Chapter 12 #4
“Oh, that. I suppose you’re in a hurry to get the baby started,” he said. “We can get married in any break in my travel schedule. I’ve got some openings in May, June, July, August…would you want a big wedding?”
“No, small. Maybe just the family and a few friends at my mother’s farmhouse, our farmhouse now. I think you’d like it. It’s very pretty.” Olivia couldn’t believe she was planning a wedding with Francois, but with the baby as their excuse, it all made sense and she wanted to do it.
“Next month? May? A month from now. Is that enough time for you to plan? And after the wedding we go straight to the doctor’s office, let him do his job, and with your permission, we could go on a honeymoon to Disneyland or Marine World, or Venice, or somewhere you think is appropriate.
Nine months later, our prodigy is born. I love the idea,” he said to her, his eyes brimming with nineteen years of love for her since the day he met her.
“I like your proposition,” she said, smiling gratefully at him. “Thank you, Francois. I accept.”
“I should really send Natasha a text, thanking her for divorcing me. She’s living with a prima from the Bolshoi and they’re very happy.”
“And you get me,” Olivia said. “You really don’t mind about all this?” She waved at her legs, which were why she had broken their engagement before.
“You would be the best possible mother I can imagine for my children, and the best wife for me. I think we’ve suffered enough in the last twelve years, now let’s seize the gifts we’ve been given and enjoy our life together.
” It was what her mother had done with Spencer and Olivia realized now that they were right.
She had never stopped loving Francois for a single day, nor had he her.
And now it was time to celebrate. The baby was an added bonus.
“You don’t mind adopting if the IUI doesn’t work?”
“If that’s what you want. I will let you run the baby factory, I’m a mere choreographer, and a dancer.”
“Do you want to spend the night?” she asked him.
“I do but you may hate me for it. I have to leave for the airport at six a.m. and pick my bags up at the hotel on the way. I’m packed.
I should leave you around five, is that okay?
” Francois asked her, and she nodded, and he moved toward her on the couch, put his arms around her and kissed her, as he had wanted to since the day he arrived in New York and didn’t want to scare her off.
Her email had been providential. And now they were getting married and planning a baby.
“I’ve never proposed and planned a family before I even kissed a woman,” he said. “We’re a little bit crazy, but I love that about us,” he said, and she looked serious.
“What if the insemination doesn’t work?”
“Then we’ll keep trying until it does. Perseverance is a good thing.” He had been trying to marry her for fifteen or sixteen years, and they were finally going to do it. He could hardly wait.
They got undressed and into her bed, and she lay in his arms, smiling at him.
“Thank you for not giving up on me,” she whispered.
“Thank you for loving me and giving me a chance,” he whispered back.
They were going to commute between Paris and New York depending on his performance schedule.
Francois said his apartment was big enough for them and several children.
And Olivia was thinking that she needed a bigger apartment.
There was so much to plan and think about and hope for.
So much to look forward to and be grateful for, as she fell asleep in his arms. He got up at four, and showered and dressed without waking her, and then he sat down on the bed next to her and gently kissed her.
She stirred and opened one eye and smiled at him.
“See you in a few weeks,” she said, and rolled over on her back and he kissed her again.
“I’ll call you when I land. I think Olivia Vernier is a very nice name, don’t you?
” he asked, and her smile widened, and he was smiling too.
They had been here before at this giddy place, dreaming of a future together, and now they were here again.
He didn’t want anything to spoil it this time.
“Give your sisters my love. I’ll see them all next time, at the wedding.
” He beamed. Neither of them had expected this.
He left a few minutes later, and she got up and rolled around her apartment.
She had to call caterers and a florist in Connecticut.
She wanted to call her sisters, and take time off from her classes.
And she had to tell her doctor and plan for the IUI.
There was so much to think about. She felt like she was flying when she called Quinne first. She was the one who had pushed Olivia to write to Francois.
It was seven-thirty in the morning and Quinne was about to leave for work. Coop was on the set, already in hair and makeup by then.
As soon as Quinne answered, Olivia blurted out the news. “I’m getting married!”
“Oh my God, to whom?” Olivia wasn’t usually given to impulsive acts.
“My sperm donor.” Quinne was genuinely shocked. Olivia had gone off the deep end if she was marrying a stranger.
“When?”
“In four weeks.”
“Do you know anything about him? This doesn’t sound reasonable.”
“He’s a choreographer and a dancer, he’s French, thirty-nine years old…
” Olivia was laughing by then. “Francois and I are getting married,” she said.
“Thank you for making me write to him. We’re very happy.
It was his idea when I told him I was going to have a baby with a sperm donor.
He’s divorced.” Quinne was laughing by then too. “I want to get married at the farm.”
“You can get married at the top of the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower, and I’ll be there,” Quinne said. Olivia had been through so much and now she was getting her happy ending. It seemed very fair.
“I need a dress, an apartment, a caterer, a florist.”
“We’ll help you,” Quinne promised, ecstatic for her. “Where are you going to live?”
“On Air France mostly. We’ll figure it out as we go.
Quinnie, thank you,” Olivia said with deep feeling.
The next person she would have wanted to tell was her mother.
But somehow, in her heart of hearts, she was sure her mother knew, and was celebrating for her.
Maybe she even had a hand in it, wherever she was.