Positive Pregnancy Test

Later that night, Alexei and I were making out in our bedroom when suddenly he got a thoughtful look on his face. "What is it?" I asked him.

"I was just thinking about what Montana said about wanting a baby brother," he replied. "Why don't we leave the birth control off this time?"

"Sounds good to me," I said. "Nevada will be three next July. That would be pretty good spacing between babies."

He entered me without wearing a condom for the first time, and the direct skin-to-skin contact was thrilling. He thrust and grunted as he filled me with his hot seed, and then we fell asleep holding one another. I awoke the following morning in his arms. "Hey, maybe we made a baby last night," I said.

"Maybe." He grinned and kissed the tip of my nose.

We decided to take the kids to the fair that year. Montana could walk on his own, of course, and I pushed Nevada in her stroller. We stood in the long line at the ticket booth while Montana excitedly jumped around and talked about all the rides he wanted to go on. "The roller coaster...the tilt and twirl...the swings...the bungee jump...'

"I think you'd enjoy yourself much more on the teacup ride," chuckled Alexei.

"That's for babies," Montana replied. "I rode it last year."

"Tell you what," said Alexei. "How about if we ride the Sizzler together, and we can save the bungee jump for next year, OK?"

"All right," Montana said with a sigh. Alexei and I both laughed.

After what seemed like forever, we finally had our hand stamps and arm bands and were walking through the building in front with all the insurance company, cruise sweepstakes, and church exhibits. Finally we reached the main fair grounds and headed for the aisle with the kiddie rides. "Train! Train!" Nevada crowed excitedly.

I lifted her out of her stroller and placed her into one of the cars of the train ride. It went around in a circle and over a gentle hill. "I'll ride it with her so she doesn't get scared," Montana volunteered generously. Alexei winked at me, and we both burst out laughing.

We went down that row and let the kids ride all the kiddie rides, then took turns walking through the house of mirrors. Then I stayed with Nevada while Alexei went on the haunted house ride with Montana. When the car they were riding emerged at the end, I saw that my son's eyes were wide with terror and he was gripping the bar in front of him tightly. "C'mon, sport, it's over," Alexei said as he ruffled Montana's hair playfully.

The spell broken, Alexei quickly climbed out of the car and went to join me and his sister. "That was a really cool ride, Mommy!"

Alexei grinned at me again.

The high point of our evening was when the four of us rode the Ferris wheel with the gondola cars. The view from the top was breathtaking, and the lights on the darkening fair ground made everything seem magical. I had to hold onto Nevada tightly so that she wouldn't squirm and make the gondola rock. After that, we ate foot-long corn dogs and washed them down with lemonade, and Alexei bought cotton candy, which Nevada got all in her hair.

Later, we walked around and looked at the art, plant, antique, and livestock exhibits. Montana and Nevada petted baby goats and lambs in the petting zoo, and we went to the free concert in the amphitheater. Nevada fell asleep in her stroller but woke up later when I transferred her to her car seat.

The kids were too tired for a bath and bedtime story, so Alexei and I simply tucked them into bed and then went to bed ourselves.

Halloween was a few days later. Montana dressed up as the blue Power Ranger, Nevada as Raggedy Ann, and I took them to the mall to go trick-or-treating. We got there early to avoid the crowds and went around to all the stores. Both kids got big buckets full of candy. I knew I'd have to go through Nevada's and take out all the chewing gum and other choking hazards when we got home, but we still had a lot of fun.

One day not too long after that, Montana came home from school wiggling one of his bottom front teeth. "Let me see it," I said. I tested it and discovered that it was quite loose. "Soon it'll have to come out, to make room for your new grown-up tooth," I told him. His eyes grew round with fear. "Then after it comes out, you can sleep with it under your pillow, and the tooth fairy will take it and leave you money for it."

Instantly his face lit up. "Cool!" he said with a grin.

The next time I went to work, Madison approached me with a big grin and flashed a diamond ring in my face. "Wow, congratulations!" I exclaimed. "When's the date?"

"We haven't decided for sure yet," she replied. "We're talking about maybe spring break of next year."

"Wow, everybody's getting married!" I exclaimed. "First Cole and Lara, and now you and Oleg!"

