"Happy anniversary!" two voices cried together in the early morning of June 21, 2003. Two forms, one tall and slender, the other smaller and markedly pregnant, crept out quietly onto the back deck to curl up next to each other and watch the sunrise before heading inside to have pancakes and scrambled eggs and toast and bacon and cereal. After eating, they didn't even worry about the excess syrup dripping from their plates onto the beige tile floor that she worked so hard to keep clean, or the dirty dishes that piled up in the sink, or the persistent stickiness that lingered on their fingers and mouths even after they'd eaten. Two mouths locked in the bedroom, silhouetted against the bright sunshine that streamed in through vertically set windows, curtains drawn back. They merged together like a river meeting the sea, the graceful lines of their bodies melting into each other and becoming one. Against the contrasting bright background, they looked like one misshapen person, her legs wrapped around his, his hands pressing into the small of her back, her arms locked around his neck.
They fell back onto the bed, barely taking note of the movement, not permitting it to interrupt the moment. He felt himself sinking beneath their combined weights, and the weight of two children who were not yet born, but very nearly ready to enter the world. And she forgot for one wild instant that she was anything but his loving wife, forgot to hold herself back as she usually did, for fear of being hurt. She could feel his heart racing against her own body. And she knew that his strength was there to protect her, not to hurt her. She didn't have to hold back.
He rolled over, so she was lying on her side, and got up to close the curtains. At once the room was thrown into semi-darkness. She blinked, adjusting herself to this new dimness, aware all the while of his returning to her. As she grew accustomed to the light, she stared at his muscular, yet slender body as it drew nearer and nearer to her. She'd never before appreciated how very tall he was, or how his strapping shoulders gave his whole body a sense of power, or how his stocky hands lent him a feeling of balance. She'd never given a thought to his strong chin, which created a sense of sternness about him, though she knew it was misleading. She had seen him at his weakest and strongest in the time she'd known him, seen him break down crying in blind terror of that which was out of his control, had seen him laughing gaily as they opened presents on Christmas morning and birthdays. She felt the mattress sink on her right as he rejoined her, automatically rolling her closer to him, to be caught in the comfort of his embrace.
And as he walked back to the bed, he too was bombarded with past memories of holidays and visits and dreams they'd shared. And he too stared at her, realizing as if for the first time the perfect balance of her dancer's body, wrapped in silk sheets, which clung to her and revealed the stunning form beneath, as he still considered it to be despite her pregnancy. He gazed at her round face and the long hair that framed it, hair that he'd spent what seemed now the better part of his life convincing her was beautiful and perfect for her. Yes, the better part of his life: it felt as though the only moments of his existence that mattered were those he'd spent with her. He noticed her little hands, and how they gave her whole body an illusionary sense of frailty and defenselessness. He peered through the darkness into her rich hazel eyes, watching and regarding him silently, even as he regarded her. He admired the soft, gentle curves of her body, set in all the right places. It was the body of a woman, not the young girl he knew she still considered herself to be.
He didn't tell her any of this as he took his place in the bed beside her. Nor did she voice the revelations she had just experienced. In fact, both of them stopped thinking at all as they melted into each other once again, holding each other as though afraid of letting go ever again.

They allowed themselves to sleep until it was nearly noon, overtired from a late night and early rising. Jenn sat up, blinking sleep out of her eyes. The room was still semi-dark, the thick curtains allowing little light to penetrate.
Orli awoke as he felt Jenn move. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and looked around. He smiled as his eyes lit on Jenn. "Have a nice nap?" he asked cheerfully.
Jenn looked over at him, returning the smile. "It was great. I'm ready to get up and do something, though. Do we have plans for the rest of our day?"
Orli wrinkled his nose, apparently deep in thought. Jenn giggled as she watched his face. "I don't know. We could take a drive out to our property along the river, where we went for New Year's, and spend the day away from the city."
Jenn swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid onto the floor, walking across the room to pick out an outfit. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do."
Orli grinned and slipped out of bed also. "We can go whenever we're ready."
Jenn paused, halfway through pulling on a lightweight, simple cotton T-shirt. "What if someone else is up there already?"
Orli looked puzzled. "Such as…?"
"Such as someone else from your family?" Jenn suggested.
"Nobody's there," Orli responded carelessly. "I would know if someone was in the country."
"Should we grab some lunch on the way there?" Jenn asked.
"That might be a good idea," Orli answered, yanking a shirt on and stepping into a pair of shorts. "How do you feel about fast food?"
Jenn shrugged. "Whatever works. Are we having a nice dinner?" she added as an afterthought.
