Child's Play

by Danielle Steel

  “Oh, darling, I’m so happy for you,” she turned to Stacey then, “I’m so happy for both of you. It’s going to be a gorgeous baby!” she said to Tammy, since she knew she was the one carrying it.

  “Not one baby, Mom. TWO!” Tammy said, as Stacey looked sheepish.

  “You’re having twins?” Kate looked ecstatic.

  “Not exactly twins,” Stacey corrected. “We decided to both do the insemination. I’m not sure who decided that but it seemed like a good idea. It was a spur of the moment decision.”

  “We both decided,” Tammy reminded her. “We had the idea at the same time, and we had enough sperm for two syringes, so we did it together. And it worked! We’re both pregnant!”

  “Oh my God.” Kate turned to Stacey. “You too?” She nodded. “How do you feel about that?”

  “Scared to death. Tammy is much braver than I am,” she said. “I never thought I’d have to go through a delivery. It was always going to be Tammy. I’ve seen some real horrors during my residency, but I love her so much and we wanted to do it together. It was our wedding day, so here I am, knocked up and terrified, but excited. Will you come with us, and be at the delivery?” she asked. “We might deliver on the same day. Maybe they’ll let us be in the same delivery room, if we do. I’d really like that. I want to be with Tammy, and I want her there with me. Will you come too?” She looked so vulnerable as she asked, Kate was touched.

  “Of course I’ll be there,” Kate said, still bowled over by their news. “I’d love to be,” and she had promised to be at Claire’s delivery too. Claire still hadn’t gone to Lamaze classes and Kate thought she should.

  “We’re not going to tell anyone until we’re twelve weeks,” Stacey said sensibly, “but we wanted to tell you. You’ve been so supportive ever since Tammy told you about me.”

  “I’ll be there with bells on,” Kate promised. “Now we’d better get the ice cream into the dining room before it turns to soup. Congratulations to both of you!” They walked back into the dining room together and took their seats, and the rest of the evening was about Anthony and Alicia. But Kate kept thinking about their news and smiling at them.

  Everyone left at midnight, and Anthony promised to stop by and give her a hug before he left two days from now. When she said good night to everyone Kate gave Tammy and Stacey an extra warm hug and a meaningful look they both understood. It was going to be a very busy year for the family, with three babies being born within six months. She thought about it with a smile after they left. Poor Stacey looked so anxious about it. She had gotten carried away by the romance of the moment on their wedding day, and now she had to face childbirth and was scared to death. Tammy was much more emotionally and psychologically ready for it than Stacey, who never thought of herself as a woman in a physical sense. She was psychologically much more male in her instincts, and now she had to face the ultimate female act, giving birth. As a doctor, she knew everything that could go wrong. But hopefully, it would all go smoothly.

  Kate texted Scott after everyone had left, and told him it had been a very nice party. She didn’t tell him about Tammy and Stacey’s big news. She wasn’t sure he was up to it, not having met them yet.

  She was tidying the kitchen, when she heard him come in. He had his own key now, and he walked into the kitchen with a hangdog look.

  “I’m addicted to you. I used to like my apartment. Now it’s so lonely there without you.” She smiled at him and held out her arms, and he came to her and put his arms around her, and kissed her.

  “I thought you might show up after they left.”

  “Do you mind?”

  “Of course not. I was missing you too.”

  “How were they? Was Claire difficult?”

  “No, everyone was well behaved, and Claire is so terrified of the delivery, she’s actually being nice again.”

  “Good. I hope she stays that way. A little terror might do her good,” he said, and Kate didn’t disagree with him, although she felt sorry for Claire. First babies were scary, as Stacey was already finding out.

  They went to bed a few minutes later, and Scott settled into her arms with a sigh of pleasure. He felt like he had come home again. He wanted to be wherever Kate was now, in her bed, in her arms, in her life, in her world. And as they started to make love, it was all Kate wanted too.

