TITLE: Picking Up The Pieces-Chapter Nine
AUTHOR:
Cindy (RkieFan1960@AOL.com)
SETTING: Nov. 8 - Nov. 22, 2001
SUMMARY: Jill returns to California
with the children and helps Michelle plan for her wedding. Also, things
begin to get interesting between Mike and Jill.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song 'Runaway
Train' is sung by Soul Asylum.
Los Angeles-Thursday, Nov. 8,
2001
Mike had just arrived back at
the lake house after being gone all day on a surveillance job with Willie.
He turned on the computer to check his email and was pleased to see a message
from Jill. He anxiously clicked on it, hoping it was news about the house.
Mike,
Good news. I've known about
this since Monday, but didn't want to say anything in case it fell apart.
I sold the house. I'm in the middle of getting everything packed up now.
I'll be going in to sign all the papers on Monday, so hopefully I can get
everything packed up here and be on the road by midweek. I probably won't
be sending any more emails because I want to get the computer stuff boxed
up, but I'll call as soon as we're on our way. I hope you've been working
on finding us a house.
Jill
Mike grinned as he thought about
shooting her a reply but he decided against it, especially since she probably
wouldn't see it until after she got her computer set back up. He was still
grinning when Eddie walked in a short time later.
"I hope you're grinning with
good news. How'd the job go?" He asked as he got a bottle of water from
the refrigerator.
"It was almost a washout until
Robertson came out of his house shortly after four o'clock and decided
to shoot baskets with his son," Mike informed Eddie.
"So I take it there was nothing
wrong with his back?" Eddie surmised.
"Not that we could see and Willie
got some great pictures to show to the insurance company. I think this
kind of blows Robertson's workman's comp. claim all to hell," Mike concluded.
"Oh, and my ex- wife sold her house. She'll be heading out here next week."
"Did you tell her about the
house?" Eddie asked curiously.
"Just that it was out in the
sticks and needed a ton of work," Mike repeated what he'd told Jill.
"Danko, this house is not out
in the sticks and it doesn't need a ton of work! Now, did I or did I not
make you a favorable offer?" Eddie asked in irritation.
"You did, sir," Mike agreed.
"Then, what's the problem? Trap's
moving to town, I'm moving out to the little house and you're staying in
the trailer. Everything's going as planned or is it?" Eddie boomed.
"Kind of," Mike agreed as he
tried hard not to smile. "I was thinking that Jill might need some help
getting her stuff down here. I mean, she's never had to pull a U-Haul and
she has the added burden of the two kids."
"Call the airlines and get your
butt on a plane to Texas," Ryker instructed. "But you'd better fill her
in on what you and I have talked about."
San Antonio-Friday, Nov. 9,
2001
It was a raw, dreary day. The
kind of day where you just wanted to make a huge, steaming pot of soup
and curl up under the covers with a good book. Michael had come barging
in from school that afternoon begging to sleep over at his friend, Ryan's,
house. Jill readily agreed, and after throwing some clothes into a backpack,
her son was on his way. She smiled, knowing she wouldn't see him until
at least mid-day Saturday. After dismissing Rosie for the evening, she
made chicken noodle soup for herself and Shelby. Since recovering from
her heart surgery, the little girl's appetite had come back with a vengeance.
Jill was still studying options
regarding hearing aids and such, but decided to wait until they were settled
in California before making any decisions. At the moment they were curled
up in Jill's bed while Jill read 'Peter Pan' to Shelby. Jill was halfway
through when the lights started flashing on her bedside table as Jill heard
the door bell downstairs.
"Someone's at the door," Shelby
signed.
Jill frowned and looked at her
clock. It was after eight o'clock. She hoped there was nothing wrong with
Michael. She picked Shelby up and made her way downstairs. She turned on
the porch light and looked through the peep hole, but it was so dreary
and misty that she couldn't make out anybody.
"Jill, it's me," Mike's muffled
voice came through the door.
"Mike, what're you doing here?"
She called out as she hurriedly unlocked the door and let him into the
house.
Mike walked in, looking around
at the sea of boxes that were stacked in the living room. "Either you're
getting ready to move or you're having a huge rummage sale, one or the
other," he grinned.
"Why didn't you let me know
you were coming?" Jill exclaimed delightedly as she hugged him tightly.
"The guests room's completely ripped apart," she apologized as she put
Shelby on the floor.
"That's okay. I thought you
might need help pulling the U-Haul across country, so I'm volunteering
my services," he smiled as he bent down to scoop Shelby up. "My God, what've
you been feeding this kid? Bricks?"
"I know. She's gained almost
five pounds since the surgery. Between her and Michael, my grocery bill's
going through the roof," she smiled as she ruffled Shelby's hair.
"Speaking of Michael, where
is he?" Mike asked, looking around.
"Spending the night at a friends.
He'll be back some time tomorrow, but he's going to be thrilled to see
you. Do you want some coffee?" She asked as she walked toward the kitchen.
"Coffee would be great," he
told her as he followed her with Shelby still in his arms.
"How's the wedding planning
coming along? Every time I talk to Michelle, she's a nervous wreck. She
said Thomas keeps inviting more and more people," she told him as she put
the coffee on.
"If it were up to Thomas, he'd
hire out the Staple Center and invite the Los Angeles Lakers. Did she tell
you that Irene called her?" He asked.
