Part 385

"Was that Sarah’s doctor?" asked Brian as he watched Howie practically collapse on the couch.

"Yeah, he just got the fax from Dr. Morgan," answered Howie as Jesse climbed up beside him. "Good morning, ‘Princess’."

Jesse wrapped her arms around Howie and put her head on his shoulder. "Good morning, Daddy. Where’s Mommy?"

Playing with her hair, Howie answered, "She’s still asleep."

"Can we go in and snuggle with her?"

"Not this time, Princess. Your mommy is really tired and needs to rest. Why don’t you go get one of your coloring books and I’ll color with you while we wait for the others to get up?"

Happily, Jesse said, "Okay" before bouncing off to her room to get her favorite coloring book and crayons.

Taking advantage of the lull of ‘Hurricane Jesse’, Brian asked, "What’s going on? Why did Sarah’s doctor call?"

"He’s concerned about everything Sarah’s gone through and her blood pressure being up yesterday."

"That’s understandable given what happened to her. You two argued too, didn’t you?"

"If you want to call it that. It was mostly Sarah screaming at me. She had every right to be upset though. I shouldn’t have kept it from her about the argument I had with Nick."

"I don’t argue that. So what did her doctor have to say?"

"He wants Sarah to keep a daily check on her blood pressure and start getting checkups every two weeks."

"Every two weeks? Is there a problem?"

"Not really. It’s just that given Sarah’s medical history and the fact that it’s twins, this is a high-risk pregnancy, which we’ve known from the start. He also wants her to have an ultrasound at her next checkup."

Jesse returned and set her things on the coffee table. Kneeling down, she opened to two empty pages and then reached around to take Howie’s hand. Howie settled down beside her to color while Brian picked up the local paper to read.

Slowly, the suite came to life until everyone but Sarah was gathered in the living room.

"Where’s Sarah?" asked Nick as Becca set GT on the couch beside him.

"Still asleep. She woke earlier from a nightmare and I wanted her to get some more rest."

Kevin looked at his watch. "It’s almost nine, Howie. Breakfast should be here soon."

"I know. I just want to let her sleep as long as possible."

"She needs to eat too, Howie," reminded Becca.

"I know," he answered as they heard Billy opening the door. "I’m going to get her now."

Jesse popped up. "Let me! Let me!"

Howie looked at Jesse and started to say ‘no’ but he knew Jesse had missed them so he said, "Go with me, ‘Princess’."

The two headed to the bedroom hand in hand but as they were about to open the door, Sarah appeared. Despite having had almost seven hours of sleep, she still looked tired.

Jesse squealed with delight, "Mommy!!! You’re awake!"

"Yeah, but barely," answered Sarah in a gravely voice as she picked her daughter up for a hug.

"How’d you sleep?" asked Becca.

"Before the dream, like a log."

"But after?" questioned Nick.

"I don’t know. I tossed and turned," answered Sarah setting Jesse back down and reaching for Howie.

Howie gave her a tentative hug and as she went to kiss him, he turned away to say, "Breakfast is here, Angel."

AJ noticed Howie’s reaction to Sarah and looked around the room to see if anyone else had too. Seeing the others were oblivious to the exchange, he focused back on the couple wondering what the problem was or if it was just his imagination.

"I don’t feel like eating, ‘D’," said Sarah softly.

"You need to eat, baby," said Kevin. "Come on. I think you’ll like what we ordered for you."

"Yeah, Mommy! They’ve got a surprise for you," bubbled Jesse as she took Sarah’s hand and began to pull her towards the table.

Sarah tried to protest but Jesse wouldn’t hear of it. She was excited that the guys had a surprise for her mommy and she wanted to know what it was even if Sarah didn’t.

"Guys, I really don’t want to eat," protested Sarah once more.

"I promise, you’re gonna like this," grinned Nick as he held Becca’s chair.

Howie held the chair for Sarah as Kevin brought her the plate. The others had already gotten their plates but before starting to eat, they waited to see Sarah’s reaction. With a flourish, Kevin lifted the cover.

Sarah looked at the plate, burst into tears, and took off for the bedroom slamming the door behind her.

With all the innocence of childhood, Jesse asked, "Didn’t Mommy like her surprise?"

"Yeah, Jesse, I’m sure she did," said Becca as they all looked at Howie.

Howie ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. Starting to follow his wife, AJ put his hand on Howie’s arm.

"I’ll go, ‘D’. Stay here with Jesse."

"Thanks, ‘Bone’," answered Howie wearily.

Part 386        Index