Choosing Happiness (25 page)

“No, I didn’t even think about that. My only thought was telling you I’d lost your truck.”

“You didn’t lose it, it was stolen. That’s not your fault.” He used one hand to send Jeanie a quick text with what had happened and that Andrea wouldn’t be making lunch. Then stood, pulling her with him. “Come on, that floor’s cold and you don’t need to be sitting on it.”

He took her in the living room and a knock sounded on the door. “It’s open.” He called. He popped the clip on his duty belt and when it fell open, he caught it with one hand and draped it over the back of the sofa, then sat, pulling Andrea down onto his lap. He pulled her head against his chest as Ramon came into the room.

“Is she alright?”

“She’s not hurt, just upset.” He smoothed her hair with one hand while she hiccupped. “What did you find out?”

“They stopped your truck about two miles from here, a teenager behind the wheel. Her purse was sitting in the seat beside him, it looked to be untouched.”

“Are they impounding the truck or what?” Jake asked.

“No, they’re bringing it back here and taking the kid to be questioned. It seems pretty open and shut. Chances are, he saw her get out and come inside and decided to go for a joy ride.”

“All right. You want to have a seat until they get here?”

“No. They shouldn’t be long, I’ll go out and wait. You stay here and take care of her, see if you can get her calmed down. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

“Thanks, man.”

Ramon went back outside, leaving them alone with the click of the front door latch.

“There, you see? They’ve found the truck and it’s on the way back. Your purse is even still inside.” He frowned. An emotional breakdown like this wasn’t like Andrea. She hadn’t even broken down like this in the aftermath of the bank. He knew she’d been tired lately but that shouldn’t cause this kind of reaction. He was worried maybe there was something more wrong.

Another knock sounded on the door, this time followed by the sound of it opening.

“Hey, where are you guys?” It was Jeanie.

“In here.” Jake called back then looked down at Andrea in his lap. “You feeling better?”

“I don’t know what came over me.” She sat up and wiped her face but didn’t move to get off his lap. “I was telling you what happened and suddenly it was all too much.”

“You all right?” Jeanie asked coming into the room. She looked back and forth between Andrea and Jake, waiting for one to answer.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Andrea took a deep breath and let it out in a rush, much of the tension seeming to drain out of her with the air. “I need to go wash my face.” She pushed herself up and disappeared down the hall toward the bedroom.

“What’s up?” Jeanie asked once Andrea was gone.

“A joy rider took my truck when she ran in to grab something.” He looked in the direction Andrea had gone. “But something’s not right. She’s way more upset than this warrants.”

“What do you mean?”

“The tears. A few I could see, but she was all out sobbing. She was gasping for air. I was afraid she was hurt until I got here and could see her. She couldn’t even tell me why she was so upset.”

“Let me go check on her. It may turn out that the tears had nothing to do with what was happening.”

Jake frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Hormones, Jake. She’s flooded with them right now.”

Jake’s frown deepened.

“Just trust me. My sister was just like this when she was pregnant.”

The front door opened.

“Jake, can you come out here for a minute?” Ramon called.

Jake hesitated. He didn’t want to leave Andrea like this.

“Go.” Jeanie waved him away. “I’ll take care of her. I brought our lunch too.”

He was reluctant but grabbed his duty belt off the back of the sofa and buckled it back on as he went anyway.

Outside, his truck was back and another patrol car sat next to his and Ramon’s.

“You need to go through it and make sure nothing’s missing,” One of the new officers said, Fielding, according to his name tag.

“No problem.” Jake quickly checked the cross-bed toolbox for his tools, not that he had many, just a jack, lug-wrench and jumper cables. Finding those where they belonged, he checked under the seat for the pistol he kept there. It appeared untouched. Then he picked up Andrea’s purse from the seat. “Let me have her check this.” He turned toward the house.

“Is she all right?” Ramon asked again.

“She’s not hurt, just upset. I’ll tell you more, later.” His eye shot to the other officers then back to Ramon. He knew if he wasn’t careful news of her pregnancy would be all over town before they were ready to share.

