Adventures in Marriage: Part Two

Adventures in Marriage: Maggie and Tom 

Part Two

Father’s Day

A roar went out toward the unsuspecting television.

“No!” 

“Come on, ump! Are you blind?”

“There’s no way that was a foul!”

          The guys settled back down on the couch with bitter muffles as the network switched to commercials. Maggie giggled to herself as she brought them a refill of Father’s Day snacks. Her father, Bill, her brother, Edward, and her husband, Tom, all had a lift in their spirits when they spotted the garlic chicken wings on the platter. 

            Bernadette, Maggie’s mother, brought out a fresh round of drinks that the guys also devoured as the women made their way back to the kitchen.  

            Bernadette gave her daughter a knowing smile. “So…When are you going to tell him?”

            Maggie feigned ignorance. “What are you talking about, Mom? Tell who what?”

“Oh come on, Maggie. You haven’t drunk anything but ginger ale all afternoon and the boys were lucky they got those chicken wings. I saw the way your eyes pounced on them when they came out of the oven.”

            “Mom, nothing is going on.”

            Bernadette dropped the subject, for the moment, and began stirring a pitcher of lemonade. “So, you and Tom are coming up on three years now, right?”

           “Yep, in September,” Maggie answered. “I’m excited we’ll get to spend our anniversary in the new house.”

            “How much longer until the kitchen remodel is finished?” Bernadette asked while handing a sheet of cookies to Maggie to plop in the oven.

            “They’re telling us ten days but you know how these things go.”

            The ladies sat down at the kitchen table to play a hand of gin while the cookies plumped in the oven. The aroma of chocolate and dough skipped through the air and Bernadette inhaled deeply. The smell pummeled Maggie’s senses and she felt a sudden kick of nausea. She slapped her hand over her mouth and raced from the kitchen into the bathroom.

            Tom saw her make her dash and jumped up to check on her. “Maggie, are you OK?”

            He heard the toilet flush and the stream of water from the sink. When Maggie emerged from behind the door her pale face hung with exhaustion. Despite her protest that she was fine, Tom decided to take her home.

            Maggie felt like a princess when they got back to their appartment. Tom fluffed the pillows on the couch before she sunk into the perfectly broken-in cushions. He then draped a blanket over her and brought her a glass of ginger ale and saltine crackers to help calm her stomach. “Do you have everything you need?”

            “Yes. Thank you, sweetheart.”

         He protested that she try to get up for anything until she had time to rest. She insisted he finish watching the ball game before she drifted off on a nap.

           Maggie woke to Tom cheering at the screen. The Orioles had won. With his high spirits it was the perfect time to give him what she had been waiting for all day. She leaned down and fetched a card from her purse. 

            “Tom, I have something for you,” she said.

            He gave her a puzzled head tilt while taking the card from her hand. “What’s this for?”

            “Just open it.”

            He slid the card from its envelope. The front read “Happy Father’s Day”

            “Did you mean to give this to your dad?”

            Maggie smiled and shook her head. “Keep reading.”

            The inside was blank but for Maggie’s quick cursive.

            I could never imagine sharing this moment with anyone else. You are my confidante, my hero, my rock and more than I could ever want in a partner. You are an amazing husband and I know with all my heart you will be a phenomenal father. We have been trying for six months to start our family and we have finally done it, darling. We are going to be parents! You are going to be a father! I thought of no better way to tell you than on Father’s Day. This will be the first of many for you.

            I love you with all my heart,

                                                            Maggie

            Tom looked up at his beaming wife. The card slid out of his hands and flopped on the floor. Maggie wasn’t sure what was going on. What he happy, or terrified?

            Tom then let a grin sweep over his face. He picked Maggie off the couch and spun her around. He squeezed her tight and then remembered her nausea from before.

            “I’m fine,” she said to his concerned face.

            Maggie and Tom went back to her parent’s house to announce the news and confirm Bernadette’s suspicion. 

           The following afternoon the couple got a call from their contractor, who told them the renovation would be completed earlier than predicted.

            They could move in on Friday.