Chapter 14

Feeling like an elephant, Georgia rose from her chair with great effort. In the time it had taken her to get up, Ken had been able to come down from the upstairs room he shared with his wife and answered the door. Ken looked at the visitor and said, "I should have known that it would be you two."

William grinned and said, "We had to come."

Giving Ken a hug, Lucy said, "We wouldn't miss this for the world."

Georgia waddled over to William and stopped a few steps from him. Putting her hands on her swollen belly, she said, "I'd give you a hug but my arms won't reach beyond my belly."

"Twins will do that to you," William said looking down at her belly. It was pretty obvious that she was expecting twins.

Lucy smiled at her and said, "You're looking well."

"I'm fat," Georgia said with a grimace.

Looking even larger, Debbie slowly made her way into the room. She looked over at William and Lucy with a smile. Pleased to see them, she said, "Thank the Powers That Be you've come."

"Why?" Lucy asked unable to believe how large Debbie had gotten as a result of her pregnancy.

"I know that we'll be giving birth soon," Debbie said with relief evident in her voice. She knew that William wouldn't miss the birth of Oscar's children.

Nodding her head in agreement, Georgia asked, "How much longer until we go into labor?"

William smiled at the pair of women and answered, "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise."

"Spoil it," Debbie said. She was tired of waddling around like a duck on land.

From the kitchen, Lisa shouted, "I'll be right out."

Without even looking in the direction of the kitchen, William knew the Lisa was busy making them a treat. He leaned in the direction of the kitchen and shouted, "Two cups of hot chocolate would be wonderful, Lisa."

Lucy smiled at his suggestion and said, "Yes, that would be wonderful. You don't know how much I've missed your hot chocolate."

Puzzled by Lucy's comment, Lisa came out of the kitchen carrying two cups of hot chocolate. She said, "It comes out of a packet. All I do is add hot water to it."

Lucy said, "It's perfect because you are the one adding hot water to it."

William accepted the cup from Lisa with a wink. He asked, "Do you want me to hold the other cup while you say hello to Lucy?"

Lisa handed over the second cup and went over to Lucy. The two women hugged. In a soft voice, she said, "I've missed you too, Lucy."

As the women hugged, William looked around the house. It was clear to him that Debbie had taken it upon herself to fix up the house in a very classic style. The overall impression was very feminine. He said, "I like how you've decorated the house."

"Thank you," Debbie said as she rubbed her back. It was hard on her lower back carrying the weight of the twins. She had a nearly constant backache from the strange distribution of weight.

"You're welcome," William said. He held out the cup of hot chocolate for Lucy. She took it without commenting on the fact that he had positioned it exactly where she had been reaching. She had gotten used to him doing things like that.

Lucy took a sip of hot chocolate and said, "This is so good."

"I guess we should hurry up and finish our hot chocolates," William said before taking a sip from his cup.

"Why?" Lisa asked looking over her cup at him.

"I'd say that these two women can expect to give birth any time now," William said looking over at Georgia. He winked at her.

"Oh," Georgia said. There was a little ripple in belly and she looked down. Surprised, she said, "Oh!"

"Surprise," William said with a grin.

Feeling very depressed, Sandra stared across the luxury suite at Barbara. The other woman wasn't feeling much happier, but at least she wasn't wearing the fat suit. Sandra said, "I never realized how we act to draw attention to our attractiveness."

"Same here," Barbara said looking over at Sandra. She couldn't help but wonder when she had adopted all of the little flirtatious moves that attracted the attention of men. She didn't see it in herself, but it was obvious by how Sandra acted when dressed to kill. The past ten days had been an eye opening experience for both of them. They had each served as a mirror for the other.

"What are we going to do?" Sandra asked feeling depressed. Her perceptions of the world had been turned upside down. It was one thing to blame men for all of her problems; it was another to accept responsibility that half of the problems were of her own creation.

Shrugging her shoulders, Barbara answered, "I don't know. I'll tell you one thing; I'm never going to get fat."

"Same here," Sandra said adjusting the fat suit. If being attractive meant that men looked at you as a sex object, then being fat removed you from being a person altogether. People either ignored you or were insulting. Insults ranged from unconscious avoidance behaviors to very vocal abuse.

"If Cole says it is okay, how about we dress down today?" Barbara said. She realized that she had always known that there were ways to dress that minimized her sex appeal, but she had never chosen to dress that way.

"Good idea," Sandra said.

"Speaking of Cole, I wonder where he is," Barbara said looking over at the door of their suite.

