Tc sat in his office daydreaming about his lovely new wife.
They'd stayed up most of the previous night talking, among other things, which is most probably why he couldn't concentrate. His mind kept flicking back to her; what she was doing, what she was wearing…it was almost like she was there walking across the factory floor dodging the machinery in a light breezy dress carrying a picnic basket…
He almost jumped a mile when he realized it was her walking across the factory floor dodging the machinery in a light breezy dress carrying a picnic basket.
He leapt to his feet and raced down the stairs. 'Stop the machines!' He yelled repeatedly.
Chris looked around her as the workers scuttled to various parts of the factory and stopped the noisy contraptions.
'What the hell are you doing?!' Tc screamed at her, partly because the machines were still emitting a great deal of noise as they were grinding to a halt and partly because his heart was pounding out of his chest with panic.
'I was just um,' Chris looked around at the rather annoyed faces of the workers, 'I was just bringing you lunch.'
'Yeah, well you were just about to be turned into lunch meat yourself.' He ranted. 'Chris, these machines could kill you. Now I realize that being a woman you probably haven't stepped foot into a mill like this before but…'
Chris glared, threw the picnic basket on the factor floor and stormed out.
Tc huffed, picked up the basket and ran after her. It made for a funny sight for the workers; their macho boss running through the mill carrying a picnic basket.
'Chris wait.' He called after her. When she didn't stop he grabbed her arm. 'Honey, I'm sorry.'
She ripped her arm from his grasp. 'Don't Honey me! You just made me look like an idiot!'
'And I'm sorry.' He said quietly. 'It's just not safe for you here. You could have been killed and,' he moved closer to her and rested his hands on her hips, 'and I don't want anything to happen to you.'
Chris looked at him skeptically. 'You seem to forget that my father owns a mill and I'm aware of what machinery can do. I was perfectly safe walking through there since I'd stood there for ten minutes watching where the workers were walking and what the machines did. Stop treating me like I'm, I'm,' she pointed at Russ's wife who'd just shown up and was now lounging all over him, 'like her.'
Tc looked sheepish. 'I didn't mean that...'
'I am not some blonde tart Tc and I will NOT be treated like one.' Chris glared at the offending woman making her look bad. 'At least I bathe.' She muttered.
Tc smiled to himself. 'She's got nothing over you.'
'You say the sweetest things.' Chris reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
TC tentatively closed the distance, slowly bringing his face closer to hers as if asking for permission, asking if he had been forgiven. She quickly closed the remaining gap between them, kissing him with every bit of spirit she had.
Their lips eventually parted and she nuzzled her face against his. 'Just don't do it again.' She whispered.
'I wouldn't dream of it.' He replied then toyed with a loose piece of wicker on the basket handle. 'Do you want to go on that picnic now?'
'Sure.'
'Let me just tell Russ I'll be missing for a while.'
Chris liked the sound of that. It meant they could take their time, alone, in private.
She followed him over to where Russ and Monica were standing.
Chris walks up to the blonde woman and slaps her, pulling her hair and scratching at her face. 'Get your own man!' She screams and she wrestles her to the ground
Tc stood back in awe as Russ goes to fetch the buckets of water.
He retrieved them in record time and threw the water over the women. The dust under their bodies quickly turned to mud which Chris took great delight in scooping up and rubbing into Monica's face.
As Monica recovered, trying to spit the mud out Chris got up and kicked her back down before jumping on her, aiming her elbow into the middle of Monica's back.
'Chris,' Tc interrupted her fantasy scenario, 'this is Russ my foreman and his wife Monica of the Harpers.'
Chris tried a smile that ended up being more of a smirk. 'Hi.' She said simply.
'Oh, hi!' Monica said with a flick of her hair. 'I heard you two just got married. 'It's such a shame I couldn't be there. Russ said it was a beautiful wedding.' The other woman gushed.
Chris could feel her stomach gushing.
Russ smiled sweetly, wrapping his arms around his wife and patting her stomach. 'Monica had a touch of morning sickness.' He kissed her neck. Monica giggled, then looked gloatingly at Chris.
Chris rolled her eyes. 'Well Tc, DARLING,' she stressed, 'we really should be going on our picnic. Oh Russ, Tc came over to tell you we won't be back for a while. We're off to have some really hot sex because, well, I don't have morning sickness.' She grabbed Tc's hand and dragged him away. 'Don't expect him back any time soon.' Chris threw over her shoulder.
