The Crying Bridge

The Crying Bridge--Chapter 42

 It was late September and Del was now well into her second trimester and feeling great. The nausea had hung around until the fifteen week mark and had then finally abated. Now, clearly showing at eighteen weeks, Del was thoroughly enjoying pregnancy.

Another candidate for Del's teaching position had been available and still interested in the job, so Evan had not had to sub at all. Without that commitment, they had moved full-steam ahead on the cottage renovations. The additions were well under way and soon the kitchen renovations would begin. They had decided that taking down the wall between the living room and bedroom did not really need to wait so that had been taken care of a few weeks ago. The last thing would be the moving of the tub into a new master bathroom but that was still a good distance into the future. They were hopeful most everything could be completed by Christmas.

At her last ultrasound, Del and Evan had been given the great news that her low-lying placenta had actually moved up so she was no longer under any restrictions. While she'd had a brief moment of disappointment with the fact that she could've kept her job, she got over it quickly. She was now spending her days preparing for motherhood and trying to come up with cohesive ideas for a book. The periods of crying and other phenomena were still occurring fairly regularly and sometimes it was intense but Del just couldn't go through with the cleansing yet. She wondered if she would change her mind when she was breastfeeding twins around the clock and every second of sleep was precious.

On this Wednesday afternoon, Del was coming back from an enjoyable walk through the woods. The weather had suddenly turned from summer to fall overnight and she was loving the slightly cooler temperature and lack of humidity. She would be meeting Evan at the health club later for a better workout and a late appointment with their midwife. Next week would be a very detailed ultrasound where they would have the genders of the twins confirmed, although both she and Evan had already started calling them Emma and Caleb. She was once again marveling over how much her life had changed over the last four months and how happy she was. She was smiling to herself as she went inside the house. The sounds of construction were clear from the area of the addition but she had mostly gotten used to that. She wondered into the kitchen to get a snack when her land line rang, which was unusual.

She went back into the living room and grabbed the handset. "Hello?" she asked.

A vaguely familiar voice said, "Is this Del Granger?"

"Yes," Del replied, thinking that she was Del Drake now. "Who's calling?"

"I'm sorry, this is Gretchen Steinhurst. We met a few months ago?"

"Oh!" Del said, completely surprised. "Yes, Gretchen, of course. Umm...can I help you with something?"

"Well, I think it's the other way around," Gretchen told her. "I think I have some information you might be interested in." She paused. "Would you be able to meet me at the same cafe where we met the first time?"

"I, well, sure, I guess," Del stammered. "Can I ask what sort of information you have for me?"

"I'd rather not get into it over the phone. It's sort of a long story and it's a bit unbelievable," she said. "I can be flexible as far as when we might meet."

"I'm booked up today," Del said. "My husband and I have an appointment with our midwife later. But we could possibly meet you tomorrow evening, perhaps dinner at the cafe?"

"I can make that work," Gretchen said. "Congratulations. I didn't know you were expecting." Gretchen laughed. "Or married, for that matter."