Danielle Steel - Happy Birthday: A Novel

“Is this crazy?” she whispered back between kisses. It didn’t feel like it to her, it felt right, but she wanted to be sure it did to him too.

“This makes more sense than anything I’ve ever done,” he said, and she nodded. She thought so too.

“Yes,” she said simply in answer to his spending the night, and he called the driver of the limo and told him to send up his bag and then he could go home. It arrived five minutes later, and Jack carried it to her room and set it down. She was sitting on her bed, smiling at him. The room looked immaculately neat, and hadn’t seen a man in years. There was one lamp lit on the bed table, and the light in the room was soft. He gently took her clothes off and lay down with her, as they looked at each other in her enormous bed. She felt like she had been waiting just for him, for a long time.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said gently. “Is your leg okay?” He nodded and then laughed.

“I’ve got a bullet wound in my leg, a bad back, football injuries to my knees. Baby, you are getting yourself one very banged-up old man.” But he looked and felt like a boy in her arms, and then she turned off the light. She had worked hard with her trainer, and looked great for her age. But she didn’t want him comparing her body to a twenty-two-year-old’s. He kissed her, and all the passion that had been waiting in both of them exploded. They both forgot about his leg and his back, they were so hungry for each other that they couldn’t get enough of each other, and made love for hours. He’d never had a night like that before, and the difference, he realized, as he drifted off to sleep holding her, was that this time, for the first time, he was in love, and so was she.

April called her mother the next morning as Valerie stood naked in the kitchen, making scrambled eggs for Jack. She had burned the first batch, and was now diligently scrambling the second, while he read the sports page of the paper. He had made her so comfortable and happy that she didn’t mind standing there nude with him.

“How was it?” April asked her.

“Incredible,” Valerie said dreamily, no longer thinking of the game, and then rapidly rescued the eggs before she burned them again, and told April she’d have to call her back. She said she was on the other line.

Jack kissed her as she set the eggs down in front of him, and he ran a hand slowly down her body. He was an extraordinary lover, and had been exquisitely happy with her too, and he insisted that neither his leg nor his back had gotten hurt. He had been afraid to have sex for months, and suddenly it seemed as though he could do anything he wanted. But their lovemaking hadn’t been acrobatic, it had been tender and so powerful it was overwhelming. He had never felt that way before.

He looked happy as he ate the eggs.

“I’m better with French toast,” Valerie apologized, and he laughed.

“Yeah, I’ll bet. I’m just teasing you. The eggs are great, and so are you. What are you doing today?” He had taken the day off, to bask in the glory of the Super Bowl. He didn’t have to be on air again for two days, so he decided to give himself a well-deserved break. He had left a message on his assistant’s voicemail before breakfast.

“I have to work.” And Dawn was expecting her.

“I think you should call in sick,” he suggested, and she laughed.

“I never do that. What if I lose my job?” She knew that wouldn’t happen. And she had no tapings until Thursday, but she had a lot of work to do. She had taken Friday off to go to the game, which was something she never did.

“If you get fired, I’ll support you. Maybe I’ll quit mine.” He was kidding. They both laughed. After their night of passion, neither of them was in the mood for work. This had never happened to Valerie before.

“Great. We’ve been lovers for …”—she looked at the kitchen clock—“five hours, and we’re already both headed for unemployment.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said happily. “We can stay in bed all day and make love.” She had to admit it sounded appealing to her too.

“Maybe I could,” she said dreamily. “I haven’t taken a sick day in a year, come to think of it, maybe two.”

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” he said, putting his arms around her, and getting instantly aroused.

She reached for her cell phone on the table, between kisses, and left a voicemail for Dawn, telling her she had come back from Miami with a terrible sore throat and was taking the day off to stay in bed. It was half true anyway, about staying in bed, as he took her by the hand and led her back to her bedroom. They were passionately making love again five minutes later, and lay spent in each other’s arms when it was over.

“You’re too young for me,” she panted, totally out of breath. “You’re going to kill me.”

He was just as breathless as she was. “You make me feel like a kid again,” he said, holding her close, and stroking her hair, and a few minutes later, they fell asleep in each other’s arms and woke up again at noon.

