Happy Birthday: A Novel

Mike stood looking down at April once the oxygen mask was off. He didn’t know whether to strangle her or kiss her, he was so relieved that she and the baby were okay.

“How could you try to fight the fire yourself?” He had tears in his eyes when he asked her.

“I’m sorry, Mike … I thought I could stop it, but it went too fast and it was too hot. They were caramelizing something, and it got out of control.”

“You almost had the baby last night.” Her hand went instinctively to her belly as he said it. “You were having contractions every ten minutes. They stopped it,” he reassured her, but he wasn’t letting her out of his sight again until she had the baby. “I told them a lie last night,” he said then, “and I want you to make an honest man of me.”

“What did you tell them?” She still looked woozy, but a lot better than she had the night before. She had color in her face again, and she said her arms and hands weren’t too painful. The burns weren’t as bad as they’d feared when she came in. She’d been very lucky, and so had he. He could have lost her.

“I told them I was your husband. I want us to make that true,” he said gently, and then kissed her. Her hair reeked of smoke, but he didn’t care. “Will you marry me, April? Let’s do it before the baby’s born. It would be a nice thing to do for him.”

“Her,” she corrected him with a grin, and then grew serious as she looked at him. “You don’t have to marry me because I’m pregnant.”

“I want to marry you because you’re a menace and I want to keep an eye on you. The next time you try to put out a kitchen fire yourself, I’m going to kick your ass, April Wyatt. So will you do it?”

“What?” She was smiling at him. He was right. They were both crazy. But they always had been, right from the very first night. “Yeah actually, that sounds nice. Can I wait till I’m skinny so I can wear a pretty dress? I only plan to do this once.”

“Me too. But I don’t care if you wear your bedspread. Let’s do it before your due date, if that’s okay with you.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a June bride.” She was smiling broadly and still couldn’t believe he had asked her. It felt like a dream.

“You’re a nutcase. Maybe that’s why I love you. But I’ll say one thing, you’ve got more balls than a Christmas tree,” Mike commented about her attempt to fight the fire. A part of him admired her for what she did, and another part of him wanted to yell at her for doing it.

“Can I call my mom?” she asked in the same hoarse croak, but she was beaming. He dialed the number at the Ritz again and handed her his cell phone. He was relieved that she looked so happy. The night before she had looked half dead. And their baby could have died too.

April asked for her mother’s room, and Valerie answered the phone immediately, afraid of more bad news. She was relieved to hear April’s voice.

“Hi, Mom,” she said hoarsely. “I’m engaged.”

“Are you on drugs, for heaven’s sake?” Valerie asked her, still deeply upset by the news of the fire, only moments before.

“I don’t know,” April said honestly. No one had told her what was in the IV, and she felt giddy. “We’re getting married.”

“When?”

“In June, before the baby.” She was holding Mike’s hand as she said it, and he smiled.

“Could you please calm down until we get home?” Valerie said, her nerves frayed. “First you try to put out a fire, then you get engaged. Just sit tight and don’t do anything till we get home. Sleep or something.” She smiled then. At least it was good news this time. And she thought it was the right decision. She liked Mike, even if he had gotten off to a bad start. But she had always hoped he’d pull through, and he had. “Can I give the wedding?” her mother asked her, and April laughed.

“Of course.”

Jack was gesticulating as she asked April about the wedding, and Valerie nodded at him. “Jack says we can give it at his apartment, it’s bigger,” her mother told her, beaming.

“Whatever,” April said vaguely, it was hard to talk. “We only want a few people. We can do something bigger later, after the baby. When I can wear a decent dress.” And then she wiped tears from her eyes. What had happened had been so scary, and she was worried about the baby too. “I love you, Mommy. I’m sorry I did something so stupid. I won’t do it again.” She sounded like a little girl as she said it, and looked up at Mike from her bed.

“I know you won’t, sweetheart,” her mother said kindly, with tears in her eyes too as Jack held her hand. “I hope nothing like that ever happens again.” She knew how distraught April was going to be when she realized the condition the restaurant was in. She was still pretty dazed. It had been an enormous shock for her. “Just be a good girl now and take it easy. You have a wedding to get ready for, and a baby. Get some rest.”

“I will,” she said, and hung up, and handed Mike his phone back. And after he kissed her again, she smiled and went to sleep.

Chapter 18