Parker's Island

by Kimberly Schwartzmiller

  He had thought of everything and when he slipped my ring onto my finger, he said, “This was my mother’s. I hope it’s okay? We can get you something else later, if you want.”

  “It’s perfect. I love it. I’ll never take it off.”

  He smiled as we were pronounced Husband and Wife and I was finally kissing him. The room broke into applause as the minister introduced us as Mr. and Mrs. Logan Barnett.

  Everyone was hugging me and passing me around. Even my brother was happy for me. I was still thanking everyone for coming when I turned and saw Christine. I was so touched that she came. I hugged her and before I knew it, I was pulled into a wheel chair. “I can walk!” I said, fighting to stand up.

  “No way, you’ve been on your feet long enough. Bed rest, Mrs. Barnett, remember?” Logan said.

  “Bed rest, huh? Whatever you say, Mr. Barnett,” I said, grinning at him.

  I talked to Molly and Brian for a few minutes, and they looked very happy together. Molly whispered in my ear, “I expect you to be my maid of honor next June, okay?” she grinned.

  “Really? I would love that! I’m so happy for you!”

  “And yeah, it’s better than I expected,” she actually blushed. I hugged both of them, but didn’t kiss Brian, remembering Molly’s threat.

  We said our goodbyes and before I knew it, we were on a helicopter flying home to the island.

  “A helicopter…is this really necessary?” I asked.

  “You need to get home safely and I didn’t want you to taking a rough boat trip. Just sit back and enjoy the view. Look, there’s our island,” he said, pointing out the left side of the helicopter.

  “We’re home,” I smiled.

  The weeks passed with frequent visits from my mother and aunt. Even my brother made a couple of appearances, thrilled to have a rich brother-in-law. Logan had set up the most gorgeous nursery and he beamed when he showed it to me. It was right next to our room and it was all done in pink. “Pouty pink, rose pink, pale pink, shell pink,” he said, showing me around the room, naming things off, one by one by their color. He was so sweet and I had to keep from laughing and hurting his feelings, so I listened intently while he showed off all of his hard work.

  “Thank you. She’s going to love it. I love it! I love you!” I said, and kissed him.

  I had made quite a bit of money while working for my aunt and I knew what I wanted to do with it. I wanted to buy Logan a wedding ring. My aunt provided the perfect escape one day for me and took me shopping. It was wonderful being out of bed. “You need to hurry and find a ring so you can get back to bed. I don’t want to be responsible if Logan finds out you’re up,” my aunt said.

  “He’s out running errands. I gave him tons of things to do. He won’t be home for hours. It’s now or never,” I told her.

  I found the perfect ring. It actually came very close to matching mine. I was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to get home to give it to him. I paid for it and we left the shop, only to find Logan standing across the street, leaning up against his car. He was instantly by my side. “Hi, what are you doing here?” I asked sheepishly, knowing I was in deep trouble.

  “I could ask you the same thing!” he said, looking a bit angry.

  “She made me do it!” my aunt said, telling on me, yet again.

  “I thought we were allies?” I said to my aunt.

  “We are, but I can’t lie to him,” she said, then whispered, “I mean look at him. Who could lie to those eyes?”

  “Tell me about it,” I said, certain Logan and I were soon to have our first fight.

  He picked me up then and carried me to the car.

  “Put me down. You’re going to break your back,” I said, reminding him I was a bit over my usual 110 pounds.

  “We’ll talk at home,” he said through gritted teeth.

  He was friendly and polite to my aunt, but she sensed that we needed to talk privately, so she took an early ferry home, leaving me to deal with his wrath.

  “I don’t understand you, Delaney. Do you want to end up back in the hospital?” he ranted, pacing the floor.

  “No.”

  “Then, what was so important that you had to go to town for today?” he asked, accusingly.

  “This,” I said, pulling the box out of my purse.

  “What is that?” he asked, still irritated.

  “Open it,” I said, handing it to him.

  He opened the box and I saw immediate remorse on his face. “Delaney, it’s beautiful. Thank you. But you didn’t have to do this now. We can’t have our wedding until later, anyway.”

  “I had my wedding. It was everything I wanted, with one exception.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t have a ring for you. Now it’s perfect,” I said, and put the ring on his finger and kissed him.

  His anger melted and all was forgiven. Although he refused to leave my side for even a second from that moment on…not that I minded.

  I was blissfully happy being Mrs. Barnett and we spent our days talking, watching movies and sometimes he’d read to me. Family and friends visited frequently. It was a perfect life. The only complaint I had was that although I was on bed rest, we weren’t allowed to make love. Not that I didn’t try to persuade him.

