Episode two

Two.

When a woman is not sure if she is pregnant or not, she has to undergo a pregnancy test. So Mrs. Patra Baker gave this idea to Mrs. Frances Theodore and they sent one of the maids to go get her a pregnancy test kit which she could easily use at home.

"You have to calm down Frances, I do not know why but I am certain that you are pregnant. Like I told you before, I trust my guts." Mrs. Patra Baker tried to calm her friend, whom was pacing around now in worry.

"See Patra, you will not understand the state that I am in right now. I hate when my hopes are raised high and then comes the disappointment. I will be so disappointed and angry towards myself or even hate myself and that is why I do not like it. Now, I can not help but worry and over think it. What if the result comes out false? What if it is not pregnancy but there is just some thing wrong with me?" Mrs. Frances Theodore asked her friend.

"Chill," Mrs. Patra Baker drawled, "what about if you start looking at things more on the positive side? What about asking yourself questions like; what if the result comes out positive? What if nothing is wrong with me and I am truly pregnant? Start asking yourself questions like that instead."

Mrs. Frances Theodore sighed, "I know right? I am now getting used to saying negative things that I no longer see the brighter side of life. Listen my friend," she walked to the couch Mrs. Patra Baker was now sitting now and sat next to her. Then she took Mrs. Patra Baker's hands in hers, "please do not say any thing I want to tell you now to my husband or to your husband because your husband might tell my husband if he finds out since they are related."

"I promise to keep my mouth sealed," Mrs. Patra Baker demonstrated with her hand as she kept her hand close to her lips and then moved it from one side to another as if she was truly zipping it.

"Good. All these years that I have not being able to conceive, I lost hope in myself. I told myself harsh words in front of the mirror a lot of times and I cried a couple of times too. But I would pretend in front of my husband like I still had hope that we were going to build a family together, a real family. You know, one with a child or more kids. I pretended to still have hope because I did not want to hurt him. He was doing a lot just to you know make me happy and forget about my biggest worry at the moment; not giving him a child that would become the new C.E.O of F.F.T group of companies before I die." Mrs. Frances Theodore explained.

F. F. T group of companies was an acronym for 'Frank and Frances Theodore's group of companies.' It was owned by the couple's so they named it after their first names and Frank's last name.

Mrs. Patra Baker had originally thought to herself that what her friend wanted to say was very secretive and important only for Mrs. Frances Theodore to open her mouth and say what she wanted to say, bursting her bubbles slightly. In summary, she was disappointed and quite thrilled.

So she sighed and held onto her friend's hand tighter, "It is okay to lose hope Frances. There is nothing wrong or secretive about that and if by any chance your husband should know this, I am sure that he would not be angry at you. You know why? Because, that is like one of the most humanly thing to do. Now, you have to cheer up because believe me or not, you are pregnant and so.. do you know what you are going to do right now?"

Mrs. Frances Theodore furrowed her brow questioningly, "what?" She asked.

"You see that hope that you lost, you better go find it now. Where ever you might have misplaced it or kept it on purpose, you better go search for it now and bring it along with you. I do not know how you want to do it but you have to do it." When Mrs. Patra Baker said this, both Mrs. Frances Theodore and her laughed out loud so much that Mrs. Frances Theodore even clutched the sides of her stomach.

Mrs. Patra Baker was glad that she could make Mrs. Frances Theodore laugh and this made them to forget the heat of moment and also release the tension from Mrs. Frances Theodore.

When they stopped laughing, Mrs. Patra Baker took back Mrs. Frances Theodore's hands and said to her, "now take in a deep breath and relax your mind. Your maid would be here any time soon with the pregnancy test kit you sent her. So just prepare your mind for the big news."

And Mrs. Frances Theodore had to listen to her ever caring African friend. She closed her eyes and then took in a deep breath and then exhaled it. She felt really relaxed after that and she could not be more happy that it worked and grateful to Mrs. Patra Baker for standing by her side like this.

She told Mrs. Patra Baker how thankful she was feeling when the maid walked in with the kit. She greeted them and then handed the kit to Mrs. Frances Theodore and left. Immediately Mrs. Frances Theodore took the pregnancy kit from her, her hands began to shake and the panic came back. This, Mrs. Patra Baker was quick to notice so she tried to ease her friend's mind again.

"What if…" Mrs. Frances Theodore was about to ask those negative questions again when she remembered Mrs. Patra Baker's words and so she trailed off instead, deciding that it was better she kept her mouth shut.

But it was too late because Mrs. Patra Baker could easily read her. She knew what her friend wanted to say and so she quickly said to her, "now listen Frances, you have to speak it into existence. Say to yourself that I would go into that bathroom, check myself and the result would come out positive and trust me girl, it would. By the way, it is not even some thing that is going to kill you," Mrs. Patra Baker said.

Mrs. Frances Theodore took in a deep breath with her eyes shut tightly and then she proclaimed out loud, "what if I am fertile? What if I am truly pregnant? What if there is nothing wrong with me?"

