Page 20 of The Light Year (Stardust Beach #6)

barbie

. . .

"Happy birthday!"

Thanksgiving is over, the leftovers stored, and the women--Barbie, Carrie, Jo, Frankie, and Jude--are sitting around a corner banquette table in a Stardust Beach diner on Saturday afternoon, forks poised to cut into the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that Jo convinced the diner owner to let her bring into their establishment, which specializes in pie.

"Oh, thank you," Barbie says, ducking her head but smiling. Her birthday has always brought out a touch of shyness in her, and this occasion is no different, putting her at the center of attention as her friends grin and watch her take a piece of cake. "I can't believe I'm thirty."

Their waitress, a woman in her 60s wearing a starched, knee-length pink dress with a white apron, leans one hip against the booth as she tops off their coffees.

"Thirty? Honey," the waitress says with a voice thickened by years of cigarette smoke, "you're still a baby. Just wait until you're fifty." She finishes pouring more coffee in Jo's cup and then winks at the table before walking away.

"I wish I was turning thirty again," Jo says wistfully. "The closer I get to forty, the scarier it all is."

"Try being pregnant for the first time in your mid-thirties," Frankie says, with both hands on the sides of her belly. She rubs circles on her stomach, looking exhausted.

"Oh, Frankie," Jo says with a sympathetic laugh.

She puts one arm around her best friend's shoulders as Jude slices a piece of cake for each of them.

They've all finished eating sandwiches and bowls of the soup of the day, and the waitress has swept through, clearing empty plates and bowls and leaving a handful of fresh forks and napkins.

"You're going to be a great mom," Barbie assures Frankie as she takes a big slice of cake and picks up a clean fork. "I think you'll love it—as soon as you start sleeping again."

Frankie holds up one hand and closes her eyes. "Jo has already given me the most horrifying pep talk I've ever gotten, so no one needs to tell me the gory details here over cake."

Jude, Carrie, Barbie, and Jo all look at one another knowingly. "Everything is going to be wonderful," Carrie says soothingly. She cuts an extra big slice of cake for Frankie and passes it to her. "But go ahead and have as much dessert as you want now while you've got an excuse to eat for two."

The laughter and talking carries on for another half hour as Barbie tells the group about the first birthday she and Todd had ever spent together, when he'd taken her ice skating and told her he wanted to marry her someday, and the way she'd known instantly that any guy who could show up at her house and face her father head-on was the right man for her.

"We all met our husbands in such different ways," Frankie says, looking around at the other women as she licks frosting off her fork.

She truly looks like a glowing, rounded version of herself, and Barbie looks at her admiringly, remembering that feeling of just eating happily and knowing you can worry about it later, after the baby is born.

"Jude, did you know right away when you saw Vance? "

Jude smiles. "We met in a bar in Hollywood, and I thought he was handsome right away, but I think he knew before I did." Jude turns to Jo. "How about you, Jo?"

"Oh, definitely. Bill came into the dentist's office where I worked and I turned into a giggling mess. I had a huge crush on him. I mean, a man in uniform, you know?"

The other women nod and smile knowingly.

"How about you, Carrie?" Barbie asks her closest friend at the table. For all they know about one another, she knows very little about how Carrie and Jay met.

Carrie is about to put her fork into her mouth and she pauses, looking around the table. "He was dating my sister," she says, a devilish grin spreading across her face.

"Noooo!" the women shout in unison. Their collective horror and laughter gets the attention of everyone else in the diner as Frankie slaps the table and cackles.

"Oh," Frankie says, the laughter on her face and in her voice dying quickly. "Oh, no." She drops her fork with a clatter and puts her hands to her stomach.

"Frank?" Jo says with concern, pushing away her own plate and scooting closer to Frankie on the banquette. "You okay?"

Frankie takes Jo's hand in hers and bends forward, her face in a grimace of pain. "No," she says in a strained voice. "I don't think I'm okay at all."

The women spring into action, and Carrie waves at their waitress. "We need the check, please," she says urgently, keeping an eye on Jo as she rubs Frankie's back.

Barbie slides out of the booth along with Jude, and Barbie rushes for the payphone, digging in her handbag for a dime.

"I'll call Ed," she says, reaching for the phonebook that's connected to the phone.

She flips through the white pages, looking for Ed Maxwell as her finger traces down the newsprint.

Jude stands in the middle of the diner, and for a moment, it's as if the women are putting on a play with the other customers as their audience.

Everyone has stopped drinking coffee and eating pie, and even the cooks behind the divider between the kitchen and the dining area have stopped flipping burgers and chopping onions.

The beating heart of the restaurant becomes Frankie's pain, and her anguish fills the air as Jo helps her out of the booth.

"We're driving to the hospital," Jo says with authority.

"I'm calling Ed!" Barbie shouts from the payphone, waiting as the ringing on the other end of the line goes on and on.

And then, in an instant, the bill gets paid, Jo has Frankie in her car, Jude and Carrie have boxed up the leftover cake, and Barbie hears Ed's voice on the line.

"Ed?" she says, trying to keep her voice neutral. "It's Barbara Roman. We're at the diner, and we think Frankie's gone into labor. Jo's driving her to Stardust General right now."

In the end, Barbie's thirtieth birthday is just as memorable and exciting as any birthday she's ever had, as Lucas William Maxwell enters the world just before midnight.

When the news comes, Barbie and Jo are sitting together in the waiting room of the hospital, holding paper cups of cold coffee from the vending machine.

There is a fluorescent light overhead that buzzes intermittently, and though Barbie has put her head on Jo's shoulder several times and tried to doze, the noise from the light has kept her awake.

