[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

out of the bathroom with a wet paper towel at her mouth.
“It’s the curse of the flying Dutchman,” came the dry reply.
Dani laughed in spite of herself, but it was brief. “I am not pregnant.”
“I had a miscarriage,” Harriett said quietly. “But I’ve never forgotten how it felt, or how I looked.
You’re white as a sheet, you tire so easily it isn’t funny, and your stomach stays upset no matter what
you do.”
It was the same thing Dani had been dreading, hoping, terrified to admit. But she’d arrived at the same
conclusion Harriett had. She sat down on the stool behind the counter with a weary sigh.
“You crazy child, didn’t you even think about contraceptives?” Harriett moaned, hugging her.
Harriett, only four years her senior, sometimes seemed twice that. Dani let the tears come. She wept
so easily these days. Last night a story on the news about guerrilla action in Africa had set her off
when she spotted a blond head among some troops. Now, Harriett’s concern was doing it, too.
“I’m pregnant,” Dani whispered shakily.
“Yes, I know.”
“Oh, Harrie, I’m scared stiff,” she said, clutching the older woman. “I don’t know anything about
babies.”
“There, there, Miss Scarlett, I doesn’t know anything about birthin’ babies my own self, but we’ll
muddle through somehow.” She drew away, smiling with a genuine affection. “I’ll take care of you.”
She searched Dani’s eyes. “Do you want to have it?”
Dani shuddered. “I saw a film once, about how babies develop.” She put her hand slowly, tenderly, to
her flat abdomen. “They showed what happened when a pregnancy is terminated.” She looked up. “I
cried for hours.”
“Sometimes it’s for the best,” Harriett said gently.
“In some circumstances,” she agreed. “But I’ll never see it as a casual answer to contraception. And as
for me,” she said shifting restlessly, “I...want his baby.” She clasped her arms around herself with a
tiny smile. “I wonder if he’ll be blond?” she mused.
“He may be a she,” came the dry reply.
“That’s all right. I like little girls.” She sighed dreamily. “Isn’t it amazing? Having a tiny life inside
you, feeling it grow?”
“Yes,” Harriett said wistfully. “It was the happiest time of my life.”
Dani looked up and smiled. “You can share mine.” Harriett, tougher than nails, grew teary-eyed. She
turned quickly away before Dani could see that vulnerability. “Of course I can. Right now you need to
get to a doctor and see how far along you are.”
“I already know,” Dani said, remembering the morning in Dutch’s room, the exquisite tenderness of
that brief loving. “I know.”
“You’ll need vitamins,” Harriett continued. “And a proper diet.”
“And baby clothes and a baby bed...” Dani was dreaming again.
“Not until after the seventh month,” Harriett said firmly. “You have to be realistic, too. Sometimes it
happens, sometimes it doesn’t. But it helps not to get too involved too soon.”
“Spoilsport!”Dani burst out, half-irritated.
“The doctor will tell you the same thing,” Harriett said. “Dani, I bought baby furniture when I was a
month along. I miscarried at four months, and had all those bright new things to dispose of. Don’t do
it.”
Dani immediately felt repentant. She hugged Harriett warmly. “Thank you for being my friend. For
caring about me.”
“Someone has to.” She glowered up at Dani. “Are you going to tell him?”
“How?”Dani asked. “I don’t even know his address.”
“My God, she’s married to a man and she doesn’t know where he lives.”
Dani laughed at the expression on Harriett’s face. “Well, we didn’t spend much time talking.”
Harriett started at the young woman’s belly. “So I noticed.”
“Stop that!” Dani sighed wearily. “Besides, he said he never wanted children. He’d go right through
the roof if he knew. It’s just as well that the divorce go through without his finding out.”
“How can you divorce a man you can’t find?” Harriett asked reasonably.
“He’s getting the divorce, not me. He has my address.”
“Lovely. Shall we sell some books? Call the doctor first,” Harriett said, and went back to her pricing.
Dani was healthy, and after her family doctor put her on prenatal vitamins, she began to bloom. Dr.
Henry Carter laughed delightedly every visit she made to his office for checkups, pleased with her
progress as well as her attitude toward being pregnant.
“You really love being pregnant, don’t you?” he asked when she was having her third checkup, at a
little over four and a half months.
“Every second!” She touched the swell of her abdomen. “I think he moved this morning,” she added
excitedly. “Little flutters, like a bird trying to get free.”
“Yes,” he said with a warm smile. “That’s what it feels like, I’m told. The first sign of a healthy baby.
The tests we ran assured us of that.”
She’d liked the test. It was done with ultrasound, and they’d given her a polaroid picture of the baby’s
head, just visible in the X-ray, an n-type sound scan.
“Has there been any word from your husband?” he added quietly.
Dani felt herself go cold. “No.” She stared down at her hands. “He might...never come back.” [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]