Chris marched away dragging Tc along behind her until she was sure that they'd left horrible blonde woman behind, then she let go of him. She walked ahead of him until she found what she thought was a good picnic site and plunked herself down on the bare earth.
Tc spread out the rug near her and sat on it. 'You want to talk about it?' He asked.
'What is there to talk about?' She asked rather too sweetly.
Tc sighed. 'It just seems you are a little, well, jealous of Monica.'
'Should I be?' Chris didn't look at him as she buttered her bread.
'No.' He moved closer to her so that he could stroke the soft skin of her cheek. 'I love you Chris and you have got nothing to be jealous of. You are a much more interesting person, more beautiful too,' he kissed her jaw line, 'not to mention smart,' he moved his kisses to the other side of her face, 'and sexy.'
Chris shooed him away like a fly. 'Ok, I get the point.'
Tc smiled and pulled out a roll for himself.
'It's just that she's so irritating. Did you see the way she was gloating because she was pregnant?' Chris waved her roll around like a weapon. 'It was like, oh look at me! I'm gonna get big and fat and that's gonna make me a better person.'
Tc laughed.
'What?' Chris snapped.
'You seem like you are jealous and want a baby of your own just to spite the woman.'
'What's wrong with that?' Chris mumbled.
Tc looked at her. 'You're serious? You want a baby?'
'Yes.' She said quietly. 'But not just because she is having one.' Tc moved forward to kiss her but Chris just thumped him with her roll. 'Not now! I'm hungry.'
+++++
The next few weeks were a busy schedule of Tc working during the day, Tc coming home to Chris's attempt at a dinner and then them going to bed to try for a baby. And although Tc was incredibly exhausted by the whole experience he didn't draw the line until one night he came home to Chris's version of her mother's famous roast chicken. He took one bite and ran outside to spit it out.
When he came back in Chris was standing with her hands on her hips looking most unimpressed. 'Do you know how long that took me to make?!'
'I'm sorry honey.' He said. 'But garlic should be used sparingly.'
Chris ripped off her apron and threw it to the floor before storming upstairs.
Tc went after her and found her curled up on their bed reading a book. He leaned against the doorframe. 'Chris, honey. I love that you are trying to cook and play the sweet little housewife but it's just not you. I think we both know you can't cook.'
Chris rolled over and hurled the book at him. It crashed into the wall next to his head. She frowned at her lack of aim and turned over again to stare at the wall.
Tc picked up the book and read the cover. Romeo and Juliet. Chris had mentioned she liked the theatre. He took the book over with him and lay on the bed next to her, putting the book back on the nightstand. 'Don't worry about it honey. I was never desperate for a wife that could cook and after meeting you I knew I wouldn't settle for anything less.'
Chris huffed but didn't say anything.
'Don't worry about the cooking. I'll come home from work a little earlier and make dinner instead.'
Chris picked up the book from the nightstand and ran her hand over the cover. 'Romeo never had to cook.' She said.
'Yeah but think about it. They both died, probably from food poisoning. If Romeo had just done the cooking then everyone would have lived.'
Chris giggled and rolled onto her back so that she could look deep into his eyes. She splayed her hands across his chest, caressing the hard muscles of his torso. 'You're beautiful.' She said in barely a whisper.
He reached his head down and kissed her taking his time and slowly running his tongue along her lips. 'So are you.' He murmured.
+++++
'Thanks for coming with me Cory. I didn't want to face this by myself.' Chris sat anxiously in the waiting room of the doctor's Surgery.
'It's fine although I don't know why you didn't just get Tc to come with you. It is his baby.' Cory picked at a loose thread on the hem of her skirt.
'He's at work and what if I'm not pregnant, then he'd have wasted all this time sitting here and he couldn't get his work done at the mill…'
'Chris you're babbling.' Cory interrupted.
'I'm nervous.'
'Really?' She said sarcastically. 'I never would have guessed.'
Chris gave her a wry smile.
'Mrs Callaway, the doctor will see you now.' Chris had barely seen the nurse appear at the counter.
'Come with me Cory.' She said dragging her friend by the hand.
'No! If you're going to be a mother, you need to learn to handle things like this.'
Chris looked from the safe haven of Cory to the doorway of doom into the doctor's office and back to Cory. She pouted. 'Please!'
Cory shook her head.
