LOST AND FOUND HUSBAND (10 page)

She laughed, then moaned. “Oh, God. Laughing wasn’t a good idea.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t talk to me for a while.”

He sat in a chair near the bed. By now she was bunched into a ball.

She gave up the fight and raced past him and into the bathroom. He would have preferred to hold her hair back than to sit here and do nothing. He could hear her retching.

He had to keep reminding himself that it was the baby and not anything serious. But his experience with Corrine wasn’t helping the logical side of his brain to cope with having a sick wife.

Dana emerged a short while later, with her skin pale and her face damp from where she’d obviously splashed water on it.

She said, “I should be all right now.”

She didn’t look all right to him. “We’re not going to the zoo today.”

“Don’t spoil my fun. I just need to rest for a bit.” She got back into bed. “I was like this yesterday morning, and by late afternoon, I was walking down the aisle like a goddess. I swear, Eric, I’ll be fine.”

She spoke the truth. An hour later, she was hungry for breakfast. So he ordered it, and when it arrived, she ate like a little piggy. He’d never been so glad to see a woman wolf down her food.

“Told ya,” she said. “I’m the picture of pregnant health.”

And he was the picture of a guy too freaked out to be in this situation. His nerves were nearly shot. “I don’t even want to consider what’s going to happen later on.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you’re in labor and having those horrible contractions.” He’d seen reenactments of childbirth on TV with wives yelling at their husbands and blaming them for the pain. “I don’t think I’ll be able to handle you screaming like a banshee.”

“I’m too good-natured for that.”

“You think you’re going to be the exception?”

She flicked a chip of toast at him. “Yep.”

He shook his head. She was something else. “I’m not having a food fight with you.” He was too freaked out for that, too.

“Then for goodness’ sakes, have a drink.” She cracked open the mini bar and spiked his orange juice with a shot of vodka.

They both looked at the cocktail and laughed. It was absurd to be presented with a screwdriver at this time of the day. But even so, he went ahead and belted it back, using it as a reward for surviving his first morning of having a pregnant wife.

* * *

Dana and Eric walked around the zoo, and although she was enjoying their surroundings, she was still aware of how her pregnancy was affecting him. She didn’t know what to do to get him to loosen up, at least not completely. With Eric, there was always an underlying edge.

“Are you ready for some ice cream?” he asked.

“I’m always ready for something sweet.”

“I’ll get it. You can sit here and relax.” He motioned to a bench near the zebra habitat.

“You don’t need to keep babying me.”

“I’m not. I’m just offering to get the ice cream.”

She decided not to argue the point. Sometimes it was easier to just go along with him and see where it led. “Make it a double scoop of chocolate.”

“Will do.”

He walked away, and she sat on the bench and gazed at the zebras. She could see their black-and-white bodies through the greenery that filled their enclosure.

He returned with two sugar cones, piled with soft serve ice cream. His was vanilla.

They ate in silence, until he said, “I know an interesting fact about zebras.”

“You do? What?”

“Not all of them live in harems or herds. There’s a species where the males are solitary and the females come and go. When a foal is born into this type of society, the mother walks around her newborn so it will see only her stripe pattern. It’s part of an imprinting process and is necessary for survival. The foal has to recognize its mother because no other female will adopt it.”

“The imprinting is sweet, but the fact that they are unadoptable is sad. Thank goodness it isn’t that way with humans.”

“If it was, I wouldn’t have Kaley, and I couldn’t imagine life without her.”

She couldn’t imagine him without his daughter, either. “Zebras always reminded me of merry-go-rounds.”

“When I was little, I used to associate them with striped gum.”

She smiled. “Doesn’t that come with temporary tattoos now?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t chewed it since I was a kid. But man, I used to go to town on it then, one piece after another.”

“Because it loses its flavor so fast.”

“That’s what was so cool about it. The quick, strong flavor burst.”

“It’s fun thinking of you as a kid. What other things were you into?”

“I’m a product of the seventies and the eighties, so I was into all sorts of goofy stuff, I guess. Mostly I was part of the skate and surf culture.”

“There’s nothing goofy about that. I can see you doing both.”

“Sometimes I miss surfing.”

“You should take it up again.”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while. But I’ll always have a fondness for the beach. That will never change.”

She nodded. She knew how much he loved the sand and the surf. The pier, too. “You’re a California boy.”

“And now you’re a California girl, too.”

“By way of Ohio.” She thought about his other wife. “Was Corrine born here?”

“Yes. She was from L.A., same as me.”

