On the Edge (22 page)

Chapter Twenty

Jason and I arrive at the hospital a little after ten o’clock.  Dad is being hard to get along with.  “What the hell is with all these wires?  I can’t even turn without getting snagged,” I hear Dad
complaining before I even walk in the room.  I put my bag on the counter and walk over to Mom.  Her eyes look so tired.  She must’ve been up all night.  Her eyes look as if she aged five years overnight.  “Hi, Dad, how are you feeling?” I ask innocently.

“Like
, I got shot, Abby!” He snaps.  My eyes begin to fill with tears.  I know he doesn’t mean it but these hormones make me cry over everything.  “Oh baby girl, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to snap at you.  It’s just I hate being in the hospital.  Come over here,” he orders.  I do as he requests and he puts his arms around me.  “I’m sorry, princess.” 

I give him a kiss on his cheek and stand.  He puts his hand on my belly and gently rubs it.  “I’m going to be around for a long time.  I need to see these little ones grow up.”  I smile at him as I walk back to Mom.  “Have you slept at all?” I ask, though her eyes tell me the answer to that question.

“No darling.  I’ve been too worried about your dad.  I’m waiting on Mike to get back from dropping Katherine off and then I’m going to head home.”

“Mrs. Wilkinson, I can drive you home now if you would like,” Jason pipes in.

“Oh, that’s nice of you Jason, but I’ll wait for Mike.  You’ve done so much for this family by taking care of our girls here that I don’t want to impose.”

“It’s not trouble at all but if you’d rather wait for Mike, I understand.”

She nods, and looks at Dad.  Dad smiles at her and reaches for her hand.  They have been married for twenty-five years and their love is still as strong as it was, if not stronger, than when I was a child.  This is definitely a Kodak moment.

Mike breaks the silence when he appears in the room.  “Mom, are you ready to go home?  You really need to get some sleep,” he says as he puts his arms around her shoulders. 

Mom gives us all a hug and peck on the cheek before her and Mike leaves the hospital.  Dad’s complaints are fewer now.  He talks to Jason about work and football as I listen to their conversation.  After half an hour, Dad starts to moan in pain.  He presses the nurse call button and the nurse appears almost instantly.  “I’m dying over here.  Could I get some relief from this pain?”  Dad is almost pleading with the nurse.  “Right away, Detective Wilkinson,” she says before turning to go fetch him something for the pain.

“Is there anything I can do for you Dad?”

“Oh princess, just take care of your mother and those babies is all I ask.  She’s so exhausted and you need to stay healthy so those babies grow.  So, their names are Addison and Kylie, huh?” he asks changing the subject.

I smile at him.  “Yes dad, Addison and Kylie are their names.  I hope you like them.”

Dad laughs, “I love them Abigail.  Now, something has been bothering me since you announced their names.  Jason didn’t seem the least bit surprised.  Do you kids want to tell me something?” 

Yes, my father the detective.  No one can sneak anything past him.  “Yes dad,” I chuckle.  “Jason helped me with their names and, as of last night, Jason and I are officially a couple.”

When I announce that Jason and I are dating, dad looks genuinely surprised.  “I had a suspicion about the names but I had no clue that you two were a couple.  Congratulations,” Dad says shaking Jason’s hand.  “This is the part where I tell you not to hurt my little girl and to take care of her or I’ll hunt you done and beat you, but I’ve known you long enough to know that you would never hurt my baby or her babies.”

Jason smiles at my dad and leans down to give him a hug.  “Mr. Wilkinson, I love your daughter and granddaughters.  I will never hurt them.  In fact, I would give my life to keep them protected.  They are safe as long as I am around, I can assure you that.”

With that, the nurse is back in the room
with a shot that she administers into his IV.  Within a few moments, Dad’s eyes are becoming heavy.  I put my hand over his as he begins to drift out of consciousness.  “Abby, baby. Go home and rest and take care of Mom.  I’m fine here and I don’t need you wasting energy on me while I sleep.”

I give his hand a squeeze and kiss his cheek.  Jason places his hand on my dad’s shoulder as a sign of respect.  “Take care of my princess, Jason.  She needs you,” he says before he’s rendered unconscious from the medication that the nurse injected into his blood stream.  Jason and I exchange a smile before he moves to my side and escorts me out of the hospital to his SUV.

