You Are On My Mind

You Don't Suppose?

Linda pushed her plate away from her, her stomach flipping. "I'm sorry, I can't eat this. Is it alright if I lie down? I don't feel good."
"Of course, sweetie," Mary smiled sympathetically.
"You okay, babe? Anything I can do?" Danny rubbed her upper arm, making her smile.
"No, but thank you." She stood and slightly swayed, "I'll be okay. Just a little woozy."
Once Linda had left, Jamie asked, "what's up with her? Every time I talk to her she seems drained."
Danny shrugged, "I don't know. She's been feeling sick lately, Lotsa nausea. It'll pass."
***********
Thirty minutes later, after Danny had gone up to check on Linda, Frank heard someone in the kitchen. He heard the ice maker and ice clinking in the glass, followed by a steady flow of water. "How's Linda feeling?"
Danny appeared, taking a sip from the thermos. "She's trying to sleep now. She has a headache and nausea." He took another sip, "and she hurled her dinner."
"Oh, poor dear. Can we do anything?" Mary wondered.
"I don't think so... would it be okay if we s-"
"Of course, honey. Frank can Drive you to work in the morning," Mary volunteered her husband.
"Won't they be mad at you for being late?"
"I'm the commissioner," Frank responded. "I do what I want."
Danny chuckled, "thanks. I think I'm gonna call the hospital and tell them Linda's sick. She seems worse this time around."
"You should." Mary sipped her coffee.
He turned and bounded up the stairs, into his old room. He knelt in front of Linda, putting the thermos within her reach. Stroking her hair, he asked, "how're you? You feelin' okay?"
Linda shook her head, her breathing a little heavy. "I feel nauseous."
"I'm sorry, can I get you anything?"
Pathetically and hesitantly, she wondered, "stay here with me?"
Danny smiled, "of course."
************
"You don't suppose.... no, it couldn't be... Unless..." Mary mused a few hours later as she sat in bed, waiting for her husband.
"What is it I may or may not be supposing?" Frank questioned, coming into the room. He slipped in bed beside Mary.
"You don't suppose Linda's pregnant, do you? She gets sick for days, then it goes away. When she's not getting sick, she's positively glowing."
"We're too young to be grandparents."
Mary lightly whacked his arm, "but it'd be nice, since she lost the first baby. And we're in our fifties with a grandchild already!"
"We're still too young."
"We're too young to be grandparents, but not too old to act like Danny and Linda?"
"That's right," Frank wrapped his arms around her and pressed her into the mattress.
Mary smiled, "you're incorrigible."
"Better teach me a lesson then."
**********
Linda sighed as she leaned into Danny's arms at three in the morning. "Why won't it stop?"
"It will," he stroked her sweaty hair. "I bet by the time lunch rolls around, you'll be back to your normal chipper self."
"I doubt it, but thanks for saying it."
Danny helped her stand and carried her back to the room. "You'll feel fantastic once this nausea goes away."
Three days later, Linda found out Danny was partially right. She did feel fantastic, but not because the nausea went away; because she discovered she had a small baby growing inside her.