CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Connie gave birth shortly after midnight on March 15, 1951, and it appeared that she had survived, surprisingly, with no complications. She was sedated going in, owing to the potential for complications and pain, but Dr. Servis was confident that she would come out of it in the morning with no problems and that she would be happy with the outcome. George was with her through the birth and then spent the night in the hospital, something he’d done many times while meeting his obligations as a surgeon at St. Joe’s. He wanted to be with her when she woke up from the sedatives. Earlier that night, Peggy and Steve had been taken in by a neighbor moments before George and Connie had left for the hospital. They would be anxiously awaiting the news, wanting to know if they had a baby brother or a baby sister. Peggy hoped for a sister and Steve hoped for a brother.
Early in the morning, two hours or so after the sun rose, Dr. Servis met the couple at Connie’s bedside, with George at her side, holding her hand across the bed from him. The sedation had worn off, and Connie was alert, although a bit tired. The three of them discussed all the good news, including names. Then Dr. Servis left the two of them to be alone with each other to allow them the opportunity to let it all sink in.
George, still at her side, clasped Connie’s hand closest to him in both of his, beaming with pride and comforting her. “Again,” he said, “I want you to know that more than anything I was worried about you. More than anything I wanted you to come through all this. And you did! Thank God for that! And thank God for everything. It’s all a miracle!”
Connie looked into George’s eyes the whole time. She, too, thought it was a miracle and an outcome she had never fully expected. “Yes, it’s a miracle,” she whispered in agreement, understandably fatigued.
George said, “So, you’re okay with not naming him John and calling him Thomas instead?”
“Oh yes, darling,” Connie purred. “Thomas was always a name I liked, but now it just seems right. It’s so perfect.”
“It is perfect, since it means ‘twin,’” George said.
“Just think, George, we have twins—Tommy and Ginny.”
George said, “I love it… Tommy and Ginny... the twins… Tommy and Ginny,” he repeated the names, looking deeply into Connie’s eyes as the names rolled off his lips. He loved her so much, and she loved him back. Those big empty spaces they had in their hearts from the loss of a spouse were no longer so big.
Connie nodded and, smiling, said one more time, “How perfect! Can I see them now?”
“They’re on their way,” George answered, “One of the nurses will be walking in with them any minute now.”
Connie smiled in anticipation, feeling happier than she had ever dreamed possible.
In 1951, there wasn’t any technology that could determine what the gender of a baby was during the mother’s pregnancy. So the birth of twins was often a total surprise. This happens when two hearts beat as one. Yes, how perfect! That’s my story, or maybe I should say, that’s my mother’s story.
EPILOGUE
Connie was married to George Dunker, M.D. until his death in 1977. He died of cancer of the throat. They lived together and raised four children in the same house on Berkeley Boulevard in Fox Point, a suburb on the north side of Milwaukee, for the twenty-seven years of their marriage. One year after his death, Connie eloped to London with Warren Callear, after which they returned to a life in Milwaukee. As husband and wife, Warren and Connie lived happily together. Seven years after their marriage, Warren was killed in a car accident. Connie died in Milwaukee in 1997 of cancer. Her twins were at her side when she died. She was buried in Chilton, Wisconsin, as she had requested, next to her mother Ruby Steenport.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thomas John Dunker is also the author of Pushing Sugar and Confessions of a Dating Fool. He has an MBA from Indiana University and has worked as a marketing consultant most of his life. He currently lives in Saint Antonin-Noble-Val, France. He is also an artist and paints under the name Tomaso DiTomaso. You can see his work at his website:
https://www.TomasoPaintings.com
ALSO BY THOMAS J. DUNKER…
Confessions of a Dating Fool
Dating is one of the great adventures in a person’s life. It can be full of mystery, fun, disappointment, humor, joy, suspense, romance, heartbreak, and ecstasy—sometimes all in one date! Readers will enjoy these sometimes exhilarating, sometimes touching, sometimes funny, and sometimes embarrassing stories of the author’s real life experiences. Many of them have a surprise ending because on a date, as in life, you never know what will happen!
“Hysterical, devastating, light-hearted, introspective... Thomas Dunker's book is a candid look at the roller coaster adventures of dating. It is a good read for both women AND men, who will undoubtedly identify with and learn from his encounters with the opposite sex. The reader will turn the last page feeling thoroughly entertained.” –A. Roorbach
Pushing Sugar: Straight Talk About Sugar and How the Corporate Food Giants Are Tricking You
You’ve been tricked by America’s big food corporations your whole life. That’s right! Kellogg, General Mills, Pepsico, Kraft, ConAgra, and the other food giants have been fooling you for years in selling you their sugar bombs and manufactured food. By understanding the truth about the foods you are eating and by following the guidelines in this uplifting book, you will free yourself from the tyranny and deceit of Big Food, who have misdirected you and turned you away from eating right, and you will come to discover how wonderful food is, how wonderful it can taste, and how good it is for you!
The author, Thomas J. Dunker, is someone who knows about the trickery of Big Food because, as a marketing research consultant, he helped them for twenty-five years to create products, advertising, and packaging that attempt to fool you. He knows better now and wants you to know that you, too, can become healthier and happier by eating real food, not the manufactured food you get from Big Food. This book will set you on the path to losing weight and eating right—and becoming happier, sexier, healthier, and more vital!
A Love Story with a Little Heartbreak Page 46