In contrast with Madison's happy news, something very sad happened later. A group of teenagers were on their way home from a football game when their car was broadsided. All of them escaped with minor injuries except for one girl. Both her legs were so badly mangled that they had to be amputated below the knee. As I stood looking down at her peacefully sleeping face, tears filled my eyes as I thought about the tragic surprise awaiting her when she awakened. In one instant, her life had been changed forever.

As hard as I tried, I couldn't get her face out of my mind, not even when my shift was over and it was time to go home. "Bringing your work home with you again?" Alexei asked me with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." I told him about the tragedy.

"I didn't work that accident, but I heard about it," he told me. "Guy was drunk and got thrown through the windshield and all cut up. If he lived, which I doubt, he'll be horribly scarred for the rest of his life."

At his words, memories of Jeff's death suddenly came flooding back to me. "What's wrong, Addison? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Alexei exclaimed.

"It's just that what you just told me was exactly how Jeff died."

"Oh, that's right. I'm so sorry, Addison." He gave me a hug and I felt a lot better, but I still couldn't get that poor girl's face out of my mind. I knew I'd probably dream about her that night.

I was actually in the girl's room when she woke up for the first time after the car crash. As I was bringing a Styrofoam jug full of water into the room, I saw her eyes flutter open. "Good, you're awake," I said briskly.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You were in a very bad car crash," I told her. "You're lucky to be alive. You're gonna be with us for awhile."

"Something's wrong," she wailed. "My foot itches, but I can't scratch it!"

"Sweetheart," I said as gently as I could. "What you're feeling is called 'phantom pain.' The doctor will be here soon to explain it to you."

As quickly as I could, I went to fetch Dr. Abrams to tell him his patient was awake. I very badly didn't want to be there when she found out what had happened to her legs.

I ran into Dr. Abrams briefly before I left for the day. "How'd she take it?" I asked him.

"Very hard," he told me. "Her dream was to become a model. She's completely devastated."

"I'll bet," I said sympathetically.

I got home to find Alexei and the kids in the living room watching television. "Mommy, my mouth tastes funny!" Montana complained.

"Let me see." I examined the inside of his mouth. "Blood's coming from around the base of your tooth. That means it's time for it to come out. Want me to pull it for you?"

"I want Daddy to do it." He went to Alexei, who used a tissue to pull the tooth.

"There now, all ready for the tooth fairy!" he said as he handed it to Montana, who grinned proudly.

The next time I checked on Cara at work, she had visitors, a teenage boy and girl. The boy's forehead was bandaged. I assumed that they were a couple of the kids who'd been in the car crash with her.

She was sitting up in bed chatting with them and seemed to be in good spirits, which I was glad to see. They all stopped talking when I entered the room. "I just need to check your vitals real quick," I said apologetically. She watched while I took her blood pressure. "Have you had any more trouble with phantom pain?" I asked her. She shook her head. "I'm glad." I smiled at her and left. The next time I came in to check her vitals, she was alone.

"I'm supposed to get my new legs soon," she muttered.

"That's good," I said. "Then you can be up walking around again, and soon you'll be out of here."

"I don't want them!" she exploded.

"But don't you want to be able to walk again?" I asked her.

She shook her head, and tears filled her eyes.

"Look, sweetie." I sat in the chair by the side of her bed. "I know you've suffered a tremendous loss, but you're going to have to accept it and go on. You can't just lie there feeling sorry for yourself for the rest of your life. You're only seventeen, Cara. You have your whole life before you."

"I had my whole life before me," she said bitterly.

I sighed helplessly. I knew that she needed more professional help than I was able to provide, and I hoped that she would soon receive it.

Unfortunately, Alexei and I both had to work on Thanksgiving, but the kids spent the day with my parents and Aidan and Jana, and Alexei and I both went by there after work. Aidan and Jana were both still there. The night was chilly, and my Mom made hot apple cider for us, and we all sat together talking and enjoying leftover pumpkin pie.

"I can't believe how fast this year has flown by," Alexei remarked.

"So many things have happened," I added. "This time a year ago, you invited me to go to New York to see the Bolshoi Ballet with you."