'Mrs Callaway?' The nurse asked inquisitively. 'Is everything okay?'
Chris took a deep breath. 'Everything is fine.'
The nurse smiled and led Chris into the office.
'Ah Christine. Have a seat.' The doctor said. He'd been the town doctor for years and had even come to her wedding. 'What can I do for you?'
'I think I might be pregnant.' She whispered.
'Sorry, I didn't quite hear you. My hearing is going in my old age.' The doctor said with a laugh.
Chris swallowed hard. 'I think I might be pregnant.' She said again.
The doctor frowned at her from over the rim of his glasses. 'What makes you think that?'
She rolled her eyes. 'The usual stuff.'
'Which is?'
'I've missed a few periods, I was throwing up a lot for a while and now my belly is getting big.' Chris patted the growing mound. 'I've been suspicious of this for a while.'
'Hmm. Well, hop up on the bed here and let me have a look at you.' The doctor got to his feet and patted a raised bed behind him.
Chris sat on the bed.
'Ah, you'll have to lie down.'
Chris lay back on the bed and the doctor lifted her dress. 'Hey!' She sat up straight and pulled the dress back down. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'
'I need to examine your stomach to see if I can feel the baby.' The doctor looked at her oddly.
'Oh.' Chris said blushing a little.
The doctor lifted her dress again and felt around Chris's bump and made a few Hmm-ing sounds.
'Yes, I can definitely feel a baby there.' He said finally.
Chris's heart jumped into her throat. She should have expected that was to be the case, considering all the evidence but to hear him actually confirm it sent her into a spin.
The rest of the doctor's visit was a bit of a blur although she did manage to find out that she was about four months pregnant.
Chris came out of the office in a daze and barely managed to fumble through her purse to find money to pay the doctor.
'Are you okay?' Cory asked when they got outside.
Chris shook her head and dissolved into tears. 'I'm pregnant.' She blubbered.
Cory stopped her in the middle of the street and gave her a hug. 'It's okay Chris. It's what you wanted isn't it?'
Chris flapped her arms. 'I don't know.' She wailed making people look over at them.
'Come on.' Cory put her arm around Chris's shoulders. 'Well go back to my place. Nobody is home today except me. At least then you can cry in peace.'
+++++
Chris poked her stomach. 'I can't feel any baby in there.'
Cory flicked at Chris's hand. 'Stop that or you're more likely to poke it's eye out or something.'
'Does it even have eyes yet?'
Cory shrugged. 'It's got to get eyes sometime and you don't want to be poking them out.'
'I wonder what it looks like.'
'Probably wet, slimy and red. That's what my niece and nephew looked like when they were born.
'I should never have gotten pregnant.' Chris wallowed in self-pity. 'I don't know even the first thing about having babies and raising them.'
'I think it's wonderful and you'll be really good with it once it's born. Jenny didn't know much about babies either when she was having hers and she managed just fine.'
'Yeah but how do you know when to start pushing or whatever.'
Cory frowned. 'I don't know. She just did it. You know, you could always hang out with Monica. She's having her baby soon.'
This prompted them both into a fit of laughter.
Chris all of a sudden put her hand across her stomach. 'I think I felt something.' She said excitedly.
Cory put her hand across Chris's stomach too and waited.
'Oh, wait, it was just a hiccup.' Chris said.
+++++
Victor rode the cart up to where Tc and Russ were talking outside the mill. 'Special delivery for Mr Callaway.' He announced getting down off the cart and handing Tc a basket. 'Chris asked me to bring it over when she found I was coming here.'
'Did you get those axe handles we ordered?' Russ asked and opened the back of the cart to have a look at what had been brought for them.
'Yeah, they're in there.' Victor said. 'Is it safe?' He asked referring to Tc's lunch.
He nodded. 'It's only sandwiches.'
Russ grabbed a wheelbarrow and loaded up the supplies for the mill and took them inside leaving Tc and Victor to talk.
'How's things with Chris?' Victor asked.
'Good.' Tc replied. 'Why?'
Victor shrugged. 'Just curious. Anything new on the home front.'
'No.'
'Oh ok.' Victor rubbed his foot in the dirt. 'Well I'd better get back to the store then.'
'You do that.' Tc was slightly suspicious about Victor's line of questioning but put it down to the little man's strange nature.
+++++
'You haven't told him.' Victor announced when he walked back into the store.
Chris and Cory were hanging out there again.
'What are you talking about?' Cory asked.