“All right. While you’re in there, see if she’s ready to answer a few questions.” Officer Fielding said.

“Will do.” He went inside and found both women sitting at the small kitchen table eating from square foam take out boxes. Andrea looked worlds better. Her face was swollen from her tears but now it was washed clean. Without the makeup streaks she looked less alarming. He set her purse on the table beside her. “Check this and make sure nothing’s missing.”

She looked inside, moving things around for a moment. “Nope, it’s all here.”

“Good.” He looked at the two of them a moment. “Can you answer some questions for the report? It will be one of the officers who brought the truck back, but I’ll be right here.”

Andrea looked up at him, down at her food and back up at him. “Sure. Do you want me to come out there or can he come inside?”

“I’ll bring him inside.” He went back out and got Officer Fielding.

When he brought the officer back in he found that Jeanie had pulled a chair around the table for the officer.

“Why don’t you sit down, Fielding.” Jake moved around to sit beside Andrea. “This is Andrea.” He laid one hand on her shoulder. “And that’s Jeanie, her sister-in-law.” He sat in the chair on the far side of Andrea from the officer and leaned close, trying to see what she was eating. There was half of what looked like a mushroom Swiss burger and a huge pile of fries in the container. A large puddle of ketchup weighed down the lid. She picked up one fry and held it toward him, offering him some. He took it. “Go ahead, ask your questions.”

“Were you both here for the theft?” Officer Fielding looked back and forth between Jeanie and Andrea.

“No, I just got here a few minutes ago.” Jeanie said.

“All right.” Fielding looked at Andrea. “Tell me what happened.”

She recounted the whole thing again, leaving out her emotional breakdown on the phone. He asked several questions, making notes here and there, then excused himself with a nod in Jake’s direction.

Jake helped himself to another fry. “Are you gonna be all right here or should I call it a day?” he said against Andrea’s ear.

“I’m fine. Thanks though.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Jeanie and I are gonna work on wedding plans and I’m fine. There’s no reason for you to do anything but go back to work. We’re gonna be busy either way.” She knew she’d said she was fine twice, she was trying to reassure him.

“You sure?” He looked at her a moment before looking at Jeanie to be sure she would keep an eye on Andrea.

