Chapter 6
We had two glorious, undisturbed days to fill any way we wanted, and fill it we did, with a whirlwind of activity: hiking, making love, biking, kayaking, making love some more. There was no quibbling about money, or whose turn it was to vacuum or pick up bread and milk. We just enjoyed each other. The only tense moments came with breakfast, the day we were going to start the drive home.
When our food arrived at our table in the cafe, Annie pulled her little birth control pill dispenser from her purse and dialed up her tablet. Once she had taken it, she rattled the container and stated, “I have three pills left, then I’m going off it, like we decided.”
In the middle of a sip of orange juice I nearly choked, swallowing a couple of times to make sure everything was heading down the right pipe. “We did?” I asked, a little amused, a little freaking out.
“Yes, we did, babe. You remember that day we were swimming at the pond?”
I did remember that conversation, I guessed I was hoping she hadn’t. After everything we’d been through with the miscarriage last fall, I didn’t think she would want to jump right back into it. Wrong again. “You promised as soon as we got married.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised you waited so long to bring it up,” I teased.
“Gee, I had it in my vows, but I decided that might be a little tacky,” she poked back.
Grinning, I glanced around. I wanted to make sure that our private conversation remained so. “Annie, when we talked about it before, well—that was before we went through everything with Little One. I mean, are you ready to risk that again? It was so hard to watch you go through that.”
“There’s no guarantees in this life, Mike. We could die in a car accident on the way home today. We can’t live our lives afraid. I want a baby, and I want you to be good with it. Are you?”
I stared down at my plate that so far hadn’t been touched. So many reasons why this wasn’t a good idea played through my mind, yet when I brought my gaze back to hers, she looked so hopeful, excited, expectant. “Yeah, of course.” No going back on it, I knew that. It would all work out. It always did.
~ ~ ~
Married life agreed with us, and we settled in effortlessly. I left for work every day in the early morning. I had to be there by six-thirty, and I went home at five since it was summer. I cherished those three-day weekends. Annie took on another stint teaching summer school for six weeks, so for a while I actually had a few Fridays to myself.
The time flew by, and soon summer would be history, so I asked my parents if Annie and I could borrow the cottage for a three-day get-away. The third weekend in August would be our last chance. School started the following week for Annie, and since the parents weren’t going up until Labor Day weekend, Dad granted the request.
Thank God for the lake, because we were having a streak of hot, humid weather that approached intolerable. Our teeny apartment was sweltering. Annie had us all packed and ready to go by the time I made it home.
After throwing on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, we loaded up the car and hit the road. Two hours later, after stopping for a burger along the way, we pulled into the familiar gravel drive. We had another hour or so of daylight. The car was unpacked, and we got on our suits. Grabbing a beer for each of us, I put several more in a little cooler and set it outside by the fire pit. After pulling an armful of logs off the pile by the shed, I arranged them for ease of lighting a little later. I took the lantern off the hook where it was stored near the back door, bringing it outside, too.
Annie stood off to the side watching me scurrying around, so I had her get a couple of lawn chairs from the shed then find us some towels to use after swimming. We were just itching to get into the water. Running back into the cottage, I brought out a blanket and opened it up on the hammock, while she just shook her head over all my preparations.
“Mike, it’s going to be dark soon. We aren’t even going to be able to swim.”
Finishing off my beer, I responded, “Who says we can’t swim when it’s dark? I do my best swimming by moonlight.” I chuckled. “That’s why I brought the lantern out. We’ll put it on the dock.” She chugged the rest of her bottle and set the empty next to mine, taking my hand.
“I won’t be able to see what’s nibbling at me in the dark,” she whined as we started toward the water.
“It’ll only be me nibbling at you. It won’t be too scary, I promise.” Kicking off our flip-flops, we walked into the cool, calming relief from our day. The sun had set. The sky was still gray with a few orange streaks fighting to hang on. A crescent moon was making its way higher. Annie found an inflatable raft in the shed and sought its refuge from the murky water trying to devour us.
Leaving her floating alone for a couple of moments, I went back to shore. After lighting the lantern, I brought it down on the dock, along with two more beers. I sat on the end of the pier, feet dangling in the water, while she paddled over next to me to claim her drink. We stayed that way, our voices and laughter echoing in the quiet surroundings.
