The wagon ride home from Thanksgiving dinner was filled with squeals of joy from Colleen, smiles from Matthew, and endless questions from Brian. Where would the baby sleep? What were they gonna name it? When will it be born? Neither Michaela nor Sully really had answers, or a chance to fully process the news Michaela received earlier that day.
"Ma, do you think it'll be a boy or girl?" Colleen asked, jolting Michaela from her thoughts. How was it that she hadn't known? She was a Doctor for goodness sake.
"I want a little brother!" Brian chimed in before anyone could answer.
"I want a sister! I already have the two of you." Colleen tossed a playful elbow at Matthew's side and stuck her tongue out in Brian's direction.
"You won't be the baby anymore, little brother." Matthew mused.
"You might even have to change diapers." Michaela chimed in with the first words she'd spoken the whole ride. Sully looked over with a smile, staying silent as usual. As they approached the homestead, Sully and Michaela went inside after the children had insisted they would bring in the leftovers and put the horses and wagon away.
"We're having a baby!" She squealed, jumping into Sully's arms, just as she had done earlier that day when she delivered the news.
"I have to wire mother and Rebecca and Marjorie and…" She trailed off in thought. "We probably need to talk to the children about this a little more. I'm sure they have a million questions and thoughts."
"Not sure what questions they could have, they know how this stuff works." Sully said with a smirk on his face.
"Sully!" Michaela exclaimed, face turning bright red. Just as he leaned in for a kiss, the front door swung open.
"Ma! Sully! Look, these are for the baby!" Brian said, shoving a handful of flowers toward Michaela, causing her and Sully to share a look and giggle.
"That's very thoughtful of you, Brian but-" Michaela struggled to come up with a way to tell the very excited big brother to be that the flowers were already halfway dead.
"But I don't think those will last until the baby gets here. I'll help ya make somethin' real nice for the baby, just from you." Sully came to the rescue, placing a hand on Brian's shoulder.
"Sounds good." Brian said, setting the flowers on the table.
"We're very happy you're all excited." Michaela said, a hint of apprehension in her voice.
" 'Course we are, Dr. Mike." Matthew offered, sensing her nerves.
"Why wouldn't we be, Ma?" Colleen questioned. She had always been the one of her siblings to soften her mother up.
"Well… it's a big change. I just wanted to make sure you all are up to it… not that there's much choice now." She said, causing the whole room to giggle. She pulled her family into a group hug.
After the thanksgiving day festivities had ended, Matthew had gone home, and everyone had gone to bed; Colleen found herself unable to sleep. News about the baby made her concerned for the health of her mother and new sibling. She knew of Michaela's tendency to overwork herself and the risk that could cause during pregnancy. She knew she would upset Michaela if she didn't express her concerns and she wanted to let her mother know she wanted to support her in any way she could. She knew Michaela was not asleep yet, especially not on a day like today. She would be up with a book and a cup of tea by the fire while Sully waited for her in their bedroom, possibly already asleep. Colleen loved Sully like a father, but she wanted this conversation with Michaela to be between mother and daughter.
As she walked quietly down the stairs, she found her mother in the exact spot she knew she'd be.
"Ma?" She called from the bottom of the stairs.
"Colleen? Is something troubling you?" Michaela asked, turning around in her chair and looking up at her daughter.
"Not really, I just wanted to talk to you." Colleen was usually somewhat reserved with her emotions and getting up in the middle of the night to come talk to Michaela was unusual, especially now that she was 16.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Michaela questioned, sitting up straighter in her chair.
"With the baby coming, I just wanted you to know that I'm here to do anything you need. I can help at the clinic. I know enough, I can do stitches and things. And I don't want you to worry about the cookin' and cleanin'. I'll cook and have Brian help me clean-" Before she could finish Michaela was cutting her off. The fierce independence Colleen knew might hinder the conversation, and her pregnancy was rearing its head.
"Colleen, that is very sweet of you but I'll manage. You need to be keeping up with your studies and applying to college soon." Michaela insisted.
"I will, but I know what overworking yourself can do and I want everything to go smoothly for you." When did she get so smart? Michaela thought to herself. "I'll tell you what", she countered, "you can come to the clinic a few days after school and cook on the weekends if you don't have plans with your friends or too much homework. How does that sound?"
"That sounds fine, Ma. I see how hard you work and I want to make sure you're taken care of." Colleen reached for her mothers hand. Their relationship wasn't always like this. In the beginning Colleen resented Michaela, fearing she would take Charlotte's place; but Michaela made sure Charlotte was never forgotten by celebrating her birthday every year, visiting her grave often, and even learning how to cook her specialty dishes for the children's birthdays. Colleen had never met anyone as strong willed as Michaela, even if it was to her downfall. She had also never met anyone as smart or as gracious; all things Colleen wished to be.
"How lucky am I to have a daughter as kind and thoughtful as you." Michaela said, pulling her daughter in for a hug. "I love you, Colleen."
"I love you too, Ma. You should get some sleep." Colleen said, giving her mother that stern look Michaela knew she had learned from years of watching her.
"I will, I promise." Michaela said, rolling her eyes at how much Colleen sounded and looked like her in that moment.
"Goodnight, Ma."
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
Michaela made her way up to the bedroom, finding him lying down, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.
"Hi." Sully said, eyes immediately trailing to his wifes abdomen.
"Hi." She replied, removing her night coat and pulling down the covers to get into bed.
"I wanna hear everything Dr. Bernard said today." Sully asked eagerly.
