November 1953 - New Year's 1954
November grew colder, I grew bigger and Christmas grew nearer, and after a letter and then a phonecall, I decided to head out to the mid-west to spend Christmas with the Potters. Hawkeye wanted me to stay and spend a Cove Christmas with him, but I wanted to get around before I wasn't able to travel when BB arrived. Besides, I thought Hawkeye could use the time away from me, as much as I could use the time away from him. Daniel had found a part-time replacement for me, and it was all set.
December 1, I arrived in Hannibal, to be almost swept off my feet by the Colonel.
"Annie Dawson! You look wonderful!" I smiled and blushed.
"Thanks sir, you're looking well yourself."
"It's not sir anymore, it's Sherman." He took my bags and escorted me out of the train station.
"Oh, I can't possibly call you that!" He was always 'Colonel' to me.
"How about papa?"
"Papa," I repeated, trying it on for size. "I like it, why did you choose papa?"
"You always said I was like your father, and short of calling me Dad, I couldn't think of anything more appropriate. Here's our transport," A beat up old Chevy truck waited outside. He loaded my bags, helped me in and we drove off, while I filled him in on what was happening in my life, and with BB.
"I'm glad to hear you're happy, it's not good for your baby if you mope." I smiled at that, and we made it to the Potter's farm. I met Mildred his wife, Corey and Eve his children, Bob and Janine his children-in-law, and Stuart, Corey and baby Julia, his grandchildren.
They were a lovely bunch, all so friendly and welcoming, and it was no surprise that I felt myself settling in for a month's holiday without a worry.
A week after I arrived in Hannibal, Radar and his wife arrived. She was slightly less pregnant than I was, but the minute we saw each other, we just burst out laughing, and threw ourselves at each other in a friendly hug. Radar looked very much relieved at how easily and naturally Monica and I made friends.
Colonel Potter was still trying to convince Radar and I to call him Sherman. I'd fallen into calling him Papa, as it gave him the friendly authority he deserved. Radar was still calling him sir, and we gave up. I called everyone else by their first names, except for Radar, who I still called Radar.
Radar was calling me the hyphenated name he called me in Korea so often. Captain-Mrs-Annie-Pierce-Ma'am, at first I thought that it was sweet, but eventually the Mrs Pierce got to me, seeing as I wasn't a Pierce anymore, so before lunch two days after he'd arrived, I went out to the field where he was talking to Belle, Colonel Potter's new horse.
"Corporal-Radar-Walter-Mr-O'Reilly-sir?" I called, approaching him, and rubbing the curious mare's nose with my gloved hands.
"Yes ma'am?" I took off my gloves and buried my fingers in the warmth of the brown mane.
"Listen, Radar, just call me Annie, it's not the army, and so you don't need to call me ma'am. I left the army, so I'm not a Captain either. Please just call me Annie."
"What about Mrs Pierce, I don't think I can be that familiar with you, no offence meant, but I think of you as Captain Pierce, and that's who you are to me."
"Radar, see I'm not a Mrs." I flashed my ring-less finger at him. A large gold band with a Korean symbol meaning prosperity adorned my thumb, a gift from the CO of the POW camp whose life I saved, but that was all.
"Oh, gee not the 'd' word?" Radar asked.
"Yep, back in October." Radar looked like he was ready to cry.
"Gee Annie, I'm real sorry to hear that. If you ever you know, want to talk or whatever, you know, I'm all ears. I mean I understand if you don't want to and all but I thought as a friend, you might like it."
"Thanks Radar, it's very sweet of you." Mildred's voice rang out, calling us for lunch, and I turned, and promptly hit the ground, a pain shooting up my ankle as I landed in mud created by rain, ice and snow.
"Aw shoot, aw jeez, are you okay Annie?" I noticed he'd fallen into using my Christian name.
"No," I winced, as he tried to help me up. "I think I've sprained my ankle, can you go up to the house and get someone else to help."
"Right away, sure." He dashed up to the house, Belle stood by me anxiously, snuffling my hair.
"There's a good girl, come on, let me hold myself up on you." I patted her nose soothingly, and hooked my hands in her blanket and halter, using her as support to get up. I leant on her, and tested my - incredibly painful - ankle.
"Annie! What happened?" Colonel Potter and Radar hurried down to see me. Belle was tiring of being a leaning post and shifted away as Radar came over and held me up.
"I fell in the mud, my ankle gave out." I explained, as Radar and Colonel Potter helped me up to the house.
"Sit her down, take off her shoe, let me see." Mildred instructed as soon as I hobbled in. "Never mind about the cushions, they'll wash." She said as I lowered my muddy frame onto the sofa.