Once we abandoned the water, I lit the fire. We tried snuggling, but the air hung heavy. It was almost too warm for a fire. We shed the towels we’d dried off with and cracked open another cool one. As I ran my finger up and down her thigh, I smiled, suddenly unnaturally quiet.
“What?” she asked, suspiciously.
“Oh, nothing—”
“Liar!”
“I think I’ll go back in to cool off again. Come with me, please?”
She giggled. “You just got me drunk so you can lure me back into the water.”
I smirked at her, feeling the alcohol, too. “Did it work?” I stood up and so did she. When she had her back to me, I slipped my trunks off, then reached and quickly untied her top.
“Mike!” she gasped, clutching the unfastened garment over her breasts as she turned around, finding me in all my glory. “What are you doing? Someone will see us!”
“Have you seen another soul anywhere around here all evening? No, because there isn’t anyone. Besides, it’s dark, and we’ll be in the water.” She didn’t put up much of a fight when I snatched her top out of her hands. Then my thumbs hooked under the edge of her bottoms and she helped to wiggle out of them. Hand in hand, we ran down the length of the pier and straight off the end.
When the splashing and laughing and screeching finally came to an end, she was wrapped around my body, and we clung to each other through a series of kisses. I carried her to the shore, putting her down to take her hand and walk her to the hammock. It was hard enough for one person to get into it sober, but two slightly compromised people brought out more squeals and banter until we both finally were somewhat stabilized on it. Carefully, I eased on top of her, and we added another first to our life slates.
~ ~ ~
Yup, we got pregnant that weekend. A missed period in early November led to a home pregnancy test, which came up positive, twice, since we didn’t believe it the first time. Annie called her OB-GYN and was told to come in for an ultrasound. We were shocked to learn she was further along than we thought. Our Little Bean already measured up at twelve weeks pregnant. Annie and I looked at each other as we counted back, then both of us said at the same time, “The lake!” We started laughing.
Annie swore she still had a short period in October, but Dr. Eicker said it wasn’t uncommon for a woman to have a little breakthrough bleeding in the early months. The baby appeared healthy, and we were nearing the second trimester, where the odds were much more in our favor to continue with a viable pregnancy. Oh my God! A baby!
All of a sudden, our lives took on a new urgency in so many areas. Our once efficient apartment grew smaller by the day. For our wedding gift, Margo Brekke gave us a new bedroom set. The one Annie picked out. Well, the king-sized bed took up our entire bedroom, so we had the dressers crammed against the walls in our already crowded living area. I didn’t see where we could even clean out a drawer for the baby to sleep in, much less have space for everything else an infant required.
We began to seriously talk about a house. The start of winter was not the best time for buying. It needed to be in the right neighborhood with the right location for our jobs and schools. Next on the agenda, loan approval.
The mortgage lender gave you a maximum dollar amount you could possibly afford and still manage to keep your head above water. I’d already run the numbers, so I knew the amount I’d be comfortable with. The estimate they gave us for a monthly house payment exceeded my limits by hundreds. Naturally, all the houses Annie wanted to look at were in the higher range. For our own good, this battle needed to go my way.
We wanted our child to be brought up in the church. Annie looked into the classes for new members at the place where I was baptized, confirmed, and married. We’d be starting in January.
~ ~ ~
Our new friends, Dalton and his wife Lucy, had invited us over twice since our wedding. It was our turn to reciprocate, or we’d risk things getting awkward for me at work. Despite our lack of space, we asked them over for dinner one Friday night. They didn’t have any family in town, so to save them from needing to find a sitter, Annie insisted they bring little Finn along. We had a lot to talk about, now that Annie and I were expecting.
Once we got Finn fed and cleared the table, we played some Shit on Your Neighbor, a card game I used to play with my brothers. Before we drew to see who’d deal, Dalton started telling us about his mom.
From the other times we’d gotten together, we already knew each other’s basic history. Dalton only had one younger sister. They were both raised by their mom, the dad moved out west to become an artist or something funky. He told us that his mom had been sick for the last couple of weeks with a respiratory thing she couldn’t seem to shake. For once, his amused look was replaced with something darker. Nothing ever seemed to really bother Dalton, so I knew he was very concerned.
