Archive of Our Own

Hawkins, Indiana. 2000. 

They made it about twenty minutes away from the Cunningham house before Chrissy couldn’t take it anymore. 

“Pull over,” she told her husband. 

Eddie did as Chrissy said, even though the shoulder was uneven with piled snow, and the road back to the trailer park was poorly lit. 

He only objected when she reached for the door handle on the passenger side of the car. “Sweetheart, it’s freezing. There’s an old grocery bag in the back seat, just let me grab it for you.”

“No.” Chrissy was zipping her puffer coat up to her chin, unclipping her seatbelt. “I don’t want the baby to see.”

Their daughter was strapped into her rear-facing car seat in the backseat. Chrissy could see her dark eyes watching them in the little mirror they’d attached to the headrest above her with a Velcro strap. 

“She’s too little to understand.” Eddie sounded frustrated, and sad. “You’re being way too hard on yourself. As usual.”

Chrissy ignored that. “You don’t give her enough credit.”

Annie had turned one year old the previous June. She was the only reason they were down in Hawkins for Christmas in the first place. With her rosy cheeks, chubby limbs, and easy-going temperament, eighteen-month- old Edith Anne Munson proved so irresistibly adorable that even Laura and Phillip Cunningham coldly tolerated Eddie. They’d sworn they’d never even speak to him when he and Chrissy first eloped. 

Annie hadn’t said mama yet, though Chrissy suspected dada would come first. Eddie was the one at home with her every day, taking care of her and writing Dungeons and Dragons copy during her nap. She could say a few words though: up and shoes and ball and apple, and best of all, bye-bye. She could even clink her plastic sippy against Chrissy’s mug and say “cheers,” which Annie pronounced like cheesh. Chrissy knew her daughter understood much more than she could express. 

That was the tender, unexpected part of being a parent— realizing her child was born with a personality all her own. Chrissy loved learning about who Annie was going to be, and who she already was. Chrissy wished she could somehow raise her without ever putting a foot amiss, so Annie would never become jaded and cynical like the rest of the world. 

And of course, she knew that perfect parenting was impossible. But she wasn’t going to do what her own mother had done to her, at least. She didn’t want to pass on her own issues with food. 

Chrissy couldn’t stand another minute in the hot, stuffy sedan. She pushed open the door and stepped outside, closing it firmly behind her. She sank knee-deep into the snowbank immediately. Her sensible black slacks would be soaked. But it didn’t matter. 

She bent at the waist and vomited violently into the snow. Up came the beige dinner Laura had fixed for them; watery mashed potatoes and unseasoned chicken breasts, splattered on the roadside. 

Chrissy felt a nostalgic surge of pure relief. Get the fuck out of me. Sometimes it felt good, to be hollow. Her fingertips buzzed numbly, like they’d fallen asleep. 

Then she heard the baby wailing, the sound muffled by the car, and the relief died off. The warm air from the vents and gentle motions of the drive usually lulled Annie into a drowsy state, but she’d had an awful lot of sugar cookies with her preschool-aged cousins that night. 

Chrissy didn’t turn back to her family immediately. She just stared out at the snow-covered field, and missed the city so badly she wanted to scream. God, I hate it here. 

She knew if she didn’t get back into the car, Eddie would start to worry, so she opened the passenger door again and climbed inside. 

Eddie had taken Annie out her carseat, and she reached for Chrissy immediately, fat tears rolling down her blotchy cheeks as she sobbed. Chrissy folded the baby into her arms as best she could, though they were both wearing thick puffer coats. Annie’s was pale pink. It was like hugging a marshmallow. 

Eddie watched them with concern in his deep brown eyes— the same eyes that had watched Chrissy from the car seat mirror. She thought the baby looked a lot more like her husband than herself, and she was glad. He was so beautiful, in the faint glow from the car’s interior lights. 

“The food just didn’t agree with you?” Eddie asked hopefully. 

Chrissy took a moment before answering. She tucked her cold nose into Annie’s fluffy curls. She wanted to smell that baby smell, but she kept catching whiffs of her own vomit. 

Still, when she and Eddie had gotten married, they’d promised to be more forthcoming with each other about their feelings, and it was a vow Chrissy took seriously. 

“My anxiety got the better of me.” That was the long and the short of it, after all. 

Eddie nodded slowly. “Well, it’s over now, yeah? Tomorrow it’ll be just the four of us. 

“For sure,” Chrissy agreed. The baby had stopped crying, after leaving trails of snot and tears on both their coats. She was snuffling moistly against Chrissy’s neck. “This girl’s ready for bed.”

“Oh yeah, that’s a sugar crash if I ever saw one,” Eddie said, with a fond chuckle. He made to take the baby back, and put her in her carseat, but Annie shrieked and clung to Chrissy so dramatically that Chrissy ended up slipping into the backseat next to her, and holding her fat little hand all the way back to Wayne’s trailer. 

Wayne wasn’t usually one for Christmas decorations, but he’d hung up some multicolored lights for Annie, who was completely mesmerized by them. When Eddie parked the car, Chrissy unstrapped the baby and followed him up to the front door with Annie in her arms. The baby was already nodding off against her mother’s shoulder. 

They’d set up a pack n’ play portable crib in the living room, where they were also sleeping. Wayne had taken over Eddie’s old room when his nephew moved out, and they refused to put him out for the four nights they were staying. Obviously, the Cunninghams’ guest room was out of the question from the jump. 

Chrissy laid Annie down on the couch and shimmied her out of her coat, hat, and mittens as gently as she could. The poor girl’s cheeks were still patchy red from the tears and the cold. 

It had been a busy day. Chrissy didn’t bother changing her into her pajamas, laying her right down into the portable crib in her corduroy trousers and red sweater. The pants had an elastic waist, and anyway, it wasn’t like the baby knew the difference. She was asleep the second her sweet head touched the mattress. 

Chrissy felt wound up from their visit to her parents’ house. Vomiting still gave her an adrenaline rush, too. “Maybe I’ll go for a walk,” she whispered to Eddie.

“No, you will not go for a walk through a trailer park that’s buried under four feet of snow, in the dead of night!” Eddie whisper-yelled back.

She blew an exasperated breath out through her mouth. “Be quiet. You’ll wake up Wayne.”

Eddie didn’t back down. “It’s not even safe to walk around there right now. Don’t scare me like that.”

“Alright, alright.” Chrissy threw up her hands. “But I’m just not sleepy.”

“Well, good.” Eddie was rolling up the sleeves of his festive dark red flannel. “Because we still have to wrap all the ‘Santa’ presents.”

“Oh, right.” She’d almost forgotten Eddie’s plan to wrap all the presents that were for Annie “from Santa” in a different wrapping paper than the one they were using for her gifts from Mommy and Daddy. “Now who’s worrying about things she can’t understand yet…”

“Where’s your Christmas spirit?” Eddie teased, knocking his elbow against Chrissy’s ribs. “Playing Santa calls for a little production value.”

“We’re going to be the ones unwrapping them for her,” Chrissy pointed out, but she didn’t actually mind. She was touched that Eddie cared so deeply about making Christmas magical for Annie. She knew that it was one of those things he had to do for her now, because no one had done it for him when he was little. 

Chrissy changed out of her sweater and slacks and into some fuzzy pajamas from their suitcase while Eddie laid out toys and wrapping supplies on the linoleum kitchen floor. When she tip-toed into the room and knelt down beside him, he was hard at work attempting to wrap some Calico Critters— key word being attempting. It was a square box, the easiest shape of package to wrap, and he was majorly struggling.

“I’m not actually very good at this,” he admitted. “I’m still getting used to having people to wrap presents for.”

Chrissy had been with Eddie for the better part of thirteen years, and he could still break her heart sometimes. 

“That’s okay,” she told him, picking up a Fischer-Price Little People school bus. “That’s what gift bags are for.”

They worked quietly for awhile, careful not to disturb Annie or Wayne, the latter of whom had worked a Christmas Eve shift so he could have the whole day off with them tomorrow. The only the sounds were the rustling of paper and tissue, and Annie’s deep, slumbering breaths. 

