“I’ll be ready when I come downstairs in the morning,” Ginger yelled as she hurried up the steps and practically jogged to the bathroom. When she finished using the toilet, she took a bath and brushed her teeth, then padded across the hallway barefoot to the bedroom she’d been using.

She stretched out on the comfortable bed and laid a hand on her stomach. “Tomorrow we find out just when you’ll be here and maybe if you are a girl or a boy—or twins. I love you, baby, whatever you are and however many there are of you. We’re going to figure out our lives together and do the best we can to be happy in whatever lot we get thrown at us.”

Ginger didn’t know who was more nervous at the doctor’s office the next morning. The nurse took her back to a room, where she told her to take off her top, put on the gown to open in the front, and lie on her back on the bed. Getting comfortable on such a narrow bed was no easy feat, and Ginger feared that she’d fall off until all the Carson sisters trooped right into the room with her.

When Betsy took Ginger’s hand in hers, Ginger’s fears floated away. If she fell, someone would catch her for sure. Connie laced her plump little fingers into Ginger’s left hand, giving her even more support. Kate took a place at the head of the bed and kept a hand on her shoulder. When Dr. Emerson came into the room, Ginger wasn’t a bit surprised to see that he was gray-haired and wore wire-rimmed glasses. That was exactly how she pictured a doctor who would have treated the ladies for most of their lives.

“Well, good mornin’ to all y’all. Looks like there’s going to be a baby at the Banty House pretty soon. Let’s take a listen to your tummy and then measure you,” he said. “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“She hasn’t been to the doctor yet,” Betsy answered. “This is her first visit.”

“Good Lord, child!” Dr. Emerson jerked the end of the stethoscope away from her stomach. “Why didn’t you go get proper prenatal care?”

“I couldn’t afford it,” Ginger answered honestly.

“Well, you’re in my hands now, and we’ll do our best to see to it that everything goes smoothly from here on. We’ll definitely need an ultrasound today and blood work, and I’ll send you home with a bottle of vitamins. Do you have any idea how much you weighed before you got pregnant?” He repositioned the scope on her stomach.

“One twenty,” Ginger said.

“Well, you’re at one forty today, so that’s good,” he told her. “Healthy heartbeat. Sounds like a girl to me, and I’m not often wrong, but we’ll see what the ultrasound says. I’m going to send Linda Sue in to draw some blood and take care of that business, and then we’ll talk again about a due date.”

Ginger had had a few shots in her life, but it seemed more than a little strange to think of her life’s blood flowing into that tube. To think that so much could be learned by testing only a few drops was baffling to her. When the nurse finished, she put a cotton ball on the puncture site and covered that with a Band-Aid. “I’ll run this down to our lab. We may have some results by the time you ladies get done with your errands today. I’ll give you a call if we do. You can get up off that bed and go through the door right there.” Linda Sue pointed. “That’s the ultrasound room. Keep your gown on and lay down on the bed in there. I shouldn’t be more than five minutes.”

Betsy kept a hand on Ginger’s shoulder as she went from one bed to the other. “I can’t wait to see what it is. It would sure be nice if you stayed with us until the baby gets here.”

“We promise not to fight over it like we do the kittens,” Connie said.

Ginger took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’d love to stay until the baby is born, but when the baby and I are able to travel, I still want to see the ocean.” She was so afraid that she’d disappoint Betsy that she couldn’t raise her eyes to look at her. “I want my child to do all the things I never got to do, like ballet lessons if it’s a girl and baseball if it’s a boy, or being in band in high school.”

“Honey, she could do all those things in Hondo,” Betsy said. “You don’t have to live in Los Angeles for your daughter to do that kind of stuff.”

“I hadn’t thought of Hondo being so close,” Ginger said. “But I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.”

“Maybe we’ll go with you. We could take the car and talk Sloan into driving, or we could just fly out there, spend a week, and then fly home. We ain’t never been on a vacation, and it’s one of the things on my bucket list.” Kate muttered the last part.

Ginger could hardly believe her ears. “For real? I’ve never been on a vacation, either. Folks who came into the café always talked about things like going to California to Disneyland or to walk on the beach. It sounded like so much fun.”

“It’s something to think about, but the next thing on our long-term agenda is the Rooster Romp and then getting a room ready for the baby since you’ve agreed to stay,” Betsy said.

“That’s long term?” Ginger asked.

“Honey, at our age, we don’t put much on the calendar past two months down the road,” Connie told her.

Linda Sue came into the room and peeled back the gown. “This is going to be cold.” She squirted some sort of clear jelly on Ginger’s tummy and ran a wand over it. Immediately, Ginger could hear the heartbeat, and then a picture of her baby appeared on the screen to the side.

“It’s a pretty good-sized baby,” Linda Sue said. “From what I see, you’re pretty close to right on that due date. I’m going to call it at May 22. We’ll need to see you every week from now until then. And would you look at that—she’s got hair.”

“She?” Ginger and all the ladies said at once.

“It’s definitely a girl.” Linda Sue moved the wand to show them a picture of her lower parts.

“That amazes me,” Kate said. “Look at her little toes and her cute button nose.”

“She’s lookin’ at me,” Betsy said. “I’m going to be her favorite. She’s going to call me Nana.”

Tears rolled down Ginger’s cheeks. Love poured from her heart like nothing she’d ever felt before, and yet mixed in with all the other emotions was just a little bit of sorrow. She’d hoped for twins, and there was definitely only one baby. She hadn’t started off by giving her child a brother or sister. Maybe someday, later on down the road, she’d have one more baby, so this one would have a playmate. Perhaps her second one would even have a full-time father who would love both the children.

“Why are you crying?” Connie wiped away her tears with a tissue.

“This is the mo-most emotional moment of my life,” Ginger sobbed. “That’s my daughter right there, and she’s beautiful, and I love her so much.”

Betsy put her head in her hands and cried right along with Ginger until she got hiccups. “I’m so glad you’re letting us share all this with you,” she said.

Linda Sue removed the wand, wiped off the jelly, and held out a hand to help Ginger sit up. “Our little lab is backed up, so I’ll have to call y’all this evening with the results of that blood work. I’ve made you an appointment for next Thursday at the same time. Oh, and here comes your pictures.”

“What?” Ginger asked.

“The printout of your ultrasounds.” Linda Sue handed the black-and-white photos of the baby to Ginger.

The ladies all gathered around to stare at the pictures. Kate reached out with her forefinger to touch the image. “It’s amazing what they can do these days. Mama didn’t know what we were until we were born. She said once that she was glad we were girls, because she’d have no idea what to do with a boy child.”

“I wonder if my mother ever saw something like this when she was carrying me,” Ginger whispered. “I can’t imagine having to give my baby up only an hour or two after she’s born. It would tear my heart right out of my chest.”

Betsy’s chin quivered. “Once a mother, always a mother. I’m sure she thought of you often, darlin’, and maybe even had hopes of gettin’ you back when she got out of prison.”

“Or maybe of you going to visit her when you got old enough to look her up,” Kate said.

“Let’s buy a picture album today,” Connie suggested. “We’ll put one of the Easter pictures of all of us in it and then this photo, and you can keep adding to it as the baby grows.”

“That would be so special,” Ginger said. “I never had any childhood pictures that I could keep. Some of my foster parents took photos of us kids, but I never got to take them with me when I left.”