45. Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Five
“A common ailment in expectant mothers is dehydration, especially with morning sickness. It can be dealt with easily with constant and continual hydration, but when left unchecked, can prove serious and may result in hospitalization.”
A Young Woman’s Guide to the Joy of Impending Motherhood
Dr. Francine Pascal Reid (1941)
C oop, Emma, and Libby finally left, with Mom and Eric, and Brit right behind them, not that I was at all sorry to see them go. For the last forty-five minutes, all I’d heard about was wedding this and wedding that; and after Brit’s rigmarole not too long ago, I was sick of the subject. Morgan called three times, twice on Brit’s phone and once on J.B.’s, and told me she’d come to see me tomorrow. Finally, the room was quiet, with only J.B. left.
″Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?” I told him. My face cracked open with a huge yawn.
″Maybe later,” he said. “You should get some sleep, though.”
I nodded and flexed the fingers of my left hand, the hand that had the IV. I hated the things. I’d much rather get countless needles than have one stuck in and not be taken out. “I had my little catnap earlier.” J.B. shifted in the chair, the plastic leather creaking underneath him. “You’re going to be so stiff. Go home.”
″I’m not leaving you here.” I was sure he meant well, but it came out more stubborn than sweet .
I yawned again. “Just remember, I gave you the option. So I’ve been reading my baby name book, and I’m up to the letter V—Victor, Vivian, Viridian—”
″I don’t think we’ll be having a Viridian. Is that a boy or girl? You should just skip the rest of the alphabet if that’s what you’re coming up with. I don’t think it’ll be much help.”
I smiled tiredly after him. Maybe if we kept talking, I might stay awake. “You don’t think we should consider Xavier or Yvette? What else do you like? We need three, you know. And middle names.”
″I know. I kind of like Cameron. And Jacob.”
″Jacob’s too popular. But Cam—I like that. Ben and Cameron if we have two boys. Have you thought of girls’ names?”
″I like Lucy. I don’t think I’ve ever dated a Lucy.”
″Well, that’s good. What about Sophie?” I couldn’t stop yawning. I found that I yawn a lot before I’m going to be sick, but now I thought it was just because I was really tired. “What time is it?”
″Almost eleven. Go to sleep.”
I took his advice, although it took a while for me to fall asleep. I think it had something to do with being so conscious of J.B. sitting beside me. It’s not like he was doing anything to keep me awake, but it was nice knowing he was there. And it was nice—sort of like he was taking care of me. It had been a long time since someone had taken care of me.
When I woke up in the middle of the night, J.B. was still there, sitting in the uncomfortable-looking chair beside my bed, with his long legs propped up on the mattress and reading a two-year-old magazine. But I didn’t see him at first, since I was in the middle of one of those dreams I’d been having lately. I was in between sleep and awake as I started plucking at the blankets covering me.
″You okay?” J.B. asked with concern. “Are you cold?”
″I can’t find one of the babies,” I mumbled. “They were all right here, and I can’t find one.”
″The babies are right here,” he said with a warm hand on my belly. “They haven’t gone anywhere. I think you might have noticed if they had. Casey? Wake up, now. You’re freaking me out.”
His voice brought me back from the dream. “Oh.” I leaned back against the pillows. “Sorry.”
″Are you okay?” J.B. asked again .
I rubbed my eyes to wake myself up. “I’ve been having these dreams when I’m in bed; I can’t find one of the babies,” I told him. “One of them is tangled up in the covers, and I can’t find them and get so scared.”
J.B.’s hand was still resting on my stomach, and he gave it a little rub. “The babies are fine. You’re not going to lose them.”
″I’m going to be a horrible mother.” I was still so wrapped up in the dream that I was not even embarrassed when I started to cry in front of J.B.
″How do you figure?”
″Look at how I got pregnant,” I cried. “Look at before I knew I was pregnant—all I could think about was getting pregnant. I have no idea what to do with these babies! Plus I drank too much and I didn’t take care of myself, and now look at me—I’m in the hospital, for God’s sake! How can I be a mother if I can’t even take care of myself?” I gave a big sniffle and wiped my nose on the sleeve of my hospital gown.
