"Something's wrong with Sal. They're at St. Joe's," Rob sighed as he placed the rotary phone back into its holder.

"Did he say what? I mean, they were practically just here!" Laura followed him into the bedroom where he sat down on the bed and pulled on a pair of tennis shoes.

"He didn't say. He just said something was wrong and that they wouldn't let him see her," he picked up his wallet and keys.

"I'll just tell the kids that dinner is off," she said as she slipped into a pair of flats.

"Laurie, why don't you just let me go?" he asked. "I know you don't like hospitals. You just stay here, okay? You stay here, eat dinner, catch up with the kids, and relax, and I'll call you once I know anything. Who knows how long it'll take. Okay?" He squeezed her hand, half expecting her to pull away from him and insist on coming. To his surprise however, she just nodded sadly and hugged him.

"Call me the minute you know anything." She walked him to the garage door and blew him a kiss before she went back to preparing dinner.

"Did Dad just leave?" Ritchie asked as he came into the kitchen with Ellen on his heels.

"Hi sweeties," she smiled. "Yes, he did. Aunt Sal's in the hospital," She said grimly.

"Aw gee," Ritchie sighed.

"Oh no," Ellen said. "I hope everything will be okay."

"Me too," Laura agreed. She turned the dial on the gas stove to off before she pulled them both in for a hug. "I can't believe you two leave for college so soon. Time is just flying by, isn't it? I remember when you used to come over with Millie and insist on getting to hold Ritchie," she addressed Ellen.

"Oh Mom, c'mon. That's embarrassing," Ritchie blushed.

"Oh it is not. You've known her your whole life. I think that's pretty special."

"It is," Ellen agreed and playfully slapped her boyfriend's cheek.

"Speaking of embarrassing…" he cleared his throat and wiggled out of the group hug. "I think it's only fair that you saddle this kid with an embarrassing middle name too."

Laura rolled her eyes and handed her son silverware so he could set the table. "I never expected to have another so we had to make everyone happy with you, and you have made us immensely happy," she added as she reached into the cabinet to the right of the stove and pulled down three plates.

"I don't care what you say, Mom. Rosebud is a terrible middle name for a man to have."

"I think it's cute," Ellen giggled.

"You would." He grabbed a wooden spoon and smacked it across her behind.

"Settle down children," Laura teased and started to plate the food. "Who knows? Maybe your father will let me name this baby after him if it's a boy."

"You still want to do that after what he's put you through with all this? I wouldn't," her son said.

"It's…complicated," she sighed. "I appreciate you sticking up for me, but that's between your father and I. He's a good man, Rich."

"Good and stupid," he said.

"Good and sometimes a little stupid," she agreed.

After dinner, Ritchie and Ellen hung around for a little while. Ellen entertained the kitten while Ritchie played gin rummy with Laura. By the fifth time she called gin, and he had lost all of his pennies, he declared that she was the "Queen of Gin" and dramatically got down on his knees and worshipped her.

"Hey Loser, we better get going if we wanna catch the 8:00 showing," Ellen teased Ritchie as she glanced at her watch. "Do you wanna come with us, Laura?"

"No thank you, sweetie. I think I'll stay here in case Rob phones," she explained. "You two have fun though."

"What is taking that doctor so long?" Clara paced in the cramped hospital waiting room. The incessant clicking sound her heels made as she walked back and forth on the linoleum was giving Rob a headache.

"Mom, would you sit down, please?" He sighed.

Rob had practically forced Stacey to take a walk outside to try to clear his head. No one had given them an update in hours, and they were all beginning to fear the worst.

"I'm sorry, Robbie," Clara sat down in the chair next to his and put her head in her hands. "That poor Sally."

"Don't 'poor Sally' yet. Everything could be okay. I remember before Rich was born, I would take Laura to the doctor over every tiny little complaint. I wish she'd let me do that this time around…" he trailed off and cleared his throat.

Clara narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing, Mom," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Is Laura expecting?! After all this time?" She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice.

"Yeah," Rob sighed. "We were meaning to tell you, but it just...well, she wasn't too happy about it at first, and there's Sal. We didn't want to steal their spotlight."

"Well, that's very noble of you, but I sure wish somebody had told me I'm having another grandchild," she harrumphed. "Is Laura feeling alright?"

"She seems to be fine so far," he nodded. "She's definitely showing, but she doesn't like it when i point that out."

"I didn't even know you two were trying. I thought Laura didn't want more children."

"We weren't and she didn't," He said curtly.

"Oh," Clara peered over at her son. "Trouble in paradise?"

"Things were rough for a little while, but we're getting back to normal. I still feel so guilty though."

She took her son's hands in her own and brought them to her lips. "It takes two to tango, sweetheart. She knows that."

"Yeah well...I kind of lied to her," he mumbled and pulled his hands away.

"How so?" She asked curiously.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I told her I'd get an operation after Rich was born so we wouldn't…I mean, she wouldn't get pregnant again. I uh," he coughed nervously. "I never did get that. We've just been lucky all these years. Well, we were lucky until a few months ago anyway. We found out pretty soon after Rich's graduation party."

"So that's what was different about her," Clara shook her head. "I raised you to be a better man than that, Robert. Did you really think that lie wouldn't come back to bite you right in the behind? If I were Laura, I'd never speak to you again."

"Well, she almost didn't, Mom. I know it was stupid, but that was eighteen years ago. I wasn't as mature then. I didn't think about the long term consequences. I was barely even a parent yet. I was just selfish."

