Happy Birthday (8 page)

“I will one of these days, Dad, I promise. But I really need to be here. I don’t have anyone who can watch it for me if I take time off.” And then she fell silent, after glancing at her mother. Valerie didn’t say anything, but a look passed between them that Maddie noticed immediately, and realized that Pat didn’t. She knew he didn’t want to ask April again if she had “met anyone” lately. He already knew the answer to the question. It was obvious that she hadn’t. Maddie knew Pat hated to nag April about it, but he worried. April was too much like Valerie in her work ethic and her drive. Her father hoped she would marry and have children, and there wasn’t even a hint of that on the horizon for now, and he was afraid there never would be, as he often said in private to his wife.

“Anything new in your life?” he asked cryptically, meaning a boyfriend, and April started to say no, and then hesitated. She wanted to tell him, but just wasn’t sure how to do it. She didn’t want to disappoint him, or upset him, and she knew that what
she was about to tell him wasn’t what he wanted from her. It wasn’t what she had planned to do either, but it had happened, and she wanted him to know. He was her father and she loved him. He was her role model for all things normal, and a solid, loving marriage, like the one he had with Maddie. Her mother was different, and a bright star in her heaven, but there was nothing typical or human-scale about her mother. Valerie’s success had been enormous. April didn’t aspire to be like her, although she admired how hard her mother worked, and tried to be like her in that way. But the life her father led with Maddie and his daughters was more her style. She had never wanted to be famous like her mother. The life that went with it would have been too much for her. It was enough for April to run a restaurant where everyone wanted to come either to eat rare and wonderful delicacies, or good, simple food, and enjoy the homey atmosphere she created. In some ways, April was more like Maddie than her mother. But most of all, she was like her father, and his respect was important to her.

“Actually, there is something new,” April said quietly, as the older members of the family waited. “It’s been kind of a surprise, actually. A very big surprise, and not something I planned, but sometimes life works that way.” For a moment, Pat couldn’t figure out if she was about to tell him about a new man in her life, a second restaurant she was going to open, or an unexpected chance to sell this one and make a lot of money. “I hope you’re not going to be disappointed in me, Daddy,” she said, looking at him with tears in her eyes as she touched his arm, and he put an
arm around her to reassure her. He loved her, and April knew that and always had. She had never doubted it for a moment.

“You’ve never let me down, sweetheart. Never. I was worried when you dropped out of college, but it worked out fine for you in the end. That’s all I care about. I just want you to be happy. So what’s this big surprise that happened to you?” He hoped it was a man, and not another restaurant that would eat up more of her time. She already had none as it was now.

April waited for what seemed like an interminable moment, and then glanced at Maddie and back at her father. She wanted to include her stepmother in her announcement too. She had always loved Maddie, who had treated her like a daughter even before she had her own. “I’m pregnant,” she said softly, looking into her father’s eyes, hoping he would forgive her for the sloppy way it had happened, and not hold it against her child. But that wouldn’t have been his style.

Pat was silent for a long moment, not sure what to say to her, or understanding what went with it. “You are? I didn’t think you were seeing anyone. Are you getting married?” He looked a little hurt that she hadn’t said anything to him sooner. He liked to think that he was closer to her than that. He glanced quickly at her mother, but Valerie had lowered her eyes and said nothing, as Pat looked back at April and Maddie watched.

