"Machli..." I wondered slowly as Mugha continued her work with Molly's measurements and taking notes for the design of the maternity clothes Molly would need, "What does it mean?"
"The name itself is Hindi for fish," Mugha began to explain.
"Isn't that your religion?" I wondered.
"That is Hindu," Mugha explained politely, "India has a great many cultures and languages within it. Bengali, Sikhs and Punjabi and other groups. The vast majority are of the Hindu religion, and those that aren't are either Christian converts dating back to Britain's Empire or Muslims who could not get to Pakistan or Bangladesh... though when those countries were created and India won its independence, the two Muslim states were East and West Pakistan..."
Molly and I slowly nodded. It was a reminder of where Rathik and Mugha's family had come from. They had come to Columbia Falls from New York City to open up a local branch of their family's silk business. And according to what Rathik had told us, his parents and Mugha's parents had come to the United States some time after World War Two. The exact reasons why, Molly and I didn't know, and we didn't wish to intrude on them over these things.
"Thankfully the English were proficient at teaching their language to all Indians," Mugha continued, "it is the only language that all Indians, from Kashmir to Rajasthan, to Assam, to Karnataka can speak."
Molly and I again slowly nodded.
"So you said Machli means fish?" Molly inquired after a moment.
"Yes," Mugha answered, "the Rathambhore tigress was named for the markings on her face... where you have "v" marking above each eye, Mrs. Wayne, and your husband has downward pointing equilateral triangles... Machli's stripes reminded the scientists and conservationists of a fish...or they looked like a fish to them, and named her because of those markings."
"I see," Molly said slowly, "George and I will have to think on this for awhile..."
"And besides, we do not even know the gender of the cubs yet," I added.
"It was only a suggestion," Mugha replied, "I'm sure whatever names the two of you settle on will be worthy and good names. And hopefully your family grows strong and healthy and you both have many love filled years ahead of you with them... I do not know what Rathik and I would do without Aadi, Shanti, and Kalamala. Children and families are always precious. Rathik and I love them dearly... and they will continue on when we are gone..."
"Hopefully that will be a long way off," I commented, "You and your husband, and your family have been of great help to Molly and I. And very supportive."
"We are glad to know people such as you and your family," Molly added.
"Thank you," Mugha answered.
Much of the rest of the visit was filled with discussions over specific details in the designs that Molly might want in her maternity clothes. Molly told her that she would be fine with whatever design Mugha and Rathik would come up with, but Mugha insisted on having Molly offer her ideas, with the line "they are your clothes and you will be wearing them. If you do not like the design... that would make them uncomfortable." So Molly gave Mugha her input on the designs, but still insisted that Mugha and Rathik's work would be wonderful, no matter the design.
"And besides," Molly finished as we prepared to leave, one paw rubbing her womb, "It's becoming rather obvious that I have a proverbial bun in the oven."
"Buns, if you said you're having twins," Mugha commented.
Molly and I nodded and gave a chuckle at that.
"Rathik and I will do our best to get your maternity clothes ready as quickly as possible," Mugha said assuringly, "Hopefully your cubs do not grow so rapidly that your measurements would need to be taken again..."
That again produced another chuckle as a door from further back in the shop opened and Molly's ears and mine perked at the sound of several footsteps coming our way. Shortly after Rathik and Mugha's children came out into the front room area that Molly and I were preparing to leave through to return to our cabin. They all had their greetings to say was well.
"Hello!" "Hi!" "Hey!" Aadi, Shanti, and Kalamala chorused as they came forward.
"See, mommy... Mrs. Wayne is going to have babies!" Shanti said, pointing, "Doesn't she look happy?"
"I'm sure they are very happy at having children of their own," Mugha told her daughter with a smile, "and they came here because of her pregnancy."
"For special clothes that will fit me better as my middle becomes more and more round," Molly added.
Molly and I did smile at seeing the happy family unit that Mugha and Rathik had. Seeing scenes like that, be it Dave and Tabby with their daughter Veronica or Officer Jenkins and Officer Barnes with Megan had fueled our desire to have family of our own. And now we were on the way to that. In two months and one week, Molly would be due to give birth to our cubs. And Molly and I would then have our family to raise, and we were looking forward to that.
"Do you think they'll be cute?" Kalamala asked Molly innocently, "will they look like you or Mr. Wayne?"