"Yeah," Jill answered with a
nod. "I've always been afraid of something like that happening. I really
thought it would happen when Savannah . . . when she died," she said as
her voice dropped off. Jill had learned very quickly that the subject of
Savannah's death could quickly turn a quiet conversation into a raging
battle.
"She didn't know about Savannah.
I don't think she's called back since that one time, but Michelle was upset
about it for days. Oh, I need to talk to you about something. It's about
your house," he began.
Jill glanced at him in surprise
and slowly sat down.
"Don't say anything until I
finish, please," he begged. "After you left to come back here in October,
I told Eddie that you wanted me to find a house for you and the kids. Trap
has a girlfriend that he's very serious about. She's asked him to move
in with her. Eddie's going to move into Trap's house and I'm going to stay
in the travel trailer that he uses when he wants to get away from us. He
wants you and the kids to stay in the main house. You see, basically he
sold the house to me," he concluded.
"He sold you his house?" She
asked in confusion, trying to digest everything he'd said.
"He told me that when he passes
away he'd be leaving it to you and me, anyway," he explained with a nod.
"He said we're the only ones who appreciate it and that he'll make any
changes to it that you want. Just say the word."
"That house has always been
perfect the way it is. I don't know what to say," she whispered in stunned
surprise.
"Just say you'll move in," he
begged her.
She nodded. "So, tell me about
Trap's girlfriend. I mean, we used to dedicate that Brooklyn Bridge song
to him, remember?" She grinned. "How did they meet?"
"He was investigating her cheating
husband. After it was all over and she'd divorced the guy, she called Trap
one day out of the clear blue and they've been together ever since. We're
not crazy about her, but Trap's nuts about her," he sat there and told
her more tales over coffee until she looked over in time to see Shelby's
head droop.
"I'd better get her to bed,"
she observed as she took Shelby from Mike's arms and took her upstairs
to her room.
<><><><><><>
Jill was having breakfast with
Mike the next morning when the front door flew open.
Michael came running in. "Mom,
can I go to the movies with . . . dad!" He stopped short as he saw his
father sitting at the table. "Mom, why didn't you tell me dad was coming
into town?"
"Because I didn't know," she
answered. "And, yes, you can go to the movies with Ryan if you've been
invited. What are you going to go see?"
"'Lord of The Rings'," Michael
replied thoughtfully. "I don't have to go."
"Go have a good time with your
friend. I'm not going anywhere," Mike told his son with a smile.
"He's going to help me drive
the trailer to L.A. Do you need some money?" She asked as she went to get
her purse.
"No, Ryan's dad's paying for
us both," Michael told his mother.
"Behave yourself and make sure
you thank him," Jill instructed him as he nodded and ran back out the front
door.
"I thought he'd be going to
see 'Harry Potter, '" Mike pointed out.
"It hasn't opened yet, but that's
all he's talked about for months. I think he's read the books a hundred
times," Jill smiled as she gathered their breakfast dishes and took them
to the sink.
Monday morning after Jill got
the papers all signed, she rented the largest U-Haul she could and she
and Mike began the fun task of loading it. They had spent the night before
dismantling the bedroom furniture. Everyone slept on the floor, which the
kids thoroughly enjoyed. To them it was like camping without the bugs.
She had sold her living room furniture and the buyers were scheduled to
pick it up that afternoon. They were upstairs getting boxes of stuff when
they heard a horn honking out front.
"I think your neighbors are
annoyed about the trailer," Mike told her as they walked downstairs.
"Well, they can just deal with
it. I want to be out of here by midnight. We're going to get slowed down
when I have to go get the kids from school," she grumbled as they walked
out of the front door and toward the trailer.
"Hey, somebody told us that
you were moving," Mike almost dropped his box at the sound of Terry's voice
from the curb.
Jill laughed at the sight of
Terry, Willie, Thomas and Eric standing beside Willie's Montero. "What're
you guys doing here?" She questioned in excitement as she put her box down
and ran over to hug them.
"We were ordered to get our
butts down here and help you move, so here we are," Willie explained as
he started walking toward the house with the other guys.
"Oh, this is wonderful! Thank
you!" She hugged them once again as she followed them into the house.
They continued working while
Jill went to pick the kids up from school. Ryan's mother had offered to
let both children stay at her house while they finished up -- an offer
Jill was more than grateful to accept. It was after dark by the time they'd
gotten the last box and piece of furniture crammed into the trailer and
Mike securely closed and locked it. "What do you think? Do you want to
start out tonight or wait until tomorrow morning?" He asked Jill as they
all collapsed on the living room floor in exhaustion.
"Let's start out early. With
both of us driving, we should make good time," Jill suggested.
"Whoa! We were told that you
weren't to drive. Thomas and Willie are going to take the Montero back
with Eric and the kids and I'll help Mike drive the Trooper," Terry informed
Jill.
"Terry, I know how to drive
my car! And, whose orders are these?" Jill objected as the guys started
laughing. "Never mind."
"That old man is driving us
crazy! Now he's talking about building a pool house, so Mike won't have
to stay in the trailer. If Mike doesn't want to stay in the trailer, can
I live in it, instead?" Eric asked his father.
"Hey, you're lucky your mom
let you out of school to come with us," Willie reminded his son. "There's
no way she's going to let you live at Ryker's."
"Let me go get the sleeping
bags," Jill offered as she got up off of the floor and headed upstairs.
