Chapter 3
Julie was excited as she placed the gift box she had so carefully wrapped on the bed. She was smiling so hard she could almost feel her cheeks hurting. Meg and Dana had helped her get the perfect gift to announce her big news to Steven who had just landed back in the country an hour earlier. Her housekeeper Consuela had helped her with dinner and she took a long relaxing shower. She initially wanted to wear one of her evening dresses but she didn’t want to make a big deal of the evening. She wanted him to be
surprised and a sexy dress was only going to make Steven suspicious. She settled on a white floor length strapless dress she had bought in Hawaii
while on her honeymoon. She straightened her hair and let it hang loose on her shoulders which was the perfect complement to her light makeup. She looked at her reflection as she applied her pink lip gloss.
“Any time now,” she said in a low voice as she looked at her phone.
“Mrs. Julie. I go now,” Consuela said as she poked her head in the room. Julie looked at her and smiled. “I make the Chile flank steak with grilled corn Pico de Gallo and I set the table,” she added with a smile.
Julie looked at her and smiled. “Thanks so much Consuela. I hope you packed some for yourself.”
Consuela smiled and shook her head.
“My daughter she make her special two bean tamale pie and my other daughter don’t agree with her, so she make the chicken enchilada,”
Consuela said. She looked at Julie and grinned. “My house is like Mexican party,” she added as she raised her hands and shook them, imitating some weird kind of dance.
Julie laughed.
“Are you sure? You really took your time with that,” she said.
Consuela frowned and then shrugged.
“I make that for you and Mr. Steven. For the baby,” she said as she put a hand on Julie’s tummy.
Julie looked at her dark haired housekeeper and smiled. “Thanks Consuela.”
“You welcome Mrs. Julie. I go now,” Consuela said as she started heading towards the door.
“Actually Consuela,” Julie said as she walked to the closet. She took a twenty out of her purse and paused for a few seconds as she looked through every pocket of her wallet. “Damn it,” she thought when she noticed that
she didn’t have any more money before she pulled out another twenty dollar bill. She walked out of the closet with an apologetic look. “Here. I don’t have any more money,” she said in a low voice.
“What this for?”
“Why don’t you take the day off tomorrow? You could take your daughters out for a movie or something,” Julie said with a smile.
Consuela smiled at her.
“Forty dollars and movie? No. I am going to give them ten dollars for pizza and then stay in to watch Tormenta en el Paradiso. Nicholas finds out he has a baby by the evil Paulina,” she said before she walked out.
Julie smiled and shook her head before she went back to her dressing mirror. She looked at her reflection and turned around. She put her hands on her tummy and tried to figure out what she would look like when her baby bump grew bigger.
“Hope I will look as good as I have always pictured myself,” she thought as she looked at her reflection. She didn’t know how long she had been
looking at her reflection when she heard the front door open. A thrill went through her. “Baby, is that you?” she called out as she walked out of the bedroom.
“Yeah babe,” Steven called out as he put his bags down. Julie was practically running down the hallway. “Hey there,” he said as Julie flung herself into his arms. It had only been two weeks but that felt like an
eternity for Julie- and Steven too. “I missed you,” he said in a low voice when he pulled away. She looked into his eyes as she held the back of his head.
“I missed you more,” she said before she stood on tip toe to kiss him.
“And you look…hot,” he said in a low voice as his eyes traveled down her body. “Where have you been hiding that dress?”
“Hawaii,” she shrugged. “But I really don’t want to talk about the dress right now,” she said as she took his hand and led her to the kitchen.
Steven frowned.
“Baby, I really wanted to have a shower first,” he said. She turned around and looked at him. “Dubai is really far and I think I just smell like airplane right now.” She leaned in and kissed him softly.
“Consuela made her special Chile flank steak,” she said in a low voice. Steven’s eyes lit up.
“With the grilled corn Pico de Gallo?” he asked. She smiled and nodded. “Wow, you really went all out,” he said as he followed her to the kitchen.
“Yes I did,” she shrugged as he sat down at the table.
“Whoa, is there something going on here that I don’t know? Did I forget an anniversary or something?” he asked as he pulled his phone out and looked at his calendar. She looked at him and smiled.
