by Kris Tualla
“You can sit up now.”
She did, tucking the gown around her hips, while Doctor Kann washed his hands again. Then he turned to face her, his expression serious.
“Lieutenant, I’ll need to run a test to be certain, but judging by the size and firmness of your uterus, I’d say you are at least three months pregnant.”
Kyle didn’t remember what happened next, but she awoke to the sharp smell of ammonia. She was lying on the examination table, covered with a blanket, while the nurse waved the foul-smelling capsule under her nose.
Kyle pushed it away. “Did I faint?”
“Yes.” Doctor Kann shone little lights in her eyes.
She squinted against them. She knew there was something she needed to remember, but it eluded her at the moment.
“Lieutenant, when did you last have sexual intercourse?”
Pregnant.
Oh, God… there has to be a mistake.
“I only did it once,” she squeaked. “I can’t be pregnant.”
“Once is all it takes.” Doctor Kann switched off his light. “When was that?”
Kyle tried to keep the panic from her voice without success. “July. Toward the middle. Or end. I think.”
He counted on his fingers. “Three and a half months ago.”
“This can’t be right…”
“Can you sit up?”
Kyle nodded and the nurse helped her.
The doctor handed her a little glass cup. “I need a sample of urine in this. Try to fill it at least half way.”
Kyle stared at him. “Why?”
“I’ll send it to the hospital lab this morning and they’ll run a hormone test on it. That will give us a definitive answer.” Doctor Kann picked up the clipboard and made more notes. “But based on the information you just gave me, plus your symptoms and the physical exam, I’m pretty certain you are entering the second trimester.”
Kyle was having a hard time breathing because her heart was bashing her ribs so hard. “When will the results come back?”
Doctor Kann handed the clipboard to the nurse and smiled kindly. “In five days. Come back then.”
Chapter
Thirty Four
November 6, 1944
Kyle’s life shifted into an unreal and often nightmarish state. Every time she remembered that she might be pregnant with Tor’s baby, she panicked until she reminded herself that the test results weren’t back and the doctor could be wrong.
Doctors are human. They make mistakes.
Maybe she had a tumor.
That possibility sent her into a different sort of panicked tailspin.
Luckily she didn’t have to be at Tor’s side hardly at all for the last four days because the entire camp was involved in a competition. Each platoon needed to complete a round of training exercises for each of the key skills they would soon be putting to use: mountain climbing, downhill skiing, rifle and pistol target practice, grenade targets, gas mask safety, hand-to-hand combat and bayonets.
The time it took each platoon to successfully complete each station was being logged on a huge board in the mess hall. The platoon with the shortest overall time was being rewarded with two-day passes and an extra week’s pay.
As a second lieutenant that would put an extra thirty-seven dollars in Kyle’s pocket. She wasn’t sure how much the privates were paid, but she guessed it meant an extra twenty-five bucks for them to blow during those two days of freedom.
The underlying reason for the competitive training shone over the camp like a klieg light: the time for the Tenth to ship out was drawing near. That seemed to put everyone’s nerves on edge, either with eagerness to get on with it or with the fear of dying in battle.
This afternoon, after the training runs were finished for the day, the entire camp was called to attention in the center field. A stage had been set up along with a podium and a huge array of speakers and American flags.
The sun was trying to push clouds out of the way and having some success. Even so, standing in the boot-packed snow was chilly. Kyle took her place next to Tor, who grinned down at her.
“We have the best time in the downhill,” he said under his breath. “And we’re in second for hand-to-hand.”
Kyle looked up into his beautiful blue eyes and her breath caught. She hoped their baby would have his blue eyes.
Stop it.
She smiled though her lips trembled. “Congratulations.”
Tor’s grin faded. “What’s wrong?”
Kyle gave the same safe answer that she recently began defaulting to. “You’re going to war.”
Tor narrowed his eyes as he stared at her. “Why do I think it’s more than that?”
The speakers came on with a loud crack. Kyle tipped her head in that direction and then turned to look at the stage—and away from Tor’s probing. There was no point in saying anything until she was sure and tomorrow she would be sure.
“Attention!”
Ten thousand soldiers and two hundred WACs stiffened with the thundering thud of boot heels clomping together.
Major General Lloyd Jones stepped up to the podium and the men and women saluted him as one.
Jones saluted them back, holding the pose a beat longer than necessary. That little show of respect from their commander made Kyle’s vision blur, and she blinked the moisture away.
He knows.
Jones leaned into the microphone. “At ease.”
Another muffled thump filled the air as the soldiers changed their collective stance.
“First of all, I want to tell you how proud I am of the Tenth Division,” he said slowly as his amplified voice bounced faintly off the surrounding rock. “You have trained hard, fought the fiercest elements, and become true warriors worthy of the task that lies before you.”
He paused as if to give the soldiers a moment to digest his compliment. “To adequately signify all that you have done in this unique division, the Tenth Division is hereby re-designated as the Tenth Mountain Division.”
Kyle saw heads turning and men grinning.