"Mike, can you go next door and get the kids?"
"I'll go," Eric volunteered
as he got up and headed out the door.
"Thanks, Eric," Jill thanked
him as the door closed behind him.
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001
Early the next morning everybody
got up and dressed to hit the road. Jill did a last minute walkthrough
to make sure nothing had been forgotten. Shelby was slightly upset that
she wasn't riding with her grandparent's, but Willie and Thomas soon assured
her that they were going to have a great time. Michael was no problem,
since Thomas was a hero of his and he was perfectly willing to go anywhere
Thomas and Eric were going.
"Don't play 'Speed Racer' and
get miles ahead of us, Mike," Willie warned his friend as they got in their
vehicles.
"Hey, don't worry about me.
You just keep your lead foot steady," Mike grinned as he closed the driver's
door of the Trooper and started it.
"I've got some CD's if you guys
want some road music," Jill offered from the passenger seat as the two
men nodded. She reached under the seat and took out her CD wallet and popped
a disc into the player, not paying attention to which one it was. When
the first song started, she glanced over at Mike, almost instantly regretting
her decision. The song had been played at Savannah's funeral and Jill had
driven Mike nuts with it for months afterwards.
"It's okay. I listen to it all
the time, too," he assured her in a subdued voice.
She exhaled in relief.
'Call you up in the middle
of the night
Like a firefly without a
light
You were there like a blowtorch
burning
I was a key that could use
a little turning
So tired that I couldn't
even sleep
So many secrets I couldn't
keep
I promised myself I wouldn't
weep
One more promise that I
couldn't keep
It seems no one can help
me now
I'm in too deep; there's
no way out
This time I have really
let myself astray
Runaway train, never going
back
Wrong way on a one-way track
Seems like I should be getting
somewhere
Somehow I'm neither here
nor there
Can you help me remember
how to smile?
Make it somehow all seem
worthwhile
How on earth did I get so
jaded?
Life's mystery seems so
faded
I can go where no one else
can go
I know what no one else
knows
Here I am just a-drownin'
in the rain
With a ticket for a runaway
train
And everything seems cut
and dried,
Day and night, earth and
sky,
Somehow I just don't believe
it
(Chorus)
Bought a ticket for a runaway
train
Like a madman laughing at
the rain
A little out of touch, a
little insane,
It's just easier than dealing
with the pain
(Chorus)
Runaway train, never coming
back
Runaway train, tearing up
the track
Runaway train, burning in
my veins
I run away but it always
seems the same'
Mary Kathryn had found the CD
among Savannah's things when they were trying to find clothes to bury her
in. When Jill first listened to the song, she felt that it described her
pain perfectly. She didn't realize that Mike listened to it, too. She decided
that particular CD didn't fit her mood, so she popped it out and put a
cheerier disc in.
"Lt. Ryker calls songs like
that one 'songs to hang yourself by, '" Terry joked as Jill smiled.
"Right up there with country
music," Mike agreed.
Jill slapped at him.
"Oh, come on! Name me one cheerful
country song! They all sound alike. 'My wife died and the dog left me,
so I'll just sit here and get drunk in my pick-up truck, '" Mike crooned
in an exaggerated Southern accent as Jill and Terry burst out laughing.
"I guess that just leaves The
Beatles," Jill put the disc in as Mike nodded.
"Babe, there is no one else,"
he reminded her as she smiled. She hadn't heard him call her 'babe' in
years -- since before Savannah's death, as a matter of fact.
The miles passed as they talked,
listened to music or dozed off. Terry switched with Mike in El Paso, while
Mike stretched out as well as he could in the back seat. Terry and Jill
talked for a while before Jill found herself dozing off. When she woke
up later, it was mid afternoon. "Where are we?" She yawned over at Mike,
who was now driving.
"New Mexico. We should be in
Arizona by dark," Mike told her as she rubbed the kinks out of her neck.
"When did you guys switch?"
She asked, looking over at Terry, who was asleep in the backseat.
"A while back. You were out
like a light. When's the last time you slept?" He asked.
"Nineteen ninety-seven," she
answered cryptically.
"I think we're still going to
have to work on our communications skills," he said in a tight voice.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have
said that," she apologized as he looked at her. At that moment, her cell
phone rang, preventing her from saying anything more. "Hello?"
"Hey, ask Mike if we're going
to stop soon. The kids are getting hungry and restless. We should stop
and let them blow off some steam," Willie suggested as Jill relayed the
message to Mike.
"Tell them we'll stop here pretty
soon. I need to get gas, anyway," he told them as Jill relayed his message.
They stopped at a McDonald's
in the next town and let the kids play while the adults rested. "Do you
want to switch occupants? I'm getting tired of listening to the kids bicker,"
Willie grumbled.
"Michael's doing the bickering,
William. Shelby doesn't even talk," Mike corrected his friend.
"You're wrong, Michael! He loves
to make her squeal like a banshee. Try listening to that for several hundred
miles," Willie complained.
"I'll tell you what. You guys
keep Michael and we'll take Shelby. Fair enough?" Jill compromised as Willie
readily agreed.
<><><><><><><>
Meanwhile, in the house in North
Hollywood that Michelle shared with Thomas, she was standing at the bathroom
sink staring at the plastic stick she was holding in shock and surprise
before rereading the back of the box for the hundredth time. The directions
definitely said that a plus sign meant positive. When Thomas had suggested
a month ago trying to have a baby, Michelle thought it would take months
-- maybe even years. She had no idea that she'd be standing here less than
30 days after the suggestion staring at a plus sign on a stupid plastic
stick.
