by D. W. Cee
“Have I never told you that each of my uncles own a home on our street?”
Emily shook her head no.
Dad added, “The house across the street from ours…”
Emily thought hard and answered, “The huge one?”
“Yes. That’s your Gram’s home. You know where Uncle Henry and Aunt Barbara live, and next to them is David’s house, in between Henry and our home is Billy’s home, and Roy has a house on the other side of our house.”
“Are you kidding? How come I never saw any of them while living in our house?”
“That’s because only Henry and I still live in our original homes. David, Roy and Billy ended up finding homes elsewhere but they kept the homes on our street.” Dad finished telling our fun story.
“This Reid family saga gets better and better. How fun. So who lives in these homes now?” Emily wondered.
“No one lives there, though they’re kept up nicely. Those three homes and maybe even Gram’s house are up for sale to any family member who wants to buy them. Grandpa wanted his family close together so these homes will stay in the family.”
Emily had that twinkle in her eye as soon as I finished my statement. “Do you think we could afford to buy one of these homes if we sold both of our houses?”
“It’s possible… would you like to, Emi?” Knowing my bride, this idea thrilled her.
“That would be ideal if we could live near Mom and Dad. And as an added bonus, Uncle Henry and Aunt Barbara will be nearby as well.” I saw my aunt and uncle’s appreciative smile.
“Let’s mooch off Mom and Dad for a while then discuss it again when your tenant is about to move out. We have some time.”
“Jake, I got a call from the University and they accepted your application to teach.” This was fantastic news. My bride would be ecstatic when I explained to her what was happening.
“I applied for a teaching position at the med school after I found you in Japan.” I explained to Emily. “After being separated from you for so long, I wanted to spend as much time as possible with you when you got back home.”
My Emi looked thrilled. “How many days do you teach?”
“He’ll work Monday thru Thursdays at the hospital and teach on Fridays. We hired another doctor so Jake will be on call one night a week and he’ll work only one weekend a month.” Emily hugged the Chief in response to his answer.
“We can have a normal marriage.” Emily declared. “Yay!”
Emily and I enjoyed our six-some dinner and Mom and Dad drove us to the airport. Dad and I took out our two carry-on suitcases and I marveled at how efficiently my wife packed.
“Oh no, honey.” She shook her head. “I have another suitcase inside my suitcase for all the shopping we’re going to do.”
My parents laughed.
“What happened to my frugal girlfriend?”
“I became a Reid.” She announced with a teasing smile. “I’m only joking. I brought another suitcase for all the presents we need to bring back. It’s not for me. You’re such a spender; one of us has to be the thrifty one.”
I joined my parents in the guffaw.
Mom and Emily had another private conversation and Emily hugged both my parents and we walked onto the plane.
“What do you and Mom keep talking about?” I asked once we were comfortably seated.
“Oh. Um… Mom came and talked to me right after we got engaged about our first night together and she tried to answer any questions I might have.”
I was sorry I asked. My cheeks got hot and I was embarrassed. “You mean Mom had a sex talk with you?” I whispered so no one in our cabin would hear.
“Well, kind of. Since I don’t have a mom and knowing that I was a virgin, she thought I might need someone other than Sarah to talk to. It was really thoughtful of her. She’s treated me no differently than Jane. She almost feels like my mom. I’m sure with time, I will love her just as much as my own mother.”
I knew Mom would love Emily no less than she loved the three of us. If anything, Emily would receive even more attention than the three of us combined and that would be fine with all of us.
“So Mom wanted to make sure I was okay after our first night.”
“Got it.”
Exhausted from the wedding and our post wedding activities Emily and I slept through much of the flight into our island.
Four days in a beautiful hut in the middle of the sea, and ten days exploring Japan, my bride and I were happy to be home.
“Emily! Jake!” Our family greeted us.
“How was the honeymoon?” Nick asked.
“It was marvelous.” My bride glowed. “We brought presents for everyone.”
It took Emily longer than expected to settle back into our time zone. She slept more than usual and her body couldn’t handle food like it used to. I was a bit concerned about her.
“Honey,” she called me from bed, “what am I going to do about school? I start in a couple of weeks and my body still feels unsettled from our trip. What do you think is wrong with me?”
“Tell me your symptoms, Emi. We’ve been back almost two weeks. It’s can’t still be jet lag.”
“My equilibrium is off, I feel vertigo when I get up too quickly, I feel queasy at the thought of all food except ice cream. And, all I want to do is sleep.” She complained.
“Maybe there’s an issue with your blood pressure. Or… you could be pregnant but since we just got married, I doubt pregnancy symptoms would show up so quickly. Have you told Mom and Dad about what’s going on with you?”
“No, I didn’t want to worry them. Mom and Dad are busy getting Gram packed to go back to England. I wanted to go with them to England but I don’t think that’s going to be possible with the way I feel.”
“Emi.” I argued. “What about me? I can’t be alone in this big house. What will I do?”
“I’m here by myself all day when you’re working. It’s not too scary. You’ll get used to it.” She giggled. “Once Gram leaves I won’t see her again for a while. I thought I’d spend a little more time with her.”