"You have a nasty sprain there." I was told after my ankle was turned, pressed and kneaded until tears formed in my eyes. "You're going to stay off that until Christmas, I don't even want to see you standing until next week."
"But papa!" I protested.
"Annie!" He bit back warningly. "You are staying put, comprende?" He looked at me firmly, strapping my ankle. I agreed meekly, and settled with my foot up on the sofa. We had lunch by the fire so I didn't have to move.
"Margaret! Oh, I didn't think you were coming!" Margaret arrived three days before Christmas; I was up and about again, hobbling with a crutch under one arm. Colonel Potter knew that I'd only bear a week of resting-up and said if I had crutches I was allowed to move around.
"Of course, I would! I wanted to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad, but they couldn't come to an agreement on anything, so I just left. I'm surprised you're not in Crabapple Cove. Hawkeye used to boast of the Christmas parties there until we were all sick of them." She kissed my cheek, helping me sit down.
"I needed a break, of course I would have loved to be in Portland with Mum, but I really needed to be as many miles away from Hawkeye as I could get, and the Honnicuts were too far away."
"Never mind, now that we're together!" Margaret grinned girlishly at me. "Look at you, you're not six months are you? You're too big!"
"That's the thing, because I'm so big, we're kind of wondering about the dates. See, my size equates to seven months, and to be that far along, I'd have to have gotten pregnant at the POW camp." Margaret wasn't one to curse, but she let go with a few beauties then.
"We're just waiting to see when I have the baby, February POW, March Hawkeye." I explained.
"Never mind, Christmas is in three days, let's have a great time!" I hugged her, and that's what we did.
Christmas was wonderful, the women, with the exception of Monica and myself, cooked a wonderful lunch, which spread into dinner. Gifts were handed around, Colonel Potter giving me a beautiful pair of calf-length riding boots.
"Oh thankyou papa, they're beautiful!" I hugged him. We kept giving presents; I gave Margaret a sky-blue cashmere sweater, which she put on at once. It made her eyes sparkle and made her look even more beautiful than before. I gave Radar a copy of 'Last of the Mohecans' it had been Hawkeye's idea, and Radar was thrilled.
Everyone had bought something for everyone, even though most of us had never met before. The Potter children gave me a beautiful knitted baby blanket, and I gave them simple presents like socks, novels and cushions. Monica it seemed was a wonderful cook, presenting everyone with a jar of her strawberry jam. I gave her a baby quilt that I'd sewn, I loved to sew, and BB already had a matching one.
We opened a few bottles of wine, everyone watching how much Monica, Janine who was still feeding Julia, and myself consumed. Margaret made a surprising amount disappear, and she and I retired to our room, giggling like girls.
"Merry Christmas Annie!" She threw herself on her bed.
"Merry Christmas Margaret." I replied, sitting down slowly, leaning forward so BB hung off the edge of the chair.
"Want to play cards?" She pulled a pack from her suitcase.
"Why not, what'll we play?" I shifted down to the floor and helped her clear a playing surface.
"Strip Poker!" She announced, smiling broadly.
"Margaret! You wouldn't not with papa in the other room!" I gasped.
"Wouldn't I? Besides papa knocks." She had settled on calling him papa as well.
"You're drunk Margaret!" I accused correctly.
"So what? Come on, play with me!" she asked again.
"All right but if we get caught Margaret . . ." I laughed as she started to shuffle cards.
"What in Sweet Fanny Adams is going on here?" I turned and gasped, and then hurriedly turned back, grabbing the nearest object I could find, a pillow and hugging it against my chest before sheepishly turning around to face him.
"I'm umm, losing Strip Poker." Margaret I noticed had followed suit with another pillow.
"So I see." The Colonel commented dryly. I'd just had a spectacular losing streak, losing five games in a row. I was down to stockings, my new boots, and a slip that covered from my waist to my knees. Margaret was down to even less, having lost more games than I.
"Well Annie, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a listen to the baby, once you're decent of course." He added, with a wry glance at the pillows Margaret and I hugged.
"Yes papa." I agreed, he left while we dressed and packed up the game, and after getting into our pyjamas, we called him back in. He returned with his stethoscope.
"Alright just lift the top okay, this is going to be cold." I lifted the top of my pyjamas so it showed my stomach.
"Looks great huh?" I smiled proudly, as I noticed Margaret admiring it.
"You're so lucky Annie," Colonel Potter I noticed, was shifting the stethoscope on my belly, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. Suddenly he gave a huge grin, and gave me the earpieces. Puzzled I put them in my ears and listened.
