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Chapter Text

Chapter 1: Fourteen Words

It was now Christmas Eve of 1977, and since early March of that year, Louise Jefferson had started getting a dry, hacking cough that frequently came and went. Louise also experienced some episodes of hoarseness, shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue in those months, but it didn't happen often enough that she was all that concerned. She wrote it off as seasonal allergies, colds, the flu, etc., and she didn't make a big deal about it. As a matter of fact, she never even told her husband, George, or her best friends and in-laws, Tom and Helen Willis, about it, and she almost always told them about everything in her life.

But over the past several weeks, Louise's symptoms worsened. She'd suddenly started experiencing horrible nausea over the past couple of months or so, and she'd even started vomiting two or three times every single day. And now on Christmas Eve morning, a Saturday, she'd begun having a terrible coughing spell while in the shower. To her horror, she coughed up blood that morning. Understandably frightened, she quickly got dressed and took a cab to the emergency room. She was so frightened and stunned by what had happened that she didn't even think to call her husband and son and let them know that she was going to the hospital. She just took off.

A few hours later, a doctor came into Louise's exam room, showed Louise her chest X-rays, and said the fourteen words that would change hers and her family's lives forever: "Mrs. Jefferson, I have bad news. You have a mass in your left lung…"

Understandably, Louise didn't hear another word that was said after that. She was shocked, horrified, terrified, devastated, and completely numb all at once. It was as if that doctor had made a fist, punched her, and knocked her out cold. It wouldn't have been quite as brutal had George been there by her side, but unfortunately, there was no way he could have been there now. His seventy-seven-year-old mother, Olivia, was now on her deathbed. She'd come down with pneumonia in both lungs weeks earlier, and her doctor had told George and Louise that she wouldn't last long. Frankly, they were all surprised that she'd held on until now. The Jefferson family knew that they could lose their matriarch at any moment.

"Mrs. Jefferson? Mrs. Jefferson?" said the doctor in a gentle, understanding voice, bringing Louise back to reality. His name was Dr. Hendrix, and he was a tall, slim black man in his forties with glasses and kind dark eyes.

"Huh?" Louise gasped.

"As I was saying, it's imperative that you get a biopsy as soon as possible. I have a colleague, Dr. Bernard. He specializes in this. I highly recommend him."

"Thank you, doctor," Louise said quietly. She then said, "Doctor, just tell me upfront: does it look like cancer?"

"The mass in your lung does appear…very concerning, Mrs. Jefferson," he answered, obviously choosing his words very carefully. "It's extremely important that you make an appointment with Dr. Bernard to have the biopsy as soon as you possibly can so that you and your family know precisely what it is that you're dealing with."

"You do think it's cancer, don't you?" asked Louise, looking him straight in the eyes, demanding an honest answer with her gaze.

After a long silence, Dr. Hendrix told her truthfully, "I think so."

"Oh, God," Louise gasped as she buried her face in her hand and allowed herself to cry openly over the next few moments. She then managed to compose herself enough to look at him again and ask the question, "What's my prognosis, doctor? How bad is it?"

"We can't know that for certain until more tests are done. But I won't sugarcoat it, Mrs. Jefferson. Even though it's almost 1978, even though we've made great strides in the fight against cancer over the years, lung cancer remains one of the toughest kinds of cancer to beat. You and your family are going to have a hard road ahead of you. You're going to need a lot of care and a lot of support in the weeks and months ahead. You can survive this and you can beat this, but it isn't going to be easy."

"Mother Jefferson," Louise whispered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Oh, my mother-in-law. She's in her late seventies and she's got pneumonia in both lungs and her doctor doesn't expect her to live much longer. She fell down and broke her ankle a while back, and she just hasn't seemed to be able to bounce back from it. It's taken a hard toll on her health. And now the pneumonia."

"I'm very sorry. It's typically like that with older people. They tend to have more falls, more broken bones, and when they break a bone, it's often very hard for them to completely recover from it."

"Now that my husband is losing his mother, the last thing he needs is to have to worry about me."

"I understand what you're saying, Mrs. Jefferson. I understand that you don't want to be a burden to your husband right now. But even though he's going through a lot with his mother's illness, you need to let him be there for you, too. After all, he promised to care for you in sickness and in health every day for the rest of your lives, not to care for you in sickness and in health only when it's convenient to do so. When he married you, he basically promised before Almighty God to always put you before himself, no matter what, just the same as you promised to do for him. Unfortunately, it's been my experience through the years that wives, in general, are much better at putting their husbands ahead of themselves than husbands are at putting their wives first."

Louise knowingly nodded and said, "When it comes to George, you're quite right. Don't get me wrong, though. My husband is a good man. He's a good provider. He's a very hard worker."

"But if he's like many men I know, the workplace tends to come first far too often."

"Exactly."

"Well anyway, as I was saying, don't be afraid to let him take care of you now. I know this is already a tough time for him, but don't try to shield him from this. Let him help you. Let him be there for you. Let him do the things that a husband is supposed to do. He may be going through a lot with his mother now, but still, you just took a horrific blow, and it's okay to let yourself lean on him."

Louise took in a deep breath, let out a long sigh, and said, "Thank you. Thank you for everything, doctor."

"Of course. And whatever you do, Mrs. Jefferson, don't ever let go of hope. In my profession, I've seen Jesus do some real medical miracles. No matter how bad or how impossible things seem, you never know when He may decide to step into your situation and work a miracle for you. Don't ever quit. Don't ever give up."

"Thank you," Louise said quietly.

"I'm so sorry I had to give you such terrible news on Christmas Eve of all days," he told her sympathetically, and it was obvious that he really did feel awful for her. Louise responded with a respectful nod, and then he left, which gave her the privacy to have the good cry that she needed.

Louise returned to her apartment in a complete daze. Her trip to the emergency room clearly took a terrible toll on her, and when she got home, she didn't call her mother-in-law's apartment to speak to George, who'd been by her bedside day and night over the past several days. Her part-time cleaning lady, Florence Johnston, who came by once a week to help out with the apartment, was now in Canada visiting her parents during the Christmas holidays, and her best friends and upstairs neighbors, Tom and Helen Willis, were out of town for the holidays as well. Louise knew that her son Lionel and his bride Jenny were with Olivia now, and she knew she would likely have the place to herself until later that evening, so she just took her shoes off and laid down on her living room couch and put a cold compress on her forehead.

About an hour later, the phone rang, and Louise – not in the mood to speak to anyone – reluctantly got up off the couch and walked over to the desk and answered it.

"George?" she said, understandably expecting it to be her husband.

"Am I speaking to Mrs. Jefferson? To Mrs. Louise Jefferson?" asked a young woman.

"Oh, yes, this is Louise Jefferson. How may I help you?" Louise graciously asked.

"Mrs. Jefferson, this is the East Side Medical Center. My name is Andrea. I'm the nurse who drew your blood in the E.R. earlier today."

"Oh yes, I remember."

"I am so very sorry about this, Mrs. Jefferson, but with today being Christmas Eve, things have been absolutely crazy. There was a twenty-car-pile-up near the hospital that we had to deal with right after you first came in for all your tests."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, it's been pretty rough today, although I know today has been just as rough for you as it has been for some of our patients."

"You can say that again," Louise agreed.

"The reason why I said all of that is because the pile-up had us distracted and while the doctor was able to get to your chest X-rays and everything, we didn't the chance to review your bloodwork until after you had left. Something showed up in your bloodwork that we didn't expect."

"Oh, God. Now, what?" Louise gasped as she was overwhelmed with waves of nausea, with her heart pounding away in her chest.

"Relax, Mrs. Jefferson. It's not that anything's wrong, per se. It's just that, given your age and everything, we didn't expect to see this. You see, Mrs. Jefferson…you're pregnant."

"I'm what?!" Louise cried out in shock.

"You're pregnant."

"Are you…are you serious?" Louise gasped, completely unable to believe her ears. "Is this some kind of sick, crazy joke?!"

"Believe me, ma'am, this is no joke. This is no joke at all. We wouldn't be calling you, on Christmas Eve of all days, if this weren't completely real."

"Oh, my Lord. I…my husband and my son don't even know about the X-rays yet," said Louise in pure, utter disbelief.

"I understand that this a very great deal to have to take in all at once. I know this must be unbelievably hard, but try to take it easy. Try to relax as much as you can. Take a lot of deep breaths. Just try to get through all of this one day at a time. And if that's too hard, take it one minute at a time. One second at a time, if need be."

After a long pause, almost forgetting the young nurse on the other end of the line, Louise finally said, "Thank you, nurse. Thank you for calling."

"You're very welcome. I know it's hard, but hang in there."

Louise nodded and said, "I will. Thank you. And Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you and your family, too," she said kindly, and then they hung up. And a few moments later, Louise collapsed back onto the couch and cried once again. She knew that no matter hard she tried to relax, no matter how many deep breaths she took, she would never be able to handle this.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Death Row

To say that Christmas was horrible for the Jefferson family that year would be a gross understatement. Louise never got around to telling George, Lionel, and Jenny about her trip to the E.R. because they had stayed at Olivia's apartment until well into the night. It was only when a friend and neighbor of Olivia's finally got back from a Christmas Eve party and took over for them a little after midnight that they were able to go home. George, Lionel, and Jenny stayed by Olivia's bedside as much as they could, and despite how bad Louise obviously felt physically, she, too, spent a lot of time with her mother-in-law. She continued to help Jenny cook for the men and make sure they were eating well, and she coaxed what little bit of food and liquids she could into Olivia. Louise also continued to help Jenny take care of Olivia's apartment, despite the fact that it was all beginning to take a toll on her. Louise's biopsy was scheduled for that coming Tuesday, two days after Christmas, and even though she knew she had to tell her husband and son and daughter-in-law about it, she just couldn't bring herself to.

However, that Monday morning, when it was just George and Louise there in Olivia's apartment, Louise actually fainted, and when she came to a few moments later, she assured George that she would be fine. Then, deciding to use the situation to put off the inevitable discussion with her husband, she told him that she probably just needed a couple of days off, and they agreed that George would remain by his mother's side while she stayed at their apartment for the next two days so she could rest up. It made perfect sense to George that Louise needed a break. He was a clueless jerk most of the time, but he wasn't completely blind. He knew better than anyone how hard Louise had worked to help take care of Olivia ever since she'd broken her ankle in February of that year. He knew that she'd been taking care of two apartments at once and running herself ragged waiting on Olivia hand and foot on top of that. George and the kids had helped with Olivia too, of course, but no one had put in as many hours of work as Louise had over the course of that year, and George knew it. Although no one adored Olivia more than George did, even he recognized that she was not the easiest person to take care of, especially for Louise. Olivia had never made her disdain for Louise a secret, and she constantly nitpicked and complained about practically everything Louise ever did, no matter how hard she tried to please her. So when Louise expressed her desire to take a couple of days "off" from Olivia, George completely understood. He knew that Louise hadn't been feeling well lately, and even though he was very caught up in his mother and himself, he actually was a little concerned about his wife, too. He'd been living with Louise for over twenty-five years and even someone as dense as George Jefferson knew that something wasn't quite right with his wife.

Louise checked into the hospital by herself the next morning, and the biopsy was performed that afternoon, but not by Dr. Bernard, the physician recommended by Dr. Hendrix. He'd been called out of town unexpectedly, so his colleague, Dr. Nora Jackson, took over the procedure. Dr. Jackson was a rather heavyset woman with dark hair, blue eyes, and glasses, and when she entered Louise's hospital room, she was completely calm, cool, and professional. When Louise looked into her cool blue eyes, her gaze gave away nothing.

After approaching Louise's hospital bed, Dr. Jackson looked down at her and told her point-blank, "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Jefferson, but the biopsy shows that the tumor in your left lung is malignant."

Silent tears streamed down Louise's face in those moments. "I knew it," she gasped. "I knew it."

Dr. Jackson looked down at Louise's chart for a couple of long seconds, and then she looked back at Louise and said, "I see here on your chart that you're married, that you're forty-six years-old…and that you're pregnant." Louise nodded. "Do you and your husband have any other children?"

"We have a son. Lionel. He's twenty-four. He's an electrical engineer. He just got married one year ago this Christmas Eve. My husband and I got pregnant with him just a few months after we were married. We were so happy. We always dreamed of having a big family when we were young. But we got pregnant three more times after we had our son, and every single time, we lost the baby."

The doctor nodded and said, "I take it that this pregnancy was not planned."

Louise shook her head and responded, "No. It wasn't. And it couldn't have happened at a more terrible time. If this had happened when I was young and healthy, I would've been so happy. But being pregnant now? It's a disaster."

In that moment, Dr. Jackson came around and sat down in the chair beside Louise's bed, and she told her, "I understand how you feel, Mrs. Jefferson. You're shocked. You're terrified. You're scared out of your wits. You can't believe this has happened. You don't know what to do. You don't want to kill your baby, but you don't want to go through the agony of another miscarriage, especially not at your age. And you don't want to die at forty-six and leave your husband and your son without a wife and mother."

"You summed it up perfectly," Louise admitted.

"I've been there, Mrs. Jefferson. Well, not exactly, but close. I was raped two years after I finished medical school, and I got pregnant. My husband and I had had a baby while we were in college, a little boy, but there were complications during the delivery and he was stillborn. It tore us both apart. And my husband was away on a business trip when I conceived the second time, so we both knew the baby couldn't possibly be my husband's. It was my rapist's. After we lost our son, we were always so careful. We always had safe sex. We always used a condom. Always. After losing our first baby, after going through such a horrific experience, we knew we never wanted to get pregnant again. We never wanted to risk going through that agony again. And when we found out that I was pregnant with my rapist's child…I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't put myself through the trauma of childbirth again and risk having another stillborn baby. I certainly couldn't take that risk for a baby that wasn't even ours. There are some people out there, some who will even call themselves Christians and claim to be Godly people, who would accuse me of murder directly to my face because I chose to put my own sanity and well-being and marriage ahead of a mere fertilized egg. The problem with this kind of 'Christianity' is that all it ever cares about are embryos that aren't even fully formed yet. It cares nothing about the well-being of traumatized women. In that heartless religious system of theirs that claims to care so much for the oppressed, it spits in the face of women who have been traumatized and raped. And those same people would also get right in your face and call you a murderer if you decided that you didn't want to throw your whole life, your whole marriage, your whole family, under the bus, for a mere embryo."

"Now wait a minute, doctor. You may be right about me being scared out of my wits right now. I definitely am. But I AM NOT aborting my baby! I can't do something like that. I just can't. That's just not who I am."

"As I said, I've been there. For most of my life, I couldn't have imagined doing it either. But the truth is, while professing Christians would have you believe that most women who go to get abortions are evil, cruel, selfish, heartless sluts who sleep around and don't want to accept responsibility for their decisions in the bedroom, the truth is, most of them are like you and me. Good, kind, decent, hardworking everyday women who suddenly find themselves in an impossible situation they never imagined they would be in, who are terrified and don't have any other way out. And I won't lie to you, Mrs. Jefferson. If you want to have a real chance of fighting this cancer and staying alive for your family another ten, twenty, thirty years, then an abortion is your only way out. The tumor in your lung is so big that we can't just remove the tumor. We'll have to remove your left lung as well. And then you'll need to have chemotherapy to kill off any remaining cancer cells the surgery might have left behind so that the cancer doesn't spread to your right lung or to any other part of your body. And if you go through with the pregnancy, you won't be able to have the surgery or the chemotherapy until after the baby is born. Your chances of beating your cancer now are already slim. If you try to wait until after you give birth before you start fighting your cancer, you will probably die. I hate to put it so bluntly, but it's the truth, and you need to understand what's at stake, here. Mrs. Jefferson, you are forty-six years-old. You already suffered three miscarriages when you were younger. How likely do you think it is that this pregnancy won't end in another miscarriage? Do you really want to put yourself through that ordeal again? And what about your husband and your son? Do you really want to make them lose you now, all for the sake of an embryo that probably won't even survive to the second trimester of your pregnancy? What's more important? A mere zygote that'll probably be miscarried soon, or the lives of the people who are already here? The lives of the people you have known and loved for years? Those are the hard questions that you're going to have to ask yourself in the days ahead. And whatever decision you make, just know that if you do choose to have an abortion so that you can start fighting your cancer now and give your family more years with you, that does not make you a cold, evil murderer. If you do make that choice, know that you are not cruel and you are not evil, and know that you are not sinning against God, no matter what a bunch of religious zealots may try to tell you. Know that you are a good woman who is choosing to put the people she loves the most ahead of some mere fetal tissue. Period, end of story."

Dr. Jackson then got up and left Louise alone with her thoughts, and once she was gone, Louise just cried out to God on the inside, over and over again, as rivers of tears started flowing from her eyes.

Louise left the hospital and came home that evening in a complete and utter daze once again. She just sank down into one of the chairs at her dining table, buried her exhausted head in her hands, and cried from the crushing, intense weight of it all. Every day of her life, Louise had always been thoroughly convinced, down to the bone, that abortion was the cruel and heartless murder of an unborn baby. A ruthless and selfish act committed by cruel and irresponsible women, cruel and irresponsible abortionists, who were arrogantly trying to take the place of God. She never imagined that she would ever wind up in a place like this, with her whole life and the well-being and future of her entire family at stake, completely scared out of her mind, without any other real options for the people she loved the most, or for herself. She never imagined it for one second. She never dreamed that a disaster like this would happen. But as strongly as she despised abortion, she knew that Dr. Jackson actually did have some valid points, whether she wanted to admit it or not. It wasn't as if Louise were some kid in her twenties. She was not a spring chicken. Louise and George were not young anymore. And bringing a baby into the world and caring for it for eighteen years or more was difficult for young couples under the most ideal of circumstances. Louise couldn't even begin to imagine doing it now, at their age, with her already having cancer to fight. It was absolutely, completely, utterly impossible, and Louise knew it. How could she bring a baby into the world and leave it without a mother? How could she force George and Lionel to endure the heartache of losing their wife and mother for a baby that would most likely be miscarried? How could she put the two people she loved the most through something like that? She didn't want to end her baby's life, but didn't she owe it to her husband and her son to do everything she could to beat her cancer? Didn't she owe it to George and Lionel to stay healthy and strong for them and give them as many years with her as possible? Would it really be right or fair to them to throw their needs under the bus for the sake of a baby that wasn't even here yet, whose chances at life were already slim to none? What kind of sense did that make?

"Sweet Jesus, help me, please," Louise gasped through her tears. "I don't want to kill my baby, but I don't want to leave my husband and my son without a wife and mother. I just don't know what to do. Just show me what to do. Show me what the right decision is. Please."

Still utterly exhausted, Louise folded her arms on the dining table and laid her head down and fell asleep.

Louise suddenly woke up in the wide, cold corridor of a prison. Jail cells surrounded her. Surprisingly, though, she didn't see adult inmates standing in the prison cells in orange jumpsuits. She saw children of various ages standing in the prison cells, each of them wearing a little orange jumpsuit. All of their little hands holding onto the jail bars. Louise noticed that while some of the little children were white, the vast majority of them were black.

"What is this place?" Louise whispered as she looked around, taking in her unusual surroundings. "Where am I? What's going on, here?"

In that moment, a bald, fat white doctor in a white coat and scrubs approached a jail cell, unlocked it, took the hand of a little black boy who was still a toddler, who had obviously just barely learned to walk, and led him away. Seconds later, the prison was filled with the sounds of the most horrific, unimaginable crying and screaming. Cries and screams that could only come from a little child.

"Oh, my Lord! He's hurting that little boy!" Louise cried, and then she began to run after him to try and save him.

But then the blood-curdling screams stopped, and a little voice called out, "Mommy?"