“You will all receive a blue and white tab embroidered with the word Mountain, which has been authorized as an addition for your sleeve insignias.”
Though she was too far from the stage to be sure, Kyle thought she saw Jones smile.
“Well done, men.” He saluted and held it again. “You are dismissed.”
A roar of applause exploded from the soldiers.
November 7, 1944
Kyle sat in Doctor Kann’s office literally shaking with apprehension. To pass time while she waited, she asked the nurse who showed her in what the hormone test for pregnancy involved.
“Your urine is injected into young female mice for five days.” She sounded disinterested, like she’d said it a thousand times before. “Then they’re killed and their ovaries are examined to see if their reproductive systems have reacted to the hormones in your urine. If they have, then the test is positive.”
Kyle frowned a little. “Positive?”
The nurse sighed. “That means you’re pregnant.”
“Poor mice,” was all Kyle could think of to say.
The door opened and Doctor Kann walked in. “Good afternoon, Lieutenant.”
“Good afternoon,” Kyle managed.
The doctor sat at his desk and picked up a folder with her name on it. He glanced over it and nodded slowly.
“Yes, the irregular periods.”
Kyle wanted to scream at him what’s the result?
He looked at her over the top of the folder and then laid it down slowly.
“You are definitely pregnant, Lieutenant,” he said kindly.
Kyle started to cry. Deep gulping sobs racked her body even though she tried to hold them back.
Doctor Kann handed her a box of tissues and she pulled out a handful to mop her eyes and nose.
“Do you have a better recollection of the date that you had intercourse?” he prodded.
“Ju—july twenty-f
ifth,” she stammered.
The doctor nodded and held up a little wheel. “If your menses were regular, that would put your period on July eleventh.” He turned the wheel and squinted at it. “That means your due date is between April seventeenth and twenty-third.”
This is real.
“Are you sure there’s no possibility that the test was wrong?” she pleaded. “Could it be a tumor of some kind?”
Doctor Kann had clearly heard that before. “No, I’m glad to say you don’t have cancer.”
This is very, very real.
“Is the baby’s father here at camp?”
Kyle nodded and blew her nose.
“Have you said anything to him yet?”
She shook her head and wiped her eyes.
“Is he married?”
Kyle gasped at the insulting implication that she was a home wrecker. “No! Of course not!”
“Then I suggest you have a conversation with him as soon as possible and get yourselves to a preacher before he leaves.”
Kyle stared at him as the realization hit her.
I have to marry Tor.
“In the meantime…” Doctor Kann made another note in her folder. “You will receive an honorable discharge because of the pregnancy.”
“When?” she croaked.
“You’ll be released ten days after I file the paperwork.”
Kyle wiped her eyes again, trying desperately to figure out what she was going to do. “When are you going to file it?”
The doctor looked at the clock on the wall. “The paperwork won’t be processed until tomorrow, so I expect you’ll be discharged on the eighteenth.”
Kyle nodded her understanding, if not her agreement. She was numbed by the news. If she thought her life was turned upside down back in July, that was nothing compared to her current situation.
“Thank you, Doctor,” she murmured and pushed herself up from the chair.
“Good luck, Lieutenant.”
Kyle left the medical center wondering how her legs still held her up. She had one thought in her head.
I have to tell Tor.
*****
Tor grabbed Kyle’s arm the minute he saw her enter the mess hall for supper. Her swollen eyes were rimmed in red and her face was drawn and pale. He steered her toward the back wall.
“Kyle, what the hell is going on?” he demanded.
“Not here.”
“Do you have the jeep outside?”
She looked up at him and nodded.
He still had hold of her elbow. “Come on.”
Tor took the driver’s side without asking. Kyle didn’t object.
“Where should we go?” he asked.
She started to cry, obviously not for the first time that afternoon.
“Has someone died?” he asked gently.
“No,” she croaked and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket. “It’s nothing like that.”
“Then what is it?”
Kyle waved the handkerchief at the windshield. “Go somewhere.”
Tor started the engine and shifted into gear, racking his brain for the best place to go. He settled on the base of the mountain.
Neither one of them spoke until he parked the jeep.
“Do you want to stay inside?” he asked.
“No.” Kyle opened the door and stepped outside.
A light snow was falling but the clouds had trapped the coal smoke and its heat near the ground so the temperature was tolerable. Kyle walked to the bench by the unmoving T-bar and sat on it. Her face was in her collar and her hands were jammed in her pockets.
Tor sat next to her. “Tell me when you’re ready.”
She heaved a shuddering sigh. “There’s no easy way to say this…”
Tor’s gut clenched with dread. “Say what, Kyle?”
“I’m…” She gasped in a cry-induced hiccough. “I’m…”
Tor pulled one of her hands from her pocket and held it between his and forced his tone to sound kind. “You’re what?”
She swallowed audibly before she whispered, “Pregnant.”
Tor blurted without thinking, “Is it mine?”
Kyle’s free hand rounded on him and slapped him so hard across his cheek that he saw stars.
