The Gift

“I mean …what'll I tell him about …about the baby's father …” She looked deeply worried, but she knew too that he was right. There was so much about her condition that she didn't know, and she needed to talk to a doctor.

“Just tell him what you told them at the restaurant, that he was killed in Korea.” They didn't know about the baby yet, but she had laid the groundwork with her story about being a widow.

And then she looked up at him with eyes full of tears, and stunned him with her next question. “Will you come with me?”

“Me? I …what …what if they recognize me?” He was blushing to the roots of his hair at the mere thought of it. What if they examined her in front of him, what if they expected him to know something he didn't? He had no idea what mysteries transpired in the offices of women's doctors. Worse yet, what if they told his parents? “I can't, Maribeth … I just couldn't …”

She nodded, without saying a word, as one lone tear rolled slowly down her cheek, and he felt his heart rip right out of his body. “Okay …okay …don't cry …I'll think of something …maybe I could just say you're my cousin …but then he'd be sure to tell my mom … I don't know, Maribeth, maybe we can just say we're friends, and I knew your husband, and I just drove you over.”

“Do you think he'll suspect anything? That I'm not married, I mean?” They were like two kids trying to figure out how to get themselves out of a mess they had unwittingly created. But it was a very big mess, and there was no getting out of this one.

“He won't know if you don't tell him anything,” Tommy said firmly, trying to show a calm he didn't feel. He was terrified of going to the doctor with her. But he didn't want to let her down, and once he had told her he would, he knew he had to.

They were both nervous wrecks on their way to the appointment that afternoon. They barely spoke, and he felt so sorry for her, he tried to reassure her as he helped her out of the truck, and followed her into the doctor's office, praying that he wasn't blushing.

“It'll be okay, Maribeth … I promise.” He whispered as they stepped inside, and she only nodded. Tommy had only met the man once outside the hospital where he had stood and waved with his dad after Annie was born. He was too young to go upstairs, and his mother had stood at the window of her room, waving at him, and proudly holding little Annie. Just thinking of it now brought tears to his eyes, and he squeezed Maribeth's hand, as much to encourage her as to comfort himself, as the head nurse looked up at them, over the rims of her glasses.

“Yes?” She couldn't imagine what they were doing there, except perhaps meeting their mother. They were both barely more than children. “May I help you?”

“I'm Maribeth Robertson …“ she whispered, as her voice trailed off inaudibly on her last name, unable to believe that Tommy had actually made her come here. “I have an appointment with the doctor.” The nurse frowned, looked down at her appointment book and then nodded.

“Mrs. Robertson?” She seemed surprised. Maybe the girl was a little older than she seemed. More than anything, she seemed extremely nervous.

“Yes.” It was barely more than a sigh on her lips, as the nurse told them to take a seat in the waiting room and smiled to herself, remembering his call. They were obviously newlyweds, and barely more than kids themselves. She couldn't help wondering if they had had to get married.

They sat in the waiting room, whispering, and trying not to look at some of the enormously pregnant women around them. Tommy had never seen so many of them in one room, and it was profoundly embarrassing, as they chatted about their husbands, their other kids, patted their tummies from time to time, and knitted. And it was a merciful relief for both of them when Dr. MacLean called them both into his office. He referred to them as Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, and Tommy found himself feeling paralyzed when he didn't correct him. But the doctor had no reason to suspect that he was anything but Maribeth's husband He asked them where they lived, where they were both from, and then finally how long they'd been married. And Maribeth looked at the doctor for a long moment and then shook her head.

“We're not …I am …that is …Tommy is just a friend …my husband died in Korea,” and then, regretting the lie the moment it was said, she looked at him honestly, with tears in her eyes. “I'm not married, Doctor. I'm five months pregnant …and Tommy thought I should come to see you.” He admired her for protecting the boy, and thought it unusually noble.

“I see.” He looked sobered by everything she had said to him, and looked at Tommy for a long moment, thinking that he looked vaguely familiar. He wondered if he was the son of one of his patients. He knew he had seen him somewhere. In fact, he had gone to Annie's funeral and seen him there, but at the moment he couldn't remember where he'd seen him.