No response. Just dead silence. After about ten seconds, I got a nibble from one of them.

"You are?" Claudia finally squeaked. I had clearly shocked them all beyond belief.

I nodded slowly, looking around the room at their faces. They were totally dumbfounded.

"Gosh, already?" Claudia added. She couldn't have been more blunt; James and I just nodded again. I felt my cheeks getting hot. My little sister seemed to be the only one reacting to my news; my parents just stared at me, wearing odd expressions that I couldn't read.

"Mom?" I tried.

"Mama, you'll be a grandmother!" Claudia burst out. "Wow, I'll be an aunt!"

With that, Claudia jumped up and hugged me tightly, laughing joyfully. "Congratulations, you guys!" She reached for James and threw her arms around him, too. I gladly accepted the hug, laughing contentedly at Claudia's excitement. She drew back from us, and I could see that she was crying happy tears.

I smiled at her gratefully, then turned back to face my parents. Now they were exchanging worried glances, and I knew that this was going to be a very uncomfortable weekend visit.

"Mother?" I tried again. "Are you and Dad... going to say anything?"

My mother was wearing that pained expression that crosses her face every time she can't quite decide how to handle the situation. "What would you like for us to say, Janine?"

"Wha-what?" I felt as if someone had knocked the wind out of me. I thought perhaps they'd be disappointed, but I never expected to be treated this coldly. "I- I want you to be happy for us."

"Janine, I- I'm trying. But the both of you have to understand that this worries us more than anything. We never expected that this would happen so early," Mom explained. My father nodded.

"Well, neither did we," James spoke up. "But we are prepared to handle anything that comes along."

"And make sacrifices when it comes to Janine's schoolwork?" Dad sighed.

"Of course not!" I said, rising to my feet. "Don't you think I can handle school by now? I've been going to college since I was fifteen years old! I think I know the routine."

"We know you know the routine," Mother quickly put in. "But you have to understand, honey, graduate school is different. And you've known that Yale is demanding for quite some time..."

"And I've learned how to deal with it. Don't you think I--"

"Again, graduate school is different," my father interrupted me.

I drew in my breath. "And again, I will handle all of it. I will handle all of the changes. My job, graduate school, and having a baby. Because I can do it."

"And I'll help her," James stood by me, and together we towered above my parents. They sat looking up at us as we looked down on them. Defiantly. And watched my parents again exchanging looks.

"Then congratulations," Mother stood and gave me the long-awaited hug I had been hoping for. Dad, too. And then they shook hands with James. I knew that this meant something. It meant that they were finally going to let go of me and let me be the adult I had become. I would no longer be their little girl because I was about to be someone else's mother.

"When are you due, Janine?" Claudia spoke up again, now that the tension had eased a bit.

Here we go."In mid-October," I answered quickly. "The doctor set October 24th as my tentative due date."

And it got quiet then. I could tell my parents were doing the math. (I do come from a family of intellectuals.) I could see my mother calculating the 40 weeks of pregnancy and she would soon begin to realize what I hadn't told them yet...

"Wait, it's already April," Surprisingly, it was Claudia who was the first one to do the math. "How far along are you now?" I guess she really has improved academically.

"Um, about ten weeks," I answered, sounding almost as if I wasn't sure, even though I knew exactly.

"Ten weeks and you've just now told us?" Dad asked.

"Well, according to my baby's age since conception, it equals eight weeks," I started spilling out the facts. "And I was six weeks along when I had it confirmed. And it took me two weeks to build up the nerve to come and tell you guys. You do the math."

They were already doing the math. Probably trying to figure out when we'd conceived.

Oh, my lord.

I'll just make it easy on you by saying that it was this uncomfortable and embarrassing for the entire day. Although we managed to move on to other subjects of discussion, Claudia smiled at me the whole time, and I knew we would be talking about this later on.


* * * * * * * *


"Janine? Be still, honey." James grumbled sleepily. Night had fallen, and my husband and I were sleeping together in my old room. I was begin to feel queasy and restless, and I knew what had come over me.

"I'm about to have another episode," I muttered, quickly shoving the covers aside and making my way to the bathroom. For some reason, I didn't have morning sickness; I had middle-of-the-night sickness.

I heard him groan, and it ticked me off. He wasn't having to put up with this; I was.

"Ugh," I slid down the bathroom wall and tried putting my head between my knees. The big T-shirt that I had been sleeping in was damp from where I had been sweating yet cold at the same time. I pulled the shirt off over my head and sat there in my bra and a pair of cotton shorts, feeling very disgusting and very tired of pregnancy already.

"Janine, is that you?" Claudia's voice came from outside the other door. The bathroom has always been right in between our two rooms, and we've had late night conversations in there before. One of the conversations I remember the most took place when Claudia had just gotten her period for the first time, and I was the only person she wanted to tell and get advice from.

This could be another one of those conversations. "Yes, come on in," I lifted my head just slightly. The door creaked open, and the bathroom night light gave off just enough light that I could see my little sister staring at me warily.

"I'm okay," I assured her. "But nauseous. I get it at night sometimes."

"Can I do something for you?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

"Actually," I said weakly, "Could I have some crackers to nibble? That might help me."

She nodded and disappeared to get them for me. I reached for a towel and wiped my forehead off. Then something set me off and before I knew it, I had gotten rid of the rest of my dinner, luckily managing to lean over the toilet just in time.

"Oh, Janine," I heard Claudia behind me. She pulled back my hair for me and tied in with a rubber band. Then she handed me my crackers and Sprite. I gladly took a single cracker and started nibbling it bit by bit. Claudia let me do this in silence until the wave of sickness wore off.

"Is it always this bad?" She wanted to know.

"Not always," I admitted. "Sometimes I think it's brought on by stress."

"Stressful day," Claudia commented. I sighed and nodded my head. "So... what's happening with you so far? I mean, what's it like? Have you gained any weight?"

I stood up slowly to display what I fondly had been calling "my pooch." It wasn't much yet, but since I wasn't wearing a big shirt to hide it, the slight change was much more obvious. I heard a tiny gasp from Claudia. She reached out her hand, but then drew back and looked at me.

I laughed a little. "Go ahead. I don't mind." Claudia touched my stomach ever so gently. "If you press on it a little, it sort of feels firm way under there." Claudia barely pressed at all, as if she was scared she'd hurt me. So I took my hand and pressed hers down, showing her what I meant. She chuckled softly and her eyes sparkled with delight.

"You're really having a baby," she sighed. "That's incredible, Janine. I always hoped that you would have a baby because I knew you would be a great mother."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she said. Then she looked me over again and a smirk crossed her face. "Anything else changing about you besides this little pooch?"

I knew where she was taking this and I had to laugh at my nosy, little sister. "Yes, Claudia, it's not your imagination. My breasts are getting bigger, too."

"Oh, Janine, just say boobs."

"Why?"

"Janine,"

I laughed. "I've never had much of a chest... until now. I must say I rather enjoy it."

"Woohoo," Claud retorted. "An A-cup to a B-cup."

I tried to look mad. "Shut up."

"And next week, a double D!"

"Shut up!"