Dianne and Carol settle at a table in the corner of the tavern for privacy. The waiter Gauge takes their order, while Linda is busy at the bar. Carol orders a pint of Jamestown brew, but Dianne just asks for iced tea. It's a slow weekday night, near closing. There's no one at the tables – just a few lonely men at the bar, shooting the breeze or staring into their pints, probably disappointed Trisha's not on duty tonight and that Candy is long gone.
Only after the drinks appear, and the waiter vanishes again, does Carol pry Dianne for information. "So how bad is Gunther's health?"
Dianne looks temporarily confused. "Gunther' s health is fine," she says. "His blood pressure's been in good check ever since his vacation."
"But you said he dropped a bomb on you today at dinner? And when I saw him coming out of the infirmary this afternoon, I thought - "
"- It's not like that," Dianne interrupts. She sighs, runs a hand up her glass of tea, takes a nervous sip, and sets it down. "Usually this goes the other way around. Usually it's the woman surprising the man by telling him she's pregnant."
Carol's hand is frozen on the mug of her pint glass. She blinks in confusion. "I'm…I'm not following."
"Gunther had a vasectomy, in the old world."
"He mentioned that."
"So we haven't been planning on children. It hasn't even been on my radar. But Gunther noticed I've been nauseous some mornings. I put it down to some food we maybe pushed a little past its expiration. But he also noticed I'm late. He does all the laundry, believe it or not. I don't suppose Daryl does?"
Carol laughs. "No."
"And there hadn't been any rags in the laundry," Dianne continues. "I've been so busy lately with work and those archery classes I volunteered to teach at the upper school, and with everything that's been going on, I just flat out didn't notice. My mind's been elsewhere, I guess. But Gunther noticed, and he went to see Dr. Ahmad to ask if it was possible his vasectomy had somehow – "
"- Reversed itself?" Carol asks.
"It's called recanalization. It's exceedingly rare for it to happen so many years down the road. One-half of one-tenth of a percent chance. But I guess Gunther drew those odds. Dr. Ahmad looked at a specimen under the microscope and…well, my husband's got swimmers."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Oh. Wow."
"Yeah."
Carol sips from her pint glass and sets it down. "So…you are pregnant?"
"Most likely. It's not like we have any working pregnancy tests. But now that I know it's a possibility, I can certainly see I've got symptoms. I'll see Dr. Ahmad tomorrow morning, but I think the only thing really is going to be to wait and see if my period starts, if I'm just becoming more irregular. But I never have been before now."
"And how late are you?" Carol asks.
"Three weeks."
"Mhmhm."
"Yeah, I don't think it's late." Dianne lets out a shaky sigh. "I never had kids in the old world. I never planned to. I'm not really the nurturing type."
"Neither am I."
"You are. With Sweetheart. And you were. You had Henry, and before that…" Dianne's probably forgotten the name. Carol's only talked to her about it once, years ago.
"Sophia," Carol says, and takes another sip to wash down the pang of memory.
"It was never anything I intended to do," Dianne admits. "Motherhood. And yet…here it is. And I've decided I'm not going to get an abortion. That would break Gunther's heart."
"He wants a baby?" Carol asks.
"He likes kids. He raised three boys of his own, and a lot of those years he was a single father, but he lost them all in the Great Sickness." Carol nods and Dianne continues, "His first wife asked him to get a vasectomy after the third child. He did it for her, and then she left him for another man. And then that prostitute he was in love with, when she had the botched abortion, he was pretty torn up about it. Both because it killed her, of course, but also because he'd been willing to raise the baby. And he didn't even think it was his. Though, in retrospect, it may actually have been. Who knows when this recanalization happened."
"Oh."
"So now he's thinking he's lost four kids. I couldn't ask him to lose a fifth, and given his past experience, he'd be more terrified of me going through an abortion than going through a pregnancy, though neither is without risk these days."
"We have really good doctors here," Carol assures her. "And how do you feel about it?"
"Aside from being afraid I won't be nurturing enough?"
"Not every mother has to be June Cleaver. Especially not in this world. You know, teaching your child to hit a bullseye is one of the best things you can do as a mother."
Dianne smiles lightly. But then her smile fades. "I guess I'm afraid it will change things. I never planned to get married, not in this world. I never htought I'd find...my Gunther. But I did. And we've been so happy. Just the two of us. I guess I'm afraid a child might change that."
"Well, Gunther does already sponsor an orphan, doesn't he?"
Dianne nods. "Yes, but the kid doesn't live with us. He's in the orphanage with all the rest. Gunther does spend some time with the boy, teaching him to ride and playing checkers or tossing a ball. But Jack's never really felt attached to Gunther like a son. He still remembers his own parents very well. And he'll be aging out of the sponsorship program soon, starting his apprenticeship. A baby's an entirely different thing."
"You don't have to tell me," Carol agrees. "But I think you two will make a good team. And you know, there's the daycare, once the little one's six months old. And you have a friend who might be willing to babysit from time to time so you and Gunther can have more time alone together."
Dianne chuckles. "Noted. I'll definitely be joining the babysitting co-op."
[*]
Daryl shifts awake when Carol crawls into bed. He drapes an arm around her. He's left the bedroom window open, to better circulate warm summer air, so the moonlight is streaming in, but the torches are being dampened by Santiago, who's on night patrol, because it's curfew time. "Get 'er?" he asks. "That black widow?"
"We all think she's guilty as sin. Whether or not there's enough evidence to convict her will be up to the jury. I still have to talk to Connie tomorrow, try to place the time of the shots. Earl's not making the arrest until tomorrow evening, so don't mention it to anynone."
"Mhmhm."
"Gunther's not sick. His vasectomy reversed itself. Dianne's probably pregnant."
If Daryl was drifting back to sleep, he's not now. His head jerks up. "What?"
"She's probably pregnant. They aren't telling anyone else just yet, so don't mention that either."
"Reversed itself?"
"It seems to have."
He blinks in the moonlight. "Yer thing…it can't reverse itself, can it?"
"My vasectomy?" Carol asks, half-teasing, half earnestly confused about what he's asking.
"Whatever thing that keeps ya from gettin' knocked up."
"Menopause? No. Menopause doesn't reverse itself. Didn't you ever take a biology class?"
"Think I slept through biology."
"Apparently. But, no, there's no chance I'm getting pregnant."
"Good. 'Cause Sweetheart woke up a half hour after ya left 'n wouldn't go back down 'til a half hour 'fore ya got home. Don't think I could handle two of 'er."
"Well, Sweetheart's more to handle than most." She kisses his cheek. "Sorry I woke you. Goodnight, Pookie."
"Mhmhm. 'Nite, Beautiful."