Chapter 33 – Family

I pulled back a little, but kept my arms around my wife, but I saw a tiny tear course down her cheek. "Louisa, you're… crying."

"Yes," she answered, wiping her cheek on my shoulder. "Sorry."

I am mystified at times by human behavior, especially that of my wife. "I thought you wanted to have another child."

She nodded. "I do," she sniffed, and then she kissed me full on the mouth.

I tasted lipstick, as well as her salty tears, and also could smell Kenzo Flower, a scent she wore sparingly. Her lips worked against mine, and her arms tightened, pulling us close together. After our kiss ended, I didn't push her away, but stroked her hair with one hand, while the other was firm round the small of her back.

"Nice," she mumbled into my lapel.

"Yes."

She sighed. "So, here we go."

"Ah, yes, the, your pregnancy."

"Ours, Martin. Yours and mine. I didn't get myself pregnant."

I recalled a certain encounter some weeks ago. "Perhaps…"

"Doubting me?"

"No."

"You know," she whispered into my ear, "thinking back, I think it must have been the night we went out to dinner."

We didn't eat out very often, so putting two and two together, and given the evidence of the calendar, I said to her, "The Rockport."

"You do remember."

"I… do. I had the sea bream. You had the lemon sole."

She drew her head back to look me in the eye. "Yes, I do think you are right."

And later… well, it must have been that night. James must have been asleep when we got home for Mel, the child minder, was reading a magazine as we entered the house.

"You're back," she grumbled. "At last. He went down about thirty minutes ago. I think he missed you, but after we read the dinosaur book again, he went straight down."

Louisa had smiled. "Thank you so much for minding him." She turned to me and gave me a look.

"Yes," I said, as I dug out my wallet to extract a few Pounds. When Louisa saw what I held in my hand, she sighed, took my wallet from me, pulled out a twenty and a five, and gave that to the woman.

"Thank you so much, Mel," Louisa told her. "Last minute, after our minder bowed out."

Mel stuffed the money into her handbag, picked up her jacket, and turned to go. "With my fella out at his lodge meetin' this was better than staring at the four walls," she sniffed, but then she smiled. "Twenty-five works a treat. Thank you, Louisa, and you as well, Doc."

I cleared my throat.

Louisa followed her to the door. "Thank you again, Mel. This was lovely. G'nite!"

"Night then," the woman answered her as she left.

Louisa closed the door. "I'd no idea that Audrey Wilson would back out like that."

"Irresponsible teenager."

"Or you put her off," Louisa moaned.

There was some truth to that. "But we can't leave James Henry with just anyone," I protested.

"Audrey O'Toole is a very nice girl, and I've known her family for ages."

I couldn't tell my wife that I had good reason to doubt that girl, beacuse I could not share her medical history of borderline alcohol misuse. I went to the kitchen and inspected the room. Mel had cleaned up after she had fed James, but I took up a dishrag, soaped it well, and then wiped down the counter, table, and James' chair, just to be on the safe side.

The dog crawled out of its basket and stared up at me, tail wagging. I ignored it, but Louisa bent down to touch it. I groaned inside. A dog – in our house! But if it made my wife happy… then fine.

"So, Buddy, were you a good boy for Mel? Hm?" she asked the animal.

"It can't understand you, Louisa."

She shook her head. "Well he knows the difference between affection and dislike. And he likes you, Martin."

"Louisa, you are merely assigning human feelings to an animal."

She stood up, then washed her hands at the sink. "We're animals as well, Martin."

"Yes, but of a higher order." Buddy stared up at me, mouth open, and eyes bright. "So, you think he is thinking?"

"He's thinking he'd be delighted if you gave him a pet on the head."

I shook my head. "No thank you." I made certain the doors were locked, then walked up to check on James. He was asleep on his belly, legs pulled into fetal position, while hugging a soft dino toy, and the top of his blanket. I touched the back of his neck, felling his warm skin, and shifting my hand to his back, felt slow gentle breaths; for he was deep in slumber.

"Is he okay?" Louisa whispered.

"He's fine," I told her. "Goodnight, James," I whispered to our son.

Louisa bent over the rail to kiss his head. "Night little man. Love you." She straightened up and took my arm. "And I love you too."

I looked at her loveliness in the dimness. "I know." Yes, it had been that night; must have been.

Louisa nestled into me, pulling me back to the here and now. "Where'd you go?"

"Just, thinking, er, about that place - The Rockport."

She smiled. "And after." She sighed contentedly. "And now, there will be another Ellingham."

In about seven months. "In time - if all goes well." I stopped that line of discussion for I saw her lip clench between her teeth. "You'll be fine, and the baby."

"Hope so." She put a hand on her belly. "Our baby."

I almost blurted out to her my opinion about elderly gravidas, but I stopped myself. I stopped stroking her hair to trace the line of her chin. "We haven't eaten, and you need…"

She kissed my fingers. "I need… you, Martin." Her hand started to loosen my tie.

"Louisa, what are you doing?"

She giggled. "Just go with the flow, husband." Then she started working on my shirt buttons.

"But…" I could imagine any number of reasons to make her stop, but no, for Louisa was my wife, and I did love her, and we'd started another child; growing this very minute inside her. "It seems the family will be growing," I managed to say but she had other ideas.

She started kissing my ear and then moved her lips to my neck. "Our family, Martin… now let me…"

Yes, our family; the one which I cared so much about. I peeled her hands away, walked to the bedroom door and closed it firmly. The lock shot home with a snap. Louisa looked at me quizzically, so I cleared my throat. "Ahem. In case Morwenna returns… early?"

Louisa smiled, patted the mattress next to her, so I walked over to her. "Now…" I sat down. "You were saying?"

Her fingers went to my lips. "No talking,"

I could only nod as I followed my wife's lead.

Author's note:

It seems that I started writing this story on Dec. 12, 2017.