[December 21, 1989]

They ordered breakfast delivered to the room the next morning, because their gift certificate from Eric's aunt included it.

"Our families are pretty generous," Tami said.

"Yeah." He popped a strawberry into his mouth. They were sitting up in bed, each with a tray across their laps. "You haven't touched your pancakes."

"I'm feeling a little nauseous, actually." Now it started. On her honeymoon. "You want them?"

"No, but I'll eat your bacon."

"Oh, I want the bacon. That might actually settle my stomach."

"When did you become such a carnivore?"

She patted her stomach underneath the free-standing tray. "The baby likes meat."

"That's my boy."

"Or girl," she reminded him.

He smiled at her and looked her over. "I think your breasts are getting bigger. How big do they get?"

She shook her head. "That would be your primary concern."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a concern, Mrs. Taylor."

She winced a little. "That sounds so weird. Your stepmother is Mrs. Taylor."

"Stepmother. Now that sounds weird. Do you call P.J. your stepfather?"

Tami giggled. "Stop calling Pastor John P.J."

"Why? It makes you laugh. I love it when you laugh." He leaned over and kissed her. Then he reached for her plate. "I might take those pancakes after all. Got to fatten up for the spring workouts."

She ended up throwing up after she ate the bacon. He stood outside the bathroom asking, "Are you a'ight? Can I help?"

"Go away!" she told him.

She came out later, showered, dressed, and feeling a lot better. He was in his swim trunks, looking out the window. She admired his broad shoulders and muscular calves. She was going to become as big as a ship, while he continued to train and stay in ideal shape. The cheerleaders and sorority girls would hover around the practices, admiring him, she was sure.

"Are you actually going to try to swim?" she asked. It was 68 outside at the moment. "The water must be 50 degrees!"

"That's not that cold," he insisted. He smiled at her. "You feelin' better?"

"Much."

"You gonna put on your bikini? The…uh….little red one?"

"God no. I didn't bring that. I brought a one piece." One size up from her last swimsuit, too.

He frowned.

"It's not warm enough for that, Eric! I'm pregnant, and you get to see me naked later this afternoon anyway." If she wasn't throwing up, that was.

They went down to the nearly deserted beach. There were a few people lounging farther down, but December wasn't precisely beach season.

He ran into the water while she lounged on a beach chair. She watched him wade in up to his waist, and then dive under, when she was distracted by a waiter offering to take a drink order. She asked for a virgin strawberry daiquiri. The thought of it didn't nauseate her. "And a Corona for my husband," she said.

"Yes, ma'am."

Eric ran shivering out of the water and toward her. His teeth chattering, he grabbed his towel from the chair next to her and wrapped it around himself.

"I told you so," she said. "I'm surprised you lasted that long."

He sat down.

"I just called you my husband," she said, "to the waiter."

"Did it feel weird?"

"Yeah."

He smiled. "You'll get used to it. In ten or twenty years."

She read the Joy Luck Club while he read the pregnancy book she'd given him. Sarah had recommended the Amy Tan book to her, which had just been released this year. It wasn't exactly a beach read, though, and she wished she'd brought something lighter.

"It says here," he said, "that you're not going to want to have sex with me much during the last trimester, and you need a six week break after the baby is born."

"Yep. That's what it says."

"That's like….eighteen weeks of no sex."

"Less sex in the third trimester. Not no sex."

"Six weeks of no sex," he said, "after the baby is born. I've never done that."

She turned slowly to look at him. "Never?" He'd waited a year for his first girlfriend, and it wasn't as if he and Tami had had sex right away either. "Who were you having sex with those first six weeks we were dating?"

He smiled. "Well, but…I was getting something from you."

"I promise I'll manage some hand jobs in the six weeks after the baby is born. And some blow jobs." Tami didn't have the slightest idea how tired she would be, or how unsexy she would feel, when she made this casual vow.

