by BWWM Club
“You’re not just saying that because I am your wife and you happen to love me are you?” she had asked him suspiciously.
“That’s part of it,” he had told her with a laugh. “But I am a business man and I know a good investment when I see one and I am not just saying that. It’s very good my love. You have a bestseller on your hands.”
“Thanks,” she had told him softly, wrapping her arms around his neck. “That means a lot to me.”
Now at the restaurant as she looked at the changes she realized that this was really happening, she was going to be a published writer.
“What do you think?” Rhea asked anxiously as she continued to peruse the pages. They had ordered the shrimp salad and for a Monday afternoon the restaurant was a little empty.
“I think it’s just hitting me that I am actually doing this,” Leah said with a wry smile. “The changes are fine, I like them.”
“Good,” Rhea took back the manuscript. “You are dropping your load in June. We want a December launch. What do you think?”
“You mean a book launch?” Leah stared at her friend in disbelief. They'd gotten so close and they had met her husband, a gentle giant of a man with raven black hair and ruddy complexion who did landscaping.
“I mean a book launch,” Rhea said with a grin. “Any objections to that?”
“Are you kidding me?” Leah exclaimed, pushing aside her meal. “I can hardly wrap my head around it but I feel thrilled and awed at the same time.”
“Those are two very good feelings.” Rhea told her. “Now that we have dispensed with the business aspect of our relationship. How are you my friend?”
“I feel like a well loaded truck,” Leah said with a rueful laugh. “Pregnancy is not very pleasant.”
“Wait until the baby comes then you’re going to wish for the pregnancy part.” Rhea warned teasingly.
“It can’t be that bad,” Leah looked at her uncertainly. “Can it?”
“Only half bad and who knows maybe you get one of the quiet ones who don’t wake you up at all hours of the night.”
*****
David Paul Maitland made his way slowly into the world at the wee hours of June 12th at two a.m. Doctor Blake had wanted to induce labor and had told Paul to take her in on the eleventh but she had started having contractions before so there had been no need for that.
As her due date drew nearer, Paul had insisted she stay at home and not come into the office. “Your book is finished anyway so there is no need to come in. I know you are independent and stubborn but I am asking you to please obey me on this.” His tone had booked no argument and she had stayed home driving Thelma, the live in helper, crazy because she wanted to help.
“Mr. Paul said I should see to it that you rest,” the woman had told her firmly, steering her out of the kitchen. “He said if I allowed you to do anything he is going to fire me and I need to feed my children.”
The contractions had started the morning of the eleventh at three a.m. and she had grabbed Paul’s hand that was resting on her protruded stomach.
“Baby?” he had gotten up immediately.
“I think our son is arriving,” she had gasped.
That had galvanized him into action and he had gotten dressed immediately and called the doctor. He was surprisingly calm and he got her ready in record time and told her to breathe. Her water had broken while on their way to the hospital and he had held her hand driving one handed to the hospital.
He stayed with her the whole time, giving her gentle guidance. She had been given an epidural to lessen the pain but the labor was slow and exhausting.
The baby made his presence known with loud screams proving that his lungs were very healthy. “A robust eight pound boy,” the doctor told them with a smile as he handed him to the nurse to be tidied up.
Leah sagged back against her husband’s chest and closed her eyes wearily.
“You did good baby,” he told her, resting his head against her black curls.
“We have a son,” she murmured.
*****
Paul sat there with his son in his arms and tenderly touched his dark brown curls. His eyes were hazel and the doctor had said it might change. He had his mother's turned up nose, he thought blinking back tears. Leah was still sleeping and he had asked to be with his son. He wanted to see for himself that he was really a father.
The feeling threatened to overwhelm him as he held his son in his arms and smelled his baby fresh scent of powder and baby oil. He had been crying earlier and had been fed by Leah before she went back to sleep so he had his son, rocking him in his arms. He had called his mother with the news and told Mary-Ann as well and told her to cancel his meetings for the rest of the week, nothing was going to tear him away from his family right now.
The nurse came by quietly. “You want me to take him Mr. Maitland?”
Paul looked up with a smile and shook his head. “Give me another few minutes with him please.”
The nurse smiled and went on her way.
Leah woke up and saw them together. She lay there watching them together, a smile on her lips. She was so thankful for her family that she did not know quite what to make of herself.
Paul looked up and saw her staring at them. “It’s about time, mother.” He said gently, getting up to come to her.
Want to hold your son?” he sat on the edge of the bed.
“I would love that,” she told him softly reaching out her hands for her son. “He is perfect.”
That was how Janet saw them. Paul had sent his driver to get her and she stood in the doorway and looked at the beautiful family that she could call her own.
Her son looked up and saw her, his eyes glinting in understanding at her expression. “Mom,” he beckoned her to come in. “Meet your grandson, David Paul.” He said with a broad smile.
