That Baby (6 page)

“I kinda assumed. What do you know?”
 

“They danced in Vegas at the bachelor/bachelorette party.”

“I remember that. But she had a boyfriend.”

“Who she brought to the New Year’s Eve couple’s shower,” Danny says. “But whom she did
not
kiss at midnight.”

“Ohmigawd, Danny. Did she kiss Joey?”

“Well, Joey kissed her. I guess he grabbed her right before the countdown, pulled her into the bathroom, and told her that at midnight she should kiss the guy who she was going to be with all year.”

“That’s so romantic. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me!”

“She showed up at the rehearsal dinner single. He tried to sleep with her that night but she shut him down.”

“But not the night of the wedding?”

“Definitely not the night of the wedding. Their first time was in a hotel bathroom. Now, they’re dating.”

“What do you think of them together?”

“You know I think Chelsea is a cutie. I told him he better not just be telling her all that shit if he didn’t mean it.”

“And what did he say?” I ask.

“He says she’s the one.”

“They caught the garter and the bouquet. I never thought that really worked. Do you think they will be the next ones to get married?”

“I wouldn’t marry them off just yet. They’ve been dating for all of two weeks now. That’d be crazy.”

I cough.
 

Danny chuckles. “You and Phillip were different.”

“I’m just giving you shit. You know, Joey and Chelsea made out a couple years ago at a party and then he never called her.”

“Sounds like he’s calling her now. He’s hot for her.”

“Okay, I gotta go,” I say, knowing I need to get off the phone before I accidentally blurt out that I’m freaking pregnant. “Talk to you soon. Thanks for the address.”

“You know we’re coming over for dinner tonight.”

“You are?” Shit.

“Yeah, you told us we could use your kitchen, remember? Demolition started this morning, and we’ll be over pretty much every day until it’s done. Pray it’s finished before the baby gets here.”

I think about how I was going to surprise Phillip with the shirts tonight.
 

Naked.

“Um, I’m still not feeling well. I’m not sure Lori should be around me when I’m sick.”

“She was already around you when you were sick.”

“Fine. I have a little surprise planned for Phillip tonight. A naked kind of surprise.”

“You have your period. Couldn’t be that good of a surprise.” He laughs. “I’m stopping to pick up ribs.”

“But, Danny, we’re newlyweds. We’re supposed to eat naked.”

“Hey, I’m cool with naked. Whatever.”

“
Danny
.”

“Tell you what. We’ll leave right after dinner, so you can have your newlywed fun. I’ll even get you some extra barbecue sauce to take to bed.”

“Don’t mention that in front of Lori,” I tease. “You know how she’s been craving barbecue.”

“She has? Scratch that. I’m keeping the sauce for myself.”

At dinner, I can’t stop smiling. I’m so afraid one of them is going to notice and ask me why. And I don’t think I’d be able to lie about it.

Thankfully, Danny is true to his word and herds Lori out the door after dinner.

I run into the closet, strip down to my underwear, and pull on the football jersey I bought.
 

Then I grab the present I wrapped for Phillip and set it on the bed.
 

“Hey, Phillip,” I yell over the TV, “will you come in here?”

I position myself on the bed. The jersey is riding up and exposing my long legs. The V-neck is pulled down as far as it can go.
 

“What are you wearing?” he asks, as he comes through the door.
 

“A football jersey. The Super Bowl is this weekend, you know.” I thrust the present at him. “Here, open this.”

He picks the box up and shakes it. But then he tosses it aside and slides his hand under my jersey. “I think I’d like to open this first.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek. “I’d like that too, but not until you open your present.”

His hand sneaks further up. “You don’t have a bra on. You gonna wear it like this to the party?”

“I’m going to cancel the party if you don’t open your present.”

Oh my god.
 

Please!
 

Open. The. Present.
 

I’m going to burst!

He kisses me instead.
 

The boy has a one-track mind.
 

I push him away. “Phillip, please! Stop! I need you to open the present! It’s important!”
 

He’s a little taken aback. “Uh, okay. Sorry. You’re just so damn sexy, I can’t keep my hands off you.”

I feel bad for yelling at him, but I can’t take it any longer.
 

I grab his hand. “Phillip, before you open it, I just want to tell you that I love you. And that . . .” Tears pool in my eyes and fall onto my cheeks when I blink. “Um, just that I love you.”

He tilts his head trying to understand why I’m crying. “I love you too, Princess. What’s wrong?”

“I’m just excited for you to see what I got you. It’s something pretty special.”

I laugh to myself thinking how everyone kept using the word
special
on the night Phillip surprised me by proposing.
 

He leans back, grabs the present, sets it on my lap, and removes the bright blue and fuchsia polka dot bow.
 

“Really colorful,” he says as he rips into the yellow wrap and opens the box. “Sweet! You got us matching jerseys. You know, Danny’s gonna give us shit though. He sent me some hilarious video showing married couples dressed the same—”

“Our shirts aren’t exactly the same,” I interrupt.

