Happy Birthday: A Novel

“My mom’s really been working hard on the wedding,” April said, snuggling up to him, with his arm around her shoulders. It didn’t surprise him. Wyatt women seemed to work hard at everything and shirked nothing. He admired that about them. April was no less conscientious than her mother. She was doing the job of ten men at the restaurant, even nine months pregnant, but it didn’t seem to do her any harm.

“I’m sure it’ll be beautiful,” he said gently.

He was used to the canopied crib beside their bed now, and it no longer surprised him. He wondered what it would be like when someone was in it. Or when she sat in the rocking chair nursing their child. He had a feeling it would be sweet to behold.

When he finally turned over and turned his back to her, and she cuddled up behind him, he could feel the baby kicking. It was relentless, and he fell asleep to the soft rhythm of the kicks, wondering how she could sleep at all.

Chapter 22

The morning of the wedding, both April and Mike were extremely nervous. The tension of the day, and all its implications, had gotten to them both. He was getting ready at his apartment, and April was going to dress at her mother’s. Ellen came by in a cab and picked her up, and they went uptown together. April knew her mother had a hairdresser and manicurist waiting for her, and her dress was already there.

“See you later,” she said, and kissed Mike goodbye before she left. He had just cut himself shaving and had little bits of toilet paper stuck all over his face, glued there by blood. “Try not to kill yourself before the wedding,” she teased him as he glared at her and then burst out laughing.

“Okay, so I’m nervous. Get out of here, before I change my mind.” They were a classic shotgun wedding, with her nine months pregnant after a one-night stand. She couldn’t help laughing about it, and again with Ellen on the way uptown.

“He’s a good guy,” Ellen confirmed on the way to Valerie’s apartment. And Dawn was waiting for them. They had all gotten used to her looks by then and her extremely punky outfits, pierces, and tattoos. She had done the streak in her hair light blue for the wedding. Working for Valerie had not made her more conservative. Valerie didn’t care since Dawn was impressively efficient and had been a whirlwind helping with the wedding.

Ellen was carrying her dress, which was the same pale blue as April’s sisters’. But hers was short, like April’s, and her sisters’ gowns were long. Valerie had decided to wear mauve, in vaguely related tones. She had found a lavender organdy cocktail dress that she thought was suitable for the mother of the bride.

As April arrived at her mother’s apartment, Valerie was leaving Jack’s. He was still sound asleep and she left him a note, telling him that she loved him and she’d see him at the wedding. She wasn’t sure why, probably because of the pending decision about Miami, but she felt now as though every day they shared was their last. It was a depressing feeling, but she tried not to appear worried as she hurried the three blocks to her own apartment. She found April and Ellen getting their nails done in the kitchen. If you didn’t look at April’s stomach, she didn’t even look pregnant—the weight was all right there. And she had gained less than she was allowed.

“So, ladies, how are we doing?” Valerie asked them as her assistant handed her a cup of coffee. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with sandals and she looked almost as young as her daughter. She had called Alan Starr the day before for his reading on the wedding, and he said everything would be fine. She hadn’t asked him about Jack’s decision about Miami. She didn’t want to know and hear the bad news. She could guess all by herself without being psychic. He really had no choice but to go, and she was sure Jack knew it too.

April was having clear nail polish put on, and she was going to have her hair done in a loose braid with lily of the valley woven into it. Valerie looked in her refrigerators, and all the flowers for the wedding party were there. The rest had been delivered by the florist early that morning, and her living room was filled with white orchids and roses. The crystal and silver on the five tables gleamed. And there was a path through the living room for April and her father to walk when she went to stand before the judge with Mike. It was a very traditional little wedding, despite the unusual circumstances and the fact that she’d had only two weeks to organize it. But Valerie was good at that, and Dawn was a quick learner. The cake arrived half an hour later, followed by Heather and Annie carrying their dresses. Valerie put them in the guest room, and they bounded out five minutes later, looking for their sister. She was having a bath in her mother’s pink marble bathroom, and emerged like a very pregnant Venus as her sisters stared at her belly.

“My God, you’re huge!” Heather said with a look of amazement.