Chapter 19
AN: MAJOR props go out to Carrie for writing this next
segment! I wanted to write a part with
them actually in church, but I’m not Catholic and wouldn’t have known what to
write and probably would have messed it up if I had tried, so I just decided
not to, but then I mentioned that to Carrie in an email, and she was like, “Oh,
you could have asked me for ideas, I’m Catholic,” and I was like, “Hm…” and
that led to her actually writing a part for me!
Thank you so much, Carrie, you rock!!
Also, big thanks to Mary for her ideas for later in this chapter!
Nick
shifted his weight uncomfortably in the wooden pew. He had followed Claire and her family into
the church like a lost puppy and awkwardly attempted to follow Claire’s actions
when she genuflected on one knee before entering the seats. It was one of the nearly impossible things
for Nick to try and balance his weight on his artificial limb while kneeling
down on his good one.
They stood
for the entrance hymn and then sat down when a woman approached the altar and
read two different passages from the Bible.
Once she finished, a small song was sung, and they stood up again as the
priest took his place behind the lectern.
Nick leaned
over to Claire. “How many more times do
we go from sitting to standing?”
Claire shot
Nick a stern look as she placed a finger over her lips. Then she grinned and whispered, “Just wait
until we kneel.”
***
“Okay, so
how bad was it?”
Claire
asked the question as soon as Nick had shut the door on the passenger side of
her car, which was parked in lot of the church.
They had just gotten out of Sunday mass and said goodbye to her parents,
who had driven in a separate car.
Nick
shrugged. “It was fine…”
“Be
honest,” Claire said, smirking over at him.
He sighed
and gave her a look. “Well, it wasn’t bad. I just felt, I dunno, kinda out of
place. And all that sitting and standing
and kneeling… man...”
She stifled
a giggle and nodded, understanding completely.
She’d been able to tell. It was
pretty obvious he was not someone who set foot inside a church often,
especially a Catholic one, and she almost wished they hadn’t gone. But her parents went every week, and during
her youth, she’d gone every week too, so she knew her parents had wanted her to
come with them this Sunday.
“Well,
thanks for coming with me,” she told Nick sincerely. “You didn’t have to, but I appreciate it.”
“Hey, no
problem,” he smiled over at her and added with a shrug, “I feel like a better
person for going at least.”
She
laughed. “Me too. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to church. I should probably go more often, but…” She trailed off, mimicking his shrug. She did sometimes feel guilty for not
attending mass more often than she did, for she certainly had a lot to thank
God for. But as Sunday was one of her
only days to sleep in, church just didn’t happen for her most weeks.
Realizing
that they’d just been sitting there for a couple of minutes, and that the car
was quite stuffy inside, she quickly stuck her key into the ignition and turned
on the engine, blasting the air conditioner.
She put the car into reverse and backed out of her space, joining the
line of cars trying to get out of the lot.
“I think
I’m going to talk to my parents as soon as we get back,” Claire said, as they
sped down the highway. “I’ll do that
while you’re changing clothes… hopefully it won’t take long. I mean, my decision’s pretty much made… I’m
just gonna tell them and hope they can accept that.” She bit her lip, hoping with all her might
that they would.
After
talking with Nick the other day, she was ready to let go of her own doubts and
move in with him, taking their relationship to a new level. And now that the decision was made, she was
set on it. It wasn’t like anyone could
forbid her from doing it; it had been years since she’d had to follow her
parents’ rules. But at the same time,
she hated to disappoint them. She owed
them more than that.
All her
life, she’d been “the difficult child” of the family. Kyle, the oldest, had always been mellow,
good-natured, responsible, and for the most part, agreeable. As a child, her mother had described him as
“well-behaved,” and his teenage years had been pretty smooth-sailing, compared
to some. She, on the other hand, had
been quite the opposite. She knew she
had not been a “bad” kid, but she’d always been stubborn and strong-willed, the
kind of person who liked to test other people’s limits. She’d been the child who threw horrible
temper tantrums and refused to stay in time-out and, years later, the teenager
who rebelled, getting into screaming fights with her mother, breaking the
curfew her father had set for her, doing seemingly outrageous things just to
get a reaction.
Looking
back, she chalked it all up to birth order.
Kyle was the firstborn, and she was the baby, and they both had filled
the stereotypical roles quite well.
College had
helped a little, for even though she hadn’t gone far from home, she had
insisted upon living in the dorms on campus, hoping to get some freedom from
her parents. That had helped to make her
more independent and mature, and once she was out from under her parents’ roof,
she’d actually gotten closer to both of them.
She’d always been more of a “Daddy’s Girl,” but after her first year of
college, she found herself bonding with her mother, whom she’d constantly
battled with throughout most of her high school years, as well.
But the
thing that had really transformed her from difficult teenager to sensible adult
was, of course, the diagnosis of her leukemia.
It was a horrible disease, but she had to admit, some good things had
come from it. She had grown up, calmed
down, and learned what was really important in life. She’d found out who her true friends were and
discovered that no one was more important than her family, who had been with
her through it all.
