Free to Love

Chapter 70

Shawn

I rolled over in bed and went to reach for my wife, but she wasn't there. I looked over to our bathroom, expecting to see a strip of light under the door. Jo got up to pee a couple times a night at this stage of pregnancy, so it was conceivable she'd be in there. Nope. The bathroom was dark.

Looking at my phone, I saw that it was 3:18. I pulled myself out of bed and made my way out of the bedroom and down the curved wooden staircase. I immediately saw the light on in the kitchen.

"Late night craving?" I asked as I entered the room, squinting at the bright overhead light.

Joanna nodded and finished chewing. She was standing by the island with a sandwich in hand. She had a glass of chocolate milk in front of her, along with a bowl of cut up pineapple.

"I woke up starving. The bean is killing me. She needs to keep her hunger to the hours when I'm awake."

Our little bean had been determined to be a girl the month before. Joanna was now six months pregnant. Her bump had turned into a a perfectly round basketball belly. It blew my mind how symmetrical it was. Jo was constantly hungry and out-ate me 2 to 1, but she really hadn't gained much weight. It was crazy.

I walked behind my love and wrapped my arms around her so that I could caress her belly through her maternity nightgown with both hands. I kissed her neck since it was right there in front of me. Joanna somehow managed to make standing in the kitchen in the middle of the night wolfing down food look sexy.

"Since we're both up-" I started.

"Hold that thought until I'm done," she said between bites. "I might have another sandwich."

She set the current sandwich down to take a swig of milk. I picked up the PB and J and took a bite since the peanut butter smell was so tempting.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelled as I turned to the sink and spit out what was in my mouth. "What on earth are you eating?"

Joanna started to laugh at my visceral reaction to her snack. "Peanut butter and green olive sandwich."

"You say that like it's an actual thing. It's not! That's fucking disgusting," I said before swallowing a whole glass of water with hopes to remove the taste from my poor mouth.

"It's delicious. And it's what she wanted," she said as she stroked her big bump.

Much to my horror, Joanna finished off the sandwich. She started on the pineapple next.

Mallory had cravings. Intense ones, too. But they were for fairly normal foods. Jo had some normal cravings. When the puking finally stopped completely, she went nuts with spicy food. She could not get enough super hot Buffalo chicken wings. She also wanted tropical fruit all day, every day. Our fridge was full of mango, papaya, and pineapple. Maybe that wasn't weird. It was weird when she dipped the fruit in strange things. One day I caught her dipping a slice of mango in honey mustard.

This sandwich was a new one. I wondered if my beautiful wife had lost her mind.

"You actually enjoyed that sandwich?" I asked her incredulously.

She nodded. "I've been eating them for weeks. I also eat a lot of peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches. I just never told you, because I knew you'd judge."

"Baby, anyone would judge. That's not a good combination. Bean is messing with you. She's got her own extreme food challenge going on. Don't give in. Stick to non-disgusting things."

Joanna stuck her tongue out at me and finished the food in front of her before letting out a very loud burp.

You'd think the disgusting food choices and belching would turn me off. Nope. I was excited to see she was done.