1.08 Babies on The Brains

Previously...

Mort gives his consent to Carl proposing to Tilly and she of course says yes. Amelia, meanwhile, has a secret that she knows she has to share with her husband. After telling him she is pregnant which results in an argument, they finally make up, and decide to keep the baby. A little girl is born and she is given the name Primrose. But not all is well. Mort is starting to feel his old age more acutely, and wondering how long he has left with his family.

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Life at the Sterling residence went on quietly and smoothly for a while. Amelia had been a bit startled to see her husband suddenly walking with the aid of a cane. But when she noticed the sudden change in his behavior; how he talked and laughed more, moved around the house with much more ease and above all interacted with his daughter in a new, carefree way, she quietly realized that Mort must have been in pain, without telling her.

Primrose didn't seem to mind the walking stick at all. She actually liked playing with it and holding onto it as she made her first, feeble attempts at standing.

Soon she was walking around the house as if she'd been doing it for years.

“Thank goodness you got that cane, or Prim would never have learned to walk!” Amelia exclaimed one day and they both laughed. This turned into a standing joke between the two of them. Somehow it made Mort feel a little better about his old age. Even though it was just a joke, Mort liked the idea that his daughter somehow benefited from him being old and frail. Wisdom came with age, after all, and maybe there would be things he could teach her that a young, virile father couldn't have. He wasn't sure exactly what those things might be, though.

Amelia had slowly found herself turning into the kind of person who spent all of her free time at home with her family. Fancy dinner parties and long conference calls just didn't have the same appeal that they had used to. She knew she didn't want any more children, but she blessed the day that Mort had convinced her that they at least wanted one. So when her friend Laura called her on a Saturday afternoon, Amelia was at home, and free to talk.

“Of course I'm not busy, what do you want to do? Wanna come over? I've made cupcakes.” There was an awkward silence for a moment, just long enough to be noticed by both women, before Laura answered.

“Oh, well I thought we could meet half way, maybe at the playground?” Amelia assented suspiciously. What was this about?

On the way to the playground Primrose was busy with her newest game, one that never ended and never got boring, apparently.

“Mommy. Mommy. Look, mommy. Mommy! Look! Look!” She pointed at anything and everything, and Amelia was then to identify the object and name it.

“Yes, Prim, that's a trash can.”

“Look, mommy, look! Mommy! Look!”

“Mhm. A bus stop.” Suddenly Prim started jumping in her stroller and yelling.

“Mooommy! Mommy! Loook!”

The playground had come into view, and Amelia knew that she would have no peace until Prim was in the sand box. She sighed softly, lifted Primrose out of the stroller and waved at Laura, who was sitting on a bench nearby. As she put her daughter down into the sand she looked at her white dress regretfully.

Why hadn't she thought to change Prim's clothes before going out? That dress would be filthy in a matter of minutes. But there was nothing she could do about it now, so she walked over to Laura and sat down next to her while throwing occasional glances in the direction of the sand box.

“Hey hun” she started cautiously. “Is something up?”

Laura looked at her in mild surprise, but there was soon a knowing smile on her lips.

“No fooling you, I see. I guess I did act a bit strangely. I'm sure your cupcakes are delicious.” She said with a little laugh. But she was absolutely right, Amelia couldn't be fooled that easily by her best friend.

“So what is it? Is it a new man? You're not back with that Petrovsky guy again, are you?” Laura shook her head eagerly.

“No, no, of course not. He's a douche bag, I learned my lesson. It's nothing like that. Actually, it's kind of the opposite.” Laura looked away and Amelia followed her eyes to little Primrose who was still playing contently.

Presently Laura went on.

“I... I'm realizing that I might not find a guy, I mean a good guy, anytime soon.” She waved Amelia's attempt at contradicting her away. “No, no, really, I don't need sugar coating. This is my decision. I want a family, but I'm not getting any younger. Peter's got two kids, you know. And I'm happy for him, I really am, we would never have been happy together in the long run. I'm just glad we ended it before there were kids. But I...” Amelia was starting to understand what her friend was getting at now.

“You want to adopt?” Laura gave her a meek look that seemed to say “close, but not right on the mark”.

“I want to find a sperm donor.” The words had come out quickly and without much thought to how they would sound. But Amelia understood. She waited for Laura to go on. She felt that her expression was enough to tell Laura that she was by her side.

“You will help me, won't you? I mean, I'll be alone... If something happens, you will be there for me? For us? Will you and Mort be the baby's safe guardians?” Amelia hadn't anticipated this and for a moment she was quiet, quite taken aback.

Being someone's safe guardian was a big responsibility. If something happened to Laura, they would become the child's legal guardians. But she would have done anything for Laura, the best and most reliable friend she had ever had.

“Of course we will!” She exclaimed and they hugged lovingly with little laughs and squeals of excitement. It was settled, and only a few days later Amelia accompanied Laura to the sperm bank.

Only a few days later Tilly came unexpectedly to the house and tracked Amelia down to the newly built gazebo in the back.

“Amelia!” She wailed at her step-mother, who stood up suddenly and put down the book she had been reading.

She could see that Tilly was more than a little distraught and the first thought that came to her was that Tilly and Carl had been fighting. But she soon learned that the issue was of another nature.

“Oh, Amelia!” Tilly continued. “I give up! It just won't happen. I envy you so much for having a baby. Without even trying! Why can't I get pregnant? It's so unfair.” Amelia stared at her in astonishment for a moment.

First Laura and now Tilly. What was going on, why had everyone suddenly got babies on their brains? She realized, of course, that both of them were in that stage of life when kids were “standard procedure”, and that both of them were her best friends. Naturally they would come to her for advice and to blow off steam. But still. She felt a bit overwhelmed, she didn't know anything about getting pregnant, really. As Tilly had said, Prim had never been planned,. Tentatively she started probing Tilly for background information, trying to stall to let her mind come to grips with the situation.

