Looking all around the room, she noticed little bits of furniture coming together. The colors blended in well with the interior décor. The interior walls were painted natural colors with an off-white base. The exterior of the house was painted white with dark brown shutters. The carpets were pale shades of gray and blue. She always loved the color blue. It was her mother's favorite color too. She had picked out the furniture herself. She was excited and anxious to get the rooms decorated, especially the nursery upstairs. This was moving day but the beginning of a wonderful life for her.

It was Saturday, September 27th. The leaves had not changed colors yet as they do in late October or early November. Most people locate and buy homes in the springtime; however, they were fortunate to find this house before the fall season. She and her husband had planned this day for a long time. They had been house-hunting for the past six months before they found out they were expecting their first child in January. She was now at 20 weeks. They had signed a yearly lease three months ago, even before the doctor confirmed she was pregnant. It took a loan from the local bank and a 10% down payment to secure the house. There was another couple interested in the house but hadn't signed the contract yet. They had to offer a little bit more to get the house.

They moved into their apartment when they first married over eighteen months ago. They had broken the yearly lease and had lost their deposit. Attempts to recover their deposit were futile. The cramped little apartment was cozy for the newlywed couple. It just wasn't enough room for their new addition to their small family.

Angela remembered their wedding day as if it was yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon on Saturday, March 16, 2013. It was at 5:00 o'clock. She was married in a private home wedding ceremony at her aunt's and uncle's home. The great room had a wedding arch with candelabra on both sides. Several rows of folding chairs were on either side with a long runner in the middle. There were about 50 people in attendance. Besides her aunt and uncle, she had few relatives in town. Her aunt had known the minister for a while, Reverend Barnes, who performed the wedding ceremony. Angela hadn't attended church in a long time and didn't want a church wedding either.

Her colors were pink and white. Her bouquet of flowers was made of pink and white roses. Her wedding gown was made by a dressmaker in town. It was a beautiful long white gown, made with laced layers and long laced sleeves. She had a white satin bow which tied in the back. Her train was almost to the ground. She wore her hair up, which made her look stunning. Steve's father was his best man while Betty, her friend, was her matron of honor. There was a flower girl that sprinkled rose petals onto the runner while a ring bearer carried the rings. Both the flower girl and ring bearer were Steve's niece and nephew. Her aunt had hired a wedding coordinator for the wedding ceremony and reception.

The reception was held outside afterwards in the backyard. A tent was set up in case of rain, although the weather was perfect that day. Her wedding cake was a three-tier cake with columns between the middle and top layers. It was decorated with pink and white roses. Angela thought it was lovely and delicious. The food was catered by a local restaurant that handled large parties and weddings.

The couple spent their honeymoon a few days in Virginia Beach and then two days in historical Williamsburg. After five days of fun, they came back home to Richmond, Virginia. After all, Virginia is for lovers.

Angela was 25 years old now. Her husband, Steve, was four years older. At 29, he worked as an assistant manager at a manufacturing company. He was paid fairly well with full insurance benefits. He worked long hours during the day. The additional hours would help pay for the new house. The company Steve worked at had expanded and opened more branches in the area. Sometimes he didn't come home until late in the evening. He was a good provider. The new baby would take more income that they needed.

The new house was a dream that came true for Angela. It was a small starter home but adequate for their purpose now. It was located in a part of the city with plenty of public schools. The house was a colonial two-story with three bedrooms upstairs, including the master bedroom, located on the left side upstairs. The master bedroom had a full bathroom with a two-person hot tub. She knew she would enjoy that hot tub. She dreamed of taking long relaxing baths with tealights giving dim lights. How relaxing and wonderful! There was also a walk-in closet for her and Steve's clothes. The house actually had two and a half baths. There was another full bathroom in-between the master and back bedroom. Angela decided to make the back bedroom into the nursery. There is also a laundry room upstairs opposite the bathroom. With the new baby coming, she would soon be washing loads of clothes daily. The front bedroom was closer to the laundry room. Steve had wanted to make this room into an office or study one day.

Downstairs, the kitchen was located mid-section in back of the house. The living room and dining room connected on the left side while the den was on the right side downstairs. As you entered the house, there was a small foyer with a hallway headed for the kitchen. There was also a small powder room down the hallway on the left side near the kitchen. From the foyer, stairs led upstairs, from the left side of the hallway.

There was a double garage leading from the kitchen side door to the right side of the house. A sliding glass door led out from the kitchen to the patio outside in the backyard.