"You sure were. Now, I don't understand why Laura wouldn't want any more babies. She's so good with children...you both are. I've hoped all these years that you two would give me another grandchild, but that doesn't give you any right to do what you did." She saw the anguished look on her son's face and softened slightly. "But as long as it's happened and Laura's coming around to the idea, then that's all that matters. Maybe it'll be a sweet little girl with your hair and Laura's eyes?"

"Maybe so, Mom," he nodded. "Laura keeps calling the baby 'she.' That doesn't mean much though. She thought Rich would be a girl the whole time she was carrying him." He couldn't help but laugh as he remembered how adamant she had been about her woman's intuition.

"It will be so nice to have children the same age," he added as he thought about his brother and sister-in-law. He refused to believe that anything bad would happen.

"That's certainly one nice thing about the two of you waiting so long to have another," his mother agreed as she handed him a hard candy from her purse.

"I'm going to convert the den into a nursery," he explained as he unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth.

"And you'll have to sell your little car, won't you?" Clara raised a brow.

Rob nodded. "That's the plan. I know it's already uncomfortable enough for Rich. I don't want him to have to give up his room or the car we gave him."

"Now that sounds like the selfless Robbie I raised."

"Any update?" Stacey trudged back into the room. He was hunched over with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

"Nothing yet, sweetie," his mother patted the seat next to her.

He just shook his head and stared blankly at a mark on the wall.

Laura spent the evening taking a bath, washing her hair, and painting her nails a bright, shiny shade of red. She kept her ears open for the phone, but the only person to call was that same wrong number. The call didn't even annoy her as it usually would. She just wanted to make sure that the line wasn't tied up when Rob called.

Midnight rolled around and she was trying in vain to keep her eyes open and concentrate on the book in her hands. Eventually, the paperback fell to the floor and she sleepily moved onto her side, one hand securely under her growing belly.

By the time Rob came into the house through the garage door, it was after five. He yawned and rubbed at his eyes before he opened the refrigerator and just stared into it, feeling the coolness escape out at him. After a few minutes, he grabbed the cream and shut the door behind him. He would need coffee if he was going to try to go to the office running on virtually no sleep. He blinked a few times and couldn't even remember where the coffee pot was.

"Sleep," he mumbled to himself as he headed for the bedroom, still holding onto the container of cream. "Laurie," he breathed when he found her asleep on the couch, snoring softly.

She looked so beautiful there, so peaceful. He watched her sleep, his mind on her and their baby. The little thing was right there with them, just under her skin, completely protected in her loving womb. It was growing bigger each moment- cells divided to form tissues, limbs, blood vessels, a pumping, beating, live heart. His hands were drawn to the space like a magnet.

Laura stirred and inhaled sharply when she felt his warm hands brush against her skin. Her heavy eyelids blinked open and focused on her husband. "Hi," she murmured sleepily.

"Hi beautiful." He leaned down and kissed her forehead before he started to cry.

"Oh Rob. What's the matter?" She blinked a few times to try to get herself more awake and repositioned herself so that she was sitting on the couch. She beckoned him into her arms.

"S-Sal lost the baby," he whispered. "And all I could think of was how...how glad I was it wasn't you."

"Oh wow," she breathed as his words hit her like a ton of bricks.

Her arms went around him and she kissed the top of his head. Guilt brewed within her, but she couldn't bring it to the surface, not yet. She would let her husband voice his guilt before she expressed her own. Aspects of their guilt overlapped, especially their own healthy-until proven-otherwise baby. They already had a son they had been fortunate enough to raise. Laura hadn't even wanted to be pregnant. She had promised Sally that everything would be okay. Who the hell did she think she was?

"I'm sorry," Rob sniffed. "I'm so sorry."

"Shh, it's okay." She gently rubbed his back as she held him close.

"It's not okay. I never should've put you through this," he insisted as he wiped at his eyes. "Who knows what could happen? You were right not to want any part of this again."

"It's happening, Rob. It's okay. I'm strong and healthy. It's a little different for me now than it was at eighteen, but my body knows what to do."

She took his hand and moved it to where the baby was doing somersaults inside her. "I know you can't feel it, but I can. This isn't something I ever planned, but I'm grateful. I love this baby." She couldn't keep her own tears from spilling. The combination of fear, guilt, and relief she was experiencing was overwhelming. "And I love you, alright? Even though you're a nut and sometimes I want to divorce you."

"You want to divorce me?" He faked a gasp.

"Oh hush. We already had one in Mexico," she stifled a laugh and wiped her eyes. "But I guess we weren't even legally married then."

"Because you had to lie to me about your age," he tickled her sides.

"Oh Rob, stop that!" She grabbed his hands and held them so he couldn't tickle her any more.

"I still can't believe you were out of the house and a professional dancer at sixteen. My mother would've killed me," he shook his head.

"Right well, my mother wasn't your mother," she stiffened.

"Honey, don't you think…" he started to say but then thought better of it.

"No, I don't think." She quickly changed the subject and wiggled out of his arms. "I'll make some meals for Stace and Sal after I wake up." She yawned and held her hands out to him. "You need your sleep. We both do."

"All three of us do," he agreed and pulled her closer to him before he lifted up her shirt and kissed her belly.

"I would say that all four of us do, but you know Rich. I swear that boy could sleep through an avalanche," She giggled.

"That boy is a man, honey," Rob said gently as he glanced in the direction of their son's room.

"He'll always be my boy, and you'll both just have to live with it." She pulled away from him, spun on her heels, and padded into their bedroom.

He shook his head and followed after her, glad that she had eased his guilty conscience even just a little bit.