“You two got married when you were twenty and adopted Kaley when you were twenty-four. When did you know for sure that Corrine couldn’t conceive? How long did it take to find out?”

“We tried for about two years, then we decided to see a doctor about it and that’s when they ran some tests and discovered that she was infertile. She was devastated at first, but then she figured that she was meant to be an adoptive mom, especially since she came from an adoptive family herself.”

Dana glanced at the zebras. It didn’t surprise her that Eric knew what he knew about them. That sort of information would’ve stuck in his mind, given his experience. “Why couldn’t she conceive? What was wrong?”

“It was the result of an infection she had when she was younger. But she didn’t realize how severe it was or that it caused infertility. She always had a lot of female problems. She was just used to that sort of thing.” He frowned at his ice cream. “I think that’s why she didn’t recognize the signs of her cancer.”

Dana still didn’t know what type it was. “You’ve never told me about it before.”

“It was uterine cancer. She’d already gone through an early menopause, and she thought the symptoms were related to that. She didn’t see a doctor right away like she should have. But she was still determined to beat it. She fought a good fight. But it was awful, seeing her so sick.”

“Is that why my morning sickness bothers you so much?”

He nodded. “I know it’s not the same, but it still gives me the same feeling.”

“It’s definitely not the same. In a few weeks, I’m going to be right as rain. Waddling like a penguin later on, but that’s how it’s supposed to be.”

He laughed a little. “The voice of motherhood.”

“Darn straight.” She was glad their conversation had turned light. She was also glad that they were tackling the morning sickness issue. “So no more worrying about me.”

“I’ll decide when it’s time to stop worrying.”

She waved her ice cream around. “Can you be any more stubborn?”

“And can you be any messier? You have chocolate on your nose, Dana.”

“I do not.”

“You do, too.”

She took her napkin and dabbed at her nose. Sure enough, she came away with chocolate. She burst into a giggle. “You could have told me earlier.”

“It just happened.” He held his cone out to her. “Want to put some vanilla on it, too?”

“Maybe just a little.” She took a bite instead.

“Hey!” He pulled it away from her, and they laughed like a couple of kids.

But shouldn’t they be acting like kids? They were at the zoo, after all. “We still have a lot more animals to see.”

“And a toy penguin to buy,” he reminded her.

She grinned and gave him a chocolate-flavored kiss, and he kissed her back, making it ridiculously noisy. In spite of how the day had begun, it was turning into a fun-filled adventure and just what she’d hoped for.

* * *

The entire honeymoon was special. Dana enjoyed every moment of it. But it was over now, and she was back at her house, preparing to move in with Eric. Most of her belongings were already packed, but she still had last-minute things to throw into boxes.

Eric was at work, but Candy was there, keeping her company until the movers arrived. Since there was no room for Dana’s furniture at Eric’s house, it would be going into storage until she could sell it.

“I’m going to miss my stuff,” she said. Her colorful dining table and mismatched chairs, her quaint little loveseat, the coat rack that held her shawls, the shabby chic dresser in her bedroom. “Eric’s stuff is nice, but it isn’t me.”

“So toss some of your style into it. Scatter your knickknacks around.”

“I can’t do that without consulting him first. Can you imagine if he came home and saw that I’d made changes to his house?”

“Eric is the one who suggested that you study interior design. Surely, he’s expecting you to redecorate a bit.”

“He’s expecting me to make a mess. That much I know. He thinks that I’ll leave my clothes all over the bedroom.”

Candy smirked. “Because you will.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I meant that in the kindest of ways.”

Distracted, Dana picked up the stuffed penguin he’d bought her. “I keep thinking about how I need to fix him.”

“I knew you would be.”

“Sometimes he’s so amazing and romantic. And other times, he’s so troubled and distant.” She cuddled the penguin. “I’ve actually been having fantasies about what falling in love with him would be like. Does that surprise you?”

“Truthfully? It doesn’t.” Candy’s sigh sounded like a cross between pity and wonder. “What woman wouldn’t want to fall for her big handsome tortured husband? The same guy who surprised her with an antique ring on her wedding day and arranged a spellbinding honeymoon.”

“When you put it that way...” Dana laughed.

Candy laughed, too, even if they both seemed to know that it wasn’t funny. Dana and Eric hadn’t entered into a union based on love.

Uncomfortable with the thought, she said, “Do you think it’s weird that he visits Corrine’s grave as often as he does?”

“Not if it gives him peace.”

“Maybe I should go and confide in her, too.”

“Confide in her about what? Fantasizing about falling in love with her husband? He’s your husband, too.”

“I just think I’d feel better about it if she knew.”

