“It doesn’t bother me so much,” Brooke said. “Only because it hurts Tess.”
“I know. Don’t count her out yet.”
Brooke nodded and decided a change of subject was in order. “So, how long will you be at Dad’s?”
“A week or so.”
Brooke suppressed a chuckle. So, you are staying at Dad’s. “Any ideas on when this move might happen?”
Rebecca smiled. “Before the start of the new academic year.”
“Mom,” Brooke began cautiously. “Look, don’t misunderstand me, I would love to have you closer. But, you love your job, and you’ve always loved where you live. We aren’t that far away…”
“Two hours is two hours too much,” Rebecca replied. Brooke smiled affectionately. “And, it isn’t just about this baby either,” Rebecca explained.
Brooke nodded her understanding. Her mother had been making trips up to Massachusetts nearly every other weekend during the year. She spent each holiday with Brooke and Tess, and during the summer her stays were longer and more frequent.
“You know that it’s never an imposition for you to stay here, don’t you?” Brooke asked her mother.
“I know. The truth is I need my own space too,” Rebecca explained.
“I get that,” Brooke said. She smirked and suppressed a laugh. “Really worried about Tess aren’t you?” she joked.
“Like I said, three kids all day is a lot.”
“Um-hum,” Brooke replied.
“Hey,” a sleepy voice broke through the conversation.
Brooke turned to see Tess stumbling slightly into the kitchen. “You okay?”
Tess nodded. “Just tired. What are you two up to in here?”
“Just talking,” Brooke said. “Mom is off to visit Dad this week,” she told Tess as she handed Tess a cup of coffee.
Tess raised her eyebrow slightly. She accepted the mug from Brooke and looked at Rebecca.
“I see the wheels turning,” Rebecca replied. Tess arched her brow a tad higher, and Rebecca sighed. “The answer is, I don’t know.”
“Don’t know?” Brooke asked. “What don’t you know?”
Rebecca looked at her daughter directly. “I don’t know what is happening between your father and me right now.”
Brooke choked on the coffee in her mouth. Tess chuckled.
“Well, that is what you are wondering, isn’t it?” Rebecca asked Brooke pointedly.
Tess smiled and intervened gently. “What do you hope happens?” she asked her mother-in-law.
“I’m not sure that I can answer that either,” Rebecca answered truthfully. “We’ve always been friends. In a lot of ways, I think that is best.”
“But not in every way,” Tess guessed.
Brooke was content to listen. She marveled at the way Tess was able to speak openly with her mother. She was surprised at the open nature of the conversation at the moment. Not that it surprised Brooke that her mother would confide in Tess; it didn’t. It did surprise her that her mother would answer as openly with Brooke present.
Rebecca smiled, albeit shyly. “A lot of time has passed,” she noted.
Tess nodded her understanding. “Maybe that was all for a reason,” she suggested. Rebecca looked at her daughter-in-law with skepticism and hope. Tess winked at the older woman. “My grandma once told me that when something is meant to be, it will always find a way,” she said as she stole a glance at Brooke.
“Mm,” Rebecca groaned. “I guess the question is, what was meant to be?”
“I guess, maybe you will find that out when you get to California,” Tess replied.
Rebecca chuckled. She looked at Brooke, who offered her a compassionate smile. “And, you, Bee? What do you think?” she asked her daughter.
“I want you to be happy, Mom.”
Rebecca nodded and then looked at Tess. “Brad and I are looking to move closer to the two of you.”
Tess’s jaw opened and closed several times.
“Unless, that makes you uncomfortable,” Rebecca said.
Tess snapped to attention. “What? No. Why would it? Of course, you want to be closer to your grandbaby,” Tess surmised.
Rebecca smiled and took hold of Tess’s arms. “We want to be closer to all of you,” she clarified. Tess sighed lightly. “I would have made the move this year,” Rebecca said, surprising both Tess and Brooke with the assuredness of the statement. “I had a contract through the year. I didn’t want to get stuck in a lease if I put the house up too soon,” she explained. Rebecca noted the tears welling in Tess’s eyes and took Tess into a motherly embrace. “I think Brad misses the kids,” she whispered. “And, I miss all of you.”