  Chapter 19

  Kate and Scott were ready for a quiet weekend after the party for Anthony and Alicia on Friday night. They’d both had a busy few weeks at work, and their relationship was still new and exciting. They stayed up late making love every night.

  Kate was washing some of the extra dishes from the night before, and Scott was reading the paper in his pajamas at noon the next day, when the doorman called from downstairs to say that Anthony was on his way up. Kate looked at Scott in a panic.

  “Oh shit, Anthony is coming to say goodbye to me. Can you put your jeans on fast?” Scott made a wild dash for the bedroom, as Kate went to open the door, after a quick stop in the bathroom to put a robe on. She didn’t know what to say to Anthony to explain Scott, since she hadn’t told any of them about him yet, and didn’t want to. She didn’t want to hear their comments, or answer questions. It was all much too new. And what if it didn’t work out? That didn’t seem likely at the moment. They were getting along beautifully. But they were living in a cocoon, without her children as part of it, which wasn’t entirely realistic given how close she was to them. She and Scott wanted time to themselves before they let the world in.

  Kate opened the door and Anthony gave her an enormous hug. “I’m going to miss you, Mom. We’ll talk on FaceTime. And I’ll be home in six months for a nice long visit. Grandma says you’ll come over on a trip. That was a great party last night. We loved it.” As he said it, Scott wandered into the room, looking impeccably put together, in jeans and a long sleeved blue shirt, his hair neatly combed, and loafers without socks.

  “You have a guest?” Anthony looked startled, and Scott smiled and extended a hand, as smooth as silk, with a broad smile.

  “Scott White. You must be Anthony. Your mother and I have been working on a case together for the past few months, I dropped by to get some papers from her. I hear you’re going to India. That’s very exciting.”

  “I’m opening an office there for my company. I came to say goodbye to my mom. We’re leaving tomorrow.” He turned his attention to Kate then, and didn’t seem the least put out by Scott being there. Scott was an easy person to have around anyway. He went out to the kitchen to leave them alone. “New man in your life?” he whispered to his mother, with a faintly mischievous look, and she shook her head.

  “Old work friend,” she whispered back. She was lying, but not ready to tell him. “We just finished a case. We’re wrapping it up.” He had never seen his mother entertain anyone in her bathrobe, even an old friend, but he didn’t have time to discuss it with her. He looked like a nice guy anyway.

  “I’m going to miss you,” she said, as they sat down for a few minutes. “Take care of yourself, sweetheart.”

  “I love you, Mom. And don’t let that little beast with the big belly push you around. She seems better these days.” Kate nodded, drinking in her last glimpse of the son she loved so much. He stood up then. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you when we get there.”

  “Let me know how Alicia’s auditions go,” she reminded him, and they hugged for a last time in the doorway. She held him tight and he did the same. “I’m so proud of you. I love you,” she said again, as he got on the elevator and then he was gone, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she walked back into the apartment and found Scott in the kitchen. He looked up when she walked in and saw that she was crying. He got up and put his arms around her and held her close.

  “He’s a sweet kid. You can see it in his eyes. He’s a nice boy.” He looked like a boy to Scott, not a man, and he was obviously
devoted to his mother.

  “Thank you for getting dressed,” she said with a smile.

  “Did he say anything about me?”

  “He asked who you were. I said you were a work friend. He wasn’t worried about it, and he’s all wrapped up in leaving tomorrow. He asked if you were a new man in my life, and I said no. I hate lying to him, but I think you’re right. It’s too soon to tell them, and he’s leaving now anyway. I’ll tell him on FaceTime when we tell the others. I can always say it just got started whenever it is.” Scott nodded and smiled at her.

  “I’m going to enjoy getting to know him. He looks like a big kid. The girls scare me a little more, especially Claire.”

  “She’s not great at the moment, but Tammy is a sweetheart. They’re both pregnant, by the way.”

  “Who? Both?” He looked puzzled.

