Happy Birthday: A Novel

by Danielle Steel

  “You did a beautiful job,” Jack complimented her when she turned around to face him after the ceremony.

  “Thank you,” she said, looking up at him with the weight of the past week in her eyes. He could see it and it touched him. “I’m not going to Miami,” he said simply, not wanting to keep her in suspense a moment longer. He had decided the day before, but wanted to sleep on it. He had called his agent and attorney that morning before the wedding.

  “You’re not?” She smiled broadly at him. “Are you serious? But what about your career?” She was worried about him, and didn’t dare ask him what had made the decision for him. Not wanting to live in Miami, or them? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going. She wanted to cry in relief as she put her arms around him and kissed him.

  “My career will survive it. I’m not going to turn my life upside down at this point. I think it boils down to what we’ve both agreed on. There comes a time when you have to make sacrifices. I’ve always given up my personal life for my career. I just didn’t want to do that this time. It’s time to do something different.” She stared at him in amazement. He was telling her that he had done it for her, that he had given up a promotion and more money for her. And the worst part was that she didn’t know if she would have had the guts to make the same choice in his shoes. But Jack had done it. And maybe next time, if the choice was hers to make, she would too. Just as he had said, there came a time when there was more to life than just a career and blind ambition. And Jack knew, as he looked at her, that whatever happened between them in the future, he had made the right choice for him. And for her too.

  “I was so sure you were going,” she said to him in a whisper. “I felt like I’d already lost you.”

  He shook his head firmly as he looked at her. “You didn’t. And I’m not sure you could. We survived last December together, at the network. I didn’t go through all that to find you, and then throw it all away.” And as he looked at her, she wasn’t sure she would either. They had both grown up, and something in them had ever so subtly changed. Their ages no longer mattered, but their goals and values did. Jack was thrilled not to be going to Miami, and to stay in New York with her, and the network would live with it. They couldn’t have compensated him enough for losing her.

  “Thank you,” she said as she stood close to him. “Thank you.” And with that, the others joined them, and they spent the afternoon talking to April and Mike’s friends and her employees from the restaurant.

  The last of the guests left at four o’clock after an excellent lunch, and several very touching speeches, notably one by April’s father, where he said how proud of her he was and that this was the best shotgun wedding he’d ever been to. Everybody laughed loudly. There was no point pretending it wasn’t.

  April tossed the bouquet just before she left. And with a firm hand and practiced eye, she threw it straight at her mother, who caught it with a startled look.

  “Now what am I going to do with that?” she said to Jack, who was standing next to her as she held it, and he laughed at her discomfited expression. She looked like she was going to throw it right back at her daughter. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “Save it,” he said easily. “You never know when we might need it. The next time they ask me to move to Miami, I might force you to marry me and go with me.” He didn’t ask her “what if,” and she didn’t say she wouldn’t. She was enormously touched and impressed by what he had done for her in refusing the network’s offer. He had done it for himself too.

  And then April and Mike departed to their room at the Carlyle. When the last of the guests left, Valerie took off her shoes and smiled up at Jack. It had been a beautiful wedding, and a magical day, not just for the bride and groom, but for them too. He put his arms around her then and kissed her, and she sank against him with immeasurable relief. She had been terrified of losing him, and brave about it. She felt as though they had won the Super Bowl on this one, and she felt very, very lucky and blessed.

  In their honeymoon room at the Carlyle that night, April and Mike had ordered room service and were watching a movie. April was happy but exhausted, and they chatted about the details of the wedding, and what a wonderful day it had been. They both agreed that her mother had given them a perfect wedding, and April looked over at her husband with a grin.

  “And I even managed not to have the baby!” she said proudly, as though she’d had something to do with it. And for once it was hardly moving, as though it was worn out too. It had been a memorable but very long day for all of them.

  “Try and not have it tonight either. As long as we have the room, we might as well enjoy it.”

  “I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything.” Her dress was tossed over a chair, and she still had the lily of the valley in her braid. She was still a bride, and not yet ready to be a mother. At least not tonight. She wanted to enjoy their honeymoon.

  “Are you having contractions?” he asked, looking worried.

  “No more than usual. I think we’re okay for tonight.”

  He relaxed when she said it, and he would have loved to make love to her on their wedding night, but he didn’t dare. She was so close to delivering that he was afraid to start something if he made love to her, and neither of them was up to dealing with her having the baby that night. They were exhausted. Instead they were happy to eat omelettes from room service and watch movies. She called her mother to thank her again before they went to sleep, and Valerie sounded happy.

  “I think she’s okay again,” April said to Mike as he started to fall asleep. April knew that something had been bothering her mother, but whatever it was, it seemed to be over now. April was glad, she wanted her mother to be happy. “I wonder if they’ll ever get married,” she mused, but Mike didn’t answer. He was already sound asleep and snoring softly.

  Chapter 23

  April went back to work at the restaurant on the Tuesday after the Memorial Day weekend as though nothing had happened. She was just as busy and energetic, although she seemed to be slowing down a little, not that most people would have noticed. But Mike did—he knew her better. She seemed a little bit more tired, and it was harder for her to get up in the morning, but she kept on going. By Friday, he teased her that she was obviously never going to have this baby, and it was clearly all a trick to get him to marry her. They had been married for six days, and were very happy.

