Chapter 8
Heidi’s POV
The next morning, I forced myself out of bed at seven so I
would be at work by my scheduled time of nine. Just as I was getting ready to
walk out the door, the phone rang, and I quickly ran into the living room to
answer it before the sound woke Darrin up.
Just minutes later, I hung up the phone without even saying
goodbye and sat for a few seconds in shock.
I then looked up at the clock and realized I had thirty minutes to get
to work and a forty five minute drive to get there. I would just have to deal with what I heard
on the phone later. So I grabbed my keys
off of the table and quickly ran out the door.
***
Darrin’s
POV
In my mind, I thought I heard the phone ring once, then twice, and
finally a third time before I reached over to feel for the telephone. Once I found it, I opened my eyes and rolled
over onto my back, once I picked the phone up.
“Hello?” I answered in my ‘scratchy because I just woke up’ voice.
“Joshua Darrin, don’t tell me you are just getting out of bed at
this hour!” a teasing female voice greeted me.
At first I didn’t recognize the voice; then it hit me. Only three people ever call me by my full
name: my father, my mother, and Heidi’s mother.
“Hey, how are you doing?” I
asked, while throwing back the blankets from the bed and getting up quickly,
making my way to the kitchen to turn on the coffee machine.
“As well as can be expected, dear.
James and I were wondering if you could pick us up from the airport in
Charlotte in a few hours?”
My eyes widened when I heard this.
“Charlotte?” I asked.
“Yes, we have had a long day of flying. We flew out from Frankfurt, and we are now
waiting for our flight to Charlotte to be called.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you guys would get a flight this soon. It is great you did though; we will be glad
to see you.”
“I know, dear, we will be happy to see you also. I’m sorry to give you such short notice, but
we weren’t quit sure we would be getting this flight to Charlotte. We were trying for one to Roanoke but it was
all booked up and luckily there were a few seats to Charlotte left open. We were going to drive if it came down to
that”
“It is alright, I understand.
What is your expected arrival time in Charlotte?”
“They said around three.
The flight doesn’t leave here till 1:30, and then it takes about an hour
or so to get to Charlotte from Pittsburgh.”
I looked up at the clock and realized it was just about to turn
eleven, and if I left about 11:30 or so, I would get there just in time to meet
their flight.
“You are both off from work today, aren’t you, dear?”
“Nope, Heidi gets off at six, and I’m off today and tomorrow.”
“Well, Darrin, I better let you get ready now. We will see you in a few hours.”
“Okay, Andrea. You guys be
careful. Love you all.”
“Bye, Darrin.”
Then the call was ended, and I quickly hung up the phone. As I was getting ready after taking my
shower, I debated with myself about whether or not to call Heidi at work and
tell her that her parents would be here in a few hours, but I decided not to,
knowing it would be a great surprise for her.
***
“Hey,” I greeted my friend Lisa, as she came into the break room
and sat down by my side followed by my friends Lorna, Lynn, and Andrew.
“Hey,” they all greeted in return.
“Hey, did he ever call you back like he said he would?” Lynn spoke
up from my left side.
I nodded, as I took a drink of Mountain Dew and set it down on the
table. “And?” she enquired. All I could do is nod and half-heartedly
except a hug from my friends.
“Aren’t you happy about it?” Andrew asked.
“Yeah, I am, but I can’t help but think we may only have a month
left, and maybe it would have been for the best if it hadn’t come out the way
it did.”
“So you haven’t told Darrin yet?”
“No,” I said sadly. “And I
probably never will. Why get him all
happy about it, and we don’t get picked to go to the shelter? He will feel guilty about it probably.”
All four nodded their heads in agreement, knowing Darrin’s
personality almost as well as I did because we have all been working together
for years, Darrin now being one of our managers.
“Hey, guys?” I said as our lunch period ended and we made our ways
back to the front of the store. “Don’t
tell Darrin what I told you all today, okay?
If I do decide to tell him, I will tell him when I feel the time is right,
okay?” I gave all four a small smile as
they all agreed, silently thanking God for giving me such wonderful friends.
***
I paced around the airport waiting room, impatiently waiting for
the flight from Pittsburgh to unload passengers. I had actually made it to the airport in
time; thankfully there weren’t many cops out on the roads today to give me a
ticket for speeding.
“Darrin!” a voice from my left shouted. I stopped pacing and faced the direction the
voice was coming from and grinned; my future in-laws were there before me; safe
and sound.
“Hi,” I greeted them as I quickly walked over and gave Heidi’s
mother a hug and picked up Shannon from her arms. “How was your flight?”
“Long,” Heidi’s father answered.
“Let’s go get our bags and get out of here and get home. I want to see my daughter.”
***
“What do you guys want to do?
Do you want to wait at our apartment until Heidi gets home at around
seven, or do you want to go straight to the store and pay her a surprise
visit? If we leave now, we should get
there before she gets off,” I asked James a few minutes later, as we were
walking towards my car with most of the luggage.
“Let’s go surprise her,” he answered, while putting Shannon’s car
seat in the backseat so we would be ready when we picked up Shannon and Andrea
from where we left them at the airport entrance so they wouldn’t have to walk
as far.