             
            
 
*   *   *

We pull into the driveway of my parents’ house a little after one and Jason cuts the engine.  He smiles back at me as he opens his door.  I’m grabbing my purse and opening my door as he makes his way over.  He offers his hand to me to help me out so I don’t lose my balance.  No words are exchanged between us as we make our way to the front door.  I slide the key into the lock and turn.  “Would you like to come in?” I ask him.

“No, sweetheart, I’m sure your mom is exhausted and you didn’t sleep well last night either.  Both of you need to lie down and get some rest.  I’ll call and check on you around six tonight
and bring your back over since we forgot it this morning,” he says before kissing me on my lips.  I open the door and walk through as he turns to walk back to the SUV.

I quietly walk to my mom’s room and take a glance inside.  She’s sound asleep in her bed.  I walk to my room to put comfortable clothes on.  I look at my bed and decide that I really don’t want to sleep alone right now.  I turn and head back to my mom’s room.  She’s sleeping on her side of the bed so I climb into my dad’s spot and snuggle down for some much needed rest with my mom.

I wake in the early evening.  Mom is lying next to me running her fingers through my hair.  I turn to face her.  “I haven’t played with your hair in years.  You know, no matter how old you get, you’ll always be my baby girl, right?”  A smile creeps across my face as I reach over and give my mom a deep hug.  “Come on, let’s order in and watch movies like we did when you were a kid.  Pizza alright?” Mom asks.

I tell her extra pepperoni and pineapple before making my way to my bedroom.  I need to check my phone before settling in with movies and dinner with Mom. 
I haven’t checked my phone since I sent Tommy the text this morning letting him know that there was no chance of reconciliation.

Sure enough, there is one text from Tommy on my phone.  I unlock my screen and go to my message app to view it.

How could you give me hope only to change your mind?  You’ve broken my heart again. :-(

I have nothing to say to Tommy in response to his message.  I don’t know what to say.  I don’t intend on sacrificing mine and Jason’s happiness to give him a chance at making it work with me.  The entire time I was with Tommy was an up-and-down rollercoaster ride.  Yes, I missed him like crazy for a while and really thought that he was the best I could hope for.  He broke m
e spiritually and I’m just beginning to heal from the damage he did to me.  I don’t want to take a step back and fall back into that routine or self-loathing and depression.  I deserve better than that and so do my girls.

                          
 
*   *   *

Dad came home Friday and had a rough first night home.  We were going to postpone the nursery for a few weeks but Dad insisted that doing something fun was what he needed.  Jason arrived first followed by Mike and Katherine about thirty minutes later.  Mom and I had bought some pale pink paint for the walls that match the color of the girls’ bedding sets.  Their bedding is a soft pink with yellow flowers.  It’s very simple but elegant at the same time.  It came with a bumper pad, fitted sheet and comforter.

Mike and Jason lay down the plastic tarp we bought to protect the carpet and bring in the ladder and paint cans from the garage.  As they begin to paint Mike groans.  “What’s the matter, Mike?” I ask him out of curiosity.

“I am losing some testosterone over here being surrounded by all this pink, frilly stuff,” he says with his nose crinkled up.  Everyone, including Dad, bursts out laughing.  “I guess the guys are outnumbered now,” Dad adds.

I’m surprised when the room is completely done.  It looks beautiful.  It’s solid pink halfway down the wall.  The top half consists of stripes of darker pink and brown.  What’s more surprising is that the guys aren’t wearing too much of the paint.  Jason has a little on his face and hands and Mike has a little on his shirt. 

I walk over toward both of them.  “Thank you for risking the loss of some of your testosterone and painting your nieces’ bedroom.  It means a lot to me,” I say to Mike.  The big galoot gives that ‘aww-shucks grin’ and wraps me in a big hug.  Everyone begins to laugh when Mike pulls away.  I look at Jason and he pulls me to his side.  He leans down and whispers, “Mike’s hands are covered in paint when he hugged you and now you have two handprints on your back in pink.”

I shoot Mike frown as he bust up laughing again.  Mike and Jason go clean the paint off their hands while Katherine, Mom and I clean up the room.  We start by removing the painters tape and finish by folding up the tarp used to prevent droplets of paint from getting on the carpet.

