I heard a soft snore next to me and I glanced down to find little Harmony fast asleep. I smiled and stood, leaning over to pick her up. I carried her downstairs, put her in bed, then got myself ready to go to sleep.
I was awakened by the ringing of the phone. I pried my eyes open and looked at the clock. It was 2:17 in the morning. I picked up the phone and answered with a sleepy “Hello?”
“Doctor Bass?” An urgent voice replied.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“This is David Green. Jenna’s in labor!” He exclaimed. I smiled at his tone.
“Okay. I’ll meet you two at the hospital.”
“Okay. And hurry!”
“David?”
“Yes?”
“Calm down. It takes hours.”
“Okay, I’m calm.” He hung up the phone. I stared at it in surprise before dialing Alex’s phone number.
As soon as I got an answer, I began to talk. “Alex, I gotta bring Harmony over.”
“Kelly?”
“Yeah. I gotta bring Harmony over. I got a woman in labor. It’s kind of an emergency.”
“But Kelly-”
“Alex, don’t argue with me.”
“But Kelly-”
“Alex, no. I’m bringing her over. Be ready.”
I hung up the phone, jumped from the bed and threw on a pair of jeans, a Calvin Klein sweatshirt, and Nike’s. I then ran out, started my black Mustang, went back into the house, grabbed Harmony from her bed and carried her outside, where I proceeded to put her into the folded down passenger’s seat. After locking the house, I drove at a hurried speed to the Timberlake residence, where Alex met me at the door.
I carried Harmony inside, lay her in the guest room, and ran back out the door after thanking Alex. I drove to the hospital, where I ran to the locker room, threw my ‘medical scrubs’ on, and ran to the maternity ward. There, I found where Jenna was at, so I paid her a little visit.
Two hours later, I helped bring another child into the world. After checking on the mother, I went back to the front desk in the obstetrical ward.
“Hard night?” One of the nurses questioned.
I nodded, sighed, and rubbed my eyes. I glanced at my watch to find it was almost seven thirty in the morning. “Dang,” I whispered.
“What?”
“I don’t have time to go home and change or get some sleep before my office opens.”
The nurse looked at me with sympathy in her eyes. “When does Lance get home?”
“I don’t know... what’s today?”
“The...” She paused, looking at the calendar. “Eighteenth.”
“Today.”
She smiled. “Have a nice time.”
“Thank you... and have a nice day yourself.” I smiled at her and turned to go change.
At exactly eight o’clock, I was walking in the back door of my office. I went to the front receptionist desk to see our agenda for the day. “You have a pretty busy day,” Vanessa, my head obstetrical nurse, told me.
“Good. Maybe it’ll go by faster.” She gave me a smile. “Yes, Lance gets home tonight.” I stopped talking and got a strange look on my face, lightly resting a hand on my stomach.
“Are you okay?” Vanessa asked.
“Yeah. That was...strange.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Go ahead and call the first person back.” I went to my private washroom to wash my hands. After, I went to my office where I found a very nervous girl sitting in front of my desk. “Hi, Miss...” I paused, looking at the folder I was given. “Winters. Can I call you Michelle?” She nervously nodded. “Well, Michelle, I’m Kelly Bass, and I understand this is your first visit?” She nodded again. I smiled at her. “You know, you can talk to me.” She nodded again. “If your worried about my rough appearance, you don’t need to be. I’ve been up all night. In fact, just three hours ago, I delivered a baby. It’s alright.” She let out a sigh of relief. “Anyway, can I ask you a few questions?”
“Yes,” Michelle answered quietly. I proceeded to ask her the questions, which answers I needed for my records. Then, we moved on to the physical examination.
“Is it hot in here?” I asked as she slowly climbed up on the table.
“No,” She said. She had began talking more during our thirty minute evaluation. I shook my head in annoyance at my ‘hot flash.’
We began and I soon got hot, as well as a nauseous feeling. “Can you excuse me for a second?” I asked her, not waiting for an answer, running out the door. I ran straight to the bathroom, where I threw up. Ten minutes later, there was a soft knock on the door.
“Kelly? Can I come in?” I heard Vanessa ask.
“Sure.” I sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall, still having the toilet within easy reach.
“Are you okay?” Vanessa entered the room, sitting on the floor next to me.
“Yeah. I don’t know why I got sick all of the sudden.”
“Hmm... ate anything lately that isn’t normally in your diet?”
I shook my head. “This is so weird. The last time I got sick was... I don’t remember...”
“Think. I’m sure that there has to be another time when you got sick out of the blue.”
“Just when....” My voice trailed off and my eyes got wide. “Just when I was pregnant with Harmony.” Vanessa nodded in understanding.
“I’ll call Denise.” Denise was a colleague, and also, my doctor. “I’ll get you in during your lunch break so you’ll have the results by the end of the day.”
The two of us exited the bathroom, her to the front desk, me back into the examination room. “I’m sorry. I think I’m going to be okay now,” I told Michelle. She nodded.
Lunch time soon rolled around. I went to Denise’s office, where she performed a pregnancy test, telling me she would call my home with the results that evening.
