Blake arrived home later that evening only to find Tonya nowhere in sight, "Honey," he called out thinking she was upstairs. He found a message on the answering machine and pressed play, "Hey honey, it's me. If I'm not home by the time you get home, I'm at the Holden house with Emmalin and Julia. I'll be home as soon as I can. Love you!"
Blake cleared the message and grabbed himself a bottle of water when he heard the keys in the door. He turned around just in time to find his wife enter with Julia in her arms, "Hi honey," she said giving him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Hi," he said and then bent down towards Julia, "Hey Pumpkin, how was your day?"
"Well she had a great time with Auntie Emmalin, didn't you?" asked Tonya to Julia. Julia squealed and clapped her hands in response, "How was work?"
"It was good," said Blake before he hesitantly brought up his conversation with Denise, "I talked to Denise today."
"Oh about what?" asked Tonya putting Julia in her playpen and then turning around to face her husband, giving him her full attention.
"Uh well, about you actually," Blake admitted sheepishly.
"Really?" asked Tonya raising an eyebrow, "What about me?"
"Just the conversation we had last night," said Blake, "About you going back to work."
"Yeah so?" questioned Tonya.
"Well she offered to watch Julia while we spent some alone time talking about it," said Blake.
"Whoa, what do you mean by alone time to talk about it? There's nothing to talk about," said Tonya.
"I mean…" said Blake trying to choose his words carefully, "Honey, you can barely be away from Julia for a few hours. I don't think you're ready to go back to work yet," he blurted out unintentionally.
Tonya eyed her husband and said, "Okay, well this wasn't really up for discussion but amuse me," she said bitterly.
"Oh crap. This conversation isn't going to go well," thought Blake, "Well just because of the fact that you couldn't get through our anniversary without talking about her…"
"And neither could you! Most parents do talk about their children Blake!" she said in a raised voice.
"I know but…"
"Of course I'll miss her and worry about her while I'm at work but I can't just stop working. I never intended on being a stay at home Mom. And I haven't ever stopped worrying about her since I found out I was pregnant," shouted Tonya. She was really livid at this point.
"Tonya…" he said following her upstairs, "Just give yourself a little more time."
"Well when do you think the right time is?" she asked she was interested in hearing his answer. Blake stood there but couldn't give an answer, "That's what I thought," she said and slammed their bedroom door in his face. Blake thought about following her but he felt that would be a bad move on his part so he went to tend to Julia instead.
Tonya lied there on the bed trying to cool off so she wouldn't say something to Blake that she would regret later. She looked at the picture of the two of them taken on the not overly warm, but warm for December day Julia was born. They both looked so happy. The moment she had held Julia in her arms, all of Tonya's doubts of being a good mother faded. Not that she hadn't eventually wanted kids, but she never dreamed she would have kids this early on in her life.
She also loved nursing more than anything and she had thought her nursing life was over once she held the positive pregnancy test in her hand. She could still remember that moment like it was yesterday.
She just stared at it. Tonya couldn't believe what she was reading. The Clear Blue test clearly had the word pregnant on it. Pregnant. She had only been dating Blake for about six months and four of those six months she was still enlisted. They had made sure not to violate any more rules once he left for Fort Lee so they hadn't had sex again until her contract was up. And once she moved to Virginia, sure they had had their honeymoon phase, but they were always protected. Or so she thought.
Tonya rolled back over and picked up the book she had been reading, wondering if she had made the right decisions in her life. Was marrying Blake what she truly had wanted?
Joan was working on the track team's practice schedule when Sara Elizabeth walked into her office, "Mommy, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure kiddo anything," said Joan only half paying attention to her daughter.
"How can I become a big sister?" asked Sara Elizabeth.
Joan bolted her head up from her work to look into her daughter's brown eyes. Sara Elizabeth had begged for a sibling before they had adopted David. The couple had thought Sara Elizabeth was happy once they adopted David, "Well," Joan started, trying to figure out how to answer the five year old's question. She knew she'd have to explain that babies come from Mommies' tummies, but the tricky part would be explaining Mommy wasn't planning on having any more babies, "Well, you know from when Mrs. Leblanc, Colonel Richardson, and Tonya had their babies that babies come from Mommies' tummies right?" asked Joan softly and Sara Elizabeth nodded in understanding, "Well that would be the same way you would become a big sister."
