Excerpt
“It may arrive in time for Christmas. Santa Claus will bring it to you.” Caitlin straightened her body in the bed.
Michael pulled back the clothes and looked at her almost flat stomach. “You can’t see anything yet.”
“Not for a while,” Caitlin said, straining her eyes and neck to look at her belly. “But it’s there all right. I’ve been awfully sick, Michael.”
Michael kissed her and softly, almost reverently, caressed her stomach. “I can hardly believe it. Isn’t it strange, Caitlin? We’ve been making love for five or six years and once we decide to get married you become pregnant.”
“That should make you happy and more at ease,” Caitlin said.
“Why?” Michael asked.
“It’s a good sign. It’s a gift from God to let us know there’s no curse on our marriage. It’s been blessed in heaven.”
“That’s nice,” Michael said.
Caitlin held up her arms. Michael lowered his head to her breast, and she clasped him round the neck. “I love you, Michael,” she murmured between kisses. “I love you so very, very much.”
She stroked his back and buttocks as he lay half across her with his chin on her shoulder and his cheek held tightly to hers. “What’s wrong, Michael? Don’t you want to? On our wedding night?”
Michael did not move. His voice came muffled from the pillow: “I can’t.”
“Why?” Caitlin asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied helplessly. “It’s just that … Well, I keep thinking there’s a baby in there. My son. Perhaps even a daughter. A little living thing.”
“But it’s been there for weeks now,” Caitlin argued.
“Yes, but now I know it’s there. That makes a difference.”
“No it doesn’t. Or it shouldn’t.” Caitlin smiled. “But it’s perfectly all right, Michael. It can’t come to any harm. It’s protected like a seed in an apple.”
“But it’s not a seed in an apple; it’s a live human being with eyes and hands and heart and brain.”
“Michael, don’t be silly. Come on. It’s all right, I tell you. Make love to me, tonight above all nights.”
“It wouldn’t work, Caitlin. I just can’t do it.”
Caitlin lay still in disappointment. Then she smiled and stroked Michael’s back. “Don’t worry, Michael. It’s all right. I won’t force you.”
Michael rolled over on to his back.
