A Thousand Words
Epilogue
The Greatest Adventure
"Is there a doctor in the house?"
I heard Erik's voice out in the waiting room. He never tired of making that silly little joke, and for some strange reason I never tired of hearing it. I rose from my desk chair and went to the door of my private office, opening the door just as he approached it from the other side.
"Hey there, stranger," I said with a tired smile.
I went out into the empty waiting room and plopped down in one of the chairs.
"Busy day?" he asked as he sat down beside me.
"Oh, just the usual. Sniffles, scrapes and one really bad case of conjunctivitis."
I tried my best to stretch out my back to relieve the pain that had been bothering me all day.
Since becoming a family practice physician here in this small town in upstate New York, I can honestly say I have never been happier: the stress of working in a big-city emergency room is gone, and I have been able to truly enjoy my job for the first time in years.
And, of course, there's Erik. Our life together has been everything I ever could have hoped for. We have a beautiful home out in the country, I have my office in town and he transformed the old barn on our property into his studio. He paints there. A lot. Commissions have been coming in left and right, so much so that he can barely keep up with them.
Yes, life is good.
"Your back is bothering you again."
"Well, you try carrying around all this extra weight in front of you and see how it affects your back," I said to him with a grin, laying a hand on my protruding belly. He lovingly placed a hand on mine, caressing me and our unborn child at the same time.
Throughout the pregnancy Erik never tired of touching my swollen abdomen, waiting for signs of life inside. I remember the tears that welled in his eyes the first time he actually felt movement in my womb as well as the laughter the first time he felt the little one kicking.
"Two weeks," I said with a sigh. I absently fingered the rose necklace draped around my neck.
"Yes, two weeks, and then our lives will never be the same."
He gazed at me, his eyes filled with emotion. Even though all the ultrasounds proved that the baby was perfect, Erik still harbored fears that the baby would inherit his facial deformity. No amount of technological evidence to the contrary seemed to be enough to sway him.
"That's a good thing," I said pointedly, looking him straight in the eyes and placing my hand on his mask.
Erik smiled, but I could tell he was still a little afraid.
"And, Erik–when we get home this evening, we have to take down that portrait from our bedroom."
His gray-green eyes bored into me. "Why?"
"Because I won't have a nude picture of me on display in our home with a child there."
"But Christine, the baby won't even know–"
I shook my head vehemently. "It doesn't matter. I'll know, and I won't have it. We can put the newer one up in its place."
"If we do take it down," Erik asked, "what will we do with it?"
"I don't know... store it in the attic, or put it somewhere–discreetly–in your studio. Just not on display in the house."
After a year of marriage, he knew better than to argue with me, especially when hormones were raging throughout my body. "Fine," was all he said.
I grinned, having won another battle of wills with my Erik.
We sat in a happy silence in the quiet of the waiting room for a few moments.
"Oh!" I jumped up–or, rather, I hoisted myself up–from the chair. "I almost forgot. Wait here."
I went back into my office, leaving Erik alone amidst a sea of empty chairs and old magazines. When I re-emerged from my office, he was busy neatly stacking periodicals on one of the side tables. I wanted to kiss him for being so thoughtful.
I snuck up behind him and handed him a gift. "Happy anniversary," I whispered in his ear.
He turned to me in surprise. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to get each other gifts since we had spent so much on the baby's things," he said with a stern look on his face.
"It's not much at all," I defended myself. "You'll see. Open it."
He sat down, inspecting the package, eyeing it from all sides.
"Oh, for Pete's sake, it's not going to blow up in your face, just open it!"
After giving me a look of total exasperation, he finally untied the bow and peeled back the paper.
Erik looked up at me quizzically.
"It's the ad you placed, the one I answered, for an artist's model. I kept it all this time. Since paper is the traditional gift for the first anniversary, and this piece of paper is what brought us together, I had it framed for you."
He lovingly ran a hand over the glass, studying the tiny newspaper clipping underneath. Then he looked back up at me. I could swear there were tears in his eyes.
"Oh, Christine, this means so much to me. Thank you."
"I would do anything for you. I'd even have your baby. Oh, wait–I'm already doing that, aren't I? Anything else you'd like me to do?"
"Just shut up and kiss me." He put one hand on my cheek and leaned in for a long, sweet kiss.
Not that I wanted to, but I broke off the kiss as another spasm shot through my back. I tried to massage it away, but it was very persistent.
"Are you all right?"
"More back pains," I said. "It'll be OK."
"I have something for you as well," he said with an impish grin.
"Erik..."
"Not to worry, it's something I made. I didn't spend any money on it."
He reached down beside his chair and picked up a gift bag that was decorated with more ribbons and bows than I'd ever seen before on one present. I had to laugh at Erik's attempt at wrapping; why use just one bow when twelve would suffice? It was so... Erik.
I peeked in the bag and pulled out a parchment scroll with wooden dowels attached to the top and bottom edges. He had artfully painted a message on the paper. It was similar to one he made when I first opened my practice–that one had THE DOCTOR IS IN on one side and THE DOCTOR IS OUT on the other side, and I turned it around on the main office door to indicate whether the office was open or closed.
"See, it's paper as well," he said happily.
"Oh, Erik, this is wonderful," I said. "But I'll have to wait two weeks to be able to use it!"
But the Fates had other ideas about that. Just as I was complaining about the two weeks, I felt a rush of warmth between my legs and another sharp pain. I looked up at my husband with wide eyes.
"Maybe not," I whispered.
"What is it?"
"My water just broke."
"Your wa..."
He glanced down and saw the darkened stain on my skirt. His eyes grew even larger than mine.
"Mon Dieu. It's time," he rasped.
"Yes, I think so."
"You... you're in labor?" he asked incredulously.
"It would seem so," I said with a smile.
"How did you not know this? You're a doctor!"
"Erik, my darling, I may be a doctor, but I've never been pregnant before! I thought I was experiencing simple back pains, not labor pains!"
He ran a hand nervously through his hair as he stood up. "What do we do?"
I laughed nervously. "I think we have a baby."
"But we're not ready!"
I got to my feet. "Erik, whether we're ready or not, the baby's ready. Just take a deep breath." He did. I took him by the arm. "We'll go to the hospital, I'll call Dr. Chen on the way there, and everything will be just fine."
"Yes, everything will be fine," he repeated. "Everything will be fine. I'll go start the car. You lock up."
He left in a swirl of anxiety. I went back in my office to get my bag and jacket. As I was about to lock up the front door, I remembered Erik's gift. I picked it up and replaced the old sign on the door with the new one.
Erik's new sign contained a drawing of a stork carrying a bundle in its beak. It read:
THE DOCTOR IS ON MATERNITY LEAVE.
NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO GET SICK.
I locked up the office and prepared for the greatest adventure of my life.
vvvvvv
Well, that's it. It's all over now. The fat lady has sung. Elvis has left the building.
Please take a few seconds to send off a quick review–let me know if you liked, hated, were indifferent...
I have an idea for a new fic, but I probably won't post for a bit 'cuz I want to get a few chapters written and see if it's really going to pan out. Hopefully, I'll see y'all again soon!
–ls