“Jeez, Josh!” she said. Then, with a sneaky look on her face, “Cruella.”
By now, they were holding hands. She said, “Cori.”
“Cori,” he repeated. “Corrine? Corona?” then started to laugh. “Not Corona.”
Her eyes pierced into his, “Cori. Not Corrine or anything, just Cori.”
“Where did you get that?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It just came. It had nothing to do with coronavirus, I don’t know anyone with that name, it just came. There’s no one in our family named Cori.”
“It’s nice,” he said. “I like it.”
“Are you saying that just to appease or empower me?”
“No,” he said. “truly, I like it. I don’t think there is a Cori in our family either. I probably will tease our friends with Corona, but I don’t mean it.”
“Especially Haley,” she said. “She so deserves it.”
If you take a shower, I’ll clean up the kitchen.
“What?” she said, “Do I stink?”
“Yes!” He gave her a cheesy grin. “No. But you were on call last night and I bet you didn’t have one. Usually, you do shower when you get home after call.”
“Yes,” she said patting his shoulder on the way to the bathroom.
“Cori. I love it now.”
Soon the two were facing each other on the couch with their legs outstretched and meshed. Faith was in her terrycloth robe with a towel on her head, and Josh had on shorts and a t-shirt. He noticed Faith was staring at him.
“What?” he said.
“We’re going to have a baby.”
“I’m glad we’re not having two.”
“Jeez,” she said, “I never even thought about that!”
“Dr Valdez told a patient that in order to have twins you have to do it twice in one night.” Josh enjoyed the look on her face, then added, “In that case, we should be having triplets.”
“Joshua Menkowicz you are the worst.”
“Where did you learn that?” he said. “My mom would say something like that.”
“Maybe Cori will run with me,” she said. “We can play in the park. Maybe we need a dog.”
“Hold it right there. One major change at a time. I know how much work a dog is. I imagine a baby is even more work than that. We don’t need them both at the same time. Let’s get used to Cori and then think about a dog.” He kept staring at her while he thought some more about Cori and a dog. “I suppose a house and a picket fence? How about a minivan? You certainly have come a long way from not wanting a baby as a second-year resident.”
She pulled one side of her mouth up, “I have. I’m a lot less scared of this now. And Josh, you know that’s really because of you. I can’t imagine being in this situation with Brian.”
Josh poked her thigh with his heel. “You have to get Brian out of here. He is gone. Let it go. He doesn’t live here.”
“Are you really that angry about it?” She gave him a little pout.
“No. But sometimes it ruins the moment, like just now. This is our baby. Brian has nothing to do with it. It’s not his, it’s not his business, he doesn’t live here. This is just for us.”
“I agree.” She kept looking at his face, and he held her gaze. “I don’t mean to be a pain about it.”
“I know.”
“I’ll work on it, I promise. It’s just really hard. You know we see him almost every day.”
“That does make it tougher,” he said. “But I want him out of this house and Cori in.”
She didn’t answer. The change-of-subject face stared at her phone. “Hello, Dr Faith,” Natalie’s cheery voice heralded.
“What’s new, Nat?” Faith asked, procrastinating.
“Not much. I like earth science in school.”
“You’re becoming a nerd like me.”
“No. Not happening.”
“I have some news.”
“What news?” Natalie asked.
Faith hesitated. “I’m pregnant.”
“How good,” Natalie cheered. “Or is it?”
“Yes. I am worried that I will be a second-year resident and have a baby, but nobody thinks there’s a better time.”
“When are you due?”
“September 22.”
“Whose baby is it?” trepidation leaking into Nat’s voice. “Brian? Or Josh?”
“Josh, of course.”
“Oh good,” Natalie said. “Boy, that would be a nightmare.”
“I hadn’t thought of that. No, she’s Josh’s.”
“She?”
“We think so. I am only eleven weeks, so we are not sure, but we didn’t see a penis.”
“That’s so exciting,” Natalie was squeaking. “I’m excited. I’m going to be an aunt.” There was a pause. “Are you ready to tell Mom and Dad?”
“I think so.”
There was some shuffling, then Jim’s voice, low and smooth, said, “What did you tell Natalie?”
“I’m pregnant, Dad,” she said. “We’re going to have a baby in September. We think it’s a girl and we might name her Cori.”
Marianna’s laugh took over the conversation. “That’s so exciting.”
“You realize, that makes you Grandma.”
“I’m ready,” Marianna answered. “I thought about it after you married Brian, but then I thought about it the day we came to help move you in with Josh.”
“It’s Josh’s baby,” Natalie said.
“That’s good,” Marianna said. “What do you think of this, Josh?”
“I’m excited. Faith picked out the name Cori, and I love it.”
“That’s one of the names we talked about when we had Natalie,” Jim said.
“I don’t remember that,” Faith said. “I was only eleven when she was born. Maybe that’s where I got the idea, but I don’t remember talking about that name.”
“It’s a nice name,” Marianna said, “but what if it’s a boy?”
“Hezekiah,” Josh said. “Hezekiah Menkowicz.”
There was a period of silence, but Natalie couldn’t hold a laugh any longer. “How about Ralph?”
Jim’s chuckle came across.
“We didn’t talk about a boy’s name,” Josh admitted. “If this kid grows some balls, we will figure out something.”
“Giovanni,” Jim said.
“After you?” Josh said.
“I didn’t know if you knew my name.”
“Faith filled me in. What I haven’t reconciled is where Giovanni and Marianna decided to name their children Faith and Natalie.”
“Both of us were born in America,” Jim said. “We wanted American names. I have always used Jim because it’s easier for Americans to remember, and it’s what Giovanni means.”
“I can’t wait to buy her some clothes,” Marianna said. “This will be so much fun.”
Josh imagined Jim’s eyes rolling. “Don’t buy any dresses yet,” Josh said. “We aren’t sure enough.”
“That won’t stop her,” Jim said. “It won’t stop Natalie either. I am staying home when they go out shopping.”
“Good choice, Jim,” Josh said.
“We just wanted you to know,” Faith said. “We aren’t telling our work colleagues yet, but you don’t talk to them anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Besides Ricky, I don’t think we even know any of them,” Jim said. “I think the secret is safe. You guys need to come see us.”
“We’ll try to, Daddy, but we are not off together very often. And it’s a long drive for a day visit.”
“We know, honey,” Marianna said. “But if you can, do come.”
The call wound down and ended.
The quiet in the room and Faith’s face said it all to him. He thought about a diamond.
Chapter 24
“This place has completely changed since Friday evening,” Ricky said, getting morning rounds started. The group, rejuvenated by a Saturday off, was blindsided by a complete change of patients in thirty-six hours. “We now have two patients being ventilated in the medical ICU, a patient who will deliver soon, and another who delivered a few hours ago but had huge blood loss.”