Chapter 29
CHAPTER 29
A iden spent the remainder of the day with his sister, Beth. Besides June, she was his closest friend and confidant and, unlike their little sister, Jenna, did not freak out when dealing with emotionally sensitive material. She listened stoically as he described his lunch with Erica. He wanted to tell her about June and seek her advice, but it seemed disloyal to disclose something so personal and embarrassing for June. As far as he knew, he, her dad and brother, and a few select dates were the only ones who knew about June’s propensity to stumble into catastrophe. He felt no need to trot out her trauma, even if it helped him solve his current dilemma.
“So, you feel good about the lunch,” Beth said, after hearing everything Aiden had to say about Erica.
He nodded.
“Because you don’t seem like you do,” she noted.
“I do, I’m going to get over it and move on and I have no hate or anger or resentment for her anymore. But I’m still hung up on something she said.” He raised his brows, to see if she could guess what it was. Like a good big sister, she did.
“The part about you being a fixer and it was why she had to flee?”
He nodded, biting his lip.
“It’s like this, Aiden. When George and I first got married, he had no idea how to load the dishwasher. I went over the correct system with him about ten times, to no avail. He had no idea how to do the laundry or fold it. He rolled towels, Aiden. Rolled them. It drove me absolutely crazy. We bickered about it constantly. One day at work I was complaining to one of my older coworkers about it, expecting her to share my annoyance and chuckle, and instead she looked at me really seriously and said, ‘Your husband does the dishes and the laundry, and you’re complaining about it?’ And, wow, that hit me, you know? I was trying to ‘fix’ everything I thought was ‘wrong’ with George, because it wasn’t like me, and I was missing the forest for the trees. I had an amazing guy, and I was hung up on the stupidest stuff. Here is what I learned from that mistake: if people have things they actually need to fix, they will fix them. Or they won’t. But no amount of prodding on your part will help it along, and chances are that you are fixating on the wrong things anyway. Now I’m so thankful when George gets home from a long day of work and chucks things into the dishwasher while I’m giving Starla a bath, and I love it that he remembers to check the dryer, even if he rolls the towels. Find the things that really matter, and focus on those.”
Aiden blinked fast, feeling an odd mix of chastised and heartened. What if the things he thought needed to be fixed about June weren’t things that needed to be fixed at all?
He checked his watch. “I think I’ll go see June. She’s just about done with work.”
“Take flowers,” Beth said, poking him with her toe.
Aiden stood and grinned as he bent to kiss the top of her head. “You are flush with good advice today.”
“It’s my forever role, as your big sister.”
“And you fill it so nicely,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. She didn’t get up to see him out, because she was about to pop. Any movement of her pregnant belly was an ordeal. “We’re on standby for labor. June wants to come to the hospital and wait with me in the lobby, if that’s okay?”
“Of course,” Beth said, waving away the question as if it were inconsequential. “I want all the family there, except possibly Jenna.” She grimaced.
“We’ll keep her occupied and entertained,” Aiden promised. When Starla was born, Jenna was so overexcited that she kept trying to sneak into the forbidden section of the labor and delivery area, until the hospital threatened to toss her out. And since it was Aiden’s hospital, it had been doubly embarrassing.
“Good luck,” Beth muttered, pressing a hand to her stomach as she tried to draw a deep breath. Aiden had only taken a cursory OB rotation, but he knew the signs and guessed he’d be getting a call from her sooner, rather than later.
He let himself out, drove to the market for flowers, and then sped a little on his way to see June. He didn’t want to miss her, which was ridiculous, because they would both be going to the same home. But somehow it seemed imperative that he see her the moment she finished with work, the moment she was free. He needed to tell her about the lunch with Erica, because his It was okay, text after the event wasn’t enough. But he needed to tell her so much more, too.
He had just hopped out of his car when June exited her office. She hadn’t seen him yet, because her back was turned, locking the door. He watched her fluid movements, heart knocking hard against his ribs, feeling suddenly and unaccountably nervous. More nervous than when he took his board exam, more nervous than when he proposed to Erica, more nervous than on his wedding day, their wedding day. Somehow he knew that this moment counted for more than all those things put together, and he felt the pressure to get it right.
