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"Do you know what you need?" said Terry, lightly punching Jake on the arm. "A good dose of confidence. If it came in pill form, I'd buy you a lifetime supply. On the other hand," he added with a grin, "you don't need it. You have Abby, and she has enough self-confidence for the both of you!"

"I believe she does," smiled Jake, as Abby folded her arms in mock reproach.

When Terry went to help John organize the rest of the nursery, Abby resumed her seat at the table. For the first time since she had known Jake, Abby heard him humming a tune as he worked.

After lunch, Jake took his digital camera and walked about the completed nursery, capturing pictures to show his mother-in-law. Then he plugged the camera into his laptop computer and placed it in front of Izumi on the bed. John and the others eagerly awaited her reaction.

"Jake!" she gasped in surprise, looking at a photo of the bird mural. "Doves! Oh! I love it!"

Izumi tearfully looked through picture after picture of the girls' nursery, while John hugged his wife. In her condition, John knew that it was useless to stop her from crying, so he didn't even try to.

When Abby sat down at her computer to work later that day, she had to smile to herself. Izumi's overreaction to seeing the nursery was what Abby had expected it to be. Lately, her mother would cry at the drop of a hat. Abby was sure that she would never be so unreasonable!

A few minutes after Abby had started her work, she felt something strange in her belly. Thinking that she had merely imagined it, Abby continued to type at her keyboard. Then she felt it again. Alarmed, Abby jumped up and ran to the door. Not giving a moment's heed to the cold or slippery ice, she hurried as fast as her legs would carry her, and burst into her parents' living room, breathless and frightened.

"Mom!" shouted Abby, running down the hallway to the master bedroom as Jake and the others came to see what all the commotion was about.

"What's wrong, Abby?" cried Jake.

"Mom," said Abby, quickly going to her mother's side, "I just felt something really weird! It was like someone kicked me from the inside!"

Izumi relaxed and smiled at her inexperienced daughter.

"That was the baby, Sweetheart," she soothed Abby.

"Are you sure?" asked the young woman. "Is it really supposed to feel like that? Until now, it's only felt like I swallowed a butterfly, or something. This was different! Are you sure it was the baby? Maybe, I should see a doctor."

"Is the little guy kicking right now?" asked Jake, stepping forward and feeling the top of her belly.

"No, he isn't," sighed Abby, relieved that the others didn't seem to find any cause for alarm. "Wait! He did it again!"

"Where?" asked Jake, eagerly gliding his hand across her belly.

"It's gone now," she sighed, seeing Jake's disappointed face.

"Tell me the next time you feel it," he requested. Suddenly, Jake noticed that Abby wasn't wearing anything warm on her arms. "Don't tell me you came over without a coat," he disappointedly shook his head.

"I thought it was an emergency," Abby sheepishly explained.

"Thank God it wasn't," sighed John, as he and Terry returned to their office down the hall.

Jake pulled off his sweater and made his wife put it on.

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