by Cee, DW
“Gram!” Laney finally stopped eating. “You can’t drop a teaser like that and not give details. What does he have coming his way?”
“That’s not my story to tell, my dear Granddaughter.” Gram winked. “Sweetheart, do you think you’re taking this pregnant-with-twins moniker too far? You are much bigger than Emily was with her twins. I thought you looked ideal when you lost weight for the wedding. Do you think you’ll be able to get back into all your dresses after you have the babies?”
Laney had such an adorably startled look on her face, we all laughed.
Emily stifled her laugh. “Gram, Laney is taller than I am. She carries the weight well. Once she has the kids, she’ll be so busy between the babies, school, and Donovan, she’ll lose the weight without any problem. She’s lovely regardless.”
Gram teased Laney even further. “She’d be lovelier without a double chin.”
“Gram!” Laney protested. “I’m bearing your great-grandchildren! I can’t believe you’re saying this to me. Are you going to love my children as much as Emily’s? You better not have favorite great-grandchildren like you and Grandpa Jerry favored Jake and only Jake.”
“Well…” Gram shrugged her shoulders as if she had no care in the world. “If you accuse me of loving Jake more than you, then I guess I’ll have to love his children more than yours.”
“OH MY GAAAWWWWDDDD!” Laney screeched.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” An alarmed Donovan ran to his wife.
“What are you doing here, Donovan Taylor?” Gram now had her enforcer hat on.
“Gram.” He spoke while gently getting his wife off the couch. “Are you the one riling up my wife and upsetting the babies?”
“I am.” She had no problem taking on my nephew. “What are you doing here, I asked.”
“We are here because…” Donovan started.
Jake appeared right behind him to continue, “We don’t sleep apart from our wives.” Jake also pulled Emily off the couch.
“You see!” Jane accused. “I knew I’d be the only one to suffer.”
“What’s there to suffer when you’ve been holding out on your fiancé since you got engaged?” My nephew dropped a surprising bit of information. “You’ve slept apart for months. What’s another two nights?”
“What?” We all asked Jane. She kept mum.
Before Emily left, she gave me her words of wisdom. “When you and Nick were apart, the light in his eyes went dim. The usual fun-loving Uncle Nick became a different person. He was still kind to everyone and he tried his best to date, but we could all tell you were the only woman in his heart. When a Reid, Taylor or Davis finds his woman, he will make sure you stay his woman. Look at all of us. We’ve all had dramatic courtships that only led to bliss. Believe that Nick loves you and let the future work itself out.”
“Brilliant, as always, Love.” Jake kissed his wife. “Let’s go to bed.”
Emily looked behind him and asked, “Where are the boys?”
“Dad told me Ellie is with Mom, so I dropped the boys with Dad and Nick. They will be fine. Let’s go enjoy the rest of the night, Sweet Wife.”
“You, too, my obedient wife.” Donovan commanded. “Come with me!”
“Whatever…” Laney pretended to be upset. “Gram told me I was fat and ugly. I’m going straight to bed so I can cry my eyes out.”
After all the laughing was done, I went up to my room and realized that the Reid family had completely embraced me with their love. I was treated just like a Reid, and that felt pretty damn good!
June 5, 2014 NICK: Stirred Heart
Life at home seems seriously boring now that the wedding is done. My life with Bee is squared away, and everything is back to normal. My sister and new brother-in-law are honeymooning in Europe and taking advantage of all of our grandfather’s homes. Thanks in large part to Donovan, Jane is getting a month-long honeymoon, and from the pictures she’s sent, they are having a fantastic time.
Since Grandfather offered, Jake and the family decided to stop off in New York and stay there for a couple of weeks. School was done for Jake, and Uncle Henry gave him a month off to enjoy time with his family. Laney tried her damnedest to get Donovan to drop by New York for a few days but he would hear none of it. He wanted her near her doctors at all times, which meant the furthest she would go this summer was her front porch.
Laney had two months left of her pregnancy, and Donovan was a mess. He was overprotective, overbearing, and many times, I saw Laney hiding out somewhere eating something her husband wouldn’t approve. My cousin was her usual laid-back self, taking this pregnancy in stride. She actually made fun of her husband’s “psychosis”—her words, not mine.
“Nick.” A blonde head popped in my door. “I see you’ve moved all your stuff back.” My cousin had a know-it-all smile on her very round face.
“You really are filling out, aren’t you?”
“Don’t say that! I’m having twins. I’m supposed to be big.” She was going a little psycho herself. I egged her on. “Emily never looked this big, and she’s shorter than you by a good three inches.”