When they had finished, there were two stick-on bows left. Chrissy stuck one on the bottle of fancy whiskey they’d picked out for Wayne and pressed the other to the top of Eddie’s tousled head. “Merry Christmas, Dada.”

Eddie’s smile made Chrissy smile. He was so easy to please. He lit up like a Christmas tree every time someone simply acknowledged that he was a father. 

“Merry Christmas, Mama,” he growled, leaning in for a kiss. 

Chrissy turned her head away instinctively. “I still taste like throw-up.”

When she turned back, Eddie’s expression was hard to read, in the dark. “Go wash up,” he suggested, removing the bow from his head. “I’ll set up the pull-out couch.”

Chrissy walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind her with a quiet click. She washed her face with ice-cold water from the tap, then dried off with one of the ragged but clean spare towels Wayne had left out for them. 

While she brushed her teeth, Chrissy glared at herself in the mirror. Stop it, she silently scolded her reflection. Everyone’s trying to have a nice holiday with the baby. You’re spoiling it. 

Chrissy spat in the sink’s basin. As she looked up, she caught sight of herself again. She smoothed her hands over her temples and down the sides of her face. 

You look so tired, Christine. That was what Laura had said, anyway. And in those words, Chrissy heard the intended implication. You look tired was code for You are a terrible mother. 

She sighed heavily and leaned against the counter, feeling overwhelmed again. It was hard not to run through a mental highlight reel of all the disapproving looks Laura had thrown her over the course of the night. 

Somehow, everything Chrissy did was wrong. She’d spent all day fussing over the trailer’s weak oven, making gingerbread cookies from scratch, and her mother scolded her for not bringing the cake they usually purchased from the local bakery. 

Chrissy had been trying to impress her mother by playing homemaker— and hating herself for it— and she couldn’t even do that right. 

Laura hadn’t missed a single chance to throw in a passive-aggressive jab about how Chrissy really should become a stay-at-home mom. If Annie reached for Chrissy, Laura would cluck her tongue and say, “She clearly craves more time with you.” If Annie went to Eddie instead, Laura would huff and sigh that her granddaughter “knows which parent is available.”

And when Annie scampered off to play with her cousins, Chrissy’s brother’s children, Laura started positively moaning about how the toddler was “desperate” for a sibling of her own. That made Chrissy want to run screaming into the snowy yard. 

She had excused herself to the kitchen to help her sister-in-law wash dishes instead. The poor girl was pregnant again, and she’d been on her feet all night. Soon she’d have three children under the age of five. 

Chrissy rested her hand on the soft curve of her stomach, just under the elastic waistband of her pajama pants. Despite her and Eddie’s initial concerns about their ability to conceive, getting pregnant with Annie had been easy. 

The pregnancy itself had been the tough part. She vomited almost every day, and not just during the morning. Eddie fretted over her so intensely that Chrissy worried he might be driven to drink to excess again. 

Thankfully, that hadn’t happened, and Annie was born healthy and strong. The doctor who delivered her assured Chrissy and Eddie that when the time was right, getting pregnant again should be no problem. 

Eddie was always reminding Chrissy that there was no rush. They were still young, and relatively financially secure, thanks to her medical research career and Eddie’s string of freelance writing contracts. 

Besides, it was nice to take some time to enjoy being a little family of three. Or rather, a family of four, if you counted Mittsy the cat. And they always counted Mittsy. 

But if Chrissy was being honest with herself, the main thing holding her back from getting pregnant again soon was the extra eight pounds she’d been unable to lose in the eighteen months since giving birth. 

She was ashamed— of the weight, and of noticing it. 

Chrissy switched off the bathroom light and returned to the family room. Eddie had folded out the sleeper couch, and made it up with faded sheets and pillows, the same they always used when they visited Wayne. Chrissy had more nostalgic fondness for that sagging couch than anything they’d seen at her parents’ house that day. 

But she was confused. She didn’t see the pack-n-play crib. “Where’s—“

Eddie was lying on his side in bed. He lifted his head and put a finger to his lips. “I rolled her into the kitchen area.” He gestured, and Chrissy peeked over the short kitchen counter that divided the trailer’s main living space. The baby was still sleeping, her pudgy face smushed against the crib’s mesh. 

“I figured we could use a little alone time,” Eddie whispered, patting the bed next to him. 

Chrissy tip-toed over and climbed onto the creaking sofa bed next to him. She rolled over on her side and scooted back until she was tucked against Eddie’s chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist and sighed contentedly into her hair. 

He was so good to her. He was so good, period. Chrissy could feel herself relaxing into her husband’s warm body despite the stresses of the day.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured after awhile, her voice wobbling.

Eddie tightened his grip on her. “What are you sorry for, sweetheart?”

Chrissy covered her eyes with her hand, even though no one could see her face. She could feel tears prickling. “I feel like I’m ruining Christmas.”

“Honey…” Eddie rolled her over onto her back, and propped himself up on an elbow. “You’re not ruining Christmas. If anything, your mom was ruining Christmas. But she wasn’t really ruining Christmas, ‘cause it’s only Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, it’ll be just the four of us.”

“Yeah,” Chrissy agreed, taking a deep, shaky breath. “I’m so glad.”

“Then, day after that, we’ll pack up all the toys and head back to Chicago. Think about how happy Mittsy will be to see you.”

He really did know her well. Just picturing the cat made Chrissy feel calmer. 

She thought her whole childhood would have been less miserable if she could have just had a pet— but of course, Laura said cats were filthy. She warned Chrissy that Mittsy would try to suck the breath out of Annie’s nostrils while she slept, for God’s sake. But Chrissy thought that was absurd. If anything, Mittsy was surprisingly patient with the baby.

“Eddie?” Chrissy reached up and cupped his stubbly cheek.

“Princess?” He turned his head and kissed the heel of her hand.

“Remember at Nancy and Jonathan’s wedding…when I said I didn’t want to live without you, but I could?” The words came out jumbled, all in a rush.

Eddie chuckled. “You said something like that, yeah. That feels like a long time ago.” He brushed her bangs away from her eyes. “We’ve made a whole person since then.”

“Well…” The sting of unshed tears again. “I was wrong.”

Another chuckle from her husband. “Oh yeah? You’re sick of me?”

Chrissy shook her head hard against the pillow. “No. I can’t live without you. I don’t think I ever could.”

Eddie leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. “Well, I have some good news for you. We have a kid together. We’re on a lease together. And my name’s on the cat’s pet insurance.” He punctuated each sentence with a little kiss against her lips. “You’re pretty much stuck with me.”

They kissed for a long time. The weight of Eddie’s body on top of her own was so soothing, Chrissy almost fell asleep.

When Eddie pulled back, the look on his face was serious. “Can I make a Christmas request?”

“I don’t want to have sex out here, honey.” Annie wouldn’t be able to see them, even if she miraculously woke up and stood up in her play pen, but Chrissy felt weird about her surrogate father, Wayne, walking in on them.

Eddie laughed. “That wasn’t the request, but it’s good to know what you think of me.”

“Sorry.” Chrissy felt like she could laugh or cry.

“Don’t be sorry. I love you.”

Chrissy took his hand and clasped it under her chin. “I love you.”

“I want you to call Susan and go back to therapy next year,” Eddie said, calmly meeting her gaze. “Even if it’s just for a few sessions, to get yourself back on track. That’s my Christmas request.”

“Okay,” Chrissy agreed, without hesitation. She still struggled to admit when she needed help, and Eddie’s suggestion made it easier. She didn’t have to say the words herself. “You always know what to do.”

“I wish.” Eddie snuggled back down next to her, pulling the knitted afghan his great-aunt had knitted up over their shoulders. He groaned. “I wish I didn’t have to make that trip.”

“New York?” Chrissy groaned too, and wrapped her arms around Eddie’s lean torso. He mostly worked from home, but when publication dates on his guides drew near, he sometimes had to fly out to various publishers to make notes on uncorrected proofs and update different drafts. “I forgot about that. When are you flying out, again?”

“January third.” Eddie traced his finger along her cheek. “Wanna come with me?”

“And fly with the baby in tow? Pass.” Chrissy closed her eyes. “I’ll miss you, though.”

“I’ll miss you more.”

