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Jo sighed as she threw herself across her bed. Nothing felt right today. Leighanne and Lina were still driving her crazy with their nagging about who was the fattest and most bloated of them. Baylee was all over the place, and Alex wasn’t home. Sighing she realised that if Alex had been home, none of all the other things would have mattered. He’d be there with his smile and his warm body in bed at night. She felt her stomach cramp up and rolled over with another deep sigh. ’I’m having the worst PMS ever, and he’s not here to give me a chocolate bar. I hate this. He’s halfway around the world, and I should be there with him.’ She got up slowly and walked back out of her room. When she opened the door she heard Baylee screaming at the top of his lungs, and had to force herself to keep going to see what was up, instead of crawling down into bed and pulling the covers over her head. When she came into Baylee’s room she saw that Leigh had beat her to it.

”I’ve got this. Would you please prepare dinner? Both me and this little rascal need a nap.”

”Sure Leigh. Want anything special?”

”Anything as long as it’s not pork. I can’t stand the smell of it!”

”Ok.” Jo walked down the stairs and sighed as she reached the quiet and cool kitchen. Knowing that they’d all eaten too much chocolate the last couple of days she decided to make a salad. She chopped up the veggies and some grilled chicken and tossed it all in a big bowl that she put in the fridge. Looking at her watch she decided she had a good forty minutes before it was time for dinner, so she walked out into the back yard and laid down on one of the sun beds.


She was standing in a sunny kitchen preparing breakfast. She could hear Alex walking around upstairs, and she knew he would be down any second to eat breakfast with her. She moved heavily around the room, and she couldn’t understand why, until she looked down. She couldn’t see her own toes, the shirt was in the way. She moved her hands over it to smooth it out, but instead she felt a hard, round belly underneath it. In total shock she looked down again.

”I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!” she yelled, and in that moment Alex walked in the room, dressed in only a pair of dark jeans. He smiled, then started laughing.

”Yeah, sweetie. We’re having a baby. We’ve been having a baby for the last nine months. You’re due any day Princess!”

Then she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and something warm flooded her feet. Next thing she knew she was in the hospital, and she was in terrible pain. She could feel the baby exiting her, and Alex was there, he was holding her hand and wiping her forehead with a cool damp cloth. Then the doctor smiled at her.

”Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. McLean. It’s a beautiful baby.” He held out a little bundle wrapped in a blanket, and Jo stretched her arms out to take the baby. She felt it in her arms, and joy overwhelmed her. She pulled aside the blanket to see the baby’s face...


”Jo? Jo? Wake up Jo, it’s dinner time.”

Jo opened her eyes and stared at the familiar face above her. Where was the hospital room? Where was Alex and the baby? There was only a blue sky here, and...

”Lina?” Jo sat up, and when she understood that it had all been a dream, she broke down crying.

”Jo? What’s up sweetie?” Lina sat down next to Jo and put her arms around her.

”The baby...” Jo kept talking, but Lina wasn’t able to follow what she was saying.

”A baby? Oh my God, are you pregnant?” Lina jumped up as well as she could and stared at Jo.

”No. I’m not pregnant.” Jo started sobbing even more, and hid her face against her knees.

”I don’t understand, Jo?”

”I... I had a dream. A baby, and we were married.”

”Oh sweetie, I’m sorry. These baby-jitters are contagious.”

Jo shook her head. ”It’s not that. I’ve been wanting this for such a long time Lina. Some people live to be singers or actors or whatever. I live to be a mother. That’s my purpose. A mother, and a wife to the man I love. Everything else is secondary.”

”I know that, Jo. You’re the one cut out for the job. I’m not.”

Jo wiped the tears off her cheeks and looked at Lina. ”That’s not what I meant,” she said, her voice sharp. ”You know you’re gonna be a wonderful mother. I know it. Stop having those thoughts immediately.”

”But I’m scared, Jo. I’m happy, but I’m scared. What if I’m a terrible mother, and scar this little girl for life? There are tons of things that could go wrong. What if I drop her?”

Jo smiled. ”You won’t. Because you’ll love her so much that you won’t let anything bad happen to her. You’re human, Lina, and so is she. You’ll make mistakes, I know that, and so will she, in due time, but you’ll both forgive and forget, because you’re her mother, and she’s your daughter. That’s what mothers and daughters do.” Jo put her arms around Lina and gave her a hug. ”Plus, when you and Nick fuck up, I’ll be there for her. And for you.”

Lina laughed. ”You’re sounding more and more like Alex, you know that? A couple of more months, and I won’t let you near my baby. Her ears might fall off.”

Jo smiled and threw a pillow from the sun bed at Lina. ”Just shut up, would you?”

”Ok, ok, I get it! Take it easy!”

”You hungry?”

Lina looked at Jo with a weird glimpse in her eyes. ”I’m pregnant. Eating and sleeping is all I do, all day, everyday.”

”Come on then!”


After dinner they all watched a movie together, and then they went to bed. Jo lay awake, unable to let go of her dream so that she could fall asleep. She’d been so happy, and gotten so crushed when she realized it was all a dream. She tossed and turned for another hour, then gave up and picked up the phone to call Alex. He answered after only a couple of rings.

”Hello Princess! How are you?”

”Oh, baby, I’m so glad to hear your voice. I miss you so much today!”

”I miss you too, sweetheart. You sound sad. Is everything ok?”

”I had this dream, and...” Unable to stop herself, Jo started crying again.

”No, Princess, don’t cry. What’s the problem?”

”We were having a baby, I was all fat and happy, and we were married, and then my water broke, and we went into the delivery room, and just as I got the baby in my arms and tried to look at it, Lina woke me up. It was all just a dream, Alex. A dream...”

”No, baby, it wasn’t. It was the future. We’ll be married, we’ll have babies, and you can be fat and happy all the time.” Jo could hear his smile, even over a bad phone line from halfway around the world.

”You wanna have babies?”

”Of course I do. But we should wait, at least until we’re married. Besides, it’s hard for me to get you pregnant from where I am.” He laughed.

”You wanna have babies with me...”

”Yeah. In fact, I think we should get practising as soon as I get home.”

”You wanna get married soon, huh?” Jo couldn’t help but laugh at him.

”Heck yeah! Don’t you?”

Jo smiled. ”To be honest, I don’t know...”

”What? What do yo mean you don’t know?” He interrupted her before she could finish.

”I mean I don’t know how long I can wait before I’m Mrs. Alexander James McLean.” She laughed, her heart a lot lighter.

”How about... May?”

”The 20th.”

”Huh?”

”May 20th?”

”A year after I fell in love with you. That night in the hammock.” Alex sighed. ”It’s perfect.”