Happy Birthday: A Novel

“That’s the guy.” Steinman’s critique of their food and April’s efforts had been demeaning and disdainful. It didn’t bode well for the future, or the news she was going to tell him. And his silence for the past few months didn’t encourage her either. He obviously hadn’t wanted to see her again, for whatever reason. It made calling him that much harder. “Remember me? I’m having your baby.” She couldn’t imagine him being thrilled to hear that piece of news. She hadn’t been either. But she was adjusting to it now. And it was no longer “bad news” to her, it was a baby.

“Well, this is certainly important,” her father said, smiling at her, trying to be supportive. “I have to admit, it’s a surprise, and it’s not how I would have wanted things to happen for you. But if you’re determined to go ahead with it, Maddie and I support you.” He glanced at Valerie then, and she was nodding with tears in her eyes. “And your mother does too, I think. So it looks like we’re going to have a baby,” he said, as he waved to the sommelier who arrived at the table quickly to serve them. Pat asked them for a bottle of champagne. “When is it due?” her father asked as the waiter went to get the bottle he had ordered.

“In June,” April said, as tears spilled down her cheeks and she put her arms around her father. “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, all of you,” she said, looking at her family, as she reached out to touch her mother and Maddie, and both women smiled at her and were crying. “I’m sorry I did this so stupidly. Thank you for being nice to me about it. I promise I’ll do a really good job of it, and try to be a good mother like both of you.”

“Don’t worry, darling, you will be,” her stepmother said kindly. “I don’t doubt it for a moment, and it will be nice to have a baby in the family. Do you know what it is yet?” Maddie asked with interest, holding April’s hand across the table.

“I won’t know till I have another sonogram in February.” She was young enough not to need any invasive tests to check about defects or genetics, which was a relief to her. At thirty, the process was routine.

The sommelier returned with the champagne then, and poured it just as Annie and Heather returned from the kitchen, and he poured each of them a glass too and left with the empty bottle. He could tell that something emotional was going on at the table, and didn’t want to intrude on his employer. He was the sommelier who had just come to her from Daniel Boulud. His name was Jean-Pierre, and he was from Bordeaux. He had learned about wines since he was a very young boy, and he had been a great addition to the restaurant.

“What are we celebrating?” her sisters asked as they sat down.

April looked at them, embarrassed, but there was no point in hiding it now, they had to know sooner or later. “I’m having a baby,” she said, looking at both of them as they stared at her in amazement.

“You have a boyfriend?” Heather looked astonished, and a little hurt not to be told sooner as April smiled.

“No, I don’t. Just a baby.”

“How did you get pregnant then?” she asked her older sister, and this time April laughed.

“The stork brought this one, I’m afraid, and I decided to keep it. So you’re both going to be aunts in June,” she said, looking from Heather to Annie, who looked at her and smiled, as their father raised his glass.

“I am proposing a toast to the new member of this family, who will be with us at this table next Thanksgiving. And actually, I think I should thank April for not burdening me with a son-in-law whom I may not have liked, who might have dragged me to football games in the freezing cold, or expected me to play softball with him, which I hate. I don’t have to impress him. All we have to do here is love April, and welcome this new member of the family into our midst.” They all raised their glasses as April started to cry again. She didn’t sip the champagne, since she wasn’t supposed to drink, and passed her glass to her dad. She hadn’t had a drink of anything alcoholic since she’d made the decision to have the baby, and only two glasses of champagne on her birthday before that.