I open my eyes at 5:02. I roll over and watch Donna sleep for a few minutes. I can't help but reach over and smooth her hair off her face, then run a thumb across her cheek. So precious. All mine. I'm overwhelmed by the force of what I feel for her.

I want to wake her up slowly, without words and show her the depth of my feelings, but I don't want to take one minute of her rest away. My hand slides down her arm to her flat belly. Her hip feels a little more sharp than it has. I'm sure she has lost weight. I had no idea how hard it could be on the female body to reproduce. Maybe we'll be one and done.

I draw large circles around her stomach. I have an incredible urge to talk to the baby, even though I know it can't hear me. It's about the size of a lentil. How appropriate that Donna calls it the little bean.

As my hand makes another circle, I give into the urge and lean down.

"Hey little bean, it's Dad. How're ya doing in there?" I pause for a second, feeling a little silly. Then I say "I need you to take it easy on Mom okay?" I plant a light kiss on Donna's abdomen.

"mmmmm," she sighs, "a little lower, please."

I feel my eyebrows shoot up. When I look up at her she's smirking at me, and seems fairly awake. God, she's beautiful.

"And you don't have to stop with the hand thing either."

"Your wish is my command." I tell her softly. The treadmill can wait until later.

At 5:59, she's laying content in my arms. I think that was the slowest I've ever made love to her. I'm a little shocked at that, given that its been five days, but I just wanted to savor every moment and be extra careful of her. There really was no need to rush.

At 6:00, I hear the coffee maker click on. I really should get up and take a shower, but laying here tracing Donna's face with my fingertips is absolutely a higher priority.

At 6:03, the smell of coffee fills the room. Donna bolts upright and scrambles for the bathroom.

When she's done heaving she smiles at me. She's radiant. How does she do that? She stands up slowly and moves to the sink to brush her teeth. I'm not sure what to do. The Plan had been that we go into work, and Mom would prepare the Seder meal. But maybe we should both stay home today? How is she going to function like this? She mostly slept all weekend.

"Jooosh." Donna coos at me and I look up to meet her eyes. "You've got that worried look on your face again." She smiles gently at me. "My mother did this 4 times. I'm going to be fine. I already feel better. Come on let's take a shower and get ready to go."

When the town car drops us off, Donna walks quickly through the doors, makes an immediate left and ducks into the woman's bathroom. I start to follow her in when Jackie clears her throat.

"That's the Ladies Room, Mr. Lyman." I know and I don't care. Jackie smiles at me and takes her post just outside the door. Phil and I stand there awkwardly.

A few minutes later Donna comes out. That was pretty efficient. Then it occurs to me- she hasn't had anything to eat or drink today. We've got to figure this out.

When we get to my office, I pull out a bottle of water, her vitamins and a muffin for her. She looks at all three with despair. Finally she opens the bottle and takes a very small sip.

"OH! Ooooooh." Margaret says looking between us and smiling. She pats Donna's hand.

"Okay, first of all. Don't take those" she points to the vitamins, "in the morning anymore. Take them right before bed. With some chamomile tea and a couple crackers. Second of all, keep sipping the water, I mean all the time, just little amounts. And don't try to eat that whole muffin. Just a couple bites at a time. And if you can try to stay put for a while once you do."

We both look at Margaret stunned. "What?" She says. "Here look this over." She hands me the day's schedule. "I'm going to run and get some peppermint tea for Donna."

Once she's gone Donna starts giggling. "Margaret really does know everything."

"I guess, but I kind of wanted to tell Mom first."

Donna pats my hand. "Well, we didn't really tell Margaret. And I think your Mom probably suspects too. She's just giving us a chance to tell her ourselves." She leans over and gives me a kiss.

"We won't confirm Margaret's suspicion until tomorrow. We'll tell your Mom tonight. It'll be fine." She takes another small sip of water.

"Hey- why don't you move over to the couch. Maybe if you eat the muffin there and don't have to move until Senior staff is done, it will stay down better."

I smile at her when she takes my advice. I should have had Margaret get some bubble wrap when she went for the tea.

