Goldie settled back into her parents' home, reflecting that she was lucky to have grown up there. It had been different back then, with her and Grant being so young, with all their activities, while both parents worked also. Now, both of them were retired, with more salt than pepper in their hair, and the pace was slower, more relaxed.

Her cold, which she thought would pass in a few days, seemed to be hanging on, and was getting more like the flu. She couldn't keep anything down, and had a constant, low grade fever that she couldn't seem to shake. It seemed to have affected her sense of smell, also, in that things that had previously smelled delicious to her, like her mother's stew, smelled horrible now.

"What is that?" Goldie asked one afternoon.

"What?" Her mother emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron. "I just gave it a stir, should be ready in a bit."

"Something smells like hot garbage," Goldie declared, making a face.

"Goldie, that's the stew," her mother chided. "You love my stew, or so I thought."

"I do, it just smells—off—this time. Is it the same as always?"

"Your grandma Sorensen's recipe, as ever," her mom assured her.

Goldie didn't eat much stew that night.

❣️❣️

"Okay, that's it," Harriet declared one morning after Goldie had thrown up her toast yet again. "It's doctor time."

"What? For a cold? You know what Dr. Tynan will say, Mom." Goldie did a fair imitation of the family doctor. "Take meds for the fever and stick to clear liquids." She sat up from her place on the couch. "I have the flu, and I'm lucky that it seems so mild. I mean, I barely have a fever, and I don't even feel that achy."

Her mother sat down next to her. "Fine, no Dr. Tynan for now." She put a hand on her daughter's arm. "I just have to ask, then, dear. Is it possible you're pregnant?"

Goldie stared at her mother. "Mom! Of course not! I'm on the pill, and—" she considered. "I'm on the pill. Not possible. End of convo, okay?"

Harriet shrugged. "Okay, but you're showing all the symptoms."

"What symptoms?"

"Low grade fever, nausea, altered sense of smell. I felt all those things with both you and your brother," her mother informed her. "Do you have breast tenderness?" She leaned forward and gave a gentle press, noticing how her daughter winced.

"I'm generally achy," Goldie retorted. "It just happens that my breasts are one of the achy parts."

"Would you humor a middle-aged woman and take a pregnancy test?" Harriet asked with a little smile.

"But I just had a period last—" Goldie stopped to consider. She took the little pills every morning without thought, and realized that she couldn't remember when she last had a period. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I just happen to have a pregnancy test," Harriet said, rising from her place next to her daughter.

"What? Why?" Goldie looked at her mother suspiciously. "You've been planning to ambush me?"

"No, dear," her mother said mildly. "Your dad and I had a pregnancy scare a couple of months ago, that's all, and the package contained two tests. I only used one."

"What? You and Dad?" Goldie asked, aghast. "But you don't—you're not—you couldn't be—" Goldie didn't even know how to finish her sentence. "Are you?"

Harriet laughed comfortably. "No, thankfully. Can you imagine being parents again at our age?"

Goldie shook her head vigorously. She didn't even want to think of the implications of her parents needing a home pregnancy test.

"It turns out I'm starting menopause," Harriet explained. "Dr. Tynan said my periods would become hit or miss over the next couple of years, before they disappear altogether." She let out a breath. "I'll be glad when it happens, to tell you the truth. It's a bother every month, as you know, and Dad and I won't have to worry about birth control or getting pregnant anymore."

"Eww, Mom, TMI, stop, please." Goldie was beside herself.

Harriet laughed at her daughter. "So I'll go get the test, and you'll take it?"

Goldie nodded. "But doesn't it have to be in the morning or something?"

Her mother shook her head. "Not these new ones, they can tell at any time of day, as early as four weeks also."

Goldie sat and thought as she waited for her mother.

Pregnant?

She couldn't be, could she? She was the poster child for contraceptive pill use, she never missed one. She'd gotten confused with the time changes when they went and returned from England, but other than that, not a blip.

"And even if there had been a blip, it couldn't have been more than one," Goldie mused aloud as her mother returned with the little box.

"One blip is all it takes," Harriet told her with a smile. "Now hurry up, before Dad gets back from the hardware store."

Goldie took the proffered box and went into the bathroom. She sat down on the commode to wet it while her mother talked to her through the closed door.

"Sometimes it takes a few minutes for it to work, so just wait—" Harriet began, when Goldie abruptly opened the door. She shoved the stick in front of her mother.

The little window for positive was a deep, impossible blue.