"Sully, it's not that interesting. It was a lot of medical jargon." Michaela insisted, still having trouble taking attention from anyone, even her sweet and obviously very excited husband.
"Don't matter. I wanna know everything that's goin' on with with you and our baby." He said, reaching over from his side of the bed to place his hand on her still flat stomach. She smiled, placing her hand over his. It felt natural.
"Well," she sighed, "he said I'm 11 weeks along, that's almost 3 months. And that with my age there could be complications but right now the baby and I are both healthy." She looked up and met Sully's excited eyes with a smile.
"What about you climbin' pikes peak? And that fall you had?" He asked, suddenly worried.
"I mentioned it and he said that if I haven't had any complications yet, there should be nothing to worry about." That seemed to calm his immediate fears but Michaela knew he had more, especially after losing Abigail and Hannah the way he did.
"Sully?"
"Hmm?"
"Is this okay with you?" She asked, voice a little shaky.
"Michaela, what are you askin' me? Of course this is okay with me. I love the children we have but all I have ever wanted was a family of my own with the most beautiful woman I have ever known." He caressed her cheek, she smiled.
"I just thought… with what happened with Abigail… and what you said after Jenny and Clayton…" she trailed off, deep in thought about what the coming months could bring.
"I was just scared, Michaela. I want this." Sully said, sitting up so she could rest her head on his shoulder.
"I love you. And I love the life we're building together. I never dreamed I could have it all." Michaela said, eyes brimming with tears. Hands on both sides of his face, she leaned in to kiss her husband.
"I love you, Michaela and I already loved this baby more than anything." Sully said, rubbing his hand over her stomach. She giggled.
"Sully, I'm not even showing yet, there's nothing there." She insisted.
"Doesn't mean I can't show my girls some love." Michaela looked up at him suddenly.
"Your girls? We don't even know what it is yet!" She exclaimed.
"I just have a feelin'" Sully said, tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear.
"Oh, do you?"
"Mhmm. Sure do."
"I love you." Michaela said. She didn't think she could possibly love him more than she did every day, but knowing she was carrying his baby made her love him even more.
"I love you. Now get some sleep so you can keep you and our baby healthy." Before she could protest and say she was fine, her eyes became heavy and she began to drift off to sleep, happier than she had ever been.
She awoke the next morning; sunlight beaming through the window and Sully gone from the other side of the bed; she must have slept longer than she meant to. Before she could move from the bed, there was a knock at her door.
"Come in!" She called. At her door was a very proud looking Brian, Colleen and Sully with breakfast for her.
"This was not necessary!" She protested. Before she could get very far, she was handed a tray and told by all three of them to eat. If being pregnant meant breakfast in bed and special treatment by her children and husband, she would have done it sooner.
After getting some work done at the clinic, Michaela decided that she and Sully should take Brian for a picnic when he got out of school. They both knew how left out he felt in the few weeks after they got married and how much he needed quality time with them both.
"Hey Ma. Hey Sully. What're you doin' here?" Brian asked.
"Takin' you on a picnic. Come on!" Sully waved for Brain to get into the wagon.
"What for?" He asked, looking to Michaela for reassurance.
"Because we love you and want to spend time with you. As long as that's alright with you?"
"Alright." Brain said smiling, excited at the prospect of food and spending quality time with both of his parents. After a nice picnic, Brian decided he wanted to hike the ridge to see the view from the top.
"Sully, can we hike to the ridge and see if there's any deer on the other side?" Brian asked eagerly. He loved wildlife, something he learned from Sully.
"Sure, Brian." He said, looking at Michaela who nodded her head in agreement.
"Wait." Brian furrowed his brow and looked Michaela up and down.
"Yes, Brian?" Michaela asked, meeting his eyes and intense glare.
"Can you make it up the ridge? You know… because the baby." He asked, obviously concerned for his mothers well-being.
"I'll be fine, Brian. I'm not that big yet." She said, shooting a glance at Sully who began to giggle. Before anyone could say anything else, the boy took off running up the hill.
"Seems excited." Sully said, grabbing his wifes hand. Once they reached the top the ridge they sat to take in the view.
"When the baby is born can I bring it here?" Brian asked, excited at the prospect of showing his little sibling his favorite place.
"Well, you'll have to wait for him or her to get a little bigger, but I don't see why not ." Michaela said, smiling at the soon to be big brother.
"You'll be the big brother, you'll have to show the baby all the things Matthew and Colleen showed you. You won't be the baby anymore, Brian." This comment from Sully caused him to be deep in thought. Matthew had said it yesterday but Brian hadn't thought about what it really meant. It meant he could take the baby fishing, play with it, teach it how to swim, ride a horse, bake a pie and all the other things his older siblings taught him.
"That's alright with me, Sully. I'm excited to be somebody's big brother." He said, looking very proud of himself.
"Good. He or she is lucky to have a big brother like you." Michaela said, pulling Brian in for a hug.
"Love you, Ma. Love you, Sully." He said grabbing both of their hands to walk down the hill, something he hadn't done recently. "Let's go home, I'm hungry." He said, causing all of them to giggle.
Over dinner that night there was discussion of baby names, due dates, blankets to be knitted, toys to be carved and plans to be made. Michaela never imagined she could have it all. She had her own medical practice, a wonderful husband, three, now four, wonderful children and so much to look forward to. She looked around the table to take in the laughs and smiles of her family, excited to add one more in the coming months.