Of Lorenz Theory & Love

JHMD: A Morgana Morning

47: JHMD: A Morgana Morning

7:10 am, 1 month, 2 weeks, and 6 days before the wedding, Vera Manor, Kitchen

Seven weeks and one day after the proposal.

She walked up to Harry, showing him the positive stick. "Happy Father's Day, Harry," she whispered, as he rose, and, tearing up, gathered her in his arms in a quiet kiss.

7:30 am, Vera Manor, Kitchen

Harry and Macy stood embracing for the next ten or twenty minutes, staring in each other's eyes in the rapturous awakening of the morning's light, as the faint clamoring of footsteps down the Vera Manor staircase could be heard, growing ever louder.

7:32 am, Vera Manor, Kitchen

Mel and Maggie ran into the kitchen, interrupting Harry and Macy's tranquil embrace. "So...." Maggie looked from Harry to Macy and back again. Macy still misty-eyed, flashed the pregnancy stick in the air, with a shaky smile, as if to reply. This was going to take awhile to sink in fully, Macy thought to herself. Am I really going to be someone's mother in less than a year from now?

"We're gonna be aunts!" Mel exclaimed. Squealing loudly, she and Maggie rushed over to Harry and Macy for one gigantic bear hug.

9 am, 1 month, 2 weeks, before the wedding, Vera Manor, Maggie's Bedroom

Eight weeks after the proposal.

Maggie's sense of style and organization were quite admirable; she had converted her own room into an ornate wedding planning hub, with a desk and chair for her own use, and a comfy chair for Macy, as if this were a formal consultation service. In a sense, Macy supposed it was. Macy typically touched base with her there for wedding-only topics about twice or three times a day, which to her was more than enough nuptial discussion for her. Having the hub there was quite useful—that way, Macy could easily compartmentalize that aspect of her life, delegate the duties to Maggie, and avoid a great deal of stress in the process.

"Let's go down the list of items, shall we?" Maggie faced Macy from her desk seat. "Your gown is purchased (luckily, it's empire-waisted and you're 3.5 months along when the wedding rolls around so no tailoring needed). Invitations to the magical community" (Maggie fished out a short list of possible guests, doing a once-over) "have gone out two days ago, and we're awaiting the RSVP's. Music is more or less doable on equipment borrowed from SafeSpace's resident DJ, and our dear friend Chloe agreed to cover floral arrangements."

"What's next?" Macy asked.

"Last names, for the ceremony," Maggie replied. "Have you and Harry given some thought about whether you'll be Dr. Macy Vaughn? Or Dr. Macy Greenwood?"

"Honestly, I don't know. My current choices seem to be Dr. Vaughn, Dr. Greenwood, Dr. Vaughn-Greenwood (sounds too long). There's also some other alternatives Harry and I have been mulling over..." Macy hesitated. "We thought about both of us taking the last name Vera, but then we realized "Harry Vera" sounded a little weird."

"Yeah, it kind of does," Maggie cringed, then continued reviewing her list of items.

"We did think about Valensi too," added Macy. "It has an extensive Azorian-Portuguese history and sounds easy on the ears. Macy Valensi. Harry Valensi. Plus, it harkens back to Darcy, Della, and Dora, the Charmed Ones of the Azores, my great-great aunts."

"Hmmmm...sounds classy and sophisticated, with the added bonus of magical name recognition," remarked Maggie aloud. "That certainly has its possibilities; why don't you and Harry think about it more in the coming weeks, then get back to me." Maggie paused, her pen hovering over a bulleted to-do task. "Oh. And what about ceremonial aspects, on a separate topic? Who do you want being in the ceremony? Officiant? Et cetera..."

Macy relaxed her posture. This one was easy enough to decide, but would Maggie be able to make this happen? "I want you, Maggie, to be my dual Bridesmaid/Wedding Planner, and for Mel to be my dual Bridesmaid/Wedding Officiant—she's the only one I trust to do the ceremony right. Can we make that happen?"

