14. Addie
Chapter fourteen
Addie
“Where are we going again, Mommy?” Luna asks while swinging from side to side with her purple backpack on.
I push little baby hairs away from her face and answer, “A business associate’s house, love.”
Her little freckled nose wrinkles. “A what?”
“Just someone I work with.”
“Oh.”
A few minutes later, the G-Wagon pulls up.
“Whoa!” Luna exclaims. “That’s huge!”
Hayden lowers down the window, revealing his handsome face behind the wheel. “Good morning, ladies.” He looks over to my daughter, “Good morning, Luna.”
I hold her by the shoulders. “You remember Hayden, Mommy’s friend. ” I know he initially wanted to solve this issue, but I’m grateful he finally conceded and left the decision-making up to me.
Friends. Friends is good. Luna understands friends , I reasoned.
But back to the present moment. She bounces her finger off her chin and mutters, “Hmmm.”
“It’s okay if you don’t. Hayden, Luna. Luna, Hayden.” With the two of them so close in proximity, I can’t help but notice the similarities.
“How’s it going, Looney Tunes?” he asks.
My daughter gasps. “Mom? How’d he know?”
“I—I don’t know.” I don’t recall telling him about her nickname.
“Come on, let’s get a move on!” He winks and gestures for us to climb on board.
He surprises me even more when he has the perfect booster seat in the back for her.
“Seriously, Mom?” Luna whines after seeing it.
“Yes,” I tell her, and then say a “Thank you” in his direction.
He looks at me in the rearview mirror and nods.
After getting her all set, I go to sit next to her, but Hayden stops me. “You aren’t going to sit up here with me? Don’t you think that will seem a bit weird ?” He glances back at me and mouths the last bit.
I know he’s right. Especially if Randall or his wife are at the front of the house in a receiving line of sorts.
So, I get out and instead crawl in next to him instead.
“What’s your last name?” Luna pipes up right away as we start driving.
“Cohen. What’s yours?” I assume he already knows that, but part of me can’t wonder whether or not he’s testing me somehow.
“Flores, of course.”
I see the muscles in his face tense. “Of course.”
“Do you have a job? My mom’s last friend didn’t.”
“Luna!” I swing around and scold her. But Hayden just chuckles.
“I do,” he answers with a nod. “What about you? What’s your job?”
Luna giggles and kicks her legs. “I don’t have a job! I’m just a kid, silly! I have to go to school!”
“Oh!” Hayden smacks his forehead. “Of course. I’m sorry. I forgot.”
I’m not sure whether I should be happy or unnerved by their instant connection. For one thing, they obviously have a similar sense of humor. And then there’s the other elephant in the room regarding their looks.
Shit. Was all of this a mistake? I could hardly sleep last night wondering the very same thing.
Luna takes the rest of the drive to ask about a million more questions, but Hayden patiently answers every last one.
“We’re here!” he finally announces after what feels like forever.
“Yay!” Luna cheers.
As I suspected, Randall and his wife, who I believe is named Claire, are waiting near the front of the log cabin.
“Randall!” Hayden announces after parking the car and getting out. “How wonderful to see you again.”
“And you!” he responds. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Thanks for having us.” Hayden then walks over to my door and lets me out.
“Ahh! Claire,” he guides his wife over by the small of his back, “this is the Mrs. Cohen.”
I look and see that my daughter’s door is still closed, and I’m glad.
“Addie.” I reach my hand out and shake hers.
“Pleasure.” She’s a gorgeous woman with caramel skin, deep, brown eyes, and the silkiest black hair.
“Likewise.”
“And this,” Hayden cues up before taking the handle and revealing my daughter, “this is Luna.”
Randall’s mouth flies open. “Oh. Uh, and she’s—”
I unsecure her, and she hides behind my leg.
Thank God.
Before I can explain who she is, I’m silently apologizing for her shyness.
“New people kind of freak her out.”
While closing the door again, Hayden’s pronounced eyebrows perch above his eye. “You sure about that?”
“Multiple. Multiple new people,” I mutter.
But he soon bends over, whispers something into my daughter’s ear, and she’s reduced to stitches, holding her forearm against her mouth as she chuckles.
“What did you say to her?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he replies, looking back at me over his shoulder and smiling.
Then, the next thing I know, the women are being pulled in one way, while the men are headed in the other towards the big barbecue.
It’s my turn to look over my shoulder at him, and I give him a reassuring nod. We’ve gone over our love story several times over the phone in preparation for this moment.
When we’re all gathered around a picnic table, a little girl, who could be Claire’s younger self, approaches and asks Luna if she’d like to play on the jungle gym a little farther down on the property.
“Is that okay, Mom?”
I look to Claire.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be fine,” she assures me. “There are plenty of older kids too. They watch out for the little ones.”
“Well, okay.” I’m seated, and I bend over to hold my daughter’s arms. “Just be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
With that, they run off.
When Claire sits next to me, I ask, “That one has to be yours, right?”
She smiles. “Oh, yeah. Arabella. She’s my sixth.”
Ow! My vagina hurts for her.
“Sixth out of how many?”
“Eight.” She beams with pride.
Ow, ow, ow! I can’t imagine that. My hoo-ha felt like it was on fire after only one.