“No, I’m not getting married, and I’m not seeing anyone. I would have told you,” she said with a sigh, leaning against him for comfort and support. She needed it to tell him the rest of the story. She knew he wouldn’t be happy. But her father had never
failed her, and she didn’t think he would this time. She hoped not, although she wouldn’t have been pleased about it as a parent either. And her mother had been nice about it too. “It was an accident,” she said honestly, “with a man I hardly know. I saw him once. I had too much to drink. We wound up in bed, don’t ask me how, I don’t even remember. And I just found out I’m pregnant. I haven’t spoken to him since it happened. I don’t know if I’m going to tell him. I don’t even know if he’s a nice person. He’s a food critic, and judging from the review he wrote, and the fact that he never called me, he probably doesn’t even like me. But I’m thirty years old, I don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance to get pregnant again, and I’m going to keep the baby. I want to,” she added, so that her father would understand that this was a choice she had made, even knowing all the risks, headaches, and problems she was willing to sign on for. “I didn’t want this to happen, and to tell you everything, I’m on the Pill, but I think I forgot one, and I was on an antibiotic at the time, and it made my Pill just ineffective enough so I got pregnant. Maybe it was destiny. Whatever it was, I’m having the baby.” She looked at him cautiously, with no idea what his reaction would be. He was visibly shocked but trying to digest it. He glanced across the table at Maddie, who was worried for her stepdaughter, and then he looked back at April, with his arm still around her shoulders. He had loosened his grip for a moment.

“That’s quite a story. Are you sure you want to have the baby? That’s a lot to take on, on your own. A lot of responsibility, with no one to lean on. You have me, and Maddie and your mother of
course, and we’ll do everything we can to help you, but single motherhood isn’t easy. I see a lot of my students do it, for various reasons, some of them by choice, and some because it just happened, but it’s never easy. Will you give up the restaurant?” he asked, and April quickly shook her head.

“Of course not. I don’t see why I have to do one or the other. I can do both, work and be a mother.” Her mother always had, and she was her role model. And Valerie’s career had been far more demanding, but April had always had her father too. This baby wouldn’t. All this baby would have was its mother, three grandparents, and two aunts. It didn’t sound like a bad start to April, and it was all she could provide.

“I know you can do it,” her father said quietly, trying to absorb what she had told him. He would never have expected this from April, neither the one-night stand nor the decision to have the baby. He wondered if turning thirty had been an important part of the decision for her and made her feel that it was now or never. He knew that more and more women were deciding to have babies alone these days, so it didn’t totally surprise him. But it seemed completely out of character for April. “I just hate to see you take on something so difficult all by yourself. I think you should talk to the father. He may be a nicer guy than you think and want to help you and be involved. It’s his child too. And you’re going to need all the help you can get. It’s going to be a hell of a juggling act for you, particularly if you keep the restaurant and continue working as hard as you do. That’s going to be really rough on you.” Much rougher than he wanted for his
daughter. He had always hoped she would marry and have children, in that order. What parent didn’t? And April appreciated the fact that so far he hadn’t condemned her for what had happened, and he didn’t look like he was going to.

“I’ve been thinking about calling the father. I just feel kind of stupid, and I don’t know what to say to him. ‘Thanks for the bad review, and remember the night we spent together when you got drunk at my restaurant on Labor Day weekend?’ If he’d called me after, it would have been different. Or easier anyway.”

“I think I saw his review. It was nasty and sarcastic,” her father said, sounding angry. Pat’s loyalty to his children was fierce, and he expected others to be too. Mike Steinman, the food critic April had mentioned, clearly hadn’t liked the restaurant, and hadn’t been afraid to say so.

“That’s the guy.” Steinman’s critique of their food and April’s efforts had been demeaning and disdainful. It didn’t bode well for the future, or the news she was going to tell him. And his silence for the past few months didn’t encourage her either. He obviously hadn’t wanted to see her again, for whatever reason. It made calling him that much harder. “Remember me? I’m having your baby.” She couldn’t imagine him being thrilled to hear that piece of news. She hadn’t been either. But she was adjusting to it now. And it was no longer “bad news” to her, it was a baby.

“Well, this is certainly important,” her father said, smiling at her, trying to be supportive. “I have to admit, it’s a surprise, and it’s not how I would have wanted things to happen for you. But if
you’re determined to go ahead with it, Maddie and I support you.” He glanced at Valerie then, and she was nodding with tears in her eyes. “And your mother does too, I think. So it looks like we’re going to have a baby,” he said, as he waved to the sommelier who arrived at the table quickly to serve them. Pat asked them for a bottle of champagne. “When is it due?” her father asked as the waiter went to get the bottle he had ordered.

