Happy Birthday: A Novel

“I was actually thinking of Sam Steinman,” Mike said.

“It goes well with both,” she said diplomatically, not wanting to count on anything, but their time together was going well. They held hands now in the movies or when they walked, and even at the dinner table, but he hadn’t dared to kiss her yet.

“Do you want to come in for a glass of wine?” she offered when they got to the restaurant. “Or a cup of tea?” It was a balmy March evening, with unseasonably warm weather. It felt like spring. The following week she would be seven months pregnant, and she felt like she was getting bigger every day. The doctor said the baby was big.

“A cup of tea would be nice. I love the French decaf vanilla tea you have.”

“So do I,” she said with a smile, and unlocked the door. They turned on the lights in the kitchen, and she made them both a cup of the vanilla tea, and they sat on stools at the kitchen counter and drank it. They talked about the movie they’d seen, and disagreed amicably about the director’s message. It had been a Polish film and had a very dramatic ending. She squirmed as they sat on the stool. It was harder for her to perch there now, with what felt like a beachball on her lap.

“You look uncomfortable,” he said with a look of concern. But she didn’t want to mess up any of the freshly set tables in the dining room.

“Do you want to come upstairs?” she suggested. She had bought two ancient overstuffed chairs at Goodwill while he was gone. Her mother had a fit when she saw them and told her to throw them away and that she’d buy her new ones, but April liked them, as she did the rest of her decrepit furniture. She said she didn’t need anything better.

Feeling somewhat hesitant, Mike followed her up the stairs, and they each sat in one of the big easy chairs and drank their tea. He had enjoyed the evening with her. And then without even knowing he would or if they were ready, he leaned over and kissed her. He had wanted to for weeks, but hadn’t dared. He got on his knees next to her and held her.

“April, I’m so sorry, I’ve been such a fool,” he whispered. He wanted to make it up to her in every way he could. He kissed her again, and she reached up to him with every ounce of her being.

“Will you sleep with me?” she asked him, and he was stunned.

“Do you want me to?” She nodded. She wanted to lie with him and feel their baby between them. She wanted him to hold her. She didn’t need anything else from him.

He kissed her again, and they slowly took their clothes off and got into her big comfortable bed. He had only been there once before, and it had changed their lives forever.

Her body looked beautiful to him when he saw it. She was as lithe and thin as she had ever been, and in the center of her was the enormous roundness of their baby. He ran his hands over her belly, and felt it kicking him again, and then he pulled her close to him, and lay with her, and in a few minutes, he was horrified to realize that he was aroused, and wanted her very badly. This time it wasn’t drink or just raw sexual desire, it was much more than that. It was love.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her long dark hair, which she had loosened from its braid so it fell over her shoulders.

“It’s okay,” she said, guiding him, and he moved away from her, terrified to hurt her. She turned and smiled at him and touched his face. “It’s okay,” she said again.

“We won’t hurt the baby?” She shook her head and smiled.

“It’s allowed.”

He was very cautious with her, but he wanted her desperately. All the love and feelings he had held back for years came pouring out of him and into her, and their lovemaking was gentle and exquisitely sensual and erotic, and in the end, they both forgot the baby and plunged into the depths of passion for each other with total abandon, and then he lay peacefully and held her.

And then suddenly in the darkness of her room, he laughed. “April, I love you, but I think we must both be crazy. We’ve made love twice in our lives. Once drunk off our asses, and the second time with you seven months pregnant. Maybe one day we’ll do it like normal people.” He was a little shocked by what they’d done, but he had loved it.

“That felt pretty normal to me,” she said, and giggled like a kid. It sounded like silver bells to him in the darkness.

“I’m not doing it again tonight,” he warned her, “or the baby will come out and hit me.” In fact, the baby hadn’t moved while they were making love, and she had the feeling it was sleeping. And as Mike caressed her again, and the same urge rose in him, she made a liar of him a few minutes later.

Chapter 17