26. BIRTHDAY GIFTS
Safe behind our bathroom door, I changed into my holey sweats and that shirt from the barbecue place with the smiling pig on it. I guess it was nice to be in something so… I don't know, familiar again after the honeymoon and everything that's been going on - "Normal" was a thing of the past, but there were still ways I could hold on to it, if you know what I mean. After brushing my teeth, I padded down the hall to the room we were staying in; the one with an actual bed in it, that is. Edythe was already waiting up for me there in her white nightgown. Her legs were pulled up sideways on the mattress, tucked away under her knees. When she saw me, she spread her fingers over her lips and hid a laughing smile behind them.
"You know, I'm still not quite sure how to feel about that shirt." She motioned to me with a flutter of her fingers.
"Well, I can say the same thing about you – you don't even sleep, what do you need all your fancy little nightgowns for in the first place?" I smirked, scooching in closer beside her.
"They're very comfortable, that's why." She tilted the delicate point of her chin at me, biting back a smile.
"Hey, you know what would be even more comfortable?" I waggled my eyebrows at her, wondering if she'd get the hint. Maybe the honeymoon was over, but we were still technically newlyweds if you know what I mean...
"Please, do enlighten me." She brought her face up to mine and ran her fingers across the worn jersey fabric stretched over my shoulders, covering up the smiling pig on my shirt with the white lace on her chest. It made me think she probably already knew what I had in mind and my heart did its weird double-thump thing again at the thought; the coolness of her skin on mine. Maybe she felt it, too. I showed her a grin.
"Wearing absolutely nothing at all." I answered and caught her hand in mine. "And I think I can arrange that for you if you're willing to accept my services." I brought her face closer to mine, planting a kiss firmly on her smiling lips. She pulled herself into my lap, her arms wrapping tight around my neck.
"You are a very good salesman, Beau." she whispered, crinkling her eyes. We were about to kiss again, but then her gaze flicked to the small digital clock on the nightstand and her lips pulled up into a beaming smile. "Would you look at that. Do you know what time it is, Beau?"
"Time for us to pick up where we left off...?" I ran my hands up and down her beautiful arms, way more than ready to get this party started. She laughed.
"Try again." She patted my chest twice. I tilted my head to think then looked at the clock – it was midnight. And just like that it hit me right over the head like a freaking brick.
It was September 13th. It was my birthday.
"Happy birthday, Beau!" Edythe cried out excitedly, throwing her arms around me.
"Oh wow, how could I forget?" I chuckled, smacking my forehead with the palm of my hand. I was nineteen now, and I was actually happy about it for once. Older and wiser, right? And I'm gonna need all the wisdom I could get for what's coming up next.
"Beau? Are you alright?" I started at the sound of her voice.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Totally fine." I managed to wheeze out, touching the back of my neck.
"You're a terrible liar, you know that?" She squeezed my hand. I let out another sigh.
"Just thinking a little bit about the future. Stuff like that." If we even have one still. She brought a hand to my cheek.
"I feel it, too. Every day." She rested her other hand on her torso, looking down. Our child, our future, growing inside her. She really did feel it, didn't she? More than I could; more than I ever would. It scared her, too. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead, holding her there. She needed to know that we were in this together.
After a moment, she found my eyes again and stroked my face. "But at least we still have today. Wait here. I've a gift for you." She rose to her feet and took off in a blur, back again by my side in a matter of seconds. In her hands, she now had a small rectangular package wrapped in blue and green striped paper topped off with a shiny silver bow. Taking a seat on our bed, she presented it to me.
"Thank you, Edythe. You know you didn't have to get anything for me th-" She shushed me, putting a cool finger to my lips.
"I wanted to. Now just open it." She laughed.
At her urging, I tugged lightly on the edges of the wrapping paper, not wanting to rip it up too badly. The gift was so perfectly wrapped I felt like I was defiling it by just touching it. I winced when I heard the tearing of paper.
"You know the whole point of wrapping paper is for it to be torn off, don't you? Silly Beau." She shook her head, letting out a bright chuckle. When I got through the holographic layer of paper, I unearthed a small golden box, kind of like the one my dad had given me with the tie I wore to our wedding. I lifted the lid and my mouth fell open when I saw what was inside.
"This is amazing, Edythe." I gushed, pulling out a small golden pocketknife whose handle was inset with intricate, metallic filigree patterns - it must have been expensive. When I turned it over, there was an engraved message with our names on it and I read it out loud. "To Beau, with Love. Edythe." I ran my thumb over the inscription, my lips parting in awe. Edythe cupped her hands around mine as I held it there, admiring the gorgeous details.
"Carine and I had it specially made. I thought it might come in handy one day if I'm ever not with you. To protect yourself. At least from any other fragile humans, that is. Or maybe if for some reason you ever find yourself stranded in the middle of the forest and get tripped up on a vine or something and I'm not there to prevent it from happening - you know, survival one-oh-one." She shrugged, letting out a bright laugh at her words. Somehow, both those situations she presented sounded pretty far-fetched to me, but I wasn't complaining. I think she just wanted an excuse to give me something nice, and it really was a beautiful piece.
"You know we'll never be apart." I said with a smile.
She chuckled. "Yes, obviously. But still. Just in case."
