The meal was a wonderful success. JC had helped prepare it every step of the way and by the silence while people were devouring it, it was being very well received. It may not have been his idea or even how he wanted to spend his day, but he was grateful that Laura had enough insight to know that this was exactly what they had needed.
Grabbing a plate for himself, he looked around wondering where his wife had gone. He scanned the room once, nothing, then looked a little closer, still no sign of her. Then his hair and makeup woman gestured to the bathroom down the hall.
Smiling and accepting compliments for the meal, he walked through the throng of people until he reached the bathroom. Reaching his hand up to tap on the door, he heard someone getting sick. Cautiously opening the door in case it was anyone other than his wife, he peered in and recognized her shoes.
She sat back and sighed, not knowing anyone was in the room with her.
“You said you were feeling better,” JC accused in a gentle tone as he handed her a wet paper towel.
“I was and now I’m not.” She repeated the motions of washing her face and rinsing her mouth, before she asked if he had any gum.
Digging a piece out of his pocket, he handed it to her as he studied the lines of stress in her forehead and the bags under her eyes. “Were you sick this morning too?”
She rolled her neck before answering. “Yeah.”
“And you still came in here and fixed all these people lunch?”
“I didn’t breathe on anything and washed my hands over and over.” She stood there shaking, trying to get up the energy to walk back out.
He noticed this and offered her his arm. “Let’s go back to the hotel and you can lie down.”
“There’s a recliner in the next room, I’ll sit there while you eat, then we can go.” He looked at her with doubt in his eyes. “Go eat, I know you’re hungry and they want to see you.”
“They want to see you too,” he argued.
“Make my excuses.”
He reluctantly left her in the recliner to grab a couple of take out containers before quietly telling Tony where they were going and asking someone else to see to clean up.
“Do you want me to call a doctor?” Tony asked in concern.
“Not yet, she won’t want that yet, but if she’s not better by tomorrow then I’m going to have to do something.” And with that, he slipped out unnoticed to retrieve his wife and put her to bed.
***
They cuddled in bed the rest of the afternoon and evening, watching movie after movie. When Laura felt as though she could keep something down, she ate a little of the food that JC had brought back with them. Many times during the day, she felt JC studying her, trying to see how she was feeling or what she was hiding.
Several people had knocked on their door during the evening hours to thank them for a wonderful lunch and to wish Laura better.
“You know, it really is like a family here on tour. People look out for you, it doesn’t matter what your job is, they do it because they care. That’s so refreshing to see.” Laura remarked.
“Uh huh,” JC mumbled. Laura looked over at him to see his eyes drooping closed and a snore starting.
She snuggled deeper into his embrace as she too let herself fall asleep.
***
The next morning, Laura crept out of bed and retrieved the pregnancy test from her purse. She quietly closed the bathroom door behind her, knowing JC was still asleep. She nervously took the test and set it on the counter. Biting her nails and pacing in the small confines of the bathroom, she anxiously waited for the five minutes to elapse.
“This is agony, never has five minutes gone by so slowly!” She moaned to herself.
Then with a shuddering breath, she realized the time was up. Digging deep down for strength, she crossed to the test on the bathroom counter.
***
JC awoke when he had the breath knocked out of him. Laura had landed hard on his chest and was sobbing into his t-shirt.
“What the – what’s the matter?” He exclaimed. “Are you hurt? Talk to me, Laura!”
Her only response was to cling to him tighter. He pulled her so she sat on his lap, with her face buried into his neck. “Please Laura, what’s wrong; I can’t do anything if you won’t talk to me. Do you need an ambulance?” She cried harder. “That’s it, I’m calling 911.” He shifted her so he could reach the phone on the stand next to him.
“No, I’m alright; I’m more alright than ever.” Wiping the tears from her eyes, she handed him something. Taking it, he was puzzled, and then shock filled his eyes as they flew to hers.
“I’m pregnant! You’re going to be a daddy!”
“What?? How?? When??” He stuttered.
“Well, what - is a baby, JC, our baby! How - if you don’t know that then we have problems and when - I think about 6 weeks ago. Do you remember that night after your performance; you said it was the best one ever?” He nodded his head in amazement as tears came to his eyes.
“A baby?” He laid his hands against her still flat stomach. “My baby is in there?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Oh my gosh, Laura, just when I think life is perfect, you come in and make it better than I could ever have imagined.” He pulled her close and deeply kissed her before abruptly breaking away. “That’s why you’ve been sick lately!”
“Yeah.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t suspect until just before grocery shopping. Do you remember when you went to get the car?” She waited for his nod before continuing, “I snuck back in and got a test. But I didn’t take it until this morning; I didn’t know that smelling the food yesterday would make me so sick. But anyway, I knew if I took the test, I wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret and I didn’t want to be around people like we were yesterday so I waited until this morning.”
“A baby, you are giving me a baby!” Standing he swung her around in his arms as she laughed.
“I know this is a little sooner than we talked about, but it must be the right time!”
“No, it’s perfect, just perfect, the tour will be over in a couple of weeks, and things will calm down. I was thinking that this will be the last tour.” Laura cradled his face in her hands.
“Because of the baby?”
“No, no, never – I’ve been thinking about it for a while now and while I love the crowds and people and everything, I’m getting tired of traveling all the time. And us starting a family, it just seems like the right time.”
“But you’re giving up on your dream?”
“No I don’t ever want you to think that! I will still be very involved in music, producing, writing, doing stuff on my own, but this,” he laid his hands on her stomach. “This is my dream, a future with you and this little person in here.”
Their lips met in excitement before Laura pulled back.
With a gleam in her eye, she had to ask. “Are you still going to feel that way when you have to rub my back and feet and go get strange food in the middle of the night?”
“Absolutely!”
“What about when I get fat and cry all the time?”
“Definitely!”
“And 1 a.m., 2 a.m., and 3 a.m. feedings and diaper changes?” He paused to think about it before dissolving into laughter when she punched him in the stomach.
“Laura, I promise I will be there every step of the way and you can even yell and scream at me in the delivery room and tell me that I can never touch you again, even though we both know that won’t be true.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see about that! Labor might be so bad, you’ll be sleeping on the couch for the rest of your life!” Laura joked.
“Well then, I’d better get all the time I can in bed before I get kicked out of it!” He swung her carefully up into his arms and laid her gently down on the bed. Kneeling beside her, he bent over her stomach and gently caressed it before pulling up the t-shirt she slept in. He pressed kisses over where even now his child grew. And with tears in both their eyes, he pressed his lips to hers, both rejoicing in sharing their lives together, and the promise of a new life they had created.