Part of her was still wondering
if she really wanted to have a baby. It would be one thing if Thomas were
going to be around. But, as it was, he was leaving for basic training a
week before Christmas and he had no idea where he was going to go after
that. The thought of raising a baby alone was terrifying. She'd only bought
the pregnancy test at the store as a lark. She didn't feel pregnant. Her
period was late, but she thought it was just the stress of planning the
wedding. Thanks to Thomas, the guest list kept getting longer and longer.
She wasn't inviting many of her co-workers since, unlike Thomas, she didn't
have that many close friends on the job. Her friends were the girls she'd
been friends with since high school and college. Thomas seemed to be inviting
every friend he'd made since Kindergarten.
If she'd figured right, Thomas
would be back in town sometime that afternoon or early evening. She wondered
how she was going to tell him the news that he was going to be a father.
She knew he'd be thrilled while she still felt ambivalent about it. She
decided to wait until she'd seen the doctor and got the official word before
breaking the news to him. She was due to see the doctor later that morning.
She sighed as she went toward the shower.
<><><><><><>
They arrived at the lake house
as the sun was going down. Eddie was thrilled to see Jill and the children.
He couldn't stop fussing over Shelby as she fought to get down to run around
the house.
"She's a different little girl,
Eddie. She doesn't like to be held much, anymore," Jill told him as they
watched her tear around the living room.
"She looks wonderful," he smiled
as they watched her.
"We'd better get back to town
before Michelle launches a search party," Thomas said as the guys headed
toward Willie's Montero. "We'll be back tomorrow to help you unload the
trailer."
"We will?" Willie asked in surprise.
Mike and Terry grinned.
"That's what the lieutenant
said when he sent us on this mission," Thomas reminded his father.
"Oh, and we always do what he
says?" Willie bantered back.
"You do if you want to get paid,"
Ryker warned his employee as everybody laughed.
"So, I guess we'll be here early
in the morning to help unload the trailer," Willie relented as they got
in the car and drove off.
<><><><><><>
It was dark when Willie dropped
Thomas off in front of the house in North Hollywood. Michelle's jeep was
parked in the driveway, but the lights were off inside the house. "Michelle
can't already be asleep. It's not even ten o'clock," Thomas noted as he
looked at his watch.
"Maybe she has an early shift
in the morning," Willie told his son.
"I'll meet you at the lake house
at seven," Thomas said as he got out of the Montero.
"I'll be there," Willie promised
as he put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.
The dogs all ran to greet Thomas
when he entered the house. He shooed them away before entering the bedroom
where Michelle was sound asleep with all four cats stretched out on the
bed. He rolled his eyes as he removed them one by one and threw them out
of the bedroom. "Shel, I'm home," he whispered as he leaned over and kissed
her tenderly.
"What time is it?" She mumbled
sleepily as she rolled over to face him.
"Almost ten. I'm going to go
take a shower. I didn't mean to wake you up. I just wanted to let you know
I was home," he told her as he walked to the dresser to get clean clothes.
"That's okay. We need to talk,
anyway," she yawned.
"No more dogs, Michelle. We've
already talked about this," he warned .
"I'm not getting any more animals,
Thomas," she remarked as she reached over and turned on the light. "But
we are going to be acquiring something else."
"What are you getting?" He asked
suspiciously as he sat down beside her.
She handed him a slip of paper.
"What is this?"
"The results of my visit to
the doctor today," she replied mysteriously.
"Oh, my God!" He exclaimed in
excitement after he'd finished reading it. "A baby? Michelle, this is great!"
He crowed as he pulled her into a bear hug. When he didn't get any kind
of a response back, he pulled away to look at her. "You are happy about
it, aren't you?"
"I'm happy that you're happy
about it," she assured him.
"I feel like I'm forcing you
into something you're not ready for," he admitted guiltily as he pulled
away from her.
"It's not that I'm not ready,
it's just that . . . I don't know what I'm feeling," she admitted with
a sigh.
"Maybe you could talk to your
mother again. I have to go over early in the morning to help unload the
trailer. Why don't you come with me?" He suggested.
"I can't. I have to go on duty
in the morning. Look, I don't want everybody knowing about this just yet.
We'll tell them together when I decide it's time, okay?" She begged.
"Okay, we'll tell them together,"
he agreed as he pulled her close again. "I love you," he whispered as she
wrapped herself around him. "Your mom is anxious to help with the wedding
plans, though."
"I'm glad, because I need her
help. How did she and my dad seem during the trip down?" She asked.
"Terry said they were great,
but she still throws biting comments at your dad every now and then," he
told her.
"I do hope they get things worked
out, for Michael's sake. It sucks having your parents hate each other,"
she remembered back to her birth parents and how awful that was.
"I don't think they hate each
other. There's still just a lot of hurt and anger. I think your mom coming
back here was a good idea. I need to go take a shower," he remembered suddenly
as he disentangled himself from Michelle's embrace.
<><><><><>
The next morning the guys showed
up as promised to help unload the trailer. Lt. Ryker had moved his bedroom
furniture to Trap's house so Jill moved her queen-sized bed and accessories
into his old room. Michael already had his own small room and Shelby slept
in what had once been Mary Kate, Michelle and Savannah's room. Thomas told
Jill that Michelle was looking forward to her help with the wedding.
