Kristian Alfonso is positively glowing. She flashes her 100-watt smile and waves hello and good-bye to every crew member as she leaves the Days of our Lives studio for the day, then manages to produce a smile from a very cranky waiter at lunch at a Burbank eatery.
Dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater, you'd never know that she was five months pregnant unless she flashed her barely swelled belly. "I'm very pregnant. I'm happy. I'm thrilled," she smiles. And why shouldn't she be? The actress wed Danny Daggenhurst in a lovely ceremony in their home in October and managed to keep both their relationship and nups a secret from the press until after the "I dos." "Relationships are so private anyway, and I'm a very private person," notes the actress. "I like the way things have come along."
The baby was conceived soon after and is expected to make his or her debutmin July. The pair is already raising Gino, 11, from Alfonso's previous marriage and Spartan, 8, from Daggenhurst's. The boys are very excited about the baby. "I was a little nervous about how they would take it because they're both only children, but they've had time to adjust, especially to living with each other," says Alfonso. "Gino desperately wants a girl, and Spartan wants a boy. Of course, my husband is beside himself with glee."
Pregnancy, she reports, has been different the second time around. "I'm much more tired -- I'm up a good portion of the night. Every night. That's why I'm exhausted throughout the day. I get home, throw my jammies on and go back to bed. Then, I get a high again. But there hasn't been any block of time that I've been sick or nauseated. It's been a pretty good pregnancy so far. Everything sort of comes in waves."
This time around, Alfonso is "hoping to have more patience," she laughs. "I love being a mother. Even though Gino and Spart have the same hobbies and everything, they're two different personalities and ages, and I love the ages they're at right now. It's great."
Blending the two families wasn't difficult, says the actress. "It was natural; it just came together. I think it has to be that way because anything that's forced is not real. It takes time and it takes trust. My husband had a great way of explaining it: He says that just because another child comes into the household, it doesn't mean they'll occupy more of my heart or my husband's heart. Our hearts only get bigger. So, everyone always gets the same amount of love and they even get more love because our hearts get bigger. We say that, and it registers with them and they understand it."
When describing her marriage to Daggenhurst, Alfonso is understandably guarded. "I almost hate to talk about how magical this relationship is," she says. "I think it scared me [initially] because I've had some bad experiences. I think I fought it a little bit and I was in denial, but we let it take its course. I was tentative, absolutely. I didn't think I'd ever marry again. Let's leave it at, 'It's magical.'"
While preparing for her walk down the aisle, the actress alo had business matters to attend to: She signed a new contract with Days the same week. For Alfonso, who has left the soap before -- in 1987 and 1991 [sic] -- and pursued prime-time and film roles, it wasn't a difficult decision. "It wasn't a question; I'm happy where I am," she enthuses. "It's a great environment -- I love the people I work with, and Ken [Corday, executive producer] has always been incredibly kind. It's a dream job. I'm 15 minutes from work when I'm not stuck in traffic. I'm 15 minutes from the boys' schools. It's perfect. I've always felt and said that when I do return, I feel like I'm returning home again."
Though not to the same predictable role. "I have stayed with the whow for as long as I have because I feel that Hope is a very unusual character," she says. "I never really feel like I'm stuck in this one-note character I'm playing. I had the Princess Gina storyline -- Hope is Gina, Gina's Hope, this one is that one. Now, I have the babies, and I'm confused with all their names. There is always something going on, and I've worked with everybody on the show, which is phenomenal."
Working consistently with Peter Reckell (Bo) has kept Alfonso in one of daytime's hottest pairings for two decades. "I think there's a lot of history there, and there is a trust factor," she notes. "We have worked together for so many years. For some reason it just works. I don't know what makes chemistry, and I can't question it because it's helped me keep my job."
As for the future, "I've been happy with the way everything is written and unraveling," she says. "I'd love to know what will happen next, after we resolve the baby storyline. Where do we go from there? What lies ahead?"