New Life

In the seven years that Tom and Peg had been married they only had two big fights. The most recent was over the name of their first child when it was still in the womb. They knew it was a boy and Tom wanted to name him Robert James, the names of his Grandfather and best friend. Peg wanted to name him Sigmund Milo, something she had wanted to name a child since she was eight years old. Both were dead set on getting the name of their child. At one point they realized how absurd it was that they were arguing so bitterly about a name of a child they were going to love no matter what his name, so thought it best to let someone else name the kid.

Peg checked into the hospital one day before she was scheduled to deliver. Still no name picked. A very pretty young nurse was there right from the beginning. Through conversation over the next twenty-four hours the nurse, Shannon, and Peg had a lot of time to talk. They enjoyed each other so much that when Shannon’s shift was over she stayed a few hours into the night to keep Peg and Tom company while Peg tried to get some rest.

Shannon was a very positive person, but had a very heartbreaking story that brought her to her current occupation. At seventeen Shannon was in a very serious relationship with her boyfriend who had graduated high school two years previously. Right when she was getting her acceptance letters from various colleges she got some other results as well. She was pregnant. At the news, her boyfriend joined the military and said he wanted nothing to do with her. Weighing all the options she came to the conclusion that she must have an abortion. Something she never forgave herself for.

“What were you going to name him if he was a boy,” Peg asked cautiously.

“I’ve thought about it for years. If it were a boy I would have named him Anthony Nicholas. My father’s name,” she said with a sad sort of smile on her face.

Tom and Peg looked at each other. Each was certain what the other was thinking. “Shannon, would you mind if we named our child Anthony Nicholas? And we’d like you to be his god-mother,” Tom said. From Peg’s expression Tom knew that he said the right thing. Shannon was so happy she gave them both hugs as she began to weap.

At 2:00 on the day she was due, Peg began labor. Four hours later Anthony Nicholas Holmes was in the world.

To make room for the new baby, the couple had found a new apartment closer to downtown. The day after Anthony was born Tom and a few of his friends began moving everything in with the hope that it would all be done by the time Peg and the baby were out of the hospital so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything. They moved all the big things first. After that only one of Tom’s friends remained to help him move the rest of the small boxes and things. It was almost midnight and all they had left was the kitchen stuff. It occurred to them that box after box of glass would have been a good idea to move at the beginning of the day before they were both so drained.

They were both downstairs betting boxes. Tom didn’t recognize one of the boxes so opened it up to examine its contents. It was a punch bowl Peg had got from her grandma a few weeks before she passed away. On the way up the seemingly never ending flights of stairs, Tom relayed the story of the punchbowl to his friend. How it had come with Peg’s grandma from Ireland and survived a family of twelve kids and decades of grandchildren. Peg had always been excited to drink from it when she was a little girl so her grandmother gave it to her when she knew her time was coming to an end. Then he tripped. He had gotten so wrapped up in telling the story that he missed the two steps down into the kitchen. He lay there for a second then rolled over. In the fall the punchbowl had busted into a number of pieces. Four of which poked through the box and were now sticking into Tom’s abdomen.

He arrived at the hospital by ambulance. It wasn’t long before one of the nurses recognized him and told Shannon. Shannon waited until he was about half way through his surgery before she broke the news to Peg. So far the outcome was looking good, but until nothing would be certain until he was in the recovery room.

Peg’s mother Nancy flew in to town to take care of things as soon as she got the news. It would be another three days before Peg and Anthony left the hospital and there was a lot to do to get the apartment ready for them. Nancy, friends, and Shannon on her time off, got busy unpacking boxes and getting the apartment ready and baby-proof.

On the day Peg left the hospital Tom was still in ICU. Before they left, she took Anthony down to see him. As he lay in his bed unconscious Peg put Anthony face down on Tom’s chest to get a picture of how it would be when Tom came home. Among the group of friends and family accompanying Peg home not a single eye was dry.

Tom awoke in the hospital. He was alone. There weren’t any other patients in his room nor any nurses to be seen. Within days he was walking out of there on his own two feet. He felt so lucky to be on his way home to his family.

Entered the room only Peg and Anthony sat there. She was crying as he walked in the door. He went to the couch to sit by her. This was one of those moments where the best thing was silence. Except for the baby. He was cooing like babies do. Tom put his hand by his head. He rubbed his thumb over Anthony’s cheek. Then felt the hair on his head. He was the most beautiful thing Tom had every seen. He just wanted to scoop him up and never let him go but he was so peaceful laying there ruining that would be worse than not being able to hold his son.

It seemed that Peg was holding some sort of resentment toward him. She would yell at him then begin to cry. Tom started feeling bad that he had left her alone for so long with so much to take care of. His accident must have scared her so bad. But she wouldn’t talk to him about it. He felt so helpless.

On the third day he was home, she was gathering up the baby and heading out. It was the first time she had done this since she came home from the hospital. All Tom saw her do for the last few days was answer phones and yell at him.

They picked up Peg’s mom at her hotel. They arrived at a funeral parlor. As they walked in, there was Tom’s family sitting at the front. Everyone was crying. As he walked up to the casket everything made sense. Why Peg had been ignoring him. Why she was crying so much. He looked into the casket and could barely believe what he was seeing.