The edges of his lips turned down. “What’s the bad news?”
“Professor Marinelli said I have to take a maternity leave.”
“Why did she say that?”
“Since the baby is due in September, she doesn’t think I should register for courses in the fall. The way the schedule is, it would be too much if I tried to cram the third-year requirements into the winter semester. So she thinks I should just take the year off.”
Gabriel rubbed at his chin. “I’d forgotten about how busy the third year is. What do you want to do?”
“What can I do? I have to take a maternity leave.” She put her elbows on the counter.
“Julianne, you can do anything you want. If you want to take classes after the baby is born, we’ll make it work. You’ll just have to take incompletes while you catch up on what you’ve missed.”
“The graduate school doesn’t like students taking incompletes.”
“No, they don’t. But they allow it, in certain circumstances. I’m sure they’d allow it in this case.”
“Then I’d be playing catch-up while studying for my general exams.”
“That’s true. Just because Cecilia thinks it might be challenging doesn’t mean it will be impossible. As I said before, I will make this work. I promise.”
Julia looked up at him, at his warm and earnest expression. “You will make this work?”
“Of course. But I’m not going to tell you what to do. You decide and I’ll speak to Greg, if necessary.”
“No, I’ll talk to him. But—” She paused.
“What?”
“I need to tell you the good news. Cecilia said that Katherine is coming to Harvard.”
Gabriel’s mouth opened in astonishment. “What? I had an email from her last week. She never mentioned anything.”
“Apparently, she’s staying at Oxford next year and coming to Harvard the year after. That’s another reason why Cecilia thinks that a maternity leave is a good idea—Katherine will arrive when I come back.”
“That’s great.”
“It is. But—” Julia shook her head. “I don’t want to take a maternity leave, but I’m worried about failing my exams.”
“You won’t fail.”
“I won’t be in tiptop shape either.”
“Then we’ll get you into tiptop shape. You’re going to have Rebecca and me here to hold the fort. You can study for your exams and do what you need to do.”
“I want to be a mother, too,” she whispered. “I don’t want to ignore the baby.”
“I’m sure you can find a balance.” He kissed the top of her head before crossing over to the refrigerator. He retrieved a bottle of ginger ale and quickly poured it over ice in a tall glass.
He handed it to her. “You don’t need to decide right now. Register for the fall and if you feel like you need to drop the courses or take incompletes, you can.”
“I don’t want to start something and not finish it. I certainly don’t want to risk failing my exams.” She looked up at Gabriel, a worried expression on her face. “I don’t want to be an absent mother, like Sharon.”
“You won’t be like her.”
Gabriel looked down at the marble-topped island and traced a pattern on its surface.
“Truthfully, I don’t know what to expect when we have the baby. But as I said, I’m taking leave regardless.”
“Cecilia mentioned that she could give me a reading list for my dissertation prospectus. I could work on that while I’m on leave, along with my languages.”
He lifted his head. “I’m sure the baby will be delighted to learn about Dante and also to be able to do more than just curse in German.”
Julia laughed and wrapped an arm around his waist. “I think I’d be missing out if I didn’t take part of a maternity leave. Who knows what kind of mischief you and the baby will get into?”
“Oh, you can be sure we will get into all kinds of mischief.” He winked. “And there is a strong possibility that shenanigans and hijinks of various sorts will also occur, with regularity.”
“Perhaps you and the baby will need me.” Julia glanced at him.
Gabriel’s eyes locked on hers.
“Of course we’ll need you. But I’ll make it work if you can’t be here.” He brought the backs of his fingers to her face and gently stroked her cheek. “If you take maternity leave, we could spend part of the year in Umbria.”
“Really?”
“Or Oxford, or Paris, or Barcelona. You name it.”
“Selinsgrove?”
Gabriel pulled back. “Of all the cities in the world, you want to go there?”
“That’s where your family home is. That’s where my family is. It might be nice to be close to Diane. She could give me advice and we could schedule play dates.”
“We can talk to her on FaceTime from Europe.”
“The orchard is there.”
Gabriel traced his thumb across Julia’s lower lip and sighed. “Yes, the orchard is there.”