“In June,” April said, as tears spilled down her cheeks and she put her arms around her father. “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, all of you,” she said, looking at her family, as she reached out to touch her mother and Maddie, and both women smiled at her and were crying. “I’m sorry I did this so stupidly. Thank you for being nice to me about it. I promise I’ll do a really good job of it, and try to be a good mother like both of you.”

“Don’t worry, darling, you will be,” her stepmother said kindly. “I don’t doubt it for a moment, and it will be nice to have a baby in the family. Do you know what it is yet?” Maddie asked with interest, holding April’s hand across the table.

“I won’t know till I have another sonogram in February.” She was young enough not to need any invasive tests to check about defects or genetics, which was a relief to her. At thirty, the process was routine.

The sommelier returned with the champagne then, and poured it just as Annie and Heather returned from the kitchen, and he poured each of them a glass too and left with the empty bottle. He could tell that something emotional was going on at the table, and didn’t want to intrude on his employer. He was
the sommelier who had just come to her from Daniel Boulud. His name was Jean-Pierre, and he was from Bordeaux. He had learned about wines since he was a very young boy, and he had been a great addition to the restaurant.

“What are we celebrating?” her sisters asked as they sat down.

April looked at them, embarrassed, but there was no point in hiding it now, they had to know sooner or later. “I’m having a baby,” she said, looking at both of them as they stared at her in amazement.

“You have a boyfriend?” Heather looked astonished, and a little hurt not to be told sooner as April smiled.

“No, I don’t. Just a baby.”

“How did you get pregnant then?” she asked her older sister, and this time April laughed.

“The stork brought this one, I’m afraid, and I decided to keep it. So you’re both going to be aunts in June,” she said, looking from Heather to Annie, who looked at her and smiled, as their father raised his glass.

“I am proposing a toast to the new member of this family, who will be with us at this table next Thanksgiving. And actually, I think I should thank April for not burdening me with a son-in-law whom I may not have liked, who might have dragged me to football games in the freezing cold, or expected me to play softball with him, which I hate. I don’t have to impress him. All we have to do here is love April, and welcome this new member of the family into our midst.” They all raised their glasses as
April started to cry again. She didn’t sip the champagne, since she wasn’t supposed to drink, and passed her glass to her dad. She hadn’t had a drink of anything alcoholic since she’d made the decision to have the baby, and only two glasses of champagne on her birthday before that.

“Thank you, everybody, for your support. I love you,” she said softly, looking at each of them gratefully. And a little while later they left, and she went out to the kitchen to see what was happening there as the dishwashers cleaned up. It had been a beautiful Thanksgiving for her, and her unexpected announcement had gone over surprisingly well. Her father had been wonderful, her stepmother as loving as ever, Valerie seemed to be adjusting to the idea a little, as long as no one called her “grandmother,” and both of her sisters had promised to help. She couldn’t ask for more than that. And with a sigh, she finally took off her apron and went upstairs. She was exhausted and felt emotionally drained as she fell into bed. She had a lot to be grateful for, she knew, her family, the restaurant, and now this baby, which was a mixed blessing of sorts, but maybe it would work out for the best. She hoped so, as she closed her eyes and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. It had been a long and important day for her.

Chapter 6

A
pril woke up early the day after Thanksgiving. She sat in the kitchen, drinking a bowl of café au lait. No one had come in yet, and she had the restaurant to herself, which was rare. The staff had left everything in good order the night before, and the tables were already set for lunch. She was thinking about what her father had said and his loving toast. And she finally made the decision she had been wrestling with for weeks. She went upstairs to her office and looked for the number he had given her when he called about reviewing the restaurant. She had his office number and a cell phone. She called Mike, and he answered on the second ring. His voice was deep and sexy, but he didn’t sound happy to hear from her when she said who she was. It wasn’t an encouraging beginning, but she decided to get it over with anyway. She didn’t want to tell him on the phone,
but he had a right to know, so she invited him to dinner at the restaurant, and he instantly sounded hesitant and almost stern.