“I imagine she’s probably already on the phone with him.” She shrugged and pulled me back over to the booth. “I don’t really care anymore. They can both go to hell.”
I nodded, although my stomach was twisting. I hoped Clara’s little brush off of Rosemary wouldn’t ruin anything Nicholas had planned.
When I got home and jumped in Nicholas’ arms, I felt better than I had in a long time. He listened and smiled when I told him everything from our evening, never once getting upset or worried about any details. In fact, he said more than once how proud he was of me. I’d faced the dragon, and although Clara had led the charge, I didn’t back down or cower.
More than ever, it was the family around me who made me feel whole
I was beginning to think my baby was using mind control and bombarding me with his or her pleasure for certain food until I went insane. I begged Virgil and John to make a stop at a local market on the way home from classes, so I could load up on the goodies Laura never bought.
She kept making healthy food. “Iron and protein and vitamins,” she would tell me.
My baby wanted only one vitamin. Vitamin D. And not the kind from the sun. The D stood for dessert. Ice cream. Cookies. Cake. He or she was already their father’s child.
Normally I could take sweets or leave them, except those couple days a month when I would give my right arm for chocolate. Nicholas was really the sweet tooth between us. But now I couldn’t get enough.
As soon as John stopped the car, I was jumping out to run inside.
“Hold up,” Virgil yelled behind me.
“I’m hungry.” I kept going, grabbing a cart and heading for the cookie aisle, ignoring Virgil’s stern expression when he caught up.
” You just had brownies with your lunch a few hours ago.”
That made me pause momentarily, sending him a scathing glare. “Don’t you start. You have no idea what’s going on in here.” I pointed to my protruding belly, and he swallowed back his retort.
In fact, he looked a little nervous.
Good.
I returned to my mission, scanning the mouthwatering varieties in front of me and tossing in boxes and bags, and cartons. I had to stock up for the holiday, although Laura and I were already preparing to make more pies than an army could eat.
It was two days before Thanksgiving, and everyone was coming to our place for the holiday. I had convinced Nicholas I wanted to host and invite our closest friends and his family. He grumbled about having ‘that many fuckers’ in our house but relented when I pleaded.
I finished in the cookie aisle and made my way to frozen foods. I glanced at Virgil while he watched me load up on ice cream.
“You’re bringing Sarah on Thursday, right?”
“I guess,” he said and gritted his teeth. “That was an uncomfortable conversation with my boss, by the way.”
“What? What did Nicholas say? He really talked to you about it?” I would wring Nicholas’ neck if he was mean to Virgil about Sarah after telling me it was fine.
“Guys don’t talk about relationships.” He even did the finger quotes. “He just told me it was all good.”
I stopped tossing ice cream in the cart and put my hands on my hips. “Well, what are you going on about then? How is that uncomfortable?”
He shuffled his feet. “It just was.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. It’s not a crime to have feelings for somebody and admit it. They won’t come and take away your man card.”
“You get more opinionated as your pregnancy progresses. And I didn’t think that was possible.”
“If I didn’t know you better, I might think you’re trying to pick a fight so that I’ll uninvite you to Thanksgiving.” I poked him in the chest. “It’s not going to work. You’re coming and having fun.”
He fell silent, taking charge of the cart and leading us toward the checkout.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Nothing. It’s just that Thanksgiving is like Christmas. It’s for your family. I’m not sure why you want me to be there.”
I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “Virgil, you are family to me. You’re the big brother I never had.”
He seemed surprised by my words but didn’t say anything else, continuing our walk to the front. I didn’t expect he would say anything, knowing he wasn’t too good at the touchy-feely stuff. It was true though; he really was like a big brother to me. A pestering, sarcastic, overprotective older brother.
He remained quiet while I checked out and on the drive home, not even saying anything when I opened the bag of cream-filled biscuits and munched on them in the car. When we pulled up in front of the home, he stopped me as I reached for a couple of bags.
“No carrying for you.”
And that was just his way. I shook my head at him with a smile, letting him carry in all my sweets.
“So you’ll be here on Thursday, right?” I asked before he took off.
His lips curved up in a grin. “Yeah, I’ll be here.” I retrained from clapping and jumping around, knowing he’d only be embarrassed.
As soon as he left, I was stashing all my goodies. When Nicholas appeared later, loaded down with his own purchases, my mouth fell open. He made trip after trip, bringing in what looked like huge and oddly shaped pillows and scattering them around the den.
“What in the world is all this?” I asked, weaving my way through them all.
He picked one up, staring at it like it was an alien and scratching his head. “They’re pregnancy pillows for you. I didn’t know which one to get, so I just got them all and figured you could try them out and see which ones you like best.”
He was absolutely the sweetest man alive. Every day lately, he’d been bringing home things for me, the baby, or the both of us. Cribs, clothes, toys. He even bought a breast pump. It was hard to muster any It looked like a torture device to me.
“I’ve been reading and these are supposed to keep you from rolling onto your back. They’ll make you more comfortable and keep the oxygen flowing to the baby.” He shook his head and frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know how I’m going to fit on these with you.”
I couldn’t help giggling at his distress, watching him worry about not being close enough while we slept.