I saw several other people and went home that night. As I walked into the house later, I found Lance and Harmony in the floor playing Candy Land. “Mommy!” Harmony squealed, jumping into my arms.
I hugged her and put her down, her running to put her game up. “Hey sweetie,” Lance said with a smile as he gave me a hug. I stood silent in his arms for several minutes. “Are you okay?” He asked, looking down into my face.
“Yeah. Just really tired.”
“Do you want me to cancel with the rest of the guys then?” Lance asked, referring to the barbecue we were supposed to have with JC and Briley, Justin and Alex, Chris and Jenny, and Joey and Baylee.
“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. “I’ll be fine.”
That evening, the other eight people arrived. We greeted each other with hugs and happy hello’s. I pulled Briley off to the side. “Briley, I need to talk to you.”
“Yeah?” She asked quietly. A little boy ran up and tugged on her shirt.
“Mommy! I want something to drink!”
“Sweetie, go tell daddy okay?” The little boy ran off. “What’s up?” She asked.
“I think I’m pregnant.”
“Wow... that’s surprising.” She paused. “I thought you two didn’t want any more kids for another year or so.”
“We don’t. I’m supposed to find out for sure tonight.” She nodded. “Pray for us okay?” She nodded and gave me a hug.
“What you women doing in there?” Justin yelled.
“We’ll be right there!” I hollered back.
“Everything is gonna be fine, okay?” Briley told me.
I nodded and we left the house, going to the backyard where everyone else was gathered. As we made small talk, I kept my eye on the phone. I didn’t want to seem too anxious, so I left it on the other side of Justin. So, I was around thirty feet away from it. Chris was in the middle of telling a joke when the phone did ring. I jumped up, jumped across Justin, actually landing across his lap and grabbed the phone, pushing the talk button. “Hello?”
“Kelly, this is Denise.”
“Yeah?” I anxiously asked.
“I got your results back-”
“And?” I interrupted.
She laughed. “And, congratulations. Your pregnant.”
“I’m what?”
“Your pregnant.”
“Um... no.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
“Call me tomorrow, and we’ll set up an appointment. Tell Lance congratulations for me.”
“I will... and thank you!”
“No problem. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I hung the phone up and stared in surprise at the phone in my hand as I sat on the grass. I looked up and found everyone staring at me. “Hi.”
“What’s wrong?” Lance asked.
“I.... um... I have some news...” I paused. “It’s... uh...” I looked over at Briley and she was smiling. I nodded to her. Briley squealed and jumped up, giving me a hug.
“Okay, let’s play a guessing game,” Chris suggested. “I get the first guess!” He paused, then continued. “Harmony got kicked out of pre-school!”
“No,” I answered.
“The plans to get Harmony and Alleck married went through!” JC suggested.
“No,” Briley answered.
“I got it!” Justin yelled. “Lance is pregnant!”
I looked at Briley and raised one eyebrow as if to say, ‘He’s getting awfully close...’ “No,” I answered.
“No, I got something better than that!” Lance said. “Kelly’s pregnant!” This caused everyone to crack up laughing... except for me and Briley.
“Um...” I smiled. “Lance... um... I don’t know how to tell you this...” He stopped laughing. “Your right.”
“I’m what?”
“Your right.”
“I’m what?”
“Right.”
“Left,” Chris said.
“I’m pregnant,” I said, looking Lance in the eye.
“This is impossible! No, you can’t be!” He stopped in surprise. “How did this happen?”
I cleverly replied, “Lance, dear, I think you were there.”
“That’s not what I meant!” He exclaimed. Then, his surprise turned to joy. “This is great!” He ran over and hugged me. The four guys followed, giving Lance handshakes, telling him, ‘what a man’ he is. The girls gave me hugs and immediately started planning a baby shower.
“Hey Kelly, I’m happy for you,” Justin told me, giving me a hug.
A scream pierced through the backyard. “AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!! Let go!” Little Alleck Chasez’s voice yelled.
All of us looked over and saw that Harmony had Alleck in a headlock. “Harmony Lynnae! Let him go!” I yelled.
“But he likes it!” She yelled back.
“Harmony, I brought you into this world, I can take you out!”
Lance smiled, and I knew he was thinking about a night we went to a playground when I visited them in Florida. I heard a mother say that, and I swore I would never say that to my kids. “Harmony...” Lance warningly yelled.
At the sound of his deep voice, she let go of Alleck, him running from her. Us adults relaxed once he was safe. “Technically Kelly... I brought Harmony into the world...” Justin said with a smile.
“Okay, Justin, you have a point.”
“It’s not that I didn’t love sharing in that occasion with you and Lance, but please, get to a hospital with this one.”
I smiled. “What the heck are you talking about?” Baylee asked. It was a couple of years ago when she met Joey, but it wasn’t until recently that they began dating. He obviously hadn’t told her that story.
“Joey hasn’t told you that story?” I asked her. She shook her head.
“Joey, what were you thinking?” Justin asked, with a smile.
“I don’t know. I just figured that this was one you needed to tell,” Joey answered.
“Tell me already!” Baylee said impatiently.
“All right.” Justin sighed. “Kelly was nine months pregnant with Harmony and we had a concert here in Orlando that she attended...”