“Shut up!” Now she was stomping her feet. She looked and acted like my little cousin who used to get mad at us when we told her that fictional characters weren’t real. “I was going to invite you to dinner because Bee is over and my dad says he has to talk to you, but I see I have no reason to be kind to you.”
“Why the hell didn’t you say so? Why’d you even need to walk over when a phone call would’ve sufficed? Why’s Bee here, and why didn’t she tell me she was coming?” I spit out all those questions at once.
“Whatevs…” She huffed and puffed and waddled out of my room. I followed her.
“You know I’m only kidding, Laney. You look sweet as a prego mama of twins—not as sweet as my sister-in-law Emily, but still sweet.” I tried to get back on her good side. She could hold a mean grudge—though not as mean as my sister Jane.
“It’s only because you made nice with my auntie that I’m forgiving you for your rude comment.”
“You’re too kind.” My answer dripped enough sarcasm to warrant a nasty look from my cousin.
“Auntie Bee…look who I found…” Laney called Bee out, and I immediately went over and gave her a hug and a nice long kiss. It was long enough where I heard Laney mumble something and leave.
“That was unexpected.” Bee laughed.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming over?”
“Donovan hijacked me from the warehouse. I didn’t have time to call you. What are you doing on the cul-de-sac?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I thought…I don’t know exactly what I thought…but I didn’t think I’d see you here.”
I gave this woman a strange look. She did and said the oddest things at times. “I live here, Woman. Where else did you think I’d be when you were at work too busy to notice me?”
I was on vacation for a few weeks before summer school started and Bee currently “lived” in the warehouse. I had visited and shared a few meals with her, but she basically told me not to expect to see her face for a week. She had too much catch-up work to do.
“I thought you moved out of the cul-de-sac.”
“And I thought I told you…no—I know I told you—that I moved back home as soon as we came back from the wedding. I’m not living in the same house as Lily anymore.”
“I didn’t realize…”
“Seriously? Bee! Are we not in a relationship? What’s going on here? Why the disinterest?” I was getting a little pissed—make that really pissed.
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to Luke yet. I need to take care of that first, but he’s been busier than I have. I was hoping we’d have seen each other by now.”
“Didn’t you tell me everything was taken care of before we left?”
“He knew I was headed to Europe with you and he didn’t like it. I told him, rega
rdless of your intentions toward me, that he and I should probably just be friends. He heard me, but didn’t listen. He asked me not to make any decisions without him and not to think of our last conversation as the final one.”
“Is that why you were distant with me during the trip?” I was still unhappy.
“I hardly call sleeping in the same bed, distant.” Her tone told me she was getting to that unhappy stage, too.
“We shared a bed but we didn’t exactly sleep together. I could feel the chill coming from your side, and I figured you weren’t ready for the physical, yet.”
“Chill? Are you kidding me? I slept on you every night.” She whispered her yell so the rest of this household wouldn’t hear us arguing. “I need to resolve my issues with one man before involving myself with another. As it is, I’ve involved myself with you a little too much already.”
“Be done with Luke and let’s get our relationship off the ground. I’m feeling a little left out whenever I’m with my family—especially Jake, Max and Donovan.”
Bee held her lips together to keep the laughter away. “All right,” she said quietly, and led me to Laney’s backyard.
It was outright bizarre seeing Donovan with an apron on, manning the grill. He didn’t look like the type to grill. He looked like the type to hire someone to do his grilling. I grew up watching, learning, and many times, idolizing Jake and Donovan. This whole domestication of the two big-men-on-campus threw me. What threw me even further was the fact that I was still watching, learning, and very much idolizing the two men who put a ring on the women they loved. As much as I complained about the pains of courtship, it was cool to see my brother and Donovan—someone I considered a second brother—settled.
“Hi Daddy. Hi Mom.” Laney greeted her parents. “Where have you been since the wedding? I think this is the first time we’ve seen each other. I missed you.” Another bizarre unfolding of events. How could my cousin live next door to her parents and claim they didn’t see enough of each other?
“Sorry, Sweetheart.” Aunt Babs kissed her only daughter. “Your dad’s busy covering for Jake, and I’ve had my annual charity bazaar to prepare for since it’s only days away. I must be getting old. It’s hard to decorate all day.”
“Barbara.” Bee spoke. “We never had that party at the warehouse. Are you up for planning our little shindig when your bazaar is over?”
“For family, I happily accept. For anyone else, I think I’ll slow down.”
“Mom.” Donovan pulled his mother-in-law’s attention to himself. “You have two grandchildren to love. All these charities will have to take a seat way in the back of the auditorium.”
Aunt Babs and Uncle Henry went all soft and mushy. “How are our babies?” Aunt Babs touched Laney’s enormous belly with both hands. I was grossed out watching her rub the belly and seeing parts of it pop up in response.
