CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Three weeks later, Addison woke and looked over at her husband. She sighed when she saw his dark circles beneath his eyes and she noted that he’d lost some weight also. She moved and when he didn’t even move from his deep sleep she slowly rose, gathered some clothes and left their bedroom. An hour later, she was in the kitchen, and after making a decision picked up the phone and dialed.
“Yo, bro, what’s up?” Greaser answered.
“Um, it me.”
“Ad? Are you okay? Where’s Abe?” Greaser looked at his girlfriend, Detective Lydia in shock. She also wore a shocked expression.
“He’s sleeping. I don’t want to disturb him. Could I ask a huge favor of you, Greaser?”
“Absolutely. What do you need?”
“Remember when we’d order from that restaurant before a game? Could you do that for me?”
“Everything?” Greaser grinned at Lydia. He had put the phone on speaker and she frowned at the request. But was reassured by his grin.
“Everything.”
“Medium? Root? Cheese?”
“Mild, yes, and extra. Oh, and extra on the bleu too, not that shit pussies use. I’ll pay you when you get here, just come in the back to the kitchen. Do not ring the bell. Lincoln’s finally sleeping and I don’t want to disturb him.”
“Can I bring my girlfriend with me?”
“Yes, you have a girlfriend? It’s about time, I’d love to meet her.”
“See you in forty-five minutes to an hour then. And Ad.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for trusting me enough to call me with this.”
“I thought you’d understand.” She giggled. “And Greaser? Hurry, I’m hungry.” She hung up on his deep belly laugh.
An hour later Greaser walked in the back door of the Murphy’s home and without knocking he let himself in and saw Addison Murphy sitting there drumming her fingers impatiently.
“About damn time,” she said, and held out her hands and wiggled her fingers in a gimme motion. “I’m about starved half to death. I’m nothing but skin and bones waiting for you to get here with the food.” She watched as Greaser set four bags on the island and the woman behind him set four more beside them.
“I know you,” Addison said.
“Yes, I’m Detective Lydia Walsh. We met the day I borrowed your phone.”
“Oh. Welcome to my home. Please, forgive me for what you’re about to witness. I make no excuses.”
“Eric’s been telling me about your illness, this is a good thing to witness.” She began unloading the take-out containers, and once they were all on the table, Greaser began opening them to show her their contents.
“Oh my god. I’m in love,” Addison said, and reached for a gooey mozzarella stick. No one saw Greaser pull a pad of paper and write down everything that she ate. “Join me. We all know I can’t eat all this, but please help yourself.” She waved her hand at all the food on the counter to encourage them to eat with her.
Greaser only got a roll of paper towels for them and they pulled up chairs and joined her.
Lincoln woke from a deep sleep and the first thing he did was look over at Addison. He quickly sat up when she wasn’t in the bed beside him. He rushed to the bathroom and didn’t find her there. That caused him to check all the rooms upstairs. Halfway down the stairs he heard laughing, and talking coming from his kitchen. He rushed forward and stopped dead at the sight before him. Sitting at the kitchen island was Addison, Greaser and a woman that looked familiar. But what shocked him most, was all the take-out containers that littered the counter.
“What’s going on?” he demanded from his position in the doorway.
“Lincoln. Come join us.” Addison held out her hand and he stared at the chicken wing that she beckoned him forward with.
“Addison, what’s all this?” He slowly made his way to her side and frowned at the food. He scowled at Greaser. “Someone better tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Ad called me and asked me to pick up some food for her. She said you were finally sleeping deeply and didn’t want to disturb you. Lydia and I did a pick up and brought it over.” He picked up a pad of paper and looked at Lincoln with a grin. “In the last hour your wife has eaten two mozzarella sticks, two pizza logs, four onion rings, a combination of fifteen pieces of carrots and celery, ten things, I don’t know if they were fried cauliflower, corn, mac and cheese, or mushrooms, two four-ounce containers of bleu cheese, and that’s her fifth chicken wing.” Greaser grinned at the shock on Lincoln’s face.
