Bundle of Joy

by Robin Lee Hatcher

  At five o’clock, she insisted Grandpa Roger go to the cafeteria for supper.

  When he tried to argue with her, she snapped, “You’ll do me no good if you make yourself sick. Now please go and eat something.”

  She was ashamed of her tone, but there was no taking the words back.

  After her grandfather left the room, Alicia sat on the window ledge and stared at the darkening sky.

  I wonder how close I am to Joe’s apartment.

  She’d recognized the address on the lease. She knew the upscale complex was near the Boise River. If the hospital had more floors…If the ancient oaks and elms didn’t rise so tall above the stately homes…If—

  “But she’s my wife!”

  Alicia turned as the door to her room burst open and Joe pushed his way past the nurse.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Harris,” the flustered young woman said. “I’ll call security.”

  She rose to her feet, pulling her robe more closely around her. “No. It’s all right.”

  The nurse didn’t look convinced.

  Joe took another step into the room. “Tell her I’m your husband.”

  “We’re married.” That was somehow more honest than what he’d asked her to say.

  “I came as soon as I found out,” he said.

  “How did you know?”

  He glanced at the nurse, his gaze demanding she leave them alone.

  “It’s all right,” Alicia said again. “Really.”

  Joe waited until the door swung closed before saying, “I went back to the house. It was empty. Your suitcase was gone.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you want to know why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why I went back to the house.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I assume you left something behind.”

  “Yes. As a matter of fact, I did.” He took another step forward. “You.”

  “Oh, Joe.” She turned toward the window, watching as the city came alive with lights. “You don’t have to pretend any longer.”

  “I’m not pretending. This is for real. This is the most real I’ve been in my life. I love you, Alicia.”

  Another pain crept around her abdomen, making it difficult to think, difficult to breathe. She did her best not to let on.

  “I want to be your husband in every definition of the word.”

  Sheer resolve kept her voice steady. “You don’t want kids, and in case you haven’t noticed…I do. And very soon, too.”

  “I was wrong.”

  “Were you?” She faced him again. “I think you stated your feelings quite clearly in your daddy clause.”

  He frowned. “My daddy clause?”

  “In the prenuptial.” She was not going to cry. She was not going to cry. “About my baby.”

  “Oh. That.”

  The urge to cry vanished, driven away by anger. “Yes, that! This is the baby you didn’t want.” She pressed her hands against the sides of her abdomen. “This is the baby you wanted to make certain no one thought was yours. This was—”

  Her words were cut short by a sharp, searing pain. She gasped, and her knees buckled. Joe caught her in his arms before she could fall.

  “What is it?”

  “I think it’s time,” she managed to say through gritted teeth. “Help me to the bed and then call the nurse.”

  Things happened quickly after that.

  The attractive birthing room with its soft lights, muted wallpaper and homey furnishings changed in an instant to the epitome of modern medical technology. Bright overhead lights swung out of a closet, slipping into position above the bed. All the necessary hospital equipment and paraphernalia appeared from different nooks and cubbyholes, as if by magic. Nurses bustled about doing nurse-type things.

  Joe was in the way. He figured most men were at a time like this. As a matter of fact, he would have liked to be anywhere else in the world rather than here. He felt useless, and that wasn’t a feeling he was used to or comfortable with.

  But it would take more than discomfort to drive him out now.

  He stepped to the side of Alicia’s bed. “I’ll write you a new daddy clause.”

  She gave him a sharp look.

  “Every firstborn Palermo male is named Enrico. We need to get that settled before he gets here.”

  She clenched her jaw, and a groan came up from deep in her chest.

  Joe looked at a nurse. “Is she all right?”

  “She’s about to have a baby.”

  “Where can I get pen and paper?”

  “Try the desk,” the nurse answered. He was walking toward the door when he heard her add, “Men. Anything to keep them out of the way.”

  “I’ll be right back, Alicia.”

  He yanked open the door…and there stood Roger Harris. The older man didn’t seem surprised to see him.

  “Evening, sir.”

  “Evening, Joe.”

  “Will you marry us before our baby arrives?”

  Alicia’s grandfather raised an eyebrow. “You are married.”

  “Just legally, sir. This would be different. I love her. I want to promise to love and cherish her before God.”

  Grandpa Roger smiled. “I’ll do it if that’s what Alicia wants.”

  “She’s going to want it.” He took off down the hall toward the nurses’ station.

  Breathing hard from the most recent contraction, Alicia asked the nurse. “Where’s the doctor?”

  “He’s on his way. He’ll be here soon.”

  The door opened. Alicia thought it would be the doctor. It wasn’t.

  Joe strode across the spacious room, legal pad in hand. Alicia’s grandfather was right behind him.

  She leaned back on the pillow. “I don’t think you should be in here.”

  “I’m your birth coach. Remember? I do belong here.” He held out the paper, covered with his bold penmanship. “Read this.”

  “Are you crazy?” She sounded as irritable as she felt. “In case you can’t tell, I’m busy.”

  He grinned.

  She considered homicide.

  “Okay, I’ll do it.” He leaned close, and in a soft voice began to read. “I, Joseph Palermo, do solemnly swear that I will love, cherish and honor my wife, Alicia Harris Palermo, for the rest of my life.”

  The bright overhead lights seemed to recede. All she could see was Joe. All she could hear was his beloved voice.