June turned, saw him, and froze. “Hi,” she said, her voice squeaking adorably. Was there any universe in which she wondered if he might choose Erica instead of her today? That if Erica said it was all a mistake and she wanted him back, he would walk away and return to his old life.
He still stood outside his car, hadn’t even closed the door yet, and couldn’t seem to fathom a word. Maybe because he had so many to say that they all bottlenecked inside him, jamming his throat. He offered June a smile and crooked his finger at her.
Giving him a tentative smile in return, she made her way off the office’s porch and strode to his car, pausing in front of him, the door between them.
“Hi,” he croaked.
June chuckled, probably because his voice cracked. Her hand reached up and smoothed his collar. “How are you?”
“I’m…” he swallowed hard. Words, what were the words to make this all okay? To make it perfect? As usual, his perfectionism tripped him up. It didn’t need to be perfect, it just needed to be said. “These are for you.” He held the bouquet he’d bought beneath her nose.
“Peonies, my favorite,” she beamed.
“I know,” he returned. He knew that, and so much more. He’d made a study of her, one he wanted to continue for the rest of their lives. He had so much to say, why was it so hard? He took a breath, but instead of saying the important words, he slid his hands onto her waist and kissed her, a heartfelt, yearning and tender kiss, filled with so much love and care and devotion that it stole his breath, stole her breath, if her gasp was any indication. June stood on her toes and leaned into him, slinging the arm that wasn’t holding the flowers around his neck. The way June responded to him made him hope that maybe words wouldn’t be necessary. Maybe June knew and understood everything he felt. Even better, maybe she felt the same for him in return.
And then it happened.
June took a step closer to him and somehow jammed her hip against the car door. It crashed closed with a hard jolt, Aiden’s hand firmly inside it. There was a sickening crunch and they froze, staring at each other in horror.
June dropped the flowers as her hands covered her mouth. She shook her head furiously back and forth. Aiden could see her pupils begin to dilate and knew what would happen next. When June had a choice between fight or flight, she always chose flight, much to her demise, usually.
“June wait,” he called. He took a step toward her, but his hand in the door yanked him back.
June was beyond hearing, however. She turned and fled, running pell-mell for the field beside the office. That might have been okay, except Denver had left via the back entrance. His massive truck was barreling down the long driveway. In usual Denver fashion, he was either texting or finding music on his phone, not paying a bit of attention, especially in the driveway of his office, where he didn’t expect to encounter his sister, running from her husband as if being chased by hounds. They were on a collision course, and June was so tiny, Denver’s truck so big, she would surely die.
Aiden, who always chose action in an emergency, opened the car door with his free hand, extricated himself, and ran, bolting for June as if her life depended on it, which it most certainly did.
He reached her in time, tackling her and sweeping her into his arms as he leapt out of the way of Denver’s massive truck.
Denver, who apparently didn’t notice the near calamity, kept going, barreling toward the road in oblivious euphoria.
June and Aiden landed in the grass, bounced and rolled a couple of times. Their clothes were toast, but the shock was too great for him to assess anything else. “Are you okay? June, are you hurt?”
“Your hand,” she screamed. “I crushed your hand. Aiden, I did it, I crushed your doctor hands. I ruined it, I ruined you.”
“June, no, June, stop,” he tried, but to no avail. At last and in desperation, he put his hand up and gave her cheek a light slap, barely a tap with the tips of his fingers, not enough to sting or leave a mark, but enough to break her out of her abject panicked meltdown.
And for once, June chose fight . Her hand came up and smacked him across the face, hard.
But she stopped screaming and crying. Instead she stared blinking at him in openmouthed shock.
“You hit me,” he said.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
He couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing.
“Your hand,” she said, tears beginning to stream. “I crushed your hand.”
“June, no. My hand is fine. At most I’ll have a light bruise. The rubber rim of the door caught my fingers. The crushing noise was an empty plastic water bottle that tipped out and was smashed when the door closed.”
“Aiden,” she swiped furiously at her eyes. “I can’t do this, please don’t ask me to do this. You can’t fix me.”
