Birthday Surprises

I had wanted a baby since before we had gotten married. My husband, Anthony, knew this, but remained the level headed one, not falling into my baby fever. He insisted that while we both wanted a child, we weren’t ready for a baby. We were just starting out. While we could love a child and provide a happy home, we were not yet financially stable enough to give our baby the comfortable childhood that we would want. I knew he was right so I let the subject drop.

It had been almost a year since Andy and I had gotten married. It was my birthday but I was having to work late. Normally I would have been upset, but on my way home a light layer of snow had began to fall. The evening was too pretty to stay grumpy. I was happier than I had been all day.

As I walked into the house, my nose immediately picked up on the smells coming from the kitchen. Leaving my bag by the door I walked through the kitchen and into the dining room. What I saw left my speechless for a moment. The table was covered with dishes of my favorite foods. Andy was lighting the two tall candles placed in the center of the table that we only broke out for special occasions. Andy looked up and smiled as I walked into the room.

“Happy birthday, Madeline,” he said, blowing out the match and walking over to me.

“I can’t believe you did all this,” I said, awed.

“I wanted tonight to be special,” he told me, taking me in his arms and kissing my forehead, “Now come on, let’s eat,”

After dinner I helped Andy clean up, despite his protests. Once the dishwasher was loaded, Andy led me back to our bedroom where I was left speechless once again. Almost every flat surface in the room was covered in tiny, flickering candles. The room looked nothing less than magical.

“Oh, honey,” I whispered looking around.

“I’m glad you like it baby,” Andy said coming up and holding me from behind.

“Why all of this baby, not thing I’m complaining,” I quickly added.

Andy chuckled and kissed my neck, “I wanted everything to be perfect for your birthday, and for when we started trying to have a baby.” It took me a second before I realized that he was saying. Turning around in his arms I looked up at him.

“Andy, are you serious?” I asked, almost afraid I had heard him wrong. But instead of answering he leaned down and kissed me, carefully backing me up to our bed.

Six weeks later I was waiting very impatiently for Andy to get home. I paced through our bedroom, the living room and tidied up the kitchen, watching the clock no matter what room I was in at the time. Finally the clock passed five thirty and I heard a car door close from the driveway.

I was almost bouncing in place when Andy finally walked through the door. He chuckled when he saw me waiting eagerly, bouncing in place just inside the front door.

“Are you exciting about something, love?” he asked smiling, setting his back down.

“Come look!” I demanded, grabbing his hand and dragging him through our bedroom and into our bathroom. By the smile on his face he had to have figured out what I wanted him to see, but he stayed quiet as I pulled him along. I pushed him in front of my into the bathroom where two thin sticks were resting on the counter. Before he could even get to the counter I blurted,

“I’m pregnant!”

Andy spun around on the spot, “Really?”

I nodded enthusiastically. Before I knew what was happening he had picked me up and was spinning me around, kissing me deeply. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world. I had an amazing husband, and in just a few short months, we would be graced with the birth of our child.

I smiled into Andy’s kiss, this was just the beginning of the best part of our lives.