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On Thursday night after dinner, the first of February, Doug put the newspaper aside and said, "I&039;ve got some work to do at the office"

Laura watched him stand up and walk back to the bedroom Their dinner had been eaten in silence of the stoniest kind It had been Monday afternoon when she&039;d driven out to the Hillandale apartuilt in everyhad asked her as bothering her, and she&039;d said she didn&039;t feel well, that she was ready to be unbloated again That was partly true, but of course only partly; Doug, acting on instincts that had begun to beep like a radar alarm the last few days, did not pursue the point Laura i th for the rite ahead

"I&039;ll be back in about" Doug glanced at the clock as he shrugged into his coat "I don&039;t know I&039;ll just be back when I&039;ue David was heavy in her belly tonight, and his kicking was a real irritation She felt huge and lumpy, her sleep had been racked with bad dreahts, and she was in no ames "How&039;s Erici" she asked

"Erici He&039;s fine, I guess Whyi"

"Does he spend as little time at home as you doi"

"Don&039;t start that now You know I&039;ve got a lot of work, and the day isn&039;t long enough"

"The night isn&039;t long enough, either, is iti" she asked

Doug stopped buttoning his coat He stared at her, and she thought she saw a small flash of fear in his eyes "No," he replied "It&039;s not" His fingers finished the job "You kno ei"

"a lot"

"Yes, a lot Like more than a hundred thousand dollars, and that&039;s today&039;s rates By the tie, God only kno much it&039;ll cost That&039;s what I think about when I have to go to work at night"

She thought she hter, she didn&039;t knohich Her face ached to collapse, but she kept her expression calht, theni"

"Midnighti Sure" He pulled his collar up "Wantto be too latei"

"That would be nice"

"Okay" Doug leaned over and kissed her cheek, and Laura realized he had dashed his face with English Leather His lips scraped her flesh, and then they were gone "See you later," he said He got his briefcase and headed for the garage door

Say soht Stop hiht now But terror hit her, because she didn&039;t knohat to say and - worst of all - she feared that nothing she could say would stop hi&039;s steps slowed He did stop, and he looked back at her fro to be only a few uess you&039;re good and ready, aren&039;t youi"

"Stay withtook a breath Laura saw him look around at the walls, a pained expression on his face, like a prisoner judging the width and breadth of his confinement He took a couple of steps toward her, and then he stopped again "You know, sometimes this is hard to say" He paused a few seconds and tried again "Sometimes I see e have, and how far we&039;ve coe inside, like is this iti I mean is this what it&039;s all abouti and noith you about to have the baby it&039;s like the end of so Can you understand thati"

She shook her head

"The end of just us," he went on "The end of Doug and Laura You knohat I had a dream about last weeki"

"No Tellin that chair" He ut and I was balding and all I wanted to do was sit in front of the television set and sleep I don&039;t knohere you and David were, but I was alone and everything was behind , because that was a terrible thing to knoas a richbecause -" He had trouble with this, but he forced it out "Because the journey&039;s what it&039;s all about Not the being there It&039;s the fight to ed "I guess I don&039;t ed hi started to walk toward her She kneanted to co to break away from some force that pulled at him He balanced toward her for a few precious seconds, and then he lifted his aro Got a heavy client first thing in the , and there&039;s paperwork to clear up" His voice was stiff again, all business "We&039;ll talk toht Doug turned away from her and, briefcase in hand, he walked out of the house

Laura heard the Mercedes&039; engine growl The garage door went up Before it ratcheted down again, Laura got to her feet She winced and put a hand to her lower back, which had been hurting since earlyHer bones ached as she walked across the den, and she picked up the keys to her BMW froot her overcoat and purse Then she walked out - hobbled was e, slid behind the BMW&039;s wheel, and started the engine

She hadIf he went to work, fine They would talk about the future honestly, and decide where to go fro to call a lawyer in the e, turned off the driveway onto Moore&039;s Mill Road, and drove toward the co the worst

as she ed into the traffic on the expressway, she realized what she was doing as if seeing it from a distance, and its audacity surprised her She hadn&039;t known she still had any true toughness left in her She&039;d thought all her iron had ht in July But following Doug - tracking him as if he were a crian to slow the car to take the next exit raht a stern inner voice, co was a crihtered her heart, he was hacking steadily at it Savaging their lives together, tearing the a mockery of the vows they&039;d taken He was a criminal, and he deserved to be tracked like one

Laura put her foot to the accelerator and sped past the exit

at the Hillandale apart where C Jannsen lived, looking for Doug&039;s car in a parking slot There wasn&039;t a Mercedes in sight, only the low-slung, jazzy sports cars of younger people Laura found an e, and she pulled into it to wait He&039;s not here and he&039;s not co here, he&039;d be here already He went to work, just as he said He really did go to work Relief rushed through her, so strong she alhts brushed past the car Laura looked behind her and to the right as the Mercedes ed on a soft gasp The Mercedes pulled into a parking space eleven cars away frohts were switched off and a an to walk toward C Jannsen&039;s building It was a walk Laura recognized instantly, sort of a half-shaer the briefcase, but a six-pack of beer

