Temporary Secretary

Thirty-Two

June 18th, 1982

"James, do you have the presents?"

"Got it!" He piped from behind a stack of boxes wrapped in colorful paper.

"Stella, you have the tray with food?"

"That I do!" She said as she held the silver tray containing waffles and a bowl of fruit.

Myself, being eight and a half months pregnant, had in my hands a small tray containing orange juice and a mug of tea for Paul.

"Let's go then, but remember, be as quiet as you can." I told them.

We ascended the stairs as quietly as we could, Stella focusing hard on balancing the tray that was in her hands. I had left our bedroom door slightly cracked when I woke the kids and went downstairs this morning so I could easily push it open with my foot. Paul was still asleep, snoring lightly beneath the covers. I sat the tray that I was carrying on the dresser and instructed the kids to stand at the end of the bed. I leaned down as best I could, my belly getting in the way a bit, and placed my lips on Paul's slightly parted ones, causing him to wake up almost instantly. He hadn't been sleeping well lately for some reason. He was away a lot of April and May, promoting his new album "Tug of War," and ever since he got back he hasn't been able to sleep as well as he used to.

"Happy Birthday, Paul..." I whispered as he began to wake up.

"Happy Birthday, daddy!" James and Stella cheered from the end of the bed.

"Why, thank you! All of this for me?"

"It's all for you, daddy..." I whispered again as I turned away to go get the tray off of the dresser.

"We made you breakfast!" Stella said, handing the tray to Paul who sat it down on his lap, now that he was sitting up.

"We got you presents, too!" James said, placing all of the boxes at the end of the bed.

"How did I get so lucky to have a family like you?" Paul asked.

"Fate." I said, moving to sit beside him on the bed, Stella and James sitting in front of us.

Paul ate his breakfast and opened his presents, receiving a new plaid blazer, a new watch, a new pair of wingtips because he had been asking for some (who knows why), and an antique pocket watch with a picture of all of us inside it.

We did as Paul pleased, going along with our family tradition of the birthday person to be in charge that day. He wanted to be outside most of the day, watching Stella and James play on the swings and playing fetch with Zora, who was now quite large.

"This is perfect..." Paul said as he admired everything happening in the backyard at the moment.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Well, except for the baby to be here."

As if on cue, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach like nothing I had ever felt before. My hands quickly flew to my stomach, holding on, trying to ease the pain in some way.

"Amethyst! What's wrong?!" Paul started freaking out.

"Contractions, I think." I said meekly.

"You're not full term yet!"

"Paul, it's okay..." I said painfully, trying to comfort him.

"What do you need?"

I focused on my breathing, and slowly the contraction faded away.

"It's over, I'm fine. Let's just wait until they get more intense to do anything, okay?"

"Are you sure, darling? We can go to the hospital now, it's no problem."