“I was getting so scared. It took forever. I called the office and it was closed. And I thought, Oh God, I’ll have to wait another day. I can’t wait another day. I can’t go through another night.” Her words rush, tumble.

“And then she called me. I squeezed Troy’s hand so hard, I think I broke some fingers.” Sky giggles. “She apologized for calling late, but she had an emergency C-section of triplets. She had the test results along with my phone number, was going to call me when the emergency came in. And …” Sky stops and inhales.

“I was beginning to …” I let my voice trail off.

“I know. Me, too. I had lost all hope. But then she called. Troy and I were just holding each other. I was crying, trying, trying, trying to be positive but positive had worn away with the drip of each minute, each hour. The entire day. This has been the longest day. I just heard a minute ago. Long enough to laugh and cry with relief with Troy and then push speed dial to get you.”

“Yyyeeeeaaahhhh,” I sing it, almost yell it. And then I exhale. “I’m so happy for you. For me. For all of us.” I stop for a minute. “What’s next? Any more tests?”

“Nope. Just a normal pregnancy. The ultrasounds are perfect, she’s developing just like she’s supposed to and there’s no genetic abnormality. A perfect little girl, so we just have to feed me to feed her and love her and wait four more months to see her. She and I, both of us, growing.” Sky laughs.

A sense of relief, of holding myself together, of pressure I didn’t even know was there, fills me up. I feel light, but I hadn’t been aware that I felt heavy. I had lived with that fear, that mother’s sense of something not going right for her child, for so long it had become part of me. It’s a weight that I can now release.

What a joy.

What a night.

“I’m so happy, honey, I don’t know what to say.”

“Me either. My dream come true. She’s okay.” Sky screams out the “okay” as though it is still unbelievable. “We just have to wait now. We can start Lamaze. Yippeeee! You’ll come, won’t you, come and be with me through my delivery?”

“Of course!”

“And I’ll see you in a few weeks. We’ll do a baby pregnancy celebration.”

“By then Tara’s baby might be born.”

“Maybe.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if he’s born on Christmas?” Sky asks. “What a present.” For the first time, she is happy for Tara’s pregnancy. In the past, she had expressed happiness, but the words were rote and polite. Her eyes hadn’t smiled with her mouth.

“All babies are fabulous presents.”