“No,” he agreed, giving her a squeeze. She was still in his arms from their tumble. “I really can’t.”
That shocked her enough to stop crying again. She stared at him, blinking, trying to parse his meaning.
“You’re not going to hit me again, are you?” he asked, smiling.
Her palm pressed to his stinging cheek. “What…what are you saying here? Are you breaking up with me?”
His eyes widened. “June, no. Be serious. You’re my wife. ”
“Fine, are you divorcing me?” She sounded so vulnerable, so uncertain. How had he arrived here, with this woman who meant everything to him somehow in doubt of that fact?
“June, no, no . You are my world, my heart, my everything. I don’t ever want to divorce you, ever. I want you, I want us.”
“But I might kill you,” she breathed.
He nodded. “Yeah, you might. But I don’t think you will. I’m pretty good at providing a rescue and anticipating the bad things. And I’ll keep being good at them, because I don’t want to fix it, and I’m sorry if I made you feel like you’re broken. You’re not. You are perfect and amazing to me, exactly what I need and what I want. I don’t care about the accidents, not at all. All those other guys who left, it was just good screening on your part. Me? I don’t leave, I don’t shy away, and I won’t. I don’t care if you do break my hand or my legs or my head. Anything but my heart. I want you, exactly as you are in every possible way. Don’t change for me, don’t change anything. The past few months with you have been the best of my life. I think maybe I did fall in love with you, that very first night, but my loyalty to Erica wouldn’t let me see it. And I’m so glad, so glad, June, that she walked out on our wedding and I got to have you. It’s the best trade of my life, and I won’t give you back, not for anything. And if you want me to pay your dad back, so you know I’m not in it for the money, then I will.”
She put her finger to his lips. “Don’t be crazy, Aiden. I can’t have my husband being foolish with our money. We’re going to take the house and run. My dad is loaded, and he doesn’t need or want our money.”
He kissed her finger. “Does that mean you’re going to stop running away from me? Because I have to tell you, June, of the two of us, you’re the athlete in this family.”
“You do all right, Doctor Lawrence. And I love you, Aiden, I love you so much, and I love our life together, and I want more of it. I want it all. But,” she paused and bit her lip, turning pensive, “I’m afraid, genuinely afraid of what I’ll do to you.”
“In sickness and in health, June, ‘til death do us part,” Aiden reminded her.
“Even if I’m the cause of it?”
“Even then. I want a real wife, and I want to be a real husband to you, in all the ways.”
“Then let’s do it,” June said. “From this moment on, for better or worse, we are husband and wife, really and truly, and in all the ways.”
The rumble of a truck distracted them. Denver had left but now returned, his truck facing the other direction as he paused beside them. He rolled down his window. “What are you two doing?” he demanded.
“Getting married,” June called.
He frowned. “You ought not to be lying in the grass like that. Might get hit or run over.”
“We’ll take that into consideration,” Aiden replied.
Denver paused. “Can I come over? I’m bored and hungry.”
“Not tonight,” June said, but gently. “We have, um, stuff to do.” Behind her, Aiden coughed. “Tomorrow?”
“Okay,” Denver pouted. “By the way, Aiden, your sister called me. She said you’re not answering your phone and it’s time.”
Aiden sat up, taking June with him. “It’s time,” he announced.
“It’s time,” June echoed, tugging his arm with excitement.
Denver eyed them with a hangdog expression. “I guess you’ll be hanging at the hospital all night.”
“Do you want to come with us?” Aiden offered.
Denver perked up. “Yeah, okay. Do you think your sister will let me hold the baby, when it’s born? I love babies.”
“Probably so,” Aiden said. He stood and held out a hand to June, making his inspection as she righted herself beside him. “You okay?”
She nodded. “A little sore, but yeah. You?”
“Perfectly perfect,” he lied, secretly flexing his hand where she couldn’t see. It was sore, but he could tell nothing was broken.
Denver stuck his head out the window. “Can we get supper on the way? And a milkshake?”
“Yeah, okay,” Aiden agreed. “To go.”