Louise stopped and turned her head, and she saw two little black girls, both of whom appeared to be about six or seven years-old, standing together in one of the jail cells in orange jumpsuits. Their physical appearance was very similar, but it was not completely the same. The girls were fraternal twins, and they both looked almost exactly like Louise's childhood pictures. They were gorgeous little girls with Louise's lovely darker skin tone, and her heart melted as soon as she saw them.

Louise walked up to their cell, stuck her hands through the jail bars, and took their hands in her own. And then she asked them, "What are your names?"

"We don't know what our names are yet, Mommy," answered the girl who'd called out to her moments earlier. "You haven't given them to us yet."

"God knows what our names are, though," answered the other little girl. "If you decide not to rescue us from the executioner and we die, God will tell us what our names are after He takes us to heaven."

"What are you talking about?" asked Louise.

"We're all babies who are living inside our mommies right now," the second girl replied. "We're all different ages. Some of us were just created by Jesus a little while ago, and some of us have been around longer."

"We're all on death row, because our mommies don't know yet if they want to have an abortion or not," the first girl explained. "When that mean man who's dressed up like a doctor comes for one of us, that's when we know our fate."

"That's when we know if we're going to live or die," said the second girl.

"That guy may look like a doctor, but he's really an executioner. Inmates on death row know they're going to die when the clock strikes midnight, but for us, midnight can strike at any time. Our mommies can decide at any time to have us executed if they want to. And because you're our mommy, you can have us executed any time you want to. You can choose to have an abortion at any moment now," the first girl told Louise.

"Our lives are in danger," the second girl informed her. "My sister and I are almost eleven weeks old now. We're twins, and we're living side by side in your belly. If you choose to have an abortion now, the executioner will turn on a suction device and suck us out of you, and it will be very painful for us. The suction device might actually suck our limbs off of our bodies. We'll die by having our bodies ripped apart. Literally."

"And if you wait until we're sixteen weeks old, the executioner will inject a needle full of a salt solution into your abdomen to poison us. And the poison is not quick, and it is not painless. When we swallow the poison, it could take us over an hour to die. And as we're dying, the poison will be burning off the outer layer of our skin. And then about twenty-four hours later, we'll be either dying or completely dead as you give birth to us," the first girl explained. With tears streaming down Louise's face, she then continued, telling her, "And if you wait until we're eighteen weeks old or older, the executioner will stick forceps inside you to grab our legs and tear them off. Then after our bodies are delivered, he'll take a pair of scissors and jam them into our skulls and open the scissors to enlarge our skulls. After that, he'll suction out our brains so that our skulls can be removed."

"You have the power to make midnight strike for us at any moment now, Mommy," said the second girl. "And we want to know: what is your decision? When will midnight strike for us?"

"What will midnight be like for us, Mommy?" the first girl demanded to know. "Will our midnight strike after we've had the chance to live and grow old, or will you make midnight strike for us now, before we've even had the chance to take our first breath?"

"Are you going to let the executioner torture us to death, Mommy?" asked the second girl. "Will midnight strike for us now?"

In that instant, Louise looked down and saw that she had a key in her hands. She then began fervently shaking her head as she unlocked the jail cell her unborn daughters were standing in. In the next moment, she knelt down and held her arms open wide to her children, and they walked out of the prison cell and into her sweet embrace, and she held them close and smothered them with endless kisses.

After she'd finally calmed down enough to be able to speak again, she told them, "Listen to me, babies. Listen to Mommy. Midnight is not going to strike for the two of you until you are at least five hundred years old. As long as there is breath in this old body of mine, I will use every last ounce of my strength to care for you and protect you. I will NEVER let anyone hurt you. Do you hear me, girls?"

They both smiled, and the first girl said, "We hear you, Mommy."

"Thank you for saving us, Mommy," said the second girl.

"Yeah, Mommy. Thank you for getting us off of death row."

"You two never, ever have to worry about death row. As a matter of fact, from this moment forward, you girls are never allowed to think about death row again. Not ever. Not for a single moment. And from this day forward, you two are never allowed to wear orange again."

Louise then took her daughters by the hand and walked with them out of the cold prison, outside into the warm sunshine, and they all smiled at each other. And Louise felt the most wonderful sense of peace just wash over her in waves, feeling it seep all the way down into her bones that this was, undoubtedly, the will of God. And the Holy Spirit overwhelmed her with certainty that everything would work out okay, regardless of how bad it seemed now.

In that instant, Louise opened her eyes. And for what felt like the millionth time over the past few days, tears flooded her eyes once again. But this time, they weren't tears of anguish. They were tears of joy and tears of relief. The thought of having an abortion thoroughly devastated her, but for a little while, her reality was so skewed by her dark circumstances that she couldn't see any other way out. But now, she knew beyond a doubt that God was with her and that He would never abandon her, no matter how bad things might get. She didn't want to die of cancer now, of course. She didn't want to leave George and Lionel without a wife and mother. But if she chose to have an abortionist – an executioner – torture her unborn daughters to death, she knew she would never be a worthy wife and mother for her family again. No matter how terrifying and impossible her circumstances were, nothing could ever make torturing a baby to death an acceptable practice. If she did such a cruel thing, Louise knew in her heart that that would make her a murderer, and that would completely destroy her inside, and it would make her useless to the people she loved the most. She was still terrified, but even so, she now was filled to the brim with strength, resolve, and determination. She would do everything in her power to protect her unborn daughters and get them through the pregnancy safely. She would do all that she could to give them life, not death. Lung cancer and fear of another miscarriage and all other impossible obstacles in her path be damned.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Deathbed Confessions

It was Thursday, the twenty-ninth of December, two days after her biopsy, when Louise returned to her mother-in-law's apartment. George, Lionel, and Jenny had all been taking turns sitting at Olivia's bedside, and Lionel and Jenny had been a big help to George in caring for her during Louise's absence. Sadly, they could all sense it that the end was near, and when Olivia actually began to complain about how much she'd missed Louise lately, they knew beyond a doubt that it couldn't be long now. Only being at death's door could ever shake that obstinate old lady up enough to force her to admit how much she actually did like her daughter-in-law deep down underneath all her guff. When Louise sat down beside Olivia's bed that morning and Olivia opened her eyes, both women knew that now was the time to put their longstanding rivalry aside and start being real with each other.

"Louise…there's something I need to say," Olivia told her in a raspy whisper after taking off her oxygen mask. Speaking was becoming more difficult, obviously, but she was determined to say everything she knew in her heart she needed to say now.

"I sat down too quickly, didn't I?" said Louise with a good-natured smile as she rose from her seat. "What do you need, dear?" she asked warmly. Yes, Olivia was difficult, but Louise knew she was a scared old lady on her deathbed, and despite all her years of unkindness towards her, she couldn't help but be filled with compassion for her now.

Olivia shook her head and replied, "I don't…I don't need you to get me anything, Louise. I just need you to be with me now. I don't want…to be alone."

Louise gave her a loving smile, took her hand, gave it a little squeeze, and told her, "Don't worry, honey. I'm not going anywhere."

After Louise sat down again, Olivia said, "You're a good girl, Louise. You were always such a good girl. Out of all the girls George ever brought home…you were the best, Louise. The very best."

"Okay, Mother Jefferson, let's get your mask back on, here," said Louise as she started trying to help Olivia with her oxygen mask. "You just need to take a few deep breaths, get some more oxygen, and lie back and relax, alright?"

Olivia stubbornly pushed Louise's hands and the oxygen mask away, and she said, "No, Louise. You have to…you have to listen to me now. I never…I never admitted the truth to you before now because I was so stubborn. But you have to let me tell you the truth now…while I still have the chance to say it. Listen to me, Louise. Really listen."

"I'm listening, Mother Jefferson."

"I have always liked you, Louise. I have always respected you," Olivia confessed in the smallest voice.

"Then why did you always act as though everything I ever did was wrong all these years?" asked Louise incredulously.

"I was jealous of you, Louise. And I was…and I was intimidated by you. I was…astonished…at how much strength and wisdom you had at your age. You were just a teenager when we met and I'd never…I'd never seen a teenage girl…who was so…wise beyond her years. I was more than twice your age, and I only had half your patience and understanding…if that. You know that I didn't want George to marry you. You know it now…that I even told George not to marry you…back when you two were dating. What you don't know…is why."

"Why were you so against us getting married, Mother Jefferson?"

"Like I said…I was intimidated by you. You were…you were always a special person, Louise. Always. Even back then when you were so young. I liked being the most important woman in George's life…and I didn't want that to change. And when you came along…I knew how deeply in love George was with you…and I knew you had a much stronger impact on his life than I did. A much better impact on his life than I did. And that made me so jealous of you. I didn't want you in our lives…because I was afraid that if my son married you…him having you around all the time…him seeing what a better person you were than me every day…would make George start to look down on me."

"That's crazy, Mother Jefferson. George loves you more than anything. He adores you. He could never look down on you."

With tears in her eyes, Olivia admitted, "You always deserved…so much better, Louise. So much better…from both of us. George and I both have spent our whole lives…acting like a couple of silly, spoiled toddlers. You were such a saint to put up with both of us the way you did. You're still a saint to still be here putting up with us after all these years. And I know it. I've known it all along what impossible people my son and I are. I was just too proud and stubborn to admit it. Until now."

"Why are you telling me all of this now, Mother Jefferson?" Louise asked.

"Come on, Louise. We both know why. I don't have long in this world. I'm almost out of time."

"Oh, now you just hush with all this crazy talk. You're going to pull through this. It's just going to take a little more time; that's all. You just have to be patient."

Olivia shook her head and said, "I know you're just trying to be kind, Louise…but cut the baloney. I'm on my deathbed now…and I know that just as much as you do. I'm going to be with Jesus soon…and I know that when I'm in His presence…I'm going to have a lot to answer for."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been…such a foolish woman. Every day of my life, I've been…so petty and irritating and self-absorbed. I could have done so much more. I could have given…so much more…of my time and energy through the years. I could have given so much more…of myself. I could have put others ahead of myself…so many more times than I did. I have many regrets, Louise."

"Oh love, the same thing is true for all of us. We all have times in our lives when we could be more thoughtful and less selfish. We all have some negative traits in our character that we need to work on and improve. Everybody's like that. Nobody can ever be one hundred percent perfect in this life. The only Person who could ever pull that off is Jesus Christ. That's why He had to die on the cross for the rest of us, because we could never reach God's holy standard of complete perfection ourselves, and it took a completely perfect Man to die in our place and give us His perfection."

Olivia nodded and said, "I know. Nobody can ever…live a life that's good enough for God's standards…and earn their way into heaven themselves. I know that. But still…I didn't do a very good job of…carrying my cross and following after our Lord…like I was supposed to. I'm ashamed of myself. As a matter of fact, I don't know if Jesus wants anything to do with me at all now."

"After we come to faith in Christ, we are supposed to pick up our cross and follow Him, yes. But that's all about discipleship, not salvation. They're two entirely different issues. Salvation is a free, undeserved gift from God. Discipleship, on the other hand, is very costly, and it can even cost a disciple of Christ her life. After getting saved, a born-again believer in Christ has a decision to make. She can choose to spend the rest of her earthly life serving Jesus as one of His disciples, always striving to put Jesus and others ahead of herself, or she can choose to continue living for herself, putting herself above Christ and everyone else. If she makes that choice, she opens herself up to the natural consequences of a sinful, selfish lifestyle, and she also opens herself up to the possibility of having to be chastened by God, much in the same way that an earthly parent must discipline a disobedient child. And as far as eternity goes, she'll lose whatever eternal rewards she could have earned at what is often referred to as the Bema judgment. But even if that happens, she is still passionately loved by Christ, and she is still saved no matter what, because eternal life is a free, undeserved gift from Jesus and NOT an earned reward for living a Godly life. Once you trust in Jesus, in His death on the cross, burial, and resurrection to pay for all your sins, He doesn't change His mind about saving you if you don't serve Him like you should, and He NEVER stops loving you, and He NEVER turns His back on you, even though you may deserve it. And anyway, I think you're being a little too hard on yourself. Yes, you've been difficult at times, but still, we all know you've got a lot of love in your heart underneath all your guff, just like George does. And we all know better than to take all your guff seriously. We know how much you care for us."

"You merely being willing…to say things like that to me in the first place…after the way I've always treated you…just proves what a beautiful soul you are. You're a better woman than I am, Louise. You always were. And you always will be. And I hope you'll forgive me…for the way I've treated you. I was a fool, Louise. I was such a fool. And unfortunately, George is just as bad as I am. Maybe even worse."

Louise gave her mother-in-law a loving smile, squeezed her hand again, and told her, "Of course I forgive you. Nobody knows better than I do not to take you and George too seriously. Now I won't let George walk all over me like he tries to do sometimes, and I won't let him get away with it whenever he tries to pull some kind of selfish stunt or scheme that we both know is wrong. But still, I know that way deep down underneath all his foolishness, he really is a caring man. Just like his mother."

"You have a big and…generous heart," Olivia told Louise truthfully, and Louise responded by giving her another warm smile. But in the next moment, Louise suddenly started having a horrendous coughing spell, and it wasn't long before she coughed up blood. "Oh, Louise," Olivia gasped the instant she saw the blood in Louise's hand.

After stepping into the nearby bathroom and washing her hands and face, Louise came back into Olivia's bedroom and told her all about everything that had been happening with her health lately. She told her about her cancer diagnosis and the pregnancy, and she even opened up to her about the dream she'd had and how she'd been given a prophetic glimpse at the fraternal twin daughters she was now carrying. She also told her everything Dr. Jackson had said, and how her dream from the Lord had helped her realize that she had to do everything she could to protect her unborn daughters now, no matter how bad things might get in the near future.

"I actually tracked down one of Helen Willis's acquaintances yesterday. Her name is Lauren Andrews, and she started a crisis pregnancy center near her church last year. She was an OB nurse for over forty years before she retired a couple of years ago. I looked her up and called her yesterday, and we talked for hours. I even told her all about my dream. Before I had that dream, I didn't know the specifics of abortion. I didn't know the exact details of what happened to an unborn baby during an abortion, and when I told her what I was told in my dream, she confirmed that it was all true. And she told me some other important things I didn't know. She told me all about a terrible woman named Margaret Sanger, who founded an abortion-promoting organization called Planned Parenthood. She believed in something called eugenics, which is basically the idea that Hitler's mass murder of the Jews was based on. The idea that so-called 'undesirables' shouldn't be allowed to live and shouldn't be allowed to procreate. Hitler believed that about Jews, and Margaret Sanger believed that about blacks. She promoted abortion when she was alive because she firmly believed that poor people and disabled people shouldn't have children, and she particularly believed that black people shouldn't have children. She was even a featured guest at KKK meetings. And one of the main reasons she founded Planned Parenthood and promoted abortion in America was because she wanted to kill off as many black babies as possible. You find many more abortion clinics in poor black neighborhoods than you do in white suburban neighborhoods, and there's a reason for that. And that reason is that the evil people running the abortion industry in this country want to murder as many black babies as they can. When we talked over the phone yesterday, Lauren said to me that one of the most dangerous places for a black baby today is in the womb, and she's right. When Jesus gave me that prophetic dream, He wanted me to know exactly what it was that I would be doing to my unborn children if I chose to have an abortion, and He also wanted me to know the truth about what this cruel, evil industry is doing to black babies, which is why most of the children on death row in my dream were black. If I give into all my fears and have an abortion, I'll just be playing right into Satan's hands, and I'll be playing right into the hands of Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood and the KKK and every other sick racist that wants there to be a holocaust of black babies in our country. I owe it to Jesus to have respect for His creations. I owe it to Him to do everything in my power to protect these precious little lives inside me that He's created. And protecting these babies is something I owe to our people as well."

"You're absolutely right, Louise," said Olivia in a weak, emotional voice as tears started streaming down her face. "There is a holocaust happening…in this country today. Just as the Jews…went through a holocaust…back in Nazi Germany…unborn children are going through a holocaust as well. Unborn black children are going through…a holocaust."

Louise nodded and said, "This is a holocaust that has been happening to babies for decades. For centuries, even. Just as sexually promiscuous people sacrificed their unwanted babies to Molech back in the Old Testament days, today, we're sacrificing babies on the altars of personal convenience and selfish ambition. There are so many people in this world, women and men alike, who want abortion simply because they care more about their careers and money. Or simply because don't want to go through anything in life that might be hard. They think that life is supposed to go their way all the time and that they should always be allowed to shield themselves from pain and difficulty. I don't mean to be cold when I say that, but it's the truth. I know there are many women who choose to get an abortion because they're in a bad situation and they're terrified and they just can't see any other way out, and my heart goes out to them. With everything that's been happening in my own life lately, I know exactly how they feel, and I do have compassion for them. But that dream made me realize that no matter how bad or terrifying your situation is, nothing can ever justify torturing a baby to death, and that's precisely what abortion is: the ruthless murder of babies by torture. Period."

As more rivers of tears flowed from Olivia's eyes, she looked into her daughter-in-law's face and told her, "How I wish I'd been more like you…when I was a teenage girl. If I'd had just one ounce of your strength and courage back then…my whole life would've been so much different."

"What do you mean?"

"Back when I was seventeen…I was so stupid, Louise. So stupid. Years before…I met George's father…I was running around…with this boy in my neighborhood. Everybody tried to warn me…that he was bad news…but I wouldn't listen. I was so sure…that I was in love. I got pregnant. I couldn't tell my parents. I knew they would hate me. I begged him to marry me…but two weeks after he found out I was pregnant…he ran off with another girl. There was a woman in our neighborhood…who did abortions in her home…for anyone who paid her enough money…even though it was illegal. I talked to her several times…before I finally went through with it," Olivia confessed as Louise began to cry with her. "She told me…all kinds of lies. She told me that it…that it wasn't really a baby. She told me that it was just a parasite…feeding off of me…nothing more. She told me that because…it needed my body to live…that because it couldn't live on its own without me…that made it a parasite…and not a person…and that I was just having a parasite removed from my body…not committing murder. I listened to that foul, demonic woman. I listened to her lies…and I believed them. I convinced myself…that I was carrying a parasite. Not a human being. But on that terrible night…after it was all over…I knew the truth. I knew that she had ripped a human life out of my body that night. I knew it. And it's…it's haunted me ever since. I've always hated myself for killing my baby…and I always will."

"You don't have to go on hating yourself and torturing yourself like this, Mother Jefferson," Louise told her kindly. "You were just a kid back then, and you were frightened and confused. And that terrible, demonic woman told you lies and took advantage of you when you were at your most vulnerable, just to make money off of you. Just like abortion clinics do to scared young women today."

Olivia nodded in agreement, and then she said, "Over the years, I realized…just how stupid and how wrong her lies were. We're all parasites in a way…whether we're in the womb or not. We all need each other and depend on each other…physically or financially or emotionally…for our survival. Even after birth, no baby can survive on his own without his parents. No baby or toddler or child…can survive in this world…without his parents' care and protection. And even when we're grown…we still couldn't survive…without having somebody in our lives to love. Without having somebody…to love us. That's the way God made us."

"You're right, love. You are absolutely right."

"Shoot, I've been out of my mother's womb for over seventy-seven years…and I wouldn't be able to survive in this world on my own…without you and George."

"And we need you, too. Our lives would never be the same without you."

"I want to stay with you and George…and with Lionel and our babies. I really do. But I don't think…this old body will let me, Louise."

"Well I'm not giving up on these babies, and I'm not giving up on you. We're going to get you better. You just wait and see."

"Don't ever change, Louise. Don't ever stop being the remarkable lady that you are. No matter what satanic lies some fool…may try to tell you…about the babies not being human beings…don't ever listen. No matter how hard it may get…you stay strong. You're a wonderful woman, and you're doing the right thing. Do you hear me? You are doing the right thing."

Louise took Olivia's hand and said, "I hear you, love. I hear you loud and clear."

