“Yes.”
“Would you like him to come back for your visit?” Dr. Feingold asked Faith.
“Yes, that’d be wonderful,” Faith said, giving Ryan a warm smile. He seemed a little embarrassed, walking back with her and Dr. Feingold to the exam room, but all in all, she thought he handled the appointment with calm aplomb. It was a singularly female environment, of course, decorated in soft colors with tasteful paintings on the wall, many of them alluding to the theme of mother and child, or families. They passed several women in varying stages of pregnancy in the hallway.
After Dr. Feingold had completed her brief exam, she asked Ryan if he had any questions for her. Much to Faith’s surprise, he did. He asked first about how frequently Faith would need to come for prenatal care from now until the pregnancy was over. Then he asked about the pros and cons of ultrasounds.
“We’ll do an ultrasound for the fetal anatomy survey in...” Dr. Feingold flipped through Faith’s chart. “Four weeks, just to make sure all is well with the fetus. Faith is very healthy. She’s a low-risk pregnancy. If all goes well, there won’t be any need for another ultrasound after that.”
“Will we be able to identify the sex then, if we choose to?” Ryan asked.
“Absolutely,” Dr. Feingold said.
“One last question. Should Faith be painting the nursery? I can do the regular painting, but she’s been planning to do a wall mural.”
Faith blinked in surprise. Why hadn’t she thought to ask about that?
“We generally recommend that someone else do the painting, Faith,” Dr. Feingold said kindly. “It’s probably too low of a toxicity to matter, but might as well play it safe, right? Luckily enough, you seem to have an interested party here,” she said, smiling at Ryan, “or you can just wait to do the project after the baby is born.”
Faith glanced at Ryan a little shyly on the way home from the appointment.
“What?” he asked, noticing her covert stare.
“Nothing. It’s just...have you been reading up on pregnancy and prenatal care? I just thought...because of those questions you asked during the appointment...”
“Sure I have,” he said matter-of-fac
tly. He stopped at a stoplight. “It’s my first baby, too, Faith.”
“I’m so glad you asked that question about the paint. Thank you.”
She grinned. She couldn’t help it. It was so...nice to think of him caring enough to research the pregnancy on his own, amazing to think of him looking out for her. He smiled along with her, and suddenly all her concerns about the wisdom of her relationship with Ryan were millions of miles away.
* * *
Ryan was crazy busy for the next two weeks. He hired an administrative assistant and got her set up in the small office space he was renting at the airport. He also hired a new pilot, an ex-Navy, ex-commercial airline pilot who was in her fifties and looking for full-time work now that her two children were off at college. The new hire, whose name was Sylvia Aaron, gave Ryan a tip about a medium-turbo prop plane for sale in Detroit. Ryan was interested in adding a larger plane to his fleet, something that could fly up to ten passengers at a time to conferences or larger meetings. He did an overnight trip to Detroit, and came home the following day triumphant at his latest purchase.
“Congratulations!” Faith enthused when he’d given her his good news. She gave him a huge hug and a kiss, the latter of which ended up lasting for the better part of several minutes. When they finally broke apart, she smiled as he rained hungry kisses on her cheek and neck.
“I missed you,” he said.
“I missed you, too,” she replied, distracted by the movements of his mouth on her throat. “But, Ryan...before you get carried away—”
He gave her a slightly harassed look when she pried herself out of his arms. She grinned at his surly expression. He reminded her a little of how Topsy might look if she gave her a dish filled with food, only to whip it away at the last second.
“I have a surprise for you. I had a feeling you were going to get the plane. I made you a special dinner.”
She beamed a moment later when she saw his expression of pleasant surprise when she showed him what she’d made him.
“Shish taouk,” she said excitedly, referring to the white meat chicken skewers that she’d grilled. The dish smelled delicious, the meat having been marinated in olive oil, lemon, parsley and sumac. She’d arranged it on the platter just as Mari had described, on a bed of saffron rice with a tahini sauce. “I got the recipe from Mari. She told me it was your favorite when you were a boy. I know it won’t be anywhere near as good as your mother’s or Mari’s, but—”
“It’ll be fantastic,” he interrupted. He took the platter from her hands, set it on the counter and proceeded to kiss her even more fervently than he had upon his return home. When they finally broke apart, he said, “It’s an awesome surprise. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, flushed with happiness.
He nipped quickly at her lips before he released her. “And guess what? I have a surprise for you, too. I’ll show it to you tomorrow, after work. I’m a little worried you won’t like it, but...well, we’ll see I guess.”
No matter how much she prodded him, he wouldn’t give her a hint as to the nature of his surprise. After dinner, they made love. Faith was drifting contentedly into sleep, surrounded by Ryan’s arms, when his cell phone started to ring on the bedside table.