"What do you hear?" He asked. I listened; I could pick up the obvious noise of a rapid foetal heartbeat.
"BB's heartbeat." I replied. He moved it again and I winced slightly at the cold. "Still BB's heartbeat." I said as he looked up at me.
"Now what?" He asked, moving it one last time. My skin went into automatic revolt at the cold, flinching and getting goose bumps. He placed a warming hand on my belly while I listened.
"I hear two heartbeats! Two!" I cried, realising the truth.
"Merry Christmas Annie, you're having twins! That's why you're so big!"
"Oh, papa, thankyou!" I hugged him tightly, almost crying in my joy. "Thankyou, you have no idea how good it is to hear that!" A weight had been lifted from my mind, I knew now why I was abnormally large.
"I could take a guess." He laughed, hugging me back as Margaret flung her arms around us.
"Can I call Daniel, to let my doctor know?"
"Of course." I went out into the hall and bumped into Radar.
"Twins, twins, I'm having twins!" I kissed his cheek soundly and waltzed him into the kitchen to the phone.
"Annie ma'am I'm real pleased to hear that! Boy I am real glad that Monica is only having one baby! Gee twins!" I laughed; I'd always be Annie ma'am, no matter what. I picked up the phone and asked to be connected to Daniel.
"Love you too, Merry Christmas!" I hung up the phone. Daniel was thrilled to hear that not only would I give him two grandbabies, but that they would be Hawkeye's. He agreed not to tell Hawkeye though, as I wanted to myself.
I began to head back to my room, when Colonel Potter and Mildred realised I was limping again. I'd been too hard on my ankle, and it had blown up like a balloon.
"Listen Annie, couch rest all of tomorrow, and the next day." Colonel Potter ordered, tucking me in.
"Yes papa, goodnight." He kissed me, and then said goodnight to Margaret. We felt like little girls, having him tuck us in and baby us, but it was a nice feeling.
Margaret left on the 28th; her job and boss weren't quite so forgiving about holidays. There was a bus that stopped at the gate that would take her into the city and from there she would get a train back. I hopped down on my crutches to see her off and to ask her not to tell Hawkeye about the twins. She agreed readily, understanding the importance I felt in telling him myself.
"Goodbye Annie, see you back there."
"Bye Margaret, have a nice trip!" She got on the bus, and as I drove off, I turned and swung back up the muddy drive, Radar hastening to open the door when he saw me coming.
"Gosh Annie ma'am, you're so muddy!" The winter's rain, snow and ice had turned everything slushy.
"I know, it's horrid. Here." I handed him my crutches and yanked off my boots. I wiped the base of the crutches so as not to spread mud through the house, and then settled on the sofa for a rest, as my ankle felt sore.
I stayed for New Year's, as we had planned, and we spent a noisy night in front of the fire, singing, laughing and ringing in the New Year as happily as possible.
I'd booked a flight for the fourth, but things were doubtful, as my ankle was not good enough to work without crutches. Radar and Monica had gone back on the second, unwilling to leave the farm any longer, and the kids had all gone back too, so now it was just Mildred, Colonel Potter and myself.
On the morning of the third, after realising my ankle wasn't up to walking, I decided that I couldn't possibly be away from Crabapple Cove any longer. A phonecall or two had told me that the kids were missing Nurse Anne, and my filler, Nurse Stratford, wasn't half as welcoming as I was.
"I am going papa, it's not that I don't love every minute on the farm, but I really miss the Cove, I have to go tomorrow, Daniel knows when my plane gets in, he'll meet me, especially as he knows I'm on crutches. In every other aspect I am perfectly healthy. It's just my ankle. The flight back sitting down will be great for it probably."
"Sherm, Annie obviously wants to go, and she is a hardy girl, she can hold up." Mildred said. "Besides Sherm, it would be nice to have some of our own time again." I averted my eyes as she kissed him.
"You women! You know how to get a man right where you want them. You don't cause nothing but trouble, but I just gotta love you all the more! Annie, you can go, but call me as soon as you're home, day or night!"
"Thankyou papa," I hugged him. "It's not that I'm glad to leave, but I'm so glad to be going home again."
I flew back the next day, Colonel Potter issuing the stewardess with special instructions.
"I'll take great care of your daughter sir." She assured him.
"See papa? I'm in good hands." Keeping up the play of father-daughter, I kissed his cheek.
"Have a safe trip. Now you make sure you call me the minute you get back, I don't care what time of the day or night it is. Tell Daniel to look after you or I'll come and put my boot in his patoot!" He hugged me tightly.
"Goodbye papa." I boarded the plane and in a few hours I was back in Maine. Daniel met me at the airport and after taking my bags, we went straight home.