In the next moment, Olivia began coughing, and Louise put her oxygen mask back on for her. Then, exhausted from the draining conversation, Olivia drifted off to sleep again, with Louise sitting by her bed, lovingly stroking her hand.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Louise is Done

After Olivia's painful deathbed confessions to Louise that day, she quickly fell asleep, and she remained in a semi-conscious state over the next six days. It wasn't until that following Wednesday, the fourth of January, that Olivia opened her eyes again. And as soon she looked up and saw that her son was sitting on the side of her bed, holding her hand, she knew that this was it. She knew that this was the last time she would ever speak to George in this life.

"Hey, Mama," George lovingly whispered. "I'm here, Mama. I'm right here."

"Louise," Olivia gasped. And even though her oxygen mask was covering her nose and mouth, George still understood what she said.

"Weezy's not here, Mama. She was here with you and me all through the night last night, and she wasn't feelin' too good this mornin', so I told her to go home and get some rest."

Olivia then took off her mask, looked right into her son's eyes, and told him, "We blew it, George. You and I…we really blew it."

"What do you mean, Mama? What are you talkin' about?"

"We did Louise wrong…all these years, George. The way we both have treated her…it was all so wrong. You put me ahead of Louise…ahead of your marriage…far too often. And I let you get away with it…because I was jealous of Louise. I didn't want to…I didn't want to share you. I didn't want…another woman…to be the most important woman…in your life. I should have been…a better mother to you both. And you should have been…a better husband…to Louise. A much better husband. You never should have…allowed me…to get away with disrespecting your wife…the way you always did. I should have been willing…to step aside…and let Louise be the main woman in your life…when you two got married. And you should have been a husband…a real husband…and put Louise first…put your marriage first…no matter what I said or did. I've apologized to Louise…for the bad way I've treated her…and you need to apologize to her too, George. And you've got to change. You have to be there for now, George. Do you understand? You have to really be there for her. It's high time…that you finally…started taking your marriage seriously. Started taking being a husband seriously. Louise needs you, George. She needs you now…more than ever before. You have to start…being there for her. You have to…finally…start putting Louise before me…and before yourself. Before the business. Before money. Before your own stupid pride and ego. You always…put Louise last, George. Always. And she has put up with being in last place…in your life…for far too long. She's a saint…for having come this far…with fools like us. She's a saint…just for still being married to you…after the way we've treated her…all these years."

"I don't understand, Mama. Why are you sayin' all this to me now?"

"I'm saying it because…Louise is going to have…she's going to have–" Olivia gasped as the last bit of life went out of her body. In the next instant when she exhaled, her heart stopped, and there was no longer any life in her face. Just the cold, blank stare of death.

Visitation for George's mother was held the following night at the nicest funeral home on the East Side, and her funeral was the afternoon after that, on a cold, gray Friday in January. George's brother Henry and his wife and son came out for the funeral and stayed with George and Louise for a few days before returning to their home upstate. And after they left and George and Louise had their apartment to themselves once again, George spent many hours just crying on Louise's shoulder. And even though Louise knew that she had to finally tell George the truth about everything that was going on with her health, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Out of everyone in the family, George had been the closest to Olivia by far, and her death was hitting him terribly hard, and Louise just didn't feel right about adding to his burdens now with him already going through so much.

"You know what the hardest thing has been about this past year, Weezy?" asked George as they were sitting together at the kitchen table one night in mid-January.

"What's been the hardest thing, George?" asked Louise.

"I think just…illness in general, you know? It's so hard seein' somebody you love so much have their health just go completely downhill the way Mama's did. Mama went from bein' energetic and sassy to bein' completely frail and weak and fragile…practically overnight. She was never the same after she broke her ankle. Her health went down the drain so fast. That's not supposed to happen to your mama, you know? Your mama's supposed to be okay. Your mama's supposed to be healthy and strong. Your mama's supposed to be that person that's always there no matter what."

"I know, George. Nobody ever likes to think about their parents getting sick and dying. We all want our parents to always be healthy and strong; always be there no matter what. But sadly, life just doesn't work that way."

"It seemed that every time I would see Mama over this past year…she would always be a little bit thinner, a little bit frailer, than she was the last time. It killed me seein' that happen to her. It really did. It scared the crap out of me. Ain't nobody in our family ever been good at handlin' sickness and death. It scares Henry even more than it does me. That's why he didn't come out until the funeral. He just couldn't take it. And I can't ever take goin' through somethin' like that again. If I had to watch another person I love get sick and waste away before my eyes like Mama did, it would just destroy me inside. It really would. Especially if it happened to you," George admitted. And in the next moment, he locked his gaze with hers and told her, "I know I don't say it nearly enough, but you mean everything to me, Weezy. Everything. I couldn't even begin to take it if you got sick and wasted away like Mama did. You've always gotta remember to take good care of yourself; take good care of your health. You've gotta remember to do that every single day, Louise. You hear me?"

After a long pause, and not knowing how else to respond, Louise finally said, "I hear you, George."

George then stood, bent over, gave Louise a big kiss, and said, "It's late. Let's go to bed."

Louise gave George a tired nod, and then got up and went to bed with him, wondering how on earth she would ever be able to tell him about everything.

Shortly after George left for work the next morning, the phone rang, and Louise answered it in the kitchen.

"Hello?" she said.

"May I speak to Mrs. Louise Jefferson, please?" asked a male voice on the other end of the line.

"This is she."

"Mrs. Jefferson, this is Eddie Jones. I'm an attorney who used to work for Mr. Andrew Martin, the man who employed your uncle, Ward Thomas, for many years."

"Oh, yes. My Uncle Ward used to talk about Mr. Martin all the time. How do you do?"

"I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. And you, Mrs. Jefferson?"

"I've had better days, but I'm sure it'll all work out somehow."

"Well, Mrs. Jefferson, I have some very good news for you that'll be sure to make your day better."

"Well then for heaven's sake, tell me. I'm all ears."

"As I'm sure your Uncle Ward told you, Mr. Martin was a very wealthy man when he was alive. He was a millionaire many times over."

"Yes, he told me."

"And as I'm sure your uncle also told you, he and Mr. Martin were very good friends."

"He told me that, too," said Louise with a smile as she fondly remembered her uncle.

"I don't know if you know this or not, but Mr. Martin died just two months before your Uncle Ward did, and in his will, he left just over two million dollars to him."

Shocked, Louise truthfully told him, "No, I didn't know that. I had no idea. My Uncle Ward never said anything to me about it."

"That's probably because the family contested the will after his death. They didn't want one single red cent of Mr. Martin's money going to anyone other than them. Especially someone who's black. They're a pretty delightful bunch," said Mr. Jones with obvious disgust.

"They sound like it," Louise said sarcastically.

"Over these past two years since the deaths of your uncle and Mr. Martin, they've had everything tied up in all kinds of red tape. But Mr. Martin was a good friend of mine, and I wanted to fight to make sure that his final wishes were carried out. And so did your late uncle. Mr. Thomas also left behind papers that made it crystal clear that if I were to win this legal battle in his name after his death, he would want all the money to go his dearly loved niece, Louise Jefferson. And I finally won that battle yesterday. Congratulations, Mrs. Jefferson. As of this morning, you are officially a millionaire."

"I…I can't believe it," Louise gasped.

"I'm guessing that your uncle probably never told you because he didn't want to get your hopes up in case we lost."

"That sounds like him. He was a very kindhearted and considerate man."

"Indeed he was."

"You're right, Mr. Jones. This is good news, and I really needed some good news today."

"I'm very glad I was able to give you some good news. Congratulations," he told her happily as she began to feel so much relief. Inheriting so much money certainly couldn't solve all her problems, of course, but it could help make the difficult path ahead of her smoother, especially where medical care was concerned.

The next day, a Wednesday, Louise made an appointment with Helen's gynecologist. Now that things had started to settle down in the Jeffersons' lives a bit, Louise finally had the chance to go to an OB/GYN and see how the babies were doing. She and George had a good family doctor they both liked, and she always went in to see him for her yearly physical, but she hadn't bothered to go see a gynecologist for ages. Helen's gynecologist was a tall, slim man with brown hair and blue eyes, and his name was Dr. Horn, and she had an appointment to see him at three-thirty that Thursday afternoon.

"I can confirm the results of the blood test you had at the hospital three weeks ago, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. Horn said as he took a seat in front of the exam table Louise was sitting on. She'd changed into a hospital gown about half an hour ago so he could examine her, and now, she was sitting on the exam table in the purple pantsuit she'd worn to the doctor's office that day. "I believe you are around fourteen weeks into your pregnancy."

"When is my due date, Dr. Horn?"

"If you do decide to keep it, you should deliver around the twenty-fifth of July."

Louise gave him a small sarcastic chuckle, and she said to him in disbelief, "If I do decide to keep it? It sounds like you're talking about a dog or a cat, not a baby."

"Mrs. Jefferson, with all due respect, you are not a young woman anymore. Older women are much more likely to experience miscarriages and premature births. And it's actually not that uncommon for some women who conceive in their late thirties and forties to have more than one baby. Some women tend to release more eggs at ovulation as they get older. And if you actually are carrying more than one baby at your age, the risk of complications is even higher than it already would be with just one. And I'm talking about pregnant women at your age who are healthy. If you decide to postpone your cancer treatment and try to carry this baby to term, you are basically signing your own death warrant. If you try to have this baby, I can assure you, you will not still be here one year from today."

"Believe me, Dr. Horn, I'm well aware of all the risks. But come hell or high water, I'm having this baby."

"And what about your husband? What about your son? What about your friends and all the people who care about you? You're just going to throw them under the bus and make them lose you? Mrs. Jefferson, I lost my mother to cancer when I was just a boy, and it really messed me up inside. You can't do that to your family."

"I don't want to hurt my husband and my son, but I will not allow some doctor to put a suction device or forceps inside me and tear my babies apart limb from limb. I don't care what you say. I don't care what anybody says. I will not do something so vicious and cruel and inhumane to my own babies. And besides, I do not have to justify myself to you. This is not any of your business. It is not your place to try to shame me into killing my babies. It is not your job to tell me how you feel about my desire to protect my unborn children. Your job is to examine me, tell me where I am in my pregnancy, tell me how my baby is doing, and tell me what I need to do to keep my baby and myself as healthy as possible through the rest of my pregnancy, and that's it. And if you can't do your job while treating me with respect, then I will no longer require your services. I'll find another doctor who will treat me with respect and not overstep his bounds. Good day, doctor," Louise said very curtly, and then she immediately got down off the exam table, grabbed her purse, and left.

It was around five o'clock that evening when Louise left the doctor's office, and she knew she needed to get home and start George's supper, but she was just too emotionally exhausted to even think about cooking right now, much less dealing with George. He'd allowed himself to be very vulnerable with Louise in the days and weeks after his mother's death, but over the past couple of days, he'd been reverting back to his normal way of dealing with pain and stress – biting people's heads off – and Louise just couldn't handle that now. So understandably, she delayed her return home as long as she could. She knew they needed a couple of things from the grocery store, so she went shopping, and she purposely took as long as she could before finally returning to her apartment. And unfortunately, when she finally did get back home at about seven that evening, George and her part-time cleaning lady, Florence Johnston, did absolutely nothing to help ease her burdens. As a matter of fact, they only made everything so much worse.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" George raged at Florence as Louise walked through the door and took off her coat. "You ain't done nothin' around the apartment today!"

"I have so! Now look, Mr. Jefferson, don't you take it out on me just because you're mad at your wife for not bein' home when you got home from work today with that big new client of yours! It ain't my fault that Ms. Jefferson wasn't home to cook supper for that big restaurant owner you're tryin' to impress! If you wanna yell at somebody, yell at Ms. Jefferson! Don't yell at me!"

"Alright, I will!" George shouted, and then he turned to Louise. "Damn it, Weezy, where the hell were you today?!"

"I had a doctor's appointment today, George. I told you about it yesterday."

"You didn't tell me nothin'!"

"Yes, I did. More than once. It's not my fault that you were so wrapped up in your business deal and so wrapped up in yourself that you weren't even listening to me."

"You couldn't postpone goin' in for a checkup until after we got this new deal signed? I needed you here tonight, Weezy! I needed you! I promised Harris a good dinner tonight, and I promised him that I'd introduce him to you. I could've lost this big deal because you weren't home! How could you be so selfish?!"

"I'm selfish for going to a doctor's appointment?" Louise said incredulously.

"I couldda lost this whole deal because of you, Weezy! I couldda lost everything!"

"Ms. Jefferson, I've been listenin' to this turkey yell like this for the past two hours now! Why didn't you warn me that you wouldn't be here today?! If I'd known, I wouldda called in sick so I wouldn't have to put up with all this! I'm a saint for workin' here, takin' all this garbage all the time!"

Unable to believe her ears, a baffled Louise looked at Florence and said, "You're a saint for all the garbage you take by working here? Let me tell you something, Florence. When I was a maid, I would've severed a limb to have it as good as you've always had it here! The rich white woman I worked for was an arrogant, racist snob, and whenever I went to work at her house, she always made me feel like dirt, no matter how hard I worked or how hard I tried to please her! I worked my fingers to the bone and I always treated her with respect, no matter how hard she was to put up with! But you? You don't work at all! And you have never treated me with respect! There were so many times when George wanted to fire you, and it was only because of me that he didn't! The only reason you've had a job and money coming in all these years is because of me. If somebody had done for me what I've done for you to help me keep my job, I would've treated them with respect, and I would've done the job they paid me to do! I am sick and tired of you making me do half of your work for you while you goof off! You go on about what a churchgoing Christian woman you are, yet you don't act like a Christian should act at all! You are selfish and stubborn and prideful and arrogant! Jesus was so humble, He washed the disciples' feet, yet you won't even do the job you get paid to do! And you're like that because, in your pride and arrogance, you believe you're too good to be a maid! You think serving somebody else is beneath you! You don't know the first thing about Jesus or who He is, no matter how much lip-service you give Him! And I'll tell you something else, Florence: you may think serving me is beneath you, but the truth is, with all the crap I constantly take from you, YOU DON'T DESERVE THE HONOR OF SERVING ME! And it's an honor you will NEVER have again! You're fired! I NEVER want to see you again as long as I live!"

"Damn, Weezy! Damn!" George cried out in pure shock.

Louise then turned to George and yelled, "And I've got some things to say to you too, George! You're always running your mouth, telling other people what's wrong with them and what you don't like about them and how mad they make you! You always love to dish it out! Now it's time for you to take it! George Jefferson, you are LITERALLY the most selfish man I have ever known in my entire life! All you EVER think about from the moment you first wake up in the morning 'til the moment you fall asleep at night is YOU! When it comes to selfishness and pride and arrogance, you're even worse than Florence is! You've been so caught up in yourself these past couple of days that you didn't even bother to ask me why I needed to go to the doctor just now! Did it ever ONCE dawn on you to be concerned about my health?! Of course not! As usual, all you ever think about is you, you, you! You just assumed I went in for a physical! What if I went in to see the doctor for another reason?! What if there was something wrong with me?! Something serious?! Did you think of that for one second?! NO! And WHY didn't you think about that for one second?! Because you are a narcissistic, selfish, coldhearted, worthless creep!"

"Alright now, Weezy! Shut up! That's enough!"

"I will not shut up!"

"Oh, yes you will, woman! I am the man of this house and what I say goes!"

"And that's another thing! My name is not, 'Woman!' My name is, 'Louise!' Husbands will even address family pets by their proper names, but they won't give the same level of respect to their wives that they're willing to give to their stinking pets! Why do you have to be that way, George?! Why can't you at least treat me with the same level of respect you would a pet?! Why?! You're always dehumanizing me, yelling at me, 'I'm the man of this house and what I say goes!' as if I'm an object and not a person! As if I'm not a human being with the God-given right to think for myself and make my own choices! As if I'm a subhuman toy or robot that you own and have the right to control! HOW DARE YOU TREAT ME THAT WAY AFTER ALL THE YEARS OUR PEOPLE WERE DEHUMANIZED BY WHITES?! HOW DARE YOU?! As a black person, YOU of ALL people should know better than that! HOW DARE YOU ACT LIKE MY OLD RACIST EMPLOYER AND MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I'M LESS THAN HUMAN JUST SO YOU CAN FEEL MACHO?! HOW DARE YOU BE SUCH A HYPOCRITE, TREATING ME LIKE I'M AN OBJECT AND NOT A PERSON, JUST LIKE RACIST WHITES USED TO DO TO US?! JUST LIKE ARCHIE BUNKER! HOW DARE YOU BE SO STUPID AND SO MEAN-SPIRITED AND SO SELFISH AND SO CRUEL?!"

"Well if you think I'm that bad, why'd you marry me?!"

"Temporary insanity! I was completely insane to ever have anything to do with either one of you, and I have completely had it with both of you! I'll send for my things! I'm leaving this house for good! I'M DONE!"

Louise then immediately grabbed her coat and her purse and stormed out, slamming the door behind her, leaving George and Florence, two of the most blatant bigmouths on the planet, shocked and utterly speechless.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Repentance

At around five-thirty the next evening, Louise came into Charlie's Bar. The place was empty at the moment, with the exception of Mr. Bentley sitting at the bar, and Charlie, of course, who was standing behind the bar talking with him. They both looked very concerned when they saw Louise walk inside. They, along with everybody else on the twelfth floor, were acutely aware of the huge explosion that had taken place inside the Jeffersons' apartment the night before. Mr. Bentley had heard every word Louise had said – or rather, yelled – at George and Florence yesterday evening, and it didn't take long for Charlie to hear about it, either, not to mention their ever-gossiping doorman, Ralph. Practically everyone in the apartment building was talking about it, and Charlie and Mr. Bentley were really worried about her.

"Hello, Mrs. Jefferson," Charlie said quietly as Louise sat down on the barstool next to Bentley.

"Oh, Mrs. J., it's so good to see you. I've been very worried about you after what happened last night," said Mr. Bentley.

"And so have I," Charlie admitted.

"You mean you two know about that?"

"The whole building knows about it," Charlie informed her.

"Oh, no," Louise sighed.

"Yes, I think everyone on our floor heard everything you said to Mr. J. and Florence last night, Mrs. J.," Mr. Bentley told her.

"Well, the way everything just keeps piling up on me here lately, I'm not surprised."

"Mrs. Jefferson, would I be overstepping my bounds if I asked you what's wrong?" Charlie asked kindly, which really brought a smile to Louise's face, and a couple of tears to her eyes. After having to put up with jerks like George, Florence, and that terrible gynecologist who more than overstepped his bounds, Charlie's kindness and consideration touched her heart very deeply. It was like a glass of cold water after being parched in the hottest, driest desert for days.

Louise then quickly brushed the tears from her eyes and responded, "No, Charlie. You're not overstepping your bounds at all. After everything I've been going through here lately, it is unbelievably nice just to run into somebody who acts like he's concerned about me. Thank you."

"We're always concerned about you, Mrs. Jefferson," Charlie assured her. "You're one of the sweetest ladies I ever met, and I know Mr. Bentley feels the same way."

"I most certainly do," Mr. Bentley heartily agreed. "Is there anything Charlie and I can do to help you now, Mrs. J.? Anything at all?"

After a long sigh, Louise told them, "I'm in an impossible situation. My entire life has become a complete and utter trainwreck over the course of just a few weeks. Everything has completely fallen apart. Everything. I've been through hard times with George before. I went through poverty during my childhood and during the first two decades of my marriage to George. I lost my sister when she ran away from home in my teens. I lost my mother when I was thirty. I've put up with over two decades of verbal and emotional abuse from George. I've endured decades of sexism and racism. I've been through a lot, and I'm usually pretty tough and strong when hard times hit. I'm no stranger to adversity. But what I'm facing now…in over forty-six years of living, I have NEVER had to face anything like this before. And you know what the hardest part of all of this is?"

"What, Mrs. J.?" Mr. Bentley asked in a very soft, concerned voice. It was plain to see on both his and Charlie's faces that Louise was really scaring them.