'She hasn't told Tc she's pregnant.' Victor said.
Cory gasped at Chris. 'You HAVE to tell him. It's been like a month!'
Chris shrugged. 'He'll find out anyway. Besides, if he was observant he'd know anyway.'
'How's he not found out already. I mean, I would have picked it up by now.' Victor wiped down the counter and spread out a cloth for their own lunch.
'It wasn't that hard. I took the hems out on my clothes, showered after he'd gone to work and kept making comments about putting on weight. And I haven't felt like getting intimate although if he whines one more time...'
'Correction Chris, I took the hems out on your clothes.' Cory said. 'But you should still tell him.'
'I will...eventually.'
+++++
'Ah Mr Callaway. How is Christine doing?' The doctor approached Tc in the market while he was looking for bread and milk to take home.
Chris used to do the shopping, along with a few other things on the home front but was now too tired. Although how she could complain about getting fat while not doing anything was beyond him.
'Chris is fine.' Tc replied.
'I'm surprised she hasn't come back to see me with her condition and all.'
'Her condition?' Tc gave the old man a confused look.
'Yes, with the baby? Can you remind her that it is always a good idea to come in for checkups to see if the pregnancy is going along all right.'
Tc went numb. 'I'll see what I can do.' He managed to get out before leaving the store, bread and milkless.
+++++
Tc came barging through the front door, dumped his things on the floor in the middle of Chris's newly cleaned floor and stood there with his arms folded and steam coming out of his ears. 'Is there something you want to tell me?' He said quietly but dangerously.
'Um, nothing that comes to mind.' She said coyly.
'Drop it Chris! I just ran into the doctor at the markets and he says your pregnant!' He marched over to his wife and loomed over her.
'Ooh, did you pick up some bread and milk?'
'Damn you Chris, why didn't you tell me!' He hollered at her.
Chris shrugged. 'I'm pregnant. There, you know. I don't see what the big deal is anyway.'
'Big deal? Being pregnant is a big deal. Finding out by someone other than my wife is a big deal. This is a big deal!'
'Tc, it is my body, my baby and my life. The minute you found out would be the minute everybody else found out and I would be pounced on. I had everybody come up to me, kissing and congratulating me when we were getting married, I don't want everyone to come up and rub my belly. Don't I get a say in this?'
'Of course you get a say in this. If you didn't want me to tell anyone for a while I wouldn't have. I can't believe you don't trust me.'
'And I can't believe you don't trust me. I would have told you eventually.' Chris made a mental note to kick the doctor's butt. Wasn't he supposed to keep things like this a secret?
'Before or after the baby was born?' He sighed and sat down in a chair, resting his head in his hands before facing off to her again. 'Chris, I love you. I would have protected you. I would have helped you with the chores or hired someone to help you...'
'But then everyone would think that I'm a useless wife more than they already think that. I hate being a failure.'
'You're not a failure Chris.'
'I make you gag with my cooking, I don't act prim and proper when I should and I had to get Cory to take the hems out on my clothes so they'd fit. How am I not a failure?'
Normally Tc would have argued the point with her but today he felt drained. He was still angry she hadn't told him. Instead of trying to reason with her he just sat there until she walked away.
'I'm going to have a nap.' She took to the stairs and he didn't see here again for the rest of the night.
+++++
Tc sat up for a long time thinking about their situation. There was so much to do and to sort out before the baby was born, and he didn't even know how long he had.
They'd have to get a nursery ready and purchase furniture. He'd have to hire a maid to help with the cleaning and a yard hand to help with the horses. He'd have to tell their families at some point so he'd have to find out from Chris when she wanted that done.
It was around midnight that Tc finally went upstairs to sleep. He lit a candle and went into their room but their bed was empty. He figured she'd crept outside to use the bathroom so he kept the candle burning and waited for her to return.
+++++
At some point he fell asleep and when he woke the candle has been burned down and his bed was still empty. The morning sun shone through the window and a sun beam highlighted a piece of paper on Chris's nightstand.
He picked it up and read it.
'Tc,
I need some time to get my head together, time away from you. I care about you but sometimes it just isn't enough for me. I don't want to be your wife, I want to be your equal and so I am going. I don't know how long I'll be gone, I just need to think.
Chris.'
Tc folded the paper and put it in his pocket before running into the paddock to saddle up a horse. As much as she was going to hate him for it he was coming after her, and this time he needed some help.
