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As Gloria looked at Bridget with compassion, Bridget’s heart fell. “The probability is high that your little baby girl has trisomy 21, or Down syndrome. Bridget, I can only tell you what I know from the mothers and fathers I’ve talked to about this. Once your baby is in your arms, you’ll find out that she simply needs the same things Flynn does. Everything else, the special interventions, you’ll plan for later. Right now, you just need to take care of Bridget and Tony and make sure you are okay. And that means you need to trust him with the news.”
Feeling like the breath had been knocked out of her, nothing could have prepared her for this. She was so glad she didn’t know for certain almost six months ago, and that she’d protected Tony from it. Getting through each day would have been insufferable. Then she thought of something.
“There’s still a chance she won’t have it, correct?” Gripping her hands together, Bridget imagined being in their bedroom at the Saints’, telling Tony that that their baby would have Down syndrome. Did he even know what it was?
“There’s still a chance. You could have an amniocentesis to be sure.”
“No. There’s no need. She’s healthy, correct? Her heart and her body were fine in the first test.”
“Why not have another ultrasound, then, just for peace of mind?”
“That’s exactly what Tony said. His words.”
Gloria waited patiently for Bridget to decide. Her mind was whirling. What could they find out that was worse?
“Okay. I’ll have an ultrasound. I’ll schedule it for when Tony is off work so he can come.”
On the way home she debated how to tell him. Wishing he was home wasn’t going to make him materialize. He’d be home the following morning, a Saturday. The plan for the weekend was to do the electrical work at last. Was it fair to him to hear bad news first thing? Gloria had said something that resonated. “You have to trust him with the facts.”
She did trust Tony. He was loving and compassionate. Flynn loved him because Tony so loved him. What was she afraid of?
The conversation she had had with Randy when she told him she was pregnant probably had something to do with it. Tony would never be a Randy. He wouldn’t walk away from a problem. It just wasn’t his way. She thought about how gentle he was, even with Patty. He’d stuck by her long after he should have walked away. But was that what she really wanted?
“Ugh, stop it.”
Saturday morning, she primped before Tony was due home. The fire station had had a quiet night, so he claimed to have slept long enough when he’d called before heading for home.
“I can’t wait to get over to the house and start working.”
“Me too. My parents offered to babysit so I can come along. Do you want to go to breakfast first?”
“We could do that. We haven’t had a date in a long time.”
Now she was going to ostensibly destroy it by giving him news he wasn’t going to want. Deciding it was better not to try to plan out what she’d say, she’d come right out and say it.There’s a good chance our baby will be born with Down syndrome.
He got home around eight, and they didn’t waste time preparing Flynn for his trip to Granny and Grandpa Clark’s. Alice and Caitlin met them at the door.
“Oh, come to Granny, you cutie! Have a good time and don’t hurry back. We’re ready to have him for the day.”
Emmett walked up just as they were preparing to leave. “I set up the port-a-crib in our room so he’ll be comfortable.”
“Thank you, Mam,” she said, kissing her cheek. “Thanks, Da.”
“Yes, thank you both so much,” Tony said.
He slid his arm around Bridget’s shoulders as they walked back to the truck while Alice looked on.
“I wish they’d get married,” she mumbled.
“Mam, really?” Caitlin asked. “They’re fine the way they are.”
“We’ll see.”
Once they were in the truck, Bridget knew she didn’t want to tell him about the baby in a restaurant. “Can we pick up something and take it back to our house?”
“Sure. No one will be there yet. It will be perfect.” He looked over at her and smiled, melting her heart. So much was about to change. The fairy tale, for one thing, was going to crash into reality.
They went through the drive-thru and got breakfast burritos and then stopped at Peterson’s Donuts for coffee and goodies, enough for whoever came by to work.
