She didn’t say anything. They both knew that scenario couldn’t happen.
“Y-you tell them th-the truth. T-tell them the whole st-story. You make something g-good come out of th-this.”
“What do you mean? What good can possibly come out of this?”
“My problem. M-my condition is r-rare. But I’m not the only one. And th-the other women. People don’t underst-stand it. Th-they think it’s only morning sickness. A-and those other women don’t have the m-money for a private nurse.”
“So what do you want me to do? Pay for private nurses for all those other women?”
“No. If I’m going to have my p-picture plastered all over, I might as w-well be a poster child for this thing.”
She took a deep shuddery breath. “There’s probably a foundation or a society or something. We can raise awareness and help people understand and raise money for research.”
Anne felt humiliated, but she also felt militant. She hated losing. Ever! This seemed like the only way to win.
“Wow. Okay. That’s not the response I expected. But then again, I never seem to be able to predict anything you’re going to do.”
“So, will you do it?”
“I’ll do anything you want. But you’d better be sure. There’s no going back with something this big. We’re talking television interviews, magazine interviews, public speaking. Do you really want to do that?”
No. She didn’t want to do any of those things. None. Not a single one. She wanted to be anonymous. Her tears began to flow again.
“Yes. Just do it.”
*****
Emily wondered why Steven had called her into his office. When she arrived, his office looked as if a bomb had gone off. He must have thrown an awful tantrum.
“What happened in here?”
He looked around as if noticing for the first time the books and papers he’d flung across the room. “Oh. I must have lost my temper. I’m okay now.”
He strode quickly across the room to grasp her shoulders. “I need to warn you about something.”
“What?” Emily couldn’t even imagine a scenario that would cause Steven to lose his temper and then require her to be warned.
He started pacing as he pushed his hand through his hair repeatedly. “It’s a long story. But, basically, the press has gotten wind your mother is sick. Actually, they’ve got two pictures and a lot of speculation.”
He stopped in front of her, his hair askew. “And we’re going on television tonight to explain everything.”
“What? Mom agreed to this?”
He shook his head. “I know. I can’t believe it either. It was her idea. Her way of making lemonade out of lemons.”
“Tonight? But Mom looks terrible.”
“Personally, I think she looks beautiful, but she agrees with you. The news crew is sending over a makeup artist right now. I’m mostly worried the stress will be bad for her. Our doctor’s agreed to be interviewed as well.”
“Why are you doing this? Isn’t this going to make everything worse? I thought Mom hated being in the papers, much less on TV.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. I hope she doesn’t regret it. She’s planning to raise awareness for women suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. She says it’s the only way something good can come out of this.”
“Okay, thanks for the warning.”
He rubbed his forehead with his fingers, squeezing his eyes shut. “This isn’t how I wanted to tell people about the baby. I wanted to announce it some fun way and hand out cigars.”
“Well, it’s not too late.”