Within a day or two Margaret discovers that she is pregnant. She and Jimi are both thrilled, luckily, and they arrange to have a new room built onto the house which they can use as their bedroom so that the baby can have a nursery. Margaret hopes that the baby will be a boy, but Jimi doesn't mind whether it's a boy or a girl as long as it's healthy! Margaret is still working hard on her paintings, even though she has only made $23 from selling them so far! She knows that she is talented, she just needs some more practise and she's sure that she'll make it as an artist! Jimi is quite worried about the expense of starting a family, so he starts working even harder in the hope he'll earn a promotion before the baby's born - or at least a raise.... |
There is a new family member on the way, but it is also time for one to leave. The house is awfully crowded with all the dogs, so when Kate McCormick tells Jimi that she'd be interested in giving a home to one of them, he suggests that she takes Duke home then and there. Duke is excited about going; even though he'll miss his family he's sure that he'll get to have lots of new adventures in the big wide world! And, after all, he can always come back to visit, right? Zukutra's not a big place, so they won't be far away. Later that day when Jimi leaves work Sri calls him over. He praises Jimi for his hard work, saying that he thinks he'll go far, and asks him to manage up-and-coming band The Glass Giraffes. Jimi of course agrees to do so - he's really been hoping for a promotion! |
When Margaret goes into labour, it's in the early hours of the morning. She and Jimi rush to the hospital where, after a fairly short and easy labour, she gives birth to their son Carlos Hendrix-Whitmore, who is completely adorable. Well, he is in his parents' opinions anyway! She's thrilled to have a son, and Jimi is thrilled to have a healthy baby, but they're both pretty exhausted after their time at the hospital (especially Margaret!) so they head home to put Carlos and themselves to bed. Jimi even breaks his "no taxis ever" rule, just this once, because he really doesn't think that Margaret should be riding a bike so soon after giving birth! Besides, how would they carry Carlos on a bike - neither of them have a baby seat or a sling or anything! |
When they arrive back from the hospital all of the dogs want to have a look at the new arrival. They all seem to approve of him, but Bella is especially taken with him. She follows Margaret into the nursery when she goes in there to put Carlos in his crib, and when Margaret goes to leave the room Bella quite decisively curls up on the floor; she's sleeping there tonight! Seeing a little creature like Carlos has made her long for little creatures of her own - she'd prefer puppies to baby humans though, that's for sure! When Margaret sees how Bella's acting round Carlos, she suggests to Jimi that they may want to find a mate for Bella. He agrees, but they decide to wait until Carlos is a little bit older, maybe when he's a toddler. |
The remainder of that day is quite a lazy one - both Margaret and Jimi have a lie in, albeit taking it in turns to get up to look after Carlos and feed the dogs, and Jimi calls Sri to take the day off work. Sri congratulates him on the birth and his son, and tells him to take all the time he needs. Later that evening Margaret decides to go to the lake on the other side of Zukutra and do some painting. She loves the landscape there, and paints a picture that she's rather happy with. She calls it "Lake At Dusk". Whilst she's there she does think that she sees some strange things, mind. Once or twice she thinks that she can see a person in the distance, but they seem to have green skin and be very tall. She even thinks she sees a horse with a horn walking by the lake! Ha! She decides that she must be lacking sleep, and goes home once her painting is finished. The lake is beautiful, but rather unsettling.... |
Jimi wakes up early the next morning, whilst Margaret is still asleep. He feels restless, so he goes for a walk. When he gets out he finds Margaret in the garden with the dogs. When she sees him she walks over to him smiling and kisses him on the lips. "I love you", she murmers in his ear. Jimi can't stop looking at her, and he realises that he loves her so much, he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. He gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. She's pretty surprised, as you can see, but also very happy, and she says yes immediately. They decide to get married later that day, in the local chapel, which luckily had a cancellation and has space for their wedding party! Jimi calls all their friends to invite them, whilst Margaret goes out to buy her wedding dress and spend a few hours relaxing before the big occasion! They both can't wait to become Mr and Mrs Hendrix! |