Chrissy squeezed him encouragingly. “No, no. It’ll be nice once you’re there. It’ll be like a vacation.”

“It’ll be like a prison sentence, you mean.” Eddie had never lost his flair for the dramatic.

“Are they paying for a fancy hotel this time, at least?” Chrissy ran her short fingernails over Eddie’s back in gentle circles, under his old t-shirt.

Eddie groaned again, but it had a different timbre. “It’s medium fancy.” He nipped at her lips lightly. “Much too good for a scoundrel like me.”

Chrissy giggled under her breath. “Let’s plan something fun to do when you get back.”

“How fun are we talking?” Eddie growled, grinding his crotch against her thigh. Even though he was thirty-five now, hardly a teenager, it didn’t take much to get him going. 

“Really fun,” Chrissy promised with a smirk, leaning in to kiss him one last time. “But you have to be good now, if you want to stay on the Nice List. Santa’s still up in the air, he could just toss your present over the side if he felt like it.”

“Are you insinuating that Santa watches us fuck?” Eddie hissed, pretending to be aghast. “I mean, I know he sees us when we’re sleeping and all, but that’s some sick shit.”

Chrissy laughed herself to sleep.

***

Christmas morning was better than Christmas Eve. Eddie thought it might actually be one of the happiest mornings of his life. 

They let Annie start opening presents as soon as she woke up. She ripped at the paper with her pudgy hands, in between handfuls of Cheerios. Wayne made Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, the kind that came in a can, and coffee for the grownups. 

Annie was delighted by everything, but the pink-and-white plastic Fisher Price dollhouse Wayne bought for her was her absolute favorite. She carried the figurines around for the rest of the morning, talking to them in her fast-paced, incoherent babble. 

“This thing is huge,” Eddie marveled, slapping the dollhouse’s beveled roof. “I hope we can fit it in the car on the way back…”

“Sorry,” Wayne said, unapologetically. He was basking in the glow of Annie’s happiness. “Couldn’t help myself.”

“It’s beautiful, Wayne,” Chrissy assured him. “Thank you again.”

She was curled up on the couch in the new silk robe “Santa” had brought her for Christmas. Chrissy had been lamenting about how everyone assumed she wanted “mom presents” since having Annie, so Eddie decided to treat her to something luxurious and sexy. 

Oh, who was he kidding— the robe was for his enjoyment as well. Chrissy was more of a fucking fox than ever. Eddie was tempted to ask Wayne to run to the store for milk and turn on the Frosty the Snowman VHS for Annie, just so he could feel his wife up. 

“I think we missed one.” Wayne grabbed a narrow, rectangular package that had slipped deep behind the tree. It was wrapped in the paper “Santa” used for Annie presents. 

“I know what this one is!” Eddie exclaimed, pulling the baby onto his lap. “Annie-banany, this is for you.”

Annie was burnt out on presents. There were too many new things for a toddler her age to process. She watched passively as her father unwrapped the last gift for her, sucking on her thumb. 

“Look, Annie!” Eddie showed her the box excitedly. “It’s Veterinarian Barbie! And she has a kitty cat, just like you.”

Annie was mostly uninterested in the willowy, blonde doll, but she started meowing approvingly at the tiny plastic cat. 

Across the room, Eddie saw Chrissy purse her lips. He might be in a bit of trouble for this one. 

They’d picked out most of the baby’s presents together. Chrissy didn’t want to get her too much, correctly pointing out that it would be overwhelming. “She only plays with like three things at a time, Eddie, and one of them is usually an old cardboard box…” Still, Eddie couldn’t resist impulse-buying more toys throughout December. 

Chrissy sighed and reached for the box, slicing it open and snipping the plastic ties that held Barbie’s cat. She passed the little toy to Annie, who shoved it directly into her mouth. Eddie grabbed the baby’s chubby cheeks with one hand and used his other to fish the cat back out. He wiped the drool off on his pajama pants and handed it back to Annie, who meowed again.

His wife watched with raised eyebrows. “I thought we agreed we were going to wait on Barbie.”

Eddie held up the doll. “But babe, look! She’s got a little white lab coat and everything!” He tried to pass Barbie to the baby, who was still nonplussed. “See, she’s just like Mommy.”

“I don’t usually wear mine with pink stilettos, of course…” Chrissy took a long sip from her coffee.

Annie had toddled over to her baby xylophone. She bashed the plastic cat against the rainbow-colored metal keys, making them go ding ding ding ding. Wayne walked over and scooped his great-niece up under the armpits.

“C’mon, kiddo, you’re gonna help me frost these cinnamon rolls.”

Wayne carried Annie to the kitchen, and Eddie joined Chrissy on the couch. 

“Are you mad?” he asked his wife, playing with the tie of her new robe.

Chrissy shook her head and sighed. “No, no, that would be silly. It’s just…” She took Barbie from Eddie and smoothed her long blonde hair with one hand. “You couldn’t have gotten her a brunette one at least?”

Eddie clutched his heart, mock-offended. “What’s wrong with blonde? You’re blonde.”

“Annie’s not!” Chrissy’s eyes were wide with sincerity. “And with girls, this body image stuff starts so young…you don’t even know. I just want her to feel like she’s perfect, inside and out. I don’t want her to want to look different. She’s just right.”

Chrissy’s bottom lip was wobbling slightly. Eddie felt a pang go through his heart, especially when he remembered the look of resigned disappointment on his wife’s face when her mother mocked and rejected the homemade gingerbread cookies she’d worked on all day. 

Honestly, he hadn’t forgotten Chrissy’s “No Barbie” request— he’d flat-out ignored it. He hadn’t taken the time to think about why she might have asked him to hold off on buying Barbie for Annie for a few years. He’d just assumed she didn’t want a million tiny plastic shoes floating around the apartment.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely, wrapping his arm around Chrissy’s narrow shoulders. “I didn’t understand, and I didn’t ask. But we’re a team, and we’re supposed to make these decisions together. That wasn’t cool of me.”

Chrissy wiped a stray tear on the back of her hand. “It’s not a big deal. I’m being ridiculous.”

“No, you’re not. You have the right to feel the way you feel.” Eddie rubbed her upper arm, and pulled her closer to his side. “And I know it’s been a hard few days for you, with all this…uh. With Laura.”

Chrissy nodded hard.

In the kitchen, Wayne had squeezed the packet of gooey white frosting into a bowl, and handed Annie a spoon. She sat on the counter, watching her uncle spread the icing on the rolls and making the satisfied Mmmmm noises of a baby who’s being allowed to snack on a mixture of pure sugar and lard.

“Annie’s been having a lot of fun though,” Eddie assured his wife soothingly, still rubbing her arm. “She loves Wayne and she loves her cousins. Plus the whole sugar high.”

Chrissy laughed, her voice a little watery. “Yeah. We definitely haven’t been restricting her.”

“Uh-huh, she gets to eat whatever Christmas treats she wants,” Eddie agreed. He knew that that was extremely important to his child’s mother. “She’s a happy girl.”

“I want her to stay that way, forever.” There was a plaintive, almost pleading note in Chrissy’s tone.

“Me too.” Eddie kissed Chrissy’s temple. “I know how you feel, honey. If I could design this whole world, like one of my guidebooks, I’d make it safe and kind for her. I wish I could.”

“Me too.” Chrissy nuzzled into Eddie’s neck. They sat like that, curled up side-by-side, watching Wayne negotiate the stirring spoon back from a very sticky, frosting-covered Annie.

“You know…” Eddie said, after a few minutes. “I only got that Barbie because she reminded me of you. With her lab coat, and all. And they don’t make a lab researcher Barbie. Yet.”

Chrissy chuckled as she glanced over at Barbie, who was laying on the coffee table amidst the debris from Annie’s other presents. “I don’t know how to break it to you, but I don’t look like that.”

“No, you look even better,” Eddie whispered in her ear, tugging her into his lap. “If they made Barbies that looked like you, I would have been the kind of kid who played with dolls.”

Chrissy made a tsk noise, but she was still laughing. “You’re so bad.”

“Wanna lock ourselves in the bathroom and give each other handjobs, for old time’s sake?” Eddie kissed Chrissy’s neck. He was only half-joking.