Angela had worked as a secretary in an insurance firm. The pay was decent enough but the insurance benefits were not inexpensive. She was glad that her husband's company had offered full benefits and compensation. She had worked up to now, however, the job was somewhat demanding. She grew tired of the hours and the job itself. Her feet ached as she was sometimes on them filing papers. She was relieved to get home to soak her swollen ankles. The doctor recommended she quit work at 32 weeks until the baby was a little older.

Angela was optimistic of the future, the birth of their baby and getting settled into their first house together. She had dreamed of this day for a long time. As she continued looking around the room, she had envisioned what the house would look like once she fully decorated it. Money was tight right now so she would have to buy a few items at a time. A bare house with little furniture but that was the best the couple could do. Some of the few pieces of furniture they had were bought at thrift stores or donated to charity organizations. She hated to take from charity but had no other option.

Angela's eyes became glued on something in the room. It was something that she remembered when she was only a little girl. She took a small box out of a bigger box that the movers had brought upstairs into the nursery. She held the small box and opened it. Inside was a small inanimate object – a baby rattler. It was used by her when she was a baby herself. It wouldn't have had as much meaning except it was from someone she held dear to her heart. Her mother gave it to her years ago. Angela was still a young child then, seven or eight years old, when she found it. Her mother saw her lift it from the small box one day and startled her. "Angie," as she was nicknamed when a little girl, "Did you find something?" she asked. Angela kept this nickname until she was 18 years old. Then she wanted to be called by her birth name, "Angela."

"Yes Mama, I was just looking at it." Angie looking up nervously at her mother.

"It was yours as a baby," her mother replied. "I was intending on giving it to you later as a gift but I guess you found it early."

"Can I keep it Mama?" Angie begged, focusing her eyes on the little baby rattler and feeling it with her fingers.

"If you promise not to lose it Angie," her mother said.

"I promise Mama!" exclaimed Angela.

Angela took the baby rattler out of its small box and slept with it under her pillow at night at first. She then put it back into the small box and put it on a high shelf in her bedroom closet. There it stayed throughout her childhood and teens up until she had gotten married. She had forgotten about the baby rattler until cleaning out her bedroom closet one day. Seeing the small box again made her eyes tear up. How she missed her mother. It had been a very long time since she had last seen her.

Her mother had a bad habit that started early in her teenage years. At 14, she started smoking. Over the years, she smoked heavily. The doctor tried to get her to quit smoking. It was too late. By then, the damage had been done. Angela's mother and father married on December 19, 1983, when her mother was 21 years old. They waited over six years to have Angela. When Angela was nine years old, her mother became very ill. Her mother was only 36 years old by then. It started with flu-like symptoms which developed into a chronic deep cough. She had gone to specialists who diagnosed her with terminal lung cancer. The doctor gave her a year at most to live. She had already developed Lupus, an autoimmune deficiency, a few years earlier. She had seemed somewhat sickly ever since then. Her immunity was low and she was careful not to get out in flu season or when viruses were rampant throughout the community.

Angela had one brother, Philip, who was five years younger than her. Her younger brother remembered little about his mother as he was still a very young boy of five years old when she passed away.

Remembrance of her father growing up brought painful memories. She fought back tears as she remembered her father coming home one day with tragic news. She had turned ten years old that past summer. She was in the fifth grade at the local elementary school. She had just gotten home from school and Philip had been home from kindergarten for a couple of hours. Her father walked into the kitchen, pale as a ghost. It was apparent he had been crying. His face was stained with tearful eyes. He was looking down and not saying a word to anyone. Her aunt, her mother's youngest sister, had picked both of them up from school. Margaret was 34 years old and had been married since she was 19 years old. She had always called her sister, Sally, instead of Sarah since they were both young children.

When her father arrived home, he took her aunt aside into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Her aunt sat across from her father in the chair alongside the corner table. "Margaret, your sister has gone into a coma early this morning. I just came from the hospital and the doctor thinks it is near time. I think we need to tell the children tonight." He began to sob as tears screamed down his cheeks.

