Chapter 7

As Donna emerged from the bathroom, looking very green, she glared at Jon, and, if looks could have killed, he would have been dead on the spot!

"This is all your fault!" she said, slapping his leg.  "You men have it easy!"

"I think you'll find you played a part in it, too!" he said, looking very indignant.  "I didn't do it on my own!"

"I know something!" she said  "if men had the babies, they'd only ever have one!"

"I'm sorry I was born a man!" he protested, trying not to laugh.  "I was born with different equipment to you!"

"Yes!" she replied "and if you dare laugh, you won't have it for much longer!"

He tried to hold it in for as long as was humanly possible, but eventually he had to let it out.  He sat there helpless with laughter, as she proceeded to beat him around the head with a cushion.  She was only stopped in her tracks by a knock at the door.  He extricated himself from her clutches, and went to answer it.  It was Mike, with a present for the baby.

"How are you feeling, Donna?" he said, kissing her cheek.

"I'm feeling much better, now that I've just finished beating Jon up!"

"What!  What did he do to deserve that?"

"Don't ask!" said Jon, getting up and going into the kitchen.  "Do you fancy a can?"

"Go on, then!" replied Mike  "You've talked me into it!"

As they all sat around the table, Mike lifted up his can, and said:

"Let's make a toast - to the safe arrival of the new baby!"

As they all toasted the good news, Donna sat there with a radiant smile on her face.  Jon came up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her.  She looked up at him, her eyes full of love and hope, and, as Mike watched them together, he suddenly felt extremely moved - it had taken them a long time to finally get together, but, now they had, it seemed that everything was turning out right - hopefully it would not prove too good to be true.

When he had gone, Donna sat curled up on the sofa, clutching a cushion, looking as though she was deep in thought.  Jon sat down next to her, drawing her into his arms, asking her what she was thinking about.  She gazed up at him, with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he said, gently kissing the top of her head.  "What's upsetting you?"

"It's just - I can't explain it - as time goes on, I'm going to get big and fat, my hair will go greasy and my ankles will swell - and you won't fancy me any more!"

She began to cry, burying her face on his shoulder.

"Come on!" he said, stroking her hair.  "That's enough of that kind of talk!  Nothing will ever stop me from fancying you!  Anyway, what brought all this on?"

"There's thousands of women out there who think you're the sexiest man on the planet, and they're always throwing themselves at you!  When you can have someone who's thin and sexy, you won't want to come home to someone who's fat and...."

"Stop right there!" he said, holding her by her shoulders.  "First of all, I hoped you'd think better of me than to think I'd run off with the nearest piece of skirt just because my wife's put on a bit of weight - and second, you're the mother of my child - and that makes you the most precious thing in my life, and I hope you'll always be there for me to come home to!"

"I'm sorry, Jon!" she wept  "It's just that I'm feeling so insecure, and I feel like crying at the slightest little thing!  It must be my hormones - they're all over the place!"

"Shh!" he said  "it's all right!  Not another word!"

Suddenly, she felt extremely tired, and lay down on the sofa, resting her head on his lap, sighing contentedly.  He gently stroked her hair, until she fell asleep; he lay back on the soft cushions, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep as well.

They were both woken up next morning by the sun streaming through the window.  It was a beautiful day, and, for once, Donna was not feeling sick!  She wanted to go shopping for the baby - nothing big, just a few babygros, socks - that kind of thing.  As she walked around the room, singing happily, Jon could not help smiling.

"We should do a duet!" he said.

"What - like 'Barcelona'?"

"Well, with your voice, I was thinking more along the lines of the Crazy Frog!"

"Why you.. I'll just have to sit on you until you beg for mercy!"

As she hurried across the room, she tripped, and, instead on sitting on him like she intended, she landed rather heavily, taking him completely by surprise.

"Oh God, Donna!" he said  "If you do that again, that baby will be an only child!  Hell, that made my eyes water!"

"I'm sorry!" she said, laughing helplessly.  "I tripped!  Anyway, serves you right for insulting my singing voice!"

He was tempted to ask what singing voice, but decided against it.  Instead, he got himself ready, and followed her out to the car.  As he opened the door for her to get in, someone commented on how nice it was to see women treated with respect - and what a gentleman he was!  For once he was lost for words, he just smiled, blushed, and got into the car with her.

"What's up?" she said  "You're not shy, are you?"

"Me?" he said  "whatever gave you that idea?!"

He started up the car, and they were on their way.  As they drove along the quiet country lanes leading into town, they were taken completely by surprise when a car pulled out in front of them from a junction on the left, with no warning whatsoever.

"You bloody idiot!" yelled Jon, as he slammed on the brakes.  He glanced at Donna, who was looking very shaken.

"Are you all right?" he said, putting his arm around her.

"I'm fine" 

She had felt the belt pull across her stomach, but she did not mention it, as she did not want to worry him unnecessarily. 

"Let's carry on!  I want to get my baby some new clothes!"

They carried on into town, and, after buying some new babygros, some socks, and a cute yellow teddy bear that Donna could not resist, they made their way back to the car.  They were about halfway home, when suddenly Donna let out a cry of pain, clutching her stomach.  He stopped the car, and pulled over to the side of the road.

"What is it?  Donna!  Tell me, what's wrong?"

"My stomach - the pain!  Oh Jon - please, my baby!  Don't let it be my baby!"

"Oh, Jesus!" he said, under his breath.  "Let's get you to hospital!"

All the way there, he was cursing the driver of the car who had pulled out in front of them, saying that he would kill him if he ever got his hands on him.  It only took him ten minutes to get to the hospital.  He lifted her out of the car, and carried her through the hospital doors, pleading for someone to help.  They brought a wheelchair, and, gently placing Donna in it, they wheeled her away.

"I want to go with her!"

"We'll look after her!  You go and book her in!"

He did as he was asked, and then just sat down to wait.  The wait was agonising, he did not know what to think or do, so he just prayed - for Donna and his unborn child.  Please God, let them be all right!  Suddenly, he realised he was alone, and he was scared, he needed someone with him.  He went to a payphone just round the corner, and rang Mike, who said he would come straight away.  He got himself a cup of coffee from the machine, it tasted awful, but he did not even notice.  It seemed like an age since Donna had disappeared through those double doors - what the hell was happening?  He heard footsteps, and turning round, he saw Mike.  He had never been so glad to see anyone in his life.

"Don't worry" said Mike, trying to reassure him. "They know what they're doing, I'm sure she'll be fine!"

"She'd better be, Mike" he said, covering his face with his hands.  "She'd better be! I don't know what I'd do if..."

Mike cut him short, pointing to the doctor coming in their direction.  As she approached them, Jon looked up at her, his face full of hope, his eyes pleading silently.

"I'm so sorry.." she said  "we did all we could, but I'm afraid we couldn't save Donna's baby, I really am sorry!"

"No!!"  He was beside himself, clinging to Mike for all he was worth.  "No!! Not my baby, Mike!  Not my baby!  Oh, God, no!  Please - no!!"

Mike held him close, not saying a word - there did not seem to be any that were adequate.  All he could do was sit there and listen, while, almost paralysed by grief, Jon sobbed on his shoulder, alternating between tears and anger - raging at God and the world, asking how He could let this happen - and, for once in his life, Mike did not have an answer.