Alexei clasped my hand across the table and smiled. "That was the most memorable vacation of my life."

"I was still paralyzed and in a wheelchair," I reminisced. "I was afraid I was going to be a burden to you."

"There never would have been any chance of that happening," Alexei said quickly. "I was worried that you wouldn't enjoy yourself."

"As long as I was with you, there would have been no chance of that being the case," I said loyally. He laughed and squeezed my hand.

"Aidan and I didn't even know each other a year ago," Jana commented. "That was before we moved here. I had no idea I had a half sister." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Asher doesn't even know about her. I mean, he knows her, of course, but he thinks she's just a friend. He doesn't know she's my half sister. He thinks that my step dad is my real father and that I'm his full sister."

"Well, don't you think you should tell him the truth?" I asked.

"He's only twelve," she replied. "I'm afraid if I told him now, it would really blow his mind."

"When did you find out yourself?" I asked.

"It was on my sixteenth birthday," she told me. "After my party was over and all my guests had gone back home, she said that she had something very special she wanted to show me. She took me into her bedroom and handed me a tiny box. I opened it to find a pair of gold earrings inside. She told me that they were a present from my real father, that he'd asked her to give them to me when I turned sixteen. I was shocked at first, of course, but once I got over the shock, I was very curious about him. My Mom answered all my questions as best she could and told me that perhaps I'd meet him someday. Now I finally have, thanks to you and Lara. How long have you guys known each other?"

"Since first grade," I told her. "We met on the first day of school, and we've been friends ever since then."

By that time it was quite late, so Alexei and I bundled the kids up and took them home. After putting them to bed, we watched a movie, then made love and went to sleep ourselves.

"But wouldn't he rather have the blue engine than the yellow one?" Alexei asked me.

"He already has Thomas, Edward, and Gordon," I replied. "He doesn't have Annie or Clarabel yet. If we get him those, he'll have the complete set."

Alexei and I were at WalMart shopping for Christmas presents for the kids. Montana was crazy about Shining Time Station and wanted very badly to own all the toy train engines and other figurines that came with it.

I felt Alexei's arms around me, embracing me. "Hopefully this time next year, we'll have a new little one to shop for," he murmured as he kissed my hair.

"Hopefully." I'd gotten my period a couple of times since we'd stopped using condoms, but I still felt optimistic.

"Well, Montana is all taken care of," said Alexei. "But what about Nevada?"

"There's this really gorgeous doll house I've had my eye on," I replied. "It comes with not only the dolls but also the furniture and everything."

We got the train engines for Montana and the doll house for Nevada and went home to wrap and hide them. I knew that the kids would find out the truth about Santa Claus in a few years and figured I might as well let them hang onto the fantasy for as long as they could.

"We still have a little while before we have to pick them up." Alexei came up behind me and began placing soft kisses along my neck.

I giggled. "Any idea what to do about it?"

"Oh, I've got lots and lots of ideas," he murmured as he caressed my breasts through my clothing.

A few nights later, we took the kids to see the Christmas lights at the St. Mary's Catholic church downtown. With much difficulty, we found a parking space in the back of the lot, and I took Nevada's stroller out of the trunk and put her in it, and we were on our way.

Montana skipped ahead excitedly. "Hi, Brianna!" he called to a little girl he saw. Brianna was in his kindergarten class at school. Alexei and I said hello to her parents and engaged in a few minutes of small talk with them.

The sun was just beginning to set, and the lights were spectacular. They lined rows of booths, trees, and other structures. Some of the booths held nativity scenes or scenes of old-fashioned Christmases from the 1930's, 40's, and 50's. "Would you like a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie?" asked a middle-aged woman at one of the booths.

"Yes, thank you," I replied. Alexei blew on Montana's hot chocolate for him, and I blew on Nevada's. She wasn't really used to drinking from regular cups yet, but she still managed to spill only a little of it.

After awhile we came to a miniature merry-go-round with toddler-sized horses. Montana climbed onto one, and I took Nevada out of her stroller and sat her onto another. Then we stood with our arms around one another watching the carousel go around and around. "Only two years ago, I never would have imagined I'd be here doing this," Alexei chuckled.

