Mid-August:
The Partridges cut tracks for their newest album. Laurie, thirty-eight weeks along, feels a tightness start from her spine and travel around her midsection. She breathes through and it subsides.
"Good take!" the producer in the sound booth calls.
"Great!" Keith voices, "Let's try 'One Day at a Time' next."
The producer nods his agreement. Keith counts the group off.
"Cut!"
"Laurie," Keith points out, "you were late on your entrance."
"Sorry!"
"Let's try it again from the top," the producer states.
They run through the song again. Once again, Laurie's midsection tightens, almost taking her breath away.
The producer declares it a good take and the family relaxes. Tracy sees the grimace on her sister's face. "Laurie, you okay?" she whispers.
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
Another wave hits. Her hands fly to her midsection. Shirley notices. "Laurie?"
"Mom?" she panics, breathing through another one, "I think it's time!"
Keith looks at her sister, "Now?"
"Now!" she screeches.
"Keith," Shirley directs, "you stay here with the kids. Reuben, help me with Laurie?"
"Mom, it hurts!"
"I've got you," Reuben soothes, as he escorts the young mother-to-be. "Lean on me."
Shirley follows.
Reuben drives Laurie and Shirley to the hospital. While Reuben parks the car, Shirley registers her daughter. Soon, Laurie's whisked into a room. The Partridge matriarch enters the room and sees the nurse examining her daughter. Reuben waits in the waiting room.
"You're dilated to a two, and your contractions seem to be getting farther apart."
"I'm not in labour?"
"I can't say for sure, but no, you don't seem to be." She finishes up her examination. "The doctor will be in shortly to check you."
The nurse leaves. "Oh mom!" Laurie cries, as another contraction hits. "How?"
"How did you not know this was false labour?"
"Uh huh."
"Sometimes it's not easy to tell the difference, especially with your first baby." Shirley smooths her daughter's hair.
"I'm ready to have this bay..." she trails off, breathing through another one. "This baby!"
"I know. You only have a couple more weeks until your due date, and you may have this baby earlier than that."
"I hope so. I'm tired, I'm huge, I can't see my feet..." she sighs. "Last week, I had two different shoes on. I wore them all day. I didn't know it until Danny pointed it out to me. He was with me all day and didn't say a word about it until we got back home!"
Shirley giggles. "I distinctly remember a certain girl, oh, with long brown hair, who let me walk around with two different shoes on when I was pregnant with Chris, AND also when I was pregnant with Tracy."
"I don't remember doing that," she blushes.
"Oh, but you did."
Dr. Lucas enters the room. "Laurie, how are you?"
"Having another contraction!"
"I see." he pauses until it's over. "I'll examine you and we'll go from there." He performs both an internal and external examination. "I don't think you're in labour yet."
Laurie sighs, disappointed.
"I want you to walk around for awhile, up and down the hall. Your contractions will either get more intense or they'll subside."
"Okay."
"Shirley, do you think you can walk her or would you like one of the nurses to help?"
"I think I can manage."
"All right. Let's get you up and walking." Dr. Lucas helps Laurie out of bed. "I want you to walk about twenty or thirty minutes, then I'll check you again."
Laurie nods. The doctor leaves the room, and the women begin to walk.
"Mom, how are you?"
"I'm okay. This little one seems to enjoy it when I walk. He hardly moves at all until I stop. Then, he kicks me like crazy."
"Oh," the brunette chuckles. Then, she turns serious. "I'm sorry I ruined the recording session today."
"You don't have to apologize. These things happen. I told Keith and the producer that it wasn't a good idea to record an album so late in your pregnancy. I even volunteered to lay extra tracks with me playing your part, but they didn't want to do that."
"Why not?"
"They thought it would go quicker if all of us were there."
"So, when are they..." Laurie tenses and doubles over.
"Just breathe, honey," Shirley soothes, rubbing her back.
The contraction ends and she relaxes. "That was a big one." She takes a couple deep breaths and resumes walking. "When will we finish recording the album?"
"I'll talk to Reuben and the producer about that. Labour or not, you're out of commission until the baby's born."
"Mom," she protests, "I can do it."
"No, honey. You can't. We really can't risk you going into labour while we're recording."
"Are you going to stop when you're at thirty-eight weeks?"
"I'm stopping at thirty-six, like I should've made you do."
The women continue to walk until the nurse signals they can stop. The nurse helps Laurie back into bed and Dr. Lucas arrives immediately after. "How are your contractions? Are they stronger or are they getting weaker?"
"Weaker. The last one wasn't as painful as they have been."
"Let me check you again to see where we are." He performs a second examination. "I see no changes."
"So, I'm not in labour?"
"No."
Laurie sighs, defeated.
"I'm sending you home. They should continue to subside. If you're still uncomfortable, get up, and walk around. If they grow stronger or your water breaks, come back."
"We will," Shirley states.
"And you," he directs toward Shirley, "don't tire yourself out. I don't want to see you in here as a patient for another four months."
"All right."
The doctor leaves the room, and the nurse helps Laurie get dressed. "Do you want me to wheel you to your car, or would you rather walk?" the nurse asks.
"I'll walk."
After the nurse gives Laurie her discharge papers, she and her mother walk to the waiting room. Reuben rises, surprised to see them. "False alarm?"