"The hardest part is, I can't talk to anybody about it. This is such a complicated, difficult situation, and there's no way I can open up to George about this, or Lionel. I can't even open up to Tom and Helen and pour my heart out like I need to, and they're my very best friends."

"Well Mr. Bentley and I are here. I mean, I know we're not as close to you as the Willises are, but we'll do everything we can to help," Charlie told her kindly.

"Why, yes, Mrs. J. You can pour your heart out to us," Mr. Bentley assured her.

"You two wouldn't mind?"

"Of course not, Mrs. Jefferson," said Charlie. "Shoot, I'm a bartender. Being a good listener and a good therapist is part of my job. People pour their hearts out to me all the time."

"And speaking as a bachelor, I have a lot of experience listening to…well, listening to unhappily married women pour their hearts out to me. Believe me, Mrs. J., I'm quite used to it."

"Okay, gentlemen. Here goes," said Louise, and she then told both of them everything that she'd been going through over the past few weeks. She told them about the cancer diagnosis and her pregnancy; she told them about her dream of her unborn twin daughters, and everything Dr. Jackson and Dr. Horn had put her through in trying to shame her into an abortion.

"So I was already a complete wreck inside when I came home from seeing Dr. Horn yesterday evening, and when both George and Florence started giving me a hard time on top of all that, it was basically like throwing a lit match into a warehouse full of fireworks," Louise explained several minutes later.

"Well that's entirely understandable, Mrs. Jefferson," said Charlie.

"Why, yes, it's no wonder you were so furious last night, Mrs. J. You had every right to explode. I can't even begin to imagine what you must be going through right now."

"Neither can I. I would've completely lost my mind weeks ago," Charlie admitted.

"I would have, too," Mr. Bentley agreed.

"I was serious yesterday when I said that I was leaving George, but it's not for the reason you might think. Yes, I am furious at him for all the years he's made me feel like a second-class citizen in my own home just so he can feel macho, but that's not really why I'm leaving. I made the decision to leave the day before our big fight. I know how badly it hurt George watching his mother deteriorate before his eyes the way she did this past year, and it would be pretty cold and heartless of me to put him through that a second time with my illness. I've been living with George every day for the past twenty-five years, and nobody knows him like I do. I know what my husband's limits are, and I know there's no way he can take all this, especially on the heels of losing his mother. Having to watch me die in front of him like Mother Jefferson did, not to mention the babies…there's just no way. I'm going to talk to Lionel and Jenny soon and explain everything to them. Hopefully, they'll agree to take the babies when they're born. And hopefully, I'll be able to convince them not to say anything to anyone. I don't want anybody knowing about this, not even the Willises."

"Why not, Mrs. J.?" Mr. Bentley asked.

"Because I know Tom and Helen. They'd never be able to keep this from George for very long. And I don't want George to find out until…until it's all over and I'm gone. It'll be much easier on him that way. He won't have to watch me deteriorate and die before his eyes like he had to with Mother Jefferson."

"Wow, I…I don't even know what to say, Mrs. Jefferson," Charlie gasped. "I've had a lot of experience being the drinking man's psychologist, and I usually know what to say to help my customers when they open up to me like this, but now, I…"

Louise gave Charlie a sad smile and told him, "There's nothing you can say in a time like this, Charlie. There's nothing anybody can say. I know that. I don't expect you or Mr. Bentley to have any magic answers for me. It just helps to have somebody listen. It shows you care."

"We do care, Mrs. J. We care so much," Mr. Bentley said in the softest voice.

"We sure do," Charlie agreed.

"I know you. And I appreciate it. I really do."

"If you don't mind my asking, Mrs. Jefferson, what are you going to do next?" Charlie inquired.

"I had a bad spell when I first woke up in my hotel room this morning. I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded, and I coughed up a lot of blood, so I went in to see our family doctor today. He says that he thinks I need to be in the hospital through the rest of my pregnancy so the babies and I can be closely monitored. And I know what that means. When I go into the hospital, I'm probably not coming out. So, I'm allowing myself one last day of freedom. I'm going out tomorrow and enjoying myself. I'm going to go the art museum for a while and enjoy some good art, which is something I've wanted to do for a while now, and I'm going to go out to eat breakfast and lunch at the best restaurants in town, and depending on how much time I have left after all the eating and the art museum, I may go get a manicure and get my hair done and go see a good movie. I'm just going to enjoy myself as much as I can while I still have the opportunity. And when I go to check myself into the hospital day after tomorrow, I'm not just going to any old hospital, either. You two know all about the Allied Health Services Center, don't you?"

"Oh, yes. That big luxury hospital they just built last year," said Mr. Bentley.

"That's right," Louise confirmed.

"Say, only the richest of the rich can afford a place like that. That's a special hospital for millionaires and dignitaries; even royals from other countries go there sometiimes. Their hospital suites don't even look like regular hospital rooms. I've heard that their suites are so incredibly beautiful, it's like living in a palace. You've got to be insanely wealthy to be able to afford that hospital," Charlie pointed out.

"You're quite right, Charlie. And ordinarily, George and I would never be able to afford a place like that, despite how wealthy George's business success has made us. But financially speaking, I've had some real serendipity lately. And thanks be to God for this unexpected financial miracle, I can afford it now. Normally, I'd never be so extravagant, but I know that the Allied hospital has the highest quality healthcare in the entire state of New York. As a matter of fact, it's one of the best hospitals on the planet, quite literally. And I know that if I go to a hospital like that, my babies will have the best possible chance of coming through the pregnancy without any problems or complications. So I asked my doctor to make the arrangements for me to stay there, and he agreed. They're expecting me there day after tomorrow at nine o'clock in the morning. So, I'm going to try to enjoy my last hours of freedom as much as I can until then."

"Mrs. Jefferson, are you absolutely certain that you don't want to tell your husband?" asked Charlie. "I understand where you're coming from; I really do. I know that you don't want to hurt Mr. Jefferson. But are you completely sure that you want to try to do this on your own? I really don't think that's wise."

"I have to agree with Charlie, Mrs. J. I really don't think you should try to get through this without him by your side. I don't think that's a good idea."

"Believe me, guys, I've gone through this whole thing in my mind over and over and over again. This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, but in my heart of hearts, I really do believe I'm doing the right thing. So please don't say anything about this to anyone, especially George."

"The number one rule of my bar has always been, 'What happens in the bar, stays in the bar.' Mr. Bentley and I haven't heard a word you've said all evening. Right Mr. Bentley?"

Mr. Bentley reluctantly nodded and said, "Right."

A few moments later, Louise sighed, and then she said, "You know, gentlemen, I'd really like to enjoy a drink with you tonight."

"Are you sure you should?" asked Charlie.

"I'll only have one," Louise assured him. "I know I'm not supposed to drink now, but I really don't think one drink will be enough to do any harm."

"Yeah, you're right, Mrs. Jefferson. Just one drink shouldn't hurt. And after everything you've been going through lately, you've more than earned it," Charlie told her. "What can I get you?"

"I'd like to have something in honor of Mother Jefferson. Charlie, get me a Bloody Mary, please. And keep it very, very light on the vodka."

"Yes, ma'am," Charlie said with a kind smile. "And what can I get for you, Mr. Bentley?"

"A Scotch, please," Mr. Bentley answered.

A few moments later, Charlie served them their drinks, and he poured himself a glass of Scotch as well. Louise then held up her Bloody Mary and said, "Gentlemen, I would like to propose a toast. To Mother Jefferson, to my darling babies, and to precious hours of freedom."

"To the dearest, bravest lady on the planet," Mr. Bentley said softly, and Louise smiled.

"Thank you, Mr. Bentley," she whispered. And in the next moment, she clinked her glass with his, and then with Charlie's, and right after that, the trio took a drink from their glasses. All of them stubbornly fighting off tears.

At eleven o'clock the next morning, a Saturday, Tom and Helen were down at the Jeffersons' apartment. Naturally, they were there to talk with George about Louise, as was Florence.

While Tom, Helen, and Florence were all standing together in the living room with George, Tom said, "As you know, George, Helen and I had to go out of town yesterday, and we just got back last night and had a long talk with Ralph. Is it actually true? Is Louise actually leaving you?"

Before George could respond, the doorbell rang, and he answered the door. It was Mr. Bentley.

"What do you want, Bentley?" George asked abruptly.

"I need to talk to you, Mr. J. It's important."

"Is it about Louise?" asked Helen.

"Yes, it is."

"Come on in, Bentley," George told him, and he then walked into the living room and sat down with George and everyone else.

"Now George, what on earth is going on with Louise?" asked Helen. "She's been so distant and withdrawn over the past three weeks or so. She barely talks to us anymore. And what I heard about Louise's fight with you and Florence is completely out of character for her."

"Yes. Helen and I are very worried about Louise," said Tom.

"How about worryin' about me?! I'm the one that just lost his mama and had his wife walk out on him for no reason at all!"

"And I'm the one who had to listen to her unfair employer cruelly rip into her after a hard day's work, also for no reason at all," Florence complained.

"Oh, there was a reason. There was definitely a reason," Mr. Bentley told them.

"What reason could Weezy possibly have for rippin' into me and Florence like that? What reason could there be for her just walkin' out on me and firin' Florence out of the blue?" asked George.

"Mr. J., Florence, permit me to tell you both a story. I think it'll put it all in perspective and help you understand what's really going on with Mrs. J."

"Child, if your story can help us understand why Ms. Jefferson has suddenly changed into such a mean, unreasonable woman overnight, then by all means, tell it to us," said Florence.

"Once upon a time, there was a very sweet lady who suddenly became very ill. One morning, she unexpectedly had to go to the emergency room, where she was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. That day that she went to the E.R., she also learned that she was pregnant. She knows she cannot start to treat her illness – cancer – until after her baby is born, and she also knows that if she chooses to delay treatment until her baby comes, she's basically signing her own death warrant. The doctors have told her that she'll have virtually no chance of beating her cancer if she chooses to have her baby. She is stuck between the ultimate rock and hard place. She certainly doesn't want to die; she doesn't want to leave her family without a wife and mother, but she knows that if she chooses to end her baby's life to save her own, she will always see herself as a murderer and will never be able to live with herself. She's more terrified than she's ever been in her whole life, and she cries out to God, begging Him to give her some direction, and He does. One evening, after crying out to the Lord in prayer, she has a dream. And in that dream, it's revealed to her that she's carrying twin daughters. She meets them, and they explain to her exactly what would happen to them if she chose to get an abortion. They describe to her in graphic detail precisely the kind of cruel, torturous death they would suffer if she had them aborted. So she makes up her mind that, come hell or high water, she is going to do all she can to protect her unborn babies and get them through the pregnancy safely, regardless of what happens to her. Mr. Jefferson, Florence, can either one of you even begin to imagine facing something like that?" Unable to say anything, they just sat there in total silence as the gears began turning in both of their heads.

"Now imagine," Mr. Bentley continued, "after going through all of that, you go to see a gynecologist who, like another doctor you've already seen, tries to bully and shame you into getting an abortion for the second time around. Imagine that you've been carrying this agonizing, crushing burden all by yourself for weeks, unable to tell your husband because he's just lost his mother, and you don't want to add to his burdens. This dear, wonderful lady is convinced that watching her struggle with cancer and a pregnancy, after watching his mother's health deteriorate over the past year, would be far too much for her husband, so she lovingly decides to keep it from him and leave him before she goes into the hospital. Knowing that she will probably never come out of the hospital in this life. Now imagine, after making such a hard choice, after choosing to leave your husband of over twenty-five years out of a loving desire to protect him, you come home from that gynecologist's office where you've just been bullied, and your husband and your maid start griping and complaining and biting your head off, for no good reason at all," Mr. Bentley said pointedly, throwing their own phrase back up in their faces on purpose. In those moments, silent tears were streaming down both George's and Florence's faces as they were filled with utter horror at themselves.

After several long, silent moments, Mr. Bentley said, "Mr. Jefferson, Florence, I challenge both of you right here and now to look deeply within yourselves and ask yourselves the question, 'How would I react in a situation like that?' And I challenge you to answer that question honestly. Mr. J., Florence, I absolutely hate being harsh with anyone. You know that. But in a situation like this, I've got to be painfully honest with both of you, no matter how much it hurts. Along with everybody else on the twelfth floor, I overheard your argument with Mrs. J. the other night. I heard every word you two said – or rather, yelled – at her. And I heard every word she yelled back at you. Now perhaps she shouldn't have said the things she said to you quite as loudly as she did, but let's just take a moment to be brutally honest with ourselves, shall we? She was absolutely right about every word she said, and you both know it. You two are not a couple of innocent little angels. You two deserved everything she said. You completely had it coming. Florence, ninety-nine percent of all maids on this earth would have been fired a long time ago if they were as lazy about their work and as disrespectful to their employers as you are to Mrs. J., and you darned well know it. And Mr. J., if you had to put up with somebody like you all the time, you wouldn't tolerate it for twenty-five minutes, much less twenty-five years as Mrs. J. has done, and you darned well know it. Both of you have claimed to believe in Jesus Christ, but there's very little of Christ in the way you live your lives. I don't say that to be harsh and mean, but sometimes, you have to be a little cruel in order to be kind, and telling you the truth about yourselves really is the kindest thing I can do for you now. I may not be a believer, but I know enough about the Bible to know that when Jesus saw someone living a life of pride and arrogance, He didn't coddle them or feel sorry for them; He called them to repent. And if Jesus were sitting here with us in the flesh right now, what do you think He would say to you? Do you think He would feel sorry for you and agree with you that Mrs. J. was too harsh, or would He call you to repentance? What do you think He would do?"

Now sensing that he needed to leave George and Florence alone with their thoughts, Mr. Bentley got up and left the apartment. And after he walked out the door, George, Florence, Tom, and Helen just sat there together in utter silence, all of them feeling as though they'd been kicked in the stomach.

After enjoying a day of some well-deserved pampering, Louise returned to Charlie's Bar at ten minutes past five that evening and ordered a light supper for herself. And about ten minutes later, Tom, Helen, Lionel, and Jenny came in as well. And the second they saw Louise, they immediately went over to her table and showered her with hugs and kisses and affection before sitting down with her.

"What's all this?" Louise asked with a laugh.

"Mom, we know. We all know about the cancer diagnosis, the pregnancy, the dream about the twins, the bullying doctors, everything," Lionel told her.

"How did you guys find out?" asked Louise as George came walking into the bar in that moment. None of them saw him as he stood in the background.

"It doesn't matter how we found out, Louise," said Helen.

"Yes, the only that matters is that we know now, and we want to do everything we can to help you," said Tom.

"I appreciate that," Louise told them kindly.

"Mrs. Jefferson, is there anything we can do to help you now?" asked Jenny. "And I mean anything. Anything at all."

Louise sighed then and asked, "You guys know what my biggest worry is now?"

"What, Louise?" asked Helen as she lovingly put her hand on top of Louise's hand.

"Over these past few weeks, ever since I found out I was pregnant, I've really been worried about going through another miscarriage. I never talk about it, but after George and I had you, Lionel, I lost three babies, and it really tore me up. But after that dream, I've come to realize that God would never have given me that dream, He never would have let me see my little girls, if He didn't intend on getting them through the pregnancy safely. Plus, I'm in my second trimester now, so I'm quite sure that that worry is behind me. What worries me the most now is not knowing who's going to take care of the babies after they're born. After I'm gone."

"Oh, Mrs. Jefferson, please don't say that," Jenny implored her.

"You're going to be alright, Louise. Nothing is going to happen to you," Helen insisted.

"Come on, you guys. Let's not sugarcoat things, alright? We all need to be realistic. While those terrible doctors were wrong to try to shame me into having an abortion, they were right when they told me that I probably won't still be here a year from now. I probably won't last too much longer after the babies are born. That's just a cold, hard fact. And speaking of cold, hard facts, it is also a cold, hard fact that George can never be trusted to raise a daughter, so I need to find someone who can take care of the twins for me after I'm gone."

"What makes you think that Pop can't raise a daughter, Mom?" asked Lionel.

"Come on, Lionel. Isn't it obvious? We all know what a sexist your father is," said Jenny. "It's not exactly a secret how much he looks down on women and girls."

"That's exactly right, Jenny," said Louise. "George has always been a wonderful father to you, Lionel, and even though he's been far from perfect over the years, he has set you a pretty good example. But all through our marriage, George has always acted as though I'm a second-class citizen. As though my needs and desires aren't as important as his are. As though my contribution to our family isn't as important as his is. As though I'm a subhuman object he has the right to control, and not a human being with equal worth and value. As though I simply do not matter as much as he does. Just because I'm female. George has told me many times over the years how much it hurt him growing up being made to feel like he was less of a person because he was black, yet almost every day of our marriage, he's made me feel like I'm less of a person because I'm a woman. George Jefferson is the ultimate hypocrite. He sees how heinous and cruel and evil racism is, but he has no problem with sexism at all. He just doesn't get it – perhaps he willfully refuses to get it – that sexism is every bit as wrong as racism is. I love George, but I won't turn a blind eye to his faults. With me carrying two baby girls, I can't afford to do that anymore. Even though George can be a very caring man underneath all his guff, he is also very mean-spirited in his views of women. And no matter how much I love George, I will not allow a man as chauvinistic and selfish and cruel as he is to raise my daughters. I will not allow my daughters to grow up feeling as though they're less of a person because they're female, like George has made me feel all these years. I can trust George to be a good provider and pay all the bills; I can even trust him to set a good example for my son. But I can never trust George Jefferson with my daughters. That may be harsh, but it's the God's honest truth."

"I hate to say it, Louise, but you're right. You're absolutely right," Tom concurred.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jefferson. Lionel and I will take care of the twins when they're born, won't we, Lionel?" asked Jenny.

"Of course we will," Lionel assured Louise.

"And if something unexpected comes up and Lionel and Jenny can't do it, then we'll look after the babies when they come. Right, Tom?" asked Helen.

"Absolutely," Tom heartily agreed.

"Mom, this is the last thing you need to worry about right now. We'll all take care of the babies when they get here. You don't need to worry about that for one second."

"The only thing you need to think about right now is getting better. You just focus on getting well again and let us take care of the babies and everything else," Helen said warmly while squeezing Louise's hand, and in those moments, she couldn't help but start crying.

"Thank you," Louise gasped through her tears as they all started hugging her and loving on her. "Thank you all for saying that. Thank you so much. I've been so worried about the babies. I've been so scared. This has all been such a heavy load to carry. It's just been crushing me inside."

"I know it has been," said Helen. "Oh Louise, I can't even begin to imagine what you've been going through these past few weeks."

"No wonder you've been feeling crushed by it all. I'd like to crush Pop, let him see how he likes it!" Lionel angrily cried out.

"I am crushed," George gasped, and in the next moment, they all turned their heads and saw George standing there with tears streaming down his cheeks. Louise's eyes locked with his in that moment, and she could see it in his eyes that he also knew about the cancer, the pregnancy, the prophetic dream of the twins, and everything else she'd been going through. "And I'm sorry," he said quietly as he continued to look into Louise's eyes. "I am so, so sorry that I've been such a cruel, sexist, worthless fool all these years. I ain't got no excuse for the way I've been makin' you feel all this time, Weezy. You are the most extraordinary lady I've ever known, and you deserve the best of myself, the very best, and instead, I've only given you the worst. You deserve so much better, and I know it."

"Our daughters deserve better, George," Louise told him firmly, refusing to coddle him or feel sorry for him now, as she might have done in the past.

"All three of you deserve better," George admitted.

"Can't any of us argue with that," said Helen.

"Mom, Pop, do you want us to leave so you two can have some privacy?" asked Lionel.

Louise shook her head and said, "No, that's alright, Lionel. I'll go upstairs with George so we can talk at home in private."

"Thank you, Weez," George whispered.

Louise then got up from her seat and came up to George, and after giving her a very emotional kiss, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she put her arm around his waist, and they walked out of the bar together, anxious to get off to themselves.

