I looked at Micah’s face and that same strange expression that had been getting stronger from just before he met with Ryan reappeared. He was starting to worry me, but he insisted he was fine and that I needed to concentrate on the baby and nothing else.
I lay in my own bed that night with him beside me as I babbled on about house hunting and baby names, and how I really wanted a big bowl of hot peach cobbler with lots of vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup, and nuts and whip cream and…
He finally started laughing at me.
That was good because I didn’t want any more of his serious side to suck away our happiness. “Do you think we can find any place tonight that has peach cobbler?” I asked.
“Baby, it’s almost midnight-no, I don’t think so. You know you haven’t asked me how much I weighed when I was born.”
I gave him a funny look, “Why?”
“Because the baby usually follows the father’s genes in size.”
“So-how much did you weigh?”
“Ten pounds, five ounces,” he said, looking at me with a crooked smile, “If you aren’t careful, honey, this baby might be as big as I was.”
His unpleasant thought was putting a damper on my midnight snack ideas.
Chapter Thirty-One
The next morning, I begged him to go to the store and buy peach cobbler with all the trimmings. I had this insatiable need to eat peaches and it wasn’t going to go away until I got what I wanted. He happily agreed, but did ask if I wanted a can of sardines included with my order. I wrinkled my nose and said definitely not.
“But if you can find some good barbecued ribs this time of the morning, I’d like those.” I was serious.
He was laughing.
When he came home, he wasn’t smiling. He set the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter and then pulled out a magazine and handed it to me.
“It just came out this morning,” he said quietly.
The cover was a picture of me with an obvious baby bump, taken apparently at some point when we were either going into or coming out of the restaurant in San Antonio. It was only a shot of me, but surrounding me were three pictures, Micah, Ryan, and Sadarius with question marks over all of them asking “Who’s Your Daddy?” That really pissed me off and for once, I was ready to call my attorney and tell him to go after them-they had gone too far.
I read the article and it didn’t say specifically I was at the restaurant with Micah, I guess because they wanted to build the suspense for the next issue, but with D’Angelo looking for anything to pop up this could possibly start him investigating. He wouldn’t have to go far to get someone in San Antonio to remember the kind of guy that accompanied me to dinner.
I was in tears, but Micah told me he had it under control. We were still safe as far as he was concerned. I wasn’t convinced, but he begged me to forget it, at least for today. He baked the frozen cobbler and piled all the items on top, and I finally found my smile as he helped me eat it. He didn’t care for the chocolate syrup over the whole thing, but he said it wasn’t bad, just different.
He had ribs delivered for lunch and I was in food heaven. It was even better than the cinnamon bun, because he decided to suck the barbeque sauce off my fingers and that took more time than icing. It didn’t take long before we were excusing ourselves from lunch and heading for the bedroom. He scooped me up before we reached the door and growled softly as he buried his face into my neck. It was going to be a stellar afternoon.
I didn’t come back out for the rest of the evening, but Micah did go downstairs once to bring me another bowl of cobbler. We finished the night with Micah treating me to one of his wonderful, pampering showers and then it was back to bed where he told me, very tearfully, that he thanked God for giving him another opportunity to be with me.
“We’ve been through hell and back, Annalisa, but it’s all been worth it to be right here, right now in your arms. I love you with more strength than I possess in my body,” He kissed me with a passion that was different from what he’d ever exposed.
I was trying to come up with an equal response to how I felt about him, when he slid down in the bed and told me he was going to talk to the baby for a little while. I laughed, even though I knew he was serious, but it was still funny to listen to him speaking to my stomach. I had already insisted the baby’s first name would be Micah, but Micah senior wasn’t quite convinced yet, so he simply called him ‘little guy.’
He kissed and caressed my stomach and told our son how very much he loved him and that he wanted only the best for him. “And you’ve got a great start,” he continued, “because you’ve got the best mother in the whole world. She’s smart and beautiful, and sexy and-”
“Micah, I don’t think sexy is what we want our son to tell other kids about his mother,” I playfully scolded.
“You’re right,” he said sliding up in the bed and staring into my eyes, “I should be telling you that…but at the moment I think I’d rather show how I feel about you.”
What a wonderful experience every night with him could turn out to be. I was exhausted by the time we finally slept and I didn’t wake until after nine the next morning. Breakfast was beside the bed, but Micah left a note saying he had to go out.
I carried the tray downstairs and found Mom and Kimmy planning a big shopping adventure for today. They had been bitten by the ‘baby bug’ and they were going to spend the day putting together a huge layette. Mom wanted to purchase everything from diapers to outfits, to blankets and crib sets.
“I just need to know if you’re planning on bottle or breast feeding.”
“What is breast feeding?” Kimmy asked.
I looked at Mom and laughed. “I’m going to breast feed the baby, but since you brought it up, you get to explain it,” I said, ruffling Kimmy’s hair as she followed Mom out the door.
By one o’clock, I was starting to worry about Micah’s whereabouts. I tried his cell phone several times, but it kept going to voice mail. I heard a vehicle pulling in around two and I was relieved that he was home, but as I went to the front door and peered out, I realized it wasn’t Micah. I hesitated at the open door, wondering if I should close it in case this was a reporter, but when the car door opened I was shocked to see Ryan step out onto the driveway with a large envelope under his arm.
“I don’t believe it.” I said meeting him halfway and embracing him.
“Hey, baby girl,” he held me tightly for a long time.
“Where’s Candace?” I asked, pulling away from him and looking around to see if she was in his car.
“Colorado,” he answered softly.
“What are you doing here? Just visiting your mom or…” That was when I began to pay attention to his expression. He seemed sad and reserved which could only mean one thing. “What happened? Did you two-did you break up?” I knew he shouldn’t have planted that kiss on me with her watching.
“No. Annalisa, we’ve got to talk. I’ve got to tell you something and-well, it isn’t going to be easy to say. Can we go inside?”
I’d never seen him this way and he was starting to frighten me. I eyed the envelope suspiciously, “Sure, come on in.” My heart was starting to flutter over his mysterious reason for showing up at my house. I took him to the living room, talking as I went, “I’m home alone. Mom and Kimmy went shopping and then they’re picking up dinner. I hope you can stay and join us.” Everything is normal I kept repeating in my head; this is nothing bad. “Micah should be home pretty soon, but to tell you the truth I don’t have any idea where he went today. I can’t get him to-”
Ryan’s expression became pained and his eyes were filling with tears, “Sit down, baby girl, that’s why I’m here.”