Chapter 9

Mrs D’Mitri turned to look at us, a conflicted, slightly pained expression on her face. Seconds later, she slumped back in her seat, looking tired.

‘Red is always right, ‘ she said, voicing the previously unsaid mutual feeling in the room. She took her husband’s hand and smiled at us. ‘And I think you two will do very well anyhow. You have my blessing.’ A glance at her husband. ‘And mine, ‘ he intoned gravely, reaching across the table to shake my hand.

I looked at Mum and Dad.

‘We love Mel, ‘ Mum said. ‘It would be very hard to imagine you without her.’ She paused, but then said reluctantly--’It may be difficult to raise a child so suddenly. But I think both of you have the commitment and motivation to have it some easier than it might be.’

Dad nodded, quiet.

‘Something’s bothering you, Dad, ‘ I said, still worried. ‘What is it?’

‘You’re growing up too fast, ‘ he said stiffly, and in that moment I realized he was fighting an intense battle against welling tears. ‘That’s all.’

‘I hope you won’t go far, ‘ Mrs D’Mitri began, already recovering and chatting about our future and plans.

‘We’d like to live together wherever we go, ‘ I said sometime later, after discussing various apartments and their benefits. ‘I hope you will welcome this while we still live under your roofs.’

‘It’s too late, ‘ Mr D’Mitri laughed. ‘You can’t make another child in her--not yet, anyway. So yes, I at least respect your right to share a bed.’

‘Do you need a double?’ Mum asked concernedly. ‘We can--’

‘No, thank you. We’ve managed with a twin bed all this time, and it’s cozy anyway. I think we’ll be fine.’

Our parents smiled.

I smiled back at them, and then turned to look at my beloved, realizing that she had been quiet for a while now.

Mel’s head was nodding as she struggled to stay awake. With a shock I realized the lateness of the hour. It was well past midnight.

‘My love, you’re tired, ‘ I said gently. I turned to our parents. ‘Please excuse us. Mel needs to sleep. Carrying a child is tiring work, so she tells me. We shall discuss these things at length another time, yes?’

They agreed, and we said our goodnights. I took Mel’s hand and led her to the stair, passing the kitchen on our way. Red had polished off at least three of our cream-decorated beauties, and was working on a fourth.

Seeing me, he strode out of the kitchen.

‘Burton!’ He clapped me on the back. ‘Congratulations, by the way. Do you know... ?’

‘No, ‘ I said. ‘Too early. Besides, we don’t want to until the times comes.’

‘Right, ‘ Red said. ‘I’ll be here for the next two and a half weeks, if there’s anything I can do.’

‘Thank you, ‘ I said. We said goodnight.

Not only was Mel asleep on her feet, but her ankles were also very sore, so I scooped her up and carried her down the stairs to my room damsel-style.

She would have fallen asleep within seconds of being lain on my bed, so instead I helped her undress, and she crawled under the covers in only her bikini panties and was asleep in a few moments.

I was quick to follow, in only my boxers, and slipped behind her to spoon. The tension was all gone from me. Our parents had accepted and welcomed us, and that was all I wanted right then.

However, I was exhausted from the stress of anticipation and being so formal. But acting, and being, a grown up was my duty now, accepted to have a child on the way. I was so close to legally being one anyway.

Mel’s body was soft and warm next to me, against me. Some men may prefer a woman tight in all physical ways, but I don’t. It’s not that Mel’s fat--she isn’t--but she is soft and curved, her body pliable and cozy as a feather bed. I wrap my self around her, burying my face in her hair.

Now, I know most people would say that this whole thing has gone too fast. We only just decided to have a romantic relationship before also deciding to marry and (not purposely) creating a child together, all in the course of two months. But this was Mel and me we’re talking about, and we’ve been together from the cradle. It felt right, what we were headed for, and not rushed or hasty. I was content to have made the right decision.

Sleep tugged insistently at my eyelids, and I surrendered to it. In the second before consciousness evaded me, I noticed with wonder that our breathing together had naturally made a pattern of my breathing out, and her breathing in, and so forth. It only made firmer my feelings.

I woke before Mel to morning sunlight streaming through half-closed and forgotten curtains. It was only six or so in the morning, an hour or so past dawn, so I lay awake quietly, looking, and not even thinking.

Mel had turned toward me in the night, and she was half curled on herself now, the top of her head against my chest, her body making a semicircle.

I do not know what woke her; perhaps a change in my breathing, which now spoke of wakefulness, or perhaps I shifted too much beside her. But she woke, stretching, and then groaning.

‘Morning, ‘ I said softly, brushing back her auburn hair.

She blinked up at me from slightly closed eyes.

‘Burton, I feel terrible, ‘ she whisper-moaned, curling in more on herself.

That made me sit up very quickly.

‘What’s wrong, Mel?’ I demanded--not angrily, but worriedly.

‘I don’t know, ‘ she said, wincing.

I got up and retrieved an ice cream pail in the event that she was sick, told her I was going upstairs seeking help and would be back soon, and left my love with a kiss on the forehead. I had walked calmly enough out the door of my bedroom, trying to reassure a worried and miserable Mel, but once the door was shut behind me I all but sprinted up the stairs.

‘Mum!’ I called for her. Even with the late hour going to bed, she was up with the sun, sipping black coffee and reading a novel.

‘Burton. Good morning.’ She smiled, looking over her reading glasses at me, and then noticed my distress. ‘What is it? What’s happened?’

‘It’s Mel, ‘ I said. ‘She feels terrible.’

Mum stood immediately, wrapping her dressing gown tightly around herself, and began to follow me.

‘Is she bleeding?’ Mum wanted to know.

‘I ... don’t think so, ‘ I said uncertainly. Neither of us had noticed, and I felt bad not to have checked. ‘I don’t think so, ‘ I repeated, more as a prayer than anything else. I led the way to the bedroom, feeling hopeless that I did not know how to help my woman, but grateful that my mother probably did. She at least knew more than I did.

When we returned, Mel was looking greener around the gills. I don’t know how I saw it, but I did, and gathered her hair back before she was violently sick.

When she was done, Mum spoke to her.

‘Are you bleeding, Melody, dear?’ She asked softly of my fiancée.

Mel looked.

‘No, ‘ she said, ‘but I hurt very badly.’ She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach, and tears slid down her cheeks soundlessly.

‘We’e better bring her to the hospital anyway, ‘ Mum told me in hushed tones. ‘I think it may just be a bad day for morning sickness.’

I drove her, with Mum sitting in the back. By this time we were at least wearing proper pajamas.

‘Are we going to lose our baby?’ Mel asked, looking at me plaintively and clutching her belly. I glanced over and her irises seemed unnaturally dilated.

‘No, ‘ I said, taking one hand off the wheel in favour of her hand. ‘I pray not.’

A pregnant woman with bad pain in her abdomen is not ignored in the emergency room, and even considering the rest of the patients, she was let in immediately. We followed, nervous.