It was late when I returned and Hawkeye had already retired. I rang the Potters briefly, just to let them know I was alive. But I was so exhausted I didn't talk for long, and then stripping off my jacket and shoes, I fell asleep on top of my bed, not even bothering about covers.
"Annie, it's only me, Daniel alright?" His voice was low as he unwrapped my ankle. I nodded sleepily and submitted peacefully to having my clothes taken off down to my slip and tucked warmly into bed.
I woke at about 5 the next morning, when I realised someone was watching me. I rolled over and found Daniel perched on the end of my bed watching me thoughtfully.
"Morning Annie."
"Mmm, watching me sleep hmm?" I stretched and sat up.
"Yeah, I couldn't help it, I came out here and saw you. You're so sweet when you're asleep you look like an angel. Hawkeye told me once you were beautiful asleep, but it had been so long since I watched a woman sleep I didn't believe him. I guess he was right. Watching you dream, murmuring little things to the baby, it's amazing."
"I never knew Hawkeye watched me sleep, I always woke before he did."
"Aha, but he's a Pierce, after sex he stays awake for a while it does that to us you know."
"I know, I know! Try sleeping with Hawkeye, it's impossible!" I laughed. "Where is he?"
"In his room, I heard him stir a while ago." I got up, and found my robe. Tucking a crutch under one arm, I began to limp out towards his room.
"Careful Annie, you might see some things you don't want to." Daniel called. I brushed it off, figuring that anything of Hawkeye's I'd seen before. I opened the door, and went in. I left very quickly.
There had been an extra figure in the bed with Hawkeye, and they had been very occupied, not the kind of occupied that could be easily finished either. I was pretty surprised that he was already in bed with a woman, but I reasoned it had been over two months.
Daniel got me a coffee, deliberately avoiding me, and not saying 'I told you so!' I thought about what I had seen, then with a start realised something. I jumped and nearly spilt my coffee as I did so.
"What's up Annie?" Daniel asked.
"I just noticed, about whoever's in Hawkeye's bed. The covers were off, didn't leave much to the imagination. But there is only one woman in the world with a body like that. I should know too, she lost strip poker Christmas night. It's Margaret." I recalled with almost painful clarity the smooth pale skin and blonde head how they were so deeply absorbed in the equally smooth skin, long slim figure, and dark head as it pressed kisses on her neck.
"I was wondering if you'd work that out." Daniel said. "It happened when she came back, Hawkeye picked her up from the station. They went out for dinner, just as friends, but like you and Hawkeye did the dame day you got divorced, they wound up together, and have been pretty serious ever since, don't take it too hard Annie."
"I won't he's a Pierce after all, and besides, him and Margaret, me and BJ." I was actually very calm and honestly didn't mind. I probably would have been out and about too if I hadn't been pregnant.
"Good morning world!" Hawkeye waltzed into the kitchen, and stopped dead when he saw me. He dashed back into the hall and after a hurried, whispered conversation; he and Margaret appeared sheepishly in the kitchen. They hadn't even noticed me earlier.
"Annie, I'm sorry it's just that . . ." Margaret began.
"Hey, you're both fully-grown, sexually mature people who have been very close. It's okay. If I weren't pregnant, I'd probably be out there too. Don't worry, we're not married it's not like you're cheating on me or anything."
"Really?" They asked together.
"Really!" I confirmed, "Now we'd better get ready for work, Margaret, I know your bus leaves in half an hour." We dropped the conversation and hurried to get ready for work, Margaret leaving and then Daniel driving us to work as I was still on crutches, but only for support,
"Annie, are you sure you're okay about us?" Hawkeye cornered me.
"Fine! Now listen I have the most spectacular news for you."
"What?" His eyes sparkled.
"Well, it seems that we're in a for a little bitty surprise when BB arrives."
"Like?" He asked.
"Like a whole extra baby, I'm having twins! Papa told me."
"Yahoo! Twins I could kiss you!" He grabbed me and kissed my cheek. "Wait, papa?"
"Colonel Potter, I couldn't call him Sherman." Hawkeye hugged me tightly, and then ran out and announced our news to the waiting room.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Be it known that the next Pierces will be doubled!" There were blank looks all around. "Twins, Annabelle's having twins!" A cheer broke out, and people came to congratulate us.
"Ahem, Hawk! Hawkeye! Ben! Benjamin! Benjamin Franklin!" the use of his full name had Hawkeye going through the roof with shock. "You have patients to attend to." Daniel reminded him dryly. He laughed and went back to work.
It was fabulous news about the twins, and as January went on, I found myself absolutely beside myself with anticipation, awaiting their birth in March.
