by CL Rowell
“It’s about time you got here,” she hissed as soon as she saw us. “He’s been asking for you.”
“We’ll head right in, then.” He grabbed my wrist.
She stepped in his path, “Family only—doctor’s orders.”
“She is family.”
“It’s fine, Geoff.” I twisted my arm, trying to break loose. “Go see your grandfather. I’ll be fine out here.”
“You’re coming, too. He’s probably been asking for both of us and you know why.”
I shook my head, “I don’t want to cause problems—just go without me.”
“Listen to her, son,” his mom urged him. “The doctor said immediate family only. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t include fiancées.”
“But it does include new granddaughter-in-laws. He’s been asking for both of us, hasn’t he? It’s because he wants to congratulate us. Now, please excuse me.”
The hurt in her expression broke my heart but I did the only thing I could do. I followed my husband to his grandfather’s room.
“Hi, Grandpa,” he whispered.
The lights were low and the older man’s eyes were closed. He looked so tiny and shrunken against the huge machines that were hulking over his bed. One leg was hoisted on a pulley, completely encased in a cast. His left arm was in another cast, as well as his right wrist, and his neck was swathed in a thick foam neck brace from collarbone to chin. His head was bandaged, too, and a ton of wires and hoses sprouted from all directions. Tears filled my eyes.
“Hi, Grandpa,” I echoed his words. “I’m sorry we weren’t here to pick you up. Please be okay.”
“Don’t let all this junk fool you. I’m gonna be just fine. It ain’t my time to go yet.” Two sets of eyes flew to the head of the bed and he gave us a weak smile. “I see you’re back. Did you at least do what you went there to do?”
I nodded, “We did. I’d show you a picture but I’m afraid to turn on my phone with all these machines around us—but as soon as they’re ready, I’ll print the best one and bring it to show you.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“You do that—and I’m gonna hold you to it not being your time to go, too.”
His grin grew bigger. “You do that…oh, and congratulations. Welcome to the family.”
I felt my face screw up into a resigned grimace, and I glanced at Geoff. “I’m glad to see someone’s happy about it. Vera was…” I sighed, “Let’s just say if looks could kill, at least I’m in the right place to drop dead.”
He chuckled weakly, wincing. “She’ll get over it. It’s good for her to not always get her way. Her mother and I spoiled her more than was prudent and she needs to realize the world doesn’t revolve around her.”
“Daddy!”
We glanced as one toward the door where Geoff’s mom stood. Fire shot from her eyes.
“Well, it’s true. It was their wedding. They should get to do things the way they want to.”
“Not if I’m paying—”
“Even if you’re paying. I paid for your wedding and didn’t get to choose a single thing—you chose everything. That’s how it should be.”
The machines were going crazy and within seconds a nurse arrived to shoo us away. “My patient needs his rest. It isn’t good for him to get overly excited. I’m afraid everyone needs to go.”
“Oh, but—” Vera tried to protest.
The young nurse glared. “Everyone. Don’t make me call security.”
“See you later, Grandpa.” Geoff and I blew him kisses and squeezed out the door. I barely breathed, hoping we’d make it out front to call for a ride and I could tell he was thinking the same thing. He slipped his phone from his pocket…
“Not so fast. Hold it right there.”
Within feet of the front doors we stopped and turned to face his mother.
“I’m not going to get into it with you right here, Mom,” he stated. “What’s done is done.”
“You eloped?”
“We did.”
“You deprived me of the joy of watching my only child get married?”
“We got video and tons of pictures—”
She waved her hand in the air like she was brushing his words away, “It’s not the same.”
“We could hold another ceremony,” I offered. “You’d see us saying our vows and we could have a reception with cakes and dancing—”
“Why bother?” She lifted her nose into the air. “I didn’t mean enough to you to include in the original event. I see where I stand, now.”
We watched her walk away, back the way she’d come.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Geoff
∞∞∞
Juliet happily moved out of her dorm room and into my condo and I bought her a newer car to get around in. I loved going to sleep beside her every night and waking up to her smiling face each morning. Life was pretty good. Grandpa improved day by day and we went to see him once or twice a week after he got bumped up to a private room. His doctors were saying he would be ready to go home before Christmas—a wonderful change from their earlier predictions.
Not talking to my mother several times a week, and not stopping by the house for dinner anymore the way I used to do felt weird. I thought it would get easier as the days passed—time heals all, right—but it didn’t. It simply felt like a huge gaping hole in the middle of my life. Luckily, Juliet’s parents stepped up, inviting us over to dinner and dropping by for visits. Dad even started sneaking over for clandestine family time, too, and our relationship was actually improving without Mom’s overbearing scrutiny. Still, it wasn’t perfect, but it helped.
Time passed, as it has a tendency to do, and before I realized it the weekend before my twenty-fifth birthday had arrived. Without mentioning it to Mom, Dad had been helping me put things into motion with the family lawyer. Everything was set up. The papers had been signed and we were in the final countdown—in less than three days I would be a billionaire.
I reached for my wife on that Saturday before Christmas, only to feel cool sheets beneath my fingers. My eyes popped open.
“Juliet?”
“In here.” Her voice sounded funny. I sat up, flung the covers off, and hurried to the closed bathroom door.
“Honey, are you okay?”
“As okay as can be expected.” The door inched open and I could see she was holding something in her hand. She held it out towards me. “I’m pregnant.”
I felt my face light up. What felt like a permanent grin tattooed itself across my cheeks. “I’m going to be a daddy?” I reached for her and she held up a cautioning hand.
“If you swing me around, I swear to god I’ll barf on you.”
I froze. “Are you sick? Do you need a doctor?”
“For morning sickness? Nah. For the pregnancy? Eventually. I just need some crackers to help settle my tummy.”