  He came to visit her on Friday afternoon when he finished work, and she was working with the plumber and the electrician in the kitchen. She had just purchased a brand-new stove for the refurbished kitchen, and she was excited about it as they pored over the brochures. Mike came up behind her and put his arms around her.

  “How are we doing?” he asked her cheerfully. He was looking forward to spending the weekend with her, and who knew, maybe they’d have the baby. Her due date was the next day, although babies never came on time. She could have another two weeks to wait, according to her doctor, but April didn’t mind. She had lots to do.

  He noticed that she was holding her back as she talked to the electrician. Mike asked her about it as they left the restaurant, and she said she had pulled something that morning, but it was nothing. They went for a walk as they left the restaurant and she was rubbing her stomach, and struggled more than usual to keep step beside him. And then she stopped and held tightly to his arm as he watched her. Something was happening. She looked different, although she insisted she was fine.

  “Then what was that?” he asked her suspiciously when she stopped again.

  “Just a cramp. I carried some boards out to the Dumpster.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head, but at this point, if she had the baby, it was fine. “I’ve been having them all day,” she added, and he looked at her and laughed.

  “I think maybe you have denial. Has it occurred to you that you might be in labor? I’m no expert, but you have all the signs.” He’d been reading about it lately, just to prepare himself. She had back pain, “cramps” that were
probably contractions, and she was having trouble walking when she had them. He suggested they take a cab home, and when he hailed one, she doubled over. This time it was a contraction, there was no question about that. And she couldn’t walk or talk.

  “Have you been timing these things?” he asked, as she got into the cab with him.

  “I don’t have my watch on. I forgot it on the sink this morning.”

  “April,” he said, trying to feign a calm he didn’t feel. Suddenly he was panicked. What if she had it in the taxi, or alone at home with him? What would he do? He took a breath and tried to talk to her calmly. “I think you’re having the baby. Let’s go to the hospital and have them take a look.”

  “That’s silly,” she said at the look on his face, and then she had another pain, and she stopped talking to him again, and his suggestion didn’t seem so silly. When she thought about it, she had been having cramps all day, and her back was really hurting now. She could feel pressure bearing down on her, and she looked at him with wide eyes. “Maybe you’re right,” she said softly, holding tightly to his arm, as he changed the address he had given the cabdriver and told him to go to the hospital instead. And this time he timed the contractions. They were regular and three minutes apart. She looked terrified when he told her. “I don’t think I’m ready,” she said in a nervous voice.

  “Yes, you are,” he said soothingly as she looked at him with wide eyes, suddenly worried about him too.

  “What about you? Are you okay? If this is it, are you in, or do you want me to call Ellen?”

  He didn’t even hesitate. She was his wife, and this was their baby. “Don’t worry about it. I’m in. I’m fine. And so are you.” He held tightly to her hand and continued to time the contractions. They had gotten longer and harder since they’d gotten into the cab. “It’s a good thing I showed up, or you might have had the baby on the floor of the restaurant. Didn’t you think about what was happening?” She shook her head.

  “I was too busy. I just figured I pulled a muscle this morning.”

  “Some muscle,” he said, looking distracted as they got caught in Friday afternoon traffic and he told the driver to hurry. “I think my wife is having a baby.”

  “Please, not in my cab, sir.” The driver looked imploringly at him in the mirror, and Mike told him to go faster. April had stopped talking completely by then and was grimacing in pain as she clutched him.

  “Do you want me to call your mother?” he asked, and she nodded. There was no question in either of their minds now, she was having the baby. The contractions were coming fast and furious, and she had probably been in labor since that morning. He called Valerie, and she said she’d call Pat, and they’d come to the hospital to wait for the good news. Mike just hoped the good news didn’t happen in the taxi.

  The driver slid into the emergency room driveway and came to a stop as April’s eyes widened with terror. “I think I’m going to throw up,” she said, looking scared and sick, and Mike shook his head. He knew what that meant. He had done his homework. She was very close to having the baby. “Get a nurse!” he shouted at the driver, “or a doctor!” The cabdriver ran into the hospital, and a nurse came out a minute later pushing a wheelchair. She was wearing scrubs, and she was a big African-American woman with a head full of tiny braids and an enormous smile as she greeted April.

  “Come on,” she said firmly, “let’s get you out of this cab. Dad, give us a hand here,” she said, looking at Mike, and he nodded.

  “I think I’m having it,” April said, with a look of total panic.

  “No, you’re not,” the nurse said firmly. “Let’s get you into the hospital first. You don’t want to have that baby in a taxi. It’s a mess!” she said, and April laughed at her although she was having a pain, and the nurse and Mike lifted her into the wheelchair. Mike handed the driver twice what the fare had been, thanked him, and ran after the nurse, who was pushing April. She started to cry as they lifted her onto an exam room table. The nurse asked April what her OB’s name was, and then told another ER nurse standing by to get the OB on call, and then call April’s own doctor. The nurse told April she was going to check her, and she and Mike helped April take off her jeans and T-shirt and put her in a gown, and laid her back on the table.