Goldie leaned weakly against the wall.

Oh. My. God.

Harriet smiled as she looked at the stick. "Congratulations, Daughter, you're pregnant."

"But Mom, I can't be," Goldie began again. "I'm on the—"

"You're on the pill, I know, you told me." Harriet looked at her daughter. "But you are, nonetheless. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

Goldie turned huge eyes to her mother. "I don't know," she said helplessly.

She stepped into her mother's arms and began to cry.

"Oh, sh, shh, things aren't that bad," Harriet soothed as she led her daughter from the bathroom. "I'll put the kettle on, and we'll talk, okay?"

"Mom, I don't think a cup of tea is going to solve things this time." Goldie snorted and reached for a tissue in the kitchen. "Jeff doesn't want a baby with me, he doesn't even want me."

They sat together in the living room, sipping their tea as they talked.

"Is there a possibility you wouldn't have it?" Harriet asked, eyes serious over her mug.

Goldie nodded. "I can't have a baby now," she said. "I don't have a steady job, I haven't finished school, I have no money. I have nothing to give a baby."

"You know that if it's just a matter of money, Dad and I will always help you. Grant too."

Goldie looked at her mother and her eyes softened. "I know that, and thank you, but I can't ask you to do that."

Harriet nodded. "Well, I'm sure there's a clinic in Syracuse or Buffalo where you could get an abortion." She sighed. "What an ugly word." She set her mug down and put an arm around Goldie. "Not that I don't understand."

"It's a horrible solution to a horrible problem," Goldie said, feeling tears coming. She bit them back. She had to be rational now.

"Well, either way, I do know that you definitely need to go to the doctor now," Harriet said. "Whatever you decide, it doesn't have to be right this moment, and you need to know that you're okay."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we need to know how far along you are, and we need to make sure you're healthy, that the pregnancy isn't ectopic or anything." Her mother's calm was reassuring.

Goldie heard the car in the driveway. "Should I tell Dad?"

"It's up to you, but I think he'd rather know than not." Harriet was pulling her phone out to call Dr. Tynan for an appointment.

Goldie nodded just as her dad entered the room.

"What's going on? You two look so serious." Tom kissed his daughter as his wife left the room to talk on her phone.

"Oh Dad, I'm pregnant." And now the tears did come.

Her father put an arm around her and led her to the sofa, where they both sat so she could cry comfortably into his shoulder.

"Goldie, I'm so sorry you're upset." Tom kissed the crown of Goldie's head. "Keeping it isn't a possibility?"

Goldie shrugged. "It's a possibility, I guess. I'm not ruling anything out, but the situation isn't ideal, I think you'd agree."

Tom laughed. "Well, things could be worse. You've finished college, you're able-bodied and young, you have a supportive family—?" He let the sentence dangle.

"But I wanted to be a lawyer," Goldie lamented. "There's so much I want to do before I become a parent."

"I know, I know," Tom responded. "Without getting too personal, how did this happen?"

Goldie explained about the pill. "Do you blame me for this, Dad?"

"No, no blame, of course not," he answered immediately. "And whatever you decide, you have my support, you know that, right?"

Goldie nodded.

"You and Jeff figure out what you're going to do, and your mother and I will be behind you all the way."

Jeff?

"You have to tell Jeff, don't you?" Tom asked. "He's the father, after all. It's not like you can't track him down or don't know who he is or anything. Doesn't he have a right?"

"Oh god, Dad, I can barely figure this out just thinking about me, how can I tell Jeff?"

Her father nodded, keeping his silence.

Harriet entered the room. "We're in luck, she can see us tomorrow afternoon," she announced. "Dr. Tynan," she explained at her husband's look of query.

He nodded his understanding.

"Mom, Dad thinks I should tell Jeff," Goldie said, looking up at her mother.

"Well, dear, that's your decision as well, but I think we should get Dr. Tynan out of the way first, don't you? Make sure there's something to tell him, either way?"

Goldie nodded, grateful to put off the decision of whether or not to tell Jeff for at least a day.

"I think that's enough heavy talk for now," Tom said, giving Goldie a last squeeze before releasing her. "How about I go get us a pizza and we put in a movie?"

Goldie kissed her father after wiping her tears. She rose and kissed her mother as well.

"Thanks to both of you, for being so wonderful and understanding," she said. "Pizza sounds great." Suddenly she was starving.

She considered as she waited for her father to return with the pizza.

Pregnant.