“Tempting.” Chrissy giggled as she squirmed free from his grasp. “But I’m so hungry. I think I actually want a cinnamon roll.”

Chrissy joined Wayne and Annie in the kitchen, scooping the baby up and walking her over to the sink for a good rinsing. Eddie stayed on the couch, watching the three of them— the three people he loved most in the world, loving each other. 

When he couldn’t keep himself away a moment longer, Eddie grabbed his coffee cup and went to the kitchen too. Chrissy strapped Annie into the old highchair Wayne had snagged at a garage sale, and Wayne put mismatched plates with cinnamon rolls and fruit on the table. 

Eddie found himself getting choked up with emotion as he watched Chrissy tear up a cinnamon roll for Annie, then dig into one herself. “Mmmm,” Chrissy said, imitating her daughter and widening her eyes happily. “You’re right, Miss Annie. These are sooooo good.” He never got tired of watching Chrissy feed herself, seeing her enjoy food. She’d come so far in the time they’d known each other.

After a few bites, Annie raised both hands in the air and rotated them— baby sign language for All done. Eddie was really proud of teaching her to baby sign; it made his life as a stay-at-home dad that much easier. 

He wanted to start teaching Annie ASL as soon as she was old enough. The infant development books Chrissy read and highlighted passages in for Eddie to review always said that a second language was good for the baby’s brain. Eddie didn’t want Annie to ever struggle in school the way he did. He didn’t really care about her being a top achiever— he’d love her no matter what— but just like his wife, he had his own self-esteem hang-ups from childhood.

“All done already?” Chrissy sounded amused, but not too surprised. It was hard to keep a toddler away from Christmas morning toys. “Say thank you to Uncle Wayne for the nice breakfast.”

“Ah goo,” Annie repeated dutifully, in her drooly little voice. 

Chrissy unfastened her from the highchair and set her down to wander back to the toys. Wayne tuned his old radio to the local soft rock station, which played Christmas music all holiday season. They chatted and watched the baby play. 

Every few minutes, Annie would come back to the kitchen and hold out her little hand for bits of roll and fruit, which her parents gave her from their own plates. Then she’d march back to her dollhouse, leaving a trail of crumbs and random berries in her wake.

“I’m sorry about the mess, Wayne,” Chrissy said, popping a grape into her mouth and crunching it. “I’ll clean up after her as soon as I’m done with this food.”

“Nonsense.” Wayne shook his head. “You sit and relax, and enjoy the morning. I’m having a great time.” He sat back in his chair and grinned at his nephew. “I think this is the best Christmas we’ve ever had. Eh, boy?”

“Yeah,” Eddie nodded. There was nothing he could add. “Yeah, it is.” His voice broke on the words. 

Wayne stood to pour them all more coffee. He rested a warm, calloused hand on Eddie’s shoulder as he passed. And Eddie knew, he understood.

***

Mornings with Annie passed in a blur. Every time Chrissy took off work to stay home with the baby, she wondered how her poor husband ever got any writing done. He’d always been better at multi-tasking than her, but this was something else.

Sometimes “Auntie Robin” or Max and her husband Bernie would come to stay with Annie during the day when Eddie had to go out of town to see publishers, but this time, it just felt like too much trouble to arrange it all. Chrissy took off work at her own job at Abbott Laboratories so she could stay home and have some quality time with her daughter.

Annie woke up before 7 AM most days, and wanted to have a sippy cup of milk while Chrissy rocked her in the chair in her room. This was part of their routine even when Chrissy was working. She loved sneaking in a quick cuddle and a few whimsical picture books with Annie before leaving for her day of painstaking lab analysis. 

After they snuggled, Chrissy carried Annie to the family room and set her on the floor with her puzzles and blocks. She put on a Baby Songs VHS tape to keep the toddler entertained and distracted while she slipped off to the kitchen to throw together a quick breakfast for them both. She’d only been to one session with her therapist, Susan, since Christmas, but they both agreed that keeping a regular meal schedule was vital to Chrissy’s recovery journey. 

The apartment was bigger than the one Chrissy and Eddie had shared in Edgewater, but not by much. A short kitchen island with two barstools separated the cooking area from the main family room. Annie watched the video, slack-jawed, as Chrissy scrambled eggs and toasted bread. The toddler always loved seeing other kids, even if only onscreen.

“Daddy comes back, he always comes back, he always comes back to get me,” the preschoolers in the video sang in high-pitched unison. “Daddy comes back, he always comes back, he never would forget me!”

Since Annie was only about a year and a half old, it was hard to tell what she made of Eddie’s absence. She must have noticed; he was normally her daily, constant companion. Chrissy turned off Baby Songs and carried Annie over to the kitchen table for her food.

Sure enough, Annie seemed almost surprised to realize it was only the two of them. “Da?” she said in a wondering tone, looking up at her mother with her big brown eyes.

“Dada will be home in two more sleeps,” Chrissy promised, putting Annie in her highchair and spreading cut-up blueberries and eggs in front of her on the tray. Annie gobbled food up by the handful. Chrissy had to stop her from throwing bits of egg down to Mittsy, who eagerly circled the baby’s chair.

When breakfast was done, Chrissy tossed their empty plates into the sink. She’d just have to clean later. Annie was already dragging her over to the dollhouse, her chubby fist tightly gripping Chrissy’s pointer finger. They played for awhile, but Annie had her own mind and she didn’t like the way grown-ups played. Eventually, with a little grunt of frustration, she snatched the sister doll back from Chrissy and turned her back on her. She bashed up dolls’ faces together to make them kiss. “Mwah!”

Chrissy seized the chance to get dressed and find some clean clothes for the baby. It was amazing, how many times per day they changed her outfits. She was going through a teething phase, and most days Eddie had to change her before lunch, just because the drool got her totally soaked. They’d only half-unpacked from their Christmas visit to Hawkins because of the quick turnaround before Eddie’s trip to New York, and the whole apartment felt chaotic. Maybe Chrissy could sneak some laundry in during Annie’s nap, if she got lucky. 

After Chrissy dressed Annie in a turtleneck and denim overalls, she bundled them both up and walked to the local library, cautiously pushing the baby’s stroller down the icy Chicago sidewalks. They couldn’t go to the park or the playground during these brutal Midwest winters, and Chrissy hated the cabin fever feeling that came with rattling around the apartment all day. 

Luckily, Annie had a boundless appetite for books. Chrissy read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a pop-up book about characters named Snuggly Sheep and Cuddly Sheep exchanging Valentines until her throat went hoarse. She could never predict which books would strike the toddler’s fancy. She couldn’t wait to discuss novels with her someday. 

Annie had her own mind, just like her father. After forty-five minutes of relentlessly pressing board books into her mother’s lap, she marched off to the craft area and found crayons. 

“Let’s draw a picture for Daddy,” Chrissy suggested, pulling Annie onto her lap. The baby grunted unhappily and clambered onto a plastic chair of her own, barely managing not to slip off the far edge. “Careful, Annie, watch your balance.” 

Annie picked up a handful of Crayolas and tossed them on the floor. 

“We’re guests here,” Chrissy reminded her daughter softly, kneeling down to pick up the crayons. “We don’t want to make a mess for the nice librarians, right? We love the library.”

Annie shoved a purple crayon into her mouth. 

“Alright,” Chrissy sighed, resigned. “I think it’s time to go home.”

The baby squawked like an angry parrot as her mother scooped her up and hauled her back to the lobby. She babbled vociferously the whole way home, where Chrissy placated her with an apple. It was Annie’s favorite fruit, and since she had to clutch it with both hands and focus hard on every bite, it was as much an activity as it was a snack. 

Chrissy made herself another cup of coffee. 

She put on a Raffi CD and got out Annie’s bin of musical instruments— tambourines, shakers, the Christmas xylophone. They sang and played along to “Baby Beluga” and “One World, One Sun” over and over until lunchtime. Chrissy thought like her head might explode from the noise, but the child development handbooks she read promised that instilling rhythm in a baby was very good for their mental growth. Chrissy read child development handbooks the way her parents studied the Bible. 