By the time they walked into their apartment, they were both practically sobbing together. The instant they closed the door behind them, they just grabbed each other and clung to each other and cried together for the longest time.

Finally, after helping her off with her coat, George said, "Come on over here, Weezy. You should be sitting down."

"Yeah, I am pretty tired," Louise told him as he took her hand and led her over to the couch.

"Come on, sweetheart. Sit down," George said softly as they sat down on the couch together. And after several long, quiet moments, George looked into Louise's eyes and told her, "I know that sayin' the words, 'I'm sorry,' ain't enough to make up for how bad I've been hurtin' you all these years, Weezy. But I want you to know that until now, I had no idea that I've been hurtin' you so bad all this time. You know how I am, Weezy. Like you said, I'm always runnin' my mouth. I'm always sayin' a bunch of stupid crap that I don't really mean. I don't even take myself seriously half the time, so I never imagined that you actually took it seriously when I would yell all that junk about me bein' the man of the house and callin' you, 'Woman,' and all that."

"I do know better than to take you seriously most of the time. But even so, it still hurt me so badly whenever you would yell those things at me and try to control me and treat me like I was a lesser person, a lesser partner in our marriage, because of my gender. Even though you always knew better than to take Archie Bunker seriously, didn't it still hurt you and make you angry when he would say racist things to you and imply that you were less of a person because you're black?"

Once again, Louise's brutally honest words punched George right between the eyes, and she could easily see it in that moment. With fresh tears in his eyes, George said in a low, emotional voice, "I didn't even think of that, Weezy. I didn't think of that at all. But I know you're right. But I had no idea that I was makin' you feel like you were less than human all these years, Weezy. I really had no idea that I was makin' you feel that way. I had no idea I was hurtin' you that much. I would never, ever hurt you like that on purpose. You've gotta believe me."

"I do believe you, George."

"I'm sorry, Weezy. I am so, so sorry for everything I've put you through in our marriage. And I want you to know that I ain't never gonna act that way again. Ever. That mean-spirited, sexist, worthless narcissist that hurt you so bad all this time…he's gone, Weezy. He is gone. For good. I swear it. And he ain't never comin' back. I ain't never gonna act all stupid and run my mouth and hurt you like that again. I won't ever call you, 'Woman,' again. I won't ever yell at you again about me bein' the man of the house and what I say goes and all that crap. And I will never, ever say anything to hurt our daughters. Ever. I promise you."

"I'm so glad you just said that," said Louise as more tears came to her eyes. George then pulled her into his arms, gave her the most passionate kiss, and just held her for so long.

Finally, with his arm still around Louise's shoulders, George looked at her and asked, "What kind of cancer is it?"

"It's a malignant tumor in my left lung. When I was in the shower on the morning of Christmas Eve, I coughed up blood all of the sudden, so I immediately went to the emergency room. They did some chest X-rays, and that's when I first found out about it. Then I had to go in for a biopsy a couple of days later to find out if the mass on the X-rays was cancerous or not. It was an outpatient procedure and I was only in the hospital for a few hours. And the doctor I saw tried to manipulate me into getting an abortion. I was so scared and confused and devastated that day. And later on that evening, after I came home from the hospital, I cried out to God to help me figure out what to do. And that's when I had the dream and I saw our little girls."

"Yeah, Bentley told me about the dream. He told me everything."

"The evening after our big fight, I went into Charlie's Bar, and I ended up spilling my guts to Charlie and Mr. Bentley. I swore both of them to secrecy, but now, I think I'm glad that Mr. Bentley broke his promise and told you. I guess I was wrong not to tell you before, but with everything you were going through with your mother, I just couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Weezy, sometimes, that precious heart of yours is just way too big. Even though I came to faith in Christ when I was a kid, I've never really lived the way God would want me to live, and I know it. I have allowed myself to get away with bein' selfish every moment of my life, and I know I need to change. But you, Weezy? You've always had the opposite problem. You are way, way too selfless. Don't get me wrong. It's good that you're always so loving and kind and generous and patient. It's those qualities in you that made me fall in love with you. But you take it way too far. You've got to start takin' better care of yourself, Weez. You've got to stop puttin' everybody else first and yourself last twenty-four-seven. You have got to start lettin' us be there for you. You have got to start lettin' us take care of you now. You have just got to," George said so gently.

Louise nodded and said, "I will, George. I will."

"And you gotta promise me that you'll never keep a secret like this from me again. Every time you feel sick, every time you cough or sneeze or stub a toe, I wanna know about it. Understand?"

Louise nodded again and told George, "Understood."

George then gave Louise a very long kiss, and afterwards, he said, "Okay, sweetheart. Tell me. What's the next step? What do we need to do now?"

Louise then explained about her unexpected inheritance from her Uncle Ward, and she told George, "I went in to see Dr. Carson yesterday, and he said that he thought it was best for me to be in the hospital for the rest of the pregnancy so that the babies and I can be closely monitored through it all. And you know about that new luxury hospital that was built last year, right? The Allied Health Services Center?"

"Yeah, I've heard of it."

"I know we never could have afforded a place like that before, but with Uncle Ward's inheritance, we can now. Dr. Carson says that it is literally one of the best hospitals on earth, so I asked him to make arrangements for me to go there. I need to be there at nine o'clock tomorrow morning to check myself in. That place has some of the best specialists from all over the world working there. I know it's outrageously expensive, but I do believe that if I go there, the babies will have the best possible chance."

"Weezy, it almost sounds like you're apologizing. Don't apologize, baby. I'm glad you told the doctor you wanted to go there. You did the right thing. Not just for the babies, but for you. You're just as important as the babies are. Yes, we've gotta do what's best for our little girls, but we've gotta do what's best for you, too. And I don't want you to worry about the money or how expensive it is. I don't want you to worry about that for a single moment. I'll deal with all that. You just let me worry about that. The only thing I want you to think about right now is gettin' better. Nothin' else."

"I want to get better too, George. But according to all the statistics, I really don't have a chance. Lung cancer is one of the hardest types of cancer to beat, especially when it's at my stage. You know, it's so ironic, and so unfair. My mother and my sister Maxine were the ones who always smoked while I never smoked a single cigarette in all my life, yet I'm the one who ends up with lung cancer. I understand that smoking is a very tough addiction to beat, but even so, it's so selfish of smokers to force other people who don't want to smoke to breathe in their secondhand smoke all the time. If they care more about their addiction than they do about their health and if they want to take the risk of giving themselves lung cancer and emphysema and asthma and a bunch of other problems, then that's their choice, but they do not have the right to force those things onto other people through their secondhand smoke."

"You're right, Weezy. You're right. It is wrong, and it is unfair. It's horribly unfair. It's so wrong that you have to be the one to suffer because of the bad choices your mama and your sister made. I just so wish that there was a way that I could take your tumor for you. I'd take this cancer for you in a heartbeat if I could, Weezy. I would. I really would."

"I know you would, George. But for whatever reason, I'm the one who ended up on this difficult path, and I'm the one who has to walk it. No one can walk it for me."

"Maybe I can't walk it for you, but I can walk it with you, Weez. And I will. I promise. I'll be right by your side every step of the way. No matter what happens. No matter how hard it might get."

After a long pause, Louise looked into her husband's eyes and asked, "What if this path doesn't end the way we want it to, George? What if I'm not able to beat my cancer after the girls are born and you have to watch me die, just like you had to watch your mother die? Do you really think you can handle that? Be painfully honest, George. Not just with me, but with yourself. Will you still be there with me, will you still be there by my side, if things get that painful and that hard? Don't tell me what you think I might want to hear. Tell me the truth. Don't make promises to me now that you might not be able to keep in the future."

"I'm not, baby. I'm not," George insisted. "Yes, it was agony watchin' Mama die before my eyes like that, and I'd certainly never wanna go through anything like that again, but if the worst happens, I will go through that again for you. No matter how painful it might get, I would never, ever abandon you and make you face somethin' like that alone, Weezy. I would never do anything like that to you. When I promised you that I would always be there, in sickness and in health, I meant it, Weezy. I meant it," he assured Louise. And in the next moment, he took her hand in his and lovingly kissed it and squeezed it.

"While we're on this difficult subject, there's something I need to ask you."

"What is it, baby?"

"If the worst does happen and I'm not able to beat this cancer after the babies come, I don't want to die in the hospital, George. I want to die here at home, with you by my side, in my own bed, just like Mother Jefferson did. Would you get a nurse to help you take care of me at home, like you did for your mother?"

"Of course I would, Weezy. Of course I would. I'll do anything you want. I'll do anything you need. Anything."

"Thank you, George. Thank you so much."

"No, Weezy, thank you. Thank YOU. Thank you for puttin' up with a mean-spirited, selfish, sexist creep like me for twenty-five years. Thank you for not bailin' out on me and leavin' me before now, even though I would've deserved it."

"You're welcome," Louise whispered, and then they kissed once again, and George pulled Louise into his arms and held her close.

"Can you do me a favor now, sweetheart?" George asked gently.

"I'll try my best," Louise answered.

"Can you please, please try to put all those thoughts of you dyin' out of your mind? That's not gonna happen, Weezy. I promise you. I know we've got a hard fight ahead of us, but we are gonna win this fight. You are NOT gonna die after the babies come. You are gonna get better, and you are gonna be there to watch our girls grow up. Do you hear me?"

Louise nodded and said, "I hear you, George." George then kissed Louise's forehead, and just sat there with her and held her for several long moments. And finally, she said through all her tears, "I'm so scared, George. I'm so scared, and I'm so tired."

"I know, baby. I know. I'm scared, too. But I'm here. I'm right here by your side, and that's where I'm gonna stay for every moment that you're goin' through this, Weez. Every moment. So you don't have to be scared. I'm not gonna let you do this alone. I'm gonna be right here with you through it all. And it's no wonder you're so tired. After the hell you've been goin' through these past few weeks, it's a miracle you ain't unconscious right now. Come on, baby. Let's get you to bed. Now."

George then gave Louise another long kiss, and after a long, fervent hug, they got up and walked to the bedroom together. And George held Louise close all through the night as she slept peacefully by his side.

At seven-thirty the next morning, Louise was awakened by some very loving, gentle kisses from George. He kissed her lips and he kissed her all over her face, and Louise just smiled for the longest time before she finally opened her tired eyes.

"Is it morning already?" she asked in a weak voice.

"Yeah, baby. It's seven-thirty," he whispered, and Louise responded with a groan. "I know, baby. I know," George said sympathetically.

"I'm still so tired."

"I know, sweetheart. I know. But it's a forty-minute drive to the hospital, and we've got less than an hour to eat breakfast and get showered and dressed. I let you sleep just as long as I could."

"Just let me sleep a little more while you eat breakfast, okay?"

"I know it's hard, baby, but you need to eat now so you'll have enough strength to make the trip to the hospital." Louise groaned again, and George said, "I know, baby. I know. I know you're exhausted. I know you just wanna sleep right now. But the babies need you to try to eat somethin'. I made you some toast and scrambled eggs. I'll bring it in here to you. Just try to eat a little bit of it, okay sweetheart? Just try."

Louise nodded, and then after planting a warm kiss on her forehead, George went out to the kitchen, got Louise's breakfast tray, and brought it in to her. With a lot of tender coaxing from George, Louise managed to stay awake and eat her breakfast.

"Thanks for breakfast, George," Louise told him when she was finished.

"Sure thing, sweetheart," said George.

Then in the next moment, Louise completely lost her breath, and she laid back down in bed and started blowing, which really worried George.

"Weezy, baby, what is it? What's the matter?" asked George as he took Louise's hand in his.

"Just let me blow, George," Louise gasped.

"Yeah, Weezy, blow. Blow. Blow," George said softly while stroking her forehead. "Just relax, baby. Just catch your breath."

When Louise's breath returned a few moments later, she explained to George, "Whenever I get all breathless like that, blowing helps."

"Does it happen very often, sweetheart?"

"It's been getting progressively worse over the past few months and weeks. I used to only get out of breath occasionally, but now, it happens several times a day."

"And what does that say about me, as a husband, that you've been havin' problems with your breathing for months and I didn't even know until now?"

"I don't think you want me to answer that question honestly, George."

"You don't have to answer it. I already know. It says that I've been a completely self-absorbed, pathetic narcissist and a piss-poor excuse for a husband. That's what it says."

"I'm sorry, George, but I really can't argue with you."

"No, you can't, because it's the truth and we both know it. I'm sorry, Weezy. I am so, so sorry. I know I've got so much to make up for."

"Well if it makes you feel any better, you're off to a great start," Louise kindly assured him, and then he leaned in and gave her another long kiss. And in the next moment, she sighed and said, "I know I need to get up and get in the shower now, but with the way I'm feeling this morning, I don't know how I'm going to work up enough strength to do it."

"Don't worry about it, baby. I'll support you in the shower. I'll help you."

Louise smirked and asked in a playfully snooty voice, "Good sir, are you suggesting that you and I take a shower together?"

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting," George responded with a mischievous grin.

Louise laughed and said, "We haven't done that since we were newlyweds."

"Well as far as you and I are concerned, today, we are officially newlyweds again. And I don't just want you lean on me in the shower, Weez. I want you to lean on me for support any time you start to feel like it's all too much and you need some extra strength. Will you do that for me, Weezy?"

Louise nodded and replied, "I will."

Then after leaning in and giving her one more long kiss, George helped Louise get out of bed and into the shower.

Soon after George and a nurse helped Louise get settled in her palatial hospital suite that morning, she drifted off to sleep, and George was glad to see it. He knew how much the past several weeks had taken out of her, how weak and exhausted she was, and he was very relieved to see her getting some rest. He woke her up when lunch was served at noon, and after she ate, she fell asleep once again. Then at around two o'clock that afternoon, Florence came by to see Louise after services at her church were over. Florence didn't want to wake her, though, and even though patience was not typically Florence's strong suit, she was now more than happy to patiently wait for Louise to wake up.

Louise opened her eyes about twenty minutes later, and the instant she looked over and saw Florence, Florence practically jumped up out of her seat, went over to her bedside, fiercely hugged her, and just sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Jefferson," she told Louise as she continued to cling to her and cry. "I'm so sorry I've been so awful."

"I'm sorry too, Florence. I was pretty awful the other night, myself." Louise was now lying in a queen-sized hospital bed with an I.V. in her arm and a nasal cannula under her nose which was giving her extra oxygen.

Florence shook her head and said, "You weren't awful, Ms. Jefferson. You were right. You were right about every word you said to me. I've had it comin' for a long time now, and I know it. I've been a terrible maid, and I've been a terrible person."

"You haven't been a terrible person, Florence. You've been an annoying person from time to time, yes, but you haven't been a terrible person."

"You're wrong, Ms. Jefferson. I have been terrible. I really have been. You were right when you said that I was prideful and arrogant. You were right when you said that I thought I was too good to be a maid and that I thought serving other people was beneath me. You were right when you said that I needed to humble myself and start acting more like Jesus and start giving Him more than mere lip-service in my life. You were right about everything you said. You were right about it all. I got so mad at you for a while because I was too prideful and stubborn to admit the truth, but I knew that what you were sayin' about me was true. I knew it all along. And I know I need to repent. I know I need to start acting like a true disciple of Christ and stop giving Him mere lip-service. I know that I've allowed myself to get away with bein' prideful and arrogant for far too long. I know I need to come down off of my high horse and get over myself and stop thinkin' that I'm too good to serve others. You were right when you said that servin' you was an honor, Ms. Jefferson. It was. It really was. It was an honor that I never truly appreciated before. But I sure do appreciate it now. And I really hope you can forgive me and let me come back to work for you and Mr. Jefferson so I can start makin' everything up to you."

"Oh, Florence," said Louise in a choked-up voice, and then she and Florence hugged each other and cried with each other once again. And when the embrace ended, Louise told her, "Of course I forgive you. And I didn't mean it when I yelled at you that you were fired and that I never wanted to see you again. I hope you'll forgive me for saying that."

Florence shook her head and said, "There's nothin' to forgive, Ms. Jefferson. You had every right in the world to yell at me like that. I was bein' such a fool that night. I had it comin'."

"I had it comin', too," George admitted. "I deserved that verbal butt-kickin' you gave us even more than Florence did."

"Well, it's all water under the bridge now," said Louise as she took both George's and Florence's hands and gave them a loving squeeze.

"Well Weezy, since you feel that way, there's somethin' we both wanna ask you about. I called Florence real early this mornin' while you were still asleep, and we got to talkin' about you and the babies and everything, and…well, how would you feel about Florence movin' in with us? Florence wants to move in and be our full-time maid and nanny so she can help us take care of the babies and the apartment after we bring 'em home from the hospital. After adding to your burdens all these years, we both wanna do everything we can to lighten your load as much as possible now. We just want you to focus on gettin' better and let us take care of everything else."

"That's right," Florence agreed.

"Oh, I think that's a wonderful idea. I love it," said Louise with a happy smile.

"We love you, Weezy," George said in the softest voice. "We love you so much."

"I love you guys, too," Louise told them, still wearing the most contented smile, and then both George and Florence just hugged her and kissed her and loved on her for the longest time.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: The Miracle Couple

Three days after Louise first checked into the Allied Health Services Center, she had some unexpected visitors. As it turned out, one of the nurses who worked there was dating Eddie Jones, the attorney who had fought in court to make sure Louise received her rightful inheritance from her Uncle Ward. That Wednesday, Eddie came to visit Louise, along with an exceedingly wealthy lady named Andrea Martin, as well as Dr. Michael Grayson, who was the head of the hospital and their chief of staff. All three of them were tall, and both Eddie and Andrea were middle-aged and good looking with reddish-brown hair, and Dr. Grayson was an older, heavyset, balding man with a little bit of silver hair still in the back of his head, who wore glasses. George was standing by Louise's hospital bed when they knocked on her door and came in.

"Mrs. Jefferson, you and I spoke over the phone the other day. I'm Eddie Jones, the late Mr. Martin's attorney," he informed Louise as he shook her hand.

"Oh, yes. I remember," Louise said pleasantly. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise, Mrs. Jefferson. And I'm assuming that this is your husband, Mr. Jefferson?" he said while turning his gaze to George.

"That's right," Louise confirmed.

He then shook hands with George and said, "Mr. Jefferson, how do you do?" George responded with a simple nod. "Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson, I'd like to introduce you both to the hospital chief of staff, Dr. Grayson, and to Mr. Martin's youngest child, Andrea Martin." Everyone greeted each other and shook hands with each other then, and afterwards, Eddie said, "Mrs. Jefferson, I have a friend who works in this hospital, and she told me about you being admitted here. Forgive me; I know this is none of my business, but I was concerned about you and I did some investigating, and I found out about your cancer diagnosis and your pregnancy. And I'm just going to cut right to the chase, here. I'm here today with Dr. Grayson and Miss Martin because I really do believe that we can help you."

Intrigued, Louise asked, "Help me how?"

Dr. Grayson then turned to Eddie and Andrea and asked, "Will one of you please go and lock the door? We can't have anybody walking in here and overhearing this conversation by accident."

Eddie nodded and said, "I'll take care of it right now, doctor."

"Thank you," said Dr. Grayson, and then Eddie went and locked the door to Louise's hospital suite, and he returned to Louise's bedside with the others a few moments later. Once Eddie was back, Dr. Grayson turned his gaze to Louise and George and asked them, "Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson, what if I told you that there is actually a cure for cancer, but that knowledge of that cure is being suppressed by some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world?"

George and Louise gave each other a puzzled glance for a second, and then George looked back at the doctor and asked, "What you tellin' us, doctor? Are you tellin' us that there actually is a cure for cancer out there?"

"That's precisely what I'm telling you," Dr. Grayson replied. "There's been a cure for this horrific disease for decades, a cure that isn't harsh on the body and poisonous like chemotherapy, but all knowledge of it has been and continues to be completely suppressed."

