Chapter
35
I decided not to mention Heidi’s and my IM conversation to
anyone. That was an experience I thought
should be kept between the two of us.
So, I went to bed that night, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary
had happened. It took me a long time to
fall asleep, but finally, I did.
The
next day was a Sunday, and I didn’t have to work, so I was happy. Sammy was not leaving until Monday
afternoon, so I had a whole day to spend with her, although I figured she would
want to get together with Megan at some point too.
“Hey,
Julie, are we still going to have some kind of party the week of January 25th?”
Sammy asked.
“Yeah,”
I said. “I want to. It’ll be good for us to get together again.”
Sammy
didn’t know it, but the “party” we had talked about was going to be sort of an
engagement party in her and Nick’s honor.
Of course, at the time, I didn’t know she was planning a surprise baby
shower for me earlier that week.
“The
25th is a Sunday, so we should all come up Saturday, and then
hopefully we could stay the week and have the party the next Saturday, right?”
Sammy asked.
“Yup,
that sounds good,” I agreed. “We’ll plan
on that. We better start telling the
others to make sure that everyone can come.”
“Yeah,”
Sammy agreed. “I know Nick and I are
coming, but we need to talk to Brian and Leigh, AJ and Amanda, Kev and Kristin,
and Howie. I hope they can all make it
this time.”
“Yeah,”
I replied, nodding. “Maybe we could even
invite their families. Make it a big
event.”
“That
would be cool,” Sammy said, nodding. “We
can call the Carter clan, Heidi’s parents, the Littrells, all of ‘em.”
“Yup,”
I said, growing excited about the huge get together. It would be like a family reunion, for we all
felt like one big “family”, one that had gone through more than one tragedy
together and had managed to survive.
***
The next day, I took the afternoon off work so that I could
drive Sammy and Megan to the airport and see them off. Well, technically, I was only driving
Sammy. Amy and Doug were taking Megan
and were going to meet us there.
When
Sammy and I walked into the airport, I could tell she was excited, but
nervous. After all, it had been ten
years since she’d been around her four-year-old daughter, and suddenly, she was
in charge of a teenager. I knew she
would do fine, but I could understand how she was nervous.
Then,
there was Nick. He and Sammy were living
together now, and since he was engaged to Sammy, he would become Megan’s
father. Sammy had talked to him Saturday
evening, and he was very happy that she had been reunited with Megan and was
more than willing to help raise her as his own daughter. I knew he had to be nervous though, for while
Sammy had been a mother once before, he had never been a father. This was definitely a new experience for
him.
Sammy
checked her luggage, and then she and I walked down to her gate, where we would
be meeting Megan. We found Megan already
there, sitting in a chair between Doug and Amy.
We
made some nervous small talk for awhile.
“Flight 102 to Orlando, now boarding!” came a voice over the
loudspeaker.
“Well,
Megan, that’s us,” Sammy said, slowly standing up. Megan also stood up, hesitantly. She was on crutches because of her ankle, and
she balanced on them. She turned to Amy
and Doug and hugged them both. When she
pulled away, I saw tears glistening in her eyes. Amy was crying as well.
“I
love you, Amy,” Megan said softly, hugging Amy again.
“I
love you too, Megs,” Amy replied. “You
be sure to call and email us, okay, honey?”
“Sure,”
Megan said. “I guess this is it
then. I love you both. Thanks for all you’ve done for me.”
“We
love you too, honey,” Doug said, hugging her to him once again. “Goodbye.”
“Bye,”
Megan said tearfully. Then she turned to
Sammy.
“You
ready?” Sammy asked. Megan nodded,
forcing a smile. Sammy smiled tenderly
down to her and turned to me. “You take
care, Jules,” she said, hugging me gently.
“I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,”
I said, hugging her back. “Have a good
flight. Bye, you two.”
“Bye!”
they both said and headed to the plane.
Megan glanced back only once, and then she followed Sammy into the plane
and was gone from sight.
***
Later that night, Josh and I sat cuddled together on the
couch, watching an old movie, a bowl of popcorn between us, a blanket wrapped
around us to keep away the December chill.
My eyes drifted to our Christmas tree, which was set up on one side of
the room, in front of the bay window.
“Next
Christmas, we’ll be buying presents for our baby,” I murmured, smiling at the
thought.
Josh
smiled and rested his hand on my stomach, which was steadily growing
larger. I was almost five months along
now. My due date wasn’t until the end of
April, so I still had a few months to go.
Suddenly,
the phone rang. “I’ll get it,” I said,
starting to hoist myself up.
“No,
you sit. I’ve got it,” Josh said,
already standing up. I sat back and
watched him hurry painfully to get the phone.
He was getting better every day, but he was still sore from his major
surgery. Josh picked up the phone. “Hello?” he answered. A second later, he broke into a grin. “Hey, man, what’s up?… Not much here…. Yup….
That’s good…. Sure, she’s here…. ‘Kay, I’ll put her on…. Talk to ya later….
Bye.” He walked back to me and handed me
the cordless phone. “It’s Brian,” he
said.
I
smiled and put the phone to my ear.
“Hey, Bri!” I said.
“Hey,
Jules!” came his voice. It had been a
few weeks since we had last talked, so I was glad to hear his voice.
“How
are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m
good,” he said. “How ‘bout you?”
“I’m
good too,” I replied. “Have you heard
about the newest addition to Sammy and Nick’s family?”
“Yeah,
that’s what I was calling about,” Brian said.
“Nick called me a little while ago to tell me. That’s so cool!”
“I
know,” I said. “You should have seen
Sammy. I can’t even describe it.”
“I
bet not,” Brian said. “So, you gettin’
ready for Christmas?”
“Yup,”
I said. “Can’t wait. I love Christmas.”
“Me
too,” Brian said. “Hope’s already made
her Christmas list. She can’t wait.”
I
laughed. “Neither can I,” I said. “So, how’s Leigh?”
“She’s
good,” he said. “How about Josh?”
“He’s
pretty good,” I replied. “Getting better
every day.”
“You
tell him I said to take it easy,” Brian said.
“I
will,” I said, chuckling. “But don’t
worry about that, I’ve already been making sure he is.”
“I
bet you are,” Brian said, laughing slightly.
Then his tone turned more serious.
“Have you talked to Heidi lately?”
“Yeah,
actually, I talked to her online Saturday night,” I replied.
“How’s
she doing?” Brian asked, concerned.
“Oh,
she’s been better,” I said, not telling him what had happened. “She sounded pretty depressed.”
“Yeah,”
Brian said softly. “I bet she’s taking
this hard. Sonny’s all she had.”
“I
know,” I said sadly. “It’ll be good for
her to get together with all of us in January.
To have some fun.”
“Yeah,”
Brian replied. “Well, it looks like it’s
time for Hope to go to bed. I gotta go
tuck her in. Talk to ya later, okay?”
“Sure,
Bri,” I said. “Tell the family hi for
me.”
“Will
do,” Brian replied. “Take care,
Julie. Bye!”
“Bye!”
I said, and hung up, glad to have talked to him.
***