.
I wish I had kept a scrapbook of pictures
showing the variety of reactions the announcement of my pregnancy brought from the people around me: Mother's was the sincerest and the happiest, I thought. Her face filled with a flush of jay that made her look younger, and a brightness came into her eyes that I had not seen for some time. In fact, it was a brightness she evinced only when she spoke about my father and their time together. Surely, then, she placed my pregnancy and her becoming a grandmother in the same circle of happiness she had reserved for so few wonderful moments in her life. I felt I was truly giving her something she cherished and wanted.
It was obviously not something we planned, Mother," I told her.
"What I have learned. Willow, is that most of the good things that happen to you in this life are not planned. A baby will bring sunshine into this home." she said. "Sunshine so bright that even the darkest cloud won't be able to stop it from lighting our hearts."
She talked about how she would help out. She wanted to be solely responsible. but I insisted as had Thatcher that we hire a nanny.
Linden's reaction was curious. He didn't appear to be surprised or in any way upset about it. In fact. before Thatcher considered it and even before Mother thought of it. Linden asked almost immediately what I would call the child if it was a girl and what if it was a boy. Of course. I hadn't thought about it yet and told him so. He nodded and said he had some names to suggest, and he would write them all on a piece of paper and give them to me. Then he made an even more astounding suggestion.
"I should move out of the bedroom I am in and you should turn it into a nursery. It's closest to your suite, and after all, it was Grace's room. Yes." he decided firmly, "I'll move back to my original bedroom. I'll do it next week."
"You don't have to do that so quickly. Linden. I have at least seven months." I told him.
"Nevertheless," he insisted, "there is planning to do, things to get. Are you going to find out the baby's sex as soon as you can?"
"Probably," I said. "I'll be having an ultrasound, and sometimes they can tell after only twelve weeks or so."
"That's a good idea. Then you will know what colors to use and all that." Linden said.
I couldn't help but be amused by his devoted interest in my pregnancy and the baby. After a while, it seemed to take over a large part of his attention and time. He went into Thatcher's home office and got on the Internet to download information on prenatal care and even infant care, printing out reams of opinions from various child-care experts. I'd find a different set of documents at my place at the breakfast table morning after morning.
Thatcher thought it was all very funny and began calling Linden "Our Nanny."
"What did Our Nanny give you today?" he would inquire when he came home from work. I begged him not to say that in front of Linden.
"Whatever he does. Thatcher, it has helped keep him from returning to his darker places. Mother's happy about it, too, and some of the information he has found is actually very helpful. I am not exactly an expert on childbirth and infant care vet, It wasn't something I expected to face so soon."
"Right, right." He was quiet for a moment, then broke into another fit of laughter at some amusing thought.
"Thatcher." I warned, my eyes wide and furious,
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. but I just thought of a new career goal for him. Why don't we encourage him to go to nursing school and specialize in maternity nursing? If any woman is having difficulty giving birth, he could show her one of his gloomy, weird pictures and scare her into birthing instantly."
"Stop it." I said slapping his arm.
"Okay, okay," he said, but then chuckled again and ran off.
Sometimes at dinner, when Linden mentioned something relating to child care. Thatcher would smother a laugh or choke down a smile, but only because I sent fire with my eyes across the table at him. At night, when he put his arms around me and joked about Linden's new interest in motherhood. I couldn't help but smother my own giggle and then felt so guilty about it.
"Better whisper." Thatcher warned. "He might have his ear to our wall. This house isn't built as solidly as you might think. I remember catching Whitney listening to my parents through the walls once. She denied it, of course, but then I did it on occasion. too. It was always disappointing."
Thatcher's parents had a typical Palm Beach socialite reaction to the announcement of my pregnancy. I thought. Bunny immediately skipped ahead to plans for a party. She decided that my due date occurring at the heart of the next Palm Beach Season was actually good planning and congratulated Thatcher for it He accepted her accolades and pretended that we had indeed thought it all out and decided to have a child when it would be most advantageous to social activities. It amazed me how easily he could lie to his parents.
Bunny then went on to give her advice about nursing care and a nanny. She offered to help us choose a name, too, making it seem like that was more important than the child's health.
"I hope you don't go and choose some soap opera star's name, or choose a month. That's so passe, April. May. June... all that nonsense. Thatcher's son should have a very distinguished-sounding name. Or his daughter, of course."
"Like Bunny?" I couldn't resist asking.
"What? Oh, that's just a nickname. When you reach my age here, you find that's just a way of showing affection for you. And," she confessed in a whisper. "it makes you feel younger. But a newborn doesn't need to feel younger, does she? I'll work up a list and send it over."
Everyone wanted to offer names. I was beginning to think we should run a contest.
Professor Fuentes had a very mixed reaction. He was happy for me in one sense, but he also seemed disappointed, until I assured him I wasn't going to give up my pursuit of a career, just take a maternity leave from it," I told him. "Thatcher and I have already discussed that."