Chapter 24 – You and me

I saw Morwenna looking at her wedding dress hanging in the wardrobe, fingering the material through the polythene bag. "Pretty soon," I said.

She turned her head and I saw she was grimacing.

"Mor'? What's the matter?"

She wiped at a wet eye. "Oh… nothing."

I took her in my arms. "It's okay. Now, tell your boyfriend what is going in that pretty head of yours?"

She pulled me close and I felt her little baby bump press against me. "Oh, Al, I'm just… you know."

Hormonal? Engaged? Pregnant? All three. "No, I don't know much of anything, other than that you and me, well, we're getting married in less than two weeks. And then we'll have the rest of our lives together."

She looked at me warily. "About that."

Huh? She looked worried, so I asked, "Cold feet? Because if it's cold feet, I got 'em as well."

She nodded. "Well that makes two of us," she sighed. "Nervous, are you?"

"And happy, looking ahead. You and me and our baby." I gently put my hand on her belly. "Hard to believe, ain't it? A baby. Our baby. A bloody miracle."

"I think ineffective contraception had something to do with it, plus a lot of love." She looked down at my hand and draped her hand across mine. "But what if we muck it up? I mean, look at me and my folks. Not exactly close, the three of us. And you and your dad? Phew."

"Right. We have had our issues; but agreed," I said. Like if dad was really my dad? The birth certificate proved it, or at least his name was there in the box marked 'Father'. But Bert was the man who raised me, so, he was my dad, and my only parent, after mum died when I was little. "We'll just have to figure things out; marriage and parenthood. All at once, I guess."

"Al, what do we know about raising a baby? I been a child-minder off and on and the little things can be hellions. Crying to beat the band, making muck in their nappies, drooling all over, and after reading that pregnancy book Louisa bought for me, I'm scared to death! Stretch marks? Labor? Droopy baps? Gawd."

I felt her shaking so I pulled her closer. "I'm certain my dad wasn't exactly prepared, but he didn't kill me, I mean, if he didn't mess me up, then the two of us will be just fine. You did say that you and your mum are…"

"Talking."

"Then that's good."

She rubbed my back and looked up at me with a grin. "Now if you'd only learned to put your boxers into the laundry hamper…" she giggled, and then kissed my cheek. "Perhaps you might be trainable? Oh, and those smelly socks as well. Plus putting the seat down."

I nodded. "I'll work on it. And baby raising can't be that much harder."

Morwenna punched my arm. "Al Large it will be a lot harder than tossing smelly socks into the hamper!"

I laughed. "But I just might be trainable? What do you think?"

She hugged me. "Oh, yes, Al Large; trainable I think. Now your friend Colin? He might be ready to go straight out of the carton. Perfect to a T."

Colin, my dating site persona. "Yeah, but him being all fancy would he stick around? I doubt very much that the bustling metropolis of Portwenn would suit him long term."

She chuckled. "You have a point. And his lady friend Nefertari might be a little hard to handle as well. She might be more interested in a pub crawl every night then staying at home and darning your socks."

"Yeah." Nefertari was Morwenna's on-line identity. "But she was a smart one, and I suspect she might be able to darn a sock or two."

That made her laugh. We each had tried online dating so in that way 'Colin' had met 'Nefertari.' Our first date was a disaster, but the second one went… well a lot smoother. One thing led to another and now we were engaged and parents-to-be. "Or maybe the two of them could just go to the store and buy new stockings?" she tittered.

I nodded, as I held her close. "If we're scared at least we're scared together. Right?"

Her lips moved against my neck, leaving a soft kiss. "You and me and baby makes three," she muttered.

"Soon enough, my girl."

She let me go, and turned to look at the wedding dress. "I can't believe it – the dress."

Louisa had fronted a lot of the cost I knew, for I found the bill in the bottom of the storage bag. "Awfully nice of Louisa… ahem… to help out."

Morwenna smiled. "Even Ruth Ellingham."

"And the Doc giving us dancing lessons? Bloody marvelous."

Morwenna shook her head. "The Doc is a man of many talents."

I watched as Morwenna brightened. "You know, the other morning Louisa was running late to her class, and the Doc was giving her guff about not finishing her breakfast. She told him she wasn't feeling well, and when I saw her go out the door, I swear she looked peaked."

"Peaked?"

"Pale, sort of."

I shrugged. "What are you saying?"

Morwenna, froze, then put her hand on her belly and started at it. Her eyes had gone big as saucers.

"Mor'? What's wrong?"

She snapped the fingers of her other hand and motioned to me. "Come here!"

"What?"

"Give me your hand!"

I did so, and she pressed it against her belly.

"Feel that?" she asked.

"Uhm…"

"Sh. Just feel."

I held my hand still, and maybe I felt, something. "What is that?"

"I think it's… oh Al, our baby's moving. Feel it?"

Whatever it was, it was gone. To make her happy I told her, "Sure."

She smiled, looking down as she put both her hands down there. "Okay in there?" she asked. "Swimming around like. Moving around."

If I wasn't nervous before I sure as hell was nervous now. Moving… movement.

Morwenna was all smiles as she stood there holding herself. "It's…"

Morwenna rested her head against my shoulder. "Fantastic."

Author's note:

I want to thank all my readers for being faithful to this mechanical engineer, who continues to believe that he can write... and that you continue to read the words he sets down.