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| IN SICKNESS BY TIMA |
CHAPTER 93 |
The Manning family go upstairs together. Tea leaves Todd and Starr alone. Todd feels good as he spends several minutes sitting with Starr before she falls asleep. He's relieved that she's speaking to him again and that she doesn't seem upset about his nightmare, like he feared she would be.
After Starr falls asleep, Todd checks on Tea. He finds her already asleep. He sits with her for the remainder of the night. It isn't until she awakens early in the morning that he finally allows himself to fall asleep again.]
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[A few weeks later...]
Tea (yelling): Todd! Come here! Hurry up!
[Todd is watching television when he hears Tea yelling for him. He quickly rushes into the kitchen and finds her standing near the stove. He immediately lifts her shirt with one hand and places his other hand on her bare stomach.
They both wait for almost a minute.
Nothing happens.
Todd removes his hand and lets her shirt fall and cover her stomach again.]
Todd: This kid's already got something against me.
Tea: You'll feel it soon.
Todd: Yeah, if I keep my hand on your stomach every second of every day. So far our timing has stunk.
Tea: Actually, I like that idea. I wouldn't mind having you next to me at all times, touching me.
Todd: People would stare at us when we're out in public together.
Tea: I wouldn't care.
Todd: The kid is moving, right? You haven't been making this up, have you?
Tea: Of course I'm not making it up.
Todd: You haven't been letting anyone else put their hands on you, right?
Tea: Only the doctor. I want you to be the first one to feel it, too. It will happen soon. Relax.
Todd: That's easy for you to say. You've been feeling the kid for a while now.
Tea: Have a little more patience.
Todd: I've never been good at that.
Tea: Well, try. Lunch is almost ready. Do you want to eat in front of the television?
Todd: Nah. There's nothing decent on.
Tea: Then why have you been watching it instead of helping me?
Todd: Because you were doing girlie things.
Tea: Cooking is not girlie. If this baby is a boy, I'm teaching him how to cook.
Todd: You want him to get beat up a lot?
Tea: No one has to know he knows how to cook, if he doesn't want them to. I will be teaching him, though. I want him to be able to take care of himself, in every way.
Todd: Don't worry. I'll teach him how to cook like a man.
Tea: In other words...
Todd: How to work a delivery menu.
Tea: I don't want our son, or daughter, having sexist ideas about what men and women should or shouldn't do.
Todd: What's sexist about expecting women to do the cooking, the dusting, the ironing, the laundry...
Tea: You do realize that you did all of those things when I was sick, don't you?
Todd: Hey! I never ironed. I didn't exactly dust, either. I just walked around the house exhaling deeply once a week. That was different, anyway. Those were extenuating circumstances. It was okay then.
Tea: Well, it's still okay. Soon, you'll have to take over more of the household chores again.
Todd: No problem. After you pop the kid out, though...
Tea: You'll still be doing some of the work.
Todd: Work? I thought it was a joy for you to take care of me and our house.
Tea: It is. That's why I want you to share in the joy I feel. You can start right now by finishing lunch and taking care of the clean-up in here. I'm going to go lie down on the sofa for a few minutes.
Todd: Are you okay?
Tea: I'm fine...just a little tired.
Todd: When are you supposed to stop being tired?
Tea: Probably after our children have all grown and moved out.
[Tea leaves the kitchen and enters the living room. She sinks into the plush cushions on the sofa with a contented sigh.
Minutes later...
Todd enters the living room with two plates and places them on the coffee table in front of the sofa. He returns to the kitchen and moments later returns to the living room with their beverages.]
Tea: You're such a good husband, Todd.
Todd: Because I do everything you tell me to?
Tea: If only that were true.
[Tea sits up so that her back is leaning against the arm of the sofa. Her legs are stretched out in front of her. Todd lifts her legs and sits down, placing her legs on his lap. He then reaches over to the table and picks up his plate, placing it on top of her legs.]
Todd: Is the plate too hot?
Tea: It's perfectly warm.
Todd: If it gets too hot, let me know.
Tea: I will.
[Several minutes later...
Todd finishes his food sooner than Tea does. He returns his plate to the table in front of him. He watches Tea eating for a few moments.]
Todd: So, you like my cooking?
Tea: Your cooking?
Todd: Yeah. I'm the one who took it out of the oven.
Tea: You poor baby. You had to slave in front of a hot oven for a good twenty seconds.
Todd: I had to put it on the plates, too. And, pour the drinks. I think I pulled a muscle reaching for the glasses.
Tea: Maybe I should massage your muscle until it feels better.
Todd: Maybe tonight.
Tea: Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?
Todd: Maybe.
Tea: You know, I wouldn't mind if you massaged certain parts of my body tonight, too.
Todd: I could do that right now. Lie down.
Tea: Are you sure?
Todd: Why not?
[Tea moves her body so her head is resting against the arm of the sofa and her legs are stretch further towards the other end of the sofa. Todd moves further down the sofa himself until Tea's feet are resting in his lap.
As his hands begin to massage her feet, Tea blissfully moans.
Several minutes later...]
Todd: How does that feel?
Tea: Wonderful. You have magical hands.
Todd: Yeah, right!
Tea: You do, Todd. You know just how to touch me, how to please me.