"Has she got her dress yet?"
Jill questioned as they moved her dresser against the wall.
"Yeah, she's just worried if
it's still going to fit in two weeks. She's so jittery that her weight
keeps going up and down," Thomas replied.
"When's Natalie coming in?"
Jill asked as they walked toward the living room where the guys were bringing
in more stuff.
"Monday afternoon. My mom's
all excited," Thomas grinned as they walked back out to the trailer
"I bet. Mary Kathryn's getting
in Wednesday night with her boyfriend. She said they've already gotten
a hotel room in town," Jill told him.
"Why?" Thomas asked in confusion.
"Because Pete doesn't want to
disrespect me in my home," Jill answered with a smile.
"Is she going to marry him?"
Thomas wanted to know.
"I don't know," she answered
sagely. "She's practically living with him now. We'll just have to wait
and see."
<><><><><>
The Monday before Thanksgiving
Willie and Jennifer went to LAX to pick up Natalie. They were both nervous
yet excited to be seeing their daughter for the first time in three years.
Jennifer just hoped that it would be a pleasant visit home. Her husband
had always tended to treat Natalie differently than he did his sons.
The flight from North Carolina
was finally announced and a few minutes later Natalie exited the tunnel,
smiling as she spotted her parents. She hadn't changed much. She'd cut
her long, curly dark hair and it now rested on her shoulders in a mass
of curls, much like her fathers.
"Hi, mom," she greeted her mother
with a hug before looking over at Willie. "Hi, daddy."
"How was your flight?" Willie
asked gruffly as he took her carry-on bag from her.
"Long," she replied curtly.
Jennifer slipped her arm around
her waist and they made the long walk toward baggage claim.
"Mary Kate's coming in Wednesday
night," her mother told her.
"Where are we having Thanksgiving
dinner?" Natalie grinned.
"Our house. It's the only place
large enough for everybody," Willie answered as they rode down the escalator
to baggage claim.
Wednesday evening, Mike made
his own trip to LAX to meet Mary Kathryn and Pete. He was nervous about
meeting his daughter's new boyfriend. He kept telling himself that she
wasn't in high school any more. She was entitled to a life of her own.
He just hoped that Pete was a decent guy. He couldn't help letting his
thoughts drift back almost five years to Troy. They'd thought he was a
decent person at first. It was only later that he showed his true colors.
His reverie was broken by the flight being announced. He craned his neck
to spot Mary Kathryn as she exited the plane. After several minutes he
smiled as he finally saw her emerge into the terminal, followed closely
by a tall, dark-haired man wearing an FDNY cap. He was glad that Jill had
convinced them to stay at the house during a conversation with Mary Kathryn
earlier in the week.
"Hi, daddy," Mary Kathryn greeted
enthusiastically as she embraced Mike fervently. "Daddy, this is Pete Granado.
Pete, this is my father, Mike Danko."
"Hi, Pete," Mike smiled as he
shook Pete's outstretched hand.
"Sir," Pete responded nervously
as he let out his breath.
"Please call me Mike," Mike
told him. "Come on, let's get your bags so we can get home. Your mom's
making dinner."
"Is the wedding still on for
the first?" Mary Kathryn asked as she walked between Mike and Pete.
"Yeah. Michelle's acting kind
of strange, though. Your mom keeps trying to talk to her, but you know
how Michelle is," Mike told her.
"In other words maybe I can
talk to her," Mary Kathryn guessed.
Mike nodded.
At the house, Jill was trying
to finish dinner, which wasn't easy with Shelby underfoot asking a thousand
questions about when her aunt was arriving. Finally deciding that she'd
had enough, Jill picked up the little girl and placed her on a hard wooden
chair that was known as 'the time-out' chair.
"You're going to get hurt. I
want you to sit right here until your Papa comes home with Mary Kathryn.
If you get up I'm sending you to your room," Jill warned her.
Jill was setting the table half
an hour later when the front door opened and Mike walked in, followed by
Mary Kathryn and Pete. Jill ran into the living room to greet her daughter.
"Hi, mom," Mary Kathryn hugged
her mother as she pulled Pete over to introduce him. "Mom, this is Pete
Granado. Pete, this is my mother, Jill."
"Hi, Pete. I'm glad to finally
meet you," Jill shook her hand as they heard Shelby squealing from the
other room. "Oh, I forgot Shelby's in her chair."
"Come on, I'll introduce you
to Shelby," Mary Kathryn told Pete as they walked into the dining room.
"Why's she in her chair?"
"Because she was underfoot.
I was afraid she was going to get burned," Jill said as they approached
the chair. "Michael's at the lieutenant's. Let me call him."
"Pete, this is my niece, Shelby.
Shelby, this is Pete," Mary Kathryn signed to her niece, using the letter
'P' and the sign for 'fireman' as Pete's name sign.
Shelby just sat in the chair
swinging her legs and looking at Pete with solemn dark eyes. Jill had Shelby
dressed in a pink flowered dress and French braided her long blonde hair,
tying it off with pink ribbons.
"Michael will be here in about
five minutes as soon as he and Eddie finish their game," Jill confirmed
as she walked back into the room.
"What game?" Mike asked in confusion.
"I don't know. I didn't ask.
