The Loss by Valeria Yatskevich

“I am pregnant”,  a woman said
without any emotion. Her voice was quiet.
“Oh, my darling!”a  man cried out. The  woman was sitting on the clinical bed in the one of the maternity department`s chamber. The man  was sitting near her, trying to have a direct eye contact with her, but the woman did not look at him at all. Her deep black eyes — two big wells on her faded face — were looking only at the wall in front of her bed like there was something beautiful painted on it. Sometimes she frowned and  squeezed her hand on her stomach as she felt pain, but her white lips opened only when she wanted to say  the only one phrase.
“I am pregnant”, she said not stubbornly, but  confidently. She was swinging from side to side.
For a minute there was silence. The man was sitting lowering his head. He was exhausted so  he even couldn`t think. He just wanted to listen to  the silence.
“I am pregnant”, the woman said again.
“Oh, Anna, I…” the man begun to say with moaning, but then he looked at her and shut up. He didn`t know what to say or what to do. He looked at her attentively and bit his under lip. Then he took a deep breath and continued speaking failly trying to keep calm voice : “Anna, darling, I even can`t imagine how hard it is for you. Please, listen to me. We were waiting for baby for so long, but the destiny was unpredictable. It was not your fault. It was just accident, just too slippery stairs. But we can live with it even if our loss is unspeakably  painful. It will be hard, but I believe that we can go through it together.  You are here for a week, but I haven`t heard another phrase from you, just… Please, believe me and let me help you.  Everything will be alright. Darling, do you hear me ?” the  man asked with hope and took her hand.
The woman looked at him questioningly and raised her eyebrows. It looked like she didn`t recognized him firstly. She was blinking too much. However, after a few minutes of the direct eye contact with him she said: “Of course, everything will be alright. I am happy that you with me ”.
The man couldn`t  restrain his emotions. Even though he was smiling, big tears ran down his face. He cleared his throat and told her: “I feel my heart leaps. I am so happy that you didn`t lose yourself in your own mind. I promise, I`ll always  be with you to make you happy and healthy. Oh, darling, everything will be good now”.
“I believe that everything will be good too. Moreover, I am in a state of euphoria that I am pregnant”, the woman said and grinned from ear to ear.
The man suddenly released her hand. There were no smile on his face any more. He stood up with lowering hands. He looked at her screwing up his eyes. Swaying, the man left the hospital chamber with loud neighing.  And the  woman again was staring at the wall in front of her bed hugging her stomach and whispered: “I am pregnant”.