“No, you can’t go.” I jumped into bed with her and we both knew Emily would have to catch up on sleep while I was at work, tomorrow.
Another full day at the hospital came and went and I was only too happy to drive home to see my wife. Beyond ideal, I’d walk into a home where my wife greeted me with enthusiasm - dinner on the table - and the rest of the night filled with all new kinds of fun.
“How was your day, Beautiful? What did you do?”
“Not much. I had lunch with Sarah then went to the farmer’s market.”
“More salted caramel ice cream?”
“Yup. I can’t get enough of that stuff. I have no desire to eat anything else so…” Her eyebrows arched and shoulders shrugged. “Guess what? I have exciting news!”
“Sarah’s staying in town?”
“How’d you know already?”
“I ran into Max at the hospital and he told me. Did you know Max and Jane have been spending a lot of time together?”
“Uh-huh. I talked to Jane today when she got home. They seem to like each other very much. Do you think it’s serious?”
“It may be headed that way. Are you okay with it?”
“Of course. Anyhow, back to Sarah… Her staying in town is part of the excitement. But there’s more.” My wife’s face filled with color for the first time since we got back from our honeymoon.
“Are you going to tell me?”
“Sarah’s pregnant!”
“What? Already? What happened? I thought she didn’t want a child till she was thirty. It’s five years too early.”
“I know. She was bawling at lunch because life wasn’t going the way she planned, then she pulled herself together and got excited by the end of lunch.”
“How far along is she?”
“Not far. She’s only about six weeks. She’s due in early April. Isn’t that exciting?”
By the excitem
ent in her voice, I wondered if Emily wanted the same thing. I was about to ask when we got interrupted by Gram.
“Hi Gram. Did you have a nice day?” Hugging and kissing my grandmother simultaneously she looked pleased.
“I had a good day. I went and met some friends for brunch and a garden tour then Bobby, Sandy and I had a wonderful dinner prepared by your wife while she sat and ate ice cream. Emily, dear, are you sure you don’t want to go see a doctor? Your face is pale all the time and you’ve lost too much weight from lack of food.”
“I’ll be okay, Gram. Since leaving Japan, my body hasn’t had a chance to catch up to my life. From Japan to Paris, to London, then back here to a wedding, then back to Asia. I’m exhausted.”
“Alright. If you say so… I want to talk to you two about something.”
We both looked at her as Gram had a serious but smiling face.
“Your parents told me you wanted to live on this street to be near them.”
Emily said yes with her head but she stayed quiet waiting for Gram to finish her thought.
“When your grandfather passed away,” Gram said to me, “his will stated that this house be left to you after I died. Since I don’t live here anymore I thought it was time to let you have this house since you’ve started your own family. Would you two want to live there?”
I was in shock with the news. In my mind, the house I most wanted to live in was my grandparents. I’d spend much of my childhood in that house. That house to me was part of my happy childhood. Before I could say yes, Emily surprisingly answered, “No.” Gram and I couldn’t believe her answer.
“Gram, I don’t want to live there unless you live there with us.”
“But Emily, my home is in London.”
“Gram, I know you were born in London and I understand that Grandpa is buried there but you have no family there. While you’re still here, why don’t you spend the rest of your days with us?”
“But what about my husband? I go see him often. I won’t be able to do that if I live here.”
“We can go visit him together. Many years from now, you will be back together with him forever. Let’s us have you until then. Please, Gram? Will you live with us? I want to share as many days with you as possible and I want our kids to grow up loving their great grandmother.”
As much as I loved my Gram, never once did I think of asking her to live with us. I only envisioned Emi and our kids living together. My wife’s love for my grandmother put Gram at a loss for words. Never could I catch up to my wife’s kindness. Touched, Gram told us she’d think about Emi’s offer or demand.
“In the meanwhile, I want you to start redoing the house,” Gram told Emily. “Let’s go there tomorrow morning and you can keep what you like and discard what’s not to your taste. There’s a lot of furniture stored in the basement that you can look through.”
“Does that mean you will live with us?” Emi asked holding Gram’s hand.
“I will seriously think about it. You can redo a room for me on the first floor if you like.” Gram answered with a smile.
“I’m going to take that as a yes and I’ll start tomorrow. Maybe we’ll stay here while you’re getting your affairs in order in London then we’ll come pick you up.” My wife went off making her own plans without Gram having agreed to anything. Gram only laughed at all of Emi’s suggestions.
“Love, let’s let Gram get some rest.” I meant this for my grandmother’s well-being but I also wanted to get upstairs with my wife for our own well-being.”
“Alright. Good night, Gram. We love you.” Emily and I kissed her goodnight and as soon as Gram was out of sight, I picked up my wife and took her to bed.
“Oh, my phone is ringing.” Emily hopped out of my arms to reach for her phone.
“Hi Sarah… No, not yet. I’ll get to it soon, I promise.”
The two friends were having some cryptic conversation which I couldn’t decipher.
“No, I’ll do it… I don’t think that’s necessary. Alright. I’ll get to it. I’ve got to go, Sarah. Jake is waiting for me. Bye.”