I told him to bring Eddie with him," Jill said as she went back to the
kitchen just as Shelby started squealing again. "Shelby, you can get up."
Michael and Eddie arrived a
few minutes later and were introduced to Pete. They were all able to visit
for a short while before Jill called everyone to the dinner table.
"Daddy said Natalie's here.
I can't wait to see her," Mary Kathryn told her mother as she everyone
had been seated. She took a bowl from Mike.
"I just hope nothing happens
to estrange her further," Jill commented.
Pete looked at Mary Kathryn
blankly.
"It's a long story. I'll explain
it later," she promised. "Where are we going to sleep since Shelby has
my old room?"
"In our old room," Jill explained
as Mary Kathryn made a face. "What's wrong?"
"Not the squeaky bed," she groaned
as Pete began to laugh.
"For your information that bed
is in my room. I moved the bed I brought from San Antonio into our old
room," Jill told her daughter.
"Sorry, mom," Mary Kathryn apologized.
After dinner Mike took Pete
on a tour while Mary Kathryn helped Jill clean up. Michael got upset when
he was told he couldn't tag along. Pete knew perfectly well why Mike wanted
to take him on a tour. "Tell me about yourself," Mike ordered once they
got outside and were standing at the barnyard fence.
"I was in the Air Force for
four years after I graduated from high school. I joined the FDNY after
I finished my tour. I was briefly married, but that ended six years ago.
I don't have any children and I love your daughter very much," Pete finished.
"I had three daughters once,"
Mike explained in a tight voice. "I lost one of them through my own stupidity.
I don't intend to be that stupid ever again. If you're playing with either
me or my daughter, believe me when I tell you that the world will not be
a big enough place for you to hide in.".
"Yes, sir," Pete let out his
breath as Mike glared at him. "I'd feel the same way if it were one of
my daughters."
"But she isn't one of your daughters.
She's MY daughter. Come on, let's get back to the house before Mary Kathryn
thinks I've pushed you into the lake," Mike smiled as they walked back
to the house.
Jill and Mary Kathryn were finishing
up in the house when the two men walked in. "I see Pete survived daddy,"
Mary Kathryn whispered.
"He's not like your boyfriends
in high school," Jill reminded her with a laugh.
"I know. They were all scared
to death of him," Mary Kathryn shuddered at the memory.
"What's so funny?" Mike asked
as he got two beers from the refrigerator and handed one out toward Pete,
who accepted gracefully.
"Oh, we were just remembering
how you used to send my old boyfriends running when they'd come around.
We were listening for the sound of screeching tires," Mary Kathryn teased
her father.
"I'm not that bad, am I?" Mike
asked.
"Yes, you are," both women told
him at the same time.
"Come on, Pete, let's take a
walk outside," Mary Kathryn grabbed Pete's hand and dragged him toward
the living room.
"What's with you people and
wanting to go outside? I've already seen outside," he protested.
"We'll feed the ducks," she
told him as they walked out and closed the door behind them.
She led him out to the dock
where there was a large bin filled with dried bread for the ducks that
settled on the lake. Mary Kathryn grabbed a handful of the bread as Pete
quickly followed suit.
"Can I ask you a question?"
He asked as he watched the ducks gobbled up the bread.
"What?" She asked as she threw
more bread before walking over and sitting in one of the lounge chairs.
"If you, Michelle and your other
sister were so close in age, why did your parents wait so long to have
Michael? I mean, you're what? Thirteen years older than he is?" He asked
as he sat beside her in another chair.
"It's like this. Michelle and
Savannah were adopted by my mom and dad when they were six and ten years
old. When I was 13, my dad got real sick with cancer. Everybody was afraid
that he was going to die. They decided to try to have another baby. That's
where Michael comes in," she concluded.
"Where are Michelle and Savannah's
real parents?" He asked.
"Look, my mom and dad are
their
real parents," she sighed. "As for their birth parents, who knows and who
cares? They abused both of them. That's how they came to live with us,"
she explained curtly. "Any other questions? Do you want to know why I can't
have a baby?"
"Mary Kathryn, I'm sorry. It's
just that we've never talked about these things and I thought I had a right
to know. I mean, I don't want to meet Michelle and say something stupid,"
he apologized.
"As long as you don't say anything
about Savannah you'll be fine. I do wonder what's going on with her, though.
She's always been kind of morose, but mom said she seems more so lately,"
Mary Kathryn mused.
"Maybe she really doesn't want
to be a doctor," he suggested.
"Maybe, but it seems an awful
waste of time to go through seven years of school and three years of residency
to discover that," she sighed.
"Well, maybe you can figure
out what's troubling her. Sisters are always better at getting to the heart
of problems than parents are. Can we go back to the house now?" He begged.
<><><><><><><>
A little while later at Willie
and Jennifer's house, Natalie was concluding a telephone conversation with
Mary Kathryn. "We'll have to get together for lunch. I can't wait to meet
Pete. How about the Century City Mall on Saturday? They have a great food
court. Okay, I'll call you with a time. Bye," Natalie concluded the call
as her father walked into the room.
Natalie had trouble remembering
a time when she ever saw eye to eye with her father. She walked into the
kitchen where her mother was cleaning up.
"Mom, do you ever wish that
I'd been a boy?" Natalie asked.
"Natalie, how can you ask that?"
She asked as she looked up in shock.
"I don't know," she confessed.