November grew colder, I grew bigger and Christmas grew nearer, and after a letter and then a phonecall, I decided to head out to the mid-west to spend Christmas with the Potters. Hawkeye wanted me to stay and spend a Cove Christmas with him, but I wanted to get around before I wasn't able to travel when BB arrived. Besides, I thought Hawkeye could use the time away from me, as much as I could use the time away from him. Daniel had found a part-time replacement for me, and it was all set.
December 1, I arrived in Hannibal, to be almost swept off my feet by the Colonel.
"Annie Dawson! You look wonderful!" I smiled and blushed.
"Thanks sir, you're looking well yourself."
"It's not sir anymore, it's Sherman." He took my bags and escorted me out of the train station.
"Oh, I can't possibly call you that!" He was always 'Colonel' to me.
"How about papa?"
"Papa," I repeated, trying it on for size. "I like it, why did you choose papa?"
"You always said I was like your father, and short of calling me Dad, I couldn't think of anything more appropriate. Here's our transport," A beat up old Chevy truck waited outside. He loaded my bags, helped me in and we drove off, while I filled him in on what was happening in my life, and with BB.
"I'm glad to hear you're happy, it's not good for your baby if you mope." I smiled at that, and we made it to the Potter's farm. I met Mildred his wife, Corey and Eve his children, Bob and Janine his children-in-law, and Stuart, Corey and baby Julia, his grandchildren.
They were a lovely bunch, all so friendly and welcoming, and it was no surprise that I felt myself settling in for a month's holiday without a worry.
A week after I arrived in Hannibal, Radar and his wife arrived. She was slightly less pregnant than I was, but the minute we saw each other, we just burst out laughing, and threw ourselves at each other in a friendly hug. Radar looked very much relieved at how easily and naturally Monica and I made friends.
Colonel Potter was still trying to convince Radar and I to call him Sherman. I'd fallen into calling him Papa, as it gave him the friendly authority he deserved. Radar was still calling him sir, and we gave up. I called everyone else by their first names, except for Radar, who I still called Radar.
Radar was calling me the hyphenated name he called me in Korea so often. Captain-Mrs-Annie-Pierce-Ma'am, at first I thought that it was sweet, but eventually the Mrs Pierce got to me, seeing as I wasn't a Pierce anymore, so before lunch two days after he'd arrived, I went out to the field where he was talking to Belle, Colonel Potter's new horse.
"Corporal-Radar-Walter-Mr-O'Reilly-sir?" I called, approaching him, and rubbing the curious mare's nose with my gloved hands.
"Yes ma'am?" I took off my gloves and buried my fingers in the warmth of the brown mane.
"Listen, Radar, just call me Annie, it's not the army, and so you don't need to call me ma'am. I left the army, so I'm not a Captain either. Please just call me Annie."
"What about Mrs Pierce, I don't think I can be that familiar with you, no offence meant, but I think of you as Captain Pierce, and that's who you are to me."
"Radar, see I'm not a Mrs." I flashed my ring-less finger at him. A large gold band with a Korean symbol meaning prosperity adorned my thumb, a gift from the CO of the POW camp whose life I saved, but that was all.
"Oh, gee not the 'd' word?" Radar asked.
"Yep, back in October." Radar looked like he was ready to cry.
"Gee Annie, I'm real sorry to hear that. If you ever you know, want to talk or whatever, you know, I'm all ears. I mean I understand if you don't want to and all but I thought as a friend, you might like it."
"Thanks Radar, it's very sweet of you." Mildred's voice rang out, calling us for lunch, and I turned, and promptly hit the ground, a pain shooting up my ankle as I landed in mud created by rain, ice and snow.
"Aw shoot, aw jeez, are you okay Annie?" I noticed he'd fallen into using my Christian name.
"No," I winced, as he tried to help me up. "I think I've sprained my ankle, can you go up to the house and get someone else to help."
"Right away, sure." He dashed up to the house, Belle stood by me anxiously, snuffling my hair.
"There's a good girl, come on, let me hold myself up on you." I patted her nose soothingly, and hooked my hands in her blanket and halter, using her as support to get up. I leant on her, and tested my - incredibly painful - ankle.
"Annie! What happened?" Colonel Potter and Radar hurried down to see me. Belle was tiring of being a leaning post and shifted away as Radar came over and held me up.
"I fell in the mud, my ankle gave out." I explained, as Radar and Colonel Potter helped me up to the house.
"Sit her down, take off her shoe, let me see." Mildred instructed as soon as I hobbled in. "Never mind about the cushions, they'll wash." She said as I lowered my muddy frame onto the sofa.
