Mike grinned. “You’re pregnant? That time in the bathroom, right?”
The explosion of heat in her face was fanned by all the eyebrows being raised behind Mike. Julie took his arm and turned him around. “We have company, dear.”
Mike faced them all, still grinning like a fool, and pointed to Julie. “She’s pregnant. We’re getting married.”
No one standing anywhere near her parents said anything. Julie reached over and snapped one of Mike’s suspenders. It worked. He looked down at her. “I haven’t said yes to anything yet, big guy.”
Mike immediately and melodramatically dropped to one knee. Julie stared at him, disbelieving. Before she could say a word, though, the bedroom door behind her opened up and Aaron sleepily stepped out to nonchalantly sit on his father’s knee.
As if that weren’t awkward enough, her father bellowed out, “Hold on, right there, young man. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Mike clutched at Aaron to steady him and turned to Jack Cochran. “You said I could marry her.”
Jack waved that away. “The cakes, man. The cakes.”
“The cakes!” Mike jumped up, nearly unsettling Aaron, who gripped his father’s neck tightly and squawked in protest.
Everyone but Julie seemed to know about the damned cakes. Because everyone but Julie murmured, “The cakes.”
“All right, that does it.” All gazes swung back to her. “What are these cakes everyone is talking about?”
With his son draped over his arm, Mike grinned at her. “I made a cake for you. I decorated it myself. Aaron made one, too.”
He may as well have just told her they’d fashioned a nuclear power plant in their apartment all by themselves. “You two made cakes for me?”
“Yeah. You want to see them?”
She looked from his beloved face, seeing her entire future shining in his eyes, and then turned briefly to the ogling, expectant crowd at the other end of the hallway. They grinned as one. But her mother stood out, tears shining in her eyes. She saw her father put his arm around his wife’s shoulders. Behind them stood a beaming Sal Pomerantz, his arm around Rosie’s shoulders. She grinned from ear to ear. Julie shook her head at all these sentimental silly people she loved and turned back to Mike. “Tell me the cakes are not in the bathroom.”
He hefted and resettled his son’s weight on his arm. “The cakes are not in the bathroom.”
“Thank God. Okay, let’s go see them.”
The crowd parted as readily as the Red Sea had for Moses when Mike, Julie and Aaron passed through. Mike, his free hand at her elbow, ushered Julie into the dining room. The revelers flowed around them.
There on the table, as centerpieces, were two, off-center, godawful purple cakes, one rectangular, one round. With tears in her eyes, Julie stared down at the loving creations. She turned into Mike’s arm. “Oh, Mike, they are so beautiful,” she said into his shirt.
Aaron, still in his father’s arms but fully awake now, tried to turn her face back to the table. “Read them, Julie, read them. I told Daddy what to write on mine. Read them to neverbody, okay?”
Julie smiled up into Mike’s eyes. “I love you,” she mouthed. He winked, his black eyes suspiciously shiny. Julie turned to the cakes. “All right, everybody. Aaron’s says, ‘Julie, will you be my ‘nother mommy?’“
Julie took her finger and wrote “yes” in the frosting and poked it into Aaron’s bird-mouth. “You bet I will, big guy.”
Her family and friends all sighed. Several people patted her, Mike, Aaron and her hand-holding parents. Julie smiled and wiped her finger off with a napkin before kissing Aaron’s soft cheek. He leaned out of his father’s arms to grab her and pop a huge, smacking kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Julie.”
“I love you, too, sweetie.”
“Aw, now you’re gettin’ all mushy. Come on, read the other one, already,” Sal entreated. “We’re starvin’ for cake here.”
Mike laughed at his partner. “You just want to be my best man.”
“Nope, can’t do it for you, buddy. Julie here asked me to be her maid of honor if she ever got married. And I accepted.”
“You’re going to be a maid of honor? I don’t know why I hang out with you, Pomerantz.”
“Because you love me, Mikey. Admit it.”