Suddenly, there was a big noise from the living room as her Aunt Margaret burst out in tears. She looked down with tears running down her face. This was her beloved sister, her only sister. She had looked up to Sally since they were children. Sally was three years older than her, however, they were close. They grew up together in the same town of Richmond, attended the same schools and social events. They attended Grace Church of Richmond in town and went to Sunday school every Sunday morning. Margaret and her husband had no children but she loved Angela and Philip as if they were her own children. There was no physical or medical reason Margaret or her husband couldn't have children. They went to an infertility specialist several years ago but no cause was ever found for either of them. Margaret left the infertility issues to the will of God. There were no other couples in her family that were childless as she knew of.

"No Peter, I think we need to hold off until we hear back something more definite from the hospital. The children are so young, especially little Philip. Let us wait a little while longer. It will give me time to absorb this and collect my thoughts," said Margaret.

"Margaret, we don't have time. The doctor says it could be any minute now. She has already lived a little longer than expected," Peter said.

"Peter, you act as if you expect her to die. I would like to break it to the children gently. I know they are your children but please let me do this for my only sister," she said. Margaret began to cry again.

"No Margaret, I just know we have seen specialists in the field. They all say the same thing. The last oncologist she saw said he was surprised she was still alive. Over five months ago, the surgeon operated on her lungs. The doctor came out of the surgery room immediately after surgery and walked into the waiting room where I was waiting. He told me there was nothing that could be done. The cancer had spread throughout her lungs. He was shocked how fast it had progressed. All we could do would be to make her comfortable for the period she lived. She had a regimen of chemotherapy and infusions for several months before attempting surgery and some afterwards," Peter answered.

Peter bowed his head in silence. He was grief-stricken as he knew the time was close. He stood up and walked quietly to the kitchen. There he found two blank faces looking back at him. Angela knew something was wrong. She sensed it. Philip was busy coloring outside the lines of his coloring book. He was coloring the rabbit a dark brown color in wide strokes. Not an artist as of yet, but definitely the art work of a typical 5-year old.

"Angie, could you help Aunt Margaret get dinner tonight for you and your brother? I need to go upstairs to make a couple of phone calls," her father said.

"Sure Daddy," replied Angela.

Her aunt did not come into the kitchen for several minutes. Angela was getting weary as she lifted the plates from the cabinet to set the table. Angela was about to put the forks down next to the plates on the kitchen table when her aunt walked into the kitchen. Her aunt was very quiet, not uttering a word to Angela. She went to the refrigerator to get some butter out to cook vegetables for dinner. She had some cube steak out thawing for the four of them. Margaret felt she needed to call her husband first to see if he wanted to have dinner there with the children and Peter. When she reached for the phone, she lifted the receiver. She heard Peter's voice on the line. The voice on the other end was not a familiar one to her. Peter was calling the hospital to speak to Sally's doctor. Dr. Robert Jacobs, an oncologist, was also the doctor on call that evening. Peter wanted to see how his wife was doing. He reached the operator at the hospital, who connected him to Sally's unit. She had been on the 6th floor, now moved to the 3rd floor. Sally had been in the intensive care unit the past week and moved to the critical care unit today. Suddenly, a female voice came on line and identified herself as the registered nurse in the unit for that shift. Peter cleared his voice and barely uttered the words, "Is Dr. Jacobs there? I need to speak to him about my wife's status?"

"Dr. Jacobs is attending to an emergency. Can I take a message, sir?" the nurse asked.

"My name is Peter McDowell. I need to know how my wife is doing. She slipped into a coma earlier today," he said.

"One moment sir," said the voice at the other end of the receiver.

Peter hung onto the receiver for a few minutes. It seemed like a lifetime to him when he heard the nurse's friendly voice. "I called Dr. Jacobs. Your wife is the same since this morning."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know," he replied.

"You're welcome," she answered.

Peter then hung up the phone, frustrated he didn't get through to the doctor when he needed to talk to him. He then picked up the phone again to call his boss about work. Mr. Lee Franklin had been Peter's boss several months at Armor Autoglass. It was a glass manufacturing company in the Richmond area. It was already in the early evening so Peter called his home number. His boss' wife answered the phone.

"Can I speak to Mr. Franklin please?" he asked.

"One moment please," she answered.

A deep voice came on the line that Peter recognized as his boss' voice. "Mr. Franklin, this is Peter McDowell."

"Oh, how are you Peter? How is your wife doing?" he asked.

"That is what I'm calling about Mr. Franklin. My wife slipped into a coma early this morning," Peter responded.

I'm so sorry, Peter. I heard about your wife's illness and being hospitalized this past week," Mr. Franklin said.

"The doctor said it could be any time now. Not sure I can handle this and work right now," Peter replied.