It's a girl," he heard his sister-in-law Linda Davis say, as she handed the baby to the waiting nurse so that she could be bathed, before Lauren could hold her.
Lauren was crying, half from pain, half from joy; he was crying, half from pride, half from relief. He smiled down at her and settled his arm around her shoulders, cradling her head to his chest.
"Please forgive me," he murmured into her hair.
"Forgive you?"
"For putting you through this."
"It was worth it," she said, smiling as the nurse placed their daughter in her arms, "She was worth it."
The new parents marveled at the life that they created. The tiny piece of humanity that was theirs alone.
"Are you disappointed, Scott?"
"What?"
"That she wasn't a boy."
"She's perfect, Lauren. Although I must say, she looks more like a Davis than a Guber. See, she has your little nose."
"And she has your cute smile."
The baby made a small sound, and Lauren smiled at her husband, "I think she wants her daddy."
"Uh, uh oh." He said as Lauren placed the baby in his arms. He was overwhelmed by the feeling of protection that overcame him when he held the baby. She was his, his and Lauren's, and now their lives were complete.
Some years later
Scott felt a little nudge jolt him out of his sleep. He opened his eyes to see a lovely blonde little girl peering at him.
"Wake up, Daddy. It's morning."
Scott glanced at the clock, 7:00 a.m., Christmas morning.
"Indeed it is, Danielle. Why don't you wake your brother, and let Mommy sleep a little bit."
"Is Mommy going to have the baby today, Daddy?"
"No, sweetheart, Mommy isn't going to have the baby until spring. Now run along, we'll be down in a minute."
Scott walked over to the crib by the large bay window in the master bedroom and lifted his youngest child so far, Sarah.
"Good morning, you want to see what Santa brought you, yeah. Well, let's wake mommy, let's wake mommy, yeah." He said in a soft, yet adult voice.
"Scott?"
"Merry Christmas, Lauren."
"Merry Christmas Scott. Are Danielle and Steven up yet?"
"Dani, woke me. How are you feeling?"
"Better than last month, but not as well as I'll feel when this is over."
"This one really is taking its toll on you isn't it, honey?"
"Yes it is, but it's worth it Scott. Danielle, Steven, Sarah, and whoever else may come along. I'm tired, but I'll survive."
"If you survived Sarah..."
"Let's not select that memory. Let's go downstairs and watch our children before they destroy the house."
Scott settled Sarah on his hip, and placed his arm around Lauren's shoulders.
"I love you, Lauren; you know that, don't you?"
"Of course I do. And I love you, so much. I never though it was possible, when we first met, I so scared of you that day."
"We've been through a lot. And we'll be through more, but nothing, will ever keep us apart. Nothing."
"Nothing," she echoed, reaching up to kiss him before they descended the stairs to have their Christmas.
Scott awoke with a start. He was in his bed alone. There were no children, no Lauren. He was alone and sick at heart over it. He leaned over and lifted the receiver, dialing Lauren's number. He held his breath as it began to ring.
Harry's Dream
It was noisy. The twins were screaming, the baby was crying, Lauren was
yelling at him to fix the shower. Harry was going insane. It was like this
every morning, if it wasn't one thing, it was the other.
Harry felt like he was losing his mind. Life as he knew it was a noisy, hectic
mess.
Many days, he found himself envying Kevin. He and Marilyn couldn't have any children, and he had never planned on kids himself, truth be told. But here he was, Harry Senate, father of four, and Lauren was pressuring him for a fifth. It seemed that whenever Cathleen Guber had a baby, Lauren wanted to have a baby. Whenever their neighbors on the other side, had a baby, Lauren wanted to have a baby. And even after he saw what the pregnancy and child rearing did to their marriage, he kept accommodating her wishes. But not anymore. He all ready had four more children than he planned on having and he couldn't take five. He couldn't take five.
It wasn't that he didn't love his children, he did. Even Jerome, who was
perhaps not even a Senate, he loved very much. Jerome's birth was hard on
Lauren, as was the circumstances surrounding it. She never had the paternity
tested, it didn't seem to matter to her after Scott married Cathleen, and she
had married him. Although, he did sometimes wonder, Jerome did have some Guber
like qualities.
It took Lauren a while to recover from Jerome's birth, but once she did, she
told him she really wanted to have one more child. So he accommodated her. This
birth was much easier, and their son Kevin was born. A year and a half later,
Cathleen gave birth to Scott's fourth child and she wanted to have another
baby. This time, it was a daughter, and a year after that, another daughter.
Cathleen had just given birth again, and when Lauren was holding the newborn,
he saw that "Oh, Harry," look and wanted to scream.
Speaking of screaming, that's what he heard, all around him. "Harry, will you please pick up the baby, she's hungry."
Harry was trying to tie his tie, he looked at the clock. Seven fifteen. They had forty five minutes.
He went to pick up the baby when the doorbell rang. Now what? He left the baby in the crib, crying, to answer it. It was Scott Guber.
"Mr. Senate, I see that Mrs. Senate hasn't told you that she said I could have a ride to work today."
"If that's what she said, come on in you're early. Have a seat, get some coffee."
Harry left and went into the bedroom. Lauren was dressing Linda and Jerome was tying his shoelaces.
"Lauren, Guber?"
"Mr. Scott is here?"
"Yes, Jerome, he is here."
Jerome was off the bed and on his way to the kitchen before either parent could protest.
