Chapter Seventeen #2
Ben smiled when he saw Eddie come in. “Hey, bud, how’s it going?”
Eddie smiled back at him. “I’m doing great, thanks.
How about you? I’m guessing you’re doing pretty well.
April and I went around to Charlotte’s place on Saturday.
We were going to do the neighborly thing and invite her over.
But when I saw your car there we beat a hasty retreat. I didn’t want to intrude.”
Ben tried to hide his smile, remembering what he and Charlotte had been up to in the hot tub when Eddie and April had dropped by.
He could hardly say he was sorry he’d missed them.
Truth be told, he was sorry they’d been there.
If it weren’t for that interruption, he was pretty sure that he and Charlotte would be back together in no uncertain terms by now.
Eddie seemed to interpret his silence as an indication that he should change the subject. “Anyway, I thought Chase and Kenzie would be here by now.”
“She’s not due into work for another fifteen minutes yet.”
“I know, but we said … Here they come now.”
“Hey, guys,” said Kenzie with a smile. “Sorry we’re a bit late, Ed. It’s my fault.”
“No problem.”
Ben’s phone rang in his pocket and he fished it out, hoping it might be Charlie. He smiled when he saw Emma’s name come up on the display. He hadn’t spoken to her for a few days.
“Hey, Mouse. How’s it going?”
“The baby’s coming, Ben! It’s coming, and you still haven’t said you’ll be the godfather.”
Ben shook his head. “Of course I will, Em. You know I will. You’ve still got a little while yet though, haven’t you? When’s your due date again?”
“No, you don’t understand, Ben.” She sounded strange, as though she was breathing heavily. “The baby is coming now. As in right now, like we-are-on-our-way-to-the-hospital kind of now.”
“Oh my God, Em! What the hell are you doing calling me? Don’t you have more important things to think about right now?”
Emma laughed. “No, I don’t.” Jack’s driving. “I’m just sitting here with my mind racing through all the things I haven’t done yet.” She laughed again, sounding a little hysterical this time. “I think I’m just trying to focus on anything other than what’s about to happen. So humor me, would you?”
Ben laughed. “Of course I will. Can I do anything? Do you want me to call anyone? Can we come over to the hospital?”
Kenzie’s eyes widened when she heard that. “Is she okay? Is the baby on the way?”
Ben nodded, a big grin on his face. He was so happy for Emma and Jack. And there was no way he was going to allow his mind to wander away from their happiness and toward his own pain.
“I’d love it if you want to come to the hospital.
” Emma gave a nervous laugh. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me though.
You might have to wait around a while if you come now.
Don’t worry about calling people though, I had to call you first, but after you I’m going to call around everyone.
That should keep my mind off it for a while, right? ”
Ben laughed. “Okay, you do what you feel will work for you. I’m going to wait for Charlie to get back and then we’ll come on over.”
“When you see her, you can tell her this was why I wasn’t on very good form this afternoon. We had our meeting, but I wasn’t really able to concentrate. I told her I was having an off day, but now I understand why.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand, too. And I’m sure she’ll want to be there. Good luck, Em. I guess by the time I see you, you’ll be a mama.”
“Ooh. Oh, that hurts. I’m going to hang up now. It’s a … ohh … Contraction. Bye, Ben.”
Ben hung up and stared at his phone for a moment.
“Is she on her way to the hospital?” asked Kenzie.
“Is Jack with her?” asked Chase.
Ben