As we are finishing up, Jason wraps his arms around my waist.  Though my belly is quite large, he is still able to interlock his hands together around it.  As he leans in to kiss my cheek his eyes widen.  “Oh my goodness was that the babies kicking?”  He asks with a smile on his face.

I let out a little giggle, “Yes, Kylie and Addison are having a dance off in there.  They are going crazy.”

Jason leaves his hands in place and smiles with every kick and punch from my girls.  My mom and Katherine make their way over and place their hands on my belly.  Katherine lets out her squeal of excitement and my mom starts to cry. 

Jason steps back to allow Mike and my dad their turn to feel the party going on within me.  It’s pure love that I feel in the room at this moment.  Everyone that loves me is here and my girls are already loved more than they can imagine. 

Everyone starts back to work setting up the nursery.  Jason and Mike work on assembling the cribs.  The first crib caused a few curse words to escape their mouths; however, they got the second crib assembled far quicker and with no issues.  While the guys worked on the changing table and the dresser, Katherine, Mom and I start putting the clothes on hangers and getting them hung up according to season and size in the closet. 

By the end of the day, everyone is exhauste
d but the nursery is complete.  The cribs are set up against the wall furthest from the entry to the room with the clean bedding placed, lovingly, inside each crib.  Addison’s name is above the first crib in white block letters with pink and brown polka dots while Kylie’s name is above her crib in the same lettering.  The changing table is against the wall adjacent to their cribs and stacked with newborn diapers and wipes and diaper rash cream.  Next to the table is a diaper pail to put their dirty diapers in.  Katherine brought over two bow holders that match the bedding with each girl’s names on it.  The bow holders are hanging, side-by-side, on the wall next to the changing table.  Katherine even included a couple of matching, stacked bows to it and promised to make sure they have many more before they’re born.  The girls are sharing a dresser that sits against the last wall in the room.  A lone lamp sits on top of it with two personalized jewelry boxes.  Inside the closet hang their clothes for the first year of their life.  Two of every outfit hangs side-by-side.

Seeing the nursery completed makes this pregnancy more re
al than my growing belly does.  These girls were unexpected but, with time, have become a much expected part of my family and I couldn’t be happier about becoming a mom by the end of the year.  I rub my belly as I smile to myself completely lost in my own bliss.

Chapter
Twenty-One

     
                
 
**10 October 2012**

Fall has hit Placid City.  Jason and I have been together a little more than two months and the world is a happy place for me.  Katherine started back to school a few weeks after we completed the nursery and Dad went back to work at the end of September.  Mom and I are, secretly, thankful that he’s back at work.  We love Dad to pieces but he was starting to get a bit grouchy being at home all the time. 

I haven’t seen Tommy since our encounter at the bistro after the gender reveal.  I never responded to Tommy’s text message and he hasn’t tried to contact me since then either.  Dad and I agree that it’s probably for the best.  We have already talked to an attorney about seeking custody upon Addison and Kylie’s delivery.  Since dad was injured, he has been unable to work the overtime that he wanted to be support us with, so Jason has offered to pay the attorney fees to help me gain full custody and limit Tommy to supervised visitation if he even wants to see the girls.

Lately, I’ve been bouncing between Jason’s house and my parents’ house. 
Katherine moved in a couple of weeks ago and her and Mike share his room.  Jason has rearranged his room to accommodate me and my things.  I’m starting to feel like I’m moving in with Jason.  Slowly, more of my things end up at his place and rarely does any of it come back home with me. 

This morning, I lay next to Jason as he sleeps.  I look at my sleeping boyfriend and wonder how I got so lucky.  He isn’t the biological father of these babies that grow under my heart but he has not missed an appointment since attending the gender reveal.  He talks about “his” girls all the time and how excited he is that they will be here soon. 

As I continue to look at him, his hazel eyes flutter open.  He stretches his arms over his hand and arches his back to loosen his muscles before wrapping his arms around me.  “Good morning beautiful.  How did you and my girls sleep last night?” He asks before kissing my forehead. 

I smile and let out a yawn, “Not well.  The girls had me up to use the bathroom more frequently than normal.  I swear, they love utilizing my bladder as a makeshift trampoline every night.  I’m going to be exhausted
before
they are even born,” I pout.