Before saying anything, I looked to Annie for guidance, remembering how horrible I’d felt for ripping on Pete about them starting a family. I sure didn’t want to put my foot in my mouth again. She apparently could also read minds, among her other talents, because Annie took the lead.
“Gosh, Dalton, that’s scary. I hope she’s being seen by a doctor.”
“Yeah, she’s been on a couple different antibiotics, and twice she went in to the ER for breathing treatments because she felt like she was suffocating. They did X-rays and a CT scan and still can’t find anything.” His head dropped down, and Lucy placed her hand on his back. “She’s my mom, you know. I’m worried.”
“We hear you, man. If we can help you out at all, just let us know, okay?”
He nodded. “She has an appointment the beginning of next week with a pulmonologist. I just hope they can help her. So if I’m not my usual charming self at work, you’ll know why.”
I chuckled. “I’m glad you told us.”
Annie added, “Yes, and please, either of you, if you need us to help out, just ask.”
~ ~ ~
Things escalated very quickly from that night. Dalton’s mother had a procedure scheduled with the lung specialist on the Friday before Thanksgiving. He got an urgent call at work from his sister. When he told me his mom was in intensive care, he had tears in his eyes. They were debating whether or not to put her on a respirator to give her some help in her struggles to breathe. He needed to get down to Milwaukee to be with her, and they needed someone to watch Finn.
“I wouldn’t ask if we had another—”
“Dalton, don’t! We told you we’d do anything to help you out. Just let me run it by Annie to make sure she’s free. She’s going to be so excited.”
Annie took a personal day from school that Friday. We got the little guy Thursday after work, so Dalton and Lucy could head down to Milwaukee.
I walked around, bouncing the five-month-old in my arms while Annie made dinner. He seemed content, holding an over-sized lollipop-shaped rattle in his hand, just checking us out. “You are being such a good little minnow,” I cooed at him and grabbed his belly. A tentative smile curved his mouth just a bit.
“What did you just call him?” Annie asked, her face kind of puckered up.
“Minnow—you know, a little fish,” I answered, dancing my hand around to mimic the movement of a minnow. “Finn sounds like a fish.”
“Oh, geez, Mike! I can’t believe you just said that!”
“Well, really, who names their kid Finnean?”
“Just stop, right now! You’re bullying a five-month-old! Shame on you!”
I smiled, tickling his tummy again and getting a full gurgle out of him. “You know I was kidding, right Finn? Geez, I hope I haven’t damaged you for life.” But I did use his real name for the rest of his visit.
Annie stuck a casserole in the oven, then we propped Finn in his little chair and fed him some baby mush. After that, she cradled him, softly singing to him while he slurped down his bottle. I took him back so she could get our food on the table.
“He’s wet. Go change him before we eat.”
“Hey, thanks,” I muttered as I headed for the bedroom where all his stuff was in a diaper bag on the bed.
“Don’t forget to put the pad under him first!” Like I hadn’t changed a baby before. I got everything out, put him down on the pad, and took the wet diaper off. As I was reaching to pick up his legs to slip the new diaper under him, he started sprinkling all over himself and me, like a little fountain. I slapped the new diaper over him, but it was too late. The damage was done. I rattled off an obscenity when Annie came to see what the ruckus was about.
She burst out laughing. “It isn’t funny! He just peed on me!” I whined. Yuck, pale yellow droplets all down one of my arms. Guess all my baby experience was with girls. I finished getting the diaper on him. Grimacing, I pleaded with Annie, “Will you take him so I can get in the shower—please?”
Still chuckling, she shook her head. “Oh, you are such a baby. Guess he paid you back for making fun of his name.” Glad I provided the entertainment for the night.
Late Sunday afternoon the Strebachs arrived to pick up Finn. That little amused smirk was back on Dalton’s face, and I knew instantly that things must have gone well in Milwaukee. They told us some grotesque-sounding mucus plug was removed from his mom’s bronchial tube. Her breathing immediately improved. She’d been transferred out of intensive care and would be discharged Monday.
“We’re so grateful to you for helping us,” Lucy said as she nestled a sleepy Finnean close to her neck.
“It was good practice for us. Ask Mike how changing a diaper landed him in the shower,” Annie said, unable to resist rubbing it in. Of course she then had to tell them what happened. I got no sympathy, not even a little.