"I know daddy wishes I'd been a boy. He used to drop everything to make
sure he was at Thomas' football and basketball games but he never came
to any of my soccer games."
"Natalie, I don't know what
you expect of your father. Why don't you ask your father these questions?"
She asked.
Natalie stalked out of the room.
Jennifer was slamming cabinet
doors a few minutes later when Willie walked into the room. "What's wrong?"
He asked.
"Natalie's at it again," she
fumed.
"What now?" He sighed.
"She wants to know if we're
disappointed that she wasn't a boy. If she only knew what a hard time I
had having her, she'd never ask that question," she choked out.
Willie walked over and pulled
her against him. "Let me see if I can talk to her."
Natalie was in her room listening
to her CD player when Willie knocked on the door. After receiving no response
he slowly opened her door.
She removed her headphones and
gave him an icy look.
"I knocked on the door," he
explained as he walked in.
"She told you I'm flipping again,
right?" She asked.
Willie pulled out her desk chair
and sat down. "Natalie, first off, your mother and I love you very much.
Maybe I have been more preoccupied with your brothers, but I don't know
that much about all that girlie stuff. My father was like that with my
sister and I guess that's where I learned that behavior. We've always been
proud of you. You graduated at the top of your class in high school and
college. Thomas can't say he did that and I doubt Eric will, either. You're
a doctor. Do you have any idea what that means when I can tell someone
that my daughter is a doctor at one of the best hospitals in the country?"
"That's all fine, but I still
get the feeling that you're upset that I wasn't a boy," she repeated what
she'd told her mother earlier.
"When your mother and I got
married, we made the decision to have children right away. We wanted to
have our family in just a few years. I wanted you and your brothers to
be as close as I was to my brother and sister. We didn't have a problem
having Thomas, but you were a lot more difficult," he paused.
"What do you mean, difficult?"
She asked as she stared at him.
"Your mom was horribly sick
the whole time she was pregnant with you and she went into labor four weeks
early. That isn't such a big deal now, but it was in 1979. You were so
small and the doctors weren't sure you were even going to survive. When
you were finally able to come home I don't think we put you down for a
year. You even slept in our bed, even though Jill kept telling us that
was a bad idea. Believe it or not, during the first year of your life,
Thomas was the one who often got shoved aside. When he was younger he used
to complain that you got away with everything because you were a girl.
You're our only daughter, Natalie. If nothing else, that should make you
more special than your brothers," he concluded as he stood up to leave.
"You never showed it, not the
way Mike always shows Mary Kathryn and Michelle," she complained.
"Natalie, I'm not Mike and I'm
never going to be the same kind of father that Mike is. You're an adult,
you should realize that," he told her as he left the room.
<><><><><>
Michelle was on duty at the
hospital on Thanksgiving morning. Her rotation consisted of being on-duty
for 36 hours and off for 24. She was off-duty that afternoon at four. She
called Thomas early that morning as he was getting dressed to go to his
parents house for dinner. "Thomas, tell your parents and my parents that
I get off at four. I'm going to come home and change clothes, but I should
be over there by five. And don't tell them anything about the baby until
I get there," she warned him.
"Okay. Is there anything else?"
He asked as he rolled his eyes.
"No, that about covers it. I'll
see you this afternoon," she said as the connection went dead.
Thomas drove over to his parent's
house where Mike, Jill and everybody else had already gathered. Mary Kathryn
introduced him to Pete and he relayed Michelle's message. "Does this mean
we have to wait to eat?" Michael objected.
"There's plenty to snack on
until Michelle can get here," Jennifer promised the little boy.
"How are the wedding plans coming
along?" Pete asked.
"Take my advice. If you plan
on getting married, go to Las Vegas and elope," Thomas warned his new friend.
"Hey, I don't want to be married
by a bad Elvis Presley impersonator," Mary Kathryn complained.
The guys were all outside shooting
hoops when Michelle pulled up that afternoon in her battered Jeep. She
pulled back when Thomas ran over to greet her. "Yuck! You're all sweaty.
I hope you're going to clean up before dinner."
"Hey, let me introduce you to
Mary Kathryn's boyfriend. Pete, this is my fiancé, Michelle Danko.
Michelle, this is Pete Granado," Thomas introduced them as he ignored her
earlier comments.
"Great, another sweaty man,"
she shook her head as she walked toward the house.
"Ignore her," Eric told Pete
as he took the ball from him.
"Come on, we'd better get in
the house and get cleaned up for dinner," Thomas told the guys as they
walked toward the house.
"I hope they're going to shower
and put on clean clothes before they sit down to dinner," Michelle groused
to her mother as the guys all trooped into the house.
"Michelle, what's the matter
with you? This is rude, even for you," Mary Kathryn observed.
"You gentlemen get cleaned up
for dinner," Jen told all of the men and Michael as they started to go
upstairs.
"I can't sit at the dinner table
with a bunch of sweaty people!" Michelle cried out as Jill and Mike looked
at each other with bemused expressions.
"Michelle, they can't all take
showers! We're all starving as it is," Jill pointed out.
"Then I'll be running to the
bathroom and puking my guts out every five minutes," Michelle groaned.
"I'm sure you're all going to find that much more appetizing than the stench
of these sweaty men."
"Is there something you'd like
to tell us, Michelle?" Jill grinned.
"Am I that obvious?" Michelle
asked as she blushed beet red.
"To me, you are," Jill told
her.
