consolingly.

The funeral was one of the saddest events Mary had ever attended. It reminded her of when her baby brother, Charles Frederick Ingalls, had died all those years ago. It had been before Mary had lost her sight. As she looked at her grandmother's casket at the front of the church, she remembered looking at Charles Frederick's tiny casket at his funeral.

One evening several weeks later, Mary felt a tight grip across her abdomen, followed by a gush of water down her legs.

"It's time to fetch Dr. Baker," she told Adam.