  “Tammy and Stacey. Stacey did the insemination with her, and now they’re both pregnant. They’re turning into a baby factory.” She smiled and sat down at the kitchen table across from him. “Are you going to be able to put up with us?” she asked him and he nodded.

  “As long as I get my share of you, I’ll be fine. I don’t care how many babies they have. You’re my baby, Kate, and the only one I want.”

  “Then that should work just fine.” She finished washing the glasses, and they went back to her bedroom to lie on her bed, and the usual thing happened. They wound up making love again. She forgot about Stacey and Tammy being pregnant, and Anthony leaving and how long he would be gone, and Claire’s delivery. All she thought about for that moment in time was Scott and how much she loved him. He was part of it now too. And when they made love, they only belonged to each other. She was his woman, and he belonged to her.

  * * *

  —

  Anthony called Tammy on his way back to the hotel where he and Alicia were staying, at his company’s expense, for their last few nights in New York. He had given up his apartment, and Alicia had given hers up too. They would get a new one when they moved back in two years. They were planning to stay with Kate when they came back in June.

  Tammy picked up and Anthony laughed as soon as she answered. “I think Mom has a new boyfriend. I just went to say goodbye to her, and there was a guy there.”

  “There was? Who is he?”

  “She says he’s a friend from work, but I don’t believe her. She was in her nightgown and bathrobe, and he was wearing a shirt and jeans, but he looked like he’d just climbed out of bed. He seems like a nice guy though. He looks a little younger than Mom, but not much, a couple of years maybe.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t think she has anyone new. She’s been with us a lot lately. She doesn’t have time for a guy the way she works.” Tammy sounded dubious.

  “We thought that about you,” he teased her. “She can make time if she wants to.” He was smiling. He didn’t mind, as long as Scott was good to their mother. He didn’t like the idea of her being lonely and alone. “Just keep an eye out to make sure that Claire doesn’t beat the shit out of Mom. She can be such a bitch to her.”

  “I think she’s getting better. She needs Mom right now.”

  “I’m going to miss you guys,” he said, sounding emotional himself.

  “I was thinking last night, it’s a good thing you broke it off with Amanda. You could never have taken this job if you were married to her.”

  “I thought about that too. Alicia is much more adventurous, even more than I am. She can hardly wait to get there.”

  “Let’s FaceTime a lot while you are away,” Tammy suggested.

  “I will,” he promised. “And see what happens with the new guy. I bet he’s a new boyfriend. I just got that feeling about him. And if he is, good for her. He looks like a good guy. Talk to you soon, Sis. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she said and they hung up. She told Stacey about the man Anthony had seen in the apartment. “I wonder if she does have a new man. She hasn’t said anything to me about it.”

  “Maybe she’s keeping it to herself for a while. There’s no harm in that. This is a big group, and we talk a lot. Maybe they’re not ready for that,” Stacey said thoughtfully.

  “I doubt it,” Tammy said. But Stacey was older and wiser and she thought Anthony was probably right. If he was, more power to her, and she was glad for Kate. She deserved it.

  * * *

  —

  Anthony called his mother again from the airport the next day before he left, so she had another chance to say goodbye to him. He didn’t ask her about Scott, and she didn’t mention him.

  She and Scott were having a quiet Sunday at the apartment, reading the paper in their pajamas.

  They had a busy week ahead. They both had new cases, and old ones to wrap up. Kate knew the next few months would be hectic again. There was a constant flow of work for Kate, and Scott had a big trial scheduled in May.

  By early February, Scott and Kate were both swamped.

  Stacey was having violent morning sickness by then. She was six weeks pregnant and felt awful every day, and threw up six or eight times a day. Tammy felt fine, and sorry for Stacey, watching her throw up all the time. A few times, she was too sick to go to work and had to call relief doctors to replace her.

  “Why do I feel so horrible, and you feel fine?” Stacey asked from the bathroom floor one morning.

