Yuri looked at her questioningly. Erica looked back at him with fear in her eyes, shaking her head vehemently.
"It would be best thing, would it not?" said Yuri. "We are both very young. In bad situation. Not good to have baby now."
"I can't, Yuri," Erica moaned. "I could never do that, no matter how bad a situation we're in."
Yuri was silent for a long time. "All right, then," he finally said. "You don't want abortion, you will not have one. It is your body." He held his arms out to her, and she went into them. "It will still be all right. I will marry you. We will raise baby together."
"I'd like that," said Erica. "But for it to be legal, wouldn't you have to use your real name? You obviously can't do that, at least not until the war's over."
'You are right." Yuri was thoughtful. "We will go back to my country," he decided. "My family has farm. They don't own it, of course; government does, but it let them live there. Sonya work on farm. You can work on farm with Sonya."
"They hate Americans, don't they?"
"I will tell them you are Canadian."
Erica shook her head. "I just don't think that would work out, Yuri."
"We will stay here, then. When baby is born we will put it in nursery, or you quit work and I take care of you."
"I think that sounds like the best idea."
"Try to rest now, Erica. We will find out in the morning. Maybe there is not even anything to worry about."
Cuddled snug in Yuri's arms, Erica found sleep impossible that night.
The following morning, Erica got out of bed while Yuri was still asleep and went to the bathroom and took the pregnancy test. She waited to see the result, then went back to bed.
A short time later, Yuri woke up.
"Time to take test," he told Erica.
"I already took it."
"And?"
"It was positive."
Yuri hugged her tightly. "It will be all right," he told her again. "But you know you have to see doctor soon."
She nodded.
"This is the head," the ultrasound technician said, moving the wand over Erica's abdomen. "And this is the body."
"Wow!" said Erica. "It all seems so real now!"
"You'll be able to see a lot more detail at your next ultrasound appointment," the technician told her, printing out some photos for Erica to keep.
Erica thought about the image she'd seen for the rest of the day. At the same time, memories of Toni came flooding back, and she felt fiercely protective of the new life inside her body.
To Erica, it felt as if something that had been lost was being restored to her, and that thought gave her tremendous comfort. She couldn't wait until she got the chance to show the photos to Yuri.
"How did doctor appointment go?" Yuri asked that evening.
"It went fine," Erica told him. "I have something to show you." She pulled out the ultrasound photos and showed them to him.
Yuri grinned. "He look like...how you say?... peanut, yes?"
"How do you know it's a boy?"
Yuri laughed. "Boy or girl, I do not care, as long as it is healthy."
Erica chuckled. "Sometimes you sound awfully American, Yuri."
"Maybe we are not as different as you think," Yuri replied.
Erica's pregnancy was just beginning to show when she went to Matt's eighteenth birthday party.
"So you're gonna have a Commie kid now," Matt said disdainfully, glancing at Erica's abdomen.
"No I'm not," Erica told him. "I'm having mine and Yuri's baby."
Matt grunted in disgust.
"So when are you returning to the States?" Erica asked him.
"I head back tomorrow. I'm going to the army recruiting office in Michigan. Hopefully I'll get stationed in California with Jed."
"I'm gonna miss you."
"Yeah. I'm gonna miss you, too."
"If the baby's a boy, maybe we'll name him Matthew."
Matt didn't say anything.