An Act of Persuasion - By Stephanie Doyle Page 0,51
how to make excellent pasta and he could remember having her over to dinner to enjoy his cooking, never once thinking that she thought those invitations might have meant something more.
Every year she found the thing he wanted most without knowing it.
Every year he gave her money to places like Ann Taylor Loft and Barnes & Noble.
It was a crazy idea that she loved him. But when she’d confessed why she’d taken his dismissal of what had happened between them so hard, he grabbed on to it with both hands. If she loved him, she wouldn’t leave him again. If she loved him, she would let him be with this miracle child.
If she loved him, she would marry him.
Yet when that didn’t happen instantly he had to resort to proving his worthiness and so far he found himself coming up short. Chinese food and some books on pregnancy seemed like a pale version of romantic gifts.
There was the other thing he’d bought for her when he feared he might die. He’d wanted to make sure she had security if he wasn’t around to provide it for her. But when she left him and he didn’t die, it seemed like a thing she might not want to have from him. Maybe too clumsy of a gesture. Maybe too much. He couldn’t say because he didn’t know women that well. Didn’t know Anna well enough.
But now he was here. The doctor was putting something on her stomach and then turning up the dial on a monitor. The whir and bump of something moving at a high speed caught his attention.
“That’s it?” he asked, feeling a creeping sense of awe fill his body. It was like seeing the Egyptian Pyramids for the first time, only so much more intense.
Bump, bump.
“That’s it. In four weeks you can make an appointment for your sonogram and at that point you’ll be able to know if it’s a boy or a girl.”
“Shhh.” He’d done it unconsciously. He didn’t want any noise interfering with what he was hearing. Was it normal that it beat that fast? Did it sound like a healthy heart? Did boys’ hearts beat faster than girls’ hearts and if so, how did this one sound? Because he wanted...he didn’t know what he wanted. He wanted this life.
“He’s still coming to grips with the whole thing,” Anna said.
The doctor took away the device and Ben almost snarled.
“Sorry, but she’s all checked out,” the doctor told him. “Make sure you pick up a sample cup before you leave and I’ll see you in four weeks.”
“Thanks, Dr. Connelly.”
“No problem. And congratulations.”
Ben nodded and waited for the door to close. When he looked at Anna, he thought he had no words.
She reached out and cupped his face and he pressed her hand against his skin. “I know. Crazy, right? It’s alive!”
He laughed as he imagined was her intent. But the intensity of the moment wouldn’t leave him. He’d been staring death in the face four months ago and now he’d helped to create life. It seemed so miraculous.
And yet completely mundane. Something couples did all the time.
“Please marry me,” he whispered. The idea of not having her and the beating heart inside of her body as his was incomprehensible to him.
When he looked to her for an answer, she smiled at him gently. “No. But I will go on another date with you.”
“I’ll take it. Let me take you to lunch.” He helped her off the table and watched her hide that precious belly under pants that he could now see were definitely too snug. Women, he decided, could be ridiculous about things like going up a pant size. He made a mental note to pick up some things for her. Something stretchy that she might like.
“Can’t. Have to get back to work.”
“Then dinner tonight. My place this time.”
She had to think about it and he wondered at the hesitation. She’d promised to give him a chance. That meant dates. Plural.
“What?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should keep it to a restaurant.”
“Last time I took you to a restaurant for dinner you upchucked in a public bathroom. I would think you would prefer the privacy.”
“It feels like we’re moving a little fast.”
This frustrated the hell out of him. Of course he was moving fast. He had only five months left to convince her to tie herself to him for the rest of her life. Reining in his impatience he used sound logical reasoning.