"Yes," Laurie sighs. "Can we just go home? I want to go to bed."
"All right. I'll pull the car around."
"Thanks," Shirley states as she kisses him on the cheek. Reuben gives her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'll be right back."
Keith, Danny, Chris and Tracy watch television in the living room when Shirley, Laurie and Reuben walk through the front door.
"I thought you were having the baby," Danny exclaims, surprised.
"I thought so too," Laurie sulks, "but I guess not."
"What did the doctor say?" Keith asks.
"False alarm," Shirley replies.
"I'm going to bed," Laurie sighs as she plods up the stairs.
"When is she going to have the baby?" Tracy pipes.
"Could be anywhere from any time to a couple more weeks." Shirley walks to the couch. "Can I sit down? My feet are killing me."
Danny and Chris move to the floor to allow room for their mother. She tries to remove her shoes, but is having trouble. "I can't get my shoes off!" she chuckles.
"Here," Reuben offers, "allow me." He slides her shoes off, props her feet on the ottoman, then begins to massage them.
"Mmmm!" she purrs, as she closes her eyes, "that feels good."
"Your feet are swollen."
"Probably from all that walking with Laurie."
He continues his massage, eliciting groans of pleasure from his beloved. "Oh, don't stop!" The Partridge kids feel very uncomfortable. Reuben notices and stops. "I think we'd better continue this... ahem," he coughs, "later."
"Come sit with me on the couch, then," she requests, not bothering to open her eyes. He sits, and she snuggles beside him and quickly falls asleep.
A couple hours later:
Shirley stirs and awakens in Reuben's arms. Still a bit groggy, she looks around, expecting to see the kids, but she sees that she and Reuben are alone and he is asleep. Careful not to awaken her beloved, she gingerly gets up and walks up the stairs to check on Laurie. She quietly opens the door and sees her daughter sound asleep. She feels arms wrap around her midsection, and she leans into them. A soft kiss lands on her temple; she smiles. "Shhh. Let's go before we wake Laurie."
The pair walk to the master bedroom, where Reuben holds her and plants a passionate kiss on her lips. "I wondered where you'd gone."
"She's had such a hard day. I hope this isn't how the rest of her pregnancy is going to go. If so, she'll be exhausted by the time the baby's born."
"How are you feeling?" He kisses her on the forehead.
"Tired, but good. It's hard to believe I'm halfway through my pregnancy. In just a few short months, I'll get to meet this little one."
"You haven't heard from Richard again, have you?"
"No," she replies, sitting on the bed.
"Good," he voices, as he sits with her. "I don't mean to pry, but what happened..."
"With Richard and me?"
"Yes."
She puts her hand on his knee. "It's okay. I don't mind talking about it, but I either need to lie down or sit in the recliner downstairs." She pauses. "Where are the other kids?"
"Keith took them out for pizza."
She nods. "I'd rather stay up here and listen for when Laurie wakes up."
He gives her a kiss as they lie on her bed.
Shirley begins, "It started that weekend back in March when Dick brought his younger daughter, Julie, to meet Danny. Keith and Laurie took the kids to get pizza. Greg went with them. Dick and I had dinner in his hotel room." She sighs. "I don't have to elaborate on how the night ended."
"No, you don't."
"Well, two weeks later, he calls me up for us to meet in San Francisco. I go up there and he tells me he's engaged to a girl named Connie," she frowns.
"I'm sorry."
"I felt like a fool." A tear escapes her eye. "I was dumbstruck when he came to the house for the first time. I couldn't even remember my name. He was so charming. I fell for it hook, line and sinker."
"He played you."
"I feel so stupid falling for it. I was so excited to have a steady again. It had been so long," she sniffs. "I really think at the beginning, he did love me, or at least he liked me a lot."
"When did things change?"
"If I could point to anything, it would be when he brought Julie over, and he got a little upset with me when I pointed out that Julie may have been coming on too strong for Danny's comfort, and it was scaring him off." She rests her arm over her baby. "I thought we'd resolved that, but looking back, I'm not so sure." She pauses, deep in thought. "It can't be that. He was cheating on me, or he had a whirlwind courtship with what's her name."
Reuben brushes a lock of her hair from her eyes.
"About two weeks after he dumped me, I started feeling nauseous and I noticed I was late."
"Late?"
"My period. I'm usually like clockwork, so I knew I was probably pregnant. After being pregnant six times, I know when I'm pregnant." Reuben blushes, and she kisses his cheek. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you blush."
"It's okay. I did ask."
"Yes. So, I went to Dr. Lucas the next week and he confirmed the pregnancy. I told Dick that weekend. He was really upset and offered to pay for an abortion. I told him on no uncertain terms that I was not getting rid of my baby. Then, he told me that he wanted nothing to do with the baby and if I was going to keep it, then I was on my own."
"The nerve of him," Reuben spits, "to walk out on his child and the woman carrying his child."
"The following Monday, we were in his partner's office, and he signed his rights to our child away," she cries. "Hold me, please."
"Always," he soothes, taking her into his arms.
"And, of course," she continues between sobs, "I got my copy of the papers in the mail the day I told you and the kids about the baby."
"I'm sorry." Seeing her in pain breaks his heart.
"It just hurts so much! It's one thing him abandoning me, but his child?"
Feeling a loss for words, Reuben embraces his beloved, allowing the tears to flow.