"But why? Why would anybody try to keep the cure for cancer suppressed? How could anybody be that cruel?" asked Louise.

"You have to understand, Mrs. Jefferson, that the people with the most wealth and power in this world are not normal people with a functioning conscience," responded Dr. Grayson. "They're cruel and vicious, right down to the core, and they have absolutely no empathy whatsoever for their fellow man. The only thing they care about is maintaining all the wealth and power they already have, and trying to get more, and that's it. Period. They literally do not care about anything or anyone else. Many of them would have their own children and their own grandchildren burned to death if it meant they could get their hands on more wealth and power. They are so completely and utterly consumed by their own greed that there's not a trace of humanity or compassion left in their souls anymore. The people in the highest positions of government throughout the world – and the people who are even wealthier and more powerful than they are, who are secretly and quietly pulling their strings behind the scenes – are people who know that thousands, millions of people are dying because of their decisions, and they could not care less. They're ruthless murderers and they know it, and even though they know they're killing so many people, they're able to sleep soundly at night."

"Dr. Grayson is right, Mrs. Jefferson," Andrea Martin chimed in. "These people are cold and cruel and ruthless, and they literally do not care if they do things that result in the deaths of millions of people. I know this because some of these very people are members of my own family. Several of my family members have actually been cured of cancer themselves or have exceedingly wealthy friends who have been cured. They were happy to receive the cure themselves, but if somebody started talking about it and spreading the news about it, they wouldn't hesitate to have them killed to continue keeping all knowledge of the cure suppressed. They don't care if suppressing it is killing people. They only care about themselves."

"But I don't understand. How could telling other people about this cure make them lose their wealth and power?" asked Louise.

"It's a lot like the oil industry, Mrs. Jefferson," said Eddie. "There actually have been people in recent years who have come up with an alternative to gasoline, but the oil companies keep all knowledge of it suppressed so they can continue to profit off of oil sales, regardless of how it pollutes the planet. The only thing the petroleum industry cares about is money and profit. Period. And it's the same way with the cancer cure. It's a special, extremely expensive medication called CS-171. And just like with oil alternatives, pharmaceutical companies all over the world keep all knowledge of CS-171 suppressed, because if word ever got out that there was a cure for cancer and the public got their hands on it and cancer eventually became eradicated, they would lose all the profits they make from all the various chemotherapy drugs they sell."

"The reason I'm here to see you with Eddie and Dr. Grayson today, Mrs. Jefferson, is because my family owes you a debt. My father and your Uncle Ward were very good friends with each other. Both my father and I have always considered your uncle to be a member of our family. We both loved him very much. My mother and my older siblings have always been a bunch of racist fools, but I adored your Uncle Ward as I was growing up. And I was so angry and disgusted when they all got together and tried to block your Uncle Ward and you from receiving your rightful inheritance. And when Eddie told me about your cancer diagnosis and your pregnancy, I just had to do something. As I said, Mrs. Jefferson, I know that my family owes you a debt. And I pay my debts. Forgive me for being blunt, but there's no way your inheritance would be enough to pay for the CS-171 treatments and for Akira, which is something Dr. Grayson will explain to you momentarily. So if you decide to go through with the treatments, I'll cover all costs of CS-171 and Akira. Consider it an official apology from my family to yours for the unfair way you and your Uncle Ward have been treated."

"Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, there is a very special clinic connected to this hospital that even the vast majority of doctors and nurses here do not know exists. It takes up several floors underground, right below the ground floor of this hospital. Knowledge of its location and of its very existence is classified information that many high-ranking government officials are not even aware of," Dr. Grayson explained. "Mrs. Jefferson, if you agree, we can have you transferred to our special clinic and begin treating your cancer with CS-171 today. Furthermore, when your labor begins, we can take you back down to our underground clinic and give you medication called Akira, that Miss Martin was just talking about, that will make your labor and delivery entirely painless."

"There's a medication for that, too?" George asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes," Dr. Grayson confirmed. "It's an intravenous medication, like CS-171, and it's called Akira. And like CS-171, Akira, too, is being suppressed by people in high places. Just as it's more profitable for pharmaceutical companies to sell chemotherapy drugs and morphine, it's also more profitable for doctors and hospitals to perform C-sections. And women who get epidurals during childbirth are more likely to end up having a C-section. More C-sections means more money. It's all about the money. At the end of the day, everything is always about the money. Always."

"Well speaking of my pregnancy, is CS-171 safe for pregnant women?" Louise questioned.

"Oh, it's perfectly safe for pregnant women, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. Grayson assured her. "As I said before, this cure has been around for decades, and there have been pregnant women with cancer who have taken this medication during their pregnancies and have gone on to deliver perfectly healthy babies. If we start administering the medication now, your baby won't be affected at all."

"I don't know what to think about all this," said Louise. "Quite frankly, it all sounds too good to be true."

Eddie nodded and said, "We understand your reservations, Mrs. Jefferson. Take some time and think it through. If you decide to receive the CS-171 treatments at our underground clinic, you can contact Dr. Grayson at any time."

"However, I cannot stress it enough how important it is that the two of you keep all knowledge of CS-171 and all knowledge of Akira to yourselves," Dr. Grayson warned. "If either one of you ever told another living soul about the conversation we've had here today, it wouldn't be long before you were killed, and possibly some of your loved ones as well, and that is not a joke or an exaggeration. I'm being dead serious."

After a pause, Andrea then told them, "We'll leave now and let you guys go on with your day; let you take some time to carefully consider what we've said."

"Mrs. Jefferson, it's been a pleasure to finally meet you," said Eddie as he shook Louise's hand again, and then they all shook hands with one another a second time and said goodbye.

As soon as Dr. Grayson, Andrea, and Eddie had all left, George looked at Louise and said, "I don't get it, Weezy. You've just been offered the cure for cancer. Why didn't you take it? Why didn't you say yes? We could start you on those treatments today."

"George, think about it. There are all kinds of crazy people in this world who do all kinds of crazy things for no logical reason. What if this whole thing is some kind of weird, crazy deception? I mean, it's not exactly easy to believe that I'm being served the cure for cancer and a completely painless birth on a silver platter. I am not letting just anybody come into this suite and take me away to some secret clinic and start putting something into my body that I've never even heard of, that could end up hurting our daughters. What if these people are lying to us? What if this whole thing is somebody's sick idea of a joke?"

"Oh, man," George sighed. "I didn't even think about that, Weezy, but you're right. I was just so excited when they started talkin' about curin' your cancer that I didn't think about anything else."

"I'm not saying that I definitely won't do it, George. But I am saying that I want to have these people thoroughly looked into before I do, especially Dr. Grayson. Your secretary often looks into the backgrounds of potential clients for Jefferson Cleaners before you sign a contract with them. Can't you ask her to look into Dr. Grayson and the others?"

"Of course I can, Weezy. That's a great idea. I'll call her right now and have her get started on it."

"Thank you, George," said Louise, and then George bent down and gave her a big kiss. And in the next moment, he picked up the phone at her bedside and began dialing.

George's secretary did a thorough background check on Dr. Grayson, Andrea Martin, and Eddie Jones, and she confirmed that all three of them were upstanding members of their community and that they didn't have anything shady in their backgrounds. Dr. Grayson was a very highly respected physician in the medical community, and Eddie Jones and Andrea Martin were well-liked and respected amongst their peers as well. So when Louise spoke with Dr. Grayson a second time that Friday morning, she told him that she still wanted to receive the CS-171 treatments, but that she didn't want to start them right away. Even though Dr. Grayson told her that it would not be wise to wait, Louise insisted that she wanted to wait until after she gave birth before starting the CS-171 treatments. Despite the fact that pregnant women had taken CS-171 without any problems in the past, Louise wanted to be extra cautious. She really did not feel comfortable with the idea of putting anything into her system that she didn't have to at the moment. But that Sunday afternoon, it was the good Lord, Himself, who changed her mind.

That Sunday, when Florence and their church's pastor came to visit Louise after church and they got to talking about the teachings from the pastor's sermon, both Louise and George were overwhelmed with the strongest feeling that they needed to start the CS-171 treatments immediately, and not try to wait until after Louise had given birth. After Florence and the pastor left and Louise and George were alone, they got to talking about it, and they knew it wasn't a coincidence that they both got that same overwhelming feeling at the exact same time. Louise knew that the Holy Spirit didn't always use feelings to communicate, but she also knew that there were times in life when He did choose to communicate to her through her own gut feelings, and she and George knew that this was one of those times. So when Dr. Grayson came back to see Louise at George's request the next day, they let him know that Louise had changed her mind and had decided to start receiving the CS-171 treatments, and he had her transferred to their underground clinic, and her treatments began that day.

The next several weeks flew by, and before everyone knew it, it was early March, and Louise was twenty weeks into her pregnancy. Louise, George, and all their loved ones easily noticed a big change in Louise since she first checked into the hospital. Although Lionel, Jenny, the Willises, and Florence weren't aware of the CS-171 treatments Louise was secretly receiving, it was obvious to them all that for some reason, her condition was vastly improving. And when Louise's OB/GYN, Dr. Marina James, told Louise and George that she was hearing two fetal heartbeats with her stethoscope, that really bolstered their faith and further convinced them that God was indeed with them and their babies and was watching over them.

"So Dr. James really heard two heartbeats?" Jenny asked with a smile later on that evening when she and Lionel were there to visit Louise.

"She sure did," George confirmed.

"Dr. James let us listen to their heartbeats, too," said Louise with a very contented smile as she and George put their hands on her growing pregnancy stomach. "Hearing their heartbeats today was one of the happiest moments of my life."

"Mine too, Weez," George said with a smile, and then he leaned in and gave Louise a big kiss. And as they were kissing, Louise suddenly gasped. "What is it, baby? Are you alright?" George asked.

"They're moving, George," Louise told him. "They're moving for the first time. I feel them."

"Both of them?" asked George.

"Uh huh," Louise said with a nod as tears of joy came to her eyes. "They're saying, 'Hi.'"

"Hi, girls," George said so happily while rubbing Louise's stomach, and a few moments later, Louise put her hands on top of his, and they "held" their unborn babies together.

"This reminds me so much of when we were expecting you, Lionel. I don't know why, but for some reason, I hated it when other people would put their hands on my stomach when I was pregnant with you. But when George would put his hands on my belly and talk to you and feel you kick and give me a belly rub, I absolutely loved it. I don't know why I couldn't stand the touch of other people on my belly then, but I so loved feeling George's touch on my stomach. And I think I love it even more now than I did then."

In that instant, Lionel and Jenny gazed at one another and gave each other a knowing smile, and then Jenny said, "I might end up being the same way myself in a few weeks, Mrs. Jefferson, when I'm as far into my pregnancy as you are into yours now."

George and Louise gave each other a shocked glance then, and in the following moment, they looked back over at Lionel and Jenny, and Louise asked them, "Are you two saying what I think you're saying?"

Jenny happily nodded and answered, "Yes, Mrs. Jefferson. The doctor says that I'm ten weeks pregnant. I'm due on the third of October."

George and Louise both shouted for joy, and they both hugged and kissed and loved on Lionel and Jenny and congratulated them over the next several moments.

"Oh, I can't believe it! I just can't believe it!" Louise cried out with a huge smile. "Oh George, we're so incredibly blessed. Jesus is letting us become parents again at our age, blessing us with these two miracle babies, and we're getting our first grandchild, too! This is amazing!"

"You're right, Weezy. It's incredible," said George with a mile-wide grin. "Listen, kids. Anytime, anytime at all that you two need anything, I want you to come to me. Understand?"

"Understood, Pop. Thanks," Lionel said softly as he gave his father another big hug. He then turned his gaze to Jenny and asked, "Hey Jenny, can I have a minute alone with Mom and Pop?"

"Of course. I'll be right outside," Jenny replied.

"Thanks, Jenny," Lionel told her, and then he gave her a big kiss before she walked out into the hallway.

"What is it, Lionel? Is everything alright?" asked a concerned Louise.

"Oh yeah, Mom. Everything is fine. I've just got a favor I need to ask of Pop. Pop, since you just said to come to you whenever Jenny and I need something, I figure now is a golden opportunity for me to talk to you about this."

"Of course, Lionel," George said happily as he slapped Lionel on the back. "What is it? What do you kids need?"

After a pause, Lionel looked in George's eyes and told him honestly, "We need you to stop making zebra jokes about Jenny. And we need you to agree to not make any zebra jokes about the baby. Those jokes you make all the time about Jenny being a zebra are really hurtful to her and to the Willises, Pop, and with Jenny being pregnant, I don't want you upsetting her or hurting her feelings by calling her or the baby a zebra."

"A perfectly reasonable request," said Louise as her eyes bore into her husband's.

George was silent for a couple of long moments, emotionally absorbing the impact of his son's words, and then he turned to Lionel and said, "I'm sorry, son. I know how I can be sometimes. I know that I've been actin' stupid, runnin' my big mouth my whole life, without really thinkin' about what I'm sayin' or how much my words might be hurtin' the people around me." In that moment, George locked his eyes with Louise's eyes, nonverbally acknowledging to both her and Lionel how much he regretted hurting Louise with his words throughout their marriage. "I know how bad I've been about talkin' garbage, sayin' stupid things that I don't really mean. It's like I've told Weezy before. I didn't even take myself seriously when I said those things half the time, so I never imagined that anybody else might take me seriously and be hurt by my words. But I know better now. You ain't gotta worry, son. I won't ever make any zebra jokes about Jenny again, and I won't ever joke about the baby bein' a zebra, either. You have my word."

Lionel smiled and said, "Thank you, Pop." And in the next moment, the father and son gave each other a big hug.

The next time Lionel and Jenny came to visit Louise in the hospital a couple of days later, George apologized to Jenny for all the times he'd made cracks about her being a zebra, and he assured her he would never do it again, and she graciously thanked him for his apology and forgave him. And from that point forward, over the next ten weeks, the two Jefferson couples really began to bond with each other on a much deeper level. Going through a pregnancy together brought them a lot closer than they already were.

Then one day in mid-May, when Louise was thirty weeks into her pregnancy, Dr. Grayson ordered some chest X-rays. He wanted to expose Louise to as few X-rays as possible with her being pregnant, of course, but it was necessary for them to know if the CS-171 treatments were effective in stopping and eradicating her cancer. Furthermore, with it being Louise's chest that was X-rayed and not her abdominal area, there was very little chance of the babies being exposed to any harmful amounts of radiation.

As Louise was sitting up on the examination table in one of the exam rooms of the special underground clinic that afternoon, clinging to George's hand for dear life, Dr. Grayson entered the room, carrying her X-rays. He then turned on the light of the white X-ray board on the wall and put up one of her previous X-rays on the left side.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, I know you've seen this X-ray before," Dr. Grayson said knowingly, and they both nodded.

"Yeah, that's one of Weezy's first X-rays from when she was diagnosed," said George.

Dr. Grayson then put up one of the new X-rays that he had taken of Louise's lungs that day on the right side of the white X-ray board beside the old one, and he turned to Louise and George and said to them with a triumphant smile, "Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, this is Mrs. Jefferson's left lung today."

George and Louise both took a good, long look at the new X-ray for several long moments. "It's gone!" Louise gasped then in pure disbelief. "The tumor's completely gone! There's no trace of it!"

Dr. Grayson chuckled and said, "That's right! Mrs. Jefferson, as of today, both of your lungs look perfectly clear."

"Oh, George!" Louise cried out as George grabbed her and fervently hugged her and kissed her. "I can't believe it!" she gasped as George continued kissing her on her face and mouth over and over and over again. "I just can't believe it!"

"I can't believe it either, Weez," George gasped through his tears. "God is good."

"He certainly is! Thank You, Jesus. I never imagined we would get a miracle like this," said Louise.

"Your cancer gone. Twins at forty-six. You two are definitely my miracle couple," said Dr. Grayson with a big grin.

"Is it gone, Dr. Grayson? Is it really all gone?" Louise asked excitedly.

"All the cancer that can be seen with the naked eye is gone, yes. But there could still be some microscopic cancer cells that are still present. So just to be on the safe side, I'm going to continue with the CS-171 treatments over the next two months, and for two or three months after you've given birth as well. You have to understand that with cancer, you can never be too careful."

Louise nodded and said, "I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of exposing my babies to more medication, even medication that has proven to be safe for pregnant women, but I know you're right, Dr. Grayson. We can't ever be too careful."

George then put his arm around Louise's shoulders and said, "Me and Weezy'll do everything you tell us to, doctor. Right, Weez?"

"Right, George," Louise said with a smile, and in the next moment, George kissed her.

"Well, I'm glad you two said that, because there's one more thing I need you two to do for me," Dr. Grayson told them with a mischievous grin.

"What's that, Dr. Grayson?" asked George.

"I need you to pack your bags and go home. Mrs. Jefferson, as of tomorrow, I am officially kicking you out of here and sending you home."

"Are you serious?!" asked Louise with the biggest smile.

"Oh, yes. I'm completely serious, Mrs. Jefferson. The remaining CS-171 treatments can be administered on an outpatient basis. Both you and your babies are doing well. All three of you are in excellent shape. There's really no reason to keep you here any longer. And I figure you'll be much happier waiting for the arrival of your little ones from the comfort of your own home."

"You're so right, doctor," Louise agreed. "Oh, Dr. Grayson, thank you for everything. Thank you so much."

"Yeah, thanks so much for everything, Dr. Grayson. We'll never forget everything you've done for us," George said kindly after he and Louise shook hands with the older man.

"If you want to thank me, then thank me by taking good care of yourselves and staying healthy and strong for these twins of yours."

"We sure will, Dr. Grayson. Thank you," Louise told him with a smile.

"A nurse will be by shortly to take you back upstairs to your suite, Mrs. Jefferson," said Dr. Grayson.

"Thank you, doctor," said George.

"Sure thing. Have a good rest of the day, Mom and Dad," Dr. Grayson said pleasantly.

"We will, doctor. You, too," Louise said happily, and then Dr. Grayson walked out of the exam room, giving the miracle couple a few moments alone.

"Oh George, I can't believe it! I just can't believe it! When this whole thing started last Christmas, I really was convinced that I wasn't going to make it. That I'd never get the chance to see our babies grow up. That there wasn't any hope left for me. Now, there's tons of hope, and it feels so wonderful!"

George gave Louise a long, passionate kiss, and then he said, "You're gonna make it, baby. You are not only gonna survive; you are gonna thrive. I'm proud of you, sweetheart. I'm so proud of you for gettin' better. And I can't thank Jesus enough for makin' us, 'the miracle couple.'"

"I can't thank Jesus enough for it, either."

"I can't wait to get you home, Weezy."

"I can't wait, either. And I can't wait for our little girls and our grandbaby to get here."

After giving Louise another big kiss, George whispered in a low voice, "I love you, Weezy."

Louise then whispered, "I love you too, George." And in that moment, they both thanked God with all their hearts for all the miracles He had so generously blessed them with.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Uncle Ward's Diary

George, Lionel, Jenny, the Willises, and Florence all showered Louise with love and affection when George brought her home from the hospital the next day. And after everyone else went home, George and Florence continued to wait on her hand and foot. They had definitely learned their lesson about not taking Louise for granted anymore. After everything she'd been through over the past several months, George and Florence were completely cured of taking their family's queen for granted, and it was a mistake they would never make again.

The next four weeks raced by, and before they all knew it, it was the eleventh of June, six weeks before Louise's due date. It was a Sunday, and following church, Lionel and Jenny came to visit George and Louise that afternoon, and they could all tell that Lionel was just not himself.

"What's the matter, Lionel?" asked Louise once they all sat down together in the living room. "You seem like you're upset about something."

"Yeah, Lionel," Jenny chimed in. "You haven't been yourself all day."