Lunch was Kraft macaroni and cut-up hot dogs with some leftover broccoli from the last dinner Eddie had cooked before leaving on his work trip. Annie was exhausted from the busy morning. She tried to lay her curly head down on the highchair’s plastic tray after just a few mouthfuls of macaroni. Chrissy felt like she could have put her own head on the table and gone to sleep too. 

Chrissy rinsed the cheese sauce off her daughter as best she could and changed her into footie pajamas for her nap time. After a quick lullaby and another little rock in the nursery chair, she put Annie in her crib and turned off the lights, shutting the door as quietly as possible when she crept out. 

She turned on the newfangled video baby monitor Eddie had insisted on purchasing when Annie was born. The image on the tiny digital screen was gray-blue and blurry, but Chrissy could still see that Annie had fallen instantly, curled on her side with her thumb in her mouth. 

Mittsy was in the kitchen, standing in front of the fridge and yelling for wet food. Chrissy fed her and washed the dishes from breakfast and lunch. When she was done, she dropped to all fours in the living room, and crawled around picking up toys. She had to lay flat on her stomach to fish some out from under the furniture. 

Chrissy checked the digital clock over the stove, when the toys were cleaned up enough that she could walk across the room without tripping on Little People. 1:23 PM. Annie had been asleep for less than an hour, and she’d probably go for at least two more. 

The unpacked suitcases were calling her name, and she had labwork she’d brought home from Abbott piled on Eddie’s desk in the corner. But Chrissy collapsed on the couch instead of working, and closed her eyes. She folded an arm over her face and let out a deep sigh. God, their kiddo was hard work. Eddie was a saint. 

As if on cue, the landline phone on the end table next to her head rang. Chrissy winced and picked up the receiver without opening her eyes. “Hello?”

“Can I speak to Mrs. Munson?” came Eddie’s voice down the line. 

Chrissy smiled at the sound. “This is she.”

“This is who?”

“This is Mrs. Munson,” Chrissy laughed. 

“Just wanted to hear you say it.” She could hear him smirking.

“And to whom am I speaking?” Chrissy asked, playing along. 

“Mr. Doctor Cunningham.”

“Oh, ha ha.” Chrissy had her doctorate, but Eddie was the only one who ever called her Dr. Cunningham. 

Eddie sounded a little jet-lagged. “Can you put me on with Annie?”

“I put her down for an early nap.”

“Ah shit.” Eddie exhaled in frustration. “The time zone changes always confuse me, and I’ve been in meetings all morning. Sorry, honey.”

“It’s okay. We had a busy morning. You can try back later.” Chrissy absently rubbed the spot between her eyes. “How’s it going?”

“Fine. You know how Roddy is—“

“So nitpicky,” Chrissy finished for him. 

“Yes!” Eddie groaned in exasperation. “He makes me fight him on every adjective.” His voice shifted into an imitation of his editor. “‘Are you sure you meant combative and not aggressive?’”

“Only two more days. How’s the hotel?”

“Eh.” She could hear him shrugging. “It’s a Midtown Marriott, you know. It looks just like all the others.” Chrissy used to go on the trips with Eddie sometimes, before Annie was born. “What are you wearing?”

“That was fast,” Chrissy giggled. They’d been having phone sex since before they were even boyfriend and girlfriend, and it was often a highlight of these little business trips. 

“I’m lonely,” Eddie moaned. “I miss you and the baby.”

Chrissy snuggled deeper into the couch’s plush cushions. “You just flew out this morning, honey.” He’d taken a 4 AM taxi to O’Hare Airport from their place in Andersonville. 

Eddie pressed on as if he’d been away for weeks. “I’m completely miserable, princess. You gotta throw me a bone.”

“Well, I hate to disappoint, but I’m just wearing my UIC sweatshirt and your gray sweatpants,” Chrissy said frankly. She loosened the drawstring on the pants all the same. 

On the phone, Eddie made a strangled sort of laughing sound. “Trust me, nothing about you wearing my clothes could ever be disappointing.” His voice dropped even lower. “Are you wearing underwear?”

“Of course!” Chrissy pretended to be scandalized. “I went out and took Annie to the library.”

“But she’s asleep now, right?”

Chrissy glanced at the monitor again. “Yeah…”

Eddie’s voice was a rumble she could feel in her own chest. “Touch yourself.”

“Don’t you want to get in the mood first?” Chrissy asked, even though the command made a tingle of arousal zip down her spine. 

“I’m already in the mood,” he grunted. 

Chrissy giggled again, amused by the mental image of her husband battling an erection through his petulant whining about missing home. He hadn’t changed that much since high school. 

“What were you thinking about?” Chrissy whispered encouragingly. 

“The night we made our girl,” Eddie answered, without hesitating.

This was a running joke between them. They’d fucked like deranged bunny rabbits for months while they were trying to get pregnant, and now they both had different, firm opinions on which exact sexual encounter had resulted in their daughter’s conception. Of course, they’d never know for sure, but it was a fun and sexy subject for play-fighting. 

“After we had dinner at Bistro Campagne?” Chrissy used her best innocent voice, as she toyed with the elastic waistband of the pants she’d borrowed from Eddie. “Yeah, that was really lovely.”

Eddie snorted. “No…” He drew out the word. “When you let me fuck your brains out at the Palmer House.”

The Palmer was a fancy hotel downtown. That had been a wonderful little staycation. But Chrissy was having too good of a time playing dumb. “Hmmmm, not sure it rings a bell.”

“Then I really did fuck your brains right out,” Eddie teased, sounding proud.

“Maybe you could refresh my memory…”

“Maybe.” He pretended to consider the request. “On one condition.”

“What’s that?” Chrissy asked, like she didn’t already know.

Eddie growled down the line again. “Touch yourself.”

He never made it a question. Chrissy liked that. It was always easier to let go and access the sexual side of herself when her husband took charge. It made her feel safe. She knew he would never try to make her do anything she didn’t want to do. It had always been like this, between them, but she only understood now that she was a grown woman instead of a confused, horny teenager.

“Maybe,” Chrissy repeated, even though she was sliding her hand down between her legs, inside the oversized sweatpants. The crotch of her underwear was already damp. “But how will you know if I don’t?”

“Brat,” Eddie chuckled. The endearment sent another surge of arousal through Chrissy. She could feel her inner thighs getting slippery with moisture. “I’ll know. You’re not that slick.”

“What do you mean?” Chrissy wiggled the pants down below her hips, slipping her fingers into her underwear. 

“I mean, you’re noisy.” Eddie imitated her, making a breathy, high-pitched shriek.

“I do not sound like that.”

“Yes, you do.” His voice was smug. “I’ll prove it to you when I get home.”

Chrissy practically shivered with anticipation. “Gonna make me scream?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “But I’m especially partial to those little whimpers you make. Like you’re scared of how hard you’re going to come.”

Chrissy let out a shuddering breath. Eddie’s voice sounded uneven too. She started circling her clit with two fingers, swiveling her hips just a bit. She kept her eyes closed so she could imagine him jerking off at the same time, thrusting his thick cock into his fist.

When they’d first gotten together in high school, Chrissy had been somewhat shy about masturbation. A lot had changed since then, and now mutual masturbation was something bordering on a kink for her. She liked kneeling naked at Eddie’s feet and touching herself while he got himself off, and feeling him shoot his cum all over her breasts and face. He always cleaned her off so gently and lovingly afterwards.

“Okay,” Chrissy murmured softly. “I’m— I’m touching myself.”

“Good girl,” Eddie replied, and Chrissy involuntarily grinded down against her own hand a little harder. 

“What happened?” she reminded him. “At the Palmer House?”

“We had some drinks at the bar in the lobby—“

“Eddie!” Chrissy was whining a little already. “Not that part…”

“So impatient.” Eddie made a noise of faux disapproval. “Just like that night…you put my hand under your skirt.”

Chrissy was rubbing herself in earnest, trying to find the right rhythm. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You weren’t wearing any panties.” He was breathing hard. “So I gave our room number to the bartender for the bill and we went across the lobby to wait for the elevator.”

Chrissy bit her lip. “Were we…subtle?”

That made Eddie laugh. “No, not at all. I’m sure the bartender knew exactly what we were going to do. Just another guy who noticed I’m a lucky son of a bitch.”