*****
She got to go home the following day. Rhea had popped in to see her and the baby, bringing her a fruit basket.
“How does it feel to be a mother?” she had greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. Paul had gone home to shower and change and taken Janet to get her settled in her room at the house because she would be staying a while.
“It feels like an awesome responsibility,” Leah told her seriously. “How do you know when you are bringing up a child in the right way? When you are doing something wrong?”
“Slow down there darling,” Rhea laughed brushing back her blonde hair. “There are no books that you can read to know how to bring up a child in the right way. But you have a wonderful husband and you are a strong believer in God so you are on the right track.”
“Thanks Rhea,” she had told her friend.
*****
“It’s good to be home,” Leah said with a sigh as Paul settled her inside the nursery and took his son from his mother and placed him in the crib.
“It’s good to have you home.” He bent to kiss her on the lips. “Thanks for my family.” He told her.
“You’re welcome.” She told him with a smile.
Janet left them to have their family time and went inside her room and shut the door behind her. She knelt at the bedside and clasped her hands and closed her eyes.
“My heavenly father,” she began. “I want to express my sincere appreciation and thanks for what you have done in my life, in our lives. You have taken my ashes and given me beauty and I will spend the rest of my life thanking you for the amazing thing you have done. You are awesome and a forgiving God and I am asking your blessings on my family, my beautiful grandson in Jesus’ name Amen.”
*****
Little David woke up every two hours during the nights to be fed or changed or just to be held. Paul insisted in getting up and going to get his son and sometimes during the night they would find Janet in the nursery singing him a lullaby and rocking him to sleep.
Before long, two weeks had passed and Leah was getting back to normal. Janet was still at the house and she insisted on helping to take care of her gran
dson, when Paul had suggested that they hired someone to take care of David.
“I want to do it,” Janet told them.
His eyes had changed to green like his father and he was looking more and more like him every day. Rhea came around with drafts for her to look at and they chatted. She brought Melanie around one weekend and spent the entire afternoon with them.
*****
“We are thinking of a cookout at church for the fourth of July celebration.” Paul told her. It was almost the end of June and the weather had proven to be beautiful; not too hot with a gentle breeze swaying the trees. Her book was due to be out in August and Leah could not wait.
“That sounds like a good idea!” Leah placed their son in the crib. It was almost six o’clock on a Monday and Paul had just come in from the office. It was hard to believe that their son was going to be a month old in the next couple of weeks. “You want me to help in the planning?” she was reminded of the fiesta they had had the summer before where he had declared to the world his intention of marrying her. So much had happened since then.
“As long as you don’t exert yourself too much.” He told her gently, pushing away the wisp of hair that clung to her cheek.
“You’re going to have to let me out of my gilded cage some time Paul,” she told him dryly.
“Do I?” he teased giving her a tight hug.
*****
“How soon did you go back to work after you had your baby?” Leah asked her friend. They were sitting out in the garden under the gazebo having lunch. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and Leah had roped in her friend to help with organizing the cookout that was proving to be as big as or even bigger than the fiesta last year. Leah was in charge of providing entertainment for the children and she had ordered the different things: the bounce about, the trampoline, the merry go round and clowns as well as a magician.
“Six weeks after,” Rhea told her. “I had to go back to work before I wanted to; so be grateful that you don’t have to.”
“I know I sound ungrateful, but I am not,” she told her friend as she looked over at her son gazing up at the trees swaying the slight breeze. The vegetables and flowers she, with the help of Rhea’s husband, had planted offered a brilliant back drop to the greenness of the lush lawn. “It’s just that I hate inactivity and David is such a good little boy. He has stopped getting up every two hours in the night and Paul and I fight with Janet just to get a chance to be with him when he wakes up.”
“You have a lot of help, thank God for that,” Rhea murmured as she settled back against the comfortable chair and sniffed the air appreciatively. She loved the smell of summer and the feel of the sun on her fair skin and for now she was without husband and child because they had both gone to the fair in town.
“How about starting another book?” she queried. She couldn’t believe how close she had gotten to the girl and how much she had grown to love her. When she had moved here after living in her hometown for years she had thought she wouldn't have any friends but she and Leah had formed a bond that had grown stronger with motherhood.
“What?” Leah looked at her, her dark brown eyes quizzical.
“You are at home now and you want to spend time with your son and I think you are a very good writer, so write another book.”
“But the one I wrote is not even out yet,” Leah protested.
“It’s going to be out in another few weeks so I think it’s time to start another one.”
“Do I have another book in me?” Leah said wonderingly, leaning forward to wipe the drool from her son’s chin.
“I think you have many more books inside you.”