It was all
past her now (she hoped), but those effects lingered, and after everything
she’d both intentionally and unintentionally put her parents through, she now
found herself just wanting to make them happy, to make up for all the grief
she’d caused them in years past. But at
the same time, she wanted to make Nick happy too… and herself; she couldn’t
forget her own happiness.
What had
seemed so simple in Nick’s eyes was turning into a confusing mess for her. At this point, all she wanted to do was get
home, get the conversation with her parents over with, and hope for the best.
***
As soon as
they got back to her parents’ house, Claire slipped out of her black skirt and
stretchy top, trading the dress clothes for a comfy pair of shorts and a tank
top. Leaving Nick to change in the
bedroom, she walked down the hall to her parents’ room and knocked lightly on
the door. After a moment, she heard her
father call, “Come on in!”
She opened
the door and poked her head in. Her dad
was sitting on the bed, having already changed out of his church clothes as
well, switching his black dress socks with the plain old white socks he usually
wore. Her mother came out of the
bathroom right as Claire came in and smiled when she saw Claire. “Hey, honey, what’s up?” she asked her
daughter.
“I just
wanted to talk to you guys about something,” said Claire, coming into the
bedroom and closing the door behind her.
She was about to flop down onto the bed, just as she had when she was a
little girl, to watch in wide-eyed wonderment as her mother breezed around the
room, getting ready for a night out on the town with her father, or maybe just
to talk. But, now an adult, she thought
better of it and sank down into an armchair across from the bed instead, facing
her father. It just seemed more grown up
that way; she couldn’t quite imagine them taking her seriously when she
announced her plans to move in with Nick while sprawled out on her stomach on
top of their bed, her legs in the air behind her, ankles criss-crossed.
So she
crossed her legs like a lady and waited while her mother perched on the edge of
the bed, beside her father. “What do you
want to talk about?” she asked, folding her hands.
“Well…” Claire hesitated, wondering if there was any
certain way she should begin this.
Finally, she decided to just get to the point. “Nick and I want to move in together.”
She watched
her parents’ faces closely. Her father
frowned slightly, but her mother was slowly nodding. “You mean you want to move into his place?”
Claire
nodded. “Yeah. Into his place.”
“So this
means you two are pretty serious then?
This is more than just a fling?”
Claire
smiled. “Yes, Mom… I think it’s always
been more than just a ‘fling’.” The
word ‘fling’ somehow just didn’t fit with her and Nick… not when they’d met
during a chemotherapy treatment, exchanged their first “I love you’s” in a
hospital room, and officially “hooked up” when Nick was still recovering from
life-threatening lung surgery. And after
nearly five months together, there was no doubting it – they were serious.
“Well, are
ya gonna marry him?” Her father spoke
for the first time, simply raising his eyebrows in her direction.
She smiled
again, though awkwardly this time, and shrugged. “Maybe.
Who knows? Personally, I think
it’s a little soon for that, but-“
Her father
nodded vigorously, his head bobbing up and down almost like one of those stupid
drinking birds. “I agree – too soon.”
She put her
hand over her mouth to hide a smirk. Her
dad was a very kind man, but when it came to his kids, her especially, he could
be so overprotective, to the point of driving her nuts. Jamie was the only boyfriend of hers he had
ever gotten used to, even grown to like after awhile. She had a sneaking suspicion that the fact
that Jamie had been a soccer star in high school, leading the school team to
second place in their division for the state senior year, didn’t hurt – like
her brother, her father was a sports fanatic.
She’d always tended to avoid jocks though, except for Jamie, who,
despite his soccer talent, hardly qualified as a “jock” in her eyes. She preferred… mascots? Uh, no.
Then again, she’d never thought much of pop stars either, and look who
she was with now.
“Well,
we’re definitely not getting married now,” Claire reassured her father, “but we
would like to live together.” She
paused, then went on quickly, “If you think about it, it makes so much more
sense to do it that way. I mean, if we
were to discuss marriage in the future – and we’re not… I mean, that hasn’t
come up at all… just being hypothetical here – we’d already know exactly what
we were getting into, if we’d already lived together.”
“Your
brother and Amber didn’t live together before they were married, and they have
a wonderful marriage,” her father pointed out.
Claire gave
him a look. “I’m not Kyle,” she said
firmly.
“Kris,” her
mother stepped in, touching her dad’s arm.
“She has a point, you know. And I
really don’t think this is something we have a say in… Claire’s an adult now,
and this is her decision to make.”
Looking back at Claire, she added, “But thank you for coming to us
before you made it.”
Claire
nodded, smiling faintly. She could feel
happiness bubbling up inside her – her parents hadn’t freaked out; she was
going to be moving in with Nick.
She looked
at her father, hoping for an encouraging sign from him. Her mother seemed to be fine with the
decision, but she knew he was less than enthusiastic about it.
“Dad?” she
asked gently.
He gave her
a little smile. “I guess your mom’s
right,” he said. “If you want to move in
with him, it’s your decision. And if you
think it’s the right step to take, then I trust your judgment.”
