CHAPTER 10: Mallory

I was having the most wonderful dream. I was wearing a pink-and-white checkered sundress and running barefoot through an endless field of daisies. The birds were singing, the sun was shining in my face, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. My hair was fluttering in the breeze like a banner, and the wind was blowing directly into my eyes.

Then I heard a voice calling my name: "Mal!"

In one second flat, I stopped running and turned around to see where the voice was coming from. There, about four feet away from me, was a giant marble swimming pool, and Ben was standing beside it. In one second flat, I ran up, threw my arms and legs around him, and held on with all my strength. "Oh, Ben, I'm so glad to see you!" I whispered, covering him with kisses and running my hands through his hair. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt so safe and happy with him.

"I'm glad to see you, too, honey," he said as he put me down. That's when I noticed an unusual smell: bleach, baby lotion, and antiseptic all mixed together. I looked at him in confusion. "It's all right now, Mal," he reassured me as he ran his fingertips down my face. "The babies are fine, and they can't wait to see you."

"They are?"

Ben nodded. "Now, I suggest we get going so you can see them."

With that, he led me to the edge of the pool. I immediately got the picture as I looked in the water and saw myself lying in the hospital bed.

"It's all right now, kids," I said, my voice trembling. "I'm coming."

Ben and I looked at each other, gripped hands, and jumped headfirst into the water. In an instant, there was a brilliant flash of light in every color of the rainbow, and then everything went dark.

"Mal? It's Ben. Can you open your eyes for me?"

That was the first thing I heard as I was coming out of the blackness. I opened my eyes and looked in his direction.

"Ben! What...?" I started to ask. I had no idea how long I'd been out. I also noticed that my voice was slightly muffled behind an oxygen mask.

"It's 9:00 on Monday morning. You've been out cold since 12:45 yesterday afternoon."

"I have?" I exclaimed groggily. Wow. I hadn't slept that much since the time I had mono in sixth grade. (Just for the record, I did not get it from Ben, or so I've tried to tell my siblings, but they didn't believe me.) And considering how the Pike household is know for its rowdiness, I was amazed that I was able to sleep as well as I did.

"How are the babies?"

"They're fine," the doctor answered as she leaned over me and folded her arms on the bedrail. "They're both in the nursery, weighing close to five pounds each, and they're perfectly healthy. You had twins, a boy and a girl, Justin and Andrea."

"I know that!" I exclaimed in mock-disbelief. "I was awake when they were born!" As Carol Burnett—or was it Dorothy Loudon?—once stated so eloquently, "I'd have cracked years ago if it weren't for my sense of humor."

Very well said indeed.

"How are you feeling?" Ben asked, stroking my hair.

"Still confused," I told him. "You say I've been out since yesterday afternoon?"

"Yup, a little over twenty hours," he answered. "Oh, I called Jessi a little while ago."

"Yeah? How is she?"

"Fine. She told me to tell you that she and her boyfriend—what's his name?"

"Manette."

"Right. Anyway, she said she got us comp tickets for that '80s revue they're doing next month. They should be in the mail when we get home."

"Oh, that's great!" I smiled, weak but excited. "Oh, by the way, where am I?"

The head nurse came in just in time to hear my question. "You're in the recovery room," she answered as she filled a basin with water and applied it to my face with a wet washcloth. I remembered when Jason told us the story of when he'd gotten the scar on his face, and that was what had brough him around in the ER.

"I also got an e-mail on my laptop from Kristy this morning," Ben said. "Karen and her friends were in a serious car accident last night."

"Oh, no, that's awful," I said. "As soon as I get some strength back, I'll send her a reply."

"How does that feel, dear?" the nurse asked as she put the washcloth in the basin of water and removed the oxygen mask.

"Much better," I answered. "Um, I was wondering if I—well, you know..." I gestured up and down my body with my right hand.

"Yes, you still have your uterus," the nurse smiled. "But in the future, I think it would be wise to wait a while before trying to have any more kids."

I sighed with relief, then nodded in agreement as the nurses came to take me back to my room. All the while, I was worrying about Karen, and thankful that I'd survived my first pregnancy. And as for what the nurse had said about waiting before trying to have another kid, believe me, I planned to!