Forever and Always

Fingers Crossed

The next day, they went straight to the clinic to see Amanda for another set of treatment. 'Hello again! Back for another go?' 'Yes please' Cecelia said putting on a confident facade, but really she was worried that it wouldn't work and they had wasted a hell of lot of money investing in it. 'Okay, you know the drill' 'we should do by now' they nodded as Amanda was writing out the prescription, '14 days of this one, and 12 days of this one' 'thank you' they said in unison and left. 26 days later they were back at the clinic for the third stage, she hated it but she told herself that if she didn't do it then they couldn't have a baby. She laid on the table and winced as Amanda injected her with the anaesthetic. She looked up at Oscar the whole time and he looked back at her, they secretly prayed that this time would be a good one. She was a little woozy when she got up from the table and Amanda recommended that Oscar let her have a sleep when she got home. He sat her down on the sofa and went off to make them both a drink, when he came back she was asleep and he picked up a fluffy black blanket and covered her up. The days seemed to last forever as they waited for the results of the blood test she had hated so much. It had been 4 days and she was beginning to worry, their minds were full of doubts and they worried the worst possible things that could happen. On the 6th day, she went to work confident that she wouldn't receive a call that day, she hadn't yet and she was trying her best not to get her hopes up. He spent the day hoping that they would get the results they wanted, he wondered how Cecelia would react if they got a third negative result. He scared himself into thinking that her depression would come back much worse than before and she might even try to kill herself. He was sick with worry by the time he got home, and when she didn't come home at her usual time, he called her; the reception was crackly 'hi Oscar' she called 'you're on loudspeaker' 'okay. I'm glad you're alright, where are you?' 'I'm almost home, I got caught up at work and the traffic is an absolute nightmare' 'okay' there was a few minutes of silence and he dared himself to ask her 'did you get the call?' She didn't answer 'Ces?' 'Yeah, I did' 'have you listened to it?' 'Of course I haven't! We've been waiting days for this call, why would I listen to it without you?' He shrugged 'I don't know. You sound a little...' There was a pause, 'I'm a little nervous' she said quietly 'me too'. He heard the car pull up outside and went to the front door still on the phone, 'love you' she said 'love you too' and she hung up and got out of the car. They sat down on the sofa and she put her phone down on the side, ready to hear the message, praying that it was what they wanted to hear. He put his hand on hers as she went to dial the number, 'I just want you to know that whatever happens, I love you, okay. More than anything' she smiled at him and he could feel her hand shaking under his, as she pressed dial, every ring made them jump even though they were expecting it. 'Hello this is Amanda from the clinic with a message for Cecelia. We got your results back and they're positive. Congratulations!' She turned to him and they stared at each other with their mouths hanging open, 'you're going to be a mum...' He said quietly as if by saying it he was going to jinx it, he waited for it to sink in and she burst into tears. The long awaited tears of happiness and joy, the tears they thought would never come. 'I can't believe it' she whispered as she pulled herself closer to him, 'can we listen to it again?' She sat up and wiped the tears from her face 'we can listen to it as many times as you want' he picked up the phone and dialled the number again. 'Hello this is Amanda from the clinic with a message for Cecelia. We got your results back and they're positive. Congratulations!' 'We're going to have a baby! We're going to be parents' she sobbed. He had never seen her happier.

They decided it would be fun to surprise Hillary with the news, he picked up his phone and dialled her number 'hi mum, yes we're fine thank you, are you home? Good! Can we come round in a little bit? Um, yes please that would be lovely. Okay love you bye' 'what's the plan?' She asked 'okay so we're going round for lunch. We can just say we want to tell them something and then play it' 'okay. How about all the other people that gave us money?' 'We can send them a card with a picture of a scan' Oscar said, his eyes lit up with excitement. Ding dong! Hillary opened the door to her son and daughter-in-law, and welcomed them inside. They all sat down at the table and ate their lunch, 'how's the treatment going?' Bill asked, 'well actually, we want to talk to you about that' Cecelia said fighting the excitement in her voice, she listened to the message for the third time and she felt her heart would burst from her chest with joy. 'Hello this is Amanda from the clinic with a message for Cecelia. We got your results back and they're positive. Congratulations!' Bill and Hillary sat in shock, 'oh my God' Hillary said almost silently 'congratulations!' They all stood up and hugs and kisses were exchanged.

Their journey had begun.