Love You Moore (25 page)

“
Maine State Prison, Abby you have a
fan in the prison system?” Jimmy joked passing the envelope over to
Abby.

Abby froze, her blood ran ice cold and
she became very pale. She didn’t do very well hiding the horrified
look on her face. She gingerly took the envelope.

“
Abby, you ok?” Jimmy became very
concerned.

Abby couldn’t speak, how did a letter get to
her here?

“
Ah yeah I’m fine.” She shook her head
and tried to gather her thoughts. Holly who was reading a book in
the oversized chair popped up.

“
Abby, are you still a pen pal with
that guy? We started an outreach program in high school and wrote
letters to some of the inmates, you know try to cheer them up
during the holidays, this must have been forwarded from home.”
Holly quickly grabbed the letter. “We’ll have to write or call to
get your name off the list.”

“
Well if it cheers some poor soul up
for Christmas I don’t see the harm in it, as long as he doesn’t
come looking for you.” Jimmy laughed and kissed Abby on the top of
her head as he walked out of the room.

“
That’s great Holly, another lie on top
of all the other ones…this is getting out of control.”

“
No what this did is buy you more time.
So now if a blue envelope shows up, he’ll think it’s from your pen
pal.”

Abby felt sick. She knew someday this was all
going to blow up in her face.

* * * * *

Chapter 21

Christmas morning, Abby awoke early to get
the coffee on, she didn’t want Margret to have to get up early, but
true to form Margret was already up and getting breakfast
ready.

“
Margret, you should have slept in, you
didn’t need to get up and make us breakfast.” Abby gave Margret a
hug. “Merry Christmas.”

“
What’s a better day to get up and make
a real breakfast feast than on Christmas morning?”

“
I was hoping to surprise you and have
at least the coffee made.” Abby admitted.

“
Nonsense, Ms Abby I enjoy taking care
of you, Mr. Jimmy and Miss Holly, you’re like my own. I never had
any children so I chose to dote on you.” She squeezed Abby’s
cheeks.

“
Well come into the living room, there
are presents for everyone.”

“
Miss Abby, I don’t need anything, you
shouldn’t spend your money on me and I have all I need.”

“
I can’t hear you. I’ll see you in the
living room.” Abby walked out of the kitchen.

Abby went into the living room to turn on the
Christmas tree lights, Jimmy was already there. The lights were
turned on and he looked like a kid ready to pounce.

“
Babe, you’re up early.” She went over
to give him a kiss and a hug. He pulled her to his lap.

“
Merry Christmas Mrs.
Riley.”

She hugged him again. She could stay
in his arms forever. Holly came bounding down the
stairs.

“
Merry Christmas.” She grabbed Abby and
Jimmy into a group hug.

“
Shall we get to it?” Jimmy clapped his
hands together and knelt onto the floor.

“
We need to wait for Margret and
Charles.” Abby stated

“
I’ll go get them.” Holly announced
and pranced into the kitchen. Shortly after, she came back in the
room dragging Margret and Charles behind her. They looked
embarrassed at all the attention. They sat on the couch. Jimmy
handed each of them a gift.

“
This is from all of us.” Jimmy
announced.

They both opened their presents.
Margret opened a small box with a heart shaped gold locket
encrusted with diamonds. On the inside was a picture of Holly, Abby
and Jimmy. The inscription read:

Thank you for taking such great care of
us.

Love, Jimmy, Abby and Holly

“
I have never seen anything so
beautiful. Thank you so much.” Margret wiped a tear away from her
eye. All three of them bound at once and gave her a big hug. She
hugged them back, gathered up her paper and excused herself to the
kitchen to finish breakfast.

They then turned their
attention to Charles who proceeded to open his box. His eyes got
wide and stared in amazement. He held up a
Men's Stainless Steel Silver String Dial Beadset Bezel Rolex
Datejust Watch.

“
Oh my Mr. Jimmy, I cannot
accept such an extravagant gift.”

“
You can, I need to make
sure you are where I need you to be on time. This is guaranteed to
ensure that.” Jimmy was grinning ear to ear. “Just so you know, my
father got the same thing for Father’s Day.”

This made Charles wipe his
eyes. He stood up and cleared his throat.

“
Well thank you very much.
I will not let you down Sir.”

“
You never do Charles.”
Abby gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Merry Christmas.”

“
Same to you Ma’am.”
Charles also excused himself to the kitchen to see if Margret
needed any assistance with breakfast.

Abby, Holly and Jimmy then
dug into the tree opening presents from their parents and gifts
sent from friends and business acquaintances. When all was said and
done, the living room looked like a show room at Macys, everything
from kitchenware to outdoor figurines. Abby stood up and announced
she had one last surprise for Jimmy. The pajamas and shaving kit
was just space filler although he was excited to get them. Abby
went behind the entertainment center and pulled out a flat box. She
handed it to him with the widest grin on her face Jimmy couldn’t
help being excited.

“
What is it?” he shook the
box

“
Open it.” Abby
urged.

Jimmy slowly tore the
paper, untapped the box and took off the cover. He unfolded the
tissue paper, looked at the contents and put his hand to his
mouth.

“
How did you do this?”
Jimmy whispered.

“
Karma helped me, do you
like it?”

Jimmy held up the original
score to Star Wars signed by the composer John Williams.

“
John Williams was one of
the men that inspired me to write music.” Jimmy
admitted.

“
I know, I am now forever
indebted to Karma but it was worth it, I am not 100% sure what she
finally had to do to get it but I owe her.” Abby
giggled.

“
You are amazing. Thank
you so much. I’m speechless” Jimmy took her in his arms.

“
Now I have a surprise for
you.” He took her by the hand and led her to the smaller room off
the first floor office.

