A Bump in the Road -- Watty Awards 2011 --

Chapter 13: New Adjustments

But despite the great physical need on both of their sides of the bed, Joseph was determined not to hurt Nicole, no matter how hard that minx of a wife of his tried to seduce him. He knew she would never do anything to hurt their baby but as worried as he was about their child he was desperately worried about her wellbeing too.

He loved this baby – would die a thousand deaths to spare it the least of discomfort – but he knew even moreso that he could not live without Nic. In his heart he knew he was an old fashioned romantic but never in any of his mental lists of relationships with jaw droppingly gorgeous model girlfriends had ever brought him one one hundredth of the soul quenching slaking pleasure physical and emotional that he had with Nicole. So instead of pursuing other desired pastimes, they merely whispered to the other the things that their hands and arms and limbs wished to enact upon the other.

She awoke the next morning bathed in a glorious pool of sunlight streaming in from the window. Whereas the former Nicole would have been up before dawn crushing in as many activities as the day’s light would allow she now got up slowly, leaving the side of her husband who in his sleep had positioned his baody around hers like an extra protective wall of sinew and steel and she padded over the carpet to a full length mirror in the corner of the room half covered by the windows silky valance.

She hated mirrors – avoided looking at herself in them religiously and even when she had to she would only give herself a quick onceover to check her hair and makeup. She knew the rest wouldn’t meet her satisfaction. Now she lifted her pajama top to reveal the expansive mound of belly which looked as though someone had inflated a balloon under her skin making it hard and tight.

She noted with some satisfaction that in comparison the rest of her body looked smaller dwarfed by the bulge of her baby -Except of course her breasts that had swelled out to overflow the cups of her bras and decolletes of her shirts. Her eyes darted between the mirror and the floor, nervus at not really having examined her body in its newest state and curious and in awe at what was happening right now inside it.

Cautiously she placed one had on the top of her stomach and one cradling the underside. She had never been so unsure of herself or her life’s direction. There had only been concrete purposes and goals and plans for the future.

But – Nicole thought as she smiled to herself, now the situation is, she smiled wryly or at least figurately out of my hands Lord, and I put us in yours.

Nicole felt another pair of hands interlace with hers, covering even more of her stomach. She looked into the mirror and saw Joseph standing behind her with not even the bedsheet covering his virility and with one hand slipped the robe from her pale and vaguely freckled shoulders; leaving nothing between her, her husband and their baby. Nicole leaned back into the muscular curvature of his neck and felt his breath tickle her ear as he spoke, but what he spoke was not directed at her.

“Lord God and Father, thank you for opening my eyes and my heart to see your world and your truths, thank you for leading me to my precious wife and life partner Nic. Lord I ask today that you keep her safe and keep safe also the precious life she carries inside her that you put there in your innate wisdom. Let her hear the truth in my voice as I say that I love her, every part of her body new, old – she nudged him teasingly – and changing is beautiful and made by you so there is not one flaw in her being”.

He moved his hand so that he could take hers “we are yours Lord and we are wonderfully and fearfully made, help us to grow as husband and wife, mother and father to many more children and servants of your word and doing. We ask this in your name, in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit –Amen”. They unconsciously crossed themselves at the end of the prayer and Joseph got down on one knee like he did when he proposed and solemnly and silently made the sign of the cross over where their baby lay and in doing so cradled it in his own hands and pressed his lips to its firm promise of life and vitality.

As he did she felt the rest of the weight lift from her shoulders and fall as copious amounts of tears – tears that she had unknowingly been holding onto since she had gotten pregnant. Tears of love, of fear, of sorrow and happiness of joy and relief and Joseph looked up to see them rolling down her cheeks, leaving a trail on her face and rolling down her shuddering abdomen.

He stood and held her as she sobbed. A release she had never known in the arms of a man to comfort her. He was her best friend, her confidante, her lover and her husband in all ways of the word. She cried out the bitterness in her soul that had aged and jaded her thinking that there would never be anyone who could love her for her.

Despite being almost in her last trimester, Nicole still felt small and safe when she was in the arms that still enveloped her swollen frame easily. He was content just to stroke her hair and hold her until the sobs had subsided and there was just the occasional hiccup. He lifted her face to meet his and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

 As he made her lay down in bed, his brow furrowed as hers eased into fitful sleep. He frowned, how could one man – who had before this moment kept his heart as a walled fortress, have given his heart as fully and completely as he had to one woman. Nicole finally sniffed, put both hands on his chest and pushed herself backwards. She reached for the white plastic case of the insulin, but her legs had started to shake so instead she just leaned on the table.

“Joe”, she started, blowing her hair out of her fact dramatically despite her obvious weakness, “could you just push that case over here for me? Rolling his eyes, Joseph instead picked her up and tucked her into bed. “No, I’ll be fine…well ok maybe I should lie down for a little bit but then you have to promise me we’ll go see the, the, she yawned, the ci…” she broke off as she dropped instantly to sleep.

She slept for the next straight 24 hours. The corner of his mouth twitched and his frown turned into a smirk and then a laugh as he thought of all the things about his wife, God how he loved using that word to describe her, it was a complete turn on. It was her brazenness, boldness and brashness; her shyness and poise; her absolutely maddening childish stubbornness, her inability to stand by and watch any act of injustice despite any personal consequences that might come of it; the ludicrous situations she always dreamt up, her crazy and cutting sense of humour.

He remembered the woman he had helped up from the icy ground that fateful day, looking as though she wanted the wet cement to swallow her whole, with the look of a hardened heart that never expected help or sympathy from anyone, despite how much she longed for it.

She was still very much the same but for when she was around him when she softened into the devastatingly beautiful, hilarious God fearing woman he was so unashamedly proud to call his wife. And he knew she hated every moment of her weakness, her intolerance for failure in herself exhausting her emotionally as well as the physical toll her body was under.

He cursed under his breath as he watched her sleep, how many times had he watched her suffer, how many times had he prayed he could release her from her pain and take it onto himself and spare her. How many times had he sat up at night like this watching her as she slept, irrationally making sure she was ok, that she was alright.

For all his life he had believed up until now that wealth was power, and with power one could have anything, complete happiness. But having the wealth to hire the best doctors in the world couldn’t promise him Nicole and their baby would be ok. And Nicole was his happiness and that wouldn’t be diminished if all his wealth and material possessions disappeared in this instant - although he hadn’t dared mention to Nic that he had doctors on call back in Toronto and in Paris and a private helicopter primed for immediate evacuation.

She would flip if she knew he thought ruefully, watching the sun slowly set in the deep of the afternoon in Paris, casting brilliant streaks of reds, purples and golds to overtake the city as it streamed through the stained glass of Notre dame and through their window and alighting on her face.

“Like an angel” he murmured. At that moments Nicole rolled over restlessly in the bed and resumed snoring.  "an angel with sinus problems”. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEE

                               VOTE & COMMENT!!!!