Baby Brother's Blues by Pearl Cleage Page A

signs of mental or physical weakness, he made sure there were none. Ever.
    By the time his wife came downstairs twenty minutes later, preparations for her favorite breakfast were well under way: fresh-squeezed orange juice, almond waffles with real maple syrup, grits (because she loved the way he made them with just enough cheese for the flavor), and a cup of coffee. She was glowing from her bath and smelling like the sweetness he always tasted when he kissed her. It was all he could do not to sweep her up in his arms and ravish her right there in the middle of the kitchen floor.
    She grinned at him and walked into his arms, pressing her body into his and kissing him like that ravishing idea had crossed her mind, too.
    “Welcome home,” she whispered.
    “You okay, baby?” he said softly, leaning back to look at her.
    In his dark brown face, his eyes were as peaceful as a mountain lake, clear blue without a touch of turbulence or danger. She searched in vain for anything that frightened or confused her. Standing in the circle of his smoothly muscular arms, fairly bursting with her good news, she knew there was only one answer to his question.
    “I’m fine. You?”
    He nodded and she tilted her head a little to kiss him again. His closely clipped mustache tickled her nose and his full, soft lips pressed against hers with a mixture of desire and restraint that she found irresistible.
    “Are you hungry?” he said, when they came up for air.
    She couldn’t hold it any longer. The words came singing out of her mouth. “I’m
pregnant
!”
    Blue wanted it to be true so badly, he was afraid at first he might have heard her wrong.
“Pregnant?”
He heard his own voice like that of a stranger.
    Regina nodded. “You’re going to be a daddy, Mr. Hamilton. Can you handle it?”
    “Oh yeah,” he said, grinning from ear to ear, wondering what he had done right in all those lifetimes to deserve a woman like this.
“Oh yeah!”
    He couldn’t stop smiling and neither could she.
    “I love you,” she said softly.
    “I love you, too,” he said, holding her face in his hands.
    “Is it selfish to bring a child into this mean old world?” She was smiling, but he knew she was serious.
    “It’s absolutely required,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose. “This calls for a toast. Can you drink champagne?”
    She shook her head. “How about orange juice?”
    “Coming right up.” He filled her glass and one for himself. “Did they give you a date?”
    “March twenty-third,” she said. “Give or take.”
    He laughed. “Give or take what?”
    “Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.”
    “Now you sound like Miss Abbie,” he said. “Have you told her?”
    “No, my darling, you’re the first,” she said, raising her glass, and he did, too. “To Baby Hamilton.
Welcome to the world!
”
    They clinked their glasses and sipped the chilled juice like it was the finest champagne. A thought occurred to him and he smiled gently at Regina.
    “Is this what you were trying to tell me last night?” he said.
    She nodded and her eyes suddenly filled up with tears.
    “I’m so sorry, baby,” he said, setting their glasses down and gathering her up in his arms again. “Please forgive me.”
    “Forgive you for what?” she said, sniffling a little against his neck. “I was the one who broke the rules.”
    “For being a man who has to have those kinds of rules.”
    “But
why
do you have to?” she said, leaning back to look into his face. “Why can’t somebody else do it for a while?”
    “Gina,” he said gently, “it’s not something I do. It’s who I am. It’s something I carry with me.
Inside.
”
    He took her hand and placed it flat against his bare chest. Smooth as black velvet, his skin was warm beneath her palm. She could feel his heart beat: slow, calm, steady.
    “I’m carrying our baby,” she said. “Doesn’t that change things?”
    “It changes everything,” he said. “I’ve never had a