“I’m sure. Now go out there and talk to Ramon before he starts thinking I’m crazy.” She kissed him again, this time a brief peck on the lips. Then waved him away. She turned back to Jeanie, who had the wedding notebook open to one side of her food box.

~~~

W
hen they finished with their food, Andrea and Jeanie moved to the living room where they could be more comfortable. They worked a while longer then Andrea excused herself. It seemed like she was going to the bathroom all the time now and she knew it would only get worse.

On her way through her bedroom she noticed there were still several prescription pill bottles on Jake’s nightstand. She knew there were still some pain pills left, though she’d refused to take any since learning about her pregnancy, but she didn’t know what else there was. She grabbed them, intending to put the pills she wouldn’t be taking any time soon in the medicine cabinet in the bath room while she was there. Reading the labels she discovered that one empty bottle had her name. She frowned not remembering having taken enough pain meds to need a second prescription, her eyes dipped checking exactly what the medication had been. Penicillin.

“Damn.” She muttered, taking the bottles with her into the bathroom. She put the pain medication away and took the empty bottle back in the living room with her when she returned.

“There’s one mystery solved.” She said stepping into the living room where Jeanie waited.

“What?” Jeanie turned to see what she was talking about.

Andrea tossed the bottle at her. “That’s how I got pregnant.”

Jeanie caught the bottle, read it and looked up with a frown. “It’s penicillin, I don’t get it. Why would that be how you got pregnant?”

“A lot of antibiotics, especially the strong ones, make birth control pills ineffective. Apparently, I was too fuzzy to think about them putting me on antibiotics, or what they would do. I don’t even remember taking them.”

“I’m sure Jake made sure you took them. But I didn’t know that antibiotics and birth control pills don’t work together.”

“The antibiotic works just fine, it just makes your birth control ineffective. There are too many people who don’t know that.”

“I’ll have to remember that, for the future I mean. It’s not something I need to worry about now.”

Andrea smiled. “You said you and Ben are trying, so you won’t have to think about it for a while, I guess.”

Jeanie looked around the room, as if making sure they were still alone. “I’ll let you in on a secret, if you promise not to tell Ben I told you.”

Andrea grinned. “Of course. What?”

Jeanie couldn’t keep the half smile off her face. “I tested positive yesterday.”

“That’s wonderful news!” She got up and went to give her a one-armed hug.

“We’re excited. But cautious too... I’ve miscarried before so we’re not telling anyone until I’m out of the first trimester, just to be safe.”

“I hope you make it. It will be wonderful to have our kids be so close to the same age and grow up together.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

C
hristmas morning Jake and Andrea decided to take it easy. They got up and exchanged gifts before Andrea had her now familiar bout with morning sickness. She'd found some ginger lollipops on-line that were reportedly good for helping with the nausea. She had to admit they helped, as long as she didn't move too much she wasn't nauseous at all. If she did move around, the ill feeling was there but it was dulled to something she could handle.

After her nausea passed, Jake helped her dress and get things ready before they went over to her parents for the family gathering. She was thankful her family’s tradition was to eat late afternoon rather than having an early dinner. That would have made it difficult to keep from giving away her secret too early.

The ride was quiet, but it was a comfortable silence as Jake drove her Escape. She’d gotten rid of the sling, but wasn’t scheduled to start physical therapy until after the first of the year. Until then, she’d keep his truck while he drove hers.

"The gifts are in the back, would you mind carrying them in for me?" Andrea asked. She leaned over and gave Jake a kiss on the cheek as he pulled up in front of her parents’ home.

"No problem." He grabbed the two large shopping bags out of the back, hit the lock on the remote and followed her inside.

Inside, Andrea went down the short hall into the living room to see what the family was up to while Jake stopped in the family room and added the gifts in the bags to the pile already around the tree then joined the rest of the family.

They all visited and talked for a little while before Andrea, Jeanie and Sophia finished cooking dinner and got it on the table. After everyone had eaten their fill and the plates were cleared the family moved into the family room to open gifts as had become the tradition since Andrea moved out, several years earlier.

Ben took his usual place in front of the tree. It had been his job to hand out presents since they were children. As soon as everyone was seated Ben picked up the first wrapped package off the stack. He pulled one gift out at a time, read the label and passed it to the recipient. Everyone watched while they opened it and possibly discuss the gift for a moment or two before Ben chose another gift and it started all over.

They were about a third of the way through the pile and everyone had opened at least one gift, when Ben pulled a gift out of the stack and looked at the label for a moment. He frowned, double checking it before he read it aloud.

"This one says ‘To: Sophia’, but there's no from." He shrugged as he handed the gift around the room. Once it reached Sophia she slowly pealed the paper off. She used one long, pale pink fingernail to slice the scotch tape holding the generic box closed and dug through the packing and pulled out the gift inside. She stared down at the item in her hand for a moment. She opened her mouth but no sounds came out, her mouth closed again and she looked up at Charles beside her.

After a moment, Sophia found her voice. "Ben, did you do this?" She turned the item in her hand, showing them all that it was a picture frame, one designed to hold a 4x6 snapshot, around the edge it read "World's Greatest Grandmother"

Ben looked surprised. "Not me,"

Sophia looked around the room, but no one owned up to putting the package under the tree.

Ben grabbed the next package on the pile, "It appears there may be a mate to that one, because this one says ‘To: Charles’ and there's no from." He handed the gift around the room until it reached his father.

Charles used his pocket knife and carefully cut all the tape, unwrapping the box with enough care that the paper could be used again. He flipped over the box and opened it. He dug for a moment through the wadded up paper used as packing material and pulled out his own picture frame. He turned it around and showed the rest of the room. "World's Greatest Grandfather," he read. "Jeanie, are you pregnant?" he asked bluntly.