My Babies and Me

“I never knew that,” Susan said, amazed. “You seem so worldly.”

Tricia grinned through her tears. “I am worldly, just a one-man woman.”

Susan sipped a bit. “So have you thought any more about having Eddie come into the office after school?”

“Yeah. I think I’ll do it.”

“Good.” It was Susan’s turn to grin. “No more worrying about what he’s doing with his time. Plus, he’ll get a taste of the business he’s so eager to join, and it’ll relieve a little of the weight on your shoulders.”

“He won’t be ready for any decision-making.”

“No, but just having someone to bounce things off will help.”

Reaching over the table, Tricia covered Susan’s hand with her own. “I already have that, Susan. I wish I knew how to thank you.”

“Believe me, Tricia,” Susan said, “you’ve done far more for me than I’ll ever be able to do for you.”

And she had. Tricia had become the rope Susan was hanging on to as she faced life without Michael. Before, she hadn’t believed it mattered so much, and she’d coped just fine. But now that she had the inside scoop on her stupid heart, she couldn’t seem to get through a night without crying herself to sleep.

THAT SATURDAY, while walking the treadmill, Susan entertained herself with possible plans for the day. She still had so much to do, and only a couple of months in which to do it. She’d been in for her sixth-month checkup the week before, and the doctor had told her again to expect an early delivery. And not to expect to accomplish much during her last month. She warned that Susan would be too big to move around comfortably.

Susan figured she was already at that point. But who was she to know?

“Okay, Zack, you still need overalls and tops, a dress outfit, and little-boy shoes.” Someone threw a hard blow to just beneath Susan’s ribs, and she chose to believe it was her son responding.

“And no more of that while I’m walking,” she panted. “It’s hard enough to breathe.” She paused then forced herself to tread some more.

“Now, back to business.” A few more heavy breaths. “Baby girl, you have all your clothes, but I’d like to get a couple more girlish receiving blankets. You two are probably going to throw up a lot and I don’t know how much time I’ll have for laundry.”

Thinking about that, Susan continued to walk and to stare at the desk Michael had used during his stay with her.

“I’ll call a laundry service as soon as I finish showering this morning.”

Someone moved again, not so much a kick as a drag. “Zack, don’t tease your sister about her lack of a name,” Susan said. “If I hadn’t found your daddy’s note under the toaster, you wouldn’t have one, either.”

Her timer went off, signaling the end of a murderous half hour, but Susan walked a bit longer. Her feet could still move one in front of the other, and she hadn’t finished her list yet.

“We have to stop by the office, and I don’t want any argument from either of you,” she said as sternly as she could with no breath. “No acting up today, guys. That’s how I make the money to give you everything you want.”

All quiet.

Good.

“And then I promised to make three dozen cookies for the battered women’s center fund-raiser. They have to be delivered by ten o’clock tonight.” She stared at the desk some more. Step. Step. Step. “Yeah, I suppose I could do another few dozen. Those ladies need a lot of things, and now I know how much it costs just to keep newborns in diapers.”

Sweat was dribbling down the backs of her knees by the time she finished walking. But Susan was smiling as she headed into the shower.

“With all this walking, you two are practically going to slide out in my sleep,” she told her stomach.

Right before she passed out.

“SETH?”

“Yeah?” Seth rose up in bed, glancing at the clock. Only seven-thirty on Saturday morning. He still had a couple of hours before he picked up Paul from Brady’s house. And then he was driving out to Laura’s....

“Could you come over?”

“Of course.” He was out of bed instantly, pulling on yesterday’s jeans. “Is there a problem?” he asked, forcing his voice to remain calm. If Susan was having some kind of emergency, he needed his wits about him.