“Do you think she’s really going to be able to hear you?”

“I don’t know.” She quit cuddling the penguin, setting it off to the side. “Do you think I’m going to be able to handle falling in love with him if it happens?”

“You can handle anything, Dana.”

“Even being in love with a man who doesn’t love me?” The question packed a punch. It was the very thing Candy had experienced in her own get-pregnant-get-hitched marriage. Only sadly for her, the baby was gone and so was the husband she’d loved. “You know better than anyone what that’s like.”

“Which is why I’m not a fair judge. But you’re stronger than I am, so I’m going to vote yes. Plus you’re so charming and cool, if you love him, he won’t have a choice but to cave in and love you, too.”

Dana reached out to hug her friend. She couldn’t have said anything nicer. “I’m going to miss you way more than I’m going to miss my furniture.”

“You’re not putting me in storage, silly. But I’m going to miss seeing you every day, too.”

“Rent this place to someone great, okay?”

“No one is going to be as great as you are.”

They hugged again, and the movers arrived. After the truck was packed, Dana said goodbye to Candy and met up with the movers at the storage facility. Soon after that, she went to Eric’s house, where they unloaded the rest of her things.

Once she was alone, she wandered in and out of each room. Already she was getting cabin fever. Or suburbia fever, as it were, with the sudden urge to flee.

But Candy was right. This was her residence now, too, and she needed to relax and make her presence known, for more than the messes everyone was in agreement that she was going to make.

So she called Eric when she knew he would be on a break, asking him if it was okay for her to make a few changes around the house.

He gave her his blessing, so she started the process of digging through her boxes, eager to spice things up.

Chapter Ten

E
ric opened the front door and entered a much more colorful house, which was what he’d expected.

The back of the sofa was draped with a printed throw and a shimmery vase sat on the end table. Everywhere he looked some sort of gypsy doodad had been added: candles, incense burners, glass statuary.

But the part he hadn’t expected was the artwork prominently displayed above the fireplace. The pieces belonged to him, not to Dana. He’d kept them stored in the garage, where she’d obviously found them.

He struggled to grasp how it made him feel, other than newly married and confused.

Not only had she made changes to the interior of the place, she was making dinner. He smelled something delicious in the air. He welcomed the meal. The artwork, not so much.

Just then, a ponytailed Dana appeared from the kitchen to greet him. She bounced into the living room, wearing a fifties-style apron over her jeans and T-shirt. He imagined her saying, “Hi, honey, how was your day?”

But instead, she searched his expression and asked, “So, what do you think?”

He assumed she was talking about the house. But because he wasn’t ready to comment on the artwork, he focused on her attire. “That’s a cute look on you. Is it from a thrift store? Did you get it recently?”

“What? Oh, this?” She smoothed the apron. “I bought it ages ago. Come on, Eric, what do you think of the way I redecorated? If you hate it, I’ll put it back the way it was. But I’m hoping that you’ll appreciate it.”

“I like the gypsy stuff. You made it work in here. But what in the world possessed you to put those paintings up?”

“Because Kaley texted me earlier and when I told her I was doing a bit of redecorating, she said that I should check out the artwork in the garage. That there were some pieces that I would probably love. And I do love them. They’re phenomenal.”

“Did she also tell you that they’re old paintings of mine?”

“They’re your work? No, she didn’t mention that. But that’s even better. Oh, Eric. They’re amazing.”

He winced. “They’re just average landscapes.”

“Average? Are you kidding? They’re misty and moonlit. As soon as I saw them, I felt as if I was being transported to an enchanted realm where powerful lords and delicate ladies were going to sweep me into their beautiful shadows.”

He furrowed his brow, pleased by her praise, but uncomfortable about it, too. “You sound like Corrine. She used to say they that made her feel magical. She never understood why I didn’t think they were worthy of being displayed.”

“Really? She said almost the same thing as I did?”

“Yes, she did.”

“Then there you go. Two women can’t be wrong.”

“Three women. Kaley always wanted me to put them up, too.”

“Ah, then that explains why she told me about them. She loves the changes I made, by the way. I sent her some pictures.”

He wasn’t surprised. His daughter wasn’t a creature of habit. She thrived on change. “I’m glad she’s happy about it.” This would always be Kaley’s home, too, the place where she grew up.

“What do you think of the seashells?”

“What?”

“Below the paintings.” She gestured to the mantel. “I put them there because you love the beach.”

He saw what she meant. She’d placed a grouping of shells where his old wedding picture had been. She’d filled the space with something reminiscent of his past, yet connected to his future since his first date with Dana had taken place at the beach.

