Serendipity: A New Generation of Knights

Part 1: Ch 6. Cravings

It was about 2:30 in the morning, but that wasn't going to stop her. 

Now over 14 weeks pregnant, Marjorie's cravings were in full force. She often woke Reece in the middle of the night, asking him to go out in search of a specific food or flavor. But more recently, he had taken to trying to recreate those foods on his own at home. When your pregnant wife is crying for Thai food at 3 A.M. and the only Thai place nearby closed at 8:00, you do what you have to do.

Both of them knew that pregnancy cravings were a real thing. They'd been around pregnant parents in the nurseries, they'd both helped Autumn satiate her own cravings, especially during her pregnancy with Benny. They'd even heard bits of wild stories from Winter about Autumn's midnight cravings. But as much as they heard about it, neither Reece nor Marjorie fully understood the complete chokehold that cravings have on the mind and body during pregnancy. Nothing could have prepared them for the absolute carnage that would be Marjorie's pregnancy cravings.

As much as she was craving Pad Thai, and now more specifically Reece's Pad Thai with the crisped noodles on top and plenty of hot sauce, Marjorie knew Reece had an early meeting the next morning. Maybe, just this once, she would let him sleep.

After tossing and turning for over an hour, trying to ignore her craving, Marjorie slid carefully from Reece's arms and out of bed to take herself downstairs to the kitchen. Reece briefly stirred in the spot next to where she'd been laying, causing Marjorie to stop completely where she was standing by the bed. Marjorie watched and waited, taking a few moments to stare at him as he settled on his back, one hand behind his head, the other draped lazily across his chest, returning to his sleep. She was usually the first one asleep and the last one awake, so it was rare that she got a chance to watch him sleep. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, like the stoic demeanor of his day to day public self was completely washed away. And he was almost always silent. He rarely snored or made noise while he slept. The only time Marjorie had been able to catch him snoring was when he had a few drinks before bed, and even then, it was short lived.

Marjorie admired him for a few more moments before tiptoeing down the stairs. Thankfully, over the last few months, he'd been able to fall back asleep more easily when she left the bed. Frequent late-night bathroom trips made for good practice. But now the challenge was to prepare herself something to eat without waking him up.

Once downstairs, Marjorie danced around the kitchen in search of the things she thought she needed to satisfy her craving. They had rice noodles but, especially with Reece being asleep, Marjorie was not going to chance trying to cook those on her own. They had a baby on the way. The last thing they needed was a kitchen fire. There were plenty of foods and snacks that she could easily microwave or put together for herself, but that wasn't an option for her right now. She wanted something specific. Instead, she rummaged through the cabinets and pantry for the ingredients that might be a good substitute. What she found was rice crackers - a substitute for the crispy noodles she craved - and peanut butter. It was a start.

After selecting the two items, Marjorie stacked them together on the counter and reached for a butter knife from the dish drying rack to scoop out her peanut butter. Of course, when she screwed open the top of the peanut butter jar, she found that it was basically empty - her own fault. She had a bad habit of putting empty boxes and containers back into the pantry after using them, something she'd never really gotten over since moving out on her own as a teenager. She was getting better since moving in with Reece, but now pregnancy brain had caused that forward momentum to take a back seat.

Marjorie couldn't bear the idea that now, after hours of suffering in bed without tending to her craving and now finally having it at her fingertips, she was completely out of the one thing that could bring it all together. Tears formed in her eyes and quickly began to slide down her cheeks as she leaned forward, pressing her head against the cabinet. She was doomed to go back to sleep with nothing to satisfy her craving. That was until she remembered an important new detail about their kitchen.

Ever since she'd become pregnant, Reece's favorite snacks tended to disappear. There weren't many things he could always be happy grabbing from the pantry, so rather than be upset with his pregnant wife for stealing his snacks, he started a small stash of his own on the top shelf of a cabinet, using his height to his advantage. If she really wanted something, she could ask. He would be more than happy to share with her. But with the snacks stashed away in a place higher than what Marjorie could reach, at least Reece could more easily keep tabs on what he did or didn't have in stock for himself.

Marjorie knew he had a fresh jar of peanut butter on that shelf. She watched him stash it up there after a recent trip to the grocery store. And she was determined to get it.

"Alright, baby," Marjorie whispered as she placed a hand over her growing bump. "We're doing this."

She quickly wiped the tears from her face before awkwardly lifting a knee up over the kitchen counter. Once she'd steadied herself on her feet, standing several feet taller now, she opened up the cabinet just before hearing Reece step through the house and into the opening of the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Reece questioned.

"What baby wants, baby gets," Marjorie shrugged, picking the full jar of peanut butter from the top shelf.

"Gorgeous, I'm not too concerned about that. I'm more worried about you being stood up on the counter, raiding my stash in the middle of the night with no one to help you."

"Meh, I don't need help," she scoffed, waving her hand at him to brush off his words.

But as she turned in an effort to ease herself off the counter, Marjorie lost her balance and nearly slipped off the edge. Luckily for all three of them, Reece had already stepped into the kitchen and had his hands up to spot her. He would never let her fall, but he did look up at her with a stern "I told you so" look in his eyes.

"Down," he demanded, holding her hips with both hands.

Now completely satisfied with her work and her snack abomination, Marjorie sat cross-legged on the kitchen counter, applying a dollop of peanut butter to her cracker and topping it with several drops of the sriracha Reece had brought her from the refrigerator.

"You know, the way this baby is eating," she began, shoving her cracker creation into her mouth, "it's gonna come out looking like a teenager."