Jennifer Greene - Lucky

From under the nightgown she peeled off her panties. When she caught her reflection in the mirror—the still baby-pudgy tummy, the wreath-sized circles under her eyes, the wild hair—she moved away from the mirror. Her stomach was starting to churn.

“Graham,” she said carefully, “I know you’re annoyed with me, but honestly, I don’t know why—”

“I’ll tell you why! Can’t we have one night without the baby taking center stage!” His change clattered on the bureau. Then he stalked over to the bedside light and snapped it off.

In the darkness, Kasey frowned. This was about Tess? He was mad somehow about Tess? “I only brought her downstairs because she was crying—”

“And if you’d hired a nanny—the way I’ve urged you to, over and over—you wouldn’t have had to interrupt the dinner party. For that matter, if we just had an in-house nanny, you wouldn’t be so tired in the evenings, because of having to jump up every time the baby lets out the slightest cry.”

Silently she slipped under the covers—as if being quiet might help make her more invisible. “I don’t see how I was creating a problem or interrupting the dinner party. Everyone seemed delighted that I brought Tess down—”

“Well, of course they’d say that. It’s not the point. The point is that both of us deserve free time—time to be with other adults, children not included or always interrupting. I want my wife back, Kasey.”

“Oh, Graham. You have me.” She understood now. Hadn’t she warned herself about this a zillion times? He was jealous of the baby. The problem was in all the parenting books. Men wanted to be Number One in their mate’s eyes.

“I want our life back the way it was. I want time with you where your mind isn’t always on the baby.”

“Oh, Graham…”

In the darkness, he grabbed her, tugging her close. Her instinct was not just to respond, but to respond with extra warmth and giving. And any other time, his urgent forcefulness would have ignited her own passion.

But tonight…they hadn’t made love since the baby was born. And no matter what the doctor said, she remembered long painful hours of labor and was afraid that sex would hurt this first time. On top of that, she felt trembly and tense because of their argument. His mouth claimed hers roughly, possibly because he was still a little mad. It wasn’t as if she were afraid. That thought was crazy. But…

She couldn’t catch the mood.

His entry hurt. Really hurt. Exactly what she’d been afraid of. And although she knew Graham meant to come across as ardent and passionate, she couldn’t shake the distressing, achy feeling that he was oblivious to anything but what he wanted. The more he pushed, the more she burned, until she couldn’t help but cry out.

“That’s it, darling. Take me. All of me.”

She heard his words. And inside her head, she kept telling herself, all right, all right, this’ll be over in a minute, and everything’ll be different tomorrow. She understood better now, that he was having a difficult time relating to Tess and that their marriage needed more one-on-one time.

It was up to her to make this better. To make their marriage like it had been before.

She just had to try harder.

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