“That’s clever,” he told her. She had a way of making everything fit somehow. “You’re going to make a great decorator.”

“Thanks.” She beamed. “I put a romantic memento from our wedding in the bedroom.”

He doubted that it was a photograph because they hadn’t gotten the professional ones back yet and the images their friends and family had taken weren’t the best quality. Plus why would she have called it a memento and not just said that it was a picture?

“Do you want to see what it is?” she asked.

“Yes, of course.” She’d piqued his curiosity.

The bedroom, he discovered, was a disaster. She had open boxes everywhere with the contents spilling out of them.

“I haven’t finished unpacking,” she said.

So he gathered. If there was a wedding memento in here, he sure as heck didn’t see it. But he could see how she’d crammed her clothes into the closet, the hangers poking out at warped angles and the weight of the rod sagging from the extra weight.

She followed his line of sight. “Those aren’t even all of my clothes. I don’t know where I’m going to put the rest of them.”

“We can get a portable closet or a big armoire or something. So, where’s this romantic thing?”

“On the dresser.”

He glanced in the direction she’d mentioned. It was the bride and groom topper from their cake, with her daisy hairpins clipped together in a circle around it.

Eric’s pulse dipped and dived. She’d created a sweet and sexy reminder of that day. And night. He would never forget removing those pins from her hair.

“That’s a nice memento,” he said.

“I thought so, too.”

She moved closer. They probably should have kissed, but they didn’t. Suddenly, everything seemed awkward. They’d only been married for a few days and now that the honeymoon was over and they were locked in a quiet moment, they didn’t know how to behave around each other.

She broke the tension. “I’ve got chicken and potatoes in the oven. That’s what we’ll be having for dinner.”

“Sounds good. Smells great, too.”

“It should ready in about twenty minutes.”

“I’ll meet you in the kitchen. I’m going to change.”

“Okay.” She left him alone.

He maneuvered around the boxes and made his way to the dresser. After he retrieved some comfortable clothes, he closed the drawers, and the vibration rattled the cake topper. The bride and groom wobbled and fell over. Was that a sign of things to come? A message that they were fooling themselves by being married? He didn’t know what to think, other than it was all too new to tell.

Eric righted the figures and changed into a T-shirt and drawstring sweatpants. Rather than meet her in the kitchen sooner than necessary, he attempted to organize the boxes, moving them out of the walkway, along with their spilled contents.

Finally he entered the kitchen. Dana was bustling around in her old-fashioned apron, preparing a salad to go along with the main course.

She did a zillion things at once, he realized. Within the course of a day that wasn’t even over yet, she’d moved into his place, half unpacked, rearranged the house and fixed a hearty meal.

He walked over to the window where she’d placed a sun catcher. He gazed outside. In the backyard, wind chimes were hanging from the roof of the patio cover, and the only way for her to have accomplished that would have been to use a ladder.

“I can’t believe you took a chance like that,” he said.

She turned toward him. “What?”

“Climbed up there.”

“Pregnant women aren’t invalids.”

“You could have fallen.”

“You’re being a worrywart.”

He ignored her comment. “I think you need to start taking it easy. Between work and school and your efforts here at the house, you’ll run yourself ragged.”

“I like keeping busy, and I’ll pace myself when I need to.”

“Maybe you should quit your job.” At least that would eliminate the hours she spent on her feet at the diner.

“Seriously? You’re going overboard.”

“I just want you to take care of yourself.”

“I promise I will, okay? I’ll take a long maternity leave when the time gets closer.”

“You’re not even out of your first trimester yet. That’s going to take forever.”

“The baby will be here soon enough.” She removed the chicken from the oven. “In fact, it wouldn’t hurt to bandy about some names.”

“Other than Sweet Bean?”

“Yup.”

He helped her set the table, and she put the food down.

“What do you think?” she asked, as they sat across from each other.

“Everything looks delicious.” She’d even made a refreshing gelatin dessert that he was eager to try.

“Thanks, but I was talking about the names.”

His thoughts drifted to a custom from his culture. “In the old Cherokee way, a boy is referred to as a bow and a girl is a sifter.”

“Like a bow from a bow and arrow and a sifter that sifts flour?”

He nodded. “Males are associated with being hunters and providers and females are associated with nourishing the family and giving life. There’s even a Cherokee incantation for childbirth that relates to the bow and sifter tradition.”

“What is the incantation supposed to do?”

“Make the birth easier.”

She smiled. “Then maybe you should start saying it instead of worrying about me.”