They got into the shower together and wound up making love again, and after that they went back to the kitchen and Jack made lunch. He made them both club sandwiches, while Valerie commented that she was relieved that the woman who did her cleaning didn’t come in on Mondays. And exceptionally, she had taken the following day off too. The coast was clear for their wild, abandoned lovemaking. And after lunch they went back and watched old movies in bed. Valerie had never spent a day like this in her life. She felt totally self-indulgent and lazy, and in love, as she nestled in his arms.

April called her late that afternoon and sounded worried when her mother answered. “Are you okay? I called you at the office, and they said you were sick. You didn’t sound sick this morning. What’s wrong? And you never called me back.”

“I’m sorry, darling. I have a terrible sore throat. I think it might be strep.”

“Did you see the doctor?”

“No, not yet,” she said guiltily, smiling at Jack, as he ran a lazy finger around her breast, and she responded instantly to his touch. “I will. I promise.”

“If it’s strep, you need antibiotics,” April said firmly.

“I’ll call immediately. I just stayed in bed all day.”

“That’s good. Stay warm,” she advised her. “I’ll call you later and see how you feel.”

“Don’t worry if I don’t answer. I’ll just be asleep,” Valerie said, not wanting to be interrupted if they were making love.

“How was the Super Bowl, by the way? You said this morning it was incredible.”

“It was.” She had been referring to Jack, not the game, as she burned the eggs. But the game had been great too.

“I watched the game in the kitchen. I thought Jack’s commentating was very good, and his interviews. Was he nice to you?”

“Very,” her mother assured her, smiling at him as he lay in bed next to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. Fat. I think it’s going to show pretty soon. I hate having to explain it to everyone. I’d like to keep it under wraps as long as I can.” She was a week shy of five months pregnant, and she felt huge, after being thin all her life.

“I don’t think you can do that for much longer,” Valerie said. “It’s no one’s business. You don’t have to explain anything.”

“I think some of my staff have already figured it out.” Jean-Pierre certainly had, and he was being exceptionally attentive and helpful, and carrying anything heavy for her. She appreciated his help, but his obvious attentions were making her increasingly uncomfortable. No matter how cool and professional she was with him, he refused to back off.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, sweetheart,” Valerie said in a gentle tone.

“Take care of your throat. Tea and honey. And call the doctor.”

“I will. Thanks for calling back.”

Valerie hung up and turned to Jack. And he kissed her again. He spent the night with her again that night, and totally out of character, she took the day off the next day, and told her office she had strep.

“I can’t keep doing this,” she said, looking embarrassed, as they ate dinner out of her fridge. “I have to go to work tomorrow. I have a mountain of stuff on my desk.”

“I think we should both quit,” he teased, but he had to go to work the next day too. It had been nice to take two days off and spend them with each other, talking, sleeping, making love, and watching TV. It was a first for Valerie, and she hadn’t looked or felt this relaxed in years, or as happy. She hoped it wasn’t just a passing fancy for him, but it didn’t feel that way. This felt serious to both of them. “Why don’t we go to my place tonight?” he suggested. “My maid doesn’t come in on Wednesdays.” They were trying to keep this quiet for as long as they could. Valerie didn’t want to tell April yet, or anyone. This was their secret for now, and she was still somewhat uncomfortable about the difference in their ages. And he had been such a womanizer that whoever he went out with was bound to cause comment, particularly if it was she. But she didn’t feel any older than he. She felt protected by him, and safe in his arms. And the years between them vanished in bed.

Around ten o’clock that night she packed a small bag to go to his apartment, and put her clothes for the office on a hanger, and they took a cab to his place. He had his suitcase from Miami with them. Hers were still unpacked in her bedroom. All she had taken from them were her makeup and her toothbrush. She set them down in his bathroom and hung her clothes in the closet. She felt very much at home. And they took a bath in his enormous marble tub.

“What are we going to tell people?” Valerie asked, looking pensive, as they ate ice cream in his kitchen after their bath. “Or should we just lie low for a while until we figure this out?”