“What was that all about?” I asked with much curiosity.
“Um…” Emily couldn’t answer me. Now I had no choice but to pursue this conversation.
“Emi, you know I don’t like it when you don’t give me a straight answer.”
“Sarah was just checking up on me since I haven’t been feeling well. She wants me to… um… go see a doctor.”
Emily said this with enough hesitation to make me question her honesty but since there’d be no reason for her to lie to me about any of this, I let it go.
“Do you want me to make an appointment for you at the hospital?”
“No, I’ll go see my regular doctor. I’m okay. Everyone is making a bigger deal than necessary.”
“Alright, Love. Let’s get ready for bed.”
The next week was a busy week at the hospital and Emily appeared back to her normal self – actually, she was happier than usual. I couldn’t tell whether her joy came from remodeling our new home or the fact that she said she felt better. Her face was still pale and she still ate nothing but ice cream but she was in high spirits.
“Jake, I have a surprise for you.” Emily exclaimed after I finished dinner tonight. “Let’s go.”
She led me out to our future home and walked me up the stairs.
“I want you to close your eyes and I’m going to hold your hands and walk you into your surprise.”
“What is it? Are you showing me our new bedroom? Did you get it fixed up already?”
“You’ll see. Are your eyes closed?”
“Yes, Love. They are closed. Is it much further?” I asked as she stopped walking.
“You can open your eyes, Honey.”
I opened my eyes to see a room painted in a soft yellow. In this dainty room I saw my old crib on one side of the room with an animal circus mobile hanging above it. Next to the crib sat a rocking chair and an ottoman. On the other side of the room was a huge dresser with a changing table on top of the dresser. In the armoire next to the dresser, there hung baby clothes and booties. I still didn’t get it.
“Okay… you set up a nursery now for whenever we might have kids? Isn’t this a bit premature? Also, where’d you find my old crib?”
She just looked at me and smiled. “Look over by the dresser.”
I walked over and saw nothing but a bunch of diapers in a box and a framed picture. I opened up all the drawers and there was nothing in them. Looking at Emily to ask what was going on, I slowly turned back to the framed picture. Something stood out. I picked up the frame and saw an ultrasound picture with a little dot inside it. The picture was titled, Baby Reid.
I yelled, “You’re pregnant?”
Emily beamed. “We’re having a baby, Jake. You’re going to be a daddy.”
With a sudden rush of joy, I went over to hug my wife. Something about this revelation made me even happier than our wedding day. Could this be considered blasphemy?
“When… How… I don’t get it. What happened?”
“Are you bummed out it happened so quickly?” She totally misread my comments. Ecstatic would be an understatement.
“Are you kidding me? This is more exciting than our wedding day.” Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that. I looked at Emily to make sure I wasn’t in trouble.
“Weird, but I thought the same thing. Your baby is inside me.” She marveled rubbing her stomach. “If I’m this happy now, what a mess I will be when the baby arrives.”
I picked up my wife and she read this intention correctly.”
“Our bedroom is next door. It’s all fixed up already.”
Laying her on our bed I asked her again when this all happened.
“From what it seems, I think I got pregnant on our wedding night or some time right after. I’m about six weeks right now.”
“I thought we were going to wait. Didn’t you want some time alone before you got pregnant? Did you not go see
Carole at the hospital and get on the pill?”
“I saw Carole but decided not to get on anything.”
“Why? Not that I’m complaining.”
“After much thought, I figured if I wanted to have a lot of kids, I needed to start sooner rather than later. I also thought about Gram and how I wanted our kids to get to know her before she passed away. Do you think she’ll be happy?”
“Sweetheart, this news is going to turn this whole family upside down. When should we tell everyone?”
“How about this weekend at Gram’s birthday party? No one knows yet. I went to a doctor just to confirm that I was pregnant but I’d like to go see Carole at the hospital with you and you can see our baby.”
“I can’t wait. Thank you, Emily. You’ve added even more joy to my already amazing life. I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
Walking on air, it was hard to contain our excitement in front of our family. Mom kept asking about all the smiles and we couldn’t keep it from her any longer.
“Mom,” Emily started, “We’re having a baby!” I ended the sentence.
“What?”
Emily nodded her head yes as affirmation to my statement. “You’re going to be a Grandma.”
Crying, Mom went over to hug Emily. “When did this happen?”
“I’ve known for about a week but kept it from everyone so I could surprise Jake. I set up a nursery in Gram’s house and showed Jake yesterday. Then, we went together to see the doctor today and here are the ultrasound pictures. We were going to keep it a secret till this weekend’s birthday party but I couldn’t keep it from you any longer.”
“This was why you were so pale and tired… the salted caramel ice cream?”
“I think so.” Still in my mom’s arms, my wife turned to me. “Jake?”
“Yes, Love?”
“Is it okay if I stop working? My mom was really sick when she was pregnant with me and I have a feeling I’m headed that way myself. The doctor says it’s unusual to be experiencing all these symptoms so early in the pregnancy.”
“Of course I don’t mind. Emily, you do what’s best for you and the baby.”
“What shall we do about Dad and Gram? Should we tell them before the party?”