Mick sat by Marie’s hospital bed.
“Your secret admirer’s been back,” he said, handing her a carefully wrapped box.
Marie smiled, a little embarrassed, and took the box.
“I wonder who he is,” Mick mused, leaning back.
“I haven’t the foggiest,” Marie answered, peeling off the wrapping paper. “But whoever it is, they’ve been giving me stuff for years.”
“On any occasion they can find an excuse for.”
“Oh look, baby clothes!” Marie exclaimed. “Oh how cute.”
Mick grinned at her.
Suddenly Marie gasped.
“How did… how did they know?”
“Know what?”
Stunned, she showed him the teddy bear with “Elaine” embroidered on it.
“Well, we did tell a few people we were going to name her Elaine.”
“But not that many, surely. And we didn’t even totally decide on Elaine Jessica until last Thursday.”
Mick reached over, took her hand and squeezed it.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it doesn't mean anything more. I'm sure whoever it is just wants to be nice."
"Hmm."
Mick was secretly worried. And a little relieved at the same time. He hadn't been very concerned about Marie's admirer at first - after all, it had been going on long before they had met and no one else seemed worried. Still, the teddy bear resurrected old concerns that the fine line between admirer and stalker may yet be breached.
**********
Later that day, Mick was calling around telling everyone the good news. At last he tried Sarah's number. Jim answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is that you Jim? This is Mick."
"Oh hey."
"Hey. Just wanted to let Sarah know that Marie had the baby. A girl, Elaine Jessica."
"That's, that's great. I'll tell her."
"Is something wrong?"
"Sarah's just been admitted to hospital."
"Oh no! Is it serious?"
"I'd say so. Kidney failure."