“And obviously, little Luna is yours. Yours and . . .” I follow her eyes as they glance over at Hayden, who is, of course, entertaining the other men with one of his wild stories. He’s taken his suit jacket off, and he’s rolled the sleeves of his salmon shirt up, revealing the muscles in his forearms. After he gestures his hands around about something, the rest of the crowd abrupt into laughter.
I know what she’s asking, and I take a deep breath in and out while trying to remember every little detail Hayden and I went over.
Then, I hang my head and try to look ashamed. “Um.” I look around and make sure that only she can hear me. “We got pregnant before wedlock,” I confess.
“Oh!” Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t outright shun me or anything.
“It’s something Hayden and I are both repenting for . . . Well, perhaps me, so even more than him. You see, I ran off once I saw those double lines on the pregnancy test. So, I didn’t even give him the chance to do the right thing.” My throat feels hot and congested as I get all of that out.
Claire just nods.
I tuck my hair behind my ear and say, “I hope you don’t judge me too much for all of that.”
“Oh, Addie.” She rests a hand on my arm. “That isn’t my job. Whatever happens in your life is between you and God. And as long as you ask for forgiveness and learn from your mistakes, you’re doing exactly what the good Lord instructed us to do in the Bible.”
“Right.” I’m trying to sound confident and like I knew that all along.
“But, if you don’t mind me asking, how did the two of you come back together?”
“Oh!” We rehearsed this too. “It was an engagement party of mutual friends.”
From one mother to the next, I, then, see her pull out a stick of string cheese from her purse, which I assume she meant to save for one of her kids. And she slowly peels little chunks off of it.
“That’s romantic,” she says with her mouth full.
I smile. “Yeah, it was. Romantic and very unexpected.”
Together, we glare over at him again, and I feel a little gurgle in my belly as he seems to tell a hilarious joke.
Dammit, Addie. I mean, dang it. Even swearing inside my own head makes me feel guilty among this crowd.
“But you two are making it work?” Claire asks.
“Oh, yeah. Slowly, but surely. We’re trying to find our way as a family.”
“Right. Baby steps, right?”
“Exactly.”
Next, Claire grabs onto my arm with her sweaty hand.
“Oh, my gosh. Claire—” I glance over at her, and I see that her face is completely green.
“I . . . I really don’t feel well.”
Oh, no. I spring into action mode, help her to her feet, call out for Hayden to watch Luna in my absence. I then sprint with her inside the house and into a nearby bathroom.
We just barely make it over the toilet before she releases the contents of her stomach.
“Here. I’ve got your hair.”
Before Luna, assisting someone barf would’ve made me sick myself. But now, I really don’t mind.
When she’s finished, she sits next to the porcelain thrown with her knees bent in the air.
I crouch next to her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m so, so sorry.”
“Oh, no. That’s not necessary at all.”
Then, I notice her counting something on her fingers and then looking aimlessly in the distance.
“Claire?” My hand waves in front of her face. “Are you going to be sick again? It’s okay if you are. I’m right here to help.”
After gulping hard, she admits, “I think I’m pregnant again.”
Holy shit!
“Would you mind? There are tests in the medicine cabinet.”
Oh. I scramble to my feet. Of course, she keeps them around. Someone as fertile as her, even at her age, would need to.
I get one out and hand it over to her. “Okay, so I’ll just be—”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.” I leave and close the door behind me.
A few minutes later, she opens it with a somewhat defeated yet happy look.
“Well?”
She sniffles and then holds up the positive test. “There’s going to be a ninth O’Brien.”
I wait a few minutes to gauge for sure how she feels about this newest addition.
But after she smiles and gives me a hug, I’m more comfortable openly celebrating with her.
From there, I walk out with her before she pulls her husband aside from the other men and tells him about the good news in private.
“What’s that all about?” Hayden approaches me from behind with a hamburger in his mouth.
“They’re having another baby.” I’m sure they don’t want those who are close to them to know so soon, but it doesn’t really matter for nobodies like us.
“Thank you for helping my wife,” Randall says to me later on in the evening around the campfire, where the little kids are making smores.
“It was my pleasure.”
He motions for everyone to huddle closer around, and he instructs us to bow our heads.
“Dear Lord, I would just like to thank you for bringing these like-minded people together tonight, and I’d also like to ask for your forgiveness on behalf of the sinners among us. Namely, those who may have given into their sinful desires and procreated before marriage.”
Oh, no. It’s clear he’s talking about Hayden and me.
“Amen,” Claire agrees, her eyes clenched tightly together.
Okay, lady. You can over-populate the world, but I can’t have one measly child?
Then, Hayden’s ticking jaw tells me that he not only recognizes who the subjects of the prayer are, but also that he’s about five seconds from exploding.
It really warms my heart to see him so upset on my behalf.
So, I grab his hand, and give it a squeeze. Then, when he opens his eyes and glances up at me, I give him a wink.
I don’t even listen to the rest of the admonishment against us, but I do recognize when Randall finally says, “In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.”
“Amen!” I yell before grabbing my daughter, who is thankfully too young to understand what just happened, apologizing to the group for having to leave so early—you know, she has school tomorrow and all—and then heading for the car.