On the morning of Sept. 11, Louis and Patricia Massari had a special reason to get up early. Louis ironed Patricia"s clothes so she wouldn"t be late for work, while Patricia did a home pregnancy test in the bathroom. The result was positive.

"She cried, I cried, we talked," said Louis. "I was overwhelmed with excitement, and at the same time ... was like, "What do we do? What do we do?""

The 25-year-olds had been married two years and were both trying to finish school while working full time. As he saw his wife off to her job as a working capital analyst at Marsh & McLennan that morning, Louis said, "Don"t worry - everything will be OK."

That was the last time he saw Patricia, though he was speaking to her on the phone when the first plane hit Tower One, where her office was on the 98th floor. "The last thing I heard from her was "Oh, my God,"" he said. Then the phone went dead.

Later that day, Louis said, he was glad he had ironed her outfit that morning.

"When I talked to investigators who asked me what she was wearing, I was able to describe it to a tee," he said.

Though the pregnancy was not planned, Louis said, there was no doubt that the couple would have the baby. As well as mourning his wife, Louis is now left mourning the child he had only begun to imagine.

"I would switch spots with her tomorrow," he said. "Because then our family could go on."

The Massaris had known each other since they were 15, growing up in the same neighborhood of Glendale. As teenagers, Louis said, "I thought she was cute, she thought I was cute." They started dating when they were 19, and were married four years later, in 1999.

"Our first year of marriage was very nice, and then the second year got very busy," he said. The demands of work and school and of trying to save enough money to move out of her parents" house made it difficult for the couple to find time for each other.

Two days before the attack, however, the Massaris went to a church picnic together.

"Sunday was kind of a day that you could say we rekindled our lost time with each other," he said. The couple played basketball together and learned how to play bocce. "We hugged and kissed and did the things you do when you first start dating."

Now, Louis said, "I feel cheated that I"m not going to be able to have more of those. I miss her a lot."

(c) 2001 Newsday, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
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