Wicked Forest (DeBeers 2)

-"Good, but don't underestimate the attention and time a child will demand." he warned.

"Considering what you have told me about your own early life and adolescence, you know that better than I do."

"I won't," I promised.

"Just be realistic with it all. Willow. Don't overestimate your energy, and be patient with yourself." he advised.

"Thanks," I told him. Then I described the madness orbiting our lives now in relation to finding suitable names.

"If it's a boy, why don't you name him after your father?" he suggested simply.

"And if it's a girl?"

He hesitated for a moment. I could see he had a real suggestion, but he was asking himself. "Do I dare?"

"Go ahead. Professor. Everyone else is putting in his or her two cents, why shouldn't you? Tell me."

"It came to me right after you informed me of your pregnancy," he admitted. "Hannah."

"Hannah?" I smiled.

'I imagine you would like to link her to your mother. Hannah means 'grace' in Hebrew," he said, "I read that the other day."

"I like that. Thank you."

"One more bit of advice," he added quickly,

"Oh?"

"Don't tell Thatcher the idea came from me. Another man, ego, that sort of thing,- he said, waving his hand.

"I understand."

"Of course you do," he said. smiling.

It made me blush to think what kindred spirits we had become. Was it all due to our shared love of psychology and our fascination with the human mind and behavior?

Like Pandora. I felt warned not to open this box of mystery, to leave it be. Some things were best left un-said, untouched, like beautiful but poisonous flowers.

At school, some of my girlfriends treated my announcement as they would a revelation of cancer. Their faces immediately flooded with pity, even disgust. The Butterworth twins couldn't have been more antithetically opposite. Loni thought it was just wonderful and rattled on and on about how she looked forward to a husband and a family. Pet

curled down the corners of her lips and talked about the burden of motherhood and how men don't appreciate their wives and the sacrifices they have to make for a child.

"And pregnancy itself! I think I'd rather invest in a surrogate mother to carry my egg." she declared.

"What if she runs off with it?" Loni asked her. wide-eyed.

"Good riddance to them both, then." Pet said.

"How can you blame a fetus?" Loni pursued.

"I don't want to talk about it." she replied. She looked frightened of the whole idea. I assured her I was having a good pregnancy and hadn't even had most of the discomforts women usually exhibit. I didn't want to mention that Linden thought that was a good indication that my baby would be healthy and the birth easier than a first birth often was. They might start calling him Our Nanny too, I feared.

Whitney's reaction to my pregnancy came to me secondhand. I received a phone call from Manon Florette, She had been inviting me to lunch after lunch with the others, but I had made excuse after excuse.

"We just heard about your pregnancy," she told me. "Your sister-in-law told Liana's mother in the beauty salon yesterday."

"Oh? I haven't heard from Whitney yet."