He&039;d stopped at a package store, she realized, and that hy she&039;d gotten there first Rage flared within her; she could taste it in her hter fluid on charcoals Her fingers were squeezed around the wheel so hard the veins were standing up in relief on the backs of her hands Doug was on his way to see his girlfriend, and he inging the six-pack like an excited schoolboy Laura reached for the door&039;s handle and popped the door open She wasn&039;t going to let hi he&039;d pulled another one over on his di to fall on hih with him, C Jannsen would need a pooper-scooper to scrape hier

Her water broke

The wars The shock registered in her mind by the time the fluid reached her knees What she&039;d been experiencing as back pain and occasional crae of labor

Her baby was about to be born

She watched Doug turn a corner, and he went out of sight

Laura stood there for a moinning to build The pressure soared into the real a deep bruise, and Laura closed her eyes as the contraction&039;s pain sloelled to its zenith and then began to subside Tears rolled down her cheeks Tiht Look at your watch, stupid! She got back into the BMW and checked her watch by the courtesy light The next contraction began to build within eight minutes, and its force made her clench her teeth

She could not stay therehad soine, backed out of the parking slot, and drove away from her husband and the Hillandale apartments

Two contractions later Laura pulled off the expressway and stopped at a gas station to use the phone She called Dr Bonnart, reached his answering service, and was told he&039;d be paged by his beeper She waited, gripping the telephone as another contraction pulsed through her, sending pain rippling up her back and down her legs Then Dr Bonnart ca, and he said she should get to St Ja there," Dr Bonnart told her, and he hung up

The hospital was a large white building in a parklike setting in northeast atlanta By the ti and was moved into the LDR room, Dr Steven Bonnart showed up in a tuxedo She told him he hadn&039;t needed to dress for the occasion Formal dinner party for the hospital&039;s new director, he explained as he watched the monitor that fed out a display of Laura&039;s contractions Wasn&039;t much of a party anyway, he said, because everybody there wore beepers and the place sounded like a rooi" Dr Bonnart asked as Laura had known he would

"Doug&039;s not able to be here," she answered

Dr Bonnart stared at her for a few seconds through his round tortoiseshell glasses, and then he gave directions to one of the nurses and he left LDR to get changed and scrubbed

a Demerol drip was inserted into the back of Laura&039;s hand with a sharp little stab She was in a green hospital goith an elastic belt around her waist that fed wires to the ht bent forward The smell of medicine and disinfectant drifted into her nostrils The nurses were fast and efficient, and they made chatty s on what they were saying Everything was beco a blur of sound and movement, and she watched the monitor&039;s screen blip as the contractions built inside her, swelled and craain until the next one One of the nurses began talking about a new car she&039;d just bought Bright red, she said alanted a bright red car "Easy breaths," one of the others told Laura, laying her hand on Laura&039;s shoulder "Just like they taught you in class" Laura&039;s heart was beating hard, and that showed up in erratic spikes on another monitor The contractions were like trapped thunder, they shook through her body and foretold a storm "First childi" the nurse with the red car asked as she looked at Laura&039;s chart "My goodness, owned and professional, and he parted Laura&039;s legs to check her dilation "You&039;re working on it," he told her "Still have a ways to go yet Hurting ot coredi "Yes, it&039;s hurting"

"Okay" He gave directions to Red Car about ceecee so needle, huhi Dr Bonnart went to a table and ca in a ballpoint pen, a wire trailing froh-tech white machine "a little invasion," he said with a quick sers The spring-looking thing was an internal fetal monitor, she knew that from her class Dr Bonnart found the baby&039;s head, and he slid the device under the flesh The high-tech an to put out a ticker tape of David&039;s heartbeat and vital signs Laura felt a scraping at her lower back The nurse was preparing her for the epidural at least she wouldn&039;t have to look at the needle The force of the contractions was powerful now, like a fist beating at a bruise on her spine "Breathe easy, breathe easy," so now," Dr Bonnart told her, and she felt the needle go in

a little sting for hier where she came from Then it was over and the needle was out, and Laura felt the skin on her lower back prickle Dr Bonnart checked the progress of her dilation once ns In another ht she could taste medicine in her mouth, and she hoped the epidural worked because the contractions were fierce now and she felt sweat on her face Red Carfor this," the nurse said "a how it happens, isn&039;t iti"

"Yes, it is" Oh, it&039;s hurting Oh God, it really does hurt now! She could feel her body, straining open like a flower

"When it&039;s time, it&039;s time," the nurse went on "When a baby wants to come out, he lets you know about it"

"Tell hied to say, and the nurses and Dr Bonnart laughed

"Hang in there," Dr Bonnart told her, and he left the rooi What if the baby caht this minutei Her heartbeat jumped on the monitor, and one of the nurses held her hand The pressure built within her to what seeht rip open like an overripe melon, and she felt tears burn her eyes But then the pressure faded again, and Laura could hear her own quick, raspy breathing "Easy, easy," the nurse advised "Thursday&039;s child has far to go"

"Whati"

"Thursday&039;s child You know The old saying Thursday&039;s child has far to go" The nurse glanced up at a clock on the wall It was alht wait until Friday, and then he&039;ll be fair of face"