"Hey there, stranger," a tall doctor in a white lab coat says. Barbie lifts her head from Jo's shoulder and looks up at the man. He's incredibly handsome and looks exhausted.

Jo sits up straighter, forcing Barbie to sit up, too.

"Dr. Chavez," Jo says breathlessly. Barbie turns to look at her friend curiously. She's never heard Jo sound this girly, and her cheeks flush instantly. "Hi."

Barbie smooths her skirt over her lap and rubs her lips together; she must look a fright. She clears her throat and smiles at the doctor.

"Oh, this is Barbara Roman," Jo says, patting Barbie's knee. "Barbie, this is Dr. Chavez. We work here together. Or, rather, he works here, and I volunteer here, but we know each other from the hospital, and Nick, I mean Dr. Chavez, and I--"

Barbie cuts her off to stop the verbal bloodshed. "It's lovely to meet you," she says, smiling at him and hoping that she looks better than she feels, given the late hour and the long day behind them.

"You as well," Dr. Chavez says, nodding once. "Now, which one of you is waiting to deliver a baby?"

Jo laughs too loud at this, and Barbie glances her way again.

"Our friend, Frankie, just had a baby," Barbie explains as she nudges Jo gently with her elbow. "We're waiting to see if we can go in and meet the little guy, since we waited here for five hours for him to make his appearance."

"And it's Barbie's birthday," Jo adds, apropos of nothing. "We were out at a diner with our friends, and Frankie went into labor, so we thought she might have the baby.”

"I see," Dr. Chavez says, putting on a mock-serious face. "Well, I'm not an obstetrician or anything, but I have heard that most pregnancies end in childbirth, so that's to be expected."

Jo laughs loudly again, and Barbie is starting to wonder whether she's suffering from a simple work crush, or a mild head injury.

"Anyway, happy birthday, Barbie," Dr. Chavez says, turning to her and giving a slight bow. "And now you get to share your day with your friend's little one, so that's special."

"It is," Barbie agrees. "I have three boys of my own at home, so I think boys are pretty wonderful."

"That they are," Dr. Chavez agrees. "Well, my rounds are nearly done.

" He pauses and glances at his watch. "So I'd better wrap things up here and get home for a few hours of sleep before they want me to come back and do it all over again.

Ladies," he says, smiling at Barbie and Jo, "have a wonderful evening, and congratulations to your friend and her husband. "

Dr. Chavez disappears with a last wave, and Barbie turns to Jo. "Are you okay?" she hisses, blinking at Jo like she's seeing her for the first time. "I have never seen you in action like that."

“In action?" Jo parrots. "Like what?"

"Flirting with a man ," Barbie whispers, leaning closer to her. "Holy Toledo, Jo."

Jo's mouth opens and closes and she says nothing, but she’s saved once again by Ed, who comes out of the swinging doors with a grin on his face that's a mile wide.

"He's here!" Ed says, clapping his hands together. "We did it! Lucas is here."

Jo and Barbie both stand then, forgetting all about Dr. Chavez as they hug and congratulate the new father, assuring him that Lucas is, undoubtedly, the healthiest and most wonderful baby ever born.

"You two can go in and see her," Ed says, wiping away the tears on his face with a white handkerchief from his back pocket. "I'm going to call our parents now and let them know the wonderful news."

The hospital room is dim and peaceful. Frankie is tucked beneath a white sheet and blanket, and a swaddled bundle nestles in the crook of her arm. She smiles at the baby beatifically, looking totally at peace as Barbie trails Jo into the room.

"Hey there, Mama," Jo says softly, walking across the linoleum floor as softly as possible so as not to squeak and wake the patient sleeping on the other side of a drawn curtain.

She and Jo approach the bed and peer down at baby Lucas, with his tightly closed eyes and little rosebud pout.

He's wearing a knitted cap atop his small head.

"Oh, Frankie," Barbie says, tearing up instantly. "He's so gorgeous."

Frankie smiles up at her friends, and in her eyes it's clear that motherhood has changed her already. "He's got dark hair," she whispers back, tugging at the tiny cap and showing them the soft mop of baby hair. "Lots of it!"

"He's a good Italian boy," Jo says, beaming at the baby. "Are your parents coming down?"

"They said they'd come the minute we called, so I would imagine that Ed has already reached them and that they're halfway to the airport as we speak."

The women laugh softly in the pool of soft light that's cast by the lamp next to the bed.

There is a radio on at the nurse's station that's playing The Beach Boys, and someone turns the knob, moving through the scratchy static until they land on a Christmas song.

It's still early for holiday music—only November twenty-seventh--but Barbie smiles anyway.

"Sorry about going into labor in the middle of your birthday party," Frankie says, wrinkling her nose but looking tired and happy.

Barbie waves it off. "Eh, I probably deserve it."

Jo, who has been staring at the precious new baby, turns to look at Barbie. "How do you figure?"

Barbie leans over and bumps Jo with her shoulder. "Remember? I went into labor at your party!"

"You are so right," Jo says. "You did. All over my new floors." She makes an exaggerated face and Barbie bumps into her again.

"But truthfully," Barbie says, looking at baby Lucas as he puckers his tiny lips. "Having a baby born on your birthday is good luck. So I'm honored to share my day with Lucas."

Frankie looks up at her with a huge smile. "I'm so happy to have all of you in my life right now. I'm going to need all the help and advice I can get."

Jo runs her fingers lightly over the cap on top of the baby's head, looking a touch wistful. "We're here, Frankie," she promises. "You've always got us."

The radio at the nurse's station starts to play "Silent Night," and the women look at one another one more time before Barbie and Jo gather their things and slip out of the room quietly, waving at Frankie as they go.