Sandra rose from her chair with difficulty. She complained, "This damned suit is heavy."

"Yeah," Barbara said. She couldn't imagine moving around with that much weight on her for the rest of her life.

Sandra walked over to the counter where the coffee pot was and poured a cup of coffee. As she fixed it, she said, "I never would have realized that the austere business woman was such a sexy image to men if it wasn't for this past week."

"Who would have thought that we dressed to fit a sexy stereotype?" Barbara asked. Of course, she suspected that she had known it, but hadn't given it that much conscious thought. The way they had been dressing was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. It was sure to attract the attention of men and promote exactly the behavior that they hated.

"We should have known," Sandra answered feeling depressed. She took a sip of her coffee.

"You're right," Barbara replied with a sigh. There was nothing worse than finding she was the source of her problems.

Running a hand through her hair, Sandra said, "It kind of makes me wonder if that isn't the reason why business casual has taken such strong root in the business world today. Only the people at the very top of companies dress business formal anymore."

"I hadn't thought about it," Barbara said.

Sandra returned to her chair and plopped down in it with a sigh. She said, "I'll be glad to get out of this blasted fat suit."

"Yeah," Barbara said. She looked over at the door of the suite hearing a noise.

Cole entered the suite and looked at the pair of ladies. Smiling, he sat down and said, "Sorry I'm late, but my other cases in the area were at critical junctions in resolving some of their issues."

"You have others you are treating?" Barbara asked surprised.

"Of course. You two aren't the only ones around with problems," Cole answered. Their problems were relatively minor compared to most that he treated.

"I didn't think about that," Sandra said. It made her wonder when she had adopted such a self oriented view of the world.

"Yes, I know," Cole replied.

"What now?" Barbara asked hoping that he would tell her they could dispense with the fat suit.

"I think you two should go shopping and get some sedate outfits," Cole said.

"What do you suggest?" Sandra asked.

Cole answered, "Loose fitting pants that mask your figures, flats, and simple shirts that don't show your cleavage or draw attention to your figure."

"I had a feeling you were going to say that," Barbara said. She wondered how people would treat her dressed in that fashion. She realized that she was about to find out. It seemed to her that she was discovering why the Carters often said that clothes were the first lie that people tell each other.

The deliveries were relatively easy, but it would have been hard to convince Georgia or Debbie of that. The women were lying in bed holding their babies. It was a nearly perfect Hollywood image of mothers bonding with their newborns. Marring the effect was that neither woman was wearing make-up and they both looked exhausted.

William followed a rather excited Lucy into the hospital room. She could hardly wait to see the babies. It wasn't that her biological clock was ticking, but she was interested in motherhood at some point in the future. She went immediately to the bedside.

Debbie said, "I'd like you to meet Marjorie Georgia Meyers and Patrick Oscar Meyers."

Georgia said, "And these two little wonders are Gloria Deborah Meyers and Mark Oscar Meyers."

William looked at the babies appreciating the miracle that was life and said, "I like the names you've chosen."

"Thanks," Georgia said.

Lucy leaned over and examined the fingers of Mark Meyers. She said, "Their little hands are so perfect."

"It is amazing isn't it," Debbie said looking from one baby to the other.

Georgia sighed and said, "I wish Oscar were here to see them. He'd be strutting around like a bandy rooster."

"I'm sure he would," Debbie said with a grin.

The nurse came in the room and stared at the four babies. Although she had known the patients' last name was Meyers, she hadn't put that together with Oscar Meyers. It was a rather offhand comment about the birth certificates by one of the other nurses that had made her realize the identity of the two women. These were the wives of the famous Oscar Meyers.

The nurse wasn't the only one who had figured out the identity of the two patients. Downstairs, a small but growing crowd of reporters was gathering. There was the expectation that someone would give a press release and they were ready with their questions. She said, "The press is here."

Looking over at the nurse, Debbie asked, "Why is the press here?"

"You were married to Oscar Meyers and just delivered his babies," the nurse answered rather surprised that Debbie had asked the question.

"Oh," Georgia said. Thanks in large part to William's efforts; the two women had not been bothered by the press. Going through the pregnancy in the relative isolation of their home, it was easy to forget that they were minor celebrities.

"I'll talk to them," William said. He turned to Lucy and asked, "Would you like to go down there with me?"

"No," Lucy answered with a shudder. She hated dealing with the press.

"It will be good practice," William said with a wink. He knew how much she enjoyed dealing with reporters.