  “Don’t push now!” the nurse warned her, still smiling. There was an aura of competence and warmth about her that reassured Mike. Things were going very fast.

  “I’m not,” April said through clenched teeth, “but I want to. It’s pushing very hard. Can I have drugs now? This really hurts.” She looked imploringly at Mike, and he looked at the nurse. She was checking April, and then smiled at them both.

  “We’re going to have a baby here in about two minutes, before the anesthesiologist can even get here. You’re at ten, and something tells me you have been for a while. First baby?” April nodded.

  “What were you doing that you missed the signs?” She had pulled off the end of the table, and set up stirrups and leg supports and eased April’s legs onto them gently as April looked at her in terror.

  “I was carrying some old boards out to a Dumpster. I can’t have a baby now. I’m not ready!” she shouted, suddenly angry and frightened. She was losing control, but Mike was steady as a rock beside her.

  “Oh, yes, you are,” the nurse said calmly. “We don’t get a lot of moms in here who miss the signs of labor because they’ve been carrying lumber. Are you a construction worker?” she asked with a broad grin. She was rapidly taking out instruments and keeping an eye on April.

  “No, I own a restaurant,” she said, grimacing with another pain, but she wasn’t screaming. Mike was stunned by the process, and how quickly it had all happened.

  The nurse turned to Mike then, and the doctor hadn’t come yet, but they seemed to be doing fine without one. “Dad, would you like to see your baby’s head?”

  “Can you see it?” April asked, smiling, and then she had another pain that was the worst one she’d had yet, as Mike held her shoulders and then peeked and saw their baby’s head crowning. It had short dark curly hair, and then it retreated slightly when the pain ended.

  “Okay, Dad, you hold one leg, I’ll hold the other, and Mom, when the next pain starts, you’re going to push as hard as you can, holding your breath, and we’re going to have that baby in your arms in about two minutes. Come on now,” she said. The pain had already started, and April was pushing, and as she did, the baby moved steadily forward and shot right into the nurse’s hands as April let out a long low scream Mike hadn’t expected. He looked at April in terror, but she was smiling and crying and the nurse was holding their baby and handed him to Mike as soon as she wiped him off and wrapped him in a blanket.

  “You have a son,” the nurse said as the doctor came through the door. Her own doctor hadn’t made it, and the one on call at the hospital had showed up in time to cut the cord. Mike was horrified to realize that they had left the restaurant twenty minutes before. April had had the baby seven minutes after they arrived. The cabdriver didn’t know how lucky he was.

  Mike leaned over April, still holding the baby, and put him on her chest. She touched him and looked up at Mike, and both of them were crying and smiling at the same time.

  “Sam,” April said, whispering his name.

  “I knew it was a boy,” Mike said, looking at him proudly through tears of joy. They hadn’t weighed him yet, but he was a big baby. The nurse was guessing nine pounds, and he had almost delivered himself. April was saying it hadn’t been bad at all, as Mike rolled his eyes. It hadn’t looked easy to him, but it hadn’t been as awful as he had feared, and the miracle of one human being coming out of another had totally amazed him as he watched their son being born.

  The nurse had left the room for a minute, as the doctor delivered the placenta and cut the cord, and she looked at April when she got back. “There’s a mess of people out there asking for April Wyatt. Is that you?” She smiled her big wide motherly smile that had reassured them both.<
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  “It was,” April said happily, holding her baby, as Mike looked proudly at them both. “I’m April Steinman now. I got married last Saturday,” she told the nurse, who laughed warmly.

  “Well, that’s a good thing. After we clean you up a little, do you want them to come in?”

  She looked at Mike to be sure it was all right with him, and he nodded, knowing that this was the happiest day of his life, even if he had been terrified of it before, and he had never loved April more. He was fine about having her family come in. They were his family now too. And so was Sam. Forever.

  “Okay,” April said. She had started shaking, and they covered her with a warm blanket. They had taken her feet out of the stirrups, and the nurse told them the shaking was normal and would stop soon.

  And a minute later her whole family came in. Her father and Maddie, Annie and Heather, and her mother and Jack. The room was full of people, exclaiming about the baby, talking to April and Mike, and wanting to see Sam. April looked blissful as she held the baby, and Mike was standing close to her, telling her how much he loved her, as everyone congratulated them. Valerie was looking at the baby with tears in her eyes and holding Jack’s hand. And suddenly Mike realized that everything was all right. This was a whole other life from anything he had known as a child, among people who loved each other, the baby, and even him. And little Sam was the most welcome baby in the world.

  The others left after a few minutes, and he and April kissed, and then she leaned down and kissed their baby and whispered, “Happy birthday, Sam.”

  There had been no way of knowing all those months before, but the worst birthday for some of them had turned out to be the best birthday after all.

  About the Author

  DANIELLE STEEL has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with over 590 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include 44 Charles Street, Legacy, Family Ties, Big Girl, Southern Lights, Matters of the Heart, One Day at a Time, A Good Woman, and other highly acclaimed novels. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death.