  “Delaney, we have the rest of our lives. It’s only a while longer. We can wait,” he said, during one of my many attempts to entice him.

  I was completely frustrated and wanted my husband, but he refused all of my advances. “Logan, can we just ignore doctors’ orders for one night? This, by all rights should be our honeymoon,” I said one night, weeks after we were married.

  “You know the answer to that question,” he said, and turned on the TV.

  I turned the television off and said, “Don’t you want me? I know I’m not very attractive right now, but I really need you.”

  “You think I don’t want you? Oh God, Delaney, you are beautiful and I always want you. I’m only staying away because you’re much too tempting and I just don’t want to hurt you…or the baby.”

  “The baby is due now, Logan. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “I don’t even want think about the worst that could happen. We’re waiting!” he said emphatically.

  “I was only on bed rest to prevent early labor, but I’m due now. There’s no more risk of early labor. Please, for me?” I said, snuggling up to him in bed.

  “You’re making me crazy. Dr. Branson said no, and we need to listen to him,” he said, but I could see his resolve diminishing, so I took advantage of the situation.

  I straddled him, which in my condition was no easy task. “That was weeks ago. We’ve been good. Don’t you think we should be rewarded? The baby is due in three days; and then it’s going to be weeks before we can be together. It’s now or never. I want my husband,” I said, pulling off my nightshirt.

  He was breathing hard, and I thought I had him, but he said, “NO!” and then he gently rolled me off of him and got out of bed.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, stung by his rejection.

  “I’m going to the couch…or jogging, I’m not sure yet,” he said angrily while grabbing a pillow.

  “Don’t leave, please. I’m sorry,” I said, pulling back the blankets.

  “Delaney, I love you and I don’t want to hurt you. If it’s going to be too difficult for us to share a bed, then I better go to the other room. You decide,” he said, standing next to the bed, breathing hard.

  I looked up at him, knowing he only wanted what was best for me and the baby. I gave in, “I’ll be good. I promise. Don’t leave, I need you.”

  “I’ll never leave you. Do you honestly think this isn’t killing me, too? It’s even worse than before, because now I know what I’m missing. But I can’t risk hurting either of you. We have the rest of our lives to be together. Please understand. We’re waiting!”

  “I don’t want to wait anymore. We’ve been married for weeks now. Please?” I asked, with one
more attempt at persuading him, but knowing I was pushing him.

  He sat down next to me and said, “Delaney, I love you. But, I can’t. My mom died in childbirth, remember? Please understand…I can’t risk hurting you.”

  “I do. I understand. I’m sorry,” I said and snuggled into his side. I laid my head on his chest and breathed in his scent. This did nothing to quell my desire. I knew I wasn’t going to win, but I had such an over-whelming need for him. I lay there, holding onto him and the tears streamed silently down my cheek. I never made a sound, but whether he felt the tears on his chest or just sensed my need, he sighed and pulled my face up to his and kissed me.

  He pulled me into his arms then, against his better judgment, and although I was hugely pregnant at this point, we managed just fine. He was so tender and gentle with me and we fell asleep in each other’s arms, finally content.

  I woke up sometime later with the beginnings of what felt like menstrual cramps and a horrible backache. I refused to wake Logan for fear he’d never touch me again, so I ignored it, waiting for the pain to go away. I laid there, willing the pain away when I felt a sudden gush of fluid. I panicked, thinking I was bleeding again. I made it to the bathroom and realized there wasn’t any blood, but that my water had broken. The next pain hit me hard and I cried out.

  “Delaney, what is it?” Logan asked, instantly at my side.

  “Um, give me a minute,” I said, bent over, breathing through my contraction. When it subsided I said, “My water broke. I’m in labor. I think we better go.”

  “I knew we shouldn’t have…”

  He stopped when I looked up at him with eyes that said ‘this is really not the right time for a lecture.’

  “I think I better call your mom,” he said, as another pain hit me.

  “I don’t…think…we have time…”

  Logan drove me to the hospital in record time, while I focused on breathing through each contraction. “You’re doing great, Delaney. Just keep breathing,” he said, nervously.

  “I am…breathing! I’m scared. This really hurts. Oh, no, not again…” I said as another pain hit me hard.

  Logan stopped the car at the entrance to the hospital, took my hand and said, “Delaney, you’re the strongest, bravest young woman I’ve ever met. You can do this, I know you can. I’ll be with you every second,” Logan said with such love and sincerity, I instantly started to relax.

  “Okay, okay…I’m ready,” I said, breathing through another contraction.

