"Mom! Did you do it?" Rory asked as she rushed through the door the next day, after school.
"Yeah, I did it. It's not finished thought. I just did it about 5 minutes ago."
"How much longer will it take?"
"About ten minutes."
"Ok… Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you going to do if it's positive?" Rory asked me, as she sat next to me on the couch.
"I really don't know, hon. I mean, I know I'm going to keep it. There's no doubt about that. But, what I don't know, is how to tell Chris, and how to tell Luke, and how I'm supposed to take care of it, and how this will affect you… so many things are running through my head all at once and I don't know how to sort them out," I said, as tears began to form in my eyes.
"Oh, Mom, don't cry. It'll all be okay." Rory pulled me to her and hugged me close. "I'll always be here for you."
"Thanks, babe. You have no idea how much that means to me."
We sat in each other's arms for what seemed like forever. We were all each other needed. When my sobs began to let up, I stood and walked into the bathroom without a word, and Rory followed.
"This is it," I said, as I picked up the small white stick from the sink. "It's now or never."
Rory took hold of the hand that wasn't occupied by my future, our futures. My hand started to shake, and I couldn't uncover the tiny spot that held my destiny. I took a deep breath and was about to reveal the results, when I lost my nerve again.
"Just do it, Mom. We can handle it, whatever it is."
"Ok." Slowly, I moved my thumb from atop the word "pregnant" and sighed heavily. What we both already knew was true had been confirmed. I was pregnant with Christopher's child, again.
As tears began to form in my eyes, Rory's grip on my other hand only grew tighter. She knew what an impact this would have on both of us. "Do we need to pop Willy Wonka into the VCR?"
My daughter, a little piece of me. She always knows exactly how to cheer me up.
"Yeah, that'd be great. I'll go get it all set up. Why don't you go run to Luke's and get us some food?"
"Sure. I'll be right back… Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you want me to tell him if he asks how you're feeling?"
"Um… Tell him I'm feeling much better, and I'll call him later."
"Gotcha. I'll be right back.
Rory went and got the food and came back quickly. We had a wonderfully spectacular and amazing mother-daughter bonding night, as if we could bond any more than we already had.
The movie ended, and I turned the VCR and television off. We both just sat there in silence, staring at the blank television screen, trying to recover from laughing so much.
"That was great. We need to do that more often."
"Yeah, those stupid Friday night dinners are getting in the way of our mother-daughter time."
"Hon, if we have anymore mother-daughter time than we do now, we'd be Cheng and Eng," I said through a giggle.
"Yeah, I guess so."
We just sat silently for a little longer. Before we finally gave in to the late hour of the night and went our separate ways to bed, Rory caught me by surprise and finally asked, "What would you have done if it were negative?"
"Oh, I guess I would've just gone on with my life as normal, pretended it never happened."
"Right… Would you have been, I don't know, disappointed?"
"I never thought about that... Maybe… Probably. I mean, it would be nice to have a cute little baby around again, but, oh, I don't know."
"But what?"
"Nothing. You'll think I'm crazy."
"Too late. Out with it. But what?"
"But, it would've been perfect if it were with Luke. Now, since it's your dad's, we're both going to have to deal with tons of emotional baggage."
"That's really sweet. Luke makes you happy, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, he really does," I said, with a huge grin on my face, looking down bashfully. "It's late. We should both probably be heading to bed."
"Yeah. Night, Mom. I love you."
"G'Night. I love you too, babe.
And chapter 4 is a wrap! Reviews are much appreciated! Even a little "good job" would satisfy me. The little purple button is calling!
Random Question: What color hair to bald men put down on their driver's licenses?