″Hey, c’mon,” J.B. soothed. “This is hormonal stuff, and you know I can’t handle it.”
″I can’t handle anything!” I sobbed.
″Stop,” he said, a little firmer. “You’ll be fine. You’re a great teacher and an awesome aunt to Libby’s kids, so how much harder can it be raising a few of your own? I’ll give you that it didn’t start out all that well, and you were kind of stupid to end up in the hospital, but there’s no damage done. The babies are just fine—they’re like me, they’re tough little critters. But you’re going to start taking care of yourself better, and I think you should stop working after Christmas. Both jobs. You’re going to need all your energy when these babies come, especially since you told me I don’t have to do the late-night feedings.”
″I didn’t say that.” I sniffed again, but the tears were slowly drying up. How could I ever have thought J.B. was nothing but a juvenile playboy? “Besides, you’ll be upstairs, so you won’t even hear them.”
″Yes, but you’ll be up there with me. I talked to Coop and Emma, and they agree—you’re moving upstairs with the rest of us. And after the restaurant is up and running and I have a little time, we’ll go out and get a place of our own. You and me and the babies. The five of us.”
I must have still been sleep-raddled because I couldn’t have heard him correctly. “You want to move in together?” I asked carefully.
″That’s normally what people do when they get married. Coop and Emma love us, but I don’t think— ”
″You don’t have to marry me,” I told him weakly, without any of the heat from my earlier refusal. I must have been still asleep or all hormonal right then because marrying J.B. wasn’t sounding like a bad idea.
J.B. looked at me with exhausted blue eyes. He hadn’t left my side since I was admitted. He hadn’t left my side since I told him I was pregnant with his baby. True, there were a few dicey weeks there, but on the most part, he’d been right there for me. He’d proved to me that he wanted these babies, but only in my deepest dreams did I ever hope he would want me as well.
He put up his hand just as I was about to speak. “Let me do this the right way since I made such a cock-up the last time.” He slid off the chair and amazingly dropped to the floor. “I was going to do this after the babies were born, but I don’t want to wait any longer.”
″Get off the floor,” I murmured.
″Casey Samms, I love you,” J.B. announced in all seriousness. “Even without these babies, I would love you. It just might have taken me a while longer to figure it out,” he finished sheepishly.
″We haven’t even gone on a date yet,” I whispered. “Or we haven’t since before. It was supposed to be tomorrow night.”
″You can call this our first date if that’s what you want. Our second first date.”
″You don’t want to get married,” I finally managed to croak. “You told me you didn’t. You want to take things slow. This isn’t slow.”
″I said I wanted to take the time to get to know someone. I think I know you pretty well now. And I didn’t want to have a baby either, but there are three of them coming and that’s turning out to be a pretty good idea.”
″You really want them?”
He got up off the floor and stood beside me, stroking my cheek gently. “I really want you. The babies are just an added bonus.”
I closed my eyes to hide my tears, but a few trickled out. “I don’t want you to feel—”
This time he put two fingers against my lips. “Stop arguing. Just say yes. You know you want to.”
I looked into his eyes. Now that I let myself, I could see the love. “Say it again. Tell me you love me.”
″I love you,” he said with urgency.
″Since when? ”
″Since forever. Since you moved into the house. Since Cooper told me this awesome chick with amazing hair and these funky eyes was moving in and I was to leave you alone. Since the first time I saw you.” He shrugged self-consciously. “I just didn’t let myself admit it.”
I closed my eyes again, but it didn’t stop the tears. And now my chin was starting to quiver. I was really going to be a basket case in a moment, but it was okay because it was not from sadness but from this huge bubble of happiness and love that was about ready to explode in my chest.
″Me too,” I whispered.
″Me too, what?”
I opened my eyes to see J.B. smiling down at me. “I love you, too.”
″And…”
″Yes. I’ll marry you.”
Maybe I wasn’t that sick of the subject of weddings after all.