Chapter 67: The Perfect Life

Five weeks later, Samantha wakes up and barely makes it to the bathroom before she throws up all over the floor. She feels her head to see if she has a fever, but it feels cold to the touch.

Ben walks in and puts a wet washcloth on the back of her neck and kisses her forehead. "Baby, are you O.K?"

She turns to him and tries to smile right before she throws up all over him. She looks up at him through tears, "I am so sorry. I can't seem to hold it in." She starts to cry harder, and he kneels to take care of her.

Worried, he gets up and calls the doctor. After a few minutes he is off the phone and getting Samantha dressed. The physician had told him to take her in to the E.R. right away and get some blood work done.

As they sit in her room at the hospital, they await news from the doctor about her bloodwork. They talk back and forth as Ben notices that Samantha seems to have gotten her nausea under control. The doctor knocks on the door unexpectedly. He smiles as he enters and offers a hand to Ben. "Congratulations, to the both of you! You're expecting and we should get an ultrasound to see just how far along you are."

Shocked, Samantha and Ben hug each other and she starts to cry. "Yes, please. I would love to see our baby." The joy in her eye’s sparkles like a star in the night sky.

After about an hour they finally are led into a small room with an ultrasound machine and a bed. Ben sits down on one of two chairs in the room as the attendant tells Samantha to pull her pants down and her shirt up so she can perform the scan.

The bed is hard and Samantha flinches as she feels the ultrasound wand on her stomach cold and unyielding. The attendant announces once she looks at the scan that the baby is in full view as she circles the little spot on the ultrasound display.

Samantha and Ben melt as they watch their little one on the screen moving around. She lifts a hand to touch it and it seems to know because it moves towards her fingertips. Smiling they both sigh and realize that the scan is done. Samantha gets cleaned up and they make their way home with a printout of their baby.

On the way home Samantha falls asleep. Ben looks over at her and smiles as he pulls in the driveway. He picks her up in his arms and carries her inside to the bed, where he lets her sleep for a while. After about 3 hours he decides he better get her up and make sure she eats something.

He goes into the bedroom and sees her look so peaceful he doesn't want to wake her. Instead, he sits next to her on the bed for a bit just watching her sleep. He eventually awakens her with a kiss and a smile.

"Baby, wake up. You should get up and eat something before it gets too late. You have to eat for two now remember." He says as he runs his finger up her arm and rests his hand on her chest.

She sits and slowly wakes up. Looking around she settles her gaze on his and then leans forward and kisses him lovingly. "I love you so much, I can't believe that we're pregnant. Now all my dreams have come true. I have fallen in love with the most wonderful man in the world and I am pregnant with his baby."

Ben rubs her back and helps her get up. They make their way down to the kitchen and he makes her some dinner after getting her a yogurt cup to snack on. Sitting and drinking a glass of water, she watches him as he cooks. She always finds him such an amazing man, and she just can't believe how lucky she is.

She eats absolutely everything he put on her plate, even the stuffed peppers. Normally, she wouldn't even think about eating them. However, tonight all the aromas made her so hungry she didn't care what she put in her mouth just as long as it was food.

"Baby must have been hungry. I even ate the peppers. I can't believe it." She cleans the plate with her finger as she brings it to her mouth.

"I'm just glad that you are eating. I was really worried about you all day. Then I couldn't wait to wake you up so I could make sure you were o.k."

She smirks and stands up as she stands in front of Ben's chair and then straddles him. "I need lots of hugs. So does baby." She giggles.

He just puts his arms around her and holds her tenderly. He plants kisses all over her neck and then her mouth. They kiss for a long time and then he tells her she should be going to bed. Samantha looks at him and decides that it is for the best, so she starts to feel better.

He picks her up and carries her to the bed. As she undresses, he watches her intently. Fighting his hunger for her he doesn't lay down with her right away for the night. Instead, he watches T.V. until he is sure she is asleep and then sneaks in behind her and cuddles.

The next morning, she wakes up early and notices that he is snoring lightly next to her with his clothes still on. She smiles and shakes him gently. Leaning over, she kisses him and then goes into the kitchen to make breakfast. On the way she looks in the full-length mirror in the hallway. She notices the baby bump as she smiles again.

He smells bacon cooking and wakes up, stretches, and makes his way to the kitchen where Samantha is almost done with cooking breakfast. She looks up from the stove and goes over to him. He hugs her and kisses her forehead. "The food will be done in a minute. Let me set the table."

As he sets the plates on the table, she finishes cooking. When they have eaten everything, they go into the living room and relax. She puts her legs on him and they watch a show on T.V. "In a bit I have to get ready for work. I have a few patients today and then I will be back to look in on you. Take it easy while I am gone."

They both sit there for a little while longer till he must get ready, then he takes a shower and puts on a fresh suit. She always enjoys watching him dress in his suits. He always looks like a model from GQ magazine, so hands some and well built. Most of all, he's all mine.

"Remember, take it easy and I will be back in a couple of hours." He kisses her goodbye after he's already to go and then she hears the car drive off.

For several hours she sits and reads. Then she watches a movie and falls asleep on the couch. Just after 3 p.m. she wakes up to hear a knock at the door. She gets up and stumbles, almost falling to the floor. As she just barely manages to grab the edge of the sofa, she steadies herself then rushes to the door.

She opens the door to find the neighbor Mr. Kneedly standing there. He looks like he was just about to leave before she managed to get there. "Hi, can I help you?"

He takes her hand and congratulates her. "Your husband had stopped at the mailbox just as I was getting my mail. We talked and he notified me that you are expecting. How wonderful."

"Thank you so much. It was a bit of a surprise. We had been trying but actually didn't expect it to happen so soon." She admitted to him as he held out a bag of baby books.

"When me and my wife had been expecting, we got every book known to man. I hope these help you as much as they helped us." He smiled but she could see a hint of sadness in his eyes. His wife had died two years ago of cancer. Since then, his son went away to college. She knew he was lonely, so she felt a bit bad for him.

"Would you like to come in for some coffee or tea?"

"No, actually I have to be going. I am doing the laundry and trying to catch up on the cleaning. I just wanted to congratulate you and make sure I gave you these." He hands the bag of books to her and then leaves. As he waves goodbye she smiles and shuts the door.

Samantha looks at the clock after doing the dishes and hears Ben open the door. "Hey baby, do you want to go get a pizza and then I thought we could go see a movie?" He takes off his suit jacket and puts it on the back of the chair.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful right now. Hey, by the way Mr. Kneedly stopped by and gave me all his old baby books."

"Cool, we can use all the help we can get. Let me go change and we can get out of here." He slips into something more comfortable as she finds some shoes to wear.