  “I will be faithful and true and will never hurt her intentionally. I will provide for her welfare and support her pursuit of her own dreams, whatever they may be. I further declare that I will be a loving father to our child, born this Christmas Day, and I will raise him or her, in partnership with my wife, to the best of my abilities. Should God bless us with more children in the years to come, I will do the same for them.”

  Alicia wondered if this was the strangest delivery room scene these nurses had ever witnessed.

  “And finally, should there be any question, I promise to love the dogs who chew up my important papers and the cats who take chunks out of my hide. I’ll love them because they are hers.”

  She couldn’t see him any longer. Her eyes were swimming in tears. And if she wasn’t mistaken, at least one of the nurses was sniffling.

  Joe took her hand. “I love you. I don’t want to be your holiday husband. I want to be your husband for a lifetime. Humphrey is our own bundle of joy. You know it as much as I do. I want your grandfather to marry us again. For real this time. Let me chop down all your Christmas trees. Let me drink your spiced cider while we watch the bubble lights bubble. Marry me, Alicia. Say yes.”

  She would have answered, if not for the contraction that gripped her. She groaned and gritted her teeth.

  “I think that’s a yes, sir. Time to say the appropriate words. And I think you’d better hurry, too.”

  Epilogue

  New Year’s Day

  Alicia knew Joe had been watching her sleep. She’d discovered him do
ing so every morning since her return from the hospital.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” he whispered near her ear.

  She rolled onto her side, bringing their foreheads close together, and looked at him. The light from the lamp on the nightstand allowed her to see the loving expression in his eyes, an expression that made her feel all warm and tingly on the inside.

  “Good morning,” she responded softly.

  He kissed her, one of those sweet, slow kisses that made her feel cherished, the kind she could never get enough of. “Happy New Year.”

  Ricky stirred in his cradle. A whimper soon followed.

  “Little tyrant.” Joe kissed her again. “Stay here. I’ll get him.”

  It was one of those simple things in her life that Alicia took great pleasure in, watching him be the daddy he hadn’t thought he wanted to be.

  Clad in the shorts and T-shirt he wore for pajamas, Joe rose and walked to the cradle. He leaned over the baby’s bed, speaking softly in words Alicia couldn’t quite make out. In short order he changed Ricky’s diaper, as if he’d done it a thousand times.

  Cat’s paws made pattering sounds across the floor, announcing Rosie’s arrival. A moment later, she began to purr.

  “Not now, Rosie,” Joe said.

  Although Alicia couldn’t see it, she knew the cat was winding her way around Joe’s ankles, her tail carried high as she demanded Joe’s affections. The change in the feline’s attitude toward her husband was just one more in a long list of small miracles that had followed Ricky’s arrival.

  Joe lifted their son from the cradle and returned to the bed where he lay on his back, holding the baby on his chest. Ricky fussed a moment or two longer, then fell back to sleep.

  “Guess he wasn’t ready for breakfast yet.” He held out his free arm. “Come here and join us.”

  Alicia was only too happy to oblige. She slid across the mattress, drawing close against his side, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

  “Better sleep while you can.”

  “I know.”

  But she didn’t close her eyes right away. She took pleasure in watching them, father and son, Joe and Ricky Palermo, the ski bum and his little mogul monster. She smiled, remembering when she’d overheard Joe refer to himself and the baby by those nicknames. He’d been carrying Ricky through a new layer of snow on the sidewalks on the day he brought his family home from the hospital.

  His family. Were any two words more wonderful than those?

  She closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer of thanks to God for the joy He’d allowed to flow into and over her life. Despite the many mistakes she’d made, despite all the ways she’d gone wrong, despite all of her sins—both large and small—He had blessed her, blessing upon blessing upon blessing.

  “What are you smiling about?” Joe whispered.

  “Everything,” she answered without opening her eyes a second time. “I’m smiling about everything.”

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  Alicia decides a ruse is the simplest solution to her problems. Do you agree with her approach? Why or why not? What advice would you have given to someone in her situation?

  What parallels exist between Alicia’s situation and that of an expectant young mother in Jerusalem more than two thousand years ago?

  Though Joe’s path to fatherhood is an unusual one, he embraces it by the end of the story. What happened during the course of the story to convince him of the benefits of fatherhood?

  Alicia and Joe’s friendship rekindled when they found each other online. How has the use of the Internet helped your friendships? How has it harmed them?

  Alicia reveals her feelings to Joe before she is sure how he feels about her. Was that a brave step? Would you have made a similar one? Why or why not?

  Grandpa Roger expresses strong feelings about the importance of matrimony and he’s fortunate that he can influence Alicia and Joe, though not in the way he expected. How can you influence young people around you with the same message?

  Joe prays: “Lord, she acted out of love for him. Was it so wrong?” What would you say to him? How is his prayer answered in the story?

  What information do Grandpa Roger’s stories about his life with his wife, Teresa, give to Joe and Alicia? How are they helped by his insights?

  How does the Christmas setting make its appearance in the story? What traditions do Alicia and her grandfather share?

  How does Alicia’s pregnancy affect her decision-making? In what way does it help? In what way does it pose problems?

  Joe’s Christmas treat was a nice surprise for Alicia. What pleasant surprises have you received over the Christmas holidays? Share a story with the group.

  What blessings have your children brought to you? How has Alicia been a blessing to her grandfather?

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-2352-7

  BUNDLE OF JOY

  Copyright © 1999 as DADDY CLAUS by Robin Lee Hatcher

  Copyright © 2008 as BUNDLE OF JOY by Robin Lee Hatcher

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Steeple Hill Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Steeple Hill Books.

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