I grinned at his answer and just began to picture what Heidi’s
reaction would be when she seen her parents and Shannon, hoping this would in
some way get her mind off the comet and to stop worrying at least for a little
while.
***
Heidi’s POV
I frowned as I hung up the phone after calling Darrin for the
third time and again having no one answer.
It was now fifteen minutes till I got off, and I couldn’t be more
thankful that six o’clock was almost here and that I had tomorrow off along
with Darrin.
“Hey, Lisa, I’m going to the back real quick. Call me if you need me, okay?”
Lisa just nodded, and I quietly shut the office door after I
exited and walked towards the back of the store to the break room. I took a seat at the table and buried my head
in my hands, as I suddenly started to cry, not knowing if it was because of
stress or not feeling good or maybe both.
Finally, my crying spell ended, and I walked to the bathroom to
try and wash away the evidence of my crying.
“Heidi to the office please, Heidi,” I heard Lisa call over the
intercom. I sighed and reached for a
paper towel and quickly dried my face and took one last look in the mirror
before I walked out and went back to the office.
When I approached the office, I saw that Lisa was helping one of
our new cashiers learn to run the register.
“Just need you to sign the reconciliation, and you are done,” she told
me with a smile.
“Yay,” I said unenthusiastically as I got my keys out of my pocket
and unlocked the office door. Just as I
got finished signing, I felt a pair of arms wrap me in a hug from behind, and I
nearly screamed, the only thing stopping me, silly enough, was the smell of the
person’s cologne, which I recognized immediately.
“Hey, babe,” I said.
“Whatcha been up to? I have tried
calling you all afternoon, and no one answered.”
“I had some stuff to do,” he replied. “You?”
“Same old, same old,” I replied.
“Nothing too interesting happened here today. Just let me put these papers in the filing
cabinet, and I will be ready to go ok?”
I quickly stapled the papers together and opened the door to the
back office, gasping at what was before me.
“Momma, Daddy?” was all I could say, as I ran into my parents open arms
and held on for dear life.
***
Hours later, after everyone had gone to bed, I was sitting in the
living room with my laptop, after many failed attempts at falling asleep. Even though seeing my parents again and
seeing Shannon for the first time had lifted my spirits tremendously, I still
felt lousy and couldn’t help but worry about stupid things.
I heard a beep come from the computer in my lap, and I looked
down, seeing that a message from Julie was on the screen.
RokofAges75: Hey!
What you doing on so late for?
PeridotAngel220: I
couldn’t sleep; I had a lot on my mind.
How is your sister doing? I remember you telling me she was coming home
but I haven’t heard anything since then…
RokofAges75: She
is doing great J I’m so
glad she is home now.
PeridotAngel220: Me
too. My parents got a flight to
Charlotte, and Darrin picked them up from the airport and they came to the
store and surprised me.
RokofAges75: Aww
that is sweet! J How did it
feel to see the baby for the first time?
PeridotAngel220: I
cried lol. It was great to see her in
person and not only from pictures, she is so precious Jules.
RokofAges75: You
need to send me some pics when you get some of you and your family ok?
PeridotAngel220:
Ok. Hey Jules can I tell you
something and you promise not to tell anyone else? A few of my friends from work know but I
would feel better if I told someone else also.
RokofAges75: Of
course
PeridotAngel220:
Well first off Darrin told me he wants to marry me as soon as possible
when my parents got here but since they are here now, I don’t know when that
will be. Sorry about the babbling
lol. I just need to find the right word
to say. I was leaving for work this
morning and I got a call from my doctor just before I left.
RokofAges75: And?
PeridotAngel220: He
told me that I’m four weeks pregnant
RokofAges75: OMG
Heidi that is awesome! Congratulations! When are you going to tell Darrin and
your parents?
PeridotAngel220: I’m
not
RokofAges75: What?
Why not?
PeridotAngel220: My reasons probably sound stupid, but
there is a good chance we won’t get picked to go to the shelter and I feel
guilty because this baby will not get a chance to live and I don’t want Darrin
to feel that way. I’m excited that I’m
pregnant and I keep praying we will get picked but deep in my heart I know we
probably won’t, ya know what I mean?
RokofAges75: Yeah
I know what you mean. Speaking of
getting picked for the shelter, did you hear that they started to send out
letters to everyone telling them if they were picked or not? I think they said they are sending it to
people serving in the military first and the first half of that alphabet.
PeridotAngel220: No
I didn’t. So I guess that means that we
all will find out soon. Jules I’m so
scared.
RokofAges75: I know
you are, and so I am but I keep telling myself no matter what the outcome our
families will be with us till the end.
It was then when Julie said that I started to cry. After being so emotional the last few weeks,
I finally had a reason.
I quickly said goodnight to Julie and shut down the computer,
setting it quietly on the coffee table in front of me.
I suddenly heard a soft
cough come from the doorway, and I saw my mother standing there with a look of
concern on her face, and I moved over on the couch to give her room to sit
down. By the look of determination in
her eyes, I knew that Julie wouldn’t be the only one that heard my news that
night.
***