"Okay. Thomas and I are having
a baby," Michelle blurted out as both sets of parents burst out laughing
and trying to hug Michelle and Thomas at one time. "Stop hugging me until
you've cleaned up!" Michelle warned the men as they backed off.
Pete was going to congratulate
the couple until he looked over at Mary Kathryn, who was standing off with
huge tears in her eyes. He walked over to her and took her hand in his.
"Are you okay?" He asked tenderly.
"How can she do this to me?"
She whispered unhappily.
"Look, you need to pull yourself
together and at least act happy for them. You can always fall apart later,"
he smiled as she nodded and wiped her eyes before going over to hug her
sister and future brother-in-law.
"How do you feel?" Jill asked
as everybody finally stepped aside to give Michelle some air.
"Okay, most of the time. Tired,
the rest of the time," she complained.
"Can we please eat now?" Michael
whined as everybody laughed.
After dinner, Pete told Mike
and Jill that he was going to take Mary Kathryn out for a while and not
to expect them until late. Michael and Shelby begged to stay the night
with Willie and Jen so Jill relented. Willie promised to bring them back
the next day. When they got back to the lake house, Mike and Ryker went
their separate ways while Jill went into the house.
She was lying on the sofa watching
TV about an hour later when she heard the front door unlock. She looked
up, expecting to see Pete and Mary Kathryn, but smiled when Mike walked
in instead. She was used to him walking into the house to get something
to eat from the refrigerator.
He walked over and sat down
on the sofa beside her as she curled up close to him. "What're you watching?"
He asked as he looked at the TV.
"'While You Were Sleeping'"
she told him.
"Not a chick flick," he complained.
"I think Michelle's news upset
Mary Kathryn. She didn't say two words during dinner," Jill told Mike.
"How do you feel about it?"
He asked quietly.
"I'm happy about it, but I worry
about Michelle trying to take care of a baby with Thomas going so far away,"
she worried.
"I think Michelle's going to
be fine," he commented. "She's going to have more than enough people around
to help her. I'll try to talk to Mary Kathryn tomorrow," he promised.
"I think that's what Pete's
doing tonight. Face it, Danko, you're being replaced," she teased, but
stopped when he didn't banter back. "Earth to Danko," she said as he looked
at her. "What's wrong? You were a million miles away."
"I don't know. I was just thinking
about us," he sighed.
"Mike, I need time," she admitted
softly as she stared at her hands.
"I know, but I miss us. I'm
the one who messed up, I admit that. I want us to be a family again. I
love you. I've always loved you and I'm always going to love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too, but you have
to give me time." She looked up at him then with a twinkle in her eye.
"Sweep me off my feet. It worked once, it could work again."
"I'd better get back to the
trailer before I make a bigger ass out of myself," he stood up and headed
for the door.
"Mike, you're not making an
ass out of yourself. I miss us, too. I want us to be together, but things
are so complicated," she choked out.
"No, Jill," he said as he froze
at the front door. "Things were complicated when we were screaming at each
other every night. Now everything makes perfect sense. We just can't make
the pieces fit. Can we go out to dinner tomorrow night?"
"Dinner would be nice. I need
the break from the kids," she agreed.
<><><><><>
Pete had taken his rental car
and followed Mary Kathryn's directions to drive them to the Santa Monica
Pier. He parked in a parking garage and they walked hand in hand down to
the pier. It was only after sitting down on one of the cement benches that
Mary Kathryn began crying her eyes out. Pete slipped his arm around her
shoulder and held her to him as she cried. "It isn't fair," she cried over
and over as he tried to comfort her.
"A lot of things aren't fair,
Mary Kathryn," he told her as she looked up at him.
"Michelle's the one who was
always telling me and Savannah that she'd never have a baby. Thomas must've
pulled one hell of a job on her to get her to agree to have one. I've always
wanted a baby, as long as I can remember," she whispered.
"Mary Kathryn, what happened?
Why can't you have children?" Pete asked.
"When I was 16, I got sick.
My mom and dad thought it was the flu because I had all of the symptoms.
The only thing was nobody else got sick. I was sick for four or five days
then I seemed to get better, so my mom sent me to school on a Monday morning.
That was at 8 o'clock. At 9:45, I was in the emergency room. I had an ovarian
cyst and it ruptured, sending a horrible infection all through my blood
stream. I was in the hospital for 16 days, 11 of them on the critical list.
When I finally got better, my mother told me that the doctors had told
her and my dad that because of the infection that I was sterile. When you're
16, the last thing on your mind is having a baby. All I was worried about
was catching up on my school work and getting my application ready for
Juilliard. It was only later that I got upset and sad about it," she finished
in a torrent of tears.
"I was young when I got married
and neither of us really wanted kids," Pete confessed as he held her close
to him. "But there are thousands of kids out there who need a good home.
If you want we'll adopt one from every country around the world."
"I like the idea of having our
own private U.N.," she whispered through her tears. "I love you, Pete."
"I love you, too. We'd better
get out of here before we get arrested or something," he told her as they
stood up.
Jill was lying awake when she
heard them come in. "Mom, I'm home," she heard Mary Kathryn call out as
they went into their room.
She knew that Michelle's news
had upset Mary Kathryn a great deal, but it seemed Pete had taken care
of things. She remembered a time when Mike had taken care of everything,
too. Given half a chance, she could let him take care of everything again.
It looked like the ball was now in her court.