“It’s not something the father does. It’s part of a ritual done by the medicine person or midwife delivering the baby. I don’t know the exact words, but it encourages the little boy or girl, the bow or sifter, to hurry and come out.”

“A quick birth would be nice.”

“A quicker pregnancy would be nice, too.”

She smiled again. “It takes as long as it takes, Eric. You need to be more patient.”

“I’m trying. I swear I am.” But he feared the months ahead of them were going to seem like a lifetime.

She cut into her chicken. “I asked you this before, but I’m just wondering how you feel now. Do you want to know ahead of time if we’re having a boy or girl? Do you want to find out on my next ultrasound? Or wait until it’s born?”

“I think I’d like to know ahead of time. Then we can start a list of names, and you can decorate the nursery accordingly, too.”

“I was planning on doing zoo animals for the nursery, if that’s okay with you. I figured it would work either way, for a boy or a girl.”

“Then we’ll go with zoo animals and see what shows up on the ultrasound later.”

“Or doesn’t show up. If it’s a girl, you don’t see anything. But sometimes they can’t tell at all, if the baby is in a position where those parts are hidden.”

“I hope we can tell.”

“Me, too.” She tasted her food. “Maybe we should explain bows and sifters to the ultrasound technician. So instead of saying it’s a boy or a girl, they can say it’s a bow or a sifter to the expectant parents.”

“That would be funny, wouldn’t it?”

She nodded, and they both smiled. Then she asked, “Are you going to help with the nursery?”

“Do you want me to help?”

“Of course. I totally want you to be involved.”

He thought about how he could make himself useful, other than putting the crib together. “I can paint pictures of the animals directly on the wall.”

She leaned forward in her seat. “That’s a great idea. Way better than using stencils or borders.”

“The Cherokee symbolism of each animal could be used, too. For example, I can paint ‘introspection’ next to the bear, and ‘dreaming’ beside the lizard. We can pick and choose what animals to use based on their spiritual totems.”

“I love that.” Apparently she loved it so much, she nearly knocked over her water. But she caught the glass before it spilled.

“Good save, Dana.”

“Thanks.” She sat back and readjusted her napkin on her lap. “How involved with Kaley were you when she was a baby?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you get up and feed her in the middle of the night? Did you change diapers? Or did Corrine do most of those things?”

“We shared responsibility.” He wrinkled his nose. “Although I would have been more than happy to pass the dirty-diaper buck.”

She laughed. “Seriously? Who wouldn’t? But if you did it for Kaley, then you’re going to do it for Sweet Bean, too.”

“Yes, but just remember how much younger I was back then.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? That your gag reflexes have gotten more pronounced?” She rolled her eyes at his lame excuse. “You’re not too old to wipe a baby’s bottom, Eric.”

“Listen to you, the authority. How many diapers have you changed?”

“Well, none actually. But—”

“None? As in zip? Zero? Nada?” He wasn’t going to let her talk her way out of this one. “Didn’t you ever babysit or anything?”

“I babysat plenty. Just not kids who weren’t potty trained.”

“Oh, this is rich. I’ll be teaching you how to do everything.”

“Really, smarty? You’re going to teach me to breast-feed? That I’d like to see.”

“At least I know how to bottle feed.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“It will be if you use a pump or whatever it is that breast-feeding mothers do. Then I’ll be bottle feeding like I used to, and teaching you how to do it, too.”

She kept the silly banter going. “I’ll already know how to do it by then.”

“Because I would have showed you.” He mock pounded his chest. “The gorilla king of dads.”

She made a goofy face. “Nice try, but times have changed, pop. You’re probably going to have to learn some of this stuff over again.”

No doubt, which he thought was downright scary. He liked the idea of her breast-feeding, though. He thought it sounded warm and gentle.

Dana asked, “When Kaley was offered to you, did you know that she was going to be a girl?”

“Not at first. But later we did.”

“What made you decide on her name?”

“I wanted to name the baby after my mom, with something that was similar but not the same. My mother’s name was Kaleen. So Corrine suggested Kaley.”

After a pause, Dana asked, “Where is she buried, Eric?”

The question threw him off track. They’d gone from names to burial plots? “Mom was cremated and scattered in the mountains. Dad was, too. It was what they wanted.”

“I was talking about Corrine.”

“Why do you want to know where she is?”

“Because I want to visit her sometime.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“I’m not asking to go with you. I would never intrude on your solitude like that. I just want to go on my own.”

“What for?”

“To bring her flowers from my new garden.”

“What new garden?”

“The one I’m going to plant in the backyard, with your approval, of course. You wouldn’t mind if I created a garden, would you?”