"He said that his car was in the shop and Cathleen needed hers. It's just this once; go make him some coffee, why did the baby stop crying?"
"Go make him some coffee. Go get the baby. Tow the barge and lift the bale."
"Harry, you're yelling."
"You're damned right I'm yelling. This house is crazy Lauren, ridiculous! There are children all over the place; we can barely make ends meet..."
"Harry calm down. Things are a little rough right now, but that's only because I'm not feeling so well."
His tone softened, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing that nine months won't cure," she said going to hold him.
"No," he said, out loud when he thought it was silent.
"What?"
There wasn't time to answer the question because Jerome was calling Lauren.
She went out to the kitchen and saw that someone, most likely Scott had poured cereal and was ready to serve breakfast.
"Scott, did you do this?"
"I was hungry, Jerome appeared to be, and the little ones were fussing, so I poured cereal."
Lauren sat down, Harry beside her, Scott on the other side. It was like a knife in him to see how Scott had organized the chaos that was his house in less than ten minutes, and it hurt even more when Lauren told Scott with all the pride of an expectant mother that she was expecting yet again, and he hugged her. It wasn't an intimate hug, but it was affection between his wife and another man.
Harry couldn't breath. His chest felt like it would explode. He looked around. He was in his apartment. It was over. He felt overwhelmed. He felt sad, but most of all, he felt relived.
Lauren's Dream
Lauren heard a noise. It sounded like someone had entered her room. She looked up and saw her sister, Eliza, standing by the bed. Normally, Lauren would be glad to see one of her family members, but considering that it was two a.m. and Eliza had been dead for three years, it was a little unnerving.
"Do not be afraid, Lauren. I'm here to help you, not to frighten you."
"Help me?"
"You're conflicted Lauren, and confused, and who better to help you than your big sister? Come take my hand."
Lauren reached out and took her hand.
"We are going to go on a journey. The images that I will show you are not real, but they can become real. The people are only shadows; they cannot see you or hear you. This journey is only design for your own protection and peace of mind. Are you ready?"
Lauren nodded and took Eliza's hand. The world turned white and when the blinding light cleared, she saw herself lying in a hospital bed, pale, nearly lifeless. Scott was next to her, holding her hand. He looked haggard and unshaven. There was a little crib next to the bed, a small baby, appearing newborn, was lying in it.
"Where am I?" she asked.
""You've just given birth, Lauren. The birth was very hard and you had a C-section."
"Will I be okay?"
"That is up to him."
"Scott? Why?"
"Because he's your husband. And he loves you."
Scott was speaking to her. Very softly, very lovingly.
"Lauren, its Scott. Baby, can you hear me? I know you can, you must, because I need you, and I need you to know that I need you. Our son needs you. I love you."
Lauren's hand moved and closed around Scott's. "I know," she whispered, "I love you, too."
The scene went black.
"Is that all?"
"No, watch for the next image."
Lauren looked again, and again she saw herself lying in a bed, only this time, it was in a bedroom, the sun was shining and she looked at peace. She was alone in the bed, but stirred when she heard her bedroom door open.
Scott came in carrying a tray of her favorite breakfast, buttermilk pancakes and crisp bacon, orange juice and coffee. There was a rose in a vase on the tray. Behind he scampered two little children, one boy and one girl.
"Happy Birthday, Mommy," they chorused.
"Happy Birthday, Lauren,' Scott said, placing the tray down and kissing her forehead.
"Scott, this is so sweet."
"There's more. Scottie, Annie, let's get mommy's gifts."
"Presents, too Scott."
"You're only thirty-two once. The kids really wanted to make this birthday special."
"Scott, the kids are four and two, they don't..."
"All right you got me. I wanted to make this birthday special, especially considering how badly I screwed up the last one."
"Scott, you had a..."
"Don't say it. No worries today, Lauren."
The little ones came back in, loaded down with gifts, drawings, one very interesting gift, probably from Scott. The pictures were of their family, Lauren and Scott, the children, and their fish. The gift from Scott read,
TO LAUREN
FROM YOUR FAMILY
It was a ring. Her birthstone, the ruby, was one the right, Scott's was on the left, and the stones of the two children were in the middle.
"There's room to extend it if there are more children."
"Scott, I have a gift for you too."
Lauren went into her purse and pulled out an ultrasound photo. "Do you know what this is?"
"Lauren, are you..."
She nodded, "I'm due in February, in time for your birthday."
Scott lifted Lauren and whirled her around, "I love you sweetheart, I love you so much."
This image disappeared too, and another one filled the area. This one was not as bright and happy. She was in an apartment, alone with a baby and appeared to be pregnant again. There were pictures all around, some of her with her brothers, some of her with Harry.
Just looking at this scene, Lauren felt empty and scared. The image put the toddler she was holding down and grabbed her stomach. She cried out and tried to make it to the phone.
"Hello, this is Lauren Senate; I would like to speak to Harry. Well, where did he go, did he tell you? I'm in labor. Thanks a lot."
Lauren waited. Finally she called an ambulance, and was taken to the hospital.
"Where's Harry?"
"That no one knows."
Another image flashed, but was broken by a ringing phone. Lauren opened her eyes, her sister was gone, they images were gone and her phone was ringing.
"Hello, Lauren Davis."
"Hi, Lauren, it's Scott. Can I come over?"
