I feel the stare before I turn to Maria. “Will you stop?” I mutter. She says nothing but her eyes lower to my swollen belly, making it so obvious she had been staring. “Maria Vega.”
“Theresa Carter.”
Pink colours my cheeks. I hide my face in my palms and she bursts out laughing. It still feels so surreal being Mrs Carter, Ben’s wife. Our wedding was small and private like we both wanted. Aside from our family, we had our friends. Maria. Leah. Mira. Calum. Olivia also showed up. She and Ben are still in contact. We are kind of cool.
Thinking about the wedding makes me smile and I twist the ring on my forth finger. My promise ring remains on my middle finger.
I sit up and cross my legs. There are some pictures from the wedding scattered all over the living room floor. Maria didn’t get a chance to see them before her flight. She had a concert that day. I rub a hand over my stomach. Ben didn’t even wait a year into our marriage before knocking me up. I’m almost certain he has been wanting a baby since forever.
“Where’s Mr Carter anyway?” Maria asks.
“Work,” I murmur.
Leaning against the cushion, I prop a pillow behind my head. I didn’t add so much weight unlike some of the pregnant women at my ante-natal classes. Just a swollen belly and big feet. But Ben won’t let me do anything for now. All my photoshoots and acting jobs are paused till we have our baby.
Maria continues flipping through old and recent pictures of us in the thick photo album on her lap. From the wedding, to packing into our new home. She looks up and grins.
“What?” I ask. She keeps doing that. Smiling at me when she thinks I’m not watching. It is a bit creepy and I feel sleepy. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” She rolls onto her stomach and I glare at her in envy. I won’t be able to lie on my stomach for a while. Propping her elbows on the floor, she says, “I can’t believe you are twenty-three and pregnant.”
“And married,” I add with a small laugh.
I’ll be twenty-four a month after our due date.
“And married,” she states.
A note of longing crawls into Maria’s voice but I pretend not to notice. I’m not sure what her plans with Daniel are. Daniel and I don’t talk much anymore because I’m convinced the idiot is wasting my best friend’s time. He claims to love Maria but he hasn’t shown any serious signs. They don’t even live together but they stay in the same city.
Maria never talks about their relationship but they have been on and off since forever. We both started dating guys from our high school. Six years down the line, I’m married to the love of my life with a bundle of joy on the way and she’s a successful singer with an annoying, unsteady boyfriend.
She pouts. “I’m jealous.”
My eyes close. I run the words I should say over in my mind and whisper, “Don’t be. It will happen.”
“Yeah, right.” My gaze meets hers and she shrugs. I guess that’s the end of this conversation. Crawling to me, she pushes my shirt below my boobs to expose my belly. “Have you decided on her name?”
“It’s not a girl,” I retort.
Ben is convinced it’s a girl. I know it’s a boy because I’m the mother and my instincts are automatically right. Maria and every other person thinks it’s a girl. Even my mum. I’ll know for sure next year when he comes. Ben and I agreed to keep the gender a surprise.
“You should call her Maria,” Maria says. I slap her arm from my belly but she cups my stomach and places a kiss on my protruding belly button. “Aunty Maria loves you.” My best friend is nuts but I love her. “Your godmother is waiting to spoil you, sweetie.”
“Who says you’re the godmother?”
“I do.”
She is. There’s no other person perfect for the role. But I haven’t told her that. She grabs the remote and flicks through the channels. Almost every channel is showing something related to Christmas. It doesn’t feel like it over here but I’m glad because it means Ben will be getting a break from work and I will see all my friends today. We made a conscious decision to have a physical hangout, at least once a year. This is our first year doing it and the Carters are the host.
I take a salted chip from the bowl beside me. Maria tries to steal one but my eyes narrow in warning. Ben made them for me. She settles for a channel showing a Christmas play and dumps the remote.
Dragging her knees to her chest, she shifts closer to me so our shoulders are touching. A Christmas song starts playing. Maria’s head rests on my shoulder, I glance down at her and my arm goes around her waist. “Are you okay?” I ask. “For real, Maria.”
“Yeah. Just tired, drained.” I wait for it. She has more to say, I only have to be patient. “I broke up with Daniel last night. We have different goals.” Something in her voice tells me this time, the break up is different, more permanent. “I want kids in my future and he doesn’t. He doesn’t even want to get married. Fuck him.”
“Yeah, fuck him.” Maria erupts in laughter that soon turns to tears. I hold her as best as a twenty-seven weeks old pregnant woman can. A few minutes later, she calms down and gives me a tight hug. Her tears drop to my shirt. “It will get better, I promise.”
“I hope so.” She picks a picture from the pile on the floor. It’s a picture of Leah. Mira and Calum from our wedding. I am standing in their middle with a bouquet in my hand. All three of them are coming in today. “What time is the bloody reunion?”
