One night in December, Jack entered the living room to find his wife sitting on the sofa surrounded by books, notebooks, and folders. "You look awfully busy," he remarked.

"Final exams are this coming week," she told him. "I have a ton of studying to do!"

"Hm." He walked around behind her and began to massage her shoulders, then kissed her cheek. "Sure you don't want to take a short break, smart lady?"

"How short?"

"Five minutes, tops."

She looked up, and he grinned and handed her a cup of hot chocolate, then sat beside her with his own steaming cup.

"So, it's kind of like history repeating itself, isn't it?"

"I suppose so." She chuckled. "I remember how nervous I always used to get right before exams when I was a teenager." She had to swallow a lump in her throat. That felt like forever ago.

"When I was a little boy, I used to always get a mysterious sore throat every morning of a day I knew I had an exam. Mom always saw right through it, of course." He smiled and patted her knee. "You'll do fine, Abby. I have faith in you."

On the morning of her first exam, Abigail met up with Rhoda as she was walking to class. "Are you as nervous as I am?" her friend asked her.

"Probably more so." Both women laughed. "Jack keeps telling me I'll do fine, but this sure isn't high school, and I'm not a young woman anymore."

As Abigail entered the lecture hall with the others, she felt herself becoming more and more nervous. By the time she was seated, she was fairly shaking, but as soon as the exam was placed in front of her, all the studying she'd done kicked in, and her only concern was the task at hand. She was so absorbed in answering the questions she lost all track of time.

She finished well ahead of time and was walking back to her seat when she heard someone call her name and turned to see the instructor standing with a young man who had to have been a student office assistant. Her heart was in her throat as she approached them. The student assistant led her out into the hallway.

"There's a telephone call for you in the dean's office," he told her.

Her feet flew as if on wings to the office which, although only at the end of the hallway, seemed miles away. When she got there, she picked up the receiver to hear the voice of the elementary school clinic's nurse.

"I have Julie here in the clinic," the nurse said. "She's running a fever, and her teacher says she's been complaining of a sore throat."

"I'll be there right away!" Abigail told her. She raced down the stairs and to her car, where she sped to the elementary school. She entered the clinic to find her daughter lying on a cot, crying. "My throat hurts, Mommy!" Julie sobbed.

Abigail picked her up and held and comforted her. "It's gonna be all right, sweetheart."

She called the pediatrician, Dr. Emerson, who told her to bring Julie in right away. They arrived to find the waiting room full of children and parents. Abigail signed Julie in and was able to find a seat, as another child had just been called back.

"I don't feel good, Mommy," Julie whined as she cuddled into her mother's bosom.

"It'll be all right," Abigail repeated as she stroked Julie's honey-colored locks. "Dr. Emerson will give you something to make it all better."

Suddenly she remembered she had a second exam later that afternoon and realized she'd have to try and make arrangements to make it up. As the minutes turned to hours and they still hadn't been called back, she also came to see she might not be home in time for Jackson's bus. She asked to borrow the telephone and called Beryl.

"Mom, I'm here at the doctor's office with Julie," she told her mother. "She's really sick, and I have no idea when she'll finally be seen. Could you please pick Jackson up at the bus stop?"

She heard her mother heave a deep sigh. "All right. He has a father too, you know, and I'm getting pretty old for this kind of thing. It's not like when Matthew was little. I was a lot younger then."

"I would have called Jack, except I'd hate to interrupt him in the middle of class."

"Well, you've just interrupted what I was in the middle of, but that's all right. I'll do it."

"Thanks, Mom."

By the time Julie had finally been called back, she'd fallen asleep in her mother's lap. Abigail had to rouse her to stand on the scale, and after the nurse recorded her weight, she rubbed her eyes and clung to Abigail's leg.

"Somebody sure feels bad." The nurse stroked Julie's hair, but the little girl didn't respond.

Dr. Emerson quickly examine Julie, had his nurse perform a throat swab, and diagnosed the little girl with strep throat.

"It's really been going around," Dr. Emerson told the worried mother. "It's very important that she's started on antibiotics right away. Give them to her for ten days, and I'll see her again in two weeks."

Abigail stopped by the pharmacy to get the prescription filled, then took Julie home. By then it was about three in the evening, and Jackson had been home for about half an hour.

"Hi, Mommy!" he cried, hurrying to show her his papers from school.

"Thank you so much for picking him up from school," Abigail told her mother.

"And how is this little one?" asked Beryl.

"I have strep throat, Granny," said Julie.

"Aw, I'm so sorry." Beryl patted her head.

"She's on antibiotics, and I have to take her back to him in two weeks for a follow-up exam," Abigail explained.

She had dinner ready by the time Jack got home from work. "Mm, smells good," he commented as she came to him for a hug and kiss. "How did the exams go?"

"The first one went fine, but I had to miss the second one because Julie's school called. I had to pick her up and take her to the doctor. She has strep throat."

"Oh, no! Poor baby!"

"She's on antibiotics for ten days, and I have to take her back in two weeks for a follow-up exam."

Jack shook his head. "Well, I'm sorry you missed your exam. I sure hope they let you make it up."

"I hope so, too. I sure can't afford to fail a class."

"I wish I'd known. I could have taken her."

"I didn't want to interrupt you at work."

"It would have been all right. I could have gotten them to call in a sub." The brush of his fingers against her cheek was as light as a feather. "Please don't ever think you're bothering me when it's an emergency, Abby. The children are as much my responsibility as they are yours."

"But - "

He grinned. "No buts." He gave her behind a playful swat, then went to Julie's room to check on her.