by Pamela Bauer
“Someone should probably sit with Emily until I get out of the shower,” Krystal suggested. “If you’re hungry, I could get something delivered from the deli.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You can make yourself a cup of coffee.” She motioned to the small cart on wheels in the corner where she kept a hot plate and a one-cup coffeemaker for those times she didn’t want to go downstairs to cook.
“That sounds good.” Linda gave Krystal a gentle shove. “You go take that shower and don’t worry about me.”
But Krystal did worry about her mother. And she worried about Carly who still hadn’t returned. But most of all she worried about Garret and what she was going to do about his proposal of marriage.
CHAPTER NINE
“DID YOU HEAR ABOUT Gladys Lingenfelser?” the salon receptionist asked Krystal the following morning when she arrived at work.
“No, what about her?”
“She had a stroke. They moved her to the nursing home yesterday.”
Tears misted Krystal’s eyes. “That is so sad. Thanks for telling me.”
“I figured you’d want to know.”
Krystal nodded and headed for the employee lounge, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. It always upset her to hear that misfortune had struck one of her elderly clients. Being pregnant only made her emotional response more dramatic.
Gladys Lingenfelser was in her thoughts often that day, so much so that by the time she’d finished working, she’d made up her mind to go visit her. After calling Carly to say she wouldn’t be home for dinner, she stopped in at the flower section of the grocery store and bought an African violet and a package of gingersnaps, then headed over to the nursing home.
Her distress was eased somewhat when she saw Gladys sitting up in bed. Although she needed help eating her dinner, she was able to talk and seemed in good spirits considering the circumstances. Gladys smiled when she saw the violet and told Krystal she was the nicest hairdresser she’d ever had in all of her eighty-seven years. Krystal promised to stop by on Tuesday when she came to wash and style the hair of several of the other residents.
After a short visit with Gladys, Krystal headed over to see another of her favorite clients. Expecting she wouldn’t be in her room, she went straight to the recreation center, where she spotted the white-haired woman playing bingo.
“Win anything?” Krystal asked as she slid on to a chair.
Dolly Anderson grinned from ear to ear when she saw her. “Kryssie! What are you doing here on a Saturday night? You should be out with one of your boyfriends instead of visiting old ladies.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend and you’re not old.”
“Oh yes I am,” she said with a wag of her finger. “And what do you mean you don’t have a boyfriend?”
She spread her hands in frustration. “What can I say? I went from having too many to having none.”
“Sounds to me like your romance train has stalled.”
“I think it’s derailed. Permanently,” Krystal told her.
Dolly laughed.
Krystal took one of the round plastic disks and placed it on her bingo card. “He called B-twelve.”
Dolly waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. If you win it just means you get to pick the movie for tonight. I’ve seen all the ones they have.”
Krystal reached into her tote and pulled out the box of gingersnaps. “I brought you something.”
“Well, aren’t you just the sweetest thing,” Dolly gushed, gazing at the cookies as if they were a pot of gold.
“How’s your hip?”
“Oh, it could be better, but it hasn’t kept me from taking care of my garden. The harvest is almost over.”
Krystal nodded. “Thank you for those wonderful tomatoes. They were delicious.”
“You are most welcome. If I were still in my house, you’d have so much more, including a pumpkin.”
Krystal placed another marker on the bingo card. “Look. You have four corners.”
Dolly’s hand shot up. “Bingo” she called out in a shaky voice.
Krystal applauded enthusiastically. “Good job.”
“You brought me luck.”
As soon as the numbers had been confirmed, Dolly was given a coupon good for one free movie rental and Krystal said, “There. Now you get to choose the movie for tonight.”
“Want to stay and watch with me since your romance train is stalled?”
Krystal thought about it. She could go home and listen to Carly and her mother, or she could watch a movie with Dolly. She chose the movie.
“Good,” Dolly said with a satisfied grin. “I know just the one I want to watch. It’s one of your favorites, too. Might put you in the mood to get back on the romance train.”
Krystal doubted it, but she didn’t tell Dolly that. She just smiled and helped the older woman to her feet.
GARRET GLANCED AT HIS WATCH. His mother had said dinner was at seven-thirty and it was now ten-fifteen. He couldn’t even say he was late. He’d missed it completely. Not that his mother would be upset. She understood what it meant to be a doctor and knew that his schedule was as unpredictable as the Minnesota weather.
But he had several reasons he didn’t want to miss this dinner. It was Dylan and Maddie’s last night in town before they went back to France. There were things he hadn’t said to his brother, things he should have said. He checked his watch again, hoping he would get that opportunity.
He had hoped that by tonight Krystal would have made a decision regarding his marriage proposal, because he could get everything out in the open. He knew, however, that whether or not she accepted it, he needed to tell his family about her pregnancy.
He’d already decided tonight was to be the night. He’d wanted to discuss it with Krystal first but had been unable to reach her all day. His only choice had been to leave her a voice-mail message telling her he planned to make the announcement this evening.
