The Birthday Girl - Chapter One
Chapter One
“Mommy! Mommy! Happy Birf’day!”
The rambunctious three-year-old’s loud voice coupled with the sunlight she could feel streaming in through the window woke Haley up and she slowly started to open her eyes. Smiling at her little boy who was at that moment attempting to climb up onto the bed, she leaned over and picked him up, cuddling him close to her and kissing him noisily on his chubby cheeks and neck. “Aww, thank you, honey.”
“Mommy!” Jamie giggled, squirming away from her fingers which were lightly tickling his sides over his basketball-adorned pajamas.
Looking around and seeing no sign of her husband in the room, Haley ran a hand over her son’s soft, dark hair and asked, “Where’s daddy?”
“Kitchen,” the little boy answered, his voice still laced with sleep. “He’s makin’ pancakes.”
“Pancakes, huh? Was that daddy’s idea or yours?” she teased.
“Mine,” Jamie boasted proudly, “‘cause you like them.”
“Is that so?” Haley started tickling him again, loving the carefree sound of his laughter as his little body wriggled under her hands. “I’ll bet you asked him to make smiley face, chocolate chip pancakes.”
“Their your fave’rits,” he told her, a perfect facsimile of his father’s smirk gracing his lips.
“Are they? I thought you knew I like the blueberry ones best. I’d better go tell daddy to make me some of those instead.” She made to get out of bed and had to bite her lip when Jamie placed his little hands on her shoulders and tried to stop her from moving.
“No!”
“No? Why not?”
“‘Cause I hate blueberries!” he exclaimed, sticking out his tongue in distaste.
Haley laughed at the expression on his face. “I know you do, baby. I was only teasing. We can have your favourites on my birthday.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh. I’m pretty sure daddy’s making both though—”
“Yay!” he interrupted.
“So, do you know what he’s got me for a present?” she whispered into his ear.
“Don’t tell her, Jamie,” Nathan said, standing in the doorway to his and Haley’s bedroom, a smile illuminating his face.
“Aww, Nathan! You know I hate surprises.”
Mock-sighing, he replied, “Fine. Jamie, go get your present for Mommy.” He smiled even wider when he watched the little boy jump off the bed and race out of their bedroom to go and fetch the gift from its hiding place. Walking over to the bed, he rested one knee on it as he leaned over his wife and pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss before drawing back and whispering into her ear in a heavily lust laden voice, “I’ll give you my present later. Happy birthday, baby.”
Cupping his face between her palms, Haley brought him in for another kiss, this time a much longer and deeper one and she could feel herself getting lost in the feel of him. Her fingers played with the short hair at the nape of his neck as she pulled him on top of her and she gasped into his mouth when she felt his large hand slip beneath his game jersey, which had long ago become her favourite nightshirt, and cup her breast.
“Eww! Yucky kissin’!”
Quietly groaning at the sudden interruption, Nathan rested his forehead against Haley’s as they quickly fought to get their breathing under control and he reluctantly removed his hand from where it rested on her full, plump breast, giving it a gentle squeeze before he did so.
“Later,” Haley mouthed to him as she straightened her nightshirt and pushed herself up into a sitting position.
“Hey, buddy, how about we give mommy your present while we eat breakfast? You don’t want your pancakes to get cold.”
Jamie eagerly nodded and going over to his mother, he grabbed her hand and started tugging on it. “C’mon, Mommy. I’m hungry!”
“When aren’t you?” she asked, ruffling his hair. Getting out of bed, she picked him up and cuddled him, breathing in his familiar scent. “You go with daddy while I quickly use the bathroom,” she said, handing him over to Nathan.
“Don’t be too long,” Nathan teased as he lowered their son to the floor when he started wriggling in his arms. “I can’t promise there’ll be many pancakes left with the way this one eats.”
Haley laughed. “I wonder where he gets it from,” she mused before quickly running into the bathroom and narrowly missing her husband’s hands when he moved to grab her. “You’d better get out there before he spills the syrup like the last time or he decides to come back and see what’s taking us so long.”
“Thank god Luke’s taking him tonight,” he said, smirking.
She felt that familiar tingle spreading throughout her body at the thought of a night alone with her husband without any interruptions and she gave herself a mental shake before she got too consumed with those kinds of thoughts right now. “Go!” she told him.
Laughing, Nathan started walking out of the room when he turned and said, “You know, this sort of reminds me of the time just before we renewed our vows when you couldn’t be around me ‘cause all you wanted to do was jump my bones.”
