Page 57 of Travis

“Come on, baby.” Ron says, taking his wife’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk. Let Grayson do his job.”

My hand goes to my mouth, my eyes are fixed on my feet, that poke up from under the blanket.

“What’s going on, Grayson?” Travis asks softly, like if he speaks any louder, it’ll make whatever horrible news that is coming my way, much worse.

Grayson draws in a breath as he closes the curtain, lending us privacy, even though we’re the only ones in the four bed ward.

…and when he speaks again, nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever prepare me for what I’m about to hear.

Travis

Becky’s hand is trembling in mine. I’m trying like hell to stay calm, but I think I’m as terrified as she is. This woman, this incredible, beautiful woman, means everything to me. She is my everything. Always has been and always will be. And if anything were ever happen to her, why, I think I’d rather die first. And that’s the truth. Grayson’s face is set as he draws in a deep breath and lets it out, a signal that I’m guessing can’t mean anything good is going to come out of there. He looks at the paper, and then he looks at Becky. He purses his lips and nods, and then he says two words that I never thought I’d hear in my life. I figured I would hear, ‘you’re dying’, ‘you’re concussed’, even, ‘you’re fine’, but the two words that come out, I have to rewind about a dozen times before they register.

“You’re pregnant.”

I think I stop breathing.

I’m pretty sure that Becky stops breathing.

We both stare into space for a moment, and I feel her hand stop moving. My fingers stop stroking her skin.

“Um…” I lick my lips. “What?”

Becky blinks like six times.

“Lord, I wish I had a camera, so everyone can see the looks on your faces.” Grayson says softly, still in his doctor voice.

Becky looks at me, as if to say, ‘did I hear right?’

I swallow, eyes widening a bit, neck craned slightly.

Grayson pats Becky’s knee and says, still all business. “Congratulations. There’s that there…Christmas miracle y’all ordered.” And walks away. “I’ll give y’all a minute.” He frowns, winking, enjoying this.

You can hear a pin drop in here.

It suddenly dawns on me. My wife is having a baby. My wife, the woman that I love more than life itself, is having my baby. The one thing that we’ve tried and tried and tried to have, but it seemed to be the impossible task. While others around us were getting pregnant by sharing the same goddamn soap, we were going to fucking fertility specialists, and even with their help, we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t do it so bad that it tore us apart. And now, my God, it seems unreal. But what seems even more unreal is that my wife, the woman who wanted so badly to give me a son or daughter, that she couldn’t face me anymore, knowing that she couldn’t give me the one thing that we both wanted, is now carrying our child.

More than anything, even more than having a baby, I just wanted my Becky back. And the thought that maybe now she might be able to face me again, as her husband, the man that she never let down, and let me back into her life again, why, that thought is a million times better. And the lump comes to my throat so quickly I can’t stop it. And as I’ve been thinking these things, I hadn’t noticed that Becky’s face is still registering shock. I hunker down, so we’re eye to eye, letting the tears well up in my eyes. “No, you didn’t imagine that, Becky. In case y’all were thinking that.” I say softly, draping a loose strand of hair over her ear. “We’re having a baby, darlin’.” My voice cracks. I swallow it back, but the tear comes down my cheek.

And I hadn’t seen that her eyes had been welling up, too. Her chin quivers, and I rest my forehead on hers. I gasp. “I love you so much, Becky.”

I never thought I’d ever hear her say it again, but she does. “I love you, too, Travis.”

God, if I never get any other gift for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t care. Hearing those words come out of her mouth after so long, man, I couldn’t ever ask for anything more. She gasps, grasping the back of my neck with her hand, pulling my face into hers. I slip my arms around her, and pull her to me, and suddenly we’re holding each other like we’re each other’s lifeline, like we’re about to plummet over a waterfall or something, and we have to cling to each other, or we’ll both die. We’re both gasping and crying, happy tears, too, murmuring things to each other that are almost undecipherable over the sheer emotion that has overcome us.

“I love you to the moon and back, baby.” I say finally, pulling back, as we hear Ron and Sara return.

Sara’s face registers concern as she immediately goes to the other side of the bed, combing her fingers through Becky’s hair. “What is it, Becky? What’s wrong?” she asks, pulling her sister to her chest.

“Oh, something nobody would expect.” I say, sliding a finger under my eye, wiping the tears.

“What’s going on, man?” Ron asks, all business.

“It seems that we’re having a baby.” I explain, since Becky’s crying so hard, she can’t speak.

Ron’s face softens, turning into a smile. “Well, look at that. See, y’all went to all them doctors and things, turns out all you needed to do was get her drunk.”

Sara lifts, looking at her sister, while slapping her husband from behind. “God, Becky, y’all can borrow Macey’s room any time y’all want to.”

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