The place looked exactly the same. He didn't know what he had expected. He had only been away for three months. Three months. Three months without her. It had felt like a lifetime. He hadn't really expected that.
"Jimmy!" He looked up and grinned as she approached from behind the diner's counter. Maggie wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. Jim's eyes were open in surprise and he caught the looks from the other diner patrons. "When did you get back?"
"Just now," he said and slid onto a stool at the counter. "I didn't know if you would be here or not. I thought you might have class." Maggie shrugged and smiled.
"I'm not taking classes this semester," she said. "It was too much. I have other things going on."
"Other things?" he asked as she poured him a cup of coffee from the pot.
"Other things," she said firmly. "You're so tanned…rugged looking."
"Being outside agrees with me, I guess," Jim laughed. She scribbled a breakfast order on her pad and hung it over the grill.
"Three eggs over easy, ham, wheat toast and extra crisp American fries on the way." She set a ketchup bottle on the counter in front of him. Jim grinned and took a drink from his coffee cup. He watched as she took care of customers at a table and sighed. Then he saw something. There was a bulge under the snug apron she wore over her uniform. A tell tale bulge. He blanched in realization of what 'other things' meant. He stood up and grabbed her arm as she passed him.
"Come with me," he said firmly. Maggie twisted free and backed away from him.
"Jimmy," she said with a laugh. 'I'm working." She hung the new orders for the cook and looked back at him with a slight frown.
"Take a break….." he said. She glanced back at the food cooking on the grill and then followed him outside the front door. She leaned back against the brick next to the diner window with her hands behind her back. The look on his face was dark and forboding.
"When are you due?" he asked finally. She dipped her chin to her chest and shrugged.
"January," she said. Jim's mouth dropped open in surprise.
"That's….what? Four and a half months from now? Damn….Maggie!" Jim began pacing in anger in front of her. "It's mine too. Did you ever plan to tell me?" She shrugged.
"You weren't exactly around to tell…" He stopped and stared at her, his face a mask of rage.
"You can't do this," he said.
"Oh yes, I can," she replied as she lifted her chin stubbornly. "Gina's sister is younger than I am and has a three year old. It's not such a big deal." He placed his hands on the wall behind either side of her head and met her glare head on.
"Damn, Maggie……" he said as he leaned toward her. "A baby?" She nodded and then her frown melted slowly into a devastating grin. The very kind of smile he had missed so desperately for two months.
"A baby…." He said again and then pressed his lips against her's. He gathered her carefully into his arms and held her.
He had walked around the rest of the day in a daze. A kid? How could he deal with that? How could they do it? She was going to need doctors and a hospital stay for a delivery. God knows what the baby would need. A crib. Clothes. Bottles. Baby food. She'd quit school? He'd have to quit his job in Oklahoma after all. His job. His heart sank. He'd come back hoping to talk her into going back with him. He couldn't take her away from her friends and her job. Not now. Brian was going to be pissed. He had been in training with him for a month. The position belonged to him. Motor hand…Derrick hand…..Driller…..all gone. There weren't any oil rigs in Minnesota. But there were diners. And there were garages…and grocery stores. Maybe he could get on as a manager trainee or something. He would miss the rigs but he would do what he had to do.
It was late at night when Jim pressed his chin to the top of her head and adjusted the blankets around him on the bed. She was snoring softly. He smiled affectionately and wrapped an arm around her to draw her closer to him. He grinned as he gently caressed the full breast under his hand. Her thin summer nightgown wasn't much of a barrier. His hand traced her ribs carefully and then came to rest on the taut, rounding bulge of her belly. A baby. He left his hand there for a long moment, hoping to feel it move or kick or something. Something to make it all real to him.
"The book says not until the fifth month," she whispered. "Soon…." Jim smiled softly and snuggled closer to her.
"The book?" Maggie nodded and turned around in his arms till she was facing him. Her brown eyes searched his gray ones in the dark and she sighed.
"You're not sorry, are you?" she asked. Jim hesitated a moment as her question sank in. Then he slowly shook his head.
"No," he said. "Not about this." Her brows furrowed.
"The job?" Jim sighed.
"Yeah," he said as he kissed her forehead. "It was a good job. But something else will turn up. Something here if you want." Maggie rolled over again and nestled against him as she pulled his arm over her side and held his wide spread hand over her belly. He had just started to drift off to sleep when she began to giggle.
"Did you feel that?" she whispered. He shook his head. "I think she is going to be a night owl."
"She?" he caressed her belly gently.
"Of course, she" Maggie chuckled. "I can only have a girl first. It's the law."
"I want her to have your eyes then," he whispered with a grin.
"And your nose….." she added.
"God forbid that she have your smile" he sighed. "I am doomed." Maggie giggled and rubbed his hand as it rested on her stomach. They were silent as they both contemplated the child they were having together.
"Jimmy…." she said softly. "Do you think she will be all right?" His arms tightened around her.
"She will be fine, Maggie." Why did she worry so much?
"Promise?" He pressed a kiss to her soft hair and then to her cheek. He felt her begin to relax and then drifted off to sleep himself.
