Moments That Change Lives

Obviously she had known who Brandon was as whenever the subject of his company came up in their conversations Henry mentioned his financial assistant. Brandon was Henry’s right hand and in his words “took care that the company was sailing ahead.”

“I’m at home, why? Hmph… Alright… Now? But… Okay, okay… I’m coming.” Henry lowered the phone down on the table.

“Is everything alright?” Mira worryingly asked.

“Someone robbed our warehouse. We lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods. Oh my! It’ll be a huge hit on our shares and… I have to go, dear. I’m sorry!” Henry abruptly stood up from the sofa and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t wait up! I might come back very late.” He said before running out of the door. She heard the engine of the jeep turning on and let out a deep breath.

She guessed money never came easily and with that thought she went to the kitchen to join Alicia. The company of the maid was pleasant for her. It’s what got her through the dull days and helped her stay in touch with reality. Over the last month Alicia and Mira became real friends, sharing the chores and talking about all kinds of stuff regular people talked about. Regular as in people who grew up without billions on their accounts. Stuff she couldn’t share with Henry or anyone else.

After the chit chat with Alicia, though she could no longer stand on her feet so she retreated to her bedroom. She threw herself on the bed, immediately falling asleep.

The next week had been a whirl of hasty meetings with Henry as he had had to go to the company and stay there for whole days. The police had apparently caught the robber but he had already sold the goods leaving Henry with massive losses that had resulted in closing one of the company’s offshore buildings. He had been totally devastated blaming himself for not being able to maintain his father’s legacy. But then over the next weekend as they had been sitting in the yard Henry had received a call that the goods had been stopped by the customs and returned to his warehouse.

“God’s on my side, hon! Hah! I can’t believe it. A lot of miracles happen to me lately,” he had told Mira and rushed out of the house.

It took a couple more days for things to get to normal and once the company was on its feet again Mira had already entered her third month of pregnancy. Ecstatic as the both of them were, Henry made an appointment at the hospital and took her to see the doctor at once on Monday morning.

The hospital looked rather like a hotel to Mira who impatiently shifted on the bench in the waiting room. Henry was by the counter asking the nurse when the doctor would be free to accept them while women with bumps way bigger than hers went in and out of the doors.

“He’ll take us in shortly,” Henry said sitting next to her.

“Are you excited?” Mira asked him.

“Oh, I am sweating all over. I think I’m even more nervous than you.” He took her hand in his and fondled it.

“I just want everything to be okay. The baby to be okay.” Mira’s whole body was shaking with anticipation, the fear that something might go wrong because of her supposed infertility not leaving her.

“It will be, dear. I’m here. Don’t worry.” Henry reassuringly squeezed her hand when the doctor called her name from inside the office.

They were greeted by a chubby man probably in his forties standing before an echo machine and a bed. He had been checking something on the machine but once they entered he turned to them.

“Ah… The Masters! Come in!” He waved his arm in invitation. How nice it sounded. The Masters.

“Good morning, doctor. Can I be present?” Henry asked and the doctor nodded.

“Lie down, Mrs. Masters!” The doctor showed her the bed.

“Mira, please,” she said seeing Henry’s smiling face. He liked the sound of his surname next to her name, too.

“Okay. Mira it is, then. Have you had any pains up till now?” The doctor addressed her and she shook her head.

“None. Only nausea in the mornings sometimes.” Mira explained while lying down.

“Okay. That’s normal in the first few months. You’re in your third now, right?” The doctor pulled out some cream from the counter below the machine.

“Yeah,” Mira said and lifted her shirt to reveal her stomach. She could see her fingers shaking and her voice quivering but she tried her best not to show how upset and scared she was. Partly because she didn’t want anything to go wrong with the baby and partly because she hadn’t been to a hospital since her thirteenth birthday. Henry came next to her obviously noticing her distress and placed his hand on her shoulder slightly squeezing. Saying “we’re in this together” in that squeeze and she was grateful for that comfort.

The doctor covered her belly with the invisible cream she had previously seen only in movies and placed some part of the machine on her stomach. It was cold and ticklish on her skin. His hand moved the part in circles while he was humming something. A moment. Two. And there it was. The sound she and Henry had been dreaming of for days. The thumping of their baby’s heart. It was getting louder and louder and before she could control herself, Mira’s eyes spilled all the tears they’d been holding on her cheeks. She thought she heard Henry sniff from next to her but when she threw a look at him he seemed composed or at least pretending to be composed.

“Your baby is strong and healthy, Mira. Congratulations!” The doctor said everything Mira wanted to hear and she relaxed.

Wiping away the tears she asked, “So it’s okay? Everything’s normal?”

“Yes, Mira. It’s all normal.” The doctor chuckled. “You can stand up now. I have a gift for you two. To keep for a lifetime, okay?”

The doctor gave her some paper to wipe her stomach before she covered it with her shirt, rising on her feet. Henry held her under the armpits to help her out. He softly kissed her forehead and accompanied her to the doctor’s desk in silence.

“Here it is. The Masters’ Junior. It’s still very small so we don’t know whether it’ll like cars or Barbies yet but there it is nevertheless.” The doctor handed Henry a picture laughing. A joker that one was.

There was something like a whirl on the picture with a dot circled in the middle. Their child. The proof of their love. Mira’s second chance for a family. She wept again over it while Henry held her tightly by his side.

“Thank you for everything, doctor,” he just said. “This is our first child so we don’t really…”

“I know, Mr. Masters. Congratulations and see you in a month. Hopefully then we’ll know what color you should buy the clothes in.” The doctor waved them goodbye still very cheerful while Mira and Henry were in the clouds. It was like everything except for the picture clutched in their hands ceased to exist.

They walked out of the hospital and sat in the jeep in a delirium. Silently, Henry took the photo from Mira’s hands and kissed it gently. Then pressing it tightly to his chest he spilled everything he had been holding in before, all the anxiety and thrill and love in the single tear that slid down his face.