“How dare you ask me that?” she shouted.
When she jumped up as if to bolt he tightened his grip on her hand. “That’s not what I meant! I know it has to be!”
She glared at him in the dim cloud and snow reflected camp light. “Then why did you say that?”
“Because I was so surprised.” He looked at her, afraid to believe her words. “Happily surprised.”
“Happily?” Kyle recoiled. “Are you saying this is good news?”
Tor tried to sort through the emotions that were bashing him from all sides. “Will you sit down?”
Kyle slumped onto the bench next to him again.
“Now I am going to think out loud and ask questions,” he said. “So please don’t run away from me while I do. Will you promise me that?”
Kyle nodded a little.
“First of all, if you had asked me should we have a child at this point, I would have said no, obviously. I’m going into war. Does that make sense?”
Her voice was very small. “Yes.”
“But it seems that God had other plans for us.” Tor drew a deep and steadying breath of the icy air. “And now we are having a child together at this very uncertain time.”
He looked into Kyle’s eyes. “I’ve already told you I love you. And you said the same. I haven’t changed. Have you?”
Kyle stared back at him. “No.”
“I’ve also told you that I want to marry you, and long before either of us knew that our night together had started a life.”
“Yes, you did.” She seemed to be relaxing in increments. “But now it’s real.”
“It’s true. What was just an idea is now in front of us.” Tor slid off the bench and knelt in front of Kyle, still holding her hand. “I don’t have a ring to give you tonight, but I am asking you, Kyle Solberg, if you will please marry me. And soon.”
*****
Kyle’s heart felt like it was about to burst. “You want my baby?”
“Our baby. And yes, I want it very much.”
Kyle knew she didn’t have a choice. She had to marry Tor. She’d known other gals who got in trouble and married the guys, and not all of them were happy afterwards.
But we will be.
I love Tor with all my heart.
“I’ll marry you, Tor. And I guess we’ll figure the rest out as it comes.”
He rose to his feet and pulled her into a long, deep, and consuming kiss. Her fears melted away while he held her so safely and securely.
And as the fear disappeared it was replaced with joy. She was going to be married to a man who adored and respected her for who she was and didn’t resent her for it. And she was having a baby—Tor’s baby. She was going to be a mother.
When Tor finally stopped kissing her and she caught her breath, she said, “We have a lot to talk about.”
“I know. But all of that can wait until tomorrow.” He kissed her forehead. “For now let me enjoy this moment, holding my wife and my baby in my arms.”
Kyle leaned into his embrace. “I love you, Tor.”
“I love you, Kyle. More than you know.”
He squeezed her and tipped his head back, loosing a wolf-worthy howl. “I’m going to be a father!”
Chapter
Thirty Five
November 8, 1944
The next day was Saturday. Kyle and Tor went into Leadville together that evening and tried to find a place to eat dinner that wasn’t completely filled with servicemen. Their time together was short and they needed to make plans for what was happening next.
“First things first,” Kyle began after they ordered their supper and the waitress left the table. “I’ll be discharged from the WACs in ten days because of the baby. So I think we should be m
arried before that.”
Tor looked concerned. “Is that bad?”
“No, it’s an honorable discharge,” she assured him. “I’ll still receive all of my benefits because I’ve served long enough up to this point.”
“That’s a relief. That means you’ll have a year’s income to live on in the meantime.” Tor huffed. “This war should be over before that.”
Kyle was Lutheran but she felt like genuflecting. “Yes, God willing.”
His eyes met hers. “What do we need to do to be married?”
“Get a marriage license,” she answered. “I looked into it today and the requirements are simple: both of us must appear in person to apply and sign the marriage application, and we have to have some identification for proof of age.”
Tor shrugged. “Our military IDs should do it.”
“Exactly.” Kyle smiled. “And then we can schedule the wedding.”
“Good.” Tor smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. “We’ll get the license on Monday and get married on Tuesday.”
Kyle’s mouth fell open. “So quickly?”
“Why wait?”
She didn’t have an answer.
Tor continued, “We’ll get an overnight pass to stay in Leadville Tuesday night for our wedding night. Unless you think we could get more time?”
Kyle wrinkled her nose. “If I’m being discharged I expect they’ll claim every bit of my remaining time as possible.”
Tor looked like he was hatching a plan. “Then I should try to get three nights after you’re discharged instead. We could spend it in Denver.”
Kyle smiled. “I would like that. I hear the Brown Palace is a very popular hotel. And there are regular buses to Denver from the camp.”
Tor nodded. “I’ll work on that.”
“So married on the eleventh and honeymooning on the eighteenth.” Kyle suddenly realized she wouldn’t be spending her days with Tor after that. “And when we return from Denver, I’ll need to find someplace to stay in Leadville while you’re at camp…”
Tor’s mood visibly shifted. “We won’t be together very much, then.”
“I wonder if the camp would keep me on as a civilian until you leave?” Kyle was grasping at straws. “It doesn’t hurt to ask.”