Denver drew his head back inside the truck, beaming. It would be easy to believe he was simple or stupid, except that June told him he was actually quite brilliant and had excelled at math, when he was in school. People were complex, Aiden realized, seldom black and white, but multiple shades of gray. Someone could look like June and be so bunched up inside that she became a danger to herself and others. Someone could be as calm, cool, and controlled as Erica and still bail on her wedding. The only solution was to love them anyway, the good, the bad, and the broken. Just pour love on all of it and toss it together like a salad, hoping the best pieces would land on top.
They rode with Denver, because it was silly to take three cars when they were all going to the same place. And in the end he was an asset, the perfect thing to keep Jenna distracted. His happy-go-lucky golden retriever nature was the perfect foil for her high strung Chihuahua energy.
June raised an eyebrow at Aiden. “No way,” he whispered. In no universe did he want his sister to get together with her brother.
“Stranger things have happened,” June warned.
“Like what?” he asked, drawing her into his lap. Not only did he want her there, but he could tell she’d bruised her backside when he tackled her, and the uncomfortable hospital chairs weren’t doing her any favors.
“Like I knew this girl who went to the hospital because she glued her hands together and got her head stuck in a pipe, and she ended up marrying her doctor.”
“You’re making that up,” he accused.
“No, it’s true. I know the girl.”
“And what happened?”
She stroked a finger around his face. “They lived happily ever after.”
“My favorite kind of story.” He tipped forward and brushed his lips softly on hers.
“Yuck, can you not make out in public?” Jenna demanded.
“Jenna,” their mother said tiredly.
“Mom, they’re gross,” Jenna said.
“They’re newlyweds,” her mother replied, as if that explained everything.
“How long are they going to be newlyweds?” Jenna whined.
“Until all the gooey newlywed emotions die down,” their mother said, not lifting her eyes from the book she read on her phone.
“So, forever then,” Aiden whispered to June.
“I think so, yes,” June agreed.
“Gag,” Jenna said. She couldn’t have heard them, but must have resented their affection regardless.
“Come on,” Denver nudged her arm. “Let’s raid the snack machines in the ER. They get the good stuff.”
“There is no good stuff in a hospital snack machine,” she said, but she allowed him to lead her away.
“Your brother is an actual magical being,” Aiden observed.
“I’ve always thought so,” June said fondly.
“Please can we keep him?” Aiden’s mother begged.
“We’re keeping him forever, Mom. He’s family,” Aiden reminded her, giving June’s midsection a little squeeze. She smiled and hugged his neck as George burst into view.
“He’s here,” he announced. “Lawrence George, eight pounds, ten ounces. Beth did so good, only screamed and threatened one nurse, which is three less than with Starla.” He pressed the heel of his palm to his eye, pushing away the moisture. “They’re getting him cleaned up, and then you can all come see him. Just wanted to let you know.” He beamed at them and then scurried back to where he came from.
Everyone sat in stunned silence a few beats, absorbing the happy news. “You were right,” Aiden breathed to June. “You told me my heart would make room and I would love him as much as Starla. I haven’t even seen him yet, and it already happened. I love him so much.” Tears pressed the backs of his eyes and he swallowed them back, taking a shaky breath.
“That’s the magic of love, Aiden. The more love you give, the more love you have. It’s a well that never runs dry, and using it replenishes the giver, too. It can mend what’s broken and heal what’s hurting, provide light in a dark room and hope in a hopeless situation.”
“And we found it, June. How did we get so blessed?” Aiden mused.
“I don’t know, but I do know we’ve both been through enough not to take it for granted, and that’s something even more special, the ability to appreciate the gift you’ve been given. Most people don’t get that until it’s too late. We’re getting it when we’re only getting started.”
“I want to bottle this moment and stay right here forever,” Aiden said.
“I don’t. I want to bottle it, but I want to add so many others. If we both survive my love, that is,” she said, only half joking.
“We will,” Aiden said, with full certainty. “I promise.”
They sat in cozy silence, absorbing the love and joy in the room, basking in it, waiting for their turn to hold the new baby. It was a night for new beginnings, the very best sort of night, a harbinger of all the good to come.