+++++
They'd stayed up most of the previous night talking, among other things, which is most probably why he couldn't concentrate. His mind kept flicking back to her; what she was doing, what she was wearing…it was almost like she was there walking across the factory floor dodging the machinery in a light breezy dress carrying a picnic basket…
He almost jumped a mile when he realized it was her walking across the factory floor dodging the machinery in a light breezy dress carrying a picnic basket.
He leapt to his feet and raced down the stairs. 'Stop the machines!' He yelled repeatedly.
Chris looked around her as the workers scuttled to various parts of the factory and stopped the noisy contraptions.
'What the hell are you doing?!' Tc screamed at her, partly because the machines were still emitting a great deal of noise as they were grinding to a halt and partly because his heart was pounding out of his chest with panic.
'I was just um,' Chris looked around at the rather annoyed faces of the workers, 'I was just bringing you lunch.'
'Yeah, well you were just about to be turned into lunch meat yourself.' He ranted. 'Chris, these machines could kill you. Now I realize that being a woman you probably haven't stepped foot into a mill like this before but…'
Chris glared, threw the picnic basket on the factor floor and stormed out.
Tc huffed, picked up the basket and ran after her. It made for a funny sight for the workers; their macho boss running through the mill carrying a picnic basket.
'Chris wait.' He called after her. When she didn't stop he grabbed her arm. 'Honey, I'm sorry.'
She ripped her arm from his grasp. 'Don't Honey me! You just made me look like an idiot!'
'And I'm sorry.' He said quietly. 'It's just not safe for you here. You could have been killed and,' he moved closer to her and rested his hands on her hips, 'and I don't want anything to happen to you.'
Chris looked at him skeptically. 'You seem to forget that my father owns a mill and I'm aware of what machinery can do. I was perfectly safe walking through there since I'd stood there for ten minutes watching where the workers were walking and what the machines did. Stop treating me like I'm, I'm,' she pointed at Russ's wife who'd just shown up and was now lounging all over him, 'like her.'
Tc looked sheepish. 'I didn't mean that...'
'I am not some blonde tart Tc and I will NOT be treated like one.' Chris glared at the offending woman making her look bad. 'At least I bathe.' She muttered.
Tc smiled to himself. 'She's got nothing over you.'
'You say the sweetest things.' Chris reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
TC tentatively closed the distance, slowly bringing his face closer to hers as if asking for permission, asking if he had been forgiven. She quickly closed the remaining gap between them, kissing him with every bit of spirit she had.
Their lips eventually parted and she nuzzled her face against his. 'Just don't do it again.' She whispered.
'I wouldn't dream of it.' He replied then toyed with a loose piece of wicker on the basket handle. 'Do you want to go on that picnic now?'
'Sure.'
'Let me just tell Russ I'll be missing for a while.'
Chris liked the sound of that. It meant they could take their time, alone, in private.
She followed him over to where Russ and Monica were standing.
Chris walks up to the blonde woman and slaps her, pulling her hair and scratching at her face. 'Get your own man!' She screams and she wrestles her to the ground
Tc stood back in awe as Russ goes to fetch the buckets of water.
He retrieved them in record time and threw the water over the women. The dust under their bodies quickly turned to mud which Chris took great delight in scooping up and rubbing into Monica's face.
As Monica recovered, trying to spit the mud out Chris got up and kicked her back down before jumping on her, aiming her elbow into the middle of Monica's back.
'Chris,' Tc interrupted her fantasy scenario, 'this is Russ my foreman and his wife Monica of the Harpers.'
Chris tried a smile that ended up being more of a smirk. 'Hi.' She said simply.
'Oh, hi!' Monica said with a flick of her hair. 'I heard you two just got married. 'It's such a shame I couldn't be there. Russ said it was a beautiful wedding.' The other woman gushed.
Chris could feel her stomach gushing.
Russ smiled sweetly, wrapping his arms around his wife and patting her stomach. 'Monica had a touch of morning sickness.' He kissed her neck. Monica giggled, then looked gloatingly at Chris.
Chris rolled her eyes. 'Well Tc, DARLING,' she stressed, 'we really should be going on our picnic. Oh Russ, Tc came over to tell you we won't be back for a while. We're off to have some really hot sex because, well, I don't have morning sickness.' She grabbed Tc's hand and dragged him away. 'Don't expect him back any time soon.' Chris threw over her shoulder.