"Well, can I have a little brother or sister?" asked Sara Elizabeth curiously.
Joan sighed, not ready to burst her daughter's bubble, "No honey. You see, when you were in my tummy, I had some complications and doctors advised me not to have any more babies. That's why Daddy and I adopted David."
"Oh," said Sara Elizabeth disappointingly.
"I'm sorry honey," said Joan.
"It's okay. Can we go to the Orioles game this weekend instead?"
Joan laughed lightly and patted Sara Elizabeth's shoulder, "We'll see if Daddy and David want to go."
"Okay Mommy," said Sara Elizabeth leaving Joan's office. Joan smiled to herself as she went back to her work, getting an idea to discuss with Roland later that night.
"Gloria Cruz!" the receptionist called.
Gloria looked up and over at Hector who was playing with his beret nervously, "This is it babe."
"Yeah," he chuckled nervously as the couple stood and followed the nurse back to the exam room. The nurse checked Gloria's vitals before going to get the doctor.
"She mentioned your blood pressure being a little high," commented Hector.
"I think it's just because I'm nervous," said Gloria also hoping her queasy stomach was from nerves and not more morning sickness.
"Hey," said Hector grabbing her hand, "Everything will be alright and if you ever need anything, I'm here."
Gloria looked at their entwined hands as he rubbed her hand with his thumb soothingly. She took a deep breath and said, "Hector I..."
Just then, there was a knock on the door and Dr. Lang entered the room, "Mrs. Cruz, Corporal," she greeted Gloria and Hector respectively, "So how are you both feeling."
"Physically, awful, emotionally, really nervous," replied Gloria honestly.
"I'm sure. Many parents, especially first-time parents are very nervous," answered Dr. Lang scanning the results from Gloria's vital tests, "Now it says here that your blood pressure was a little high. Right now I'll account it to nerves, but I might also give you some information on pre-eclampsia just in case. So, has the reason you've been feeling physically awful morning sickness?" Dr. Lang ventured knowingly.
"Yeah," said Gloria, "And whoever decided to call it morning sickness wanted to play a cruel joke on pregnant women everywhere!"
Dr. Lang laughed lightly and said, "That they did. Well if you could just lie down for me so we can perform an ultrasound to make sure everything is alright." Gloria did as instructed as Dr. Lang fired up the ultrasound machine and squirted the gel onto Gloria's abdomen. Once Dr. Lang found the fetus, she spun the screen towards the couple and pointed to a small, moving spot in the center of the screen, "There's your baby."
Gloria took a small gasp with excitement when she saw her baby for the first time. She was surprised it already looked like a baby and was already moving, "I can't wait to feel those kicks," she said with tears forming in her eyes.
"Me neither," said Hector squeezing Gloria's hand.
"Now if you just give me second" said Dr. Lang. she pressed the doppler down more firmly and tapped a key. A fairly quiet but still audible heartbeat filled the room. Gloria smiled to herself and squeezed Hector's hand when she heard their baby's heartbeat. She looked over at Hector who was at a loss for words, but she could tell she no longer had to worry about him being a good father.
Later that night, Roland crawled into bed and kissed Joan on the temple before he asked, "How was your day?"
"Alright," she replied and put the book marker in the book she was reading, "Other than my conversation with our daughter earlier today."
"Really? About what?" asked Roland.
"She wants a little brother or sister," responded Joan.
Roland looked up from his work and started chuckling, "I see. And what did you say to her?"
"I told her that the doctors told Mommy not to have any more babies," said Joan, "But I was thinking…"
"No way Joan, you heard what the doctors said. Your uterus is scarred from your C-section and attempting another pregnancy would be dangerous for you and the baby," reminded Roland.
"I know that, let me finish," said Joan, "Sara Elizabeth's birthday is coming up at the end of October. And while I can't give her a baby brother or baby sister, I was thinking we could maybe get the kids a pet."
Roland raised his eyebrows surprisingly but smiled at the idea, "I think that would be a great idea. Cat or dog?"
"I was thinking a dog," said Joan.
Roland kissed her and said, "Well Colonel, lets' get a good night's sleep and we can discuss it in the morning."
"Sounds good Dr. Burton," she said, "I love you."
"I love you too, good night honey," he said turning off the light.
"Good night," she replied.