*****
The fourth of July dawned bright and sunny with hardly any clouds in the sky. It was already a little after nine and breakfast was being served. Janet had elected to keep her grandson while Leah made the rounds to see about the different arrangements and to make sure that the children were taken care of. Her mind had run to Gladys who had been there for the last big event, baking her cookies and laughing and giving jokes and she had felt a little glimmer of sadness assailed her. But it had been gone as soon as it surfaced. She was respecting her friend’s wishes, not to think of her with sadness.
Paul had told her that he had some deliveries to make and he would be back shortly. Mary-Ann was in her office, even though it was a holiday, typing up an urgent report.
“This is quite a crowd,” Rhea commented waving to her husband and daughter who were sitting and having breakfast.
“Isn’t it?” Leah said with a shake of her head. A little boy raced over to them, pancake syrup dripping from his fingers. “Whoa there, where’s the fire?” Rhea caught him gently and smiled at the mother who had raced over to get him.
“Thanks,” she said breathlessly. “He’s quite a handful.”
“You’re very good with kids,” Leah observed. “When are you going to have more?”
“When I have to my husband and I make a fortune.” Rhea said dryly.
Leah laughed at the girl’s expression as they went to see about the merry go round.
*****
“Here you go,” Leah handed the little girl a balloon and her tears dried up magically.
“Thank you,” she said shyly before racing off to her family.
“I was looking all over for you.” Paul came behind her and hugged her to him. It was almost lunch time and he had gotten back half an hour ago but had stopped to hold his son and talk to him for a little bit. “How is it going?”
“Great,” she looked up at him warmly, resting back against his solid chest contentedly. “Lunch time is coming up now so we are going to start serving.”
“How about you take a break and sit with David and I and we have lunch together?” he asked her lightly.
She hesitated briefly and then realized that she had not spent any time with him except for when he came home in the evenings and so often she would have David in her arms.
“Good plan,” she told him softly. She beckoned to a church sister to take over from her and went hand in hand with him to the office buildings. David was sleeping in the bassinet Paul had brought to be put in the office in case they had to take him there.
“I was just going to get a bite to eat,” Janet whispered so as not to disturb him. “You guys want anything?”
“I already asked someone to bring something up to us, thanks mom.” Paul told her.
“See you later.”
“Your mother is spoiling our son.” Leah said looking down at the baby sleeping so peacefully.
“I know,” Paul took her hand and led her to their favorite couch. “How tired are you now?” he settled full length and pulled her beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Only a little bit.” She told him with a sigh, curling her hand on his chest and closing her eyes.
“You have done a good job and I was expecting you to be delegating, not actually doing the work.” He chided her gently.
“I like to get involved you know that.” She murmured. “But I promise not to overdo it.”
Both of them slept for a little bit then had lunch of fried chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad and tall glasses of iced tea. By the time they were finished their son had awaken and was calling out to be fed.
The celebration went all the way into the night and it was a weary Leah and her husband that made their way home along with Janet and their son. They had planned to sleep in late the following morning and skip church.
*****
Leah finally started the next book, this time a love story born out of tremendous trials and tribulations. She had started the first chapter and refused to show even her husband what she had written so far.
One of the bedrooms had been transformed into an office for her and she did her writing in between taking care of their son. Paul had set up some things in there so that she did not have to leave her office to take care of David and she would spend her days in there writing away and looking at her s
on alternatively. He was getting so big and the more he grew, the more he resembled his father.
She put aside the book she had been researching and went over to tend to him. Thelma had brought her lunch which she had eaten and now she suspected that it was time for her son’s meal.
She smiled gently as he suckled greedily and settled back against the comfortable rocking chair. Her life was so blessed.
Chapter 10
Leah held the book in her hands not quite believing that she was a published writer. The title had prominence and her name was at the bottom: Leah Maitland. It had been slated to come out in August but there had been some delays and it had come out the first week of September. Rhea had brought the first ten copies to her and she sat there looking at the beautiful hard cover books on the table. It was Monday and Janet had taken David for a walk in his stroller and Rhea had just left. Leah had called her husband as soon as her friend had left.
“Guess what I have in my hand?”
“The keys to my heart?” he had asked teasingly.
“Other than that,” she laughed. “The finished copy of my book with my name on it and the cover looks fabulous. Paul I am babbling but I cannot help it.”
“I am so proud of you my love.’ He said softly. “My wife the writer. Are you going to get too famous for your son and your husband?”
“Never,” she told him stoutly. “Well maybe just a little. Can you hurry home? I want to give you a signed copy.”
“I can hardly wait.” He said softly.
He hung up the phone and looked at the file he had in his hands. He had wanted to tell her that he had found his father but it had not been good news. The man who had fathered him had been found dead by a drug overdose. He stared at the photo in the file. He had gotten the blonde in his hair from him and his green eyes. His father had been a drug addict; he had not come from good stock, a drug addict for a father and a mother who had sold her body to make money. What was he going to tell his son when he asked about his grandparents?