"Nothing but the best for my wife," Orli told her, with a mock-formal bow in her direction.
Jenn laughed, unable to think up a clever response.
They drove down to the riverfront. The trip took nearly an hour, but Jenn stared out the window and enjoyed the scenery most of the way, talking almost nonstop as she did so.
"So don't you have a new movie coming out soon?" she asked innocently.
Orli glanced over at her. "You seem to already know the answer."
Jenn's whole face lit up. "Can we go together to see it?"
"No," Orli said firmly. "Absolutely not. No. Stop that. I have to watch the road. No, no, no! I will not give in to the cute little puppy face. No!"
Jenn slunk down in her seat and stared out the window again. Orli sighed. "All right. Fine. We'll go see the movie. But I will not watch it. I will sit there and… and… I will not watch."
Jenn grinned, sitting upright again. "What's it called again?"
Orli rolled his eyes. "Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Sounds intriguing," Jenn told him, trying not to giggle madly. "So when exactly did you film this? I remember some last summer and into the fall, but you've mostly been working on Ned Kelly lately."
"We film a long time in advance," Orli explained. "I shot a lot of this last spring, and finished up in early fall. I actually had to beg for a month off so we could have our wedding and honeymoon."
Jenn's response was simple. "I'm glad you did."
Orli reached over to squeeze her hand. "I always have time for you. I threatened to walk out if they refused to give me the time off."
Jenn was touched. "I didn't know you cared."
"None of that," Orli reprimanded, sounding very much like Michelle did when she was about to begin a lecture on self-confidence, and Jenn's lack thereof. "I think marrying you should have told you I cared. By the way, after the wedding last year, Michelle told me you were convinced I was marrying you out of pity?"
"That rat," Jenn muttered, and shrugged, slightly embarrassed. Her husband and friends provided her with much self-esteem, but there was still something to be desired. Jenn had no idea what she was waiting for, but she did know that her hard-earned self-confidence tended to abandon her at the most inappropriate of times. She determinedly shook it off and gave her husband an apologetic look. "I was just nervous. I didn't really mean it. I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Orli answered gently. "I just don't want to think you think I don't care about you."
Jenn sighed. "I know you do. It's just…"
Orli waited. When he realized she wasn't going to finish, he prodded her with, "It's just… what?"
"It's… nothing. I don't know. Oh, I'm being stupid. Let's just enjoy our first anniversary," Jenn declared.
Orli pulled into the driveway of a large, three-story house surrounded by elaborate gardens. Jenn jumped out of the car almost before Orli had rolled it to a stop. She loved the property. Everything about it was so beautiful. Jenn was not an outdoorsy type of person, but she did love those gardens.
She rushed toward the bench where she and Orli had wished each other a happy New Year. Though she wasn't sure how she knew which bench it was, she knew. The wind whipped past her as she sprinted across the soft grass, bending in submission to her presence. She laughed out loud as she felt the sun warming her face and heard Orli behind her, chasing her. Let him chase her. Let him run. She was Jenn and she was unstoppable.
They both collapsed on the bench, laughing, breathless. Jenn grinned up at Orli through the windblown hair flying across her face. "You couldn't catch up with me!" she cried gleefully.
Orli lunged as if to tickle her. "I think I just did!"
Jenn rolled away, sensing his intended action. "Only because I stopped!" she yelled, wildly exhilarated. She gasped and clutched wildly at the bench as she rolled right off it, landing in the grass with her hand pressing into the rough edges of the marble.
Orli reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear before graciously pulling her to her feet. "I would have caught you in ten more seconds anyway," he declared, sounding quite sure of himself.
Jenn sneered. "You couldn't catch me if you had a hundred horses to ride and ten thousand men to help you out and a car in case the horses…"
Orli covered her mouth with his hand. "Jenn, you're talking nonsense."
She pulled away, looking playfully insulted. "I am not!"
"Are you hearing yourself?"
"Yes!"
"Well, are you actually listening?"
"Yeah!"
Orli grinned, shaking his hair, still damp from a quick shower, out of his face. "I worry about you sometimes, Jenn."
Jenn burst out laughing.
"This is one of those times I'm worrying about you," he informed her, alarmed. Had he missed a joke?
Jenn only laughed harder. Orli stared down at her, eyebrows raised, then shrugged and gave up. Looking at her made him laugh, too. He didn't know why, and he doubted she did either. But he hadn't laughed like that in a long time.

He chased her for a while, and then she suddenly turned around and chased after him. He let her catch up, and she ran right into his arms, knocking them both over. It didn't bother either of them in the slightest.