"Sure," said Maggie. "I'll figure out the paperwork and will make sure she gets ordained online. No idea how long it takes but if Elvis can officiate quickie Vegas weddings, anything's possible." Macy seemed sufficiently reassured by Maggie's words.

Macy continued onward with her ceremonial thoughts. "Harry wants Jordan as his Best Man, and" here, Macy stopped.

"What is it Mace?" asked Maggie. "Who else do you want in your wedding party?"

"Can Matias walk me down the aisle?"

11 am, 1 month before the wedding, Vera Manor, Living Room

Macy laid on her back on the Vera Manor living room's sofa. She wondered how many witches had come before her and whether any of them recalled receiving sonograms on said Victorian furniture. Macy rubbed her fingers over the thick velveteen fabric, taking in the oddness of the entire situation. If she had never become a Charmed One, she would have been in a sterile, cold white clinic by a complete stranger who she was supposed to trust with her life.

As it were, Morgana was Matias' elderly red-headed neighbor and lifelong friend who happened to be a retired obstetrician; when Matias broke the news of Macy's pregnancy to her less than a week ago, she had jumped at the chance to oversee the development of a Charmed One's pregnancy—it would be the crowning achievement of her decades-long career issuing magical folk into the world. Harry squatted down to hold Macy's hand as Morgana motioned for Macy to bare her stomach, rubbing cold gel all over it. Macy winced. "Are you alright, Macy?" Harry noticed her expression and became concerned.

"I-I'm fine. It's just really cold—it startled me," Macy replied, as Morgana began opening her large floral-printed handbag, pulling out, à-la-Mary Poppins, a state-of-the art portable ultrasound machine. Turning on the device, Morgana dipped the ultrasound wand into the gel, rubbing it all over Macy's lower belly. Suddenly, a rapid thump-thump-thump-thump-thump could be heard. "Is that--?" Macy regarded Morgana hesitatingly.

"The heartbeat?" Morgana briskly replied. "Yes, it most certainly is. Quite a strong one too, 170 beats per minute which is normal in this ten-week timeframe." Harry and Macy held each other's hand tightly. The whole scene seemed surreal, Harry thought to himself. Back when he was born, he hadn't recalled this technology available at all, even in the finest of hospital establishments; modern medicine had really evolved a great deal.

"Ten weeks? Are you sure?" murmured Macy. She hadn't recalled the last time she was intimate with Harry, between planning for next month and dealing with her most recent clients that wanted her to write a journal article about mastodons, a Pleistocene-era elephant-like creature dating back 10,000-11,000 years. Perhaps she should do something about that, she mused to herself.

"Yes," Morgana stated. "You're ten weeks pregnant exactly—in other words, two months along, seven months to go, though by the 38-week to 40-week mark it's anyone's guess." She quickly wiped Macy's stomach clean of the sticky gel, using a disposable paper towel, and switched off and stowed away the ultrasound machine. "Macy, I advise that you obtain 8-10 hours of sleep on the regular, eat nutritious meals that your stomach will tolerate—" Morgana peered over Macy's form at Harry, who understood that meal preparation, for now at least, was his job as the future father of Macy's child. "Open combat with magical forces is not specifically barred if absolutely necessary, but highly frowned upon otherwise."

"Basically, you're saying," Macy spoke up, "to avoid all magical combat unless the creature is specifically coming after me and the baby and I have no other choice?"

"Correct," affirmed Morgana. "Keep delegating your wedding tasks to your sister; you need to keep your mind as stress-free as humanly possible." She verified that her medical equipment was fully stowed in her heavy handbag and made as if to orb out, but—

Just then, a diamond-colored light appeared again over Macy's lower body, circling her belly, flickering away. "Morgana, what was that?" Macy asked.

"Oh! Well fancy that! It seems as if we have ourselves a little Whitelighter who wanted to say hi to its parents." Harry and Macy stared at each other incredulously, at Macy's belly, then back up at Morgana, who was now positively beaming with joy. "Take care of that little one. I'll be back next month!" And with that, Morgana vanished.