Mike looked around to see everyone looking at him. And then back at his partner. “Not here, Sal.”
Amid catcalls and hooting, attention shifted back to Julie. She raised an edge of the rectangular cake so everyone could see it, and then, her voice choking up with love, she said, “It has a big heart on it, and in the middle it says ‘Mike Loves Julie.”’ She lowered the cake and began to cry.
Someone must have taken Aaron from Mike because she found herself enfolded in his arms. She clutched at him and cried her ever-loving eyes out while he held her. After several moments, Mike held her away from him and smoothed away her tears with his thumbs. He then cupped her face in his hands. “I love you, Julie.”
Seeing now that everyone else had wandered back to the living room, tactfully giving the two lovebirds time alone, she grinned up at him. “I know. I read your cake.”
“You never have answered me, you know.”
“You never have asked me, you know. Aaron’s the only one who’s asked so far tonight”
“Great. It’s not enough that I bake for you. Now you’re going to stand on ceremony. The next thing you’ll want is a ring better than the one Sal gave you. Women. You’re never satisfied.” With a heavy dramatic sigh, Mike reached into his green shirt pocket and produced a real gold ring with a large diamond solitaire on it. Pretending to be piqued, he pulled Sal’s ring off her greenish finger, stuck it in his pocket, and then slid his ring in its place. “Okay, will you marry me, so our baby and Aaron can experience the joys of sibling rivalry?”
Julie eyed the ring with openmouthed disbelief and then laughed into his strong, handsome face, loving every line, every plane, every contour. “Yes, Mike, I’ll marry you.”
“Thank God,” he pronounced, slumping slightly. “Celibacy is killing me. Did you know I had to promise your father two weeks ago not to touch you until your last name is DeAngelo?”
Julie laughed out loud in shock and embarrassment. “You’re kidding? No wonder you rushed this, you horny devil.”
“And you’re surprised? I’ve had all I can take of a monk’s life. Listen, your mom wants you to have a huge wedding, all the trimmings, all the relatives here, things like that. I want all that, too, but I’ll never make it. I’ll explode, certain parts going first. I’ve got to have some relief.”
“We won’t have to wait long, Mike. Remember, I’m pregnant. Mom’ll put a wedding together in no time, you’ll see.” Something he’d just said struck her anew. She pulled back from him. “By the way, how often do you talk to my mother?”
Mike resorted to grumpiness. “Every now and then. I like her. After all, she introduced me to the woman I love.”
Julie pinched his rock-hard arm. “You are such a big softie.”
Mike tugged her firmly against him. “Uh-uh. Feel again.”
Julie squealed in, well, maidenly shock. “Mike DeAngelo. You’re terrible.”
“That’s not what you said in the bathroom a couple of weeks ago.”
The same thought occurred to them at the same time. Together, they breathed, “The bathroom…”
Julie broke the silence. “We don’t dare.”
“Your father’ll kill me if he finds out.”
“Yes, he will.”“We can’t do this.”
Ida walked through the dining room on her way into the kitchen. “Oh, go on. You’re getting married. It’s the same thing.”
“Mother!” Julie broke away from Mike abruptly. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Of course not. I’m getting a knife to cut Aaron’s cake. You two never even noticed it was gone.”
They looked at the table. Aaron’s cake was gone. They looked at Ida. She put her h
ands on her hips. “So, are you going or not?”
“Mother!” She looked up at Mike. He was willing. And so was she. But still. She looked back at her mother. “Not with you knowing. I don’t think I can—”
“Oh, go on. Be with your man. Like I didn’t get pregnant with you in a bathroom—at your Nana’s. On Christmas Day. With the entire family sitting in the next room.”
Mike burst out laughing. Julie’s jaw dropped. “Mother!”
ISBN 978-14592-7431-0
A MAN IN DEMAND
Copyright © 1997 by Cheryl Anne Porter
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A Man In Demand Page 18