They ran barefoot through the gardens, sometimes stopping to rest on marble and stone benches. Orli collected several of the choicest flowers and presented them to Jenn with a bow. She clapped her hands gleefully as she accepted them and gave him a kiss in return. He pulled a small flower from the ground and tucked it behind her ear; she seized his hand and pulled it around her, and then they kissed again.
They barely noticed when it started to rain. They kept running, as if sprinting in circles would take them far away. When the rain became a downpour, Jenn stopped running and stretched her arms wide, letting her mouth hang open to catch raindrops. Suddenly, she found herself looking at Orli instead of the sky. "You're blocking my raindrops!" she yelped, indignant.
Orli pretended to look hurt. "Would you rather have raindrops or me?"
"I'd rather have you," she answered quickly, and it was true. She hurried to add, "But I can't quite reach you."
He bent down, his mouth merging with hers.
Only when it started to thunder and flash lightning did they realize they had better go inside.
Orli blasted the air conditioning. Jenn was confused as to why he would make it so cold, but couldn't deny that it was a nice change from the monotonous heat of summer; even the current storm made for intolerably humid weather. Still she shivered, involuntarily. He went into a back room, deaf to her questions, and came out with a thick woolen blanket, which he wrapped lovingly around her before going off to boil water for hot chocolate.
Jenn had to admit it was nice to be cold and sip hot chocolate in the middle of June. Though not a fan of winter, she missed curling up by the fire on winter nights, and cuddling extra close to stay warm, as she hadn't done for months. It was better than any fancy restaurant, and she told him so.
"I do my best," he said with an embarrassed sort of laugh, not wanting lavish praise heaped on him. "I had a craving for hot chocolate anyway."
"So did I," Jenn admitted, wiping the drink from around her mouth. "But it's just so hot out, I never would have thought of this."
Orli waved his hand, as if to also wave aside the praise. "Sure you would have."
"No," Jenn insisted. "You're really something, you know that?"
"I don't know about that," Orli answered carefully, "but thanks." He laughed suddenly. "I guess you don't remember it, but you've mentioned several times how you wish it were colder out, I suppose partly because you're always overheated these days. Once, I mentioned hot chocolate to you, and you practically jumped at me, as if you thought I had some."
Jenn was puzzled. "How is it that I have no memory of this?"
Orli looked down quickly, but was too slow to hide his grin. "You were asleep. Actually, this was something of an impulse. We can turn the air down whenever you want."
Jenn, wrapped in her blanket, snuggled closer to him on the plush couch. "I think I'm doing all right for now. It's a welcome change."
Orli draped his arm around her, his chin resting on her head.

By the time Jenn finally grew cold enough to want to turn the air down, her hot chocolate was long finished and Orli had disappeared beneath a thick flannel blanket. Jenn's hand hovered over the control unit, suddenly reluctant to make it any warmer than it was. She'd been so overheated for months now, and, glancing at Orli, she realized what her husband was sacrificing to make her more comfortable.
She shook her head with a grin. She had the sweetest husband in the world, and it was time to do him a favor. She turned the air down and returned to the couch where he sat.
As soon as he heard her return, Orli slowly poked his head out from under his blanket, grinning up at her in a way Jenn found comparable to the smile of a newborn baby. "I made it warmer," she told him, proud of herself.
He smiled. "But now you'll be too hot," he protested halfheartedly.
"Nah, I'm fine," Jenn declared. She pulled him into a big bear hug. "Besides, you've been too cold."
"I was fine," Orli insisted, but Jenn laughed. "You were completely holed up under a huge blanket," she reminded him. "Don't worry about me, it's still cool in here."
Orli sat upright, setting aside his blanket as relatively warm air seeped through the house. "Hey, the babies were due yesterday, weren't they?" he asked, not sounding alarmed, but rather surprised.
"Yeah, they were," Jenn answered. "Are you worried?"
"Not if you're not," Orli murmured, pulling her closer. "I trust your instincts."
Jenn frowned, thinking of the time Orli had rushed her to the hospital for what turned out to be no reason. Orli, guessing her thoughts, laughed at the miffed looked on her face. "But at least we knew there was no reason to be alarmed that time, instead of wondering if you were about to give birth in the middle of the living room," he told her. His face grew pensive. "So what have we decided on for names, exactly?"
Jenn absently tapped her finger against the arm of the couch, frowning as she strained to remember. It was silly to forget- imagine being unable to remember her children's names!- but for some reason they weren't jumping to mind. "I liked Jayme and Brian, I think. And you liked Allyson, didn't you? I don't want Brian anymore. I want Allyson."