“Actually, you didn’t. I just wanted us to do something nice and fun and romantic,” she said as she took a plate out of the microwave. She put it in front of him and then poured him a glass of wine before she went to her
side of the table and sat down. “Bon appetit,” she said with a smile before she dug in and took her first bite. She was just about to take another bite when she noticed him looking at her. “What?”
“Why aren’t you having any wine?” he asked. She looked at him and frowned. She was panicking because this was a question she had not
expected and also she didn’t want to tell him about the pregnancy like this.
“I um…I had a few glasses earlier. I just don’t want to overdo anything,” she said.
Steven raised an eyebrow. “A few glasses?”
“Okay maybe just a couple,” she said. She looked at him and shrugged. “Just eat your goddamn dinner. I want to get out of this dress,” she said before she took another bite. A smile played on Steven’s lips.
“That’s a pretty forward way to ask me to have my way with you,” he said. She looked up and slowly drummed her fingers on the table.
“That’s not really what I had in mind but I will take it,” she thought. “Well,
I can’t wait to get there. Any longer and the three glasses of wine I drank earlier will start acting up on me,” she said before she took another bite.
“Three? I thought you said two,” he said before he took a bite. She looked at him and shrugged.
“See, I’m already losing my mind,” she said as she reached for her glass of water. “He better stop asking all these questions or this will be the worst
surprise ever,” she thought before she put the glass down. “So, how was Dubai?” she asked as she looked up.
Steven took a bite and then took a long sip if his wine.
“Hot,” he said as he looked at her. “So damn hot,” he added as he looked up.
“Come on babe. I don’t think it was that bad,” she said.
Steven looked up and raised an eyebrow again. “Really? How would you know?”
“A month before I met you I spent a week in Abu Dhabi and just when I thought that was bad, I had to take a trip down to the Philippines. It was brutal,” she said.
“Well, those areas are all almost the same in temperature you know,” he said.
“Actually my point is you spent your time mostly indoors with cool air conditioning and everything. I was almost always outside. Like I said, it was brutal,” she said.
He looked at her and shook his head.
“Well, I don’t look forward to a trip down to Dubai any time soon. Or anywhere in the Emirates,” he said.
“You do have a friend in Doha, remember?” she asked as she took another bite.
“Qatar is not in the UAE,” Steven said.
“No, but the weather is just as hot,” she said with a smile. Steven looked at her and then took another bite before taking a long sip of his wine. “Need me to hand you the bottle there. Davenport?” she asked as she looked at him.
“I don’t want to talk about any country with oil right now,” he said before he took one last bite. “That was so…damn, I hope Consuela never gets
another job.” Julie looked at him and smiled. “That makes me sound a little like an asshole doesn’t it?” Steven looked at her as she nodded.
“But your accent more than makes up for it,” she said as she put her fork down. She looked at him and slowly stroked a strand of hair out of her face. “Ready for your shower?”
“Sure,” he agreed as he stood up. “If you come with me.” She looked at him and stood up. She knew that taking a shower with him meant that she would probably end up with her back against the cold tile and him thrusting into her as hard as he could. She looked into his eyes and walked towards him.
He looked down at her and smiled as he shook his head.
“That dress really looks beautiful on you,” he said. “Maybe I could just lay you down on this table and…” he started as he slipped an arm around her
waist and pulled her close. She looked at him and put her hands on his chest before she pushed him away. “What? What’s going on?” he asked as she took his hand and led him away from the kitchen.
“Shower first,” she said as she led him to the bedroom. She stopped when she got to the bedroom door and turned around to kiss him. The kiss was a little more intense than she had hoped it to be. Steven was almost panting when he finally pulled away from her.
“You are really sending me mixed signals here babe,” he said as he looked at her. She smiled and opened the door but just as she was reaching for the light switch, he pinned her against the door and kissed her deeply. Julie held the back of his head as his tongue found hers but when she felt the dress loosen and drop to the ground, she pulled back. She was now in nothing but a strapless bra and her panties.
“Baby,” she started as he walked her to the bed. Steven leaned over and kissed her. “Baby…” she said again but he was slowly forcing her down on the bed. She pulled away from him and switched on the lamp on the night stand. She looked at him and forced a smile.