"We're certain that they'll be adorable," Molly commented, "but it's still too early to be sure whether they'll take after their father or after me... and in terms of stripes... our cubs will look like themselves. Every tiger's stripes is unique, like human fingerprints."
"Oh..." Kalamala said slowly.
"I'm afraid we need to get going," I said slowly, "we have some chores at home to finish and so forth..."
Mugha nodded, "Don't worry. I'm not going to hold you here. Rathik or I will be by your cabin in a week or so to deliver the first of your maternity clothes. Once we've completed your order, we'll send you the bill."
"Of course," Molly nodded.
"And again, congratulations," Mugha said with a smile.
"Thank you," Molly answered, "and we'll give your suggestion some thought..."
And we then went out the door and began to walk back toward our cabin. Things were fairly quiet as we walked along Columbia Falls' streets. We could hear birds singing as we did so, which was a sign of the changing seasons. We were moving toward spring and the coldness of winter was once again beginning to weaken. That in and of itself was another reminder of the coming summer and the birth of our cubs, which was the thing at the front of our minds.
"So... George, what do you think of the suggestion?" Molly asked curiously as we walked along.
"That if we have a daughter that we name her after a mundane tiger?" I asked after a moment.
"Yeah... I know that seems kinda odd... but as a name, it doesn't sound too bad," Molly commented, "and it has a different sort of ring to it..."
"It would certainly have a more exotic sound to it then all of the English names out there," I commented.
"Shouldn't that be part of the attraction though?" Molly wondered, "I mean, there are probably dozens of "Georges" in this part of the country, dozens of "Mollys". How many "Machlis" are there?"
"As far as I know, none," I shrugged, "the idea of having a unique name isn't that much of a problem... it's more that we'd be naming one of our children after a mundane animal. If there was a person that had been named Machli, that would be different... but... I find it hard to compare our struggles with a mundane animal's struggles..."
"We hunt during the hunting season the exact same way a mundane tiger would," Molly pointed out.
I couldn't argue that. I was sure a fair number of Animal People had engaged in some of that behavior from time to time. The Cheetah family in Nebraska, the MacTaggerts, had engaged in some of that sort of thing... though their actions were more to protect their sheep rather then hunting. And Michael York's daughter, Laura, had told us of a woman in Billings who'd become a Red Fox with the idea that doing so would turn her into something humans found attractive, and then ended up having a Red Fox's instincts get the better of her, and resulting in her killing and eating a mouse in her home. I figured they weren't the only ones to have either deliberately used their animal instincts or over estimated their control and end ended up obeying those instincts. And in that... some of our struggles were like a mundane tiger's.
"What do you think of the name?" I asked.
"I actually think it sounds pretty good," Molly answered with a shrug, "something new and exciting. Something different... and even though the tigress was a mundane tigress, the name isn't some sort of name that would be applicable to mundane animals only... It sounds like a name someone would have. Though I'm not completely sure yet... we'll need to go through a book or website for baby names..."
"And a lot of that will have to wait until we know the gender of our cubs," I commented.
To that Molly nodded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next week went by quietly. Officer Jenkins still had her troubles with dealing with people who were Grabar and Larceny's victims in Columbia Falls coming in with questions about whether or not their goods had been recovered. And as far as anyone at the station knew, they hadn't been recovered yet. Other then that things had been quiet. The biggest thing of "excitement" that came over the week had been various students at the school beginning to deliver cards, drawings, and lists of names to Molly. Now that it was becoming more and more obvious that she was pregnant, the kids that had fallen in love with Molly as an aide were now excited at seeing her happy.
The event that Molly and I were waiting for, however, was her fourth obstetrician appointment. It would be her first appointment in what was considered the second trimester in human pregnancies. Given that Molly was likely to give birth at the end of six months, the terminology for human pregnancies wouldn't fit. A trimester for Molly would be every two months, but the rate of growth of Molly's and my cubs was at about the same rate as human pregnancies. This meant that our cubs would be "premature" in the sense of development, and made Molly's pregnancy "high risk" and the human measurement of development was appropriate. And in that, Molly and I could accept that classification. Doctor Wainwright had been doing a wonderful job so far in caring for Molly.