"They do have some suggestions for third trimester positions," he said. He turned the book toward her. She raised her sun glasses. He pointed to a sketch. "Says we have to do it doggy style."

Tami lowered her sunglasses, slowly and cooly. "There are at least five other comfortable third trimester positions suggested. It's interesting you zeroed in on that one."

"I'm just saying, the book says you'll need to get down on your hands and knees before your husband."

She chuckled. "That's not my favorite position."

"How do you know? You've never tried it. At least not with me. And so I assume not with anyone, seeing as I burst your cherry…"

She turned her head toward him again. Had he forgotten that she'd lost her virginity at 15, to a boy who had never acknowledged her again? Well, she didn't feel the need to remind him. Let Eric revise that history as he pleased. She wished she could revise it. "Did you just skip straight to the sex section, sugar? That's two-thirds of the way through the book."

He shrugged and turned a page. "I'm just making sure I know how to keep the customer satisfied, babe."

"I'm going to be so huge you're not even going to want to have sex with me," she muttered.

He laughed. "I don't think there's any danger of that." He reached for his Corona and took a sip. "They didn't ask for ID?"

"Nope. We're man and wife now. I guess they suppose if you can handle a lifetime commitment, you can handle a beer."

[December 22, 1989]

"Mornin'," Eric drawled.

Tami's eyelids fluttered open. He was looking down at her. His erection was pressed against her outer leg.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Sexy fun time," he said.

"I need to throw up." She slid from the bed. As she disappeared into the bathroom, she saw him throw himself on his back and sigh.

Tami felt better around noon. She'd showered and put on a soft, cotton, short-sleeved dress.

Eric had gone for a run along the beach and returned to the room dripping with sweat, breathing hard, like he often did after sex. He wiped his face with his t-shirt, which revealed the taut V of his muscles as they dipped down into his black athletic shorts. Tami was suddenly extremely horny. "Eric, would you do me a favor, sugar?"

"What's that?"

"Fuck me hard and fast. You don't even have to shower."

His eyes widened. She'd never said that word to him before, but she couldn't think of a better word to describe what she wanted from him right now.

He closed the distance between them in three quick strides and undressed her quickly. He swept her up hungrily, but then he lay her on the bed more gently.

Eric took her somewhat delicately, slower and more gently than she wanted, and she came softly. Her gentle whimper caused him to lose control, and he finished with a single stroke.

When his heavy breathing had subsided, she said, "Were you afraid of hurting the baby?"

"Yeah."

"You won't, Eric."

He kissed her cheek.

"You stink," she said, the glistening beads of sweat no longer a turn on now that she was satisfied. "You need a shower."

"Want to come wash my back?"

She did. They sported beneath the water, Eric taking his sweet time washing her body. She'd felt a little self-conscious about her weight gain when they climbed beneath the warm spray, but he spent so much time admiring her and telling her how sexy and beautiful she was, that she came out feeling more like a goddess.

They re-entered the bedroom, Eric with a white towel hooked around his waist, and Tami with one supported by her breasts. She kissed him and put a hand on the front of his towel. "Happy Birthday, sugar," she said as she stroked him through the material. "You want something special?"

He grinned. "I completely forgot it was my birthday." He was twenty today, a month behind her. "Guess our anniversary is going to eclipse that from here on out."

"Football season will eclipse both," she said. The regular season was over for Baylor, but if there was a bowl game in the future (Baylor hadn't played in one since 1986), or he was in the NFL, he'd be playing into the winter. She kissed his ear. "But today's you're birthday, and we have nowhere to be, so what would you like? Anything you want…."

"Anything?" he asked.

She smiled. "Whisper it in my ear."

He bent his head slightly and put his lips to her ear: "Right now? One of your fantastic blow jobs. Then, later, sex on the beach."

When it came to the second part of his request, they had to walk a long way before they found a spot she deemed to be safely secluded.

The light, cold gulf waves rolled in, breaking just below their toes, as Eric warmed her.