“Is that beer?” He noted the two dark brown bottles before his wife.
“Root.” Addison grinned at him.
“Oh and she’s had one and a half bottles of root beer.” Greaser grinned at his friend as he finished reading off from the list he’d made.
Lincoln stared at his wife in shock. He walked up to her, took her face gently in his hands and kissed her. When he stepped back he licked his lips and grinned. “Mild?”
“Yep, I didn’t know if I could handle the medium.”
“Yet you’ve handled all that food? No cramps? No ill effects? No dizziness?”
“Nope, pull up a chair and join us. I can’t eat much more, and there’s plenty here.”
Lincoln did just that and for the first time in almost a year, he and his wife ate with friends and laughed and talked. At one point he looked at his wife, and said, “You know, you’re going to have to eat something healthy every now and then.”
“I did.” She grinned as she picked up a piece of celery, dredged it through bleu cheese dressing, making sure there was a thick chunk of the cheese on the celery stick, and took a bite of it. Then grinned at him. “See, veggies.”
Unable to be upset with her he threw his head back and laughed. It felt good to have his wife back.
*****
Eighteen months later
“You ready?” Lincoln asked his wife as he stood in the bedroom doorway.
“Um, I have this thing, can I meet you there? It should only take me an hour, hour and a half at most.”
“Are you sure?” Lincoln crossed his arms over his chest and studied Addison intently.
“I’m sure. I’ll be there in plenty of time. But I have to do this thing.”
“Okay, if you’re not there in two hours, we’re all coming to look for you.”
“Deal,” she said as she kissed him. Once she heard his motorcycle start up and leave she did a happy dance and put her hand over her chest to control her breathing.
One hour and sixteen minutes later, with a grin on her face, she pulled up to the gate at the clubhouse. “Hey, Randy.”
“Hey, Addy. Good to see you. There’s a spot around back for you to park.” She parked and grabbed her purse and headed to the clubhouse. Inside she saw everyone and when they saw her they waved and pointed to the back door. Outside she looked around and the first person she saw was Lincoln. She made sure she was in his line of vision and when he looked up she grinned. He nodded at her because he was in the middle of helping the other guys lift the cooked pig out of the cooker.
Three hours later, Burt jumped up on the makeshift stage and grabbed the mike. “Welcome, welcome everyone! Thank you for coming today. As you all know, today’s pig roast is a benefit for cancer. All money raised today will be donated to the local Ronald McDonald house.” He paused when the cheers went up.
“What I’m about to do is normally private club business, but this club has some very long overdue old business to attend to. I need my men front and center please.” He watched as all his men and their women stepped forward. He jumped off the stage with the mic and walked the line and stopped in front of Lincoln. “Abe, two years ago, you were asked if you would accept the continued position of our Sargeant at Arms. Due to a family illness, you declined and took a leave from the club. I’m asking you today, would you accept the position of Sargeant at Arms to protect our bylaws and lives? Enforce our rules as they are written, and protect our own?” Burt asked, and reached behind him and held out the vest that Lincoln had given him two years ago.
“With pride,” Lincoln said, and turned as Burt put them on him. Everyone cheered and he looked over at Addison and winked.
“Okay, that concludes our old business. Now let’s start...”
“Wait,” Lincoln said, and lifted a brow and held out his hand for the mic. He took it and turned to the crowd. “Today is a very special day for me. If I could have Addison join me?” He watched as she made her way forward and stood before him. He turned so that they faced each other but their sides were to the crowd. While looking into her eyes he spoke into the mic.
“Addison Murphy, today is our ninth wedding anniversary. In the past, I didn’t think much about your role here in the club, but I realized that I’ve missed both you and the club. Oh hell, I don’t know what I’m saying. Will you wear my vest?” He held up her vest and all she saw was ‘Property of Abe’.
“With pride.” She grinned and he put it on her. He kissed her thoroughly to the cheer of their club members. After he broke the kiss, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small box. “I found the receipt for the pins you bought us years ago. I contacted the jeweler and put in a request. As you know, you commissioned hearts and keys for both of us. You told me you did it because we hold the key to each other’s hearts.” He used his thumb to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.
