Ellen spent several weeks in the drying-out clinic, and when she returned home, she began to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and she and David also went for marriage counseling.

Matthew was in the hospital for about a month, after which he was moved to a rehabilitation facility, where he slowly learned to walk again and relearned basic self-care skills such as feeding himself, combing his hair, brushing his teeth, etc. Beryl, Jack, Abigail, and Joanie visited him several times a week, and Lisa, of course, visited almost every day.

The movie about Abigail's ordeal was moderately successful, and Abigail used the royalties to form a non-profit organization for her fellow survivors of long-term coma or other brain trauma or illness.

"So, how does it feel to be a student again?" Jack asked his wife early one morning in late August.

"Exciting! And...well, I'm a little bit nervous too," Abigail admitted with a shaky laugh.

"Oh, you'll do fine!" Jack grinned and gave his wife a big hug. 'I have all the confidence in the world in you."

"I'll do my best," Abigail said meekly.

"Well, that's all that can be asked of anyone," Jack said brightly. "And in your case, I'm sure that will be more than enough."

Abigail had registered as a part-time student at the local community college, majoring in education, and today was her first day. She was taking two classes, one that met on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and another that met only on Monday and Wednesday mornings.

"Good-bye, Jack," she told her husband as they were both on their way out the door.

"Good-bye, sweetheart," Jack said softly, kissing her lips. "Good luck."

"Thank you."

The sun shone brightly on the college campus as Abigail drove into the parking lot. She found a parking space, grabbed her books and supplies, and headed for the building where her first class was. She entered the room, found a seat, and glanced around nervously, expecting to find a sea of eighteen-year-old faces. To her surprise and delight, she saw several women who looked to be around her age. Perhaps I'll get the chance to say hello to them later, she thought.

The morning passed quickly, and after her second class ended, Abigail drove back home, made herself a sandwich for lunch, and went over her notes until it was time to prepare dinner.

"So, how did it go?" asked Jack when he returned home that evening.

"I think I'm really going to enjoy it," Abigail told him.

"I think you will too," Jack replied.

Abigail began to feel that her life was now complete...except for one thing. It was something she'd desired since early childhood.

"Why don't we just skip the birth control this time?" she asked Jack one night as they were about to make love. It was several weeks after her classes at the college had started.

Jack paused, startled. "Shouldn't we at least talk about that first?"

"I want a baby, Jack. Don't you?"

"Well, sure, but...are you sure it would be safe? I mean..."

"I already talked to my doctor about it, and he gave me the green light."

"Well...all right, then, in that case. It just seems a bit sudden, is all."

When they had finished, Abigail lay snuggled in Jack's arms, warm and contented. There might be a baby inside me now, she marveled.

It didn't happen the first month. Abigail looked at the blood stains on her panties and felt very disappointed, and a little bit anxious.

"Do you suppose it's too late?" she asked Jack fearfully.

"I think you're worrying prematurely," he told her. "It doesn't always happen the first month. In fact, it's fairly unusual when it does."

Jack thought back to how eager he'd been to start a family with Karen, how hurt he'd been when he'd learned the truth about why she'd never become pregnant. Things were so very different with Abigail. She seemed as eager to become a parent now as Jack had been years before. Yet, that had been years before, and he was a lot older now. He loved Abigail and wanted her to be happy, but he'd become accustomed to the way his life was now and knew that a baby would mean big changes to it. He wasn't sure how prepared he'd be to deal with those changes.