Chris marched away dragging Tc along behind her until she was sure that they'd left horrible blonde woman behind, then she let go of him. She walked ahead of him until she found what she thought was a good picnic site and plunked herself down on the bare earth.
Tc spread out the rug near her and sat on it. 'You want to talk about it?' He asked.
'What is there to talk about?' She asked rather too sweetly.
Tc sighed. 'It just seems you are a little, well, jealous of Monica.'
'Should I be?' Chris didn't look at him as she buttered her bread.
'No.' He moved closer to her so that he could stroke the soft skin of her cheek. 'I love you Chris and you have got nothing to be jealous of. You are a much more interesting person, more beautiful too,' he kissed her jaw line, 'not to mention smart,' he moved his kisses to the other side of her face, 'and sexy.'
Chris shooed him away like a fly. 'Ok, I get the point.'
Tc smiled and pulled out a roll for himself.
'It's just that she's so irritating. Did you see the way she was gloating because she was pregnant?' Chris waved her roll around like a weapon. 'It was like, oh look at me! I'm gonna get big and fat and that's gonna make me a better person.'
Tc laughed.
'What?' Chris snapped.
'You seem like you are jealous and want a baby of your own just to spite the woman.'
'What's wrong with that?' Chris mumbled.
Tc looked at her. 'You're serious? You want a baby?'
'Yes.' She said quietly. 'But not just because she is having one.' Tc moved forward to kiss her but Chris just thumped him with her roll. 'Not now! I'm hungry.'
+++++
The next few weeks were a busy schedule of Tc working during the day, Tc coming home to Chris's attempt at a dinner and then them going to bed to try for a baby. And although Tc was incredibly exhausted by the whole experience he didn't draw the line until one night he came home to Chris's version of her mother's famous roast chicken. He took one bite and ran outside to spit it out.
When he came back in Chris was standing with her hands on her hips looking most unimpressed. 'Do you know how long that took me to make?!'
'I'm sorry honey.' He said. 'But garlic should be used sparingly.'
Chris ripped off her apron and threw it to the floor before storming upstairs.
Tc went after her and found her curled up on their bed reading a book. He leaned against the doorframe. 'Chris, honey. I love that you are trying to cook and play the sweet little housewife but it's just not you. I think we both know you can't cook.'
Chris rolled over and hurled the book at him. It crashed into the wall next to his head. She frowned at her lack of aim and turned over again to stare at the wall.
Tc picked up the book and read the cover. Romeo and Juliet. Chris had mentioned she liked the theatre. He took the book over with him and lay on the bed next to her, putting the book back on the nightstand. 'Don't worry about it honey. I was never desperate for a wife that could cook and after meeting you I knew I wouldn't settle for anything less.'
Chris huffed but didn't say anything.
'Don't worry about the cooking. I'll come home from work a little earlier and make dinner instead.'
Chris picked up the book from the nightstand and ran her hand over the cover. 'Romeo never had to cook.' She said.
'Yeah but think about it. They both died, probably from food poisoning. If Romeo had just done the cooking then everyone would have lived.'
Chris giggled and rolled onto her back so that she could look deep into his eyes. She splayed her hands across his chest, caressing the hard muscles of his torso. 'You're beautiful.' She said in barely a whisper.
He reached his head down and kissed her taking his time and slowly running his tongue along her lips. 'So are you.' He murmured.
+++++
'Thanks for coming with me Cory. I didn't want to face this by myself.' Chris sat anxiously in the waiting room of the doctor's Surgery.
'It's fine although I don't know why you didn't just get Tc to come with you. It is his baby.' Cory picked at a loose thread on the hem of her skirt.
'He's at work and what if I'm not pregnant, then he'd have wasted all this time sitting here and he couldn't get his work done at the mill…'
'Chris you're babbling.' Cory interrupted.
'I'm nervous.'
'Really?' She said sarcastically. 'I never would have guessed.'
Chris gave her a wry smile.
'Mrs Callaway, the doctor will see you now.' Chris had barely seen the nurse appear at the counter.
'Come with me Cory.' She said dragging her friend by the hand.
'No! If you're going to be a mother, you need to learn to handle things like this.'
Chris looked from the safe haven of Cory to the doorway of doom into the doctor's office and back to Cory. She pouted. 'Please!'
Cory shook her head.
'Mrs Callaway?' The nurse asked inquisitively. 'Is everything okay?'