That was
all she wanted to hear. Smiling, she
slid off the chair and went over to hug him.
“Thanks, Daddy,” she said, patting his back.
“I suppose
you’ll need help moving all of your stuff out of your apartment and into his
house?” he asked, when she pulled back.
“Um,
yeah... probably.”
He
nodded. “Well, if you do it over a
weekend, I can come down and help. Your
brother could help too.”
“Thanks,
that would be great. I’ll have to talk
to Nick and figure out when a good time would be to do all this. I’ll definitely wait till at least the end of
the month, so I can pay my last month’s rent, but maybe we could do it like the
first weekend in June or something?”
He
nodded. “Well, you talk to Nick and let
me know, and I’ll plan to drive down when you need me.”
“I will,”
she said. “Thanks again, Dad.” Another rush of excitement soaring through
her at the realization that this was really happening, she gushed, “I’m gonna
go find Nick,” and scurried out of the room to tell him the good news.
***
Nick was
overjoyed. After all the drama and worry
of the past week, the decision had finally been made, and there was no changing
her mind now – Claire was moving in. He
was anxious to get home and start getting his house ready for her… even though
she wouldn’t actually be making the move for another two weeks at least. Still, he wanted to be prepared. He had decided that he was ready to move back
into the master bedroom upstairs, rather than stay in the guest bedroom
downstairs he’d been using for the past year, so that he wouldn’t have to go
upstairs. But he could navigate stairs
well enough by now that it wouldn’t be much of a hassle. It would be worth it to have the larger,
nicer bedroom upstairs to share with Claire, and he had promised her the
use of the jacuzzi in the master bath.
While he
stood behind Claire’s car, waiting for her to bring out her suitcase for him to
load into the open trunk and thinking about what all he could do to the house
before she moved in, the front door
opened, and Claire’s father appeared on the front stoop. “Nick!” he called, beckoning to Nick. “Come over here; I want to have a word with
you.”
Nick walked
over, feeling slightly intimidated as he stepped up to the older man.
“I just
wanted to tell you… I know Claire likes you a lot, and you seem like a real
nice kid. But… you make sure you
treat her right, you understand? If you
step out of line with my little girl…”
Nick shook
his head quickly, wide-eyed. “Oh, no,
sir,” he interrupted, “I would never do anything to hurt Claire!” He paused for a minute and then added, “I
love her.” This could have been either
the right or the very wrong thing to say, but luckily, Kris Ryan’s face
relaxed, and he smiled.
“Good.” Stepping forward, he clamped his hand down on
Nick’s shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze.
“I figured I wouldn’t need to say that to you, but it’s a ‘dad’ thing,
you know. If you ever have a daughter
someday, you’ll understand.”
Nick nodded
vaguely, and all of a sudden, he couldn’t help but think of Elaina. Leah’s daughter, the baby he’d thought was
his up until just over two months before she was born. He’d seen her just once, at a chance meeting
with Leah and her fiancée (probably husband by now) at a grocery store last
year, but he still remembered her face, so sweet and angelic, and her features,
blonde hair and blue eyes, just like her mother. She’d be over a year old by now…
His
thoughts were interrupted when the front door swung open and out came Claire,
walking lopsidedly with her heavy overnight bag slung over one shoulder.
“You want
me to get that?” he offered, holding out his hand, but she shook her head.
“Nah, I got
it, thanks,” she replied, carrying it out to her trunk. When she had dumped it in alongside his bag,
she came back up to the front stoop to join Nick and Kris, and now the rest of
the family, who had come out to say goodbye to her and Nick. He said goodbye to Kyle and Amber, who would
be leaving shortly after they did, while Claire hugged her parents, and then
stepped back so she could tell her brother goodbye as well.
“Thanks for
having us for the weekend,” he said politely to her parents, shaking Kris’s
hand and returning the kind smile Carrie gave him.
“Oh, we
were glad to have you. Thanks for coming
up with Claire, Nick. It was so good to
see you again,” replied Carrie, making him feel both welcomed and
accepted. It was a nice feeling.
“I guess
I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks, when we get Claire moved in,” Kris
added, and Nick couldn’t help but notice that although the older man smiled,
the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.
It was not hard to figure out that he was not exactly thrilled about
Claire’s decision to move into Nick’s home.
But Nick tried not to dwell on that too much, hoping it was only his
paternal overprotective nature and not a personal thing.
Nick
nodded. “Yep, I’ll see you then,” he
replied.
He couldn’t
help but feel slightly relieved when he heard Claire say, “Well, we better head
off now. I wanna get on the road and get
home before too long.” They walked to
the car and got in, waving to the family as Claire backed out of the
driveway. Only when she had turned off
of their street did Claire turn to Nick and ask, “So what was my dad talking to
you about when I came outside just a few minutes ago?”
Nick
smirked. “Eh, nothing much.”
“Was he giving you crap about me moving in with you?”
Nick
chuckled, wondering what he was supposed to say to that. In defense of her father, he simply replied,
“No… he was just being a dad.”
They left
it at that.
***