"You've been a wonderful father to them," I said gratefully. It was true.

Not too long after the merry-go-round ride, Nevada grew very sleepy, so we went back home.

Several nights after that, Alexei and I went to a party at Nicolai and Kennedy's. We brought barbecue potato chips and ginger ale to share and had a lot of fun meeting new people. At one point I sat on the sofa chatting with Kennedy.

"I have to go for another pelvic exam in a couple of weeks." She made a face. "They found a cyst on one of my ovaries last time, and if it's still there, they're gonna have to do a biopsy. I might end up losing that ovary." Nicolai came and sat beside her and took her hand.

"Oh my god, that's scary!" I exclaimed. "So do they think it might be...you know..."

"They didn't say the word." I could see the worry in her eyes. "But I know they were thinking it."

"Wow, it's sure a good thing you already have your three kids!"

"I know," she replied. "But I still dread the thought of radiation and chemotherapy."

"Oh, I know!" I'd treated many hospitalized cancer patients since I'd started working as a nurse. The chemotherapy often made their hair fall out and also tended to make them very nauseous, and the radiation also damaged their bodies frequently. "Well, I sure hope everything goes all right for you," I told her.

"Thank you," she said.

On the morning of Christmas day, Alexei and I got up at about two AM to put the presents beneath the tree, then grinned at one another and went back to bed.

It was about six when Montana burst into our bedroom shouting excitedly. "Mommy! Daddy! Santa Claus came and left me presents!"

"Oh, did he?" I asked sleepily.

"Come see!" said Montana.

His shouting had awakened Nevada, and I could hear her jumping up and down in her crib. I went into her bedroom and lifted her out of it, and she raced into the living room with her brother. They both squealed with excitement as they ripped into their presents. "Look what Santa Claus brought me!" Montana crowed. "Annie and Clarabel!"

"Dolls! Dolls!" Nevada cried.

"Just look what Santa brought Mommy." Alexei picked up a small oblong box that I hadn't noticed before and handed it to me. Quickly I opened it and gasped with pleasure when I saw what was inside. It was a silver necklace containing two charms. One was an oval amethyst with a head, arms, and legs, and the other was a triangular ruby that also had a head, arms, and legs.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed. "Thank you!" I hugged and kissed my husband.

"There's plenty of room on the chain to add more charms, if they're needed in the future." Alexei winked at me.

Later in the morning, we went to my parents' for dinner. Aidan and Jana were there, too. We'd bought new gardening tools for my Dad, a new sheet set for my Mom, a wallet for Aidan, and a make-up set for Jana. My parents got me and Alexei a new combination CD player/radio. "Wow, thanks!" I exclaimed. "It's way better than our old one!"

"I thought of you as soon as I saw it," my Dad replied.

Of course, Montana and Nevada received many more new toys from my family. They whooped excitedly as they ripped into present after present.

"Have you seen Lara recently?" I asked Jana.

"We're getting together at our Dad's later on today," she replied. "She and Cole are bringing Dylan."

"I'll bet he's really grown!"

"What a lovely necklace!" Jana exclaimed.

"Thanks," I replied. "Alexei gave it to me this morning."

"Do the charms represent your kids?"

I nodded. "And there's room to add more charms if we need them later on."

She grinned. "Cool!"

Later, we gathered up all the presents, loaded them into the car, and drove back home. Montana and Nevada were more tired than they usually were and went to be early that night, which gave Alexei and me plenty of time to work on adding another charm to my necklace.

Lara called me the following day. "Guess what!" she exclaimed.

"What?"

"My Mom went with Cole and me to my Dad's last night," she said. "It was the first time her and my Dad had seen each other in years. She was curious about Jana and wanted to meet her. Things were kind of awkward at first, but by the end of the visit, they were sitting on the sofa holding hands. I think they might get back together!"

"That's great!" I squealed. I knew that Lara's Mom had been very lonely for a long time and thought that it would be wonderful if she and her ex-husband got back together.

On New Year's Eve, Alexei took me out for dinner and dancing. As we moved together on the dance floor, I thought about how good-looking and sexy, as well as kind and loving, my husband was, and how lucky I was to be with him.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked me as we were slow dancing.