“What were we doing wrong?” Chrissy asked, pretending to be clueless.

“I was already hard. I held my suit jacket in front of my crotch,” Eddie told her. “And you were shaking like a baby deer.”

“I just wanted you so bad,” she sighed.

“So you do remember…?”

“Maybe just a bit.” Chrissy tucked the phone receiver between her cheek and shoulder, and used the hand that wasn’t between her thighs to reach under her sweatshirt and fondle her own breasts. 

“I knew you wouldn’t forget the night I got you pregnant,” he teased.

“Hey, I didn’t say that…” 

Chrissy still had her heart set on having made Annie at home, after their French bistro dinner. It had been such a romantic night.

“Anyway,” Eddie continued. “The elevator finally came. It felt like it took forever. We had it to ourselves, thank God.”

Eddie was still a Dungeon Master at heart. Chrissy was getting lost in the memory. “Did we kiss? In the elevator?”

“No, not yet.” Eddie’s voice was rough. “In retrospect, I don’t know how I held myself back. I wanted to fuck you right there. Just push up your dress and pin you to the elevator wall with my dick.”

Chrissy pressed her lips together, hard. She didn’t want to moan too loud and wake the baby. “But we made it to the room.”

“Yeah, we made it to the room.” Eddie wasn’t trying to be quiet. His breathing was ragged. “It took me like five fucking tries to get the keycard to work.”

“And we went inside…”

“Uh-huh.” She thought she could hear the wet sound of his strokes on the other end. It might have been wishful thinking. “We went inside.”

It seemed to take him a moment to go on. Chrissy could tell he was getting into too.

“Did we take off our clothes?” she prompted, helpfully.

“No,” Eddie gasped. “No. You just-- you pulled up your tiny black dress. You didn’t even take your heels off.”

“But I wasn’t wearing any underwear,” Chrissy whimpered, taking care to aim the sound right into the phone. 

“Yeah. I could see everything.” She could tell the whimper had affected him, just like she’d intended it to. “You bent over the desk and begged me to fuck you.”

Her fingers were speeding up their pace on her clit, and she was writhing against the couch. “You made me beg?”

“You were already so wet,” Eddie groaned. “You were desperate for it.”

“So you fucked me on the desk?” It was getting hard to be clever. The hand she was touching herself with almost felt too slippery, so she increased the pressure on her clit.

“I—I wanted to.” Eddie sounded like he was in a similar predicament. “You looked so fucking delicious, with your ass sticking up in the air for me.”

“But you didn’t?”

“N-no.”

“Why not?”

Eddie made a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. “The height of the desk— I don’t know. I didn’t want to hurt you. The corner seemed so sharp.”

That wasn’t dirty talk, just the honest truth. Chrissy loved him all the more for it.

“That’s never stopped you from bending me over the kitchen counter.”

“Well, I didn’t want to miss out on that big, soft, fancy bed.” It almost sounded like he was gritting his teeth. “I grabbed you by the waist and threw you on the mattress.”

Chrissy made a keening noise of pleasure at the memory. “I loved that.”

“I know you did,” Eddie purred. “You’ve always loved getting fucked from behind, you little slut.”

All Chrissy could do was moan. She pinched her nipple, hard.

Eddie was lost in the memory too. “I didn’t bother to take off my clothes. Just unzipped by fly and got my dick out. You were still begging me for it.”

“I want your cock inside me,” Chrissy said, forgetting to use the past tense. “I need it so bad.”

“Are you close, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” Chrissy whined.

Eddie inhaled deeply. “Where are you?”

“On the couch.” She was practically half off it, balancing herself with one foot on the floor so she could spread her legs wide.

“Roll over onto your stomach,” Eddie told her firmly. “Fuck yourself on your hand, and pretend it’s me, taking you just like that.”

Chrissy obeyed immediately. She pulled her hand out from under her UIC sweatshirt and used it to clutch the receiver again. Then she rolled over onto her stomach, keeping her hand pressed between her legs. She grinded herself down onto her fingers, rubbing her breasts down against the couch and letting her ass arch up in the air.

Eddie didn’t have to ask if she had done it. Somehow, he already knew. “That’s right, princess.”

“Eddie,” Chrissy cried. “Tell me—!”

“I pushed inside your perfect, tight pussy, just like that,” Eddie went on. His voice was trembling. “You were so wet, so easy to fuck.” He grunted again. “Felt so good without a condom. Nothing between us. And— and it turned me on, to know I could come inside you whenever I wanted.”

Chrissy pressed her face into a throw pillow. She could feel her orgasm drawing near.

“I pulled your hair, the way you like. I wanted to make you shriek even louder. Make the front desk guy come bang on the floor.” Eddie moaned. “You like it when it hurts a little, don’t you? Chrissy?”

She put her mouth back to the receiver. “Yes, yes.”

“Slap yourself on the ass, as hard as you can,” Eddie commanded. “I want to hear it, princess.”

Chrissy followed the order without a second thought. She pulled her hand out from between her thighs and moved it behind her, giving herself the strongest spank she could muster. Eddie always knew how to spice things up. She rubbed her pelvis hard against the couch cushion. The part of her brain that always worried about doing the wrong thing had gone silent as soon as Eddie told her to touch herself.

“Did you like that?”

“Yeah…” Chrissy felt like she was gulping for air.

“Do it again,” Eddie said.

She did, and the crack her hand against her pert ass made them both gasp with pleasure. 

“Need you,” Chrissy said in a high-pitched voice she couldn’t really control. She pushed her hand back down to her clit and bucked against it frantically.

“I’m about to shoot, thinking about you,” Eddie groaned. “Thinking about how I buried myself deep in your cunt and fucked a baby right into you. Thinking about how you rolled over and held my cum inside you like a good little wife.”

Chrissy’s hand went slack on the receiver as she came. She muffled her shriek with the throw pillow, practically biting it.

By the time she recovered herself and held the phone back up to her ear, Eddie’s breathing had returned to a more normal rhythm. “Did you…?”

“Of course,” Eddie replied. “But did I take it too far?”

Chrissy sat up and frowned at the small damp spot she’d left on the couch cushion. “Take what too far?”

“I don’t know…” Eddie sounded almost embarrassed, which wasn’t like him at all. “The pregnancy stuff…the wife stuff.”

“I am your wife,” Chrissy pointed out matter-of-factly. 

“Sure, but you know what I mean.” Eddie took a moment to figure out how to express himself. “I’m not saying I like, want you to quit your job to be a housewife or anything.”

Chrissy smiled. She knew that, of course. Eddie was openly euphoric about his role as a stay-at-home, and always had been.

“I don’t know, it could be pretty hot,” she joked. “I could wait by the door for you to get home from work, offer you a cocktail and a blowjob…”

“Don’t tease me,” he laughed. “I still have to get through two more nights here.”

“Any chance they might let you go early if stuff gets done?” Chrissy knew she was probably being overly optimistic. 

“‘Fraid not, my love.” He sounded a little less miserable than before, and she was glad.

“Okay, call back later and I’ll put Annie on.” Chrissy stood and adjusted her underwear and pants. “Do me a favor and sing her song while you’re at it. I’m so sick of Raffi.”

“I won’t tolerate Raffi slander,” Eddie said solemnly. “That’s my boy.”

“Well, your girls miss you. Very much.”

“I miss you too. Talk soon.” He made a kissing noise against the phone. “Good luck with Afternoon Annie.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna need it.”

“Love you, sweetheart.”

“Love you.”

They hung up. Chrissy unzipped the couch cushion’s cover and removed it. She threw it in the washing machine with some overdue laundry from their Hawkins trip. 

The machine made a soothing wub wub wub noise as the clothes went around and around. Chrissy lay back down on the couch and closed her eyes. Time for a nap of her own.

That was when Annie woke up.

“Maaaaaa-maaaaaaa!” a determined voice howled. 

Chrissy’s exhaustion didn’t stop her from getting up and running to the nursery at once. She swept her daughter up in her arms and kissed her all over her sweet, round face. Tears of joy dripped down Chrissy’s face onto the baby’s wild curls.

Annie could say Mama after all.

***

Eddie sat on the edge of the bed with his hands on his knees, eying the bathroom door in anticipation.