Tess surprised herself with the burst of emotion that Rebecca’s news prompted. She had grown attached to Brooke’s mother. Rebecca wasn’t only a mother-in-law or a mother figure in Tess’s life; she had become Tess’s best friend. Tess was certain that Rebecca felt the same way. The two simply clicked. It was a reality that Tess wasn’t sure Brooke fully grasped. Tess told Rebecca nearly everything, and while there were times Rebecca held back a bit, Tess understood those times were about Brooke. Rebecca never shared anything with Tess that she did not want Brooke to know. That was not the result of a lack of trust in Tess, nor was it because Rebecca didn’t want to confide fully in Tess. Tess knew that. Rebecca never wanted Tess to feel she needed to keep anything from Brooke. Tess was positive that the only reason Rebecca had not talked to her about the possibility of reconciling with Brooke’s father, was a desire to protect Brooke in some way. And, she would never compromise Tess.
“I hope this means you will be happy to have us closer,” Rebecca said.
Tess continued to cry and chuckle at the same time. Brooke kept watch at a distance. Tess’s overflowing emotions did not surprise Brooke in the least. It was hardly the first moment that Brooke found herself falling in love with Tess all over again. The two most determined yet compassionate people Brooke had ever known were locked in a loving embrace. She found her thoughts drifted to the life that was growing inside of her. Brooke admired both her wife and her mother. She respected their strength and their sensitivity. And, she realized that as mothers, both Tess and Rebecca exuded those qualities every day. Both women endeavored to be firm, but always with an underlying gentleness that still astounded Brooke. I don’t know how they do it.
Tess pulled back from Rebecca and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “The kids are going to be delirious,” she laughed.
“And, fatter,” Brooke interjected.
Rebecca picked up a dishtowel and threw it at her daughter. “Be quiet, Bee.”
“Violence is not the answer, Mom. Salad, maybe. Violence, no.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes and Tess laughed. Brooke teased her mother endlessly about the frequency of visits to the twins’ favorite restaurants, the sweets they often came home loaded up on after time with Grammy C.
“Well, if I am living here, then I will be able to actually cook in my own home, won’t I?” Rebecca replied.
“Oh!” Brooke’s eyes twinkled with excitement. “This means they kids get sleepovers at your house!”
Rebecca pursed her lips. “Uh-huh,” she narrowed her gaze. “So, what? So you can have play time with Tess?”
Tess spit out the coffee in her mouth. Brooke remained unflinching. She had no intention of allowing her mother to win this round.
“Well, yeah. Why not? You’re off to have play time with Dad.”
This time, Tess choked on her coffee. “Are you two trying to kill me?” Tess asked through a cough.
Rebecca and Brooke both laughed. “No,” Brooke promised. “I’m just pointing out one of the many benefits to having my parents closer.”
Tess rolled her eyes and put her coffee cup into the sink.
“Where are you going?” Brooke asked.
“Unlike you, I do not have today off,” Tess reminded Brooke. She stretched up and placed a kiss on Brooke’s cheek before turning back to Rebecca. “Wi
ll I see you later?”
Rebecca shook her head. “No, I’m going to head home after Brooke takes the twins to school. Need to pack.”
Tess nodded and offered the older woman a smile. She made her way across the kitchen and hugged Rebecca. “It will work out like it’s meant to,” she whispered in Rebecca’s ear.
“Glad you are sure,” Rebecca giggled nervously.
Tess pulled back and shrugged. “That’s what my mother-in-law always tells me. She’s pretty smart—for a mother-in-law,” Tess teased. Rebecca laughed. “Wish me luck today,” Tess said as she started to make her way out of the room.
“Call me after you talk to them,” Brooke said.
Tess sighed and nodded.
“Tess, you don’t have to give your notice today. You don’t have to give it at all,” Brooke reminded her wife.
Tess smiled genuinely. “I know.”
“You’re sure?” Brooke asked again.
Tess winked, stepped back up to Brooke and placed a light kiss on Brooke’s lips. “I’m sure, but thanks for understanding,” she said before taking her leave.