The thing that we were presently waiting for was knowledge of the genders of our cubs. Some people preferred not to know and wanted that to be a sort of surprise, but Molly and I were fairly eager to know our children's genders. Some of that came from the list of names that the students were giving Molly and a lot of the rest came from our own excitement at becoming parents. And whatever the reason, knowing the gender of our cubs wasn't something bad. And Molly and I had agreed that it would help us prepare for their arrival. And that was on our minds as we again arrived at Kalispell for Molly's obstetrician appointment with Doctor Wainwright.
Again, the first thing that was done was to take Molly's weight to check the weight of the cubs within her. Unlike the previous weighings where Molly's weight gain had been extremely minimal, there was a bit more noticeable change in her weight as it was taken.
"I'm beginning to get fat, aren't I?" Molly asked me as she then looked down at the display panel that was showing her weight on the scales that she was on.
"Not fat, pregnant," I told her, "those are our cubs in your womb... any fat deposits you put on will probably burned off when they have us running around and into each other to make sure they don't get into trouble."
"Promise?" Molly asked.
"Promise," I gave a chuckling sigh.
Molly then stepped off the scale and we shared a brief hug and nuzzle before following the nurse to the room we would see Doctor Wainwright in. When he entered, he did so in the same friendly and even humorous manner that we had begun to expect.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" he said in a friendly voice, "things all growing healthy are we?"
He then leaned over to talk to Molly's womb.
"Now, are you healthy? Feeling well? Parents not keeping you up at night? One roar for yes, two for no."
Molly only chuckled at that.
"I don't think they can answer you," Molly chuckled.
Doctor Wainwright gave a nod in response.
"And so, how are you feeling, Mrs. Wayne..."
"Please, Molly... Mrs. Wayne is my mother-in-law," Molly told him.
"Molly... how are you feeling? Any pain?" Doctor Wainwright asked.
"No," Molly shook her head, "everything seems fine... morning sickness is easing off... and I'm feeling more energized now."
"Good, that much is normal," Doctor Wainwright nodded and proceeded with the appropriate examinations to make sure Molly was in good health.
He also continued with many of the same questions he would ask a human woman in this stage of pregnancy. Much of it was to make sure that our cubs would be born healthy. The last thing done at the appointment was run the ultrasound and listening to our cubs' heart beats. This was what Molly and I were waiting for. We'd finally get to know the genders of our cubs. Was it twin boys or twin girls, or one boy and one girl?
"Sheesh, that stuff is still cold... even with my fur..." Molly gave a shudder as Doctor Wainwright applied the gel to her exposed womb.
"Sorry," Doctor Wainwright replied and then continued with the ultrasound.
He slowly carried the scanning device over Molly's womb. He easily found the unborn twin cubs that were there. Their tails and muzzles were now fully formed on their heads, and Doctor Wainwright even managed to spot where their ears were. He also spotted something else.
"Well... Molly, it would appear that your predictions and guesses on the length of your pregnancy will be fairly accurate," Doctor Wainwright said slowly, "both cubs appear to be changing positions already... moving into a head first position. In human pregnancies, this doesn't occur until the seventh month. But your cubs are already shifting their position at the end of the fourth month. That will likely mean that you will give birth in your sixth month."
We understood that. Given that Leon and Jacki had told us that Jacki's doctors had thought her pregnancy would only last six months, we figured that Molly's would be much the same. As tigers and lions were closely related. This particular ultrasound image seemed to confirm that.
"I trust the two of you have your Lamaze and other classes scheduled?" Doctor Wainwright asked, "If not, I can give you some tips on who to go to. You'll have to come here to Kalispell, but most of the groups that run these courses will be workable."
"Is there one connected to the hospital?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Doctor Wainwright nodded, "they don't operate here, but they are affiliated with this hospital. Would you like me to schedule things out with them?"
Molly and I nodded.
"Evening classes would be preferable," I added.
Doctor Wainwright nodded and resumed moving the ultrasound scanner.
"I'll have my office give you a call for when your classes start then," Doctor Wainwright spoke, "and in the meantime... I'm guessing your interested in seeing if you have a baby boys, baby girls, or one of each."
"It's about all we've thought over and wondered about," Molly gave a slight chuckle.
Doctor Wainwright moved the scanner up Molly's womb toward where the hips, legs, feet, and tails of our cubs were. Molly and I looked at the screen but I left the determination of their gender to Doctor Wainwright.
"Then wonder no further," Doctor Wainwright said with a smile, "You have a son and a daughter."
"A boy and a girl..." I said slowly.
"A boy and a girl," Doctor Wainwright answered.