It was Valentine’s Day, and Chrissy had surprised him with another stay at a fancy hotel. It was the Drake this time, and they had a view of the water. They’d spent the day strolling around the bougie Gold Coast neighborhood and eating well. 

Eddie was happy to have the one-on-one time with his wife. It was going to be Chrissy’s first time ever spending a night away from Annie, and he knew that was no small thing for her. Still, it would be nice to make love without practically falling asleep on top of her, burnt out from spending the entire day with his toddler and frantically writing during her nap.

At least, Eddie was pretty sure sex was on tap. It was Valentine’s Day, after all, and Chrissy had promised another surprise after their fancy dinner, before shutting herself in their suite’s bathroom. At first he thought she was changing into lingerie, but now he wasn’t so sure. She’d been in there an awfully long time.

Finally, he got up and knocked on the door. “Sweetheart? Is everything okay?”

“Yea-ah,” Chrissy replied, but her voice broke on the word. 

Eddie jiggled the handle. Locked. Now he was starting to feel worried.

“Chrissy,” he knocked again. “Let me in, honey.”

There was a long pause. Then he heard the lock click open.

Eddie opened the bathroom door and peered in. Chrissy was sitting on the edge of the huge tub, in one of the fluffy, luxurious white robes the hotel provided. She looked like she’d been crying.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked. He thought they’d been having such a great time all day. He still felt pleasantly buzzed from the wine they’d shared over a candlelit dinner.

Chrissy looked down at her lap, and twisted the robe’s tie in her hands. “I feel so…” She shook her head. “I can’t even say it. I’m mad at myself for being mad at myself.”

Eddie leaned on the doorframe, hands in his pockets. “Not sure I follow, princess.”

Chrissy made a sobbing, laughing noise. “I just don’t look like I should.” Her lips twisted into a miserable grimace. “Ever since Annie was born…I don’t like my body.”

“I like your body. A lot,” Eddie told her, bluntly.

“You have to say that. You’re my husband.”

Eddie crossed his heart. “I mean it. Hope to die.”

“I don’t know, Eddie.” Chrissy shook her head again. “I wanted to have a crazy, sexy time tonight but…I feel shy.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Eddie came and sat beside Chrissy on the deep bathtub’s rim. “You don’t ever have to feel shy around me, though.”

He wrapped an arm around his wife, and felt a little better when she leaned into him, tucking her shoulder into the hollow of his armpit and letting her head loll against his neck.

“I’m wearing the lingerie I wore on our honeymoon, under the robe,” Chrissy whispered. “But I’m worried you’ll think I look stupid.”

“You could never look stupid,” Eddie said encouragingly, squeezing her upper arm. “You’re the smartest, sexiest person I know.”

Chrissy bit her lip. It still drove him crazy when she did that. “You won’t be disappointed? If I look…different?”

“Honey…your body is the furthest thing from a disappointment.” Eddie couldn’t think of what else to say. It was hard to assure her with words when he really wanted to rip off her robe and show her that he was more attracted to her than ever. “What do you want me to be sad about? That you have bigger tits? That your ass is cuter than ever?”

“I guess, when you put it like that…” Chrissy buried her face in her hands, but she was laughing. 

Eddie moved his hand from Chrissy’s shoulder to her temple and stroked her hair. He pulled back slightly and kissed her on the cheek, then the mouth. “You’re lovely. You’ve always been lovely. Even when you were pregnant.” Something in him stirred. “Especially then.”

Chrissy met his gaze, looking serious. “You’re the lovely one, you know? You make this whole family work. And don’t think that I don’t notice.”

“Aw, c’mon, Cunningham. Can’t have both of us crying on Valentine’s.”

Eddie stood up and held out his hand. Chrissy took it and let him pull her up from the edge of the tub. 

“Can I have my Valentine’s present now?” Eddie asked in a playfully wheedling tone. 

Chrissy smiled bashfully, and ducked her chin. God, she drove him crazy. 

“Okay,” she said, taking a step back so there was a little more distance between them. “Go ahead.”

Slowly, Eddie reached over and undid the tie on her white terrycloth robe. The thick, luxurious fabric fell open to reveal the bridal lingerie she’d worn on their impromptu honeymoon in California a couple of years prior. 

Eddie pushed the robe off Chrissy’s shoulders so he could see the ensemble better. She hadn’t worn this set since the night after the wedding, so it was quite the trip down memory lane even by their sentimental standards. 

Her body did look different than it had on their honeymoon, but Chrissy was dead wrong about it being a problem. Eddie was pretty sure all the blood in his entire body was rushing to his cock. Chrissy’s breasts, made bigger by pregnancy and breastfeeding, spilled enticingly out of the sheer white bra. Her nipples were almost peaking over the tops of the cups. The matching white thong looked equally explicit, with the ruffled sides hiked up high on her hips. She’d even worn the bridal garter that completed the set, high up on her thigh. 

Eddie let out a long, low whistle. Chrissy’s hands twitched by her sides. He could tell she was fighting the urge to cover her face again. He knew she’d feel less self-conscious once she gave herself over to the moment with him. It was impossible to think about anything else, when they were tangled up in each other.

“Do a turn so I can get the full effect.”

He tried to keep his tone light, but all the same, he saw Chrissy’s entire body relax as soon as he gave her a command. It made him want to drag her down to the tiled floor and fuck her on the bathmat. No one from Hawkins High would have ever guessed how much Chrissy Cunningham Munson loved sex.

She turned obediently on the spot. The back of the thong disappeared between her plump buttcheeks. She really did look hotter than ever. 

Eddie gently snapped the white strap that cut across Chrissy’s hip, making her jump ever so slightly. He stepped in close, right behind her. “Want me to carry you to bed?”

“If you can,” Chrissy answered, with a nervous little laugh. 

“Give me a little credit, princess.” Eddie brushed Chrissy’s long hair away from her neck and kissed her there. Then he turned her around so she was facing him, and flung her over his shoulder. 

Chrissy gasped and grabbed hold of his belt. “Careful!” She sounded delighted, even though he had her dangling upside down. 

Eddie marched Chrissy out of the bathroom and into the main hotel room, pausing only to give her bare ass a few good smacks while he had her like that, hanging helplessly on his shoulder. 

The hotel bed was covered in a plush white duvet. Eddie tossed Chrissy onto it and stood at the foot, undoing his belt without taking his eyes off her. She was already squirming wantonly against the mattress. Getting spanked like that really turned her on, and knowing how to turn Chrissy on was Eddie’s personal kink. 

“The thong’s cute,” Eddie told Chrissy casually, like they were discussing the weather. 

“Thanks,” Chrissy whimpered. 

“Take it off now.”

She giggled. “Already?”

“Do it slowly, then,” he suggested. 

Chrissy did as she was told, pouting like a brat for Eddie’s benefit the entire time. She slid the strappy thong off and down her legs while Eddie shucked off his pants. 

“You’re so wet already,” he remarked in the same detached, dominant tone when her pussy was bare. She was soaking the pristine white covers. 

“Come here,” Chrissy whined, reaching for him with both hands as she flopped back on the bed. 

“Not yet,” Eddie faux-scolded, unbuttoning the cuffs of his dress shirt more slowly than was strictly necessary. “You need to be patient.”

Chrissy made a whimpering noise that shot straight to Eddie’s dick. He loved her like this, completely at his mercy. He was teasing himself as much as her at this point; there was nothing he wanted more than to bury himself deep inside her. But he also wanted to make her come, hard, and sometimes that required a little performance on his part. 

Eddie didn’t mind one bit. 

“I’m busy,” he told her, gesturing at the line of buttons down his shirt. “You can occupy yourself while I get ready.”

“Oh yeah?” Chrissy giggled again, breathlessly. “Like what?”

“Play with your nipples.” He raised his eyebrows. “That’s what you like, right? You filthy little thing?”

He wasn’t wrong. Chrissy rolled her eyes, but she sat up and reached behind her to undo the sheer bra she was wearing. 

“I didn’t say you could take that off,” Eddie reminded her coolly. 

Chrissy sat up on her knees on the bed. She tugged the bra’s cups down slightly so that her breasts spilled out even more. The garment wasn’t so much a bra anymore, as it was a ruffle underwire that held her tits up for Eddie, and made them look even more enticing. 

