She sat on the edge of the bathtub, looking at everything but the white stick clutched in her hands. Her eyes wondered across the tiled floor and up the floral wallpaper. She noticed the stains on the floor and the old paint on the baseboards, everything but the answer on the pregnancy test.
“Everything okay in there? Leigh asked, knocking nervously on the door.
“Umm… Yah.” She said standing up to open the door.
She was a wreck when he put his arm around her. “Well…?” He questioned.
“I can’t look! You do it!” She said pushing the test towards him. He held her hands in his and turned them over. They both saw it at the same time, the two little, life changing, pink lines.
She burst into tears and he stood in shock. He knew he should comfort her, but didn’t know how to, or even what to say. They stood in silence for quite a while before falling asleep in silence.
She woke up from a dreamless sleep. Before opening her eyes, she could feel Leigh playing with her hair and his other arm wrapped tightly around her.
“Good morning.” He said, kissing her softly. “I’ve been thinking babe…”
“Stop!” She said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Let me finish babe.” He said softly. “I’ve been thinking we could keep it. If you want to, we could do this. We could be parents.”
Secretly she was thrilled, she was ready for a baby. But he wasn’t. She tried to argue with him, saying they couldn’t be parents. But he convinced her it would be okay. He promised they’d make it.
Months began to pass and her stomach started to grow. They planned for the baby, decorated the nursery, and argued about the name quite often.
Things seemed perfect, until month seven.
Leigh didn’t come home from work one night. She became worried and started to call up his friends and coworkers. After midnight, he stumbled in drunk.
She ran to him, asking him if he was okay, checking for injuries. He drunkenly pushed her away and told her he didn’t want her. He didn’t want anything to do with her or her child. She went to bed tearfully, but knew it was the alcohol talking.
In the morning, she made Leigh coffee and sat on the chair opposite him until he woke up.
“Babe?” She asked cautiously when he started to wake. “Babe, you awake?”
He rolled over and faced away from her. “I want you to leave.” He said.
“W..what?”
“I know what you’re up to and I want you to leave.”
“What I..I’m up to?” She asked.
He sat up and stared at her, with a look that could scare away even the bravest of people. “You did this on purpose!” He yelled. “You wanted this to happen! You wanted to ruin our lives with a baby!”
She was crying now, afraid of him and afraid of what he was saying. “But y..you…you wanted t..to do this. You said we could.”
He turned away from her again and said, “Just leave.”
She left for a few weeks, stayed with a few friends. Not a day went by when she didn’t think of him, and think of their mistake that was growing inside of her.
Back in their apartment, he knew he’d made the biggest mistake in his life, but he didn’t know how to fix it, so he did nothing.
He finally decided to try and fix it. He went to her and apologized and made up for all he said to her. “The worst thing I’ve ever done in my life was leaving you, leaving our child. I’m here for you, I love you.”
A month later, they had their first child, Christopher. He was born healthy and happy. When he was six months old, she got pregnant for a second time.
Unfortunately, a fire broke out in their house Leigh ran to save Christopher and died of his burns. Christopher also suffered severe burns, which placed him in the hospital. He remained there for the next eight months.
On October 6th, 1989, Christopher passed away. The very next day, October 7th, 1989, the second baby was born. Linda, the mother, sat alone on the hospital bed with the new baby.
“I will call you Christie Leigh.” She said. “I’ll be your family, and you’ll be mine.”
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