As he stepped into the house, he heard voices coming from the great room. He hung his raincoat on a hook. From the hallway he could see Dylan and Shane were at one end, Maddie and his mother at the other. Krystal was nowhere in sight. Disappointment seeped through him. He’d hoped that she’d be there.
“Sorry I missed dinner,” he said as he made his entrance into the great room.
His mother got up to give him a hug. “Better late than never. Are you hungry? I saved you a plate. All I have to do is put it in the microwave.” She looked at him as if he were ten again and needing her attention.
“Thanks, Mom, but you sit. I’ll do it later. Right now I’d rather spend some time with Dylan and Maddie,” he said, looking at his brother.
“We can do that in the kitchen. We haven’t had dessert,” Maddie told him. She gave her husband’s arm a tug. “Come. We’re going to eat your mother’s apple pie. Let’s move the party there.”
“Isn’t the party missing a couple of people?” Garret asked Maddie as she ushered everyone out of the great room.
“Jennifer stayed home with Mickey because he has a cold,” she answered.
“What about Krystal? I thought she was coming for dinner.”
“Oh, she’s around. I think she went upstairs to check on Carly and Emily.”
“She’s coming back down, isn’t she?”
“She’d better. We haven’t said our goodbyes.” Maddie changed the subject, asking him about his work at the hospital while his mother fussed over getting him something to eat. He wished she would simply sit down and that Krystal would return so he could make his announcement.
But his mother continued to move about the kitchen and Krystal didn’t appear. Garret grew more uneasy.
Finally he heard footsteps on the stairs and Maddie said, “There’s Krystal now.”
He looked toward the doorway and saw her come in wearing a two-piece gray slack set that Garret remembered seeing in the selection of maternity clothes the clerk had rung up for him. It was the only time he’d ever seen her in gra
y. Usually her clothes were bright and colorful and fun. This outfit made her look demure—so very unlike Krystal.
“Oh good, you’re back.” Maddie was the first one to speak to her. “I was worried we weren’t going to get to say our goodbyes.”
“That would never happen,” Krystal said, coming into the kitchen.
“Is Emily okay?” Maddie asked.
She nodded. “Actually, tonight’s the first night she’s slept with Carly. She’s been sleeping with me in my bed.”
Krystal’s eyes met his, revealing an uncertainty he had come to expect whenever he looked at her lately. Her red hair framed her pale cheeks and immediately he wondered how she was feeling. As if she could read his mind, she gave him a weak smile of reassurance. His heart missed a beat. She had a vulnerable look that made him want to protect her.
Dylan pulled out a chair for her, placing her directly across from Garret. “Would you like a piece of apple pie?” he asked her.
“Ah…no…no pie for me, thanks,” she answered, and Dylan turned his attention to helping Maddie serve dessert. When Shane excused himself to make a phone call, it left only Garret and Krystal seated at the table.
“Did you get my phone message?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Then you’re okay with me being here tonight?”
“Not really,” she admitted, shifting uneasily. She lowered her voice to a whisper and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this now?”
He nodded. “It needs to be done. Trust me. I know my family. They’ll understand.”
If he could get everyone to sit back down at the table, that is. The way Krystal’s eyes kept darting back and forth, he could see she was just as uneasy waiting for everyone to return to the table. He took a couple of bites of the leftover pot roast his mother had reheated for him, then shoved his plate aside.
“I’m really glad everyone—or almost everyone—is here,” he began. “I have some news I want to share with the family.”
He saw his mother’s eyes twinkle as she nudged Maddie. “Does it concern your trip overseas?”
He took a deep breath. “Actually, I’ve decided not to take part in the Doctors Without Borders program.”
There was a silence as all eyes stared at him in bewilderment.
“But why not?” His mother asked the question he knew all of them were thinking.
“Well, my plans have changed.” He didn’t want to look at Krystal, but he couldn’t help himself. She sat with her hands squeezed so tightly together he could see the whites of her knuckles.
“I don’t suppose there’s a woman involved in these changed plans,” Dylan said with a sly grin.
“Actually, there is,” Garret admitted. From the look of agonizing anxiety on Krystal’s face, Garret knew he needed to get to the point. “The reason I’m not going to accept the responsibility of working in the Doctors Without Borders program is because I have a more important responsibility to take care of here. I’m going to be a father.”
Stunned silence greeted his words and then his mother said, “Oh, my goodness! Samantha is pregnant?”
He rolled his eyes. “No, Mom, not Samantha,” he snapped impatiently.
“Then who?” His mother’s voice was almost a whisper.
Before he could tell her, Krystal spoke. “It’s me, Leonie. I’m pregnant with Garret’s baby.”
This time the silence was deafening. He wished someone would say something. Anything. He was grateful when Dylan jumped to his feet and offered him a handshake and then a hug saying, “Congratulations, little brother.” Shane did the same thing, but his mother said nothing.
She sat with a look of bewilderment on her face, staring at Krystal. “You slept with my son?” she finally said.