Jason rolls to his side and encourages me to roll on my back.  He pulls my t-shirt up to expose my very round and very hard belly.  He plants a kiss on the top of my belly and begins to talk to the girls.  “Addison.  Kylie.  Are you listening in there?”  Almost like they are responding, my belly ripples as they start to turn around.  “
Good.  Now listen girls, your mama needs her rest.  You two need to do your acrobatic routine during the day instead of in the middle of the night.  Do we have an understanding?”

There is no more movement from the babies.  Jason looks up at me and smiles, “Well, I think they have your stubbornness.  They have decided to go to sleep and rest up so they can practice their routine tonight,” he says with a smile on his face.

I laugh as I begin to get out of bed.  Jason groans because we can’t spend the day together like we usually do.  He has to go to the office for a few hours this morning.  Since I don’t like staying in his house alone, I am going to go home.  My mom is out of town with a friend and dad is at work but if I have to be alone, I would rather be alone at home than here. 

“Abigail,” Jason calls out as I make my way into the kitchen after my shower.  “Can I ask you a question and you stay open-minded about it?” 

I glance over at him as I sit down to eat the eggs and toast that he made me.  “Sure Jason.  You know you can talk to me about anything and I’ll be open-minded,” I answer as I take a bite of my toast.

He grabs his cup of coffee and sits down at the table next to me.  “Well, I was thinking that you’re here more than you are at home.  I think it would be more practical to turn the guest room into a nursery for Addison and Kylie.  Before you say anything, I’ve already talked to Mike and Katherine about it and they are excited about having a nursery here for the girls.”

I put my toast down and stare at Jason.  I am trying to make sense of what he’s asking.  “Jason, I would love to have a room here for the girls but once they arrive they will need stability and I don’t want my girls being bounced from one house to another.  I want them to know what home is and not call two places home,” I explain. 

Jason is empathetic.  He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips.  “Why don’t
you
all move in here and call this place home?  Your mom could still see the girls every day, especially when you go back to school, and they would have their Uncle Mike and Aunt Katherine here every day.  And, they would also have me.  I my not have helped in their conception but I love them as much as a father can love a child.”

Is Jason asking to be their dad?  Does he really want to be their father figure and love them and support them and raise them?  “Before you speak, Abby, I know what you’re thinking.  Yes, I want to be their dad.  I want to walk the floor with them at night when they can’t sleep and to teach them to walk and talk.  I want to teach them to ride a bicycle and drop them of
f on their first day of school.  I want to be their dad.  The man they come to when someone breaks their heart or when they have a nightmare.”

My eyes are becoming misty and a smile is creeping across my face.  What Jason wants is what I want for my girls.  To hear him confess that this is what he wants is almost too much for me.  “I love you, Jason.  I don’t know what to say other than yes.  As long as Mom and Dad are okay with this arrangement, I would love to move in here.”

Jason gets up and wraps me in his arms.  “I’m so glad you agreed.  I know that you have to be worried about our future but I can assure you, Abigail, I am
not
going anywhere.  I can never stop loving you.  Every day that passes I love you more and those babies.  Do not ever doubt my love for you.”  I smile up at him and nod my head in understanding.

                          
 
*   *   *

Jason drops me off at my parents’ house before heading to the office.  He helps me in the house before kissing me.  “I’ll only be at the office for a couple of hours.  I just need to file some client records away and grab the files that I need for the rest of the week.  When I get back, we will talk to your parents about you moving in with me and then we can go shopping for the nursery at home.”

I smile at him as he walks out the door.  I lock the bottom lock behind him
and head down to my room.  Once inside, I place my iPhone in the dock and turn my iTunes on.  Katherine’s favorite Britney Spears song plays through the speakers.  I begin to shake my hips to the lyrics of ‘Toxic’ as I make my way down the hallway. 

Just as I enter the kitchen I hear a loud thud at the f
ront door.  My enter body jumps at the sound.  I turn around to head back to the foyer to investigate the sound.  As I turn the corner, I am met with another loud thud and the door flies open sending shards of broken wood in every direction.  My heart begins to beat at record speed as I am face to face with Tommy.