by Cat Mann
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We all gathered at Aggie’s early on Sunday for Ari’s birthday. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. Ari, Lauren and nearly everyone except for Aggie and myself went down to play in the water and surf. Max is a natural in the water. He and Ari could spend hours splashing around and playing in the sand.
I sat in the kitchen with Aggie and helped her make Ari’s favorite dinner. My morning sickness had eased up and I was starving all the time. I kept sneaking bits of the veggies she was chopping. Aggie had a half of an apple pie left sitting on her counter and as we talked, I cut myself a sliver. I sat at the island and took a bite. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at me. She stopped talking mid-sentence.
“What?” I said with a mouth full of pie as I looked around the room.
Her open mouth turned in to a huge, giddy grin.
“Oh, nothing,” she said in a sing-songy kind of way.
I realized what I had done and dropped the fork to my plate. I don’t eat sugar. Aggie knows that better than anyone, having tried to shove pie and cake down my throat for the last two years. I took a drink of water and shoved the plate across the counter top. I tried to ignore her twinkly-eyed stare, but she was unrelenting.
I took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh.
“Don’t tell anyone,” I said sternly.
Aggie squealed, clapped her hands and ran around the island to hug me for what felt like an eternity. She pulled back, kissed my cheeks, pretended to spit on my belly and then wiped tears from her eyes. She went back to cooking without saying another word. Her giddy little grin did not leave her face for the rest of the day.
When everyone came back into the house from the beach, Max was repeating “Mama. Baby” over and over again. Ari carried him in and set him down by the island.
“There she is, Max, right there. I swear, Ava, he has been asking for you ever since we left for the beach.”
“Uh huh, I’m sure he has.”
I picked Max up, put him on the counter top in front of me and gave him a strict look. “I thought you were going to be cool about this, Max,” I whispered into his ear. He shook his head no and flashed me a little monster smile. I put some dry clothes on him and we all sat down to a huge dinner at a very crowded and noisy table.
Ari’s family highly values gift giving and everyone showered him with birthday presents. The family is creative and competitive – everyone tries to top the others by giving the “best” gift. I had been told that I was the in absentia winner the year before with the nineteen gifts I sent from London, and I had reason to believe I might win again this year.
Ari opened gifts from Aggie, Andy, Gianna and Thais, Lauren and Luke, August and Collin, Nick, Rory and Julia. Some were handmade, others were nice, and some were expensive, but most just were hilarious. Anything the person having the birthday had messed up on during the year or any funny situation that might have occurred, the others in the family were bound to recount at the birthday dinner.
“Band-Aids to cover bite marks … very funny, Rory.” Ari rolled his eyes and laughed out loud.
The whole kitchen was filled with wrapping paper, bows and discarded boxes. It was at last my turn to present my gift. I handed Ari a box and smiled. My nerves shot through my body like lightening. My fingers were trembling but Ari didn’t notice. The box was wrapped in a simple solid blue and Ari took his time opening it. All eyes on were him. Ari flipped the lid on the box and began to peel back the pink tissue paper. His slow pace at opening the gift was excruciating. He finally uncovered the picture frame that Max had helped pick out and stared down at it. He blinked once, then twice, then three times. My stomach was so full of butterflies that I was about to fly away. The box lid slipped out of Ari’s fingers and fell closed. He looked up at me, in one fluid motion Ari pulled me in his arms and spun me around.
“Oh, my God, Ava. I love you so much.”
Ari put me back on my feet and his hands flew to my stomach, then to my face, then back to my stomach.
Tears rolled down my cheeks and he wiped them away with his thumbs. He was speechless.
Murmurs and questions broke out in the kitchen and finally Rory picked up the box and flipped the lid back.
“They’re pregnant!” He announced happily as he passed the little picture frame, holding the grainy black-and-white first photo of our tiny baby, around the kitchen. Our loving family members gasped and shed tears of joy. “Mama. Baby. Daddy. Max,” Max said, and Ari’s eyes twinkled.
“He knew!”
“Uh huh, he knew. He knew before I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Max?” Ari asked as he picked him up in our little family hug.
“I did,” Max grumbled.
Once the kitchen calmed down, Aggie began to cut the cake. She slid me a piece with a sly smile and I happily took it. Ari started to slide my plate down the line to pass it to the next person like he usually did and my eyes went wide. I nearly stabbed his hand with my fork.
“Ma, you know Ava doesn’t eat this stuff,” Ari huffed.
“She doesn’t, but that little baby does, Ari, so you better give that cake back before you get hurt.”
He looked at me with a confounded little look.
“You told my mom before me?”
“No, I didn’t. I can’t help it that she decided to be observant one day out of the year. She saw me eat one tiny bite of pie and instantly knew I was pregnant.”
I took a bite of cake and it was the sweetest, most amazing, mouthwatering thing I had ever eaten. Ari watched me eat every last bite of my slice of his birthday cake with a giant smile. His hands never left my tummy.
That night Ari kissed my belly and then whispered to the baby. “I love you. You hold my heart in here. Be careful with it; I can’t live without it.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cat Mann is an Illinois author who writes teen and adult romance. She is happily married to a genius of a man and together they are raising two beautiful daughters.
With her dog at her side, Cat obsessives over French music, witty films and lengthy novels.
Cat’s books have been listed on numerous Amazon bestseller lists, including the Amazon Top 100, Literature & Fiction Fantasy Based Novels, as well as being a top contender in Mythology & Fairy Tales.
To find out more about Cat’s projects and get dates on upcoming releases, find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorcat.mann and follow her blog, https://authorcatmannblog.blogspot.com/.