"You have a nasty sprain there." I was told after my ankle was turned, pressed and kneaded until tears formed in my eyes. "You're going to stay off that until Christmas, I don't even want to see you standing until next week."
"But papa!" I protested.
"Annie!" He bit back warningly. "You are staying put, comprende?" He looked at me firmly, strapping my ankle. I agreed meekly, and settled with my foot up on the sofa. We had lunch by the fire so I didn't have to move.
"Margaret! Oh, I didn't think you were coming!" Margaret arrived three days before Christmas; I was up and about again, hobbling with a crutch under one arm. Colonel Potter knew that I'd only bear a week of resting-up and said if I had crutches I was allowed to move around.
"Of course, I would! I wanted to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad, but they couldn't come to an agreement on anything, so I just left. I'm surprised you're not in Crabapple Cove. Hawkeye used to boast of the Christmas parties there until we were all sick of them." She kissed my cheek, helping me sit down.
"I needed a break, of course I would have loved to be in Portland with Mum, but I really needed to be as many miles away from Hawkeye as I could get, and the Honnicuts were too far away."
"Never mind, now that we're together!" Margaret grinned girlishly at me. "Look at you, you're not six months are you? You're too big!"
"That's the thing, because I'm so big, we're kind of wondering about the dates. See, my size equates to seven months, and to be that far along, I'd have to have gotten pregnant at the POW camp." Margaret wasn't one to curse, but she let go with a few beauties then.
"We're just waiting to see when I have the baby, February POW, March Hawkeye." I explained.
"Never mind, Christmas is in three days, let's have a great time!" I hugged her, and that's what we did.
Christmas was wonderful, the women, with the exception of Monica and myself, cooked a wonderful lunch, which spread into dinner. Gifts were handed around, Colonel Potter giving me a beautiful pair of calf-length riding boots.
"Oh thankyou papa, they're beautiful!" I hugged him. We kept giving presents; I gave Margaret a sky-blue cashmere sweater, which she put on at once. It made her eyes sparkle and made her look even more beautiful than before. I gave Radar a copy of 'Last of the Mohecans' it had been Hawkeye's idea, and Radar was thrilled.
Everyone had bought something for everyone, even though most of us had never met before. The Potter children gave me a beautiful knitted baby blanket, and I gave them simple presents like socks, novels and cushions. Monica it seemed was a wonderful cook, presenting everyone with a jar of her strawberry jam. I gave her a baby quilt that I'd sewn, I loved to sew, and BB already had a matching one.
We opened a few bottles of wine, everyone watching how much Monica, Janine who was still feeding Julia, and myself consumed. Margaret made a surprising amount disappear, and she and I retired to our room, giggling like girls.
"Merry Christmas Annie!" She threw herself on her bed.
"Merry Christmas Margaret." I replied, sitting down slowly, leaning forward so BB hung off the edge of the chair.
"Want to play cards?" She pulled a pack from her suitcase.
"Why not, what'll we play?" I shifted down to the floor and helped her clear a playing surface.
"Strip Poker!" She announced, smiling broadly.
"Margaret! You wouldn't not with papa in the other room!" I gasped.
"Wouldn't I? Besides papa knocks." She had settled on calling him papa as well.
"You're drunk Margaret!" I accused correctly.
"So what? Come on, play with me!" she asked again.
"All right but if we get caught Margaret . . ." I laughed as she started to shuffle cards.
"What in Sweet Fanny Adams is going on here?" I turned and gasped, and then hurriedly turned back, grabbing the nearest object I could find, a pillow and hugging it against my chest before sheepishly turning around to face him.
"I'm umm, losing Strip Poker." Margaret I noticed had followed suit with another pillow.
"So I see." The Colonel commented dryly. I'd just had a spectacular losing streak, losing five games in a row. I was down to stockings, my new boots, and a slip that covered from my waist to my knees. Margaret was down to even less, having lost more games than I.
"Well Annie, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a listen to the baby, once you're decent of course." He added, with a wry glance at the pillows Margaret and I hugged.
"Yes papa." I agreed, he left while we dressed and packed up the game, and after getting into our pyjamas, we called him back in. He returned with his stethoscope.
"Alright just lift the top okay, this is going to be cold." I lifted the top of my pyjamas so it showed my stomach.
"Looks great huh?" I smiled proudly, as I noticed Margaret admiring it.
"You're so lucky Annie," Colonel Potter I noticed, was shifting the stethoscope on my belly, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. Suddenly he gave a huge grin, and gave me the earpieces. Puzzled I put them in my ears and listened.
"What do you hear?" He asked. I listened; I could pick up the obvious noise of a rapid foetal heartbeat.