“Whatever,” she threw back, her face flushing with colour at the memory. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Entering the kitchen, Nathan’s face fell when he saw James about to climb onto his chair so he could more easily reach the syrup bottle in the centre of the table. “Oh crap!” he mumbled under his breath before rushing over to him to prevent any mishaps occurring.
* * * * *
“Do you like my presents, Mommy?”
“I love them, sweetie! C’mere,” Haley said, pulling her son into her arms and hugging him tightly to her. James had given her a painting he had done of her at pre-school together with a silver coloured, charm bracelet; each little charm having a letter dangling from it which spelled out ‘Mommy’. “It goes perfectly with the locket daddy got me.”
While she knew what present she’d be receiving from her husband later, Nathan had given her his ‘proper’ gift at breakfast after she had opened Jamie’s. The simple, white gold locket was stunning and upon seeing what pictures he had put inside of it, tears had gathered in her eyes. On one side there was a picture of Jamie which had been taken when he was just a few hours old and on the other was a picture of her and Nathan on their first wedding day when it had just been the two of them along with her parents.
“Is he tired yet?” Nathan asked quietly, taking a seat beside Haley on the couch and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
Before she could answer, their son piped up, “No!” which made them both burst out laughing.
“Damn,” Nathan mumbled under his breath. “You’d think all that running around at the park would’ve tired him out. I think I’m more tired than he is.”
“That’s because you’re getting old, honey.”
“Old? I’ll show you old later.”
“If you’re not passed out by the time we make it to bed,” Haley teased.
“Well, you have permission to ravage my body any way you see fit should that happen,” he quipped.
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“So, what time is Luke picking this little one up?” Nathan asked, stroking his hand up and down his son’s back.
“He’s not; I said I’d drop him off and—”
“I’ll drop him off and I can pick up dinner on the way back. What do you say?”
“Sounds great, even more so if you make it Italian.”
“No problem. Do you want me to pack his overnight bag?” he offered.
“It’s already done. God, anyone would think we can’t wait to get rid of our son for the night.”
Pulling her in closer to him, Nathan lowered his head and kissed her forehead. “Hey, it’s not often we get a night to ourselves and plus, it’s your birthday. Just think of it as Luke’s gift to you.”
Little ears suddenly perked up and Jamie stated, “I don’t wanna go with Uncle Luke… I wanna stay here with you.”
Haley watched as his big blue eyes filled with tears and her heart broke. Turning her head, she looked at Nathan pleadingly. “Maybe—”
“Jamie, you like hanging out with Uncle Luke, right? He’s always reading you stories and doing the voices and I’ll bet he’ll do that for you tonight if you ask him nicely.”
The tears disappeared as quickly as they had come but the pout didn’t leave his lips. “But he won’t have cake!”
Realisation dawned on Haley and she figured her son was worried all of her birthday cake would be gone by the time he came back home. “Aww, honey. How about you take some cake with you when you go to Uncle Luke’s? I was going to give him some anyway and we can cut an extra slice for you to take, too.”
“Yay!” Jamie squealed, pumping his arm up and down in the way he’d seen his father do whenever he’d gotten his own way.
“Why don’t you go and pick out a book for Uncle Luke to read to you tonight?” Haley suggested and the words were hardly out before Jamie had jumped off of her lap and was running towards his bedroom.
“Well, that was easy,” Nathan observed with a chuckle. Tilting Haley’s face up to his, he kissed her, savouring the feel of her lips moving beneath his before slipping his tongue into her mouth. “I can’t wait for tonight,” he whispered seductively into her mouth.
“Me either, ba—”
“Daddy!”
“He’s got such perfect timing,” she said, nuzzling her nose against his cheek. “You go see what he wants and I’ll cut some cake for him and Luke.”
Nodding his head, he kissed her mouth once more before pushing himself up off the couch and going to see what their little lord and master wanted.
As Haley busied herself with the cake, she couldn’t help thinking about how wonderful this birthday had been, spending it with the two loves of her life. After breakfast, they had settled down in the living room and watched a movie—one of Jamie’s favourites, Finding Nemo—before they had packed a picnic and headed down to the local park which wasn’t too far from their off-campus apartment.
And now, with Jamie going to spend the night at Luke’s place, she had a feeling her birthday was going to get even better. Her body began heating up as her thoughts kicked up a gear and when Nathan appeared in front of her and he gave her a look that told him he knew exactly what she was thinking, she couldn’t help but blush.
“You think Luke would mind taking him a little early?” Nathan teased, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Pulling her into him so she was pressed flush against him, she could feel every inch of him and she shivered. Damn!
Shaking her head, she managed to choke out, “I-I’ll give him a call.”