Brooke watched Tess go and rubbed her forehead nervously.
“She’ll be fine, Bee,” Rebecca said.
“I hope so. That job means…”
“It doesn’t mean half as much as the kids,” Rebecca stopped Brooke’s thought.
“That may be, but Mom…”
“Brooke, trust me,” Rebecca said. “If she wasn’t sure, she would never have even brought it up.”
“I just don’t want her to feel like…”
“Like you expect her to give up her job? She doesn’t,” Rebecca said assuredly.
Brooke regarded her mother suspiciously. “You knew, didn’t you? That she was thinking about this?”
“Yes,” Rebecca admitted. “But, not because she told me,” she said. Brooke’s confusion was evident. “Tess would never tell me something like that before she talked to you,” Rebecca explained. “I just could hear the wheels turning. And, Bee? You know as well as I do that if Tess could have she would have been home with the twins all along.”
“I know. I also know that being dependent on anyone scares the shit out of her,” Brooke pointed out.
Rebecca smiled. “Well then… You should feel incredibly special, Bee.”
Brooke looked at her mother to explain.
Rebecca chuckled. “If you ever doubted for one second that Tess trusts you, this should put that to rest forever.”
Brooke smiled and nodded. She and Tess had faced their share of struggles. The most difficult bridge they had crossed in their relationship had been Brooke’s failure at times to understand Tess’s fears. Tess had been abandoned more than once by people she had loved and trusted, albeit in different ways. Love had never been a question. Trust was something that had to be built in a relationship. Rebecca was right. Whatever fears Tess may have faced in the past, her decision to let Brooke assume the role of sole financial provider was a testament to the fact that Tess had overcome them.
“Just realizing that, huh?” Rebecca guessed.
Brooke shook her head. “Not really. I knew when we bought this house. I knew when she told me she wanted me to carry this baby. I knew. I never expected her to give up her job. Don’t get me wrong; I’m thrilled by it for so many reasons, Mom. But, I would never have asked her to, and I would never expect her to.”
“And, that is exactly why she can, Bee.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
ONE WEEK LATER
“Brooke?” Rachel called into Brooke’s office.
Brooke was sitting in her office chair. Her head was resting on the desk in front of her, and Rachel could hear Brooke mumbling something.
“Brooke?” Rachel closed the door and carefully made her way to Brooke. She stretched out her hand and placed it on Brooke’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Brooke groaned. “We may need to invest in some more garbage cans.”
“What?”
Brooke picked her head up and looked at Rachel helplessly. “Yeah, like we may need one at every corner in the hallway, outside the bathroom, in the waiting room, maybe a couple on the way to the parking lot,” Brooke began to explain before closing her eyes to stave off a wave of nausea. “Oh, God,” she groaned again.
Rachel’s momentary amusement turned almost immediately to sympathy for her best friend. Brooke had seemed in good spirits that morning. As it was most days, Rachel had barely seen Brooke all day. The two passed in the hallway a number of times, but had hardly spoken since early that morning. When their administrative assistant, Janine finally rang Rachel’s office phone to express concern for Brooke, Rachel had been stunned. It hadn’t occurred to her that the slow and cautious gait Janine had observed in the typically fast moving Dr. Brooke Campbell might have been due to morning sickness. After all, it wasn’t morning anymore.
“Why do they call it morning sickness?” Brooke complained.
Rachel chuckled. “After all these years, you are asking that now?” she asked Brooke. Brooke groaned in reply. “I think,” Rachel began. Before she could finish, Brooke held up a finger and bolted from her desk toward the bathroom that stood between their two offices. “Oh, boy,” Rachel muttered. She took a seat in Brooke’s chair and waited, wincing at the retching sounds echoing from behind the bathroom door. “Not good,” she shook her head ruefully. “She’s gonna kill me for this,” Rachel said as she retrieved her cell phone from her pocket.
***
“Thanks, Jared,” Tess thanked her friend.
“I can’t believe you are leaving so soon,” he said.
