CHAPTER 5
Sophie was working half days now, being just a few weeks before her due date. She considered herself blessed everyday for the maternity benefits of her employer which kept her financially stable and their willingness to go to great lengths to keep her on staff; she would be working from home via network computer after the baby came, gradually returning to full time when she would leave the baby at the daycare center in her office building.
As much as she loved the baby she carried, she was tired of being pregnant. She wanted to wear shoes she didn't just slip on because she couldn't reach them to tie the laces; she wanted to wear her pre-pregnancy clothes, she wanted to be able to get in and out of chairs without help and she wanted to see her feet again when she looked down. In short, when someone next referred to the baby she carried, she wanted them to be referring to the baby being carried in her arms.
Bosco was wonderful, if a bit stifling at times. She had given him a key to her apartment after an episode where she hadn't answered her door fast enough and he had forced his way in fearing something had happened to her. After he spent a weekend helping her turn her second bedroom into a nursery, she had teased him about charging him rent since he was at her place so much, listening to her music (which ranged from Mozart to whatever pop song was on the radio to what she called CCM - Contemporary Christian Music -surprised that he seemed not to mind) and eating her food. She knew she was caring about him more than she should; he was just exercising his natural protective instincts. There had never been a hint that they were anything more than friends, good friends. And yet, sometimes Sophie couldn't help but wonder if there was more when she caught him staring at her or feeling the baby move or just being in each other's company.
Likewise, Bosco was discovering a new part of himself. Sophie, he knew, came from a background completely opposite of his. Although she rarely spoke of her parents or any siblings, and he never asked, he knew her childhood hadn't been shattered by divorce. Her religious devotion was evident in her every act; he didn't quite understand it. She never once, in the three months that they'd known each other, told him what he should or shouldn't do. For that matter, she didn't do the things or act the way he had always thought someone so devoted to their faith would do - whatever that was. Religion is for the weak, he had said before meeting Sophie. And he had believed it. Now, after spending time with Sophie, he wasn't so sure of the truth of that statement anymore. Sophie, by any means, was not weak.
Despite Faith's mothering concern that they hadn't known each other very long to be so close, he spent as much time as he could with her and she made no objection. He was surprised when he realized he was attracted to her. It had taken an innocent remark from Faith about Sophie looking so physically different from a past girlfriend, Nicole, for him to see it. Nicole had been tall, blonde, uninhibited and fun; but she didn't command respect from anyone. Sophie, on the other hand was petite, brunette, blushed at almost anything that hinted at being inappropriate, and she compelled respect to be given to her just by her open nature. Nicole was what every man wanted for a one-night stand; Sophie was what a man wanted in a wife.
Her due date was nearing and she was getting anxious, he could tell. They had completed the Lamaze classes weeks ago and Sophie was ready to hold her baby. His lingering fear was that their tie would end once the baby arrived; her attention would focus on the child, not a relationship with him. But, he decided, until that time, he would stay and continue as they had been until she asked him to leave. He would take what he could get - he may not have much longer with her.
Sophie was working half days now, being just a few weeks before her due date. She considered herself blessed everyday for the maternity benefits of her employer which kept her financially stable and their willingness to go to great lengths to keep her on staff; she would be working from home via network computer after the baby came, gradually returning to full time when she would leave the baby at the daycare center in her office building.
As much as she loved the baby she carried, she was tired of being pregnant. She wanted to wear shoes she didn't just slip on because she couldn't reach them to tie the laces; she wanted to wear her pre-pregnancy clothes, she wanted to be able to get in and out of chairs without help and she wanted to see her feet again when she looked down. In short, when someone next referred to the baby she carried, she wanted them to be referring to the baby being carried in her arms.
Bosco was wonderful, if a bit stifling at times. She had given him a key to her apartment after an episode where she hadn't answered her door fast enough and he had forced his way in fearing something had happened to her. After he spent a weekend helping her turn her second bedroom into a nursery, she had teased him about charging him rent since he was at her place so much, listening to her music (which ranged from Mozart to whatever pop song was on the radio to what she called CCM - Contemporary Christian Music -surprised that he seemed not to mind) and eating her food. She knew she was caring about him more than she should; he was just exercising his natural protective instincts. There had never been a hint that they were anything more than friends, good friends. And yet, sometimes Sophie couldn't help but wonder if there was more when she caught him staring at her or feeling the baby move or just being in each other's company.
Likewise, Bosco was discovering a new part of himself. Sophie, he knew, came from a background completely opposite of his. Although she rarely spoke of her parents or any siblings, and he never asked, he knew her childhood hadn't been shattered by divorce. Her religious devotion was evident in her every act; he didn't quite understand it. She never once, in the three months that they'd known each other, told him what he should or shouldn't do. For that matter, she didn't do the things or act the way he had always thought someone so devoted to their faith would do - whatever that was. Religion is for the weak, he had said before meeting Sophie. And he had believed it. Now, after spending time with Sophie, he wasn't so sure of the truth of that statement anymore. Sophie, by any means, was not weak.
Despite Faith's mothering concern that they hadn't known each other very long to be so close, he spent as much time as he could with her and she made no objection. He was surprised when he realized he was attracted to her. It had taken an innocent remark from Faith about Sophie looking so physically different from a past girlfriend, Nicole, for him to see it. Nicole had been tall, blonde, uninhibited and fun; but she didn't command respect from anyone. Sophie, on the other hand was petite, brunette, blushed at almost anything that hinted at being inappropriate, and she compelled respect to be given to her just by her open nature. Nicole was what every man wanted for a one-night stand; Sophie was what a man wanted in a wife.
Her due date was nearing and she was getting anxious, he could tell. They had completed the Lamaze classes weeks ago and Sophie was ready to hold her baby. His lingering fear was that their tie would end once the baby arrived; her attention would focus on the child, not a relationship with him. But, he decided, until that time, he would stay and continue as they had been until she asked him to leave. He would take what he could get - he may not have much longer with her.