“Weird.” I must have said aloud, because Bee giggled and pinched me.
“I agree, but the other four adults here think that’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. ‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,’ I’ve been told by my niece.”
“No thanks.”
“Uh-huh!” Bee agreed.
“Nick.” Uncle Henry stopped smiling and got all serious.
“Yeah?”
“I got a call from the dean of med school at the University College of London, and he told me they were short on MD/PhD students this year.”
“OK…”
“I told him you’d changed your major, and he asked me to extend an invitation for you to consider.”
“What’s in this invitation?”
“A guaranteed finish in three years, room and board on their campus, double the stipend you’d be receiving at our school, and a lucrative job in their lab once you finish your degree.”
“And the caveat?” There had to be a catch.
“Your research would have to be focused in the area of the heart. That’s where the need is and UCL figures between your brother, me, and eventually your cousin, you’d be the perfect fit for their school.”
Damn! That was a hell of an offer. Like a mirage, this dream-like offer disappeared into thin air, and I was slammed back into the wall of reality when I heard the chair next to me screech back as Bee excused herself.
Shit. Would there be no rest for this very weary man?
June 9, 2014 BEE: Separate Hearts
I had so much to do and so little time to finish, and yet, all I could think about and remember was the excitement in Nick’s eyes, listening to his Uncle Henry talk. I watched him, while everyone else apparently watched me, and I saw how much he wanted to jump at that fantastic offer.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew Nick’s desire to go and study had nothing to do with me—he meant no offense to me. He was built for research, and he loved the idea of finishing his schooling in two years less time. He wanted to move on with his life.
This moving on would have to happen without me since I was based in LA and now with the warehouse, I was never, ever moving out of LA.
I couldn’t contain the hurt, and I had to excuse myself. I wasn’t hurt by Nick’s reaction. An objective part of me was really happy for Nick to have this opportunity. I was just damn hurt by the circumstances of life.
Of course, Nick quickly turned down his uncle and reassured me that he would rather stay in LA with me. I didn’t doubt his sincerity. But, I knew he was sacrificing for me and I didn’t want that. As I wanted to be the best that I could be, Nick should have the same opportunity. The rest of that night was a quiet one for me because I wondered how I’d convince Nick to leave me and pursue his dream.
“Earth to Bee.” I had no idea when Missy had walked into the office. “What has you so deep in thought?” I told her everything that had transpired the other day at Laney’s, and told her that I needed to convince Nick to leave. “Now why the hell would you be such a martyr? You both are finally on the right track.”
“Because if you had an extraordinary offer, wouldn’t you want to take the offer and see where it led you?”
“Yeah, but I’d only do it if I could do it with the people I love. Nick isn’t going to want to be out in London by himself—especially not with you here.”
“We don’t have to break up. We could see each other when I visit and when he comes home for the holidays.”
“Is that what you told him?”
“Not yet, but I will tonight after I talk to Luke.”
“Damn! Your life is freakin’ complicated. How you juggle two men and a business is beyond me.”
I laughed. “I am not juggling two men. After tonight, there may be no more men in my circus.” Nope, that was not going to be a self-fulfilled prophecy. “I’ll answer all your questions in the morning. I need to meet with Luke in half an hour.”
I left the office and thought about calling Nick before my meeting with Luke, but I just couldn’t face him, even over the telephone. After finally finding some sense of calm with this man who’s brought me so much happiness and pain, it hurt too much to think about being separated by all of America and the Atlantic Ocean.
"Beatrrrice…” I received a sweet welcome and an even sweeter smile from Luke.
“Am I late? I thought I would arrive at the restaurant, first.”
“I just arrived myself, and I was about to order a cocktail. What can I get you?”
“Just some water for now.” This man was always so easy-going and fun. I really liked that about him. “How’s work?”
“Your nephew is kicking my ass.” Luke practically snorted. “He tempts me with this sweet offer of a large corner office, an enormous signing bonus, and a nostalgic trip to my hometown. Even before the ink dried on the dotted line and the bonus was cashed, he plied me with real estate transactions for all the AAPs. His sole focus has been moving all the AAPs into their own buildings. He says he wants to be in equal amount real estate as he is with law. He’s a smart man.”<
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“He’s always been smart and a forward thinker. He and Laney will do well in life, and I’m sure their brood will be even quicker than their parents.”
“Scary!” I agreed with him as I toasted my water cup to his manly drink. “What’s been going on with you, Beatrice? You’ve traveled to a foreign country without me—but with your ex. I’ve not seen you in almost two weeks. And finally we can meet, but I get this bad feeling it’s coming to an ugly end for me.” His grim smile was still cute. I had my own version of a grim smile knowing that it would come to a not-so-happy end for us.