Dr. Adams allowed Nellie to return home the next day. Jenny saw the cast on her mother's leg and burst into tears. Percival walked over to his daughter and gave her a gentle hug.
"Your mother's going to be just fine, Jenny," he told her. "She's just had a little setback. That's all. She'll only have that cast on her leg for a little while, and then her leg will be better again."
"I hate Nancy," Benny declared.
"Never say that you hate another person, Benjamin," Percival told his son. "It's fine to hate what she did and to be angry at her. I still feel very angry at her myself. But when you hate someone, you're allowing them to control you."
Benny wasn't sure that he understood, but he didn't say anything more.
Six weeks later, Nellie was back in Dr. Adams' office for the removal of the cast.
"The leg the cast was on has completely healed," Dr. Adams told her. "The other leg hasn't quite mended yet. You see, the smaller bone has grown back together and is preventing the two ends of the larger bone from solidifying. One option is to perform surgery to take a tiny piece from the smaller bone to allow the ends of the larger bone to set more firmly."
Nellie just stared at him, feeling her eyes fill with tears. Another operation?
"The other option is to just wait a couple more months and see whether the larger bone mends on its on. That's the path I would recommend."
Nellie sighed with relief.
"Do you have any other questions or concerns for me?" Dr. Adams asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do. I've been feeling rather poorly lately. I have hardly any appetite at all, and I've been having to sleep a lot more lately than ever before. At first I thought that it was just a result of my depression over having my leg back in a cast, but I'm wondering whether I might be suffering from malnutrition."
Dr. Adams looked concerned. "Have your monthly periods been regular?"
Nellie was stunned. Her injured legs had been so much on her mind that she had essentially paid no attention to other aspects of her health.
"Why, no, I suppose they haven't. It's been at least a couple of months since I last had one."
Dr. Adams' face bore a serious expression. "Please remove all of your clothing and put on one of these special gowns. I will be back in several minutes to examine you some more."
Puzzled, Nellie did as he had asked.
Dr. Adams returned about fifteen minutes later. He examined her breasts and nodded to himself. "Mm hm."
Next he asked Nellie to move to the end of the examining table and put her feet in the stirrups at the end, and he performed an internal exam on her.
"Just as I suspected," he told her when he was finished. "You're going to have a baby, Nellie. In about six months or so, I'd say."
Nellie was shocked. Although she and Percival had resumed their normal marital relations as soon as the casts had been removed from her legs the first time, it had never occurred to her that she might get pregnant again. As she had never been pregnant again since having the twins, she had just assumed that they were the only babies she would ever have.
"It's more important than ever that you get enough calcium now, Nellie," Dr. Adams told her. "The baby will be competing with your body for calcium, as it needs it for the development of its bones and teeth. At the same time, your leg still needs calcium to continue to mend well."
Percival was dumbfounded when she gave him the news. "Whoa! Talk about life's little surprises!"
"This is one of them, all right," Nellie said. "And any other time, it would be a happy one."
"To me it's still a happy one, Nellie. Just because we also have the extra challenge of getting your leg the rest of the way well doesn't mean it isn't still cause to celebrate."
"I'm scared, Percival."
"Oh, Nellie, it will be all right. Just make sure to do everything Dr. Adams tells you to do, and I'm sure you and the baby will both be just fine."
He gave Nellie a hug and kiss and helped her back out to the carriage.
