That evening, Paul didn't come home from work at the time he usually did. As another fifteen, then thirty, minutes passed, Elizabeth became very worried. While attempting to keep dinner warm, she tried desperately to push from her mind vivid imagery of her husband lying bleeding and unconscious in some ditch.

Forty-five minutes after she expected him to come home, she finally heard the door open and saw him enter the house. She was so glad to see him that she didn't even notice how smudged and grimy he was. "Paul!" She rushed to him and hugged him tight, but he gently pushed her away.

"I just don't want to get you all dirty," he said apologetically.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I had a blow out," he told her. "It took me forever to figure out how to take the old tire off and put the new one on. This really nice older man came along after awhile and helped me. His name's Mike, and he's a mechanic. Said he's got a couple of sons who are almost done with school, and he's teaching them the trade."

"You must be starving," said Elizabeth. "I tried to keep the food warm as best I could."

"I need to shower and change before I even think about doing anything else." He was already in the bathroom and had the shower running when she realized that she still hadn't told him her news. After a few minutes, she heard the shower shut off, and a moment or two later, Paul emerged wearing clean clothing. He smiled and held his arms out to her, and she went into them.

"Paul, I..."

"I smell the delicious aroma of bratwurst, and I'm starving!" Since marrying Paul, Elizabeth had become familiar with many more different kinds of sausages than she'd ever even known existed. Even so, he was always complaining about the lack of availability of some of his favorite kinds on Walton's Mountain.

Elizabeth decided to wait until after he'd eaten and she'd cleaned up to share her news. An hour or so later, they were cuddling together on the sofa with Paul's arm around Elizabeth's shoulders. "Did you want to say something to me earlier?" he asked, then remembered. "Oh, yeah, your doctor's appointment! How did that go?"

Now that the moment had finally come, she suddenly found herself unsure exactly how to tell him. "I'm perfectly healthy."

"And?" His eyes widened, as he suspected that more was coming.

"For an expectant mother." She grinned at him.

"Really?" His face showed first surprise, then delight. "Lizzie, that's great!" He laughed as he hugged and kissed her. "I can't wait to tell my parents!"

"Me neither," said Elizabeth. "I wanted you to be the first to know, but I want to tell them soon too, but in person, not over the phone."

"I'm a bit tired tonight," Paul said. "We'll go see them tomorrow evening, all right?"

"Sure, that's fine."

That night he made love to her very gently, and then she fell asleep in his arms.


Predictably, John and Olivia were thrilled at the prospect of another grandchild, and all Elizabeth's brothers and sisters were also happy that they were going to have a new niece or nephew. One day in early December, Elizabeth was babysitting Ginny when the four-year-old girl began complaining of a sore throat. Elizabeth felt of her forehead. "My God, you're burning up!" she exclaimed. She gave her niece an aspirin and told her to lie down and rest.

Cindy arrived a couple of hours later, and Elizabeth explained the situation to her. "I'm taking her to the doctor right away!" Cindy exclaimed. Elizabeth didn't hear anything else from her for the rest of the day.

"You seem distracted," Paul commented as they were eating dinner together that evening.

"I was babysitting Ginny earlier today and she got sick," Elizabeth replied. "Cindy took her to the doctor, but I never heard anything after that. I'm gonna call her right after dinner!"

Paul now looked concerned as well. "I sure hope she's all right!"

Elizabeth called her sister-in-law as soon as she'd finished doing the dishes. "Hi, I was just calling to find out what the doctor said about Ginny," she said.

"He ran some tests, but he told me it looks like polio," Cindy replied grimly.

"Oh, no!" Elizabeth almost dropped the receiver.

"What is it?" asked Paul.

"Ginny has polio!" Elizabeth cried.

Paul stood and walked to the window, where he stood very still, staring out, not saying a word. He stood that way for a long time, then sighed heavily and came to Elizabeth and embraced her.

Not much was said between the pair for the rest of that week. They were both thinking the same thing but were too afraid to say anything about it.

One morning, Elizabeth woke up shivering so badly that she couldn't even get out of bed.