Jimmy told her to close
her eyes and not open them until he told her too. Holly was
following behind, she was obviously in on the surprise. Jimmy
opened the door to the smaller room and led her inside.

“
Ok open them.” Jimmy said
excitedly

Abby opened her eyes and
her hands flew up to her mouth. She looked all around the room. It
was filled with everything she would ever need for scrapbooking. A
table was against the wall for working. A die cutting machine and
all the accessories sat on another table, a
Sony Alpha
DSLR-A100 digital camera
sat next to the
die cutting machine. Every color of paper you could imagine
textured to solid and printed. Stickers all organized by theme.
Pens of every color and tip type. Brads and eyelets in hundreds of
different shapes. Ribbons of every color. Abby turned wide eyed in
a circle trying to take it all in. The walls were painted in a soft
pink with the words: Inspire Create and Believe, scrolled across
the top in a boarder of black script font.

“
When did you do all of
this?” Abby asked astonished she had no idea this was
done.

“
Holly and I went to the
scrapbooking store, ordered all the supplies and they were
delivered the day you and Holly went shopping. The room was painted
before we moved in. I had the boarder installed awhile ago, I think
the day you took Holly to buy bedroom furniture.”

“
How did you know I
wouldn’t find out?” Abby asked still amazed.

“
You never go in there, we
didn’t specifically furnish those two rooms so there was no worry”
Jimmy felt very proud of himself for pulling this off.

“
I cannot believe you,
this is the best gift ever.” She jumped into his arms and kissed
him all over his face. Holly and Jimmy both laughed.

“
I told you.” Holly
confirmed. “When Jimmy asked if there was anything in the entire
world that you would want and never do for yourself what would it
be? This is it.” Holly said with her arms wide.

“
You both are absolutely
amazing. I love you guys so much.” Abby found it hard to hold back
the tears.

After a breakfast fit for
a king, the trio tried to organize the gifts somewhat, so
appropriate thank yous could be sent. Abby had made a point to keep
all of the tags and cards with the respective gift. Besides once
the thank you cards were sent she was going to scrapbook the cards
and tags.

Abby had just about
finished picking up the last of the paper when a wave of nausea
flooded over her. She quickly sat down. This quick motion was
undetected by the other two. They were too busy admiring their new
goodies. As soon as the wave swept away, Abby excused herself and
went up stairs to take a shower.

“
I think I just ate too
much>” Abby said to herself.

After a really hot shower
she did feel better. She got dressed in one of the new outfits
jimmy had bought for her. A loose fitting pink blouse and a pair of
cotton khaki pants.
She wasn’t convinced by
mid-January but by Valentine’s Day she was positive. She was
pregnant. A million different thoughts swam through her head. It
was so soon after the wedding, should she be overjoyed, upset or
indifferent? How would Jimmy feel? He said he wanted kids but he
also said he wanted to wait. How did the birth control fail? She
had been on the pill for nearly six years and never had a pregnancy
scare. She took it the same time every day. It was supposed to be
up to 99% percent effective in preventing pregnancy. It figures she
fell within the 1% population. She and Jimmy were going out to
dinner that night to celebrate Valentine’s Day. He had told her
earlier he had a big surprise planned for her, she bet hers was
bigger.

Jimmy came home from the studio in
very good spirits. He was always in a good mood but today he was
particularly cheery. Abby hoped her news wouldn’t change
that.

“
You look beautiful.” Jimmy
complimented as he kissed her hello. Abby had chosen a pink blouse
and black pencil skirt to wear to the restaurant. “I’m going to
take a quick shower and then we can go.”

“
Our reservations aren’t until seven
o’clock and it’s not even five thirty, we have plenty of time.”
Abby assured him. “Are you going reveal the big surprise before we
go?”

“
It has been killing you all day hasn’t
it?” Jimmy laughed

“
It’s been torture.” Abby
teased

“
Well you will just have to wait a
little while longer and then I will tell you.” He
promised

Abby sat on the bed and waited for him
to come out of the bathroom. She was contemplating telling him her
news first but wasn’t sure it would ruin the night or not. Jimmy
came out with just a towel on. “It’s no wonder I’m pregnant’ she
thought. “Look at him. If it hadn’t taken me an hour to get ready I
would jump him right now, although that may make taking the news
he’s going to be a father an easier pill to swallow.”

Jimmy noticed her mood, skepticism and
curiosity were written all over her face. He attributed it to being
kept in the dark over his news all day. He decided to end her
torment and tell her what’s going on. He sat on the bed next to her
and took her hands into his.

“
Abby, I have some exciting news. It’s
been in the works for awhile and Doug was waiting for me to make a
decision before arranging all the final plans.”

“
What is going on Jimmy?” Abby’s
curiosity was getting the better of her.

“
We’re going on tour and not the
college circuits either, a real live tour, stadiums and arenas.
Thousands of people coming out to hear my music can you believe
it?”

Abby was stunned. “This is amazing.”
She offered. “Congratulations. When are you leaving?”

“
Not me Abby, we. You and Holly are
coming with us. I ordered a brand new bus for us, all custom made,
perfect for you and Holly to hang out in and enjoy riding in. Happy
Valentine’s Day Baby, are you surprised?”

“
More than I can explain.” Abby
admitted. Jimmy pulled her off the bed and into his arms and swung
her around.

“
This is going to be great, traveling
across the country, seeing the sights together. This is going to be
a trip to remember I can guarantee you that.” He set her back on
the bed.

“
Jimmy.” She started quietly, “I have
a surprise too but I am not sure you are going to be as
excited.”

“
I am so on top of the world right now
I am not sure how anything could spoil it.” Jimmy was lying on his
back on the bed, still in only a towel.