“They’re not?”

“Well, as you can see, mine has black glitter letters. Yours has black embroidery with white trim. And look at the back.”

He holds up his shirt.
 

“
Mac Daddy.
Nice.” He sets it down and kisses my neck. “Your MacDaddy wants to take your jersey off.”

“Don’t you want to see the back of mine?”

“Can I see it when it’s lying on the floor?” He grabs the hem of my shirt, ready to strip it off me.

“No!”

“Fine,” he says, picking me up, flipping me over, and pinning me on the bed. “Mac Mommy? Oh, I get it, like I’m the daddy and you’re the mommy.”
 

Then after a few beats, he goes, “Uh, wait. Actually, no, I don’t get it.”
 

I smile at him over my shoulder, hoping it will sink in, while taking the opportunity to sit back up. I cross my legs in front of me and stare at him, a wide smile on my face.
 

He squints his eyes. “Wait. You went to the doctor today about us having kids.”

I pull another item out of the box and hand it to him. “I did. Because this happened.”

He looks down at the pregnancy test, the two pink lines still clearly visible.

“What is this?!”

“It’s the pregnancy test I took this morning. I’m pregnant, Phillip.”

“But you got your period!”

“I thought I did. I saw blood and assumed that’s what it was. But the next morning, it was gone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to get your hopes up again. That’s why I borrowed Lori’s pregnancy book.”

He puts both hands on his head. “I can’t even believe this. You’re sure?”

“Yes. Did you notice the numbers on our shirts?”

“I’m ten. You’re one.”

“That’s our due date. October the first. Can you even believe it?”

He shakes his head. “No, I really can’t.”

I panic. “Did you change your mind? Do you not want me to be pregnant now?”

“No! I’m thrilled!” He grabs me and kisses me hard. “I think I’m in shock.”

“I cried at the doctor’s office. I was pretty shocked too.”

“Good shock, though. Really, good shock.” He wraps me in his arms and hugs me tight. “Holy shit. We’re going to have a baby.”

I start crying again.
 

“I’m so happy you’re happy,” I blubber.
 

“Princess, I thought our wedding day was the happiest day of my life.”

“You told me that afternoon we spent in bed on our honeymoon topped it.”

“You just topped them all. God, I love you.” He kisses my face again. “We’re really going to have a baby?”

“I love you too, Phillip. And apparently so.”

“I’m going to spoil you rotten. The baby too.” He gently lifts up my jersey and places his palm across my belly. “Wow. So how far along are you?”

“Five weeks.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. And get this. Based on some magic chart the doctor had, he said we probably conceived on January eighth.”

“That was the day you called off the wedding,” he slowly states.

“And the day you asked me to marry you again.”

“And then we went home.”

“Yeah . . . And then we went home.”

“To an incredible night filled with love,” he says.

“It was the first time we really made love.”

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect. Have you told anyone else? Is that why Danny and Lori left so early?”

“I told Danny I had something naked planned to get them to leave early.”

“No wonder he punched my shoulder and told me to have a good night.”

“Phillip, nothing ever seems real until I tell you. I had to tell you first.”

January 31st

Not that hungry.
 

I spend all day running around to different showrooms choosing specific items, so the builder can finalize our costs. The excavation of the land started while we were on our honeymoon and we’re pushing to get the plans finalized and approved so we can start construction right away.
 

I’m exhausted and sitting on the couch when Phillip comes home.
 

He thrusts a gift bag at me and smiles. “A little something to celebrate your pregnancy. I’m still just in awe of the fact that we’re having a baby. So, I was thinking you could open this present and then we could have a bottle of wine, eat dinner in bed, and make love all night long.”

I stare blankly at him.

“Oh, shit. That’s right. Well, I’ll find you something bubbly to drink, I can have the wine, and we’ll still make love all night long.”

“Phillip, I haven’t made anything for dinner. I’ve been running around all day and I’m exhausted.”

“Oh, that’s right. Women are really tired when they’re first pregnant, right? Do you feel like going out?”

“Can I take a nap first?”

He sits down next to me, puts my feet on his lap, and massages them.
 

“Do I get this kind of treatment every night?” I ask with a contented sigh.

He leans over and kisses me. “You can have anything you want, Princess.”

“Then I want a foot massage and—don’t laugh—fried chicken.”

“Your wish is my command,” he says.
 

“You’re being so sweet.”

“I was crazy in love with you before, but knowing that you’re having our baby. It’s just incredible. I love you so much.”

“I love you too. What’s in the bag?”

“Oh, I almost forgot. Look inside.”

I pull out a beautiful journal. The cover is a rugged leather but it’s wrapped shut with dainty pale blue and green ribbons.
 

“It’s beautiful, Phillip.”

“Open it,” he says.
 

I carefully untie it and see that the inside is just as beautiful as the outside. There is a wide array of papers inside, blue and green to match the ribbons, metallic, thin, thick card stock, watercolor, patterned, and plain.