Chrissy fondled herself, pinching and plucking at her nipples while Eddie unbuttoned his starched dress shirt and folded it over the back of the chair. 

“How does it feel?” he asked, standing next to the bed and smiling at her fondly as he kicked off his briefs. 

“G-good,” Chrissy stammered. “But I need— I need…”

Eddie grabbed Chrissy’s wrists and held them. She moaned miserably at the sudden lack of pressure on her breasts. 

“I know,” he crooned, pushing her back down onto the bed. “You need me to stuff you with my cock.”

Eddie lowered his head to Chrissy’s chest and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth, hard. She wailed and squirmed gratifyingly beneath him. 

“Please,” Chrissy begged, canting her hips up towards his. “Please!”

“I told you to be patient,” Eddie said. “Or do you need another spanking?”

“No!” Chrissy’s wrists flexed against his grip. “I need to come!”

“Oh, you need to come?” Eddie grinned down at her naked body as she bucked desperately in his arms. It was perfect— he wanted her desperate. “Maybe I should just back off and let you do your thing.”

“No!” Chrissy cried. “I need to get fucked!”

Her voice was ragged and wanton. Getting a hotel room was amazing. Eddie could never get Chrissy to yell like this at home, and he tried, a lot. 

“Okay, all you had to do was say so,” Eddie teased. He let go of her wrists and undid the clasp on the tangled bra, massaging her breasts when they sprang free. 

After all that pleading and moaning, Eddie had expected Chrissy to be eager for him to thrust right into her. But when he got himself lined up with her slick, warm pussy, she suddenly grabbed him by the hips and held him back. “Wait!”

Eddie froze on the spot. “What?”

“I…I…” Chrissy was staring up at him, panting. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Chrissy almost never swore. Eddie couldn’t imagine what was on her mind. 

“We should have talked about this sooner, but I just got carried away.” Chrissy propped herself up on her forearms and looked up at her husband solemnly. “I stopped taking my birth control pills.”

“Oh. Okay.” That wasn’t what Eddie had expected, but it wasn’t unwelcome news. “Do you want me to pull out, or…?”

The or in his question had to do a lot of heavy lifting. 

“Or…I don’t know.” Chrissy’s cheeks went pink. “Annie’s awfully fun…”

“Yeah…” Eddie played along, amused. 

His wife looked up at him through her lashes. “Might be fun to have another little buddy…”

“Yeah.” Eddie brushed his fingertips through the sweaty hairs clinging to Chrissy’s neck. “But I’m not sure that fun is a good enough reason.”

“I think it’s what I really want,” Chrissy said, chewing her lip. 

“Really?” Eddie’s heart swelled. Of course he wanted to have another baby, but it felt downright rude to suggest it after the nausea and vomiting that had plagued Chrissy’s first pregnancy. 

“Uh-huh.” She nodded, relaxing back against the bed again. “We’re both in good places with our careers, we have a supportive community around us—“

“—and we make the cutest babies,” Eddie interjected. 

“Right,” Chrissy chuckled, rubbing her hand down his bare chest and tracing the CC on his hipbone— a relic from his Corroded Coffin tour days, since repurposed in her honor. “My mom sucks—“

“Please don’t mention Laura right now,” Eddie cringed. He still had a hard-on, and he wanted to use it if he could. 

“—but I do think she was right that Annie would love having a sibling,” Chrissy went on. “It might actually make your life easier, with her. They could play together and entertain each other.”

“And?” As much as they both worshipped Annie, surely they weren’t doing this strictly for her benefit. 

“And…” Chrissy’s eyes were shining. “And I want to have another sweet little baby with you. If you want to.”

Eddie rolled over onto his side on the bed and pulled Chrissy into his arms. “I want to. I really want to.”

Chrissy tilted her chin up and kissed him. Eddie could feel his heartbeat quickening with excitement already. He knew they should probably have a more in-depth conversation about logistics— like where, exactly, this hypothetical baby would sleep— but it was hard to think clearly when he was this turned on. His erection had overcome the unwanted mention of Laura Cunningham and returned to full strength. 

When they broke apart, Eddie did have one important thing he had to tell Chrissy. “Two kids would be great…but I don’t think I can do more than that. Financially or like, sanity-wise.”

“I totally, totally agree,” Chrissy said, laughing warmly. 

“What about the physical side of things?” He tried not to sound too worried. “The quote-unquote ‘morning sickness’ and all.”

“They say it’s easier for a lot of women during their second pregnancy.”

“Are you sure ‘they’ don’t just say that to trick women into having more babies?” Eddie asked suspiciously. He had a feminist streak nearly as intense as Chrissy’s. 

“I trust my OB/GYN,” she explained, sounding less concerned than he did. “And I think Abbott will give me medical leave if I need it.”

“Okay.” Eddie rested his forehead against Chrissy‘s. He still didn’t like the thought of the physical discomfort she’d have to endure during pregnancy and labor, but he respected that that part was ultimately her choice. 

She gave him a little peck on the lips. “Besides, I live with the world’s best husband and stay-at-home dad. You’ll take care of me, right?”

“Of course.” Eddie could feel himself beaming. Chrissy always knew just what to say to make him feel like his heart was exploding with happiness. “I’ll always take care of you, sweetheart.”

“I love you.” Chrissy rolled from her side to her back and spread her legs eagerly. 

“I love you too.”

Eddie tried to rub Chrissy’s clit, but she gently pushed his hand away. She’d had more than enough foreplay for this round, apparently. 

He climbed on top of her, slotting his narrow pelvis between her open thighs. They were a perfect fit, in every respect. He lowered his head and buried his face in the damp hair against Chrissy’s shoulder, inhaling her smell deeply as he surged forward and entered her. 

Eddie wanted the moment to last, but just the idea of coming hard inside of Chrissy, with no contraception involved, had him nearly ready to bust. Luckily, from the way she was pulsing and fluttering around him, it seemed like Chrissy was on the brink of orgasm too. Maybe she was turned on by the same thing Eddie was. 

The speed of his thrusts increased. Chrissy was making those exact breathy shrieks she’d insisted she wouldn’t— “Unnh! Unnhh! Ahhh-hh!”

“That’s right,” Eddie muttered incoherently. “Take it. Take it. I’m gonna fill you up with my cum.” He knew he sounded like a guy from a ridiculous porno, but he didn’t care. 

“Oh God!” Chrissy grabbed the duvet with both hands, arching her back off the bed. 

“Chrissy—sweetheart— I’m gonna—!” Eddie could barely choke out the words. 

“I want you to, I want you to,” she whispered, kissing him everywhere she could reach. 

When it was done, they took a long, hot bath together in the oversized tub. They clambered out and wrapped themselves in the fluffy white robes before collapsing back on the bed in front of the hotel’s Pay Per View menu. 

“What time is it?” Chrissy asked. She was laying perpendicular to Eddie with her head on his lap. 

He grabbed his watch from the bedside table. “Oh, ha. It’s only like 11 o’clock.”

His wife sat up. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That we should drive home and see Annie now?”

“Well…yeah.” Chrissy twisted her wet hair into a neat bun. “I miss her.”

“Me too.” Eddie got off the bed and looked for his pants. “Think Robin’ll be pissed?”

“No,” Chrissy said, getting a more practical pair of underwear out of her overnight bag. “Who doesn’t like sleeping in their own bed?”

They checked out early at the Drake’s front desk and fetched their car from the parking garage so they could make the thirty minute drive home. Eddie drove them along Lake Shore Drive. The lights from the high-rises’ windows twinkled on the water. 

“Wanna hear something crazy?” Chrissy’s head was turned away from Eddie, her eyes on the dark expanse of the lake. 

“What’s that?”

Chrissy looked at him and grinned. “I feel like I’m already pregnant again.”

“Who knows?” Eddie reached over and squeezed her thigh. “But don’t be disappointed if this wasn’t the ticket, okay? We can always try again.”

“Of course.” Chrissy put her hand on top of his. “Trying again sounds pretty good.”

***

Their son, Oliver Wayne Munson, was born exactly nine months and three days later. 

***

THE END.