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Deep down, I believed Michael looked for any opportunity to display his culinary skills. It was a beautiful trait to find in a man. He returned to the table a few minutes later, finally done, and placed a full plate before me. He refilled my coffee and poured me a glass of juice.
“Bon appétit,” he said, taking a seat beside me with an equally stacked plate.
I took a bite, and it tasted glorious. I turned to Michael and saw him staring at me expectantly, like a little child who had just completed a task on his own. He smiled when he saw the look on my face, only then allowing himself to eat his own food.
“This is so good,” I said through a mouthful. “I revise the terms for our marriage. I only agree to marry you if you do so properly and get me a ring, and you promise to give me a treat like this at least once a week.”
“Done and done,” Michael said with a wide grin. He stretched out a hand to me, and I took it, unofficially sealing our marriage pact.
True to Michael’s prediction, I had a bigger appetite than I thought. I was halfway through my second filling before I thought to look up. I found Michael watching me and laughing, obviously pleased with himself.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Do not even think about saying it,” I said.
He cocked his head sideways, his face wearing an insincere look of confusion. “Say what?”
“I told you so,” I said. “Don’t you dare tell me you told me so,” I glared at Michael, trying to show him how serious I was. He reacted by laughing at me. I laughed, too, thrusting another mouthful into my mouth.
I ended up more full than I had ever felt in my life. I dragged myself to the bedroom with Michael’s help, feeling like a pregnant seal. We spent the rest of the day in bed together, watching movies and cuddling.
Michael kept checking his phone for notifications, but frowned every time he found it empty. I glanced at him and chuckled. “What? Unemployment a little too boring for you?”
He rolled his eyes and tossed the phone away. “Not really. I am just getting used to not having anything to do. Best part? It lasts a whole year. I have no idea what I am supposed to do with all the free time.”
“Don’t celebrate just yet,” I said. “Babies are quite a handful. Trust me.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked drily. “You have had some before?”
I shrugged off the sarcasm. “I’m serious. Look, embrace this. There’s way too much we do not know about each other. This seems like a good time to catch up on all that. It can’t be all that bad, can it?”
“I don’t think it’s bad at all,” Michael replied. “It is just new.”
The next two weeks went by in a breeze. Michael took me on walks daily, and we spent every moment together. Interior decorators visited the house and converted one of the unused rooms into a nursery. I tried to tell Michael that it was all too early for such extensive planning, but he had caught the bug.
As the days passed, he grew more enthusiastic about the prospect of fatherhood. He listened to every podcast he could find on the topic, watched every talk show, and read every article. It seemed like he was in a class he had never considered important before. He studied judiciously, sometimes long after I had gone to bed.
I spent long periods on the phone with my friends, providing them with updates and developments. When I told them about how Enzo had attacked Michael, Kelly had begged incessantly for details. We all knew she enjoyed a little scuffle between men on her behalf—vain, vain Kelly.
Michael spent less time out of the house, never wanting me out of sight for too long. We visited the doctor together and went shopping for clothes when we learned the gender. Michael had the nursery painted pink in his excitement earlier on, hoping for a girl. When we found out I was expecting a boy, he took it upon himself to repaint the entire room, enjoying every second of the work.
Thale and Ivanna visited often. The first time they came over, just some days after the confrontation with Enzo, they came prepared for war. Apparently, Mr. Gates had split Michael’s duties in half, keeping one half to himself and delegating the other to the couple. Thale complained about how the recent development affected their summer plans, and Ivanna complained about all the travel expected of them.
They begged him fervently to reduce his vacation time, but one look at me and Michael shook his head, smiling easily. “Come on, guys,” he said. “I have done this for years - and with little help. I think you guys are the best fit we have to replace me. It’s only for a year, you know?”
“Eleven months, twenty-five days, six hours,” Thale called the numbers from his head, and we all looked at him in shock. Laughter erupted throughout the apartment shortly after, Thale being his usual ridiculous self.
Michael showed me more and more of New York, sticking to the quiet, affluent areas. He told me plainly that he had no intention of putting me in the line of danger. I enjoyed having him as a tour guide, and it gave him something else to do besides stuffing me full of food and redecorating the nursery every other hour.
Two weeks flew by in a flash, and I saw a different side of Michael from the one that responsibilities had shackled. When he did not have any pressing tasks to attend to, he was a different animal. I watched him come out of his shell and become an outspoken and jovial man. His cold demeanor waxed until he became interchangeable with Thale.
One afternoon, he came into the house, beaming like a child at the park. I narrowed my eyes at him as he plopped down beside me, stroking my swollen belly. “I just got off the phone with Enzo,” he said. “I just invited him and your father to a family brunch my mother is hosting.”
I looked at him with shock, a phantom fear whooshing through me. It took me some seconds to remember that my father and brother already knew about Michael and me and had also given us their blessings.
“That’s amazing,” I said, trying to max my initial shock. “When is the brunch?”
He looked at me with confusion. “It’s on Saturday… did you forget?”
“Not exactly,” I replied. “I have just had a lot on my mind.”