"Thank you, Edythe." I leaned over and gave her a kiss. "I'll put it away for safekeeping." Gently, gently I lowered it back into the small golden box and replaced the lid, putting it away in the nightstand drawer. I wrapped my arms around my wife and brought her to my chest, kissing the top of her head. She was still smiling when we pulled away.
"As reimbursement, I'd like to take you up on that offer now, Mr. salesman." She grinned up at me.
"Well now, it would be pretty bad customer service on my part if I didn't follow through on my word as a businessman. It would be simply inexcusable." I teased as I started tugging up slowly at the hem of her nightgown. It breezed easily over her cool porcelain curves and I threw it onto the floor.
"Happy birthday, Beau." she whispered in a shimmery voice.
She turned off the lights and we dove under the covers.
…
I awoke the next morning and let out a long, contented sigh as I stretched out my arms and legs.
"Good morning." Edythe greeted in a musical voice. I felt the soft lace of her nightgown on my bare skin as she hugged me from behind. Turning over, I circled my arms around her and she beamed up at me with a gleaming smile on her face. "Happy birthday. Again. You know, when the sun's up." She crinkled her eyes and motioned towards the window.
"Thanks." I pressed my lips to the space between her eyes, cradling her cheeks. But I sat up then, realizing I was still maybe-sorta-kind of naked and quickly, I tossed on my shirt and pulled my sweats over my boxer shorts, the red splotches slowly creeping up my neck and cheeks again.
"Oh, Beau." Edythe sighed, stroking my face. "You mustn't be that way – I've already seen it all." She laughed, narrowing her eyes rather suggestively at me.
"Very funny." I turned away and flopped over on the bed, burying my burning face in the pillows and suddenly feeling kind of, I don't know, shy, even when it wasn't our first time. Those sensations; those desires... they still felt so new to me.
And then I felt the coolness of her body press up against my back as she began laying icy kisses all over my exposed collarbone, sending shiver upon shiver down my spine.
"Not gonna work." I said in an embarrassingly shaky tone of voice. She wasn't done yet, though. She pulled me into a hug, her hands meeting each other over my chest. I gave her wrists a squeeze and turned back around to look at her.
"You win." I sighed, covering her lips with mine. How easy it was to give in to her, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"I thought so." She laughed.
After a few more of our "good morning" kisses, she laid herself down sideways still looking at me, propping her head up with her elbow and pressing her cheek into her fist. Her other hand rested on her stomach.
"He's wishing you a happy birthday."
"What? No way."
"He's very, very smart. I feel the wisps of his thoughts and every last one of them never ceases to amaze me." She pressed her hand even tighter into her nightgown. "And he's extremely active." She closed her eyes, a bright smile playing up at the soft curve her lips made. "I feel him moving around a lot inside."
"It's a little too early for that, isn't it?"
"Well, that's where it gets quite interesting, actually. That is, he's plenty like you in that sense - Carine had recently concluded he's growing at roughly the same rate which a normal human fetus would," she shrugged and shifted positions, punctuating her technical words with her fingers which moved in an impossibly graceful, rhythmic fashion, "but you have to remember, he's also part me, too – that is, he's very, very strong. He might be a lot like you, but I think it's safe to say that he gets that from me." She flashed me a bright, dimpled smile. "He might just beat you at arm-wrestling before he even turns two." she said only half-jokingly, her eyebrows flicking up then down like the thought amused her endlessly. Wow, was that a blow to my masculinity? I narrowed my eyes at her, pouting. She squished my cheeks between her thumb and forefinger.
"I'm teasing. I'm only saying that I knew he was wishing you a happy birthday because whenever you came near us, he just went crazy. He knows it's a special day." She laughed happily.
I screwed up my eyes and shifted my jaw thinking about that. "Hmm, are you sure it wasn't just me invading his… um, personal space?" I started with a nervous chuckle, remembering last night and rubbing the back of my neck. Edythe's mouth popped open.
"Myth. Old wives' tale. That's not how it works." She gave me a good smacking with the pillow and tossed her head back, laughing.
"Okay, okay. I'm sure you have a point." I threw my hands up, not particularly wanting to continue with this extremely mortifying conversation even when I knew it was kind of my fault in the first place.
"No, but seriously though, Beau," Edythe urged in a soft voice. She closed her eyes and touched the bottom of her stomach again. Then a happy smile spread easily across her face and, taking one of my hands, she gently pressed it into the folds of her nightgown. I felt her cool skin through the fabric. "You'll see." Nodding once, I swallowed hard and waited.
My breath caught in my throat.
What happened to change everything was that a soft little nudge bumped my hand – from inside her body. It was a sort of fluttering; kind of like what I'd imagine it felt like for a butterfly to flap its wings for the very first time after emerging from its chrysalis. It almost even felt like a pulse; just so… alive. I spread my fingers over my lips with my free hand and Edythe pressed my other hand even tighter to her. Another tiny, tiny little movement pushed up against my palm and met it, like it was greeting me. I'm here. I'm real. This is me. Our child.
Our child.
How crazy was that?
"Oh my god. That's… that's amazing." I felt a strange tickle in my throat.
"Isn't it?" Edythe stroked my cheek, still pressing her other hand against the top of mine so we could feel that fluttering together. I couldn't speak; just nodded my head.
It was the best birthday gift I never even thought to ask for.
My hand found the back of her head and I pulled her into my chest with the quiet rustle of the sheets between us, pressing my lips to her forehead.
We stayed like that for a while.