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They could never replace my parents. No one could. But the way they welcomed me into their family, it did a pretty good job of filling the emotional hole in my heart.
The first week atSolo Tuwas a resounding success, and it never slowed down. As the pandemic began to fade away and the lockdown restrictions were eased, people were eager to return to their normal lives. Going out, eating at restaurants, socializing with friends and family.
One of the first things I had learned in business school was that businesses were rarely profitable the first year they opened. But against all odds,Solo Tuturned a profit the first month—even with all the small-business loans we needed to pay back.
Neither of us could believe it. We felt like we were living in a dream, and we would wake up at any moment.
The days ran together and time flew by. We worked at the restaurant non-stop, but it was more fulfilling than any job I’d ever had. I had my check-ups at the doctor, and everything with the baby looked totally normal. The virus hadn’t affected its growth at all in those first few weeks.
And pregnancy sex?Waybetter than I expected. Even though I felt about as sexy as a beach ball, Donovan couldn’t keep his hands off me. We probably had just as much sex in my third trimester as we did when we were in Rome.
We hosted a Halloween party at the restaurant, and gave away bottles of wine to the customers with the best costumes. I dressed as a gumball machine, with my pregnant belly as the big glass gumball container. Donovan dressed like the Swedish Chef from The Muppets, with bushy red eyebrows and a thick red mustache, and ran around the restaurant while waving a rolling pin and shouting Swedish-sounding words at everyone.
We closed the restaurant on Thanksgiving, but not before preparing five hundred turkey dinners to deliver to the homeless shelters in Elkhart and South Bend. Donovan cooked a turkey in our apartment, and accidentally burned it to a crisp by hitting thebroilbutton instead ofbake.
“Don’t you do this for a living?” I teased while he pulled the black bird out of the oven. “Or do you let the sous-chefs do all the work in the kitchen?”
“I don’t like your kitchen,” he grumbled. “I prefer the one at the restaurant. I can’t believe I ruined Thanksgiving…”
I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his back. “You’re allowed to screw up every now and then. I don’t mind filling up on mashed potatoes and stuffing!”
Donovan’s parents came to visit for Christmas. We closed the restaurant on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which gave us plenty of time to relax at home with them.
Donovan cooked another turkey. This one turned out perfect—crispy on the outside with juicy meat on the inside.
“I’m just saying, next yearyoushould visitusfor the holidays,” Herb said over dinner. “We moved to Florida to getawayfrom the snow. Not to chase it.”
“They’ll have the baby, Herb,” Gloria scolded.
“We traveled with Donny when he was that age. He did fine.”
“He cried on every single plane ride,” she said dryly. “You didn’t notice because you put earplugs in and went to sleep until we landed.”
I gave Donovan a warning look.
“I promise to beveryhelpful with the baby,” he said. “I’ll be the dad walking his baby up and down the aisle to get it to go to sleep.”
“We appreciate you visiting,” I said. “With the restaurant and everything, it would have been tough to fly down to Florida. And the next time you visit, we’ll have a larger place.”
“Yeah? You’re thinking of buying a house?” Herb asked.
“We’ve started looking,” Donovan said. “The restaurant is booming, and the lease on this place expires in May. By then we’ll want more room for the baby.”
“I think it’swonderful,” Gloria said, grinning at me. “How many bedrooms?”
“We want three beds, two baths,” I said. “That gives us a nursery and a guest bedroom. So you can stay with us when you visit, rather than getting a hotel.”
“I think it’s a lot,” Herb said while chewing on a piece of turkey. “The four most stressful events in my life were getting married, starting a new job, having a baby, and buying a house. You two are doing all four at once.”
Donovan winked at me and said, “Marrying Molly was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I’m sure the rest will be just as easy.”
After dinner we gathered around our fake Christmas tree next to the fire. I played Christmas music out of my phone while we exchanged presents.
“These presents are for the baby,” Gloria said while handing Donovan a big box.
“Mom, there’s a dozen presents in here!”
“That’s just to start,” she said firmly. “It’s my God-given right to spoil my first grandchild. Hold on. You can’t open any of these until after the baby is born.”
