Another Love Story

Chapter 13

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"

"Daniel, go, please," I smile trying to push him out of bed. "They need you in the office."

"But you need me here."

"I will be fine I promise."

As I am pleading my case, my face turns sour as another contraction begins. My hand rubs my belly and I take slow deep breaths as I wait for it to pass. Daniel eyes me cautiously and the pain is gone as fast as it came.

"Okay, I'm staying," he says, sitting back down beside me.

"No, you're going. You and I both know these contractions are only going to get worse until after baby bug is here, which won't be for a few more weeks."

Daniel places his hand on my stomach and smiles when the baby pushes out against it.

"Promise me you won't leave the house?"

I roll my eyes and smile, "I promise."

"You wont get out of bed?"

He frowns when my response is to lean forward and place a soft kiss on his lips.

"Gwendolyn, say it. Say, 'I won't get out of bed'."

"I won't get out of bed," My mouth places the lie against his lips.

I know he doesn't believe me but I don't think he should blow off work when I'm not even in labor yet. I'm sure he would have no problems sustaining without going to work for a while but Daniel loves his profession. I would feel guilty for keeping him from it unnecessarily.

Besides, Ava is supposed to be coming over and they don't get along very well.

"Okay," he says. "Halona will be around to help you, I know, so please don't hesitate to call for her."

"I won't now go before you're late!"

He lowers his head to nose-nuzzle my stomach before giving me one last kiss and leaves the room. I smile to myself and lean back against my pillow. After lying for a moment waiting for him to leave, I get up slowly and make my way out to the kitchen. Halona is there already and smiles when she sees me.

"He said to me before he left, 'she promised to stay in bed'," Halona laughs.

I laugh with her. "I promised not to leave the apartment, not the bed."

"He was a fool to think you'd stay planted in bed all day," she says. "Would you like some tea?"

I smile back widely at her as I sit slowly on the bar stool. "Yes, please."

I decide to take my tea with me to the spare bedroom Daniel has changed into the nursery. In the middle of my second trimester, he completely rearranged one of the rooms for our bug. He had the walls painted with rainbow bubbles and input a few furniture pieces. Right now there's only a white crib, rocking chair and a dresser since we don't know the baby's gender. There's boxes of diapers and baby items stacked against the wall. Halona offered to put the things away for me but I wanted to do it for myself. I just haven't been able to get to it yet. However, now I feel like nesting and organizing the nursery will give me a break from trying to process everything that's going on in my head.

After I am done arranging the teddy bears on a shelf, I squat down and lower my bottom to the floor. I immediately regret my decision to sit so low because I know it's going to be a fight for me to get back up. Why do I do these things to myself? I shrug my shoulders and pour out a shopping bag of onesies in front of me. As I fold, my mind wanders back to the birth of my bug.

He is scheduled to come in the same week as Daniel's birthday. We haven't talked about it much, but what if Daniel and the baby share a birthday? How amazing that would be... and also irritating at the same time. I have shared my birthday with someone else my whole life but I don't think it's the same. How does a person celebrate a birthday for a 2-year-old and a 30-something at the same time?