Mary went back to work on Monday as usual. She hoped that being in the familiar setting, surrounded by her friends, would help put her mind at ease. "Good morning, Murray. Is Mr. Grant in?"
"No. You know he's always late on Monday mornings," Murray replied. He looked at Mary. "Are you all right?" Something was clearly different in her expression.
"Yes, of course. Everything's fine," Mary answered automatically. She sat down at her desk, still doing her best to act normal.
"Are you sure you're OK?" Murray asked.
Mary forced a laugh. "Of course I am. What makes you think I'm not?"
Murray rolled his eyes at her. "I've been sitting next to you for six years. I can tell when something's bothering you. And it's got to be something big, because you need to discuss it with Lou, right?"
"I do want to talk to Mr. Grant when he gets in, but it's nothing big, I promise you." Mary hated lying to Murray, but she just wasn't ready to tell him yet. She still had no clue how she was going to tell Lou. All she could hope was that she'd find the words when she needed them.
Just then, Lou walked into the newsroom. He mumbled a "hi," barely glancing at them. When he went into his office and closed the door, Mary immediately got up to follow him.
"Mary, if you go in there now, Lou's going to kill you," Murray said. "You know he hates people bothering him on Monday mornings! Last week, he threatened to murder Ted, and then fire him!"
Mary forced a smile at Murray's joke. She still wanted to go into Lou's office. She put her hand on the doorknob.
"Please, don't go in there," Murray said, making a last effort to stop her, though he knew she wasn't going to listen. He sighed as she opened the door. He could only hope that Lou would be gentler with her than he had been with Ted.
"Mr. Grant?" Mary said as she walked into his office.
Lou looked up when she said his name. He seemed to be in bad shape, even for a Monday. "What is it Mary? It's about all I can do not to die right now."
"W-well, I know you aren't feeling well, but I really need to talk to you. It's sort of important."
For a moment, Lou didn't answer. He took a deep breath, somehow managing to look a bit more like himself. "What's the matter?"
Mary took her usual seat across from his desk. "Well, you remember, Joe, the guy I was seeing?"
"Joe?" Lou asked, confused.
"You met him, remember? At that party of mine?"
"Oh, right. The toucher. I thought you broke up with him after you caught him with another girl."
"I did," Mary said. "But I found that I still have something of his."
"Well, can't you just return it to him?" Lou asked.
"I would, Mr. Grant, but it's a little more complicated than that. I guess there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just get right to the point. I took a home pregnancy test yesterday, and it came back positive. I'm….I'm going to have a baby." It was the first time she'd said those words. To her surprise, she liked saying them.
"You're pregnant?!" Lou asked. "What are you gonna do? Does Joe know? Are you two getting back together?"
"I haven't told Joe yet. Just you and Rhoda, so far. I can't get in touch with Joe at the moment; he's out of town. I thought maybe if I told you first, you could help me figure out how to tell him."
Lou shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know if I'm the person you should be asking. I didn't even like when my daughters told me they were gonna have a baby, and they were married! This is kind of a delicate thing. You have to tell Joe eventually, though. He deserves to know."
"I know that, Mr. Grant. I'm just not sure how he's going to react. I did break up with him, after all."
"Right," Lou said, nodding. "Well, you know we'll do everything we can to help. If you need time off for doctor's appointments and such…."
"Thank you, Mr. Grant. I appreciate that. And please, don't tell Murray or Ted. I want to tell them myself. I don't think that's going to be easy, but I don't have much choice. Murray already knows something's wrong. And Ted…..he'll probably say something stupid and thoughtless."
"Mary, Murray will be shocked, but I know he'll be behind you a hundred percent, whatever happens. As for Ted, well, yes, he's going to say something dumb, but we're all used to that by now. I'm sorry I can' t give you more help than that."
"No, it's all right. I know how you hate discussing personal things. This is about the most personal thing I've ever had to tell you. I guess I'll go out there and tell Murray now. If I can find the words..."
She got back up and walked to Lou's office door. She knew Murray had probably been more interested in what she'd been saying to her boss than his work. And when she told him what was going on, it would probably change the close relationship they'd had for the past six years.