"BB's heartbeat." I replied. He moved it again and I winced slightly at the cold. "Still BB's heartbeat." I said as he looked up at me.
"Now what?" He asked, moving it one last time. My skin went into automatic revolt at the cold, flinching and getting goose bumps. He placed a warming hand on my belly while I listened.
"I hear two heartbeats! Two!" I cried, realising the truth.
"Merry Christmas Annie, you're having twins! That's why you're so big!"
"Oh, papa, thankyou!" I hugged him tightly, almost crying in my joy. "Thankyou, you have no idea how good it is to hear that!" A weight had been lifted from my mind, I knew now why I was abnormally large.
"I could take a guess." He laughed, hugging me back as Margaret flung her arms around us.
"Can I call Daniel, to let my doctor know?"
"Of course." I went out into the hall and bumped into Radar.
"Twins, twins, I'm having twins!" I kissed his cheek soundly and waltzed him into the kitchen to the phone.
"Annie ma'am I'm real pleased to hear that! Boy I am real glad that Monica is only having one baby! Gee twins!" I laughed; I'd always be Annie ma'am, no matter what. I picked up the phone and asked to be connected to Daniel.
"Love you too, Merry Christmas!" I hung up the phone. Daniel was thrilled to hear that not only would I give him two grandbabies, but that they would be Hawkeye's. He agreed not to tell Hawkeye though, as I wanted to myself.
I began to head back to my room, when Colonel Potter and Mildred realised I was limping again. I'd been too hard on my ankle, and it had blown up like a balloon.
"Listen Annie, couch rest all of tomorrow, and the next day." Colonel Potter ordered, tucking me in.
"Yes papa, goodnight." He kissed me, and then said goodnight to Margaret. We felt like little girls, having him tuck us in and baby us, but it was a nice feeling.
Margaret left on the 28th; her job and boss weren't quite so forgiving about holidays. There was a bus that stopped at the gate that would take her into the city and from there she would get a train back. I hopped down on my crutches to see her off and to ask her not to tell Hawkeye about the twins. She agreed readily, understanding the importance I felt in telling him myself.
"Goodbye Annie, see you back there."
"Bye Margaret, have a nice trip!" She got on the bus, and as I drove off, I turned and swung back up the muddy drive, Radar hastening to open the door when he saw me coming.
"Gosh Annie ma'am, you're so muddy!" The winter's rain, snow and ice had turned everything slushy.
"I know, it's horrid. Here." I handed him my crutches and yanked off my boots. I wiped the base of the crutches so as not to spread mud through the house, and then settled on the sofa for a rest, as my ankle felt sore.
I stayed for New Year's, as we had planned, and we spent a noisy night in front of the fire, singing, laughing and ringing in the New Year as happily as possible.
I'd booked a flight for the fourth, but things were doubtful, as my ankle was not good enough to work without crutches. Radar and Monica had gone back on the second, unwilling to leave the farm any longer, and the kids had all gone back too, so now it was just Mildred, Colonel Potter and myself.
On the morning of the third, after realising my ankle wasn't up to walking, I decided that I couldn't possibly be away from Crabapple Cove any longer. A phonecall or two had told me that the kids were missing Nurse Anne, and my filler, Nurse Stratford, wasn't half as welcoming as I was.
"I am going papa, it's not that I don't love every minute on the farm, but I really miss the Cove, I have to go tomorrow, Daniel knows when my plane gets in, he'll meet me, especially as he knows I'm on crutches. In every other aspect I am perfectly healthy. It's just my ankle. The flight back sitting down will be great for it probably."
"Sherm, Annie obviously wants to go, and she is a hardy girl, she can hold up." Mildred said. "Besides Sherm, it would be nice to have some of our own time again." I averted my eyes as she kissed him.
"You women! You know how to get a man right where you want them. You don't cause nothing but trouble, but I just gotta love you all the more! Annie, you can go, but call me as soon as you're home, day or night!"
"Thankyou papa," I hugged him. "It's not that I'm glad to leave, but I'm so glad to be going home again."
I flew back the next day, Colonel Potter issuing the stewardess with special instructions.
"I'll take great care of your daughter sir." She assured him.
"See papa? I'm in good hands." Keeping up the play of father-daughter, I kissed his cheek.
"Have a safe trip. Now you make sure you call me the minute you get back, I don't care what time of the day or night it is. Tell Daniel to look after you or I'll come and put my boot in his patoot!" He hugged me tightly.
"Goodbye papa." I boarded the plane and in a few hours I was back in Maine. Daniel met me at the airport and after taking my bags, we went straight home.