  “My mom never had morning sickness either,” Tammy said as Stacey vomited again. She was on her knees with her head in the toilet bowl when Tammy handed her a wet cloth and stroked her hair. They called the obstetrician who said it was just the luck of the draw and they couldn’t do much about it. There were medicines for it, but Stacey didn’t want to take them. She didn’t want to risk hurting the baby. The doctor told her that it should be better in another six weeks, at the end of the first trimester, but she said that with some women it persisted, even to the end of the pregnancy. Stacey knew that and cried when she thought about it. Morning sickness was much harder than she’d expected.

  “This is miserable,” she said, as Tammy led her back to bed, and put a damp cloth on her forehead. But even the faint smell of the laundry soap that had been used to launder the cloth made her throw up again. Everything did, and it persisted throughout the day. It was the worst thing Stacey had ever lived through. She talked to her patients’ mothers about it, trying to find something that would help. She found that a lot of them had taken medication. Others just lived with it.

  “I think I’m dying,” she said to Tammy in the middle of the night on the bathroom floor, when she woke out of a sound sleep to throw up again.

  “You’re not dying, you’re pregnant. And we’re going to have two beautiful babies,” Tammy said gently and then helped her back to bed. She felt guilty for how well she felt while Stacey was so sick. She was having to get other doctors to cover for her on the days she just couldn’t work, and felt guilty toward her patients.

  By the beginning of March, it was slightly better, but not much. She was only throwing up three or four times a day, instead of six or eight. Claire was two weeks away from delivery by then, and miserably uncomfortable. The baby was enormous. She could hardly breathe now, and she couldn’t sleep at night. Tammy was feeling great. She had never had more energy. She loved seeing every sonogram, and she couldn’t wait to learn what sex the baby was in a few more weeks.

  Kate called to check on them almost every day, and felt desperately sorry for Stacey. She was having a terrible pregnancy so far, but the baby was healthy.

  Scott and Kate had been together for almost three months by then, and everything was going smoothly. They met for lunch almost every day, since their offices were close together. And they spent their nights curled up together, reading, watching TV, talking, or working on their cases.

  “You’re not tired of me yet?” he asked her, worried about it one night.

 
; “No way,” Kate said, smiling at him. She’d never been happier in her life. He hadn’t met the girls yet, but all of them were in various stages of pregnancy, and it didn’t seem like the right time. She had told them she was seeing someone, but she was vague about it, and said it was very new.

  Anthony was happy in New Delhi, and facetimed with Kate a lot. Alicia had gotten a couple of minor parts in small movies, but she had more auditions coming up, and the movie industry in India was booming. Directors and producers loved her look, and how exotic she was.

  * * *

  —

  Kate had just come back from lunch with Scott in mid-March, when Claire called her sounding panicked. “It’s happening, Mom, I’m at the hospital. It’s early. My due date is still two days away.” She’d been hoping to be late. She didn’t feel ready to face childbirth yet and wanted to be overdue. “Can you come now?” Kate smiled when she heard her. Two days before her due date was not “early.” It was fine. The baby was full term, and ready. Claire wasn’t and had never gone to Lamaze in the end, nor read any of the books her mother sent her.

  “I’ll be right there, sweetheart. Everything’s fine. This is great. You’re going to have a baby today,” or possibly by the next morning. Claire burst into tears.

  “I don’t want to have a baby, I’m too scared. It already hurts a lot, and they said it’ll get worse. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch to you. Are you mad at me?”

  “Not at all, just relax.”

  “Why can’t they just put me out and give me a C-section?” She’d asked her doctor for that and he said there was no reason to. The baby was in the right position and everything was fine.

  “You’d feel a lot worse afterward. Vaginally is better. As soon as the baby is out, it’s all over, and you’ll recover faster. And once they give you an epidural, you won’t feel anything. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She hung up, called Scott and told him what was happening, and she wouldn’t be home that night until after the baby was born, which could take a long time for a first baby, maybe not until morning. Scott felt sorry for Claire even though he hadn’t met her. The process of childbirth had always sounded terrifying to him.