“I’m on it.” I raced downstairs. Happy combined early birthday and Christmas present to me. I was going to be a father.
By the time I rushed back up to our room I’d rehearsed the announcement inside my head a million times. I handed her a package of Saltines and a glass of ginger-ale I’d remembered seeing in the mini-bar in the living room, practically bouncing with excitement.
She tilted her head, a half-smile curving her lips, “Are you okay? Do you need to take a leak or something?”
“I’m fine,” I shook my head. “I went while I was downstairs.”
“Then why are you bouncing off the walls? You can’t have had coffee yet—you were back up here too fast for that.”
“I’m going to be a father!” I hugged her, trying not to jostle her or spill the ginger-ale down her nightie. “Have you told anyone yet?”
“Just you. Hell, baby—I just found out for sure. Who did I have time to tell?”
I sat on the closed toilet seat, pulled her onto my lap, and encouraged her to sip from the highball glass I found when I discovered the ginger-ale. “Sip it. It’ll help settle you
r stomach.”
“What is it?”
“Ginger-ale.”
She wrinkled her nose and sniffed the contents, “Do I like ginger-ale?”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged, clueless. “Mom gave it to us when we couldn’t keep stuff down. It has ginger in it, or something—can I text Grandpa and tell him about the baby?”
She blinked, nonplussed. “Boy, that came out of nowhere.”
“No, it didn’t. It came out of my head where it’s been bouncing around like a pinball since you told me we were expecting.”
“Aww!” Tears filled her eyes.
I thought back over everything I just said, trying to figure out what might have upset her. Nothing popped up so I took a wild guess. “Please don’t cry—we don’t have to tell my grandfather if you don’t want to. We don’t have to tell anyone. We can just hide out in the house for the next few months and pop out with a new baby—surprise.”
“It wasn’t that.” She sniffed back tears and gave me a watery smile. “You said we’re expecting, and that’s so sweet!” She drew the last word out as the tears fell faster, and I tried to feel reassured despite the emotional bomb field I suddenly found myself in.
“So…I did good?”
She nodded and I released the breath I’d been holding. Whew! I thought I’d fucked up.
“And yes, you can text Grandpa and tell him. Technically, he should be the first to know since he’s the one who got this whole thing started.”
I scratched my head. “He is?”
“Of course—if he hadn’t talked about what was going on where he hoped you’d overhear, Bobby wouldn’t have opened his big mouth and you wouldn’t have let Tiffy Chambers believe we were engaged, leading us to get engaged for real and have unprotected sex. No unprotected sex, no baby, silly.”
“Oh. Yeah. Right.” My head was spinning as I tried to wrap my brain around everything she just said—but, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I pulled out my phone.
Grandpa guess what.
You’re gonna make me a great grandpa.
Our eyes met and she shrugged. “Lucky guess?”
I sent another text. How did you guess?
Hot damn! I was right?
Yes!
Your mother is losing her mind right now.
I groaned. She’s there?
Yep. Reading over my shoulder. Looks like you’re out of the doghouse.
At least until I tell her she’s not moving in.
Well, it was good while it lasted.
Mad again?
Oh yeah.
I lift my head to gaze into the ocean colored eyes of my wife. “Wanna move to Hawaii?”
“For real?”
“For real.”
Chapter Thirty
Juliet
∞∞∞
I cradled the swell of my belly as I gazed out over the Pacific Ocean and let the sound of the waves soothe me. I was so ready for this child to be on the outside where I could let someone else carry him. Lowering my eyes to the sandy private beach that came with our house, I smiled as I watched Geoff and our daughter, Hannah building sandcastles. Earlier today we celebrated her third birthday. There was chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream—and presents, tons of presents.
Both of our families were here for the occasion. I adjusted my gaze a bit to the left where the mothers were camped out beneath a huge red and white striped beach umbrella sipping Mai Tai cocktails. The fathers were up on the back deck, drinking Coronas and manning the grill where an entire pig was roasting. Grandpa and his new wife, a sweet sixty-something Hawaiian lady, were supervising.
Grandpa followed us out to the islands about six months after we left—as soon as he got the okay to fly. We let him stay in the mother-in-law apartment over the garage until he met Healani and they decided to move in together. A month later they were married. Yeah, it was fast, but like he said, they weren’t exactly growing younger—and they were in love. Vera threw a fit when she found out, but she got over it. Healani’s impossible not to like and she won her new stepdaughter over surprisingly quickly once they met.
After I started getting closer to my due date and to delivering baby number two both sets of grandparents started making noises about moving out here full time. Their excuse was that Hannah grows too fast and they were missing out. Grandpa already offered my parents a good deal on a small one-bedroom bungalow on the edge of his and Healani’s property—and apparently the one down the street from them recently went up for sale, too. Frank and Vera are considering making an offer on it. On the bright side, the properties are on a completely different island—but, then again, Grandpa bought a boat a few weeks back.
I tensed as a spasm in my lower back made me gasp. They were getting closer together—and more painful, too. Soon, it would be time to call the midwife—but I still had time. I casually strolled closer to where my husband was helping Hannah destroy all of the castles. Catching my eye, he raised his brow in that annoying way he has. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hannah copy him and I smiled.
He swept her up into his arms and stood effortlessly. “Is it time?”
“Almost.”
“Hannah may get a baby brother for her birthday. The gift that keeps giving. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled.”
I caressed her cheek and she reached for me. She let out an angry squawk when he pulled her back and settled her firmly on his hip.
“Midnight will be here in six hours, my love. If he’s anything like his sister, he’ll arrive with the dawn.” Then I frowned as another contraction crested several minutes before I expected it. “But perhaps we should call for the midwife now, just to be safe.”
And my water broke.
His eyes widened until I could see the whites all the way around and he took off up the beach at a run.
The End
* * *