Chapter 33

Jon rolled in the night to curl himself around Frannie and was surprised to find the bed empty. He sat up and looked around wondering where she was at 3 in the morning. Before he could call to her he heard her in the bathroom. Padding to the bathroom on silent feet he grimaced at the sight before him.

Frannie had woken with her stomach churning. She had barely gotten to the bathroom before heaving her dinner into the toilet. She had been up the better part of an hour and that was how Jon found her. “Baby, are you okay?” She retched again, “does it look like I’m okay? Go back to bed.” He ignored what she said, instead turning to the faucet to wet a cloth and fill a glass with water for her. Dropping down beside her he handed her the cloth and rubbed her back. “When did this start?” He was curious as to how long she had been up. She took the wet cloth and wiped her face, “what time is it now?” He leaned back to look through the door into their bedroom, “just after 3.” She groaned and dropped her head forward to rest on her knees, “an hour” she managed to say before her stomach rebelled again.

When Frannie felt like she might be all right, she leaned back against the wall and took a sip of water. “You should go back to bed Jon, you don’t need to sit here with me.” He studied her for a minute, she was pale and her eyes were puffy, “if you think you’re ready to go back to bed, I’ll tuck you in.” She took another sip of water and started to stand, only to have to lean over the toilet again. “Please Jon, just leave me alone.” He stroked her back one last time before finally leaving her in the bathroom.

The next time Jon opened his eyes the sun was streaming in the windows and he was once again, or maybe still he wasn’t sure, alone. He got up, pulled on some shorts and went into the bathroom. Frannie was lying on the floor, having fallen asleep at some point. He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, laying her across the bed. “Poor baby” he whispered as he covered her and kissed her forehead.

Frannie woke to find herself in the bed. How did I get here? She didn’t remember coming back to bed. Glancing at the clock she winced, it was past one in the afternoon. She wondered where Jon was as she didn’t hear any noise coming from the other room. She got up and went to the bathroom. After brushing her teeth and hair she pulled on some cotton shorts and a tank top and went out onto the deck from their room. She found Jon and Sophie in the pool. He was floating along on his back with Sophie resting on his chest.

“Hey.”

Jon looked over and stood, cradling Sophie against him, “hey baby, how are you feeling?” Frannie curled up on the chaise, “like a dishtowel that was wrung out one too many times.” Her stomach muscles ached like she had done nothing but crunches for four hours. “It must have been something I ate last night, but I can’t figure out what.”

Jon got out of the pool and handed Sophie to her so he could dry off. Frannie kissed the baby’s head and was dismayed to see that Sophie wanted nothing to do with her mother. She started to fuss and reached for Jon. At Frannie’s raised eyebrow Jon just shrugged, “what can I say, she loves me.” Frannie just shook her head and smiled, “like mother like daughter I guess.” Jon kissed her as he took Sophie back and sat down. “Okay, let’s see last night we ate pretty much the same thing. We shared our dinners, drank the same wine and had coffee.” He rubbed his chin, “I don’t know babe.”

Frannie turned to face him, “we fed each other bites of our dinners and mine was lobster. What was your seafood medley made up of?” Jon thought for a minute, “scallops, shrimp and mussels I think, maybe conch. Why?” Frannie groaned, “scallops; that had to be it. The last time I ate them this happened. I should have known.”

“Do you think you want anything now?” Jon thought maybe she should at least drink something if not try to eat something light anyway. Frannie shook her head, “the thought of food is not even remotely appealing right now. I could probably drink something though.” Jon stood and held out his hand, “let’s go see what we’ve got.” Together they headed into the kitchen and Jon poured Frannie some juice before taking Sophie to her room to change her. Frannie followed to see just how well he would manage.

Standing in the doorway she fell a little more in love with Jon as she watched him blow raspberries on Sophie’s belly before doing a surprisingly good job getting her into a clean diaper and dry clothes. “Nice job” she told him as he picked Sophie up and turned toward the door. “You didn’t think I knew what I was doing did you?” Frannie shook her head, “you’ve got four kids I hope you know what you’re doing.” He laughed, “yeah well, it’s not my favorite job, but at least this one was only wet.” Frannie chuckled, “you’re lucky.” He nodded his head and smiled, “you get the next one.”

Geena came back and Jon and Frannie were able to spend the rest of the afternoon lounging on the deck. Jon occupied one chaise, Frannie the other. She was sketching and he was going back and forth between the book he had brought and watching Frannie. He had watched her draw before and yet the way her hand moved across the paper always got his skin itching for her touch. The way her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth made him want to run his tongue over it and soothe the marks away. He shifted in his chair, trying to ease the growing ache between his legs.

Frannie knew he was watching her, could feel his eyes on her. She was doing her best to concentrate on what she was doing, but it was getting increasingly difficult. She flipped the page and started to draw him instead. She knew she could draw him a million different ways and still not capture the essence of him. Her mouth twitched into a devilish smile, would he let me? She wanted to ask but she wasn’t sure what he would think of the idea. “Jon.” He looked over at her, “what babe?”

She moved over onto his chair with him, settling herself between his legs, resting against his chest. “Would you let me draw you again?” He kissed the top of her head “aren't you tired of drawing me yet?” He felt her head move against him “no, and I don’t think I ever could be. But this would be different.” He took the sketch book and pencil from her hands, setting them on the table before wrapping his arms around her, “how would this be different?” She tried to hide her smile as she tilted her head to look up at him.

“I want to draw you nude.”