Immediate Family by Eileen Goudge Page B

glossy black hair shimmering in the glow of the neon sign overhead. An evening out with friends always had this effect on her. “Why on earth didn’t you say something?” she scolded lightly. “All that time we were chattering on about Rob and Melissa’s new apartment, you were keeping this to yourself.”
    “It wasn’t exactly dinner conversation.”
    “Your trouble is, you think everyone’s as provincial as your parents.” She gave his arm an affectionate little squeeze as they continued on their way. “Anyway, it’s not as if it’s a deep, dark secret.”
    He shrugged. “Guess I’m still getting used to the idea.”
    “You’ve had six months, isn’t that long enough?” she teased, placing a hand on her rounded belly.
    “I never thought I’d be fathering more than one child at a time.”
    “Well, this isn’t just about you. And Franny’s going to need all the support she can get.”
    They were strolling along Second Avenue, near St. Mark’s Place, the muggy air blessedly cooled by the breeze blowing in off the East River. The East Village wasn’t like it used to be when he and his friends had taken the train in from Jersey on weekends, he thought. No longer an affordable ghetto for the fringe element, its grunge and graffiti had given way to high-end housing and a chain store on every other block. The Starbucks crowd was moving in, pushing out the starving artists and musicians. These days you saw more tanning-salon tans than tattoos. Jay decided he preferred the East Village of his college days. Progress had a way of making him feel middle-aged.
    Or maybe it was just impending parenthood. Friends with kids had warned that it was all-consuming and they’d been right. He and Vivienne talked of little else. Shopping excursions were generally baby related. And he’d spent the past two weekends painting the nursery and assembling the crib. But what he hadn’t been prepared for was just how deeply it would affect him. He felt as if a wonderful gift had been bestowed on him, the chance to give his own son the kind of childhood he hadn’t had.
    Would he feel the same way about Franny’s baby?
    Later, at home in bed with his wife snuggled up against him, he was still wrestling with it. Franny wanted him to be a part of their child’s life, and Jay wanted that, too. But how exactly would it work? Would they be a family of sorts? Or would this kid grow up feeling less loved than Stephan?
    Vivienne reached for his hand, placing it on her belly so he could feel the baby kick.
    “Feels like a foot,” he said with a smile, never ceasing to get a little thrill each time. “That, or a knee.”
    “Face it, we’ve got a future NFLer on our hands. Forget onesies, this kid’s going to need a helmet and knee pads.”
    “I was the same way. My mom used to joke that she should get a bulk rate from our family doctor, with all my sprains and stitches.”
    “I didn’t know you were such a daredevil.”
    “I wasn’t, really. It was just normal stuff.” In school, he’d tried out for every team. Luckily for him, he’d turned out to be a natural athlete, excelling not only in football but in wrestling and lacrosse.
    “Let’s hope Franny’s baby is a girl then. We’ll have enough gray hairs worrying about Stephan.”
    One of each, he thought. Yes, that would be nice. In the darkness, he indulged in his first real smile of the day. He was drifting off to sleep a few minutes later when Vivienne murmured in his ear, “Babe? I forgot to tell you, the Kleins invited us for dinner on Friday.”
    “The Kleins?” he echoed groggily.
    “From Lamaze. You know, the photographer and his wife. The ones having twins?”
    “Oh, right.” He remembered chatting with them after class the other night. Now he asked grumpily, “Is there a law that says just because we’re all in this together, we have to socialize?”
    “What a thing to say. They’re very nice people.”
    “I’m sure they are. That’s beside the