Anchor - M. Mabie Page 0,71
I’d intentionally not booked our flights until Monday, hoping we’d stay all day in bed.
I’m a smart man because we did just that.
We didn’t watch T.V. We didn’t leave the room. The only time we left the bed was to answer the door for food and once to take a shower. I rediscovered all of my favorite places on her body and let her explore mine.
If that first day as man and wife was an example of how our life would be, I’d never have to worry about some dumb married couple sex fifty-eight time average I read.
We were only on day one and had five tick marks on the calendar. I wasn’t keeping count, per se, but it was hard to miss a tally like that.
Sex or no sex, though, the next year would be pretty damn exciting.
Monday, September 20, 2010
WHAT A WAY TO start off our first year married. Pregnant and going to the last American frontier. I was on to him; he wasn’t fooling anybody.
“Alaska, Casey?” I asked for the ninety-fifth time as we boarded our flight.
“What?” he asked innocently. “You make it seem like a bad idea. Neither of us has ever been.”
I knew better. We weren’t just checking a destination off some arbitrary bucket list. He wanted to ensure we were having sex more than the typical fifty-eight time average that year. Taking me to some cottage in the wilderness would be a sure-fire way to do it. There was no way I was going to outrun a bear. Or a wolf. Or any other wild animal that was frolicking around. He had me right where he wanted me. He was a genius, but I’d never let him know that.
“Fairbanks isn’t like the middle of nowhere,” he reminded me. “They have indoor plumbing and everything.”
Turns out that indoor plumbing came in handy. Where the first night and day was spent eating and exploring the cool city, then driving to our cottage, day two found me in the bathroom of said cottage until around noon.
“Are you all right?” Casey brought me a 7-Up as I sat on the floor in front of the toilet.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“That shit is serious. How do you feel?”
Who knew morning sickness started so soon? I thought I’d have a few weeks to get used to the idea. I’d only known for less than a week.
“I feel fine right now; it just happens all of a sudden.”
He set the drink down on the counter and offered me a hand up.
“Do you think we should call a doctor or go home early?” Casey had been on his phone all morning googling how to combat my symptoms. I was going to learn a lot that day if I didn’t start feeling better and occupy his time. The more he read, the more anxious he got.
“No. We’re on our honeymoon.”
“Yeah, but you’re barfing every thirty minutes. One website said that as long as you’re not feeling crampy, morning sickness is actually a sign of a healthy first trimester.”
He was speaking in trimesters and he’d only known for three days. All in Casey’s world was alive and well. Full-steam ahead.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be barfing no matter where we are. We might as well be shacked up in a real shack,” I teased. Our cabin was nothing remotely close to shack-like, but it was fun giving him shit.
“Blake, this place has a movie theater. It’s far from primitive.”
Carrying the soda with me, I walked back into the master bedroom and climbed back into bed. “I’m sorry I don’t feel good this morning.” Even though he’d brought up babies on more than one occasion, and I’d only thought about them in theory, finding out I was pregnant made me unconditionally happy.
“Shut up. You still look hot. And if you’re hunched over the toilet, you’re an easy target if I want a little doggy action.”
“Ew, you wouldn’t.”
“No. I wouldn’t,” he confessed. “Some people are into that though. I bet I could find us a movie to watch later on that big screen, if you’re curious.”
He plopped down next to me and perched his head on his hand. Casey looked fine in anything, but the way his pajama bottoms hung low on his hips and his T-shirt fit just so, well let’s just say he had casual down to a science. His presence made the yuckiness bearable. I wasn’t alone and he was my favorite thing to look at.
And so began our honeymoon routine.
Mornings were rough, but by