“I’m sorry,” Krystal’s apology crackled with unshed tears.
“Mom, don’t blame Krystal. I’m equally responsible,” Garret said, but it was as if his mother didn’t hear him.
“I treated you like a daughter,” Leonie said to her in a voice that wobbled uncharacteristically.
Maddie came to Krystal’s defense. “Leonie, Krystal is like a daughter to you and she’s like a sister to me. This doesn’t change that.”
Then his mother turned to Maddie and asked in an accusing tone, “Did you know about this?”
Krystal jumped to her feet. “If you’re going to be upset with anyone, it should be me, Leonie,” she said, her body trembling. “And this is exactly why I was afraid to tell any of you—I knew this would happen.” Then she burst into tears and ran out of the room.
Maddie called out after her and would have followed her, but Garret stopped her.
“I’ll go.” Before he left, however, he turned to his mother and said, “You didn’t react this way when Dylan told you he was going to be a father.”
“You can’t expect me not to be shocked, Garret,” she told him.
“No, but I did expect you to be fair,” he said before turning to leave the room. He climbed the stairs to the second floor. When he reached the landing, Krystal’s door was closed. He knocked lightly, saying, “Krystal, it’s me.”
She opened the door and he saw her tearstained cheeks. “She hates me,” she said on a hiccup.
“No, she doesn’t.” He pulled her into his arms. It seemed like the natural thing to do. It was also the first time she’d been in his arms since the night of the hospital ball. She felt warm and soft and she clung to him, quietly sobbing into his chest.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said, straightening. “I’m superemotional because of the hormone thing.” She motioned for him to come inside, then closed the door behind him.
“My mother could have reacted a little less emotionally herself.”
She hiccuped. “At least she didn’t slap me, like my mother did.”
“Your mother slapped you?”
She nodded. “It’s hard for mothers to hear that kind of news.” She reached for a tissue to blow her nose.
“That doesn’t give them the right to behave the way they did. We’re adults, Krystal, not some fifteen-year-old kids who need supervision.”
She dropped down on to the futon. “Apparently we needed it that night.”
“No, what we needed was better birth control protection.”
She looked at him briefly, then buried her head in her hands. “Don’t remind me.”
He pulled her hands away from her face. “You can’t hide from the facts, Krystal. Don’t you think it’s about time you stopped beating yourself up for something that you can’t change?”
“You sound as if you’re okay with all of this,” she said, allowing him to pull her into the crook of his arm.
“I’ve accepted that I’m going to become a father…if that’s what you mean.” Her hair smelled like oranges and her body was warm as it rested against his. “We can’t go back and change what’s already happened, so we might as well go forward, right?”
“It isn’t that easy.”
“I didn’t say it was going to be easy.” She sighed and he wished he knew what she was thinking. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell my mother ahead of time in private. It would have given her time to get over the initial shock. Maddie’s right. She does think of you like a daughter.”
“Well, at least she did at one time.”
“And she will again. She’s just not thinking clearly right now. I’m sure that I’m the last of her four sons she expected to be in this position.”
“She wouldn’t be so upset if it were Samantha who was pregnant. She thinks she’s a good match for you and she’s right.” She shook her head. “It’s just plain stupid to think that you and I could make a marriage work.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “That sounds like a rejection of my marriage proposal.”
She cast a sideways glance at him. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see how it would work. I mean, I know that marriages based on friendship can work. I have plenty of clients who married for that very reason.”
“So why wouldn’t ours work?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it would. Do we have to decide this tonight?”
He shook his head. “No, we don’t. The important thing is we told my family.”
“Yeah. And you saw the way your mom reacted. So now what do we do?”
“Give her some time.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’m the one who lives in her house.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “What a mess I made of things.”
“You didn’t do it alone,” he said, pulling her closer to him. “I did my part.” He liked the way she felt in his arms. It made him feel as if they were a team in this mess. He also liked the way she touched him when she talked, even though it was that aspect of her personality that was partly responsible for their situation.
Suddenly her eyes flew open and she reached for him, her hand grabbing his leg. “Oh my gosh.”
“What is it?”
“I think the baby kicked.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her tummy. “Right here.”
They sat in silence, waiting for some sign that it had been the baby that had moved.
“There. Did you feel it?” she asked him, a look of wonder on her face.
When he shook his head, she lifted the gray fabric and placed his hand under it. His palm met silky-smooth underwear.
“Try right there,” she said, excitement lighting up her already beautiful eyes.
He soon discovered she was right. He felt the tiniest of movements beneath his fingertips. His eyes met hers and he smiled. “You’re right. She kicked.”
“She? How do you know it isn’t a he?”
Because all he could think about was having a daughter who looked exactly like her. But he didn’t tell her that. “I don’t, but we’ll know soon enough. You must be scheduled for an ultrasound.”
She nodded. “Next week. I heard they can’t always tell the sex though.”
“That’s true,” he confirmed. “I’d like to be there with you.”
“During the ultrasound?”
“Yes, that won’t bother you, will it?”