I'm really happy when Donna makes it all the way through my staff meeting, but I watch her as she carefully gets up to head to the oval. She only ate about a quarter of the muffin, but the water looks about half gone. I'll take whatever I can get.

After Senior Staff in the oval, Donna heads back into my office instead of out the door with everyone else. The President watches her go, then looks at me curiously.

"Um, can I have just a minute, sir?"

"Of course, Josh!" He says standing up and moving back to his desk.

Donna looks surprised when I pop through the door.

"I just wanted to check on you. You doing okay?"

"Yes, Margaret's advice seems to be working. I feel okay right now."

"Okay. Take it easy today okay? I'll bring some soup up to your office around 12:30."

"Okay." I give her another kiss on the cheek.

"I love you."

When I get back to the oval office, the President is smirking at me.

"So Josh, anything you want to share?"

"Not until after I talk to my Mother tonight."

"Fair enough. By the way, you probably want to stock up on ginger ale."

I just grin at him and get down to business. I don't think we're going to keep this a secret from anyone for twelve weeks.

I'm so excited when we get back home and walk through the door. I can't wait to tell my mom our news. The house smells amazing. Like my childhood. This is going to be a special night. I'm so glad my Mom suggested this. I had just started to wonder if Donna could be pregnant when my Mom called. My thought was that even if Donna wasn't pregnant, I wanted to start reviving some of the Jewish hertitage for when we did have kids. It just feels right to celebrate Passover as a family again now that it's not just me and Mom.

Donna hurries past me toward our bedroom. I follow quickly behind. I thought she was feeling better? She said she kept the muffin and the soup down today.

I smile at Mom on our way through the kitchen. "Smells great in here, Mom! We're just going to change." I take my suit coat off and toss it on the bed and then join Donna in the bathroom.

She's sitting on the floor sort of leaning against the tub. I'm glad the cleaning people were here on Friday. I think we're going to go back to every week.

"Hey." I say as I sit down next to her. "How're you doing in here?"

"Just peachy."

"I thought you were feeling better today."

"I was. It was just the car ride. Then the smell!"

Oh. I thought it smelled fantastic. "I'm sorry. I guess I should have canceled the meal."

"Don't you be sorry, Josh. I'm sorry. I feel like I'm ruining this. I want this to be special. I know your Mom worked really hard today."

"Shhhh." I give her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Mom will understand. Why don't you lay on the bed for a little bit."

"Can you set the table with the family china? The cards are in my bag. I'll bring them out once you're done. Just don't let your Mom sit down until I take care of it."

"Okay."

Back in the kitchen, I say, "Donna's going to lay down for a few minutes before dinner." I get a table cloth and the plates and walk into the dining room. My second trip is for wine glasses. This requires a lot of them. Then silverware.

"The ka'arah is ready. " Mom says, handing me the platter to put on the table. "I just have a little more to do in here. You should get ready. See if Donna is okay."

When I get to the bedroom, Donna is pulling the cards out of her briefcase. "They look really nice."

"The Calligraphy Office did them for me."

"Can you help me with this?" I hand her my father's yarmulke. I guess I should start thinking of it as mine. I don't know if I'm quite ready to or not. She smiles at me and pins it on.

"All set."

"Are you feeling up for this? If you are not its okay. You don't have to do this."

"Josh, I'm feeling much better. I really want to be part of this. I think this will be really special for your Mom. You haven't done this since your Dad died, have you?"

"No."

"She's going to be really happy that you are embracing your heritage for the next generation. I want to be there."

Mom smiles and hands us each a dish to put on the table. She follows us with a couple more.

"Donna, darling, name cards for just the three of us? We don't need to be quite that formal. But the table does look amazing." Mom gives me an approving look. Then she starts to pull the chair out at the "Ima" spot.

"That's my place." Donna says softly, taking my Mother's arm. "Your place is here." She walks my Mother to the other side of the table where a card reads "Savta."

"Grandmother." My mom whispers. "Darlings!" She opens her arms and Donna and I both embrace her. "Beshaah Tovah."

"What does that mean?" Donna asks.

"It's a blessing. A wish that all should proceed at the right time. A prayer for a smooth pregnancy and a healthy baby."