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ago and now you are sick...in the morning.” Her expression was loaded and Grace suddenly realized the gravity of what she was saying.
    “No!” she gasped.
    “Really?” she asked pointedly.
    “You know the doctor said that it's almost impossible that I could ever get pregnant. He said if it's possible at all, that it would take all sorts of fertility treatments.”  Hearing that news had been the hardest moment of her life.  It was Shannon’s support that had helped her get through it.  She had even drunkenly promised to carry a baby for her if it came down to it. 
    “But it isn't totally impossible,” Shannon argued.
    “I don't think anyone has given me any fertility treatments without my knowledge here in the middle of Africa,” she said in disbelief as the reality of her situation settled in.
    “Maybe it happened on its own. Stranger things have happened,” Shannon said, trying to make her see reason.
    “I am not pregnant,” Grace said stubbornly.  Still, her hand went instinctively to her stomach and she began to realize that Shannon just might be speaking the truth.
    “You need to take a test to be sure,” she pushed.
    “I am not going to do that.”  She shook her head, thinking of all the things that would change in both of their lives it she was pregnant.
    “Grace, be realistic,” she said, wrapping her arm around Grace’s shoulder as she spoke. 
    “I am,” she persisted.  “There is no way I am pregnant.”
    “Didn't you say that you got a spell of nausea yesterday when you were eating breakfast?” Shannon recalled.
    “Oh my god,” she cried.
    “I'm guessing you said the same thing when the baby was conceived.”  Leave it to Shannon to make a joke at a time like this.
    “We don't know that I am pregnant.  There can't be a baby,” she stammered in disbelief.
    “I think you should take a test,” Shannon said, trying to be encouraging.
    “How am I going to find a pregnancy test out here?” she asked, shocked that she was even in this situation.
    “I brought a few,” Shannon offered.
    “A few?” she asked with a chuckle.  Only Shannon could make her laugh in the middle of the craziest moment of her life.
    “Better safe than sorry.  Of course, if you had been safe, you wouldn't be so sorry now.”  She shrugged playfully as she spoke.
    “It is not funny,” she argued.
    “It's a little funny.”
    “It's going to ruin everything,” she said aloud, because she had to say it aloud to truly face it.
    “Let's not go down that road until we have to.”
    “We?” Grace asked in confusion.
    Shannon looked at her in disbelief.  With anger in her voice she said, “You know that if you are pregnant I will be there for you and the baby.”
    “I really love you,” she said with tears of relief in her eyes.  It was such a weight lifted from her shoulders to know that Shannon would be by her side for it all.
    “I love you too,” she smiled.  Then she added, “It will be an adventure.”
     
    It was then that they walked silently to Shannon’s hut and Grace reluctantly took the test.  She couldn’t remember ever feeling so nervous in her life as she sat on the floor of the hut, waiting the endless moments until the test showed the results.  She could not even look in the direction of the desk, where the test sat.  She kept bouncing her leg up and down with nervous energy, while Shannon sat calmly by her side.

“Is it time yet?” she asked after what felt like an eternity.
    “Almost,” Shannon said, checking her watch.
    “What am I going to do?” she asked in disbelief.
    “We will handle this,” Shannon said confidently.
    “I'll have to leave,” she said as she started to cry. “We won't be able to finish the year here. I ruined everything.”
    “What are you talking about?” Shannon asked, shaking her head. “Why would you have to go home? You’d be miserable.” She laughed at the absurdity of it.
    “It would be best for the baby; if there is a