She woke up in his bed, stark naked and pregnant. She pulled up the blanket. He was awoken by the movement. He helped her pull up the blanket, wrapped his arm around her from the back.
“Can we stay in today?” he asked, his eyes were still closed. “I want to stay in and be with you today.”
She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Okay.”
They fell back asleep.
The next thing she knew, the sunlight had lit up the whole room. His scruffy beard grazed upon her arm, and his warm lips touched her skin.
“Good morning,” she said.
He bit his lower lip with a smile.
“You’re smiling,” she touched his face.
He rarely smiled, but he was smiling at her and his eyes were bright against the sunlight. “I’m happy,” he said.
It swelled her heart.
“I think it’s time we start doing this, don’t you think?”
“Do what?” she asked.
“Be together … we’re going to have a child soon.”
She smiled, “Maybe we can try.”
Their eyes locked.
“I’ll make you fall in love with me,” he said.
“What makes you think I haven’t?”
**********
“Exciting day today, Ms. Knox.”
Doctor Collins greeted her in the examination room. “You must be the father?” she noticed a different face.
He smiled proudly and shook her hand, “Yes, I am.”
“Excellent … we’re about to listen to the baby’s heartbeat for the first time, I’m glad you can make it.” She prepared the machine.
At 16 weeks of pregnancy, the ultrasound showed the fetus had taken it’s form. The head, the arms and legs were visible.
“It’ll double the size every month after this point,” the doctor said. And when she turned on the volume, they could hear the heartbeat.
Jamie squeezed Gabriel’s hand. His eyes were nailed to the monitor. It was overwhelming, they were looking at a human being that was growing inside her body.
“You may start to feel it’s movement soon,” the doctor continued. “Are you still having morning sickness?”
“No … I think it’s almost completely gone, actually I’m feeling hungry all the time now.”
Dr. Collins nodded, “That’s very normal, the baby will grow rapidly, stick to a healthy diet, you will gain weight fast from here on out … do you want to know the sex?”
Jamie looked at Gabriel. He shrugged, “Do you want to?” he asked.
“No, I think I want to be surprised.”
“Okay … well, you can change your mind any time, we can already see it from the ultrasound … the baby looks fine, it has all the right measurements, do you have any complaints?”
She thought about it for a moment, “No, other than my growing belly, I feel much better than the first trimester.”
“The second trimester is the best period of the whole pregnancy, when you enter the third trimester … that will be the most uncomfortable, eat healthy, drink lots of water, light exercise and … a healthy sexual intercourse would be good for both you and the baby.”
“I think we’ve got that covered,” Gabriel responded.
“I’m glad you’re not one who get cold feet with pregnant belly, Mr. Love … I suggest you do it regularly to help flex the birth canal for when the baby makes its way out.”
“Sounds like we will be very busy,” he said.
Jamie held a smile.
**********
She called Perry immediately after the appointment and kept him up to date. She showed him the sonogram, Perry cried when he saw the shape of the baby.
They spoke for hours on the phone leaving Gabriel left out with his book while he listened to the conversation the whole time. They were giggling, laughing and whispering.
After a while, he finally put his book down and came over to Jamie from behind. He nibbled in her ear, “Perry … I think it’s time we follow the doctor’s order … would you mind leaving her to me now?”
Perry laughed, “Of course, Gabriel … I have to go … water my plants too.” Which was equally important for Perry. Then they hung up.
He put down her phone on the table, slid down her kimono and pulled up her nightgown. His hands swiftly moved around her. Before she knew it, his fingers were inside her, the strap of her gown fell off. His mouth on her neck and shoulder. She moaned.
“Let’s get you to bed,” he said and picked her up to the bed.
It was the honeymoon phase, they call it. They couldn’t get their hands off each other. Her breasts were swollen because they were producing milk. She hated her breasts and how heavy they were. The way they looked, they sagged right above her round belly. This was the period where most men lost their sexual attraction towards their spouse. But that wasn’t the case with Gabriel. He was falling head over heels for her.
Fresh flowers came every few days. He kept his meetings locally in Bhorma or otherwise cancelled. He sat on the hotel balcony with his book everyday just to watch her working at the conservation. They have dinner together everyday, breakfast in bed most days.
They exercise the privilege and had sex every night and sometimes in the morning. He wasn’t much of a talker, but everything he did touched her in a way no words can touch her.
It was strange how he was obsessively drawn to her pregnant body, how he wanted to feel her whenever the baby kicked. He put his ear on her stomach before he fell asleep, it was the first part he fondled with whenever they made love.
“Gabriel …” she called him. She was sitting on his lap facing him on the bed.
He looked up.
She put her hands on his face, traced her finger around his light brown eyes, ran her thumb across his lips.
He was looking at her with gentleness in his stare.
“Who are you? What have you done to me?” the question she asked herself in silence when they first met.
He furrowed his brows, bewildered by her intentions.
“There’s only so little I know about you … yet I found myself free falling into the abyss that is you … I wonder if I will ever be the one who knows you more than anyone.”
There was no change in his expression, he pulled her naked body closer to him by the waist. “You will,” he said.
His face was so beautiful, she couldn’t stop admiring it. In that close proximity where every cell in her body was pulled towards him, wanting him to open up to her and tell her everything she wanted to know about him. He offered no words.
“Come home with me,” he only said.
“To your house?”
He chuckled, “Where else would it be?”
“Your apartments? Hotels?” she remembered what the stylists said to her.
He shook his head lightly, “Come home with me … I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
She smiled widely, “You promise?”
He nodded with a smile, never taking his eyes off her. “If you promise to stay.”
A surge of warmth filled her heart, he wanted her to stay. She blushed.
“I’ll show you my dungeon … where I keep all my captives … impregnate them with my seeds so they can breed into the world and conquer it one day,” he wasn’t even blinking when he said it.
She paused and looked at his flat expression before burst into a laugh, “I can’t believe I don’t even know you well enough not to believe that.”
He laid her on the bed and climbed on top of her, “Come on Jamie, we’ll play dungeons and dragons … it’ll be fun.”
She laughed her head off, “You are delightfully … magnificently … strange …”
“I’m glad you approve,” he approached and kissed her.