“John!”
I laid on the couch flipping through the channels trying to find a good Christmas movie. John was in his bedroom, trying to clean up for our big Christmas Eve bash at our house.
After two years together, I still couldn’t believe he was mine. We met randomly in a busy department store during the Christmas season, and have been inseparable ever since. John and I got engaged in November, moved into our new home in January, and got married in June. Now, we’re celebrating our first Christmas together with our family in our new home for the first time. I can’t even begin to explain the level of happiness I have been feeling.
“What, babe?” John came into the room. He was wearing his boxers and a white tank top. My heart rate accelerated at the sight of him. Geez, he was so sexy.
“Come watch Elf with me!”
“I have to clean the basement, vacuum, organize my office…”
“Babe,” I said, “Come on. Elf!”
John snuggled next to me on the couch. I looked out the window as the snow began to fall. I rested my head on his shoulder and breathed him in deeply.
“Melissa?”
“Yes?” I responded.
“I love you,” he whispered in my ear.
I looked at our framed wedding photo on our mantle. Both of us are smiling at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church after our wedding ceremony. Now that the hustle and bustle of getting married was over, it was finally time to enjoy these small moments with John and just being with him.
“I love you, babe,” I said.
John and I sat in solitude for several minutes until my stomach started doing flip-flops. I sat up in a hurry.
“What’s wrong, Melissa?” John asked.
“I don’t know.”
The world around me began to spin as I held on to the sides of the couch. A wave of nausea overcame me. Suddenly, I couldn’t run fast enough to the bathroom. As soon as I got to our toilet, my entire dinner came up with an enormous heave.
“Honey, are you sick?” John came running to my side.
“I… don’t… think… so…” When I was done throwing up, I sat on the bathroom floor. “Can I have a glass of water?”
John rushed to the kitchen to fetch me a bottle of water. He gave me the bottle, and the cool water soothed my stomach. John sat with me on the bathroom floor as I sipped the water.
“It’s okay, honey,” he said in a soothing tone. He rubbed my back until I felt a little bit better.
“I’m going to go to bed,” I said.
“Okay.” John helped me into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. Immediately, I fell into a deep sleep of thoughts of what I had to do the next day, Christmas, and sickness.
***
I had spent the whole morning in bed. John ran around to finish our last-minute errands for our large Christmas Eve party that night.
“I’m sorry, honey,” I said to him as he finished our grocery shopping at Mariano’s.
“It’s no problem. How do you feel?” he asked.
“I feel fine, I guess,” I said.
“Do you think you have the flu? I know Dr. Barone is still in his office on Christmas Eve,” he said. “I’ll go with you if you want to see what’s going on. Should we cancel the party tonight?”
I looked down at my manicured finger nails.
“No, no, I don’t have to go to Dr. Barone because I went to Dr. Barone last week,” I said slowly.
“Oh…” He looked confused. “Why?”
“I wanted to tell you on Christmas morning. But, I’ll just tell you now. John, I’m PREGNANT!”
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