It was late when I returned and Hawkeye had already retired. I rang the Potters briefly, just to let them know I was alive. But I was so exhausted I didn't talk for long, and then stripping off my jacket and shoes, I fell asleep on top of my bed, not even bothering about covers.
"Annie, it's only me, Daniel alright?" His voice was low as he unwrapped my ankle. I nodded sleepily and submitted peacefully to having my clothes taken off down to my slip and tucked warmly into bed.
I woke at about 5 the next morning, when I realised someone was watching me. I rolled over and found Daniel perched on the end of my bed watching me thoughtfully.
"Morning Annie."
"Mmm, watching me sleep hmm?" I stretched and sat up.
"Yeah, I couldn't help it, I came out here and saw you. You're so sweet when you're asleep you look like an angel. Hawkeye told me once you were beautiful asleep, but it had been so long since I watched a woman sleep I didn't believe him. I guess he was right. Watching you dream, murmuring little things to the baby, it's amazing."
"I never knew Hawkeye watched me sleep, I always woke before he did."
"Aha, but he's a Pierce, after sex he stays awake for a while it does that to us you know."
"I know, I know! Try sleeping with Hawkeye, it's impossible!" I laughed. "Where is he?"
"In his room, I heard him stir a while ago." I got up, and found my robe. Tucking a crutch under one arm, I began to limp out towards his room.
"Careful Annie, you might see some things you don't want to." Daniel called. I brushed it off, figuring that anything of Hawkeye's I'd seen before. I opened the door, and went in. I left very quickly.
There had been an extra figure in the bed with Hawkeye, and they had been very occupied, not the kind of occupied that could be easily finished either. I was pretty surprised that he was already in bed with a woman, but I reasoned it had been over two months.
Daniel got me a coffee, deliberately avoiding me, and not saying 'I told you so!' I thought about what I had seen, then with a start realised something. I jumped and nearly spilt my coffee as I did so.
"What's up Annie?" Daniel asked.
"I just noticed, about whoever's in Hawkeye's bed. The covers were off, didn't leave much to the imagination. But there is only one woman in the world with a body like that. I should know too, she lost strip poker Christmas night. It's Margaret." I recalled with almost painful clarity the smooth pale skin and blonde head how they were so deeply absorbed in the equally smooth skin, long slim figure, and dark head as it pressed kisses on her neck.
"I was wondering if you'd work that out." Daniel said. "It happened when she came back, Hawkeye picked her up from the station. They went out for dinner, just as friends, but like you and Hawkeye did the dame day you got divorced, they wound up together, and have been pretty serious ever since, don't take it too hard Annie."
"I won't he's a Pierce after all, and besides, him and Margaret, me and BJ." I was actually very calm and honestly didn't mind. I probably would have been out and about too if I hadn't been pregnant.
"Good morning world!" Hawkeye waltzed into the kitchen, and stopped dead when he saw me. He dashed back into the hall and after a hurried, whispered conversation; he and Margaret appeared sheepishly in the kitchen. They hadn't even noticed me earlier.
"Annie, I'm sorry it's just that . . ." Margaret began.
"Hey, you're both fully-grown, sexually mature people who have been very close. It's okay. If I weren't pregnant, I'd probably be out there too. Don't worry, we're not married it's not like you're cheating on me or anything."
"Really?" They asked together.
"Really!" I confirmed, "Now we'd better get ready for work, Margaret, I know your bus leaves in half an hour." We dropped the conversation and hurried to get ready for work, Margaret leaving and then Daniel driving us to work as I was still on crutches, but only for support,
"Annie, are you sure you're okay about us?" Hawkeye cornered me.
"Fine! Now listen I have the most spectacular news for you."
"What?" His eyes sparkled.
"Well, it seems that we're in a for a little bitty surprise when BB arrives."
"Like?" He asked.
"Like a whole extra baby, I'm having twins! Papa told me."
"Yahoo! Twins I could kiss you!" He grabbed me and kissed my cheek. "Wait, papa?"
"Colonel Potter, I couldn't call him Sherman." Hawkeye hugged me tightly, and then ran out and announced our news to the waiting room.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Be it known that the next Pierces will be doubled!" There were blank looks all around. "Twins, Annabelle's having twins!" A cheer broke out, and people came to congratulate us.
"Ahem, Hawk! Hawkeye! Ben! Benjamin! Benjamin Franklin!" the use of his full name had Hawkeye going through the roof with shock. "You have patients to attend to." Daniel reminded him dryly. He laughed and went back to work.
It was fabulous news about the twins, and as January went on, I found myself absolutely beside myself with anticipation, awaiting their birth in March.