"How happy I am to be with you," I replied.

"I love you, Addison," he told me. "What we have together is so special. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

That night, we sat up until midnight drinking vodka (Addison) and wine coolers (me). Oleg and Madison came over to celebrate with us. Madison talked excitedly about her upcoming wedding. I showed her the necklace that Alexei had given me for Christmas.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Oleg and I want to have kids of our own in a couple of years," she added, understanding the meaning of the charms.

In mid-January, my friend Riley came into the hospital to give birth to her second child. Her daughter Camryn was Montana's age and went to his school. "My due date's in only three days, so the doctor offered to induce me today," she told me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I replied. "I had Nevada induced, and my labor with her was a lot more painful than it was with Montana. Pitocin's a real bitch."

"I asked my doctor about that," she said. "She said that since I'm getting an epidural anyway, it doesn't matter."

I shrugged. "Good luck."

I was busy all morning with a terrible car crash. Some drunk guy had flipped his car over and it had caught fire. He was still alive but had third degree burns over ninety percent of his body. I walked into his cubicle to find him swathed head to toe in bandages and on a morphine drip.

For several hours, the other nurses and I struggled to keep his fluids and electrolytes balanced, and then another nurse arrived to relieve me, so I went up to the maternity ward to check on Riley. I found out that she'd already delivered her baby and was resting in her room. I went to see her and found her gobbling a piece of chicken.

"So how did it go?" I asked her.

"Terrible!" she replied. "All that Demerol they gave me made my mouth so dry I can hardly eat, even though I'm starving 'cause I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight last night. The whole thing was horribly painful. I kept asking for an epidural and they kept telling me my labor wasn't far enough along, and then when they finally said I could have one, they checked me again and said that it was too late. The worst part was that they made me hold the baby in until the doctor could get there. I can't describe to you how painful that was."

"I'm sorry that happened," I said. "Is the baby all right?"

"He has club feet," she told me. "He might have to have surgery in a few months."

Feeling a little bit depressed by Riley's sad tale, I returned to my duties.

Later that month, I saw Nicolai pacing back and forth in the waiting room on the surgical floor, looking very worried. "Kennedy's in surgery," he told me. "They found a tumor on her ovary. They think it might be cancerous. They're doing a biopsy right now."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed. "I sure hope she'll be all right!"

"She's had a really hard time of it, you know," he told me. "Her younger sister Taylor was murdered when they were just teenagers, and then three years ago, we lost one of our twin boys. He was stillborn."

"I didn't know Jordan was a twin!"

Nicolai nodded. "His brother's name was Joshua. It was a horrible time for all of us."

"I'll bet!"

In February, I missed my period. I'd been late before so didn't think that much of it at first, but then I began to experience familiar symptoms. One day on the way home from work, I stopped by the drugstore and picked up a home pregnancy test. I showed it to Alexei after dinner, and he gave a surprised laugh. "Wow! Really?"

I nodded. "I've been having all the symptoms. I wanted to wait until we could find out the results together."

I performed the test according to the directions on the package, and then the two of us stared anxiously at the strip to see what color it turned.

"We're going to be parents!" Alexei and I sang as we laughed and hugged one another and danced around in a circle. I felt as if I was on top of the world. The man I loved and I were going to have a baby together!

"You'll never know how relieved I am!" I saw that there were tears in Alexei's eyes. "Remember that hockey injury I told you about? I was so afraid that had left me permanently sterile!"

"Well, I'm awfully glad it didn't!" I replied. "I can't wait to tell the kids!"

"They're going to be thrilled!" Alexei agreed. We went into the living room, where Montana and Nevada sat on the sofa watching television together. "Guess what, kids?" Alexei asked them.

They looked at him curiously. "You're gonna have a baby brother or sister!" I told them.

"Hurray!" Montana jumped up and down excitedly, and Nevada, who perhaps didn't quite understand what all the excitement was over, joined him. "So when are you goin' to the hospital to get it?" he wanted to know.

Alexei and I laughed. "It'll be growing in my tummy for about seven and a half months before it's ready to be born," I told my son.