  True to his word, Logan didn’t leave my side for a second. He breathed through every contraction with me, rubbed my back, held my hand, wiped my brow and held my hair back while I vomited.

  “I really should call your mom,” Logan said, just as another contraction hit me.

  “Nooooo, don’t leave me,” I screamed, squeezing his hand with a vise-like grip.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” Logan said, kissing my tightly gripped hand.

  A few minutes later I was pushing and before I knew it, I was holding our daughter.

  “She’s as beautiful as her mother,” Logan said, touching her tiny cheek with his finger.

  “Thank you…for everything,” I said, reaching up to kiss him.

  “I guess we better think of a name for her,” he said.

  “She has one. I already filled out the birth certificate. I hope you don’t mind?” I said.

  “Oh? No, it’s fine, I guess,” he said, looking more than a little hurt that he didn’t have any say in the choice of our daughter’s name.

  I started to hand her to him, and he looked a little nervous, so I said, “Elizabeth, tell your Daddy that he’s not going to break you.”

  “Elizabeth?” he asked, quietly.

  “Elizabeth Christine Barnett, if that’s okay with you?” I said, happy to be finally giving him a gift for a change.

  “I know my mother would love that, it’s perfect,” he said, taking his daughter from me. He kissed the top of her head and said, “Thank you.”

  That was our last quiet moment together, as our friends and family descended to shower us with gifts and to fight over who was going to hold the baby next. The party continued at our house and as happy as I was to have my family and friends share in our joy, I couldn’t wait for everyone to leave. My mother took one look at her granddaughter and instantly forgave me for not being at the delivery, even though we told her time and time again that she would have never made it in time.

  My mom stayed for a few weeks and I was grateful for the help, but as we finally said our last goodbye to my mother, I closed the door and leaned against it, breathing a sigh of relief.

  I nursed Elizabeth and then laid her down in her beautiful pink crib. Duchess had now taken up residence at Elizabeth’s side, obviously smitten with the baby. I turned to my husband, the man I had loved since the first day I saw him and said, “I always thought that going to the grad party was the biggest mistake of my life. But right now, I realize it was the best thing that ever happened to me.” I knew with absolute certainty that love at first sight was possible. It had happened twice for me, once with Logan and again with our daughter.

  Logan kissed me, and as we stared down at our sleeping baby, he said, “You know, maybe Brian and I shouldn’t have been so hard on Chad, after all,” we laughed and then Logan chased me into our bedroom…

  Epilogue

  The month’s passed with interminable bliss. Logan asked me repeatedly where I wanted to go for a honeymoon. My answer was always the same, “We’ve been on a honeymoon since we’ve been married. I couldn’t be happier anywhere in the world. Where else would I want to go? This is where I want to be!” I smiled up at him as we walked along the beach.

  I was holding Duchess’ leash and Logan was carrying Elizabeth in his arms, as usual. He had rarely put her down since she was born. He was such a wonderful, doting dad; the absolute opposite of his own father. I knew that it wasn’t because he felt he had to prove that he wasn’t like his father, but that he truly adored his daughter.

  We walked along, happy in our own thoughts. Elizabeth was cooing happily in her dad’s arms. We stopped to look at the water and I sighed once again at the realization that I couldn’t possibly be any happier.

  The elderly couple that we had met on the beach almost a year earlier appeared just then. “Oh, you had the baby. She’s just beautiful,” the woman said, grinning and taking Elizabeth’s hand.

  “Thank you,” I said, smiling.

  “What’s her name?” she asked.

  “Elizabeth,” Logan said proudly, thrilled that I had honored his mother’s name.

  She looked at Elizabeth and then up at Logan thoughtfully. I started to tense, thinking she might guess that Logan wasn’t Elizabeth’s biological father, but she just smiled and said, “I knew you two would have beautiful children.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “When’s the next one due, dear?” she asked me.

  I smiled back at her with a knowing grin. I looked up at Logan and said, “Oh, in about seven months.”

  He took a deep breath and said, “Really?”

  “I was going to tell you over dinner tonight…peanut butter, jelly and bacon sandwiches,” I smiled and he kissed me passionately, cradling Elizabeth gently between us.

  The elderly couple giggled and I heard her say, “Jim, didn’t I tell you they’d have beautiful children?”

  “Yes you did, dear. Yes you did,” he said as they wandered off, leaving us to our bliss.

  About the Author

  Kimberly Schwartzmiller is a wife, a mother of two, and a Registered Nurse in the obstetrics department. She makes her home with her family and a plethora of pets in Northwest Montana. An avid reader as well as a writer, she spends many late hours at the computer.

 

 

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