“You’re right. I should really take a shower,” he said as he pulled away from her. She smiled and shook her head as she pointed to the box she had so carefully wrapped earlier that day that was at the foot of the bed. He looked into her eyes and pulled away from her before he reached for the box. “Wait, I got you something too… but it’s in my suitcase…somewhere,” he said.
She smiled and shrugged. “Fine. I can get that when I help you unpack.”
“But that has always been our thing. I take a trip and we exchange gifts a day later. Why is this time different?” he asked as he pushed the box aside. Julie shook her head and shoved the box into his hands.
“Just open the damn box, Davenport. Jeez,” she said as she rolled her eyes. Steven looked at her and sighed.
“I just don’t understand why…” he started before she raised an eyebrow in the same way she usually did when she was mad at him. He took a long deep breath and tore the wrapping paper off. He looked at her and opened the box almost too carefully. He looked in and raised an eyebrow not sure if he was seeing the right thing. “What the…” he started as he pulled a onesie out of the box. He held the two ends of the tiny white garment and shook his head. “World’s best dad? Juelz, what the hell is happening?” he asked as he looked at her.
“I’m pregnant,” she said with a smile.
“Juelz, if this is a joke, it’s not funny,” he said. Julie smiled and walked round the bed to her side and sat down before she pulled the top drawer of the night stand and pulled out her test results. “What’s this?” Steven asked as he put the onesie down to open the envelope.
“My test results,” Julie said. Steven pulled out the document inside and gave it a quick read through. “There is a lot of medical gibberish there. It’s almost all Greek but there is that part about my HCG levels,” she said.
“They are through the roof,” he said as he looked at her. “You must be
what? A month, six weeks?” he asked. Julie nodded and raised an eyebrow.
He was almost as fluent as Dr. Solloway. “I was a volunteer in a medical
camp for a year in Mexico,” he said. She looked at him and shook her head. “What? When?” she asked.
“A few years ago right after college. But I don’t want to talk about that right now,” he said as he put the document down. He took both of her hands in his and smiled. “How is this even happening? I thought the doctor said…” he started before she shook her head no.
“Apparently, I could…can get pregnant but things are going to be a little different.”
“How different?” Steven asked as he looked at her.
“Well, I have been put on bed rest for the first trimester. After that, I can go back to work but Dr. Solloway told me that I will have to take it easy. I’m still not sure what she meant by that,” she added with a frown. Steven
suddenly laughed and pulled her into his arms.
“Oh my God, we are going to be parents,” he said as his hand went up and down her back.
“Is that a tear?” she asked when she pulled away. Steven quickly brushed off a tear that was rolling down his cheek and looked at her.
“I love you,” he said in a low voice. His gaze dropped to her tummy before he put a hand on her stomach. “Both of you,” he added softly.
“We love you too,” Julie said as she looked into his eyes. She leaned in to kiss him but he pulled back. “What?” she asked looking at him.
“What um…how…” his voice trailed off as he shook his head trying to get the right words. “Ten minutes ago, I was planning on having my way with you and now I am afraid to even touch you,” he said in a low voice.
She smiled and then laughed.
“I think we can still have sex but it has to be a little different. None of the hard ass stuff we usually do,” she said. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Fine. Stuff that I do,” she added. Steven released her hands and shook his head.
“Really? You think? That is not good enough for me,” he said.
She looked at him and frowned. “What isn’t good enough for you exactly?”
“You just said that you think we can still have sex,” he said. She gave him a look that said that she had no idea what he was talking about. “You think… that means that you probably think there is a possibility that me making love to you might result in you losing the baby or something.” .
“I never said that,” she frowned as she put her hands up trying to figure out what she was going say to save her sex life. She leaned forward and kissed him softly. “You know what? We can just make sweet, sweet love on our marital bed,” she said in a whisper as she kissed his neck.
Steven pulled her away and smiled.
“Remember that shower I was supposed to take earlier?” he asked. She looked at him and nodded. “I’ll make it a cold one,” he said before he got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom leaving a stunned Julie seated on the bed wondering what the hell just happened.
“What the hell…” she wondered as she looked at Steven closing the bathroom door behind him.