Todd: You're pleased, are you?
Tea: Very.
Todd: So, I've done my duty and can stop now, right?
Tea: Give me a few more minutes and then I'll massage your feet.
Todd: I'm not into foot rubs, the way you are.
Tea: You might find that you really like them.
Todd: You should go upstairs and take a nap.
Tea: Right after I rub your feet and show you how incredible it feels.
Todd: I know you're exhausted, Tea. You've been lugging our kid around for months now.
Tea: And, I still have months more to go.
Todd: It seems like it's taking forever.
Tea: I've never looked forward to something so much before.
Todd: Should I take that as an insult?
Tea: You're excited, aren't you?
Todd: Sure. But, you don't hear me insulting you, saying that you've never excited me.
Tea: Oh, you've excited me, all right. That's how I got pregnant, remember?
Todd: It was in this room.
Tea: It may not have been that exact time, you know. It could have been a day or two later.
Todd: It was that time in this room. I know it was.
Tea: Are you planning on telling our child that?
Todd: Are you nuts?
Tea: Why not?
Todd: You want me to tell our kid that he was conceived in the same room that we play baseball in?
Tea: You are not destroying my house playing baseball, soccer, or anything else. Is that understood?
Todd: So, now it's your house, huh?
Tea: You know what I mean.
Todd: Don't worry. We'll let you play, too...maybe.
Tea: Actually, I'm a pretty good softball player.
Todd: Softball! That's a girl game. I'm talking about baseball...a man's sport. Which reminds me, I was thinking about something.
Tea: We are not building a baseball field in the back yard.
Todd: I hadn't thought of that. We do have enough room for one.
Tea: What was your idea?
Todd: Never mind. I like yours better.
Tea: I'm serious, Todd.
Todd: So am I.
[Tea gives him an exhausted look that melts his heart.]
Todd: Okay. I was thinking that we should build an indoor basketball court.
Tea: In the house?
Todd: We could build another building for it. We've got tons of room. We could even have a swimming pool, if you wanted one. Batting cages...
Tea: You want to build an entire athletic facility in our backyard?
Todd: Why not? We've got tons of money and tons of space. We own half the mountain. People who are filthy rich are supposed to do stuff like that, aren't they?
Tea: I don't know. I'm filthy rich only by marriage.
Todd: Yeah, but you grew up around rich people, right? What kind of stuff did they splurge on?
Tea: Limousines. Expensive trips. Some of them had, not only their apartment in our building, but they also had another home in Los Angeles, Hawaii, or some other wonderful sounding place.
Todd: Do you want us to get another house?
Tea: One is fine.
Todd: We could build a guest house.
Tea: We don't need one. We have plenty of room here for ourselves, our family, and our occasional overnight guests.
Todd: This isn't about what we need. This is about having fun blowing all this stupid money I inherited.
Tea: We'll blow it on sending our children to college.
Todd: I've had Starr's college fund set for years now. And, I set things up for this kid already.
Tea: What about our next kid?
Todd: How many were you planning?
Tea: I thought we'd get through this pregnancy first and then decide together if we wanted to do this again.
Todd: You think you might not want to?
Tea: Do you?
Todd: It's your decision.
Tea: It is?
Todd: It's your body.
Tea: So, you'd go along with whatever I wanted?
Todd: Sure. (pause) What exactly did you want?
Tea: Nine or ten.
Todd: You're kidding, right?
Tea: Don't you want a full house?
Todd: We could have enough for a baseball team. Have ten more and we could have a hockey team.
Tea: Were you planning on building an indoor rink?
Todd: That's a great idea. I'll call the architect after you go upstairs for your nap.
Tea: Seriously, Todd, I don't want to build anything right now. I don't want noise. I don't want other people around. I don't even want to build a garden.
Todd: What do you want?
Tea: I want to spend the next several months spending as much time as I can alone with my husband, except for time we spend with a few family members and friends.
Todd: That's all you want?
Tea: I also want my husband to rub my feet every day.
Todd: You're no fun.
Tea: This is my idea of fun, Querido...you, me and our child.
Todd: You really like this?
Tea: Yes.
Todd: Just sitting around here doing nothing?
Tea: We're not doing nothing. You're massaging my feet and I'm enjoying it.
Todd: Do you really want ten kids?
Tea: I was kidding.
Todd: How many do you really want?
Tea: Let's just take it one at a time and decide after each one if we want another.
Todd: So, definitely more than one?
Tea: I think so. Are you okay with that?
Todd: Yeah. You're gonna be such an incredible mom, Tea. Having you for a mom will make up for having me for a dad.
Tea: You're a wonderful dad, just ask Starr.
Todd: She just likes me because she knows she can wrap me around her finger.
Tea: And, so will any children we have together. You have so much love waiting inside you to shower on all of your children...whatever the number may end up being.
Todd: That's enough quality time. You need to go upstairs and lie down.
Tea: I don't want to move.
Todd: The bed is better for your back.
Tea: Will you come up with me?
Todd: Sure.
[As they stand up, Tea pauses for a moment, concerning Todd. Before he has a chance to ask what's wrong, she grabs his hand and places it under her shirt.
The look of joy on Todd's face as he feels his child moving inside his wife's body for the first time is priceless.]
to be continued...
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