“Bye hun,” Tommy whispered as he kissed Kristin’s forehead.

“Hmmm?” she groaned as she woke up.

“Sorry,” Tommy said. “I didn’t mean to wake you up; I’m just leaving for work.”

“It’s ok,” Kristin told him. “I wanted to talk to you before you left anyway.”

“What is it?” Tommy asked as he put his briefcase down and sat on the side of the bed.

“Well,” Kristin began. “It was really sweet of you to want me to stay home and focus on my singing and acting career but…”

Tommy knew where this was going; Kristin wanted to come back to work. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy having his wife around the office, he loved having her there, but all Tommy wanted Kristin to focus on right now was keeping herself, and the baby, healthy.

“No,” Tommy told her.

“Come on, Tommy!” Kristin whined as she sat up.

“No,” Tommy told her again. “I don’t want you to have to deal with all of that stress.”

“I won’t work too hard,” Kristin told him. “You can even put a little desk in your office for me so you can keep an eye on what I’m doing.”

”As cute as that sounds,” Tommy said. “No.”

“But—” Kristin began.

“No!” Tommy cut her off. “And that’s the last time I’m going to say it.”

“I love you,” Kristin said as she kissed him.

“It won’t work,” Tommy told her, determined to stand by his answer.

“So much,” Kristin added as she kissed him again.

“Don’t bother,” Tommy said.

“It would make me so happy!” Kristin told him as their lips met yet again.

“I said no,” Tommy told her again; this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d thought.

“You’re such a powerful business man,” Kristin gushed as she moved closer to him and put her arms around him before kissing him for the fourth time. “I just can’t get over it!”

“Thank you, but…” Tommy began; his voice trailed off as Kristin kissed him one last time.

What was it about this woman that turned him into a pile of mush? He’d given her an answer; he’d said no. Why was it that all she had to do was kiss him and he turned into a bumbling idiot with no thoughts or opinions of his own? It was as if he was merely a puppet who’s strings were attached to Kristin’s little finger.

“Please, Tommy?” Kristin asked; sticking her lower lip out as she looked up into his eyes.

“Well—” Tommy began.

“Thank you!” Kristin cried out joyfully as she flung her feet off the side of the bed and stood up.

“Yup,” Tommy mumbled; so much for his determination to stand by his original answer.

“What should I wear?” Kristin asked as she walked over to the closet.

“You want to come back right now?” Tommy asked as he followed her over to the closet.

“Sure,” Kristin told him as she began looking through her clothes. “Why not?”

“Well,” Tommy began. “It’s just that I didn’t even have time to tell anybody.”

“Why would you need to tell anybody?” Kristin laughed.

“Well, because—” Tommy began before Kristin cut him off.

“Unless…” she said as her expression became sad.

“Unless what?” Tommy asked.

What was wrong with Kristin? She had gone from laughing to practically crying in less than a second. Tommy would never understand women; especially pregnant women.

“Unless you don’t want to be seen with such a fat, ugly wife!” Kristin sobbed.

Now he REALLY did not understand her.

“Baby,” Tommy said as he pulled Kristin into a gentle embrace. “I never said that! I would never be ashamed to be seen with you!”

“You’re just saying that!” Kristin said as she continued to cry. “You’ve probably replaced me with some hot supermodel and you don’t want to have to go back to looking at THIS all day!”

“I mean it,” Tommy protested as he stroked her hair. “I can’t wait to have you back at work with me.”

She didn’t even answer him this time; she just kept crying. He played the conversation back in his mind to try to find anything he could have said that would upset her like this but he couldn’t think of one thing.

“Kristin,” Tommy said.

“What?” she sobbed.

“Look at me,” Tommy told her.

He reached down and gently tilted her head back to look into her face; even when her eyes were red from crying and their tear stains on her cheeks she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on.

“I love you,” Tommy told her. “And I want nothing more than to be able to see you sitting at that desk in my office every day.”

“Really?” Kristin asked as she wiped the tears from her face.

“Really,” Tommy told her. “I only said what I did because I didn’t want you to rush yourself; I wanted you to be able to rest so you wouldn’t be too tired at the end of the day.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Kristin said as she began to cry again.

“Kristin,” Tommy sighed. “You’re killing me here! I can’t say anything without making you cry!”

“I’m sorry,” Kristin laughed as she wiped away her tears again. “I’m not sad I’m just… oh I don’t know what I am!”

“You’re beautiful,” Tommy told her as he bent down and kissed the tip of her nose. “That’s what you are.”

Tommy’s heart melted as Kristin smiled up at him.

“Now,” Tommy told her. “Can we make a bit of a deal about this working thing?”

”Sure,” Kristin agreed.

“Will you agree to stay home and rest until after lunch?” Tommy asked her.

“Tommy,” Kristin said. “Just because I’m pregnant that doesn’t mean you have to baby me. I’m perfectly capable of—”

“It’s not a question of what you’re capable of,” Tommy told her. “Will you do it? Please? It would make me feel much better about this whole thing.”

”Alright,” Kristin nodded. “I won’t come in until 12:30.”

“Good,” Tommy said as he pulled a pale pink maternity dress from the closet. “And you should wear this; you look beautiful in it.”

“This thing?” Kristin asked as she took the dress from him. “It’s cinched in above my belly and it makes me look huge!”

“No it doesn’t,” Tommy told her.

“Oh what do you men know about anything,” Kristin teased him.

“Please wear it, Kristin.” Tommy begged her. “I’ll take you out for French fries.”

“Dipped in ice cream?” Kristin asked; her face lighting up.

“Definitely,” Tommy replied.

“Deal,” Kristin said with a smile.