Chris took a deep breath. 'Everything is fine.'
The nurse smiled and led Chris into the office.
'Ah Christine. Have a seat.' The doctor said. He'd been the town doctor for years and had even come to her wedding. 'What can I do for you?'
'I think I might be pregnant.' She whispered.
'Sorry, I didn't quite hear you. My hearing is going in my old age.' The doctor said with a laugh.
Chris swallowed hard. 'I think I might be pregnant.' She said again.
The doctor frowned at her from over the rim of his glasses. 'What makes you think that?'
She rolled her eyes. 'The usual stuff.'
'Which is?'
'I've missed a few periods, I was throwing up a lot for a while and now my belly is getting big.' Chris patted the growing mound. 'I've been suspicious of this for a while.'
'Hmm. Well, hop up on the bed here and let me have a look at you.' The doctor got to his feet and patted a raised bed behind him.
Chris sat on the bed.
'Ah, you'll have to lie down.'
Chris lay back on the bed and the doctor lifted her dress. 'Hey!' She sat up straight and pulled the dress back down. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'
'I need to examine your stomach to see if I can feel the baby.' The doctor looked at her oddly.
'Oh.' Chris said blushing a little.
The doctor lifted her dress again and felt around Chris's bump and made a few Hmm-ing sounds.
'Yes, I can definitely feel a baby there.' He said finally.
Chris's heart jumped into her throat. She should have expected that was to be the case, considering all the evidence but to hear him actually confirm it sent her into a spin.
The rest of the doctor's visit was a bit of a blur although she did manage to find out that she was about four months pregnant.
Chris came out of the office in a daze and barely managed to fumble through her purse to find money to pay the doctor.
'Are you okay?' Cory asked when they got outside.
Chris shook her head and dissolved into tears. 'I'm pregnant.' She blubbered.
Cory stopped her in the middle of the street and gave her a hug. 'It's okay Chris. It's what you wanted isn't it?'
Chris flapped her arms. 'I don't know.' She wailed making people look over at them.
'Come on.' Cory put her arm around Chris's shoulders. 'Well go back to my place. Nobody is home today except me. At least then you can cry in peace.'
+++++
Chris poked her stomach. 'I can't feel any baby in there.'
Cory flicked at Chris's hand. 'Stop that or you're more likely to poke it's eye out or something.'
'Does it even have eyes yet?'
Cory shrugged. 'It's got to get eyes sometime and you don't want to be poking them out.'
'I wonder what it looks like.'
'Probably wet, slimy and red. That's what my niece and nephew looked like when they were born.
'I should never have gotten pregnant.' Chris wallowed in self-pity. 'I don't know even the first thing about having babies and raising them.'
'I think it's wonderful and you'll be really good with it once it's born. Jenny didn't know much about babies either when she was having hers and she managed just fine.'
'Yeah but how do you know when to start pushing or whatever.'
Cory frowned. 'I don't know. She just did it. You know, you could always hang out with Monica. She's having her baby soon.'
This prompted them both into a fit of laughter.
Chris all of a sudden put her hand across her stomach. 'I think I felt something.' She said excitedly.
Cory put her hand across Chris's stomach too and waited.
'Oh, wait, it was just a hiccup.' Chris said.
+++++
Victor rode the cart up to where Tc and Russ were talking outside the mill. 'Special delivery for Mr Callaway.' He announced getting down off the cart and handing Tc a basket. 'Chris asked me to bring it over when she found I was coming here.'
'Did you get those axe handles we ordered?' Russ asked and opened the back of the cart to have a look at what had been brought for them.
'Yeah, they're in there.' Victor said. 'Is it safe?' He asked referring to Tc's lunch.
He nodded. 'It's only sandwiches.'
Russ grabbed a wheelbarrow and loaded up the supplies for the mill and took them inside leaving Tc and Victor to talk.
'How's things with Chris?' Victor asked.
'Good.' Tc replied. 'Why?'
Victor shrugged. 'Just curious. Anything new on the home front.'
'No.'
'Oh ok.' Victor rubbed his foot in the dirt. 'Well I'd better get back to the store then.'
'You do that.' Tc was slightly suspicious about Victor's line of questioning but put it down to the little man's strange nature.
+++++
'You haven't told him.' Victor announced when he walked back into the store.
Chris and Cory were hanging out there again.
'What are you talking about?' Cory asked.