Tess smiled earnestly. She had given her notice just a week earlier, offering to work through the end of the current month. It had surprised Tess when her boss had called her in early that morning to tell her that the company would accept her notice as of that afternoon. That would amount to one full week worked, and she would be paid for the month along with her remaining vacation time. It had stung for a moment. Tess had asked pointedly if there was a trust issue. Donald Rell, who had been her superior for nearly five years, had smiled and assured her it was just the way the company ran these days. After mulling over the reality and venting to Brooke on the phone, Tess had finally reached the conclusion that it was for the best. Tess’s job was about to end, and her life would officially change again. Tess continued to have mixed feelings, the prevailing one, however, was relief.
Brooke and Tess had been struggling all week to follow through on their commitment to pick Davey up from school each day. They had been forced to call in favors from friends, and Tess hated the fact that Davey’s need to serve a detention that Friday had actually proved a Godsend for them both. This was the last time she would park her truck in its space, sign out in the log, and walk to her car. Throughout the day, she had experienced moments of melancholy. Each time one surfaced, she would close her eyes and remember why she had made this decision. Somehow, in spite of the current upheaval with Davey, the reality of being home with all of her children gave Tess an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness and possibility.
“I know. It doesn’t seem possible,” Tess admitted to her friend.
“Well, it won’t be the same,” Jared said.
Tess laughed. “Won’t be for me either,” she cracked. “Oops, sorry,” Tess apologized when her phone rang. “Rach?” she answered. “What? Oh, no. How bad?” Tess wanted to know. She listened to Rachel and sighed. “That bad, huh?” Tess asked sheepishly. “Oh, you know she will not want to go home.” Tess listened as Rachel continued. “Green, huh?” Tess chuckled. Well, at least that goes with everything else about her. “No, I’ll be over in a bit. I just need to sign out,” Tess said. “Oh shit! I forgot, I have to get Davey.” Tess rubbed her temple in frustration. “No, I can’t ask you to do that, Rachel… Rach…”
***
“You didn’t ask. I offered,” Rachel told Tess as she eyed the bathroom for Brooke to emerge. “Tess, come on… Mike won’t m
ind picking up Davey. He’s off today with Eli anyway. I’d drive Brooke home myself, but someone will have to take her on call hours tonight…. No, it’s okay. I’m fine. God willing, we won’t both be carrying barf bags at the same time,” Rachel joked. “No, I’m sure. Trust me, when you see her you will understand,” Rachel said just as she heard the toilet flush. “Gotta go. See you in a few or at my funeral when she kills me.”
Brooke opened the door and walked out of the bathroom gingerly.
“Better?” Rachel asked. Brooke’s scowl made Rachel wince visibly.
“No,” Brooke replied.
“Brooke…”
“Don’t even say it,” Brooke held up a finger in warning. “It will pass.”
Rachel took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Yes, it will. But, Brooke, you know sometimes…”
“Don’t even think it,” Brooke warned sternly before stopping short and bolting back to the bathroom.
“Oh, boy,” Rachel sighed. “Well, on the bright side, she won’t be able to kill you huddled over a toilet bowl.” Rachel surmised. She cringed hearing Brooke’s misery in the distance. “Oh, man. Poor Tess.”
***
Tess looked across the car at a miserable Brooke. She had been surprised that Brooke had not mounted a stronger protest about leaving the office. That fact alone was all Tess needed to know that Brooke needed to be home and that Brooke knew it. She reached over and took Brooke’s hand in a silent gesture of reassurance.
“Maybe you should stop and get the kids at Rachel’s,” Brooke suggested.
“No, I already talked to Mike while you were getting your things together. He’ll bring the kids home after dinner. I guess they are playing with Eli. I think it might be giving him a little break to tell you the truth,” Tess giggled.
Brooke sighed and closed her eyes.
“Do you need me to pull over?” Tess asked. Brooke shook her head. “I’m sorry, love.”
“Was it this bad for you?” Brooke wanted to know.
“For about a week, it sucked,” Tess confessed. “Morning, noon, and night,” she said honestly. “Then it was just mornings. Then it was over as fast as it started,” she told Brooke.
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