Mrs. Patra Baker's lips expanded widely as she smiled, "Now, that is the spirit girl. Go and come back with the positive result."

"Yesss," Mrs. Frances Theodore drawled and then with confidence or some thing that looked like it, began walking towards her room and when Mrs. Patra Baker thought that would be all as she was going to sit in the living room waiting for friend to return with the results, she halted. She spun around and looked at Mrs. Patra Baker with a pleading look.

Confused by this sudden development, Mrs. Patra Baker asked, "what?"

"Please can you follow me to the bathroom? I will need your support there as well," Mrs. Frances Theodore said as she looked like a five year old in Mrs. Patra Baker's eyes who was pleading to be bought ice cream.

With a smile on her face she replied, "Oh well, sure."

*****

Both Mrs. Frances Theodore and Mrs. Patra Baker were now in the toilet. Mrs. Patra Baker had to be patient as she watched Mrs. Frances Theodore pee on the test trip to check if she was actually pregnant just like her friend had said.

After peeing on it, she dropped it on a clean surface and they waited, anticipating and with both ladies praying that the result comes up positive.

Mrs. Frances Theodore was more anxious and she tried her best to control her beating heart but could not.

"How long did you say it will take before I check for the result?" She asked Mrs. Patra Baker.

"I think three minutes should be enough. You should stop pacing around, take deep breaths to calm yourself down and hope for the best." She tried to encourage Mrs. Frances Theodore who now began to make breathing noises as she inhaled and exhaled loudly.

When she felt that it was not working, she asked that Mrs. Patra Baker sang her a song. Mrs. Patra Baker did as she was told and the next thing they know, they were both singing on top of their voices to a Celen Dion's song and this woke baby Octavia up from sleep.

It was already past the three minutes Mrs. Patra Baker asked her to check for the result because they were too busy engrossed in singing that they totally forgot about it or what they were in the toilet in the first place. It was baby Octavia's cry that made them realise this and also made them realise that they were making a lot of noises, disturbing others that was in the house and the neighbors as well.

"I will go and carry my baby," Mrs. Patra Baker said to Mrs. Frances Theodore, "you should check for the result now. It is already past the three minutes I had told you." She informed her before walking towards baby Octavia's bed.

Baby Octavia stopped crying immediately she saw the one person that breastfed her and whose uterus she had come out from. There was just no way she would forget her mother's face. She began to chuckle when her mother smiled at her and later started making funny faces at her. Baby Octavia stretched her hands forward later on, indicating that she wanted her mother to carry her and Mrs. Patra did just that. She carried Baby Octavia, placed her head on her shoulder as she patted her back gently so she does not start crying again.

Then Mrs. Patra Baker paused when she realized that Mrs. Frances Theodore had not come out of the bathroom to show her the result or could it be that it was negative and all the hope she had managed to find had gone down the drain and that is why she just kept quiet in there? That was the question running through Mrs. Patra Baker's mind and she prayed silently that it was positive and her instinct were right. She really wanted her child back as there was nothing compared to a mother's love for her child so of course, she also badly wanted the Theodore's to have their own child that way, she was certain that her child would be returned back to her. She wanted to be the one to train her child and not anybody else.

"Frances?" Mrs. Patra Baker called as she slowly walked towards the ensuite door with baby Octavia in her arms.

"Mhm?" Was the low reply she got from Mrs. Frances Theodore.

"Is any thing the matter? Why have you not come out to tell me the result yet?" She asked as she opened the door slowly to reveal Mrs. Frances Theodore sitting on the toilet seat and staring at the test trip with bulgy eyes.

"What does it say?" Mrs. Patra Baker asked her as she too was now becoming nervous, "are you pregnant?"

Mrs. Frances Theodore looked up at her friend with a sad, teary face and then she asked her, "when there is just one line what does it mean?"

Her question instantly made Mrs. Patra Baker sad and her eyes became wet. She gulped, "it's means invalid or negative."

"And what about if it has two lines?" Mrs. Frances Theodore asked again.

This second question confused Mrs. Patra Baker on what to think or the right assumptions to make but she answered the question any way, "that would mean you are pregnant."

Mrs. Patra Baker then kept quiet, anticipating to hear what Mrs. Frances Theodore would say further but she was oddly silent for awhile and her silence was killing Mrs. Patra Baker silently.

"I am pregnant," she abruptly said and slowly turned the test trip towards the direction of Mrs. Patra Baker so she would see for herself that two lines had appeared.

Even if Mrs. Patra Baker had being so sure about her friends pregnancy, having to see the result herself, she was now as shocked as Mrs. Frances Theodore and they both wanted to burst out of excitement.

Tears began to flow from both their eyes as Mrs. Frances Theodore stood up, went to her friend's side and hugged her tightly. The tears that rolled down both their eyes, what was they normally do call, 'tears of joy.'