'She hasn't told Tc she's pregnant.' Victor said.
Cory gasped at Chris. 'You HAVE to tell him. It's been like a month!'
Chris shrugged. 'He'll find out anyway. Besides, if he was observant he'd know anyway.'
'How's he not found out already. I mean, I would have picked it up by now.' Victor wiped down the counter and spread out a cloth for their own lunch.
'It wasn't that hard. I took the hems out on my clothes, showered after he'd gone to work and kept making comments about putting on weight. And I haven't felt like getting intimate although if he whines one more time...'
'Correction Chris, I took the hems out on your clothes.' Cory said. 'But you should still tell him.'
'I will...eventually.'
+++++
'Ah Mr Callaway. How is Christine doing?' The doctor approached Tc in the market while he was looking for bread and milk to take home.
Chris used to do the shopping, along with a few other things on the home front but was now too tired. Although how she could complain about getting fat while not doing anything was beyond him.
'Chris is fine.' Tc replied.
'I'm surprised she hasn't come back to see me with her condition and all.'
'Her condition?' Tc gave the old man a confused look.
'Yes, with the baby? Can you remind her that it is always a good idea to come in for checkups to see if the pregnancy is going along all right.'
Tc went numb. 'I'll see what I can do.' He managed to get out before leaving the store, bread and milkless.
+++++
Tc came barging through the front door, dumped his things on the floor in the middle of Chris's newly cleaned floor and stood there with his arms folded and steam coming out of his ears. 'Is there something you want to tell me?' He said quietly but dangerously.
'Um, nothing that comes to mind.' She said coyly.
'Drop it Chris! I just ran into the doctor at the markets and he says your pregnant!' He marched over to his wife and loomed over her.
'Ooh, did you pick up some bread and milk?'
'Damn you Chris, why didn't you tell me!' He hollered at her.
Chris shrugged. 'I'm pregnant. There, you know. I don't see what the big deal is anyway.'
'Big deal? Being pregnant is a big deal. Finding out by someone other than my wife is a big deal. This is a big deal!'
'Tc, it is my body, my baby and my life. The minute you found out would be the minute everybody else found out and I would be pounced on. I had everybody come up to me, kissing and congratulating me when we were getting married, I don't want everyone to come up and rub my belly. Don't I get a say in this?'
'Of course you get a say in this. If you didn't want me to tell anyone for a while I wouldn't have. I can't believe you don't trust me.'
'And I can't believe you don't trust me. I would have told you eventually.' Chris made a mental note to kick the doctor's butt. Wasn't he supposed to keep things like this a secret?
'Before or after the baby was born?' He sighed and sat down in a chair, resting his head in his hands before facing off to her again. 'Chris, I love you. I would have protected you. I would have helped you with the chores or hired someone to help you...'
'But then everyone would think that I'm a useless wife more than they already think that. I hate being a failure.'
'You're not a failure Chris.'
'I make you gag with my cooking, I don't act prim and proper when I should and I had to get Cory to take the hems out on my clothes so they'd fit. How am I not a failure?'
Normally Tc would have argued the point with her but today he felt drained. He was still angry she hadn't told him. Instead of trying to reason with her he just sat there until she walked away.
'I'm going to have a nap.' She took to the stairs and he didn't see here again for the rest of the night.
+++++
Tc sat up for a long time thinking about their situation. There was so much to do and to sort out before the baby was born, and he didn't even know how long he had.
They'd have to get a nursery ready and purchase furniture. He'd have to hire a maid to help with the cleaning and a yard hand to help with the horses. He'd have to tell their families at some point so he'd have to find out from Chris when she wanted that done.
It was around midnight that Tc finally went upstairs to sleep. He lit a candle and went into their room but their bed was empty. He figured she'd crept outside to use the bathroom so he kept the candle burning and waited for her to return.
+++++
At some point he fell asleep and when he woke the candle has been burned down and his bed was still empty. The morning sun shone through the window and a sun beam highlighted a piece of paper on Chris's nightstand.
He picked it up and read it.
'Tc,
I need some time to get my head together, time away from you. I care about you but sometimes it just isn't enough for me. I don't want to be your wife, I want to be your equal and so I am going. I don't know how long I'll be gone, I just need to think.
Chris.'
Tc folded the paper and put it in his pocket before running into the paddock to saddle up a horse. As much as she was going to hate him for it he was coming after her, and this time he needed some help.
+++++