"What is it, Lionel? What's the matter? What have you got to be upset about? You've got everything I ever dreamed of at your age. You've got a college degree, a well-payin' career, a nice home, nice clothes, financial security. I wouldda killed to have those things back when me and Weezy were expectin' you."

"It's not that I don't appreciate having those things, Pop," said Lionel. "I do appreciate all my blessings. I really do. But the thought of taking on the responsibility of another person's entire life…it can get pretty scary at times. I could end up making a mistake that's going to scar this child for life."

George and Louise looked at each other and knowingly laughed, and then George quipped, "You were raised by a loudmouth fool like me, and you still turned out alright!" Naturally, they all laughed at that.

"Oh, we know how you feel, Lionel. We really do," Louise said sympathetically. "George and I were both so scared before you were born. In the last week before my due date, George suddenly lost his job, and we were already behind on the rent. It was so scary. Those were some very hard times. But the good Lord got us through it all, and no matter what problems you and Jenny have or what parenting mistakes you might make – and we all make them – He'll get you through it, too. And mercifully, God made children very resilient, and I think He did that because He knows that no parent can ever be one hundred percent perfect, no matter how hard we try to be. God's got your back, son. Just trust Him."

"Yeah, and we've got your back too, Lionel," George assured him. "Don't forget, your mom and me are doin' this for the second time around, after twenty-five years. We've got a lotta things we need to relearn, too. You and Jenny ain't in this by yourselves. We're all gonna be figurin' this whole thing out together, all four of us."

"Mr. Jefferson is right, Lionel," Jenny told him. "We're all going to be figuring this whole parenting thing out together, all four of us, step by step, day by day. We just have to take it one day at a time."

"That's right," Louise agreed. "And I, for one, couldn't be more thrilled that the four of us are doing this together."

Lionel smiled and said, "Yeah, I feel the same way. I never imagined that I'd be getting twin baby sisters when I was twenty-four and that Jenny and I would be expecting our first baby at the same time, but to tell the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Neither would I," said Jenny, and then Lionel gave her a big kiss. "And speaking of our babies, what are your plans for your birth, Mrs. Jefferson? Are you going to try to go natural like Lionel and I are?"

Louise fervently shook her head and told Jenny, "Absolutely not. I had a natural childbirth with Lionel, and it's an experience I never want to repeat. Lionel was born during a big snowstorm in November, and it took George and me forever to get to the hospital, and by the time we finally arrived, it was almost too late. Lionel was born just a couple of minutes after they got me back into one of the rooms. Quite literally. There wasn't any time for ether or any other kind of medication. There wasn't even enough time to get the doctor in the room! It was one of the nurses who had to catch Lionel as he was being born. It was the most hellish pain I ever experienced. No, when I have these two," said Louise as she put her hand on her ever-growing belly, "I'll be having them at the Allied Health Services Center, with medication, thank you very much."

Jenny nodded and said, "I understand. Lionel and I are going to start going to Lamaze classes next week, and what they teach you at these classes is supposed to help you manage the pain and cope with it. I'm willing to give it a shot, and I do want to try to avoid medication if I can, but unfortunately, I don't have a very high pain tolerance. I'll probably end up giving in and getting the epidural."

"I understand," said Louise. Naturally, she deeply hated it that she couldn't tell Lionel and Jenny about the Akira medication that she would be receiving during her labor and delivery with the twins, but she didn't dare mention it because she knew just talking about it with them could endanger theirs and the baby's lives.

"Say, Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson, do you two have any names picked out for the twins yet?" Jenny inquired.

"We were thinking…Sarah and Savannah," Louise replied with a smile.

"Oh, those are such beautiful names," said Jenny.

"Yeah, those are pretty names, Mom. Women really have a knack for picking out names. Jenny came up with Eli Paul for a boy and Kathryn Grace for a girl," Lionel told them.

"Yeah, my maternal grandfather's middle name was Eli, and Mr. Jefferson, I know your father's name was William Paul Jefferson, so I thought it might be nice to name our baby after our grandfathers if it's a boy. And Mrs. Jefferson, I know that your middle name is Kathryn, and Mom's middle name is Grace, so that's where we came up with Kathryn Grace for a girl."

George laughed and said, "You know, that's a crazy kind of half-coincidence. Weezy decided that she wanted the girls' middle names to be our mothers' names. We're namin' our older twin, 'Sarah Olivia,' after Mama, and we're namin' our younger twin, 'Savannah Abigail,' after Weezy's mother."

"Oh, I know how much Grandma would love that," said Lionel.

"What made you decide on the names, 'Sarah' and 'Savannah,' Mrs. Jefferson?" Jenny asked.

"It seemed like a nice way to honor and remember my Uncle Ward. I never knew my own father, but Uncle Ward was just like a second father to me when I was a girl. You see, I never knew this about my uncle, but a couple of weeks ago as I was thinking about him and going through some of his old things, I came across the diary of a sweet young lady named Savannah Johnson – his wife."

"His wife?" said a puzzled Lionel. "But wait a minute, Mom. Uncle Ward was never married."

"Oh, yes he was. As you guys know, my mother was ten years younger than my Uncle Ward, and their parents died when he was twenty and she was ten, so he ended up raising my mother. And shortly after my grandparents' deaths, my Uncle Ward – who was still living with my mother in Savannah, Georgia, at the time – met and fell in love with a seventeen-year-old girl named Savannah Johnson. They got married a year later, and then one year after that, when Savannah was just nineteen, she died in childbirth with their baby girl, whom they named, 'Sarah.'"

"Oh, that's so tragic," Jenny said sadly.

"I know. It really ripped me apart reading about it. Savannah wrote her last entry in the diary as she was going into labor, and later entries were written by Uncle Ward after hers and Baby Sarah's deaths. He couldn't bear to talk to anybody about what he was going through, so he just poured his heart out in her diary. Living in Savannah, Georgia, the city that bore the name of the love of his life, was just too hard for him when he was younger, so he managed to find a job as a cook in a hotel in Manhattan, and he and my mother moved to New York and he raised her here. After I read that diary, so many things just fell into place. I never understood why Uncle Ward wouldn't even look at a woman all those years, but now I know. He was head over heels in love with his wife Savannah, and after her death and the death of Baby Sarah, he just couldn't imagine ever having another woman in his life. He loved Savannah so, so much, and losing her and the baby like that really tore him up inside. Ironically, in the last entry he put in her diary on the day he retired, he admitted that it was actually because he missed Savannah so much that he decided to leave New York and return to Savannah, Georgia. He couldn't bear to be around all the places where they spent time together in Savannah after he first lost her, but once it was time for him to retire, he admitted that he longed to be near those places once again and be reminded of her. He said that he wanted to die in the city that bore the name of the love of his life."

"That's so heartbreaking," Lionel said soberly.

"Yeah, it is," Louise agreed. "And that's why George and I want to name our daughters, 'Sarah' and 'Savannah.' We want to honor Uncle Ward and his wife and daughter, yes, but we want to do it in a way that joyfully remembers them and their love. We don't want to focus on the tragic way that Savannah and Sarah died, because death isn't the end. Not for everyone who's trusted in Christ. Both Uncle Ward and Savannah dearly loved Jesus and trusted in Him, and I know they're in heaven with their daughter Sarah today, and I know they're all filled with joy beyond their wildest dreams here on earth. And we're naming our daughters after Savannah and Sarah because we want to focus on that and celebrate that."

"Right on, Mom," Lionel said with a smile.

"I hear what you're saying, Mrs. Jefferson. But still, it is very sobering to think about how Savannah and Baby Sarah died, knowing how close you and I are getting to giving birth, ourselves. It's so tragic that back in those days, a woman was basically risking her life to give birth to a child, and it was almost as risky for the baby as it was for the woman. I'm just so grateful to God that there have been such great advancements in medicine in recent decades. Thank God that giving birth isn't nearly as risky for women and babies today as it was back then."

"Hear, hear!" Lionel heartily agreed.

"And now that I've got all this money, thank the Lord, I'm gonna make sure that all the women and babies in my family have the best. The very best. Y'all ain't gotta worry about nothin'. There ain't gonna be nothin' risky goin' on with you two or with the babies when the time comes. You're gonna have the best doctors in the state of New York. All the women and babies of the Jefferson family are gonna come out of childbirth perfectly healthy and happy. I'll see to that. So help me God."

"We know you will, George," said Louise with a loving smile, and then she gave her husband a big kiss. "And I'm sorry, everybody. I didn't mean to scare you guys by talking about how Uncle Ward's wife and baby died."

"No, you didn't scare us, Mom," Lionel assured her.

"But Savannah's and Baby Sarah's story is a good reminder to all of us to be grateful for modern healthcare and for all the Lord's blessings that we tend to take for granted," said Jenny. Although Jenny and Lionel had both come to faith in Christ as children, unfortunately, as they got older, their faith had become something they only thought about once a week on Sundays – if that. But thankfully, Louise's unexpected medical crisis had caused Lionel and Jenny, as well as the Willises, to start drawing much closer to the Lord over the past few months.

"It certainly is, honey," Louise agreed.

"Oh, Mrs. Jefferson, Lionel told me that you and Mr. Jefferson and Florence finally finished the twins' nursery the other day," said Jenny.

"That's right. We did," Louise confirmed with a smile. "As you kids already know, when Florence decided to come to work for us full-time, we gave her our guest room, and Lionel, we've turned your old bedroom into a nursery for Sarah and Savannah. George and Florence and I have been working on renovating it since I came home from the hospital a few weeks ago. We finally finished it the day before yesterday."

"Oh, I'm just dying to see it," Jenny told Louise.

"Yeah, me too, Mom," said Lionel.

"Come on, you two. We'll show it to you right now," George said with a big smile.

"Yeah, kids. Let's go," said Louise with a smile as big as her husband's, and then George and Lionel helped their wives up, and they all went into the new nursery.

"Oh, it's beautiful," Jenny gasped the moment she saw it. George and Louise had had brand new light-pink carpeting put in, and the wallpaper was filled with the most adorable rainbows on a white background. There were two white cribs side by side, and a matching white changing table on the other side of the room, as well as a big light-pink rocking chair that perfectly matched the carpet. And the closet was filled to the brim with baby clothes and toys for Baby Sarah and Baby Savannah.

"Yeah, Mom, Pop. It's gorgeous," Lionel agreed.

"The price we paid for it all was rather steep, but it was more than worth it," Louise said happily.

"Yeah, George Jefferson's daughters ain't gonna have nothin' but the best. Me and Weezy wanted to make this a nursery fit for two princesses, and that's just what we did," George bragged, and then he put his arms around Louise and gave her a big kiss.

"I just love the rainbows," Jenny commented.

"Oh, as soon as I saw this rainbow wallpaper, I just had to have it for the girls' nursery," said Louise. "It made me think of the very first rainbow God put in the sky after the great flood in the book of Genesis. Rainbows are a symbol of God's promise to humanity; a symbol of His faithfulness."

"Well like I said, Mrs. Jefferson, it's beautiful," said Jenny.

"Thank you, dear," Louise said kindly. Just as she was about to say something else to George and the kids, though, Louise's water suddenly broke. "Oh, no! I don't believe it!" she cried out.

"Lionel, go call Dr. James. Now," George said firmly.

"Right, Pop," said Lionel, and then he quickly left the nursery and picked up the phone at the living room desk and began dialing.

"How could this happen now? I'm not due for another six weeks," Louise said fearfully. "It's too soon for the girls to come, George. It's way too soon. What are we going to do?"

George put a loving arm around Louise's shoulders then and told her, "Don't worry, sweetheart. Don't worry. Everything's gonna be alright. It's gonna be okay. The girls are gonna be fine. They're gonna be just fine. And so are you. Jesus didn't bring us this far to abandon us now, Weezy."

Louise tearfully nodded and said, "You're right, George. You're right. Thank you for saying that."

"And thank you for bein' gutsy enough to get through this cancer scare and carry Sarah and Savannah this long and for not listenin' to those arrogant doctors who tried to bully you into getting an abortion," said George, and then he gave Louise another big kiss.

"Okay," Louise sighed. "I believe the good Lord's going to get us all through this, just like He's gotten us through everything else, but what are we going to do about this beautiful brand-new carpet that I just ruined?"

That gave Jenny a chuckle.

"Weezy, with our money, we can afford the best carpet cleaners in the whole state of New York. Don't worry about that, baby. Let's just get you to the hospital, alright?"

"Tell Lionel to call us a cab. I'll go get changed," said Louise.

"Jenny, you go tell Lionel to call a cab for us, okay? I'll go with you and help you get changed, sweetheart."

"Thank you, George," said Louise, and then after giving her a quick kiss, they went into their bedroom while Jenny went out into the living room to get Lionel to call a cab.

While Lionel and Jenny were shown to a waiting room on the first floor of the Allied Health Services Hospital, Louise and George were secretly escorted down to the hospital's special underground clinic, where they were met by Louise's obstetrician, Dr. Marina James. Dr. James was a lovely lady in her late thirties with curly brunette hair and blue eyes, of average height and weight, and when one of the orderlies pushed Louise's wheelchair into her luxurious underground birthing suite, Dr. James was right there waiting for them.

"Hello there, Mrs. Jefferson, Mr. Jefferson. How are you guys doing?" Dr. James asked.

"Not so good, Dr. James," George answered honestly. "Weezy's pretty upset about goin' into labor so soon."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James told her with a kind smile. "It is best to try to avoid a premature birth if we can, but it's pretty common for twins to come at least four weeks early. And considering your age and all, quite frankly, it's a miracle you were able to carry them this long. It's very common for women your age to give birth prematurely. This is not at all unexpected. And babies born at thirty-four weeks tend to do very well with the proper medical care."

"See, Weezy? What did I tell ya? The babies are gonna be just fine," George assured Louise.

"Thank you, Dr. James. It sure is a relief to hear you say that," said Louise.

"How many contractions have you had since your water broke?" asked the doctor.

"Three. Two in the apartment as I was changing clothes, and one in the cab," Louise replied.

"They're comin' at about ten minutes apart," George supplied.

"Alright. Well, Mrs. Jefferson, we're going to need you to change one more time, either into a hospital gown or into a gown you brought from home. And once we get you in bed and get you settled in, we'll start the Akira. That should make you feel a lot better."

"I've got your overnight bag right here, Weezy," said George, referring to the tan leather overnight bag he was carrying over his right shoulder. "I'll help you get changed."

"Thank you, George," said Louise.

"I'll go tell Nurse Jenkins to come start your I.V.," Dr. James told them.

"Thank you, doctor," Louise told her, and then she left so George could help Louise could get changed into a gown in private.

Two hours later, George and Louise were lying side by side in Louise's queen-sized hospital bed, with the lights dimmed a little, as George continued rubbing her belly. The last time Dr. James examined Louise a few minutes ago, she was nine centimeters dilated.

"How you feelin', sweetheart?" George whispered.

"I'm okay," Louise said softly.

"You sure you're okay?"

"I'm sure, love," Louise told George with a small smile as he continued rubbing her belly.

"It really doesn't hurt?" George asked in amazement.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said this miracle medication called Akira removed all discomfort. As Sarah keeps moving farther and farther down, it does get a little uncomfortable because of all the pressure. But in terms of actual pain, no, there's no pain at all. As crazy as it sounds, I feel my abdominal muscles tense up with the contractions and push the babies down and everything, but even though I feel all that tension, there's no pain when the contractions come. It really doesn't hurt. I'm starting to get a little scared, though, because I can tell that I'm going to have to start pushing soon, and I'm dreading that. Even though Lionel came out so quickly, even though I only had to push three or four times with him, those three or four pushes were sheer agony. It was awful."

"Try not to be afraid, sweetheart. If the Akira is helpin' this much with the contractions, surely it'll make the pushing less painful, too."

"I know you're probably right, but it's still hard not to be at least a little scared."

"I know, baby. I know. Try not to be too scared, though. I'm here, baby. I'm right here with you. I'm right here by your side, and I'm gonna do all I can to help you. You know that."

"I know, George. It's already been such a big help just having you here. It was so hard that night when I was in labor with Lionel. We'd just gotten to the hospital and an orderly came along with a wheelchair to take me back to the delivery room, and he pushed me away from you. That really tore me apart. I wanted you with me so badly."

"I wanted to be with you too, Weezy. I could see it in your eyes that you were scared to death. I think I was even more scared than you were. I mean, I respect our elders and all that, but sometimes, the old ways are not the best ways. Keepin' husbands away from their wives when their wives needed 'em the most…how stupid is that? Give me this, me bein' with you every moment, knowin' what's goin' on with you and our babies every moment, over pacin' up and down in some dumb old hospital waitin' room, any day of the week."

"Amen!" Louise heartily agreed. Then in the next moment, she scared George half to death when she suddenly told him, "George, call Dr. James on the intercom. Get her in here. Now."

"What is it, baby? What's the matter?" asked George as his heart began to pound away in his chest.

"I'm starting to feel Sarah's head."

"Oh, my Lord," George gasped, and then he called Dr. James in immediately.

A few moments later, Dr. James came running into the suite along with a nurse, and she had the nurse turn the lights up all the way so she could see things better. And as Dr. James was sitting in front of the bed examining Louise, George was now standing at Louise's right, holding her hand.

"Well Mrs. Jefferson, I've got some good news for you. You are going to be holding your first baby very, very soon now. You are now ten centimeters dilated and one hundred percent effaced. Now, it's time to push."

"Sorry, Dr. James, but I don't exactly consider the pushing part to be 'good news.' Pushing with Lionel was terrible. And I've really been dreading it with these two," Louise explained.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jefferson. I assure you, pushing will be much easier and much less painful with the Akira. And didn't you say that your son came very quickly?" Dr. James asked Louise.

"He sure did! The doctor didn't even get the chance to get in there and deliver him. It was a nurse who had to catch him," Louise replied.

"You probably ended up delivering him much too quickly. Sometimes when babies are delivered too fast, the mother can tear."

"That happened, too," said Louise, and George was absolutely horrified.

"Wait a minute, Weezy. You mean to tell me that you actually tore…there?"

"Yes, I did, George," Louise confirmed. She'd never told George about it and just all knowledge of it to herself as she recovered from giving birth to Lionel because she knew how squeamish George could be, especially when he was younger. She was sure back then that he'd never be able to handle it.

And George's response proved Louise correct as he let out a very painful groan and doubled over, and Dr. James laughed at his reaction. "And they call us the weaker sex," Dr. James teased, and she and Louise chuckled.

George then immediately came around to the other side of Louise's bed, sat down on the bed, and just held her and loved on her. "Oh Weezy, baby, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry for every time I ever disrespected you. For every time I ever disrespected a woman or looked down on women. Women are such extraordinary people."

"I need to push, George, but I'm scared."

"Oh baby, I love you so much," George whispered, and then he just kissed her face and mouth over and over again, continuing to hold her close.

"Try to give me just a little push, Mrs. Jefferson. Just a very light one," said Dr. James.

"I'm here, baby," George said gently as he looked into Louise's eyes. "I'm right here with you now. You're not doin' this alone. Just hang onto me. I've got you."

Hearing George say that to her while looking into her eyes was enough to give Louise the courage she needed to start pushing, and in that moment, she grabbed George and clung to him while giving a light push with the contraction.

"Good job, sweetheart. Good job," George whispered to Louise while she pushed.

"I saw your baby's head just now when you pushed, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James happily informed Louise.

George gave Louise a big kiss and told her, "You're doin' a great job, baby. You're doin' such a great job."

Louise sighed a sigh of relief then and said, "You were right, Dr. James. That push didn't hurt at all. As a matter of fact, when I felt all the pressure of the contraction and I pushed with it, it actually made me feel so much better."

"That's just what we want to hear," Dr. James said happily.

"It sure is," said George, and then he gave Louise another big kiss.

"I'm so glad you're here, George. It's so much better with you here," Louise told him.

"I'm glad I'm here too, Weezy. You're right. This is so much better than the last time."

