Seriously you need to read The Place Where Two Rivers Meet first
Salah opened the door, and thanked God almighty that he was finally home. He hung his jacket on the hook and slipped his shoes off. Mary-Ann was at the stove, cooking.
“So, how was it?”
“It was. That’s about as much as I can say about it.” He walked over to her. Hug and a kiss. “Need any help?”
“I’m good. Though I hope you’re in the mood for breakfast for dinner, because we’re having breakfast for dinner.”
“Breakfast for dinner sounds fine. Are you sure you don’t need any help?”
“Salah, chivalry is supposed to be dead. You’re supposed to be getting all offended that I, a woman, am doing such subservient domestic activities as cooking.”
Salah smiled, and got the butter out of the refrigerator and syrup out of the cabinet.
“So then, tell me how the newbies were.” Mary-Ann flipped the pancakes on the griddle one by one. “You get a fundie in your group?”
“Just one this time.”
“And?
“Very conservative Christian, not entirely sure why he joined, but that’s a digression for another day. It was actually pretty funny, because I’d say something and when I looked over he had this constipated look, and I just knew he was this close to saying something offensive.”
“How big did his eyes get when you showed him the dinosaur gospel?”
“I thought he was going to have a heart attack.” Salah took two cups from the cupboard and filled them. Water in one, milk in the other.
Mary-Ann laughed.
"You told him the story of Blue-Feathers and the Tournament of Bright Autumn, right?"
"Of course." Glasses on the table. "'Blue-Feathers, his crest at peak and teeth bared, roared challenge to the Black-And-Green Scale, so that they might meet on the field in single combat and settle the matter of the honor of She-Who-Tears-At-Furred-Ones. The battle would be by bone-spear, riding upon their beaked beasts, until one lay slain and the matter of honor had been sealed, and the line could then continue by her eggs.'"
"Ah, so romantic."
"Except for the part where they all die horrific gory deaths, the kingdom is toppled into war and chaos, and the resulting dark age continues for almost three centuries before the emergence of Softwalker."
"We have the best job ever."
Salah nodded.
“That all said, the rest of the group was fine, nothing too unusual. Had an atheist in there, just for the tour. Scribes brought him in for consulting on the Fifth Church.”
“He didn’t get in a fight with the fundie or anything, did he?”
“No, he was actually quite pleasant. And Benson, the fundie, he’ll be fine. Just needs a few months.” Salah sat down.
“Well, I had a pretty exciting day myself.” Mary-Ann set the plate of pancakes and bowl of scrambled eggs on the table and sat down. Salah looked across the table, eyes locked with his wife’s.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re going to tell me something important?”
“Because you’re a perceptive and intelligent person. And also because I’m pregnant.”
Salah blinked a few times, the words registering in his brain. Stunned flatness turned into a smile, into a grin, into a laugh, into a uproarious, gasping guffaw.
"I…I don't even…I don't even know what to say," he wiped a tear from his eye. "I'm sorry, I…this is wonderful…I'm glad you got me to sit down first…thank God…"
"You're totally going to brag when we go into work tomorrow."
"Of course. Oh, so many things to do now. Living arrangements, making the announcement. And names, have to think of names…" Salah's expression became somber.
"Something wrong?"
"Just thinking ahead. Schooling, how we'll raise them. What holidays to celebrate in the house. All of that. You'll want her baptized, I presume, and I'm fine with that, but…"
Mary-Ann placed her hand over his.
"Salah, I wouldn't be where I am now if I wasn't able to compromise. Yeah, it's tricky. It's all tricky business. But, just look at what the Initiative's been able to do with the New Path and the Universal texts and all that. We could always go that way, raise them on the New Path. Or we could go for the trifecta and bring them up Jewish." She paused for a bit. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the most important thing is that you're a good person. The ritual's just the dressing on top, at the end of the day. God cares more about what's inside. Whatever we choose, I know we'll be doing what's best for our baby."
Salah nodded, saying nothing.
"And we don't have to decide just now. Let's eat first."
