When Mason arrived to her office early that afternoon, there was a telephone message from her mother in her voice mail box. "Hello? What a nice message, Mason. It's your Mom. Could you call me when you get to work? I forgot you start later than I do. I'm sure you have the number, but in case you misplaced it," and her mother read off the phone number for her own office. Mason smiled a little, happy to hear from her mother. She felt the baby kick hard, twice. With a certain amount of embarassment, and dread, she recalled that she still had not told her parents she was pregnant. And the baby was due in less than a month. She drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. She thought about the dream she'd had, the one right before she'd found out about the pregnancy - in which she'd been so afraid, going to her father's funeral, about her seeing... then found her mother welcomed the news. But that was a dream, and Mason's father had not died, in fact seemed to be recovered well from the heart attack that he'd had the past February.

Mason dialed her mother's number, waited the requisite four rings, and was passed along to her voice mail. "I'm either on the phone or away from my desk, please leave your message and I'll be right back to you before you know it," she heard her mother's recorded voice say cheerfully. "Beep!"

Mason smiled. "Hi, Mom. I got your message, except you didn't say what it was, except to call you. I hope everyone's okay up there? Let me know what's up so I don't worry." She thought about adding that she had big news too, but she was a bit too timid to commit herself like that, so she hung up the phone.

Just over an hour later, she returned to her desk from a walk around the shelter talking to the new residents. The message light shone red on her telephone. Sure enough, another message from Mom. "I'm so sorry I missed your call, Mason. No, nothing is wrong, I was just hoping to invite you home for Thanksgiving. We're planning a bigger reunion than usual because of your father's health. He isn't up to traveling, but he wants to see everyone. I talked to your aunt and cousins there in Dallas last night, they'll be coming. They tell me they haven't seen much of you this year - Deirdre thinks you have a young man there. I hope she's right." Mason heard her mother's soft laughter with a wry smile of her own. "If you can manage it, try to arrive early on Wednesday. We'll have a cold supper Wednesday night and the big dinner on Thursday. Leftovers for as long as you can stay, I promise." Mason pushed the key to save the voice mail in her mailbox, and sat back in her chair, thoughts racing. Should she go? It would be not long after the baby's birth, she knew that much. Should she take the baby? It would be their first grandchild... but such a shock to only know now... she wasn't sure.

Mason got little work done that day, spending most of the day stewing over her dilemma. What was she going to tell her parents? Even after an hour, she was getting nowhere. She decided to take a short walk to clear her mind, then distracted herself with reading and straightening up her office for a while. Still her mind was in turmoil. This stress is no good for the baby, she told herself firmly. If you can't decide now, decide tomorrow. But don't stew. She tried to take her own advice then. It was easier said than done. But for a short time, she did manage to postpone the decision.