"It sure is," Louise agreed. "You know, when that nurse caught Lionel on the night he was born, I so wanted it to be you."

"Well, Mrs. Jefferson, maybe Mr. Jefferson couldn't be there to catch Lionel, but how about we let him be the one to catch Sarah and Savannah?" Dr. James suggested.

"Oh, I love that idea," said Louise.

"Yeah Weez, I love it, too," George said softly, and once again, he kissed Louise. "Can I really do that, Dr. James?" he asked, and Dr. James responded with a laugh.

"Of course you can catch the babies if you want to, Mr. Jefferson. You're their father," she told him.

"But I don't wanna watch Weezy tear."

"No worries, Mr. Jefferson. We're not going to let that happen," Dr. James assured him. "We're going to deliver Sarah and Savannah just as slowly as we can so Mrs. Jefferson doesn't get hurt like the last time. You just stay right where you are and let Louise hold onto when she needs to push, and then I'll call you over here after the head is born."

"But who will help her push when she needs to push the rest of the baby out?" asked George.

"I think we can trust Nurse Mills with that task," Dr. James replied. Nurse Maria Mills, a short, slim black lady in her late twenties, was a very sweet OB nurse standing nearby.

Louise then turned to her and said, "You know, my maiden name was Mills. We just might be distant cousins or something."

"We might be," she said with a pleasant smile.

"Oh, I've got to push, George," Louise told him.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay," George told her in a gentle voice, and then Louise clung to him again and started pushing. "Take it slow, baby. Just take it nice and slow and easy right now. We ain't in no rush," George whispered in Louise's ear, which really helped her to stay calm and focused. The contraction ended in the next moment, and George felt Louise's whole body relax as he was holding her. He then kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear, "Good job, baby. Good job."

"The head's coming. I think we might have the head completely out when you push with the next contraction, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James informed everyone.

Louise then reached out for George and clung to him once again while she pushed with the next contraction.

"Easy, sweetheart. Easy," George whispered. "Just take your time, baby. Take your time. Take all the time you need. You don't have to push too hard. Just take it nice and slow. I don't want you to get hurt."

"You're doing great, Mrs. Jefferson," Dr. James assured her as the head emerged. "You did it, Mrs. Jefferson! You got the head out," she announced then. "If you both look up at the mirror on the ceiling now, you'll be able to see your baby's head."

They both looked up at the ceiling in that moment, and George cried out, "I see it, Weezy! I see it! I see it! I see her head! I see Sarah's head!"

"I see it too, George," Louise gasped as joyous tears streamed down her face.

"She's there, Weezy! She's right there!" George cried out as he began crying with his wife. He then looked over at Dr. James and asked, "Weezy didn't hurt herself when the head came out, did she?"

Dr. James shook her head and responded, "No, Mr. Jefferson. It's alright. The head came more slowly this time, so there wasn't any tearing."

"Oh, thank You, Jesus," George said with a huge sigh of relief. And then he leaned in and rested his forehead up against Louise's forehead and whispered, "I love you, Weezy. I love you so much."

"I love you too, George," Louise whispered, and then she gave him a kiss.

"Come on over here now, Mr. Jefferson, so you can catch your baby," Dr. James told him.

"Alright," said George, and then after leaning in and giving Louise a big kiss, he got up and went around to where Dr. James was sitting. "Nurse Mills, take Mr. Jefferson's place now. Come sit down on the bed where he was and let Mrs. Jefferson hold onto you when she needs to push again."

"Yes, doctor," said Nurse Mills, and then she sat down on the hospital bed in front of Louise. Dr. James then got up from her stool and let George sit there, and she handed him a very large pink towel to catch Baby Sarah in.

"It's probably only going to take one or two more pushes for Sarah to come out, and as Mrs. Jefferson is pushing, she'll just slide out into your arms," Dr. James explained.

"Okay," said George.

In the next moment, Louise started getting another contraction, and she held onto Nurse Mills just as she'd held onto George before, and she began pushing.

"That's it, Weezy! That's it! That's it! She's comin', Weezy! She's comin'!" George cried out, and in the next instant, Baby Sarah completely came out into her father's waiting arms, and she began to cry. And it wasn't long before her parents were crying with her. "She's out, Weezy! She's out! She's here!" George cried out as the sound of Baby Sarah's newborn cries filled the suite. "I've got her," George gasped as tears of pure joy streamed down both their faces.

"You both did such a wonderful job," Dr. James praised them with a couple of minutes later. "I am so proud of you guys."

"How does Sarah look, doctor? Is she okay?" asked Louise.

"Well as of right now, I can tell you that her color is excellent. And as you two can hear for yourselves, she's got some fine lungs." George and Louise laughed at that. "I'll clamp the umbilical cord now. Mr. Jefferson would you like to cut it?"

George nodded and replied, "Yeah, sure."

Dr. James then clamped Baby Sarah's umbilical cord and allowed George to cut it. Then after examining her and weighing her and getting her all dried off, Dr. James wrapped Baby Sarah up in a thick pink blanket and handed her back to her father. "Good news. Even though Baby Sarah was born a little early, her heart and lungs sound strong, and her heart rate and other vital signs are all good. She is five pounds, two ounces, and she's almost eighteen inches long."

"Can I hold her now?" Louise anxiously asked.

"Absolutely," Dr. James answered with a big smile. "Daddy, go take Baby Sarah to see Mommy."

"Here she is, Weezy," George said softly as he placed Sarah into Louise's arms.

"She's beautiful, George," Louise told him through her tears. "She's so beautiful."

"That's because she looks so much like you," George whispered, and then he kissed Louise's cheek as she continued gazing down into her newborn baby girl's priceless little face. As both parents stared down at their newborn baby daughter in those moments, they were in awe of her perfection, and they couldn't have been more grateful to God for her.

Over the next several minutes, as George and Louise kept gazing down into Baby Sarah's precious little face, the placenta came, and Dr. James had Nurse Mills dispose of it. And just a minute or so following the afterbirth, Louise's water broke a second time. Nurse Mills exchanged the wet pads and sheets underneath Louise for dry ones, and then Louise's contractions started up again. Shortly after her contractions resumed, Nurse Mills took Baby Sarah and placed her in a warm hospital bassinet nearby, and George sat on the hospital bed in front of Louise so that she could hold onto him when she needed to push.

"Good news, Mrs. Jefferson. I can already see Savannah's head," Dr. James announced.

"Oh, thank God. I did not want this one to take a long time," said Louise.

"We're almost there, sweetheart. We're right at the finish line. We're so close," George told Louise happily.

"I love you, George," Louise whispered.

"I love you too, Weezy. And I'm so proud of you. You're doin' such a great job."

"Oh, George," Louise gasped, and then she clung to George and started pushing.

"Easy, sweetheart. Easy. Don't push too hard," George whispered in her ear. "Try to take it slow, sweetheart. Just take it as slow as you can."

The contraction ended then, and Dr. James said, "You're doing great, Mrs. Jefferson. The head is coming. Just give me a very gentle push with the next contraction now, okay?"

Louise nodded, and then the next contraction started, and Louise clung to George and gave one very long but gentle push.

"Good job, Mrs. Jefferson. The head's out now," Dr. James informed them. "Look up at the mirror above and you'll see Savannah's head."

Louise and George looked up in that moment, and Louise cried out, "Oh, I see her, George! I see her! I see her sweet little head."

"Her little head is so beautiful," George gasped in awe at the sight of his second baby's head. "Oh Weezy, you are so special. You are so amazing. I love you so much," he said softly as more tears filled his eyes, and then he gave Louise a very big kiss. In the next moment, he turned his gaze to Dr. James and asked, "She didn't tear, did she?"

"No. She didn't tear at all, Mr. Jefferson," Dr. James assured him.

"Oh, thank God," George sighed.

"Mr. Jefferson, do you want to come sit over here like you did before and catch Savannah?"

George looked at Louise, and she nodded, and George replied, "Yeah. Yeah, Dr. James, I'm comin' now."

"Good," said Dr. James, and then she got up from her stool so George could sit there, and Nurse Mills came and sat down on the hospital bed, just like they did before. In the following moment, Dr. James gave George another big pink towel to catch the baby in, and then the next contraction started.

In the next several moments, Louise clung to Nurse Mills and pushed, and Baby Savannah came out into George's waiting arms.

"She's out, Weezy. I've got her," George announced, and then Baby Savannah let out a loud cry, and Dr. James and Nurse Mills cheered in the background as George and Louise just sobbed tears of joy.

Over the next few minutes, Dr. James clamped Baby Savannah's umbilical cord and allowed George to cut it, and then she gave Baby Savannah a thorough examination, and she soon announced to Louise and George that Savannah was just as healthy as her older sister. She also informed them that Baby Savannah weighed five pounds even and was very near eighteen inches long, just like Baby Sarah.

And then finally, the big moment came when Dr. James gave Baby Savannah, wrapped in another big pink blanket, back to her father, so that he could place her in the arms of her mother, who was waiting on pins and needles to hold her for the first time. Louise just cried as she gazed down into Baby Savannah's sweet little face over the next couple of minutes, and then she looked up at George and told him, "I want Sarah, too."

"Anything you say, Mommy," George said with a loving smile, and then he carefully picked Baby Sarah up out of her bassinet and placed her in Louise's free arm.

In the next few moments, the afterbirth came, and Dr. James and Nurse Mills disposed of it. And then, Dr. James told George and Louise, "We'll have you guys transferred to one of the suites in the maternity ward on the tenth floor in about half an hour or so. We can't allow your family to come and visit you down here since this place is top-secret."

George nodded and said, "We understand, Dr. James. Thanks," said George, and then she left.

George then got in bed beside Louise, and she gave him Baby Savannah to hold, since she was the closest to him, while Louise continued holding Baby Sarah.

"Thank you, Weezy," George whispered. "Thank you so much."

"For what?"

"For this. For all of it. For these priceless little baby girls. For letting me be here. For letting me watch them be born and catch them. For puttin' yourself through so much to bring them into the world. For bein' such an extraordinary human being. For everything."

"You're welcome," Louise whispered, and George lovingly kissed her forehead and leaned his head against hers. "When I first found out I was pregnant, I was so sure that this was the worst thing that could have happened to me. I was so terrified and devastated, knowing that I had to deal with cancer and a pregnancy all at the same time. I was so sure I was going to die. I was so sure I was going to have another miscarriage. But this just goes to show you, as long as you're trusting in Christ, nothing that seems really bad or really impossible stays that way forever."

"You're so right. I can't even begin to thank Jesus enough for all the miracles He's given me these past few months. He gave you back to me. He gave us your health back. He gave us the two most wonderful little girls in the world. I don't know why Jesus would give all these things to an old fool like me, but I'm so glad He did. I love you so much, Weezy. So much," George whispered as he looked into Louise's eyes, and she responded with a smile.

"I love you too, George," she whispered, and George leaned in once again and gave her a very long, warm kiss. And then they just reveled in the unbelievable pleasure of holding their babies. And in the unbelievable pleasure of their great, deep love for each other.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: George Loves Girls

"What is takin' so long?" George asked impatiently as he continued pacing up and down in the hospital waiting room. It was now the night of the thirtieth of September, a Saturday, and George, Louise, the Willises, and Mr. Bentley were all in the hospital waiting room of the East Side Medical Center, anxiously waiting for news about Jenny and the baby, while Florence was at home with Sarah and Savannah. All the men were standing while Louise and Helen were sitting down together, all of them waiting on pins and needles for news from the delivery room. It was three days before Jenny's due date, and she'd gone into labor at around eleven o'clock that morning. And at about five o'clock that evening, with the contractions getting much closer together, they went to the hospital. "It's been hours!" George complained.

"George, relax," Helen told him. "This is Jenny's first baby, and first babies often take a long time."

"Yes, George, I know it's hard, but try to be patient," said Tom.

Louise chuckled. "Patient? Him? He hasn't been patient a day in his life," she teased. And George could easily see it in his wife's eyes that she was kidding with him, and he laughed. But in all reality, George had grown a very great deal over the past several months, and he actually had become much more gentle and patient, and he was absolutely wonderful with Sarah and Savannah.

"Now Mr. J., you of all people should know better than to worry," Mr. Bentley kindly teased George. "After Mrs. J.'s cancer miraculously being healed and you two having Sarah and Savannah at your age, you of all people should know to have faith."

A bit surprised, George looked at Mr. Bentley and said, "I didn't think you believed in Jesus, Bentley."

"For a long time, I didn't. But seeing everything that's happened with you and Mrs. J. all through this year…seeing Mrs. J. recover from her cancer, seeing you two have two beautiful baby girls, just like what happened in Mrs. J.'s dream…it's pretty hard to remain an unbeliever after that."

"Alright, Bentley!" George happily cried out while giving him a friendly slap on the back.

"I'm so grateful to hear that, Mr. Bentley," Louise said very happily.

"I think if Florence were here, she'd say, 'Praise the Lord!'" said Helen, and they all joyfully laughed and smiled.

"Praise the Lord indeed," Louise agreed.

In the next moment, a nurse came walking out from the delivery room, and she said, "I'm looking for the family of Lionel and Jenny Jefferson."

"Right here!" George cried out with a big smile, and as the young, pretty black nurse approached them, Louise and Helen stood up.

She then looked at George and asked, "Are you Lionel's father?"

"I sure am."

She smiled and said, "Lionel told me all about his baby twin sisters you guys had a few months ago. I hope you like girls, Mr. Jefferson, because you've just had another one added to the family. Jenny just gave birth to a very healthy, beautiful baby girl a few minutes ago."

Tom, Helen, and Bentley cheered, and then George locked his eyes with Louise's eyes and pointedly said, "I love girls."

Louise knew that George wasn't really saying that to the nurse or to everyone else in the waiting room; he was saying that to her specifically, and it went a long way in healing her heart.

"She weighs seven pounds, ten ounces, and she's twenty inches long, and she's perfectly healthy," the nurse informed them.

"Is Jenny alright?" Helen asked.

"Oh, yes. She's fine," the nurse assured her. "Lionel wanted me to come out here and tell you guys because he knew how anxious you'd probably be for news, and he really doesn't want to leave Jenny and the baby right now."

"Well that's perfectly understandable," said Tom.

"Thank you for telling us, nurse," Louise said with a kind smile.

"You're more than welcome. Congratulations," said the nurse.

"Thank you," said Helen, and then the nurse left. And as she walked out of the waiting room, everyone started hugging and kissing each other and celebrating.

Miss Kathryn Grace Jefferson was properly introduced to all her grandparents later on that night, and it wasn't until a few minutes past one that morning that George and Louise finally got back home. After walking into the nursery very quietly to check on their sleeping babies, they went into their bedroom and got changed for bed.

Once they got into bed, George and Louise were lying on their sides, facing each other, and George said to Louise, "Katie's so beautiful, ain't she?"

Louise nodded and said, "Absolutely. She's so very precious. It feels so good to finally be grandparents, doesn't it?"

"It feels amazing. It just love bein' grandparents with you," George whispered as he lovingly stroked Louise's cheek.

"I think we should do something special to celebrate the occasion before you and I go to sleep for the night," said Louise with a very mischievous grin.

"Let's wait on that a little while, Weez. You just gave birth yourself, you know."

"George, it's been well over three months. And ever since we found out about that I was pregnant with the girls, we haven't made love once. It's been almost an entire year since we've made love."

"I know, sweetheart. I know. It's not that I don't want to make love to you, Weezy. But there's somethin' I need to take care of first."

"What's that?"

"I've been meanin' to talk to you about this for a while. I guess now's as good a time as any. Before we start havin' sex again, Weezy, I…I wanna get a vasectomy."

"A vasectomy?"

"That's right."

"George, I just turned forty-seven last month. I highly doubt there's any chance that you and I are going to be getting pregnant again. Not at my age."

"We never dreamed you'd get pregnant with twins at forty-six, either."

"That's true. But Sarah and Savannah are a miracle. They're that proverbial needle in the haystack. I really don't think there's any chance of us getting any more needles in any more haystacks, George."

"Maybe not, but I've been lookin' into it, and some women can still be ovulating all the way into their fifties before they finally go through menopause. The chance of it happenin' may be extremely small, but even so, I don't wanna risk you gettin' pregnant again, Weezy. I think another pregnancy would be way too dangerous for your health. Everything we've been through over this past year showed me just how much I've been takin' your health for granted, and I don't ever wanna make that mistake again. Your health is priceless, Weezy, and I'm just so sorry it took you goin' through all of this to make me appreciate it. And I don't wanna take any unnecessary chances with you."

"Oh George, that's so sweet and considerate of you, but I really don't think it's necessary for you to put yourself through a vasectomy. I really don't think there's any chance that we'll be getting pregnant again."

"Well like I said, the chances of it happenin' may be pretty small, but I don't wanna take any chances at all. Just let me do this, Weez. For my own peace of mind."

"Oh George, you're so sweet. Okay, love. If you feel that this is something you need to do to have peace of mind, then you have my support."

"Thank you, Weez," said George.

"And thank you for being so thoughtful," Louise told him, and then she gave George a long, loving kiss. "I love you so much, George."

"I love you too, Weezy," George whispered, and then after giving Louise another kiss, they turned off the lights and went to sleep.

After enduring endless teasing from Lionel over the next two days, George went into his doctor's office that Tuesday, accompanied by Louise, and got a vasectomy. However, their doctor warned that the vasectomy would not be completely effective until eight to sixteen weeks later. So George went to see his doctor again eight weeks later in late November, and thankfully, the doctor was able to confirm that the vasectomy was now completely effective. So the next day, after leaving Sarah and Savannah at home with Florence, George and Louise checked into one of the most luxurious hotels in Manhattan, and for the next week, they enjoyed a second honeymoon there. But even though they were so very happy to be able to make love to each other again, and even though they had such a wonderful time on their second honeymoon, they missed their babies so much, and they were over the moon to see them again when they returned home the following Wednesday, the sixth of December.

When Louise and George got home that morning, Helen, Jenny, and Baby Katie were all there to welcome them, along with Florence, Sarah, and Savannah, of course. (Lionel and Tom and Mr. Bentley wouldn't be there to welcome them back until later that evening, after they got home from work.) And it wasn't long before the twins, both of whom were standing up in their baby walkers, started crying, clearly needing a nap. Baby Katie was in her baby carrier on the couch, and she quickly began crying as well. So George picked up Baby Sarah, Louise picked up Baby Savannah, and Jenny picked up Baby Katie, and they took them all into the master bedroom and laid them down on George's and Louise's bed side by side. They fell asleep almost instantly, and Louise, George, and Jenny just stared down at their priceless baby girls, completely enamored with them.

"I could just watch them sleep all day," Louise whispered.

"So could I," Jenny agreed.

George then wrapped his arm around Louise and said in a low voice, "Ain't nothin' better than comin' home to the three most beautiful baby girls on earth. Right, Weezy?"

"Right, George," Louise whispered with a smile, and then she and George kissed.

Jenny looked at George with a smile and said, "You really like having all these girls around, don't you, Mr. Jefferson?"

"I love girls," George said softly with a big smile. And then he turned his gaze to Louise and told her, "Including this one." And in that moment, he gave Louise a long, passionate kiss while Jenny smiled at them.

George had been a terrible man before, especially when it came to the way he treated his wife and his disgusting views of women. But it was obvious now that he had more than learned his lesson. Instead of stupidly looking down on girls and women as he had done most of his life, he now had nothing but the deepest love and gratitude in his heart for his wife, his daughters, and his granddaughter. And as he gazed down at Sarah, Savannah, and Katie now, he knew that he would constantly thank God for them and for Louise every moment of his life. He knew that Jesus had been with them every step of the way through this difficult journey, always making sure they had everything they needed to survive it, and he knew just having Louise standing there beside him was the most incredible miracle, just as Sarah, Savannah, and Katie were. And they were all miracles he would never take for granted.