It’s not a reunion but she has chosen to call it that. Our last meeting was at my wedding. Before then, we hadn’t been in the same place since graduation. But we hope our yearly hangouts will fix the cracks in our friendship.
My phone beeps with a text. I smile. Maria hisses. She can already tell who the texter is and her frown is so fake. I type a reply to Ben and urge him to get home to me immediately. I miss him. And if Maria wasn’t here, I might have gone to his office.
Maria throws me a worried glance when my smile falls. I drop the phone on the couch with a pout. She doesn’t let me dwell on my thoughts. The scrabble board is brought out for us to play a game I’m so certain she will win. She’s good at it.
Minutes or hours after lunch, the doorbell finally rings. I hope it’s Ben. It better be him. Maria goes to attend to the door while I struggle to get up. No one told me little things like standing, lacing my shoes would become more difficult. I’m a human balloon.
I hear their voices first before I see them and my initial excitement dwindles. Ben is not here yet. Mira sweeps in to hug me. Leah, tired of waiting, jumps in to make it a group hug. Calum’s big arms make it complete. And Maria isn’t left out.
“Da-da,” someone says as we break away from the group hug. A kid. I slap a hand over my mouth. He’s a spitting image of Calum with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes. He stretches his arms for a hug and Calum hoists him on his hip. “Dada. Dada.”
Mira and Leah don’t seem as surprised to see the cutie. But I am. Calum has a son but we have never met. He walks over to me for the introduction. Too excited, I start first. “Hi.”
The boy grins, showing off his gap tooth. Calum grins too. “This is Mason. Mace, meet your aunty. Aunty Tessa.” Mason stares wide eyed at me, then yanks tufts of my hair. I wince and Mason squeals in excitement, offering me a sweet smile that makes it hard to be mad at him. “Sorry about that.”
I wave off Calum’s apology. Mason is too cute. And with his dimples, he can do no wrong. Besides, he will be my son’s playmate. Maria gives me a sign before disappearing into the kitchen to get some refreshments for our friends. She’s a lifesaver. Ben wanted us to meet somewhere else but I insisted on staying home. We will hang out at the gazebo. It hasn’t been put to use since we moved in here.
In my opinion, this house is too big but Ben wants all the space for our kids to play.
Speaking of the love of my life, I feel his presence before he shows up. There’s a shift in the air as the front door opens and my husband strolls into the living room. My heart jumps. Benny is home.
“When did you get here?” Calum asks, going to greet him. Ben laughs. He exchanges greetings with his friend while I stand in the corner, grinning and watching. Ben catches my eyes and winks, leaving me flustered.
I am grateful for Maria as she shows our friends to the gazebo, so my husband and I can have some privacy. Ben stretches a hand to me.
“Welcome home,” I whisper against his lips before claiming them in a much needed kiss. Ben kisses me back with the same eagerness, sweeping me off my feet bridal style. He lowers me to the bed and squats between my legs. “I missed you, Benny.”
“I know. I missed you too.” I run my fingers over his jaw, his sexy beards. “How was your day?” Ben cups my boobs for a brief second, then kisses my belly. “How’s my baby girl doing in there today?”
“He’s doing fine.” Ben snorts. We will not have the gender argument today. “But we missed you.” I place my hands on his shoulders. “Why can’t you come home earlier?”
Because he has work. Since becoming a permanent staff in Josef’s company, he has become super busy. The pay is really sweet and it has its perks but on some days, I want him to be at home with me. Naked and cuddling.
Ben presses a kiss to my lips. “I’m getting a break next week.” My fingers lower to his buttons and I undo the first set. “Did you have fun with Maria?”
“Yeah.” Ben pushes himself on his knees and places another wet kiss on my belly. I thread my fingers through his hair. He grunts. “How was work?”
He shrugs out of his shirt. “Not bad, babe. I think I might be up for a promotion pretty soon.”
“That’s great news.” He deserves it. Ben helps me out of my shirt and rids himself of his singlet. I lick my lips when he shreds his trousers and briefs. With a tug on my shorts, he pulls it off. I don’t resist him when he palms my warmth. “Ben, we have guests.”
“Then you can’t be loud,” he says. He jumps to the bed and pulls me gently on his lap to straddle him. I make a face. I want this too but... “Well, our guests can wait but this can’t, babe. And the doctor...” An involuntary grunt escapes me. Since I became pregnant, all of his arguments have started with: the doctor said. “... Sex is good for you.” He strokes me through my panties. “Really good, Gracie.”
Ben’s expert fingers work away my hesitation. My body responds to his touch. I toss my panties and lower myself on his erection. He makes a sound between a moan and a grunt as I begin to bounce.
Holding my gaze, he offers me a content smile and a thousand and one feelings of warmth explode in my chest. Ben is my everything.