“I sent the pins to him and had him fuse them and make them into necklaces.” He opened the box. “You still hold the key to my heart, however, now, nothing is getting to my heart but you.” He held up the necklace and she saw what he was talking about and automatically turned and pulled her long wavy hair to the side. She had lost it all during her treatments, but as soon as she’d gone into remission, she swore it grew about six inches a month. She knew that wasn’t accurate, but she now had hair longer then before she’d gotten sick. As he put it on her, he kissed her neck and said, “I love you, Addison Murphy.”
“And I you,” she said, and put his around his neck. When he didn’t say anything else she took the mic. “My turn.” She grinned. She kept him in front of her and when there was activity at their feet she put her hand on his face to keep him from looking down. “Lincoln Murphy you and I have some old, old business that needs to be resolved today. As I’m sure everyone here knows we had a rough patch a long time ago. We never resolved it. Since today is our anniversary will you join me in the resolution of our old business?”
Lincoln frowned then watched as she bent down and handed him a blue folded stack of papers along with a lighter. She held the same thing in her hand. Without looking he knew they were the divorce papers and together they set fire to them and held them over a bucket and watched them burn, to the cheers of everyone around them.
“Okay, step back now, I have something important to say.” She grinned at him and actually slapped him on the ass to get him moving. He laughed and joined his friends. Addison sighed when Jackson and Greaser stepped up to each side of him.
“Okay everyone thank you for sharing that moment with Lincoln and myself. But now I have to have a couple serious things to discuss.” She didn’t wait, she rushed on. “Last week I had my blood work done. Yesterday I went in to get the results.”
“Addison, why didn’t you tell me?” Lincoln started forward, but was stopped by a hand on each shoulder.
“According to Dr. Knight, my oncologist, I am still cancer free and in remission.” She paused when cheers went up. Lincoln was right there to kiss her and when he was done, she pushed him back. “However, Dr. King, my normal doctor, found an abnormality in my blood.”
“Addison,” Lincoln said in shock.
She grinned and took the small, wrapped package from Brian and held it in one hand. She held it out to Lincoln. “This will explain the abnormality, Lincoln. Please, open this.”
“Addison?”
“Lincoln.” She wrinkled her nose at him, then at the look on his face, said, “Trust me.”
Lincoln stepped forward and watched as Addison put the mic down and held the package with both outstretched hands. It was only about six inches wide by eight inches long, all wrapped in white.
“Trust me,” she whispered, and with his eyes on hers, he allowed her to continue holding it and began opening the gift. He realized his hands were shaking. All that ran through his mind was that she’d been sick for the last three mornings. Now there was an abnormality in her blood. Shit that meant the cancer was back. He opened the gift, lifted the lid and stared in shock. He couldn’t say anything.
“Really?” he whispered.
“Breathe. But yes, really.”
Excited, he grabbed her upper arms and jerked her to him and crushed the gift between them. He kissed her long and hard, then broke the kiss, picked her up and twirled her around laughing uncontrollably.
“What was the gift?” Several people began to call out.
Lincoln looked around and Addison laughed when she pushed him away from her and he saw the gift was between them. He grinned as he picked up the white shirt and held it up and turned to the crowd. On the front of the garment was written. “World’s number one Daddy.” And it was a small white onesie.
“We’re pregnant!” Lincoln yelled at the top of his lungs and kissed his wife again to the sound of cheers, catcalls and whistles.
As happy as he was at that exact moment, it brought back the time years ago when he was just as happy. After all the shit they’d endured, it felt like he had come full circle to where he belonged. With his wife, full of compassion, love, and happiness. Now with a baby on the way, he couldn’t be happier. He also realize what his wedding vows had been all about. He helped Addison through her sickness, now they can be happy and healthy as they wait to welcome the product of their love into the world in a few short months.
“I love you,” he said against her lips, and he continued showing her just how happy he was that they were about to embark on this journey of a new life they forged together.