Orli burst out laughing. "Babies are not interchangeable. Besides, you can't change a baby's name to Allyson if you've planned to name it Brian. One's a girl and the other's a boy, Jenn," he explained earnestly.
Jenn frowned as she pushed away his hand, which had been creeping towards hers. The playful note in her voice contradicted her harsh action. "Well, I still like Allyson. You were right. Allyson is better than Jayme. And Brian doesn't sound so good with Bloom. Someone said that it did. But they were wrong."
"That might have been me," Orli cut in. "So I was right on one count and wrong on another. I'd say they cancel each other out."
It was Jenn's turn to look thoughtful. "I've always wanted a girl named Allyson Michelle. It has nothing to do with our Michelle," she added, anticipating his question as he opened his mouth. "I just love the name. Allyson Michelle Bloom."
"It's nice," Orli agreed, surprised to arrive at a peaceful solution. "But it's also only one name," he added as an afterthought. "We need four."
Jenn frowned. "You come up with something."
Orli thought for a moment. "I can't think of any other names for girls. You liked Jayme before, didn't you? I mean, I know you like Allyson better, but Jayme's a good name too."
"Do we want middle names?" Jenn asked. "You don't have one."
"I suppose they'd be fine, but it depends on baby names," Orli remarked. "We don't want a huge name that would take an hour to say."
"I thought we liked a lot of two-syllable names," Jenn said, straining to remember that long-ago afternoon when she, Orli and Josh had sat and argued about baby names as if there were nothing more important in the world. That had been before the car wreck, before Michelle's miscarriage, before Jenn's false alarm, before Jenn had fully realized that she would love her children even if their names were not her favorites. She mulled over that one for a few silent minutes as Orli sat watching her, absorbed in his own thoughts. Finally she spoke. "I've always liked the name Jocelyn, but I know you're not crazy about that."
Orli chose his words carefully, trying to avoid what he clearly anticipated as an argument. "It's not a bad name, but no, I'm not crazy about it. I do like Allyson, though. If we only have one girl, that's my choice."
Jenn glanced up hopefully. "Do you like Michelle as a middle name, too?"
"It goes well with Allyson," he answered. "And we know it's a great name," he added with a grin. "I like that."
"But what if we have two girls?" Jenn fretted. "And what about boys?"
"I like Justin and Daniel for boys' names, and I don't know about other girls."
Jenn spoke seriously. "I was thinking- if you agree- of giving any boys your name as their middle name. We could have Justin Orlando, maybe. I just think it makes a good name. Maybe it's not best with Justin, but I love your name."
Orli laughed, pleased. "Thank you, but I don't know about that. We're not giving girls your middle name, are we? That's a thought, though…" he added.
Jenn wrinkled her nose. "We already have one girl's name, and we like Jayme. Jayme Nance doesn't sound so good."
"True," Orli reflected, "but if we come up with another name…." He trailed off into silence.
"I like Nicholas as a boy's name," Jenn volunteered, "and it sounds pretty good with Bloom."
"Nicholas Bloom," Orli mused. "I like that."
"Justin's nice too," Jenn said, anxious to agree with him for a change. "And Daniel's a good name."
Orli smiled. "Well, we have all our choices… Now we just have to wait and see what happens!"
Jenn laughed. "I feel like we should write them down or something, in case we forget."
Orli started laughing too. "Imagine our children being ten years old and we forget their names!"
Jenn looked mock offended. "I think we'd remember by then. I'm actually picturing us in the hospital, and the nurses asking what our babies' names are, and us standing there looking at each other and trying to remember."
Orli seized a pen and pad off the end table nearest him and pulled it towards him. "Let's see…" he began, clicking open the pen. "Allyson Michelle," he dictated to himself as he wrote. "Justin… Daniel… Jocelyn… Nicholas… Jayme. Did I miss any?" he asked, glancing up.
Jenn tucked a rebellious lock of hair behind her ear. "I think that covers it." She yawned and stretched. "I don't want to talk about baby names anymore. Let's do something."
"Such as…?" Orli questioned.
Jenn checked her watch. "It's almost five-thirty! How did it get so late?"
Orli looked up at the clock over the fireplace, startled. He had no idea where the day had gone.
"What did you say we're doing for dinner?" Jenn asked, subconsciously placing a hand over her stomach.
"A friend at a restaurant not far from here offered to cook for us," Orli told her distractedly. "I told him we'd call between five and six to order." He tugged two menus, buried under a centerpiece of artificial flowers, off the coffee table in front of him, presenting one to Jenn and diving into the other. "Knock yourself out."
Jenn looked as though she very much wanted to comment at his choice of words, but resisted the urge.