Chapter 10
Diary June 27, 1967
My little Francine,
There you are, you are finally awake. Can you see me waving to you through the glass?
Look at your big brown eyes and curly dark hair. So much like your mother. That is why I named you Francine, angel. You remind me of her.
Alright, alright, so your mother’s name is Frances, I just didn’t want to mix the two of you up.
How I would love to come in to hold you and hug you and kiss you, but I have been forbidden to do so. You see, my little girl, you have been born prematurely, three months to be exact. Right now you lie in an incubator to keep you alive. You have been asleep, Frannie, sometimes we even thought that you had died.
When I say we, love, I mean Dr. Houseman, your grandfather, the entire maternity staff of Great Neck Medical Center, and of course, yours truly. We have been watching your progress for several hours now, waiting for some sign that you were alive. Well, Frannie, here you are looking into my eyes. My Lord, it is good to see you alive.
Your mother is holding her own too, Frannie. She is still not awake, but she is breathing finally without a respirator. We watch and wait for her recovery also, but it has been four days since the accident and nothing has changed.
It’s a miracle how I found your mother. I was driving back from Penny and Phil’s when I heard something on the police band about an accident and a pretty bad one at that. Both drivers were killed instantly and with them was one pregnant woman who was still alive but unconscious.
When I finally came around to the scene of the accident, things were a lot worse than I had imagined.
I recognized Baby (oops Frances) right away. She hadn’t changed much in a year’s time. Her husband had smashed his head through the windshield. Baby had been thrown the car, not very far at all.
I carried her over to the ambulance and rushed to the hospital, where the doctors induced the pregnancy. They gave her a Cesarean and pulled you out. I went in, Frannie. I had to watch you being born.
It’s a long story how about how your mother and I hooked up again and
I will explain in the next chapter. Right now I just want to look at your lovely face, those big brown eyes glaring straight at me.