“So... how long have you been... you know... trying?”

“Ever since Prim was born, pretty much. I stopped taking my pills a couple of days after we came to see her for the first time. It's been almost four years now! That just isn't normal.” Amelia nodded softly, deep in thought.

“And you're sure that you... get the days right and all that?”

“We don't take any chances. We've been... spending a lot of time together pretty much every day for over a year now.” Tilly blushed deeply and Amelia realized how awkward this conversation was for both of them. As much as their friendship had grown ever since they met for the first time, there was still a barrier between them, because after all, Amelia was Tilly's fathers wife, and there was no getting around that.

“Okay, well it sounds like you're doing everything right. Have you been in contact with a doctor? I'm sure there's something they could do to help.” She could see Tilly stare down at the floor. This looked like it would be a long conversation. Amelia motioned for the wicker furniture and the two of them sat down. Tilly sighed.

About an hour later, as the sun was rapidly descending in the sky, Tilly stood up to leave, looking remarkably uplifted and happy compared to the state she had been in when she arrived.

“Are you sure?” She asked again and again, but Amelia wouldn't even answer her anymore.

“Tilly, go, we'll get it all sorted out in the morning, now go home to your husband and spend some time together. And I mean carefree, fun time. All of this has got to put a strain on your relationship. Don't worry anymore, we will fix this.” As she saw Tilly leave, she thought to herself how rash this had been. 

But it was the right decision, wasn't it? Tilly was family. And Mort would want a grandchild. Surely he too would think that paying for the fertility treatment was the right thing to do. The thought nagged at her for the rest of the evening, however, because she had no idea how much it might actually cost.

“And the rabbit said: I can hop, I can hop, but you will drop, you will drop. How to get you over the stream? The spider looked at the rabbit and squeaked: Oh you let your mind be still, I'll get over safe, I will. A web I'll make, only for me, and I'll be there right quick, you'll see!”

Mort closed the book gently and looked down at Primrose who was already begging and whining for a few more minutes.

“No, no” her father said with a knowing smile. “I said ten pages and ten pages it is. There's no point making so much noise. It's nap time for you, little miss.” They were sitting in Primrose's play corner in the living room. As much as it hurt Mort's old bones to sit on the floor, not to speak of the agony of standing up, he never failed to oblige his daughter's request to spend time together there, often playing with her toys, sometimes finger painting, or just reading.

Prim loved her play corner, and tried to sneak there as often as she could. More than once, Amelia had found her fast asleep among the pillows and blankets.

“No, I don wanna!” Primrose squealed and freed herself from her father's embrace. She knew that she was much faster than him and so she made a run for it. Straight into the study, she went for her favorite hiding place under the desk, giggling and snickering to herself.

“She's in here, Mort. Want me to take her to bed?” Amelia called absentmindedly, typing away at the computer keyboard as if she hadn't been interrupted at all. Spending much time at home didn't mean her mind was off work; she could sit for many hours sending business e-mails and doing presentations from her home computer. A few moments later Mort turned up in the door way, panting slightly.

“No, don't worry. There's still life in me yet.” Amelia helped him haul Primrose out from under the desk, however, and handed her over to him. She wanted to say that he might want to put some of that life into his company every once in a while, but held her tongue.

Mort's black limousine was going quickly towards its target. It stood out on the small town streets next to old trucks and rusted bikes, but he didn't care anymore.

He looked through the window at the fields, little groves and rivers. This was a fine place to spend your autumn years.

The car came to a slow, smooth halt. Mort stepped outside and looked at the gloomy cemetery. It wasn't very fancy, or well taken care of, that was true. But it had a charm of it's own, he thought, as he walked through the gate and past the many bland, almost identical gravestones.

Behind the trees he could see the family grave spots, fenced in by an old, wrought iron fence. He could see from a distance that the caretaker had followed his instructions to the point and as he came close enough to smell the lilies in the pots and the still lingering stone dust on the custom made statues, he stopped.

It was perfect, he thought, just perfect. A smile curled his lips, not in a sinister or morbid way, but quite genuine and serene. This would be the resting place of himself and all his family.

Soon, the good news of a pregnancy echoed through the house. Literally. Tilly had burst through the door, without even knocking and she yelled into the empty hallway:

“I'm pregnant! It worked, finally! Amelia! Daddy! I'm gonna have a baby!” Amelia who was in the kitchen appeared at the door in an instant.

“What, really? Oh, Tilly, I'm so happy for you! Come in, I'm making a pie, come in here and tell me all the details, when's your due date?” Tilly rushed into the kitchen, ecstatic to have someone to tell, someone who was just as happy and involved as she was, well almost anyway.

“Carl is over the moon! I think all of this has tore at him more than I realized. He's barely said a word since we saw those two, blue lines. But I know he's happy. He has been wanting this for even longer than I have. Oh, Amelia, I can hardly believe it's true! But I did four tests, all different brands. Surely they can't all be faulty?” As usual, when she was excited, the words came in a fast, steady flow that to most people would have been unintelligible. But Amelia was long used to it, and she shook her headsteadily in response.

“Of course not, honey. You're going to be a mother, alright.”

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Hey guys! I'm sorry for not getting a chapter out for an uncommonly long time! Vacation and stuff like that. I'm also sorry about this chapter being focused alot on pregnancies and babies, and not bringing the story forward very much. I guess I'm using this story to process my own issues with not being able to get pregnant. I'll try to keep the preggo anxiety to a minimum in the future! :)

Thanks for reading and commenting, it means the world to me!

/Alexandra

Finally, I've been able to do some landscaping improvements on the lot!

Baby cuteness!

And baby-to-be-cuteness!