CHAPTER 6

Maya and Trucy had decided to throw Phoenix a special little party after the exam. Since we decided to just stay in they had me ask Vera if we could have it at our..er.. my…Vera's apartment. I didn't even know what to call it since I had technically been living there with Vera before she left, but had she not left for Europe I might have been kicked out…but then again had she not wanted to go to Europe we never would have broken up. At least that was how I felt.

Trucy had decked out the place with balloons and streamers and made a big banner that said, "We object to waiting for test results!" It was cute.

We had pinned a note to the office door telling him to come upstairs for dinner and when he walked through the door he looked haggard. It had obviously been a tough day.

"How'd you think it went?" I asked eagerly.

He shrugged. "The test has changed a lot since the last time I took it. I'm glad I reviewed all that divorce law stuff because they had a ton of it on there. Like I'm ever going to use that…" And then he laughed in an awkward hollow way.

Crap! It must not have gone well.

"Nick, don't worry about it. I'm sure you did great. Come sit down Trucy made us dinner."

Dinner was delicious some kind of steak with onions and garlic mashed potatoes. I never realized Trucy was such a good cook. It made me wonder how she had learned to cook since Maya and Nick had the combined culinary talent of a chimpanzee. Despite how good the food was I noticed Phoenix didn't eat that much.

Poor, guy! The test must have been a killer this time!

Everyone was unusually quiet at dinner. Probably for some groups of people it wouldn't have seemed quiet what with Trucy constant chatter about her panties and a new trick she was going to premier at the wonder bar the next week, but I noticed that Phoenix in particular was quiet.

For dessert we had cheesecake and everyone seemed to try to figure out what we wanted to do next. Trucy was trying to get us to play a trivia game with her, but we all knew she would win so we weren't that into the idea.

"Maybe, I should just go to bed. It's been a long day." Phoenix said and I glared at Maya.

Now would be the time to tell him.

Instead, Maya said she needed to go to the bathroom and Phoenix excused himself from the table and at Trucy's insistence went to sit on the sofa rather than going back downstairs to his hovel. She looked at me in dismay. She was obviously upset that her party was not being better received.

Phoenix was sitting with his head in his hands looking very, very tired.

"Daddy, is something wrong?" She said taking a seat next to him.

"No, not at all."

"Daddy, I don't believe that."

Then Maya came back from the restroom and snuggled up next to Phoenix on the sofa. Phoenix smiled weakly and Trucy jumped up and said, "Ok, let's play charades!"

"Yeah, let's!" said Maya suddenly more energized than I had seen her in weeks.

Trucy went first and after a lot of work we figured out she was signing the title of the movie, "Three Pirates and a Monkey."

Then Maya mischeviously said she had one and she got up and pointed to herself grinned and cupped her hands together like she had a big stomach. I kept my mouth shut. It seemed like a helluva way to find out your wife is pregnant, but Maya and Nick function differently than most people.

"You're Santa Claus!" shouted Trucy.

Maya shook her head and laughed and then cupped her hands together again this time rocking them like she was rocking a baby.

"Oh, you're having a baby!" Said Phoenix so into the game he didn't realize what he was saying. Maya hopped up and down and smiled and then Phoenix's smile dropped.

"You're pregnant?"

She was all smiles and ran over to hug him, but Phoenix still looked puzzled and I saw him glance at me so quickly I was sure nobody else caught it.

Phoenix collected himself and said, "That's great." But for some reason he didn't sound like he thought it was great.

Maya threw her arms around him and said, "I'm so excited. I'm sorry I didn't know how to tell you. I know I should have told you sooner, but I just couldn't. Not with the exam…"

And then Phoenix's face brightened as if a light bulb had lit above it.

"Apollo knew and helped make excuses to cover for you."

"Uh-huh. I'm sorry. I made him do it. He tried to convince me to just tell you, but we were so worried about the exam and-"

Phoenix gave Maya the biggest kiss and said, "I love you, Maya."

Then he turned to me and said, "I love you, Apollo."

All of us looked at Phoenix like he had grown a second nose, but Phoenix was just grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, I'm so relieved. I thought you and Apollo were having an affair."

The aftershock of this comment was I'm sure heard by the neighbors.

I shouted, "What?"

Trucy scolded, "Daddy, how could you think Mommy and Polly would do such a thing?"

And Maya just sat there silently with her jaw dropped open.

Phoenix looked startled by the reaction. "What was I supposed to think? You won't come with me to the courthouse. You stay in bed or hang out with Apollo at the office all day. Apollo gives me all these lame excuses about what your problem could be…"

"You're supposed to have faith in me and realize that if I was going to cheat on you I wouldn't have waited around for years to marry you first." She didn't look genuinely mad, but I still felt like her feelings might have been hurt.

"Look I was upset because I could never imagine you guys lying to me like that. I just didn't know what was going on. It seemed logical. I'm sorry. I'm sorry to both of you, but Maya you should have told me. I've been so upset."

"Well, I wasn't just worried about the exam. There's a little more to it than that. See, I went to the doctor and it's twins."

This was news to me, too. And everybody in the room fell silent with the overwhelming news. Not just one baby, but two!

"I'm going to be a dad…" said Phoenix dazedly.

"You're already a daddy, Daddy," corrected Trucy.

"Of course, but you know Trucy you came to me already toilet trained and you took care of me more than I took care of you. I'm not ashamed to admit I haven't been the best father."

"Daddy, you're a great father, but you need to not jump to conclusions. You better not be planning on doing that in court."

He shook his head. "Trucy, I'm not sure Daddy's going to be back in court soon. The test really didn't go well. I don't wanna let you guys down, but let's not count any chickens before they hatch. Ok?"

No, Phoenix. Not okay. You're gonna pass and I'm going to go on vacation and confess my undying affection for Vera. I will grovel till she takes me back so no rugby playing Interpol agent steals her away from me. This isn't about you anymore, Mr. Wright! This is about me and Vera! You better pass that test, dammit!