"It's in your tummy right now?" He walked over to me and lifted my shirt. "Can I see it?"

"Oh, no, sweetie. It has to stay right where it is until it's big enough to live on the outside. Right now it's very tiny, but when I go to the doctor, he'll be able to see the baby on an ultrasound, and I'll bring you back some pictures from that."

The next time I went to work, I went in search of Dr. Brown and found him in the employees' lounge, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. "Dr. Brown?" I asked.

He glanced up from his newspaper. "Oh, hi, Addison! What can I do for you?"

"I need an exam as soon as possible," I told him. "I took one of those home pregnancy tests, and it came back positive."

"Congratulations!" He smiled. "I'll have my receptionist check my schedule and see when I can fit you in and give you a call."

As I was leaving that day, I heard someone calling my name and turned to see Dr. Brown's receptionist, Paige. "Dr. Brown can fit you in at two tomorrow afternoon, if that's a good time," she told me.

"That's fine," I replied. "Thank you."

The next afternoon at about two thirty, I lay on a hard table with my feet in stirrups while he poked around inside me. "You're pregnant, all right," he told me. "Congratulations."

He asked when my last period had started. I told him, and he gave me a due date of October 25. "Come back in two weeks, and I'll do an ultrasound," he told me.

The first people I called were my parents. "Congratulations, Mom!" I said when Mom answered the telephone. "You're gonna be grandparents again!"

"Oh, honey, that's wonderful!" she replied. "Alexei must be thrilled."

"We both are."

I talked to her for a few more minutes, then handed the telephone to Alexei so that he could call his parents in Russia. He talked to them at length, and then I called Lara and told her.

"She sure didn't sound very happy about it," I remarked to Alexei after hanging up.

"She's probably just surprised," he replied. "Give her some time to get used to the idea, and I'm sure she'll be just as thrilled as everyone else is."

I was in the supermarket doing my weekly shopping that Saturday when I met up with Kennedy. "Guess what!" I exclaimed. "Alexei and I are having a baby!"

"Wow, that's great!" she exclaimed. "Congratulations! When are you due?"

"October 25. So, how did your biopsy turn out?"

"Everything's fine. I don't have cancer, thank goodness. The cyst was benign. All they had to do was take it out."

"I'm glad to hear that," I told her.

Alexei went with me for my ultrasound appointment. I lay back on the hard table with my belly exposed while the technician smeared cold jelly all over it and then began to move her wand around. After awhile, I heard her give a surprised gasp.

"What's wrong?" I asked, instantly alarmed.

"Nothing's wrong!" She laughed and patted my arm. "It's just that you're carrying two babies instead of one!"

"Twins?" I was so surprised that I almost fell off the table.

"That's right!" she replied. "Do twins run in your family?"

"Not that I know of." I looked at my husband. "Do they in yours, Alexei?"

He shook his head. "I don't know of any twins in my family, either."

The technician smiled. "So yours will be the first."

"Are they both healthy?" I asked.

"Everything looks fine so far."

"Will I still be able to have a natural birth?"

"As long as the pregnancy progresses normally, I don't see why not."

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that!" I remarked to Alexei as we walked back to the car together.

He laughed. "Now I'll have to make another long distance call to Russia."

"I hope they're one of each," I said.

"We'll love them just the same, no matter what they are," Alexei replied.

"Of course we will," I said. "But don't you think it would be neat to have two of each?"

"Perhaps. But it's more important to me that they're healthy." He placed a gentle hand on my abdomen and gazed tenderly into my eyes. "And that you're all right."

Mom sounded concerned when I told her. 'You'll have four children under the age of seven," she pointed out. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle that?"

I laughed. "Well, I don't exactly have any choice about it, do I?"

"Well, I sure hope everything goes well for you."

"Thanks. I hope so, too."

It occurred to me that I hadn't even talked to Lara since the evening I'd told her I was pregnant. Eagerly I dialed her number. "Guess what, girl?" I said when she answered. "It's twins!"

I heard perfect silence on the line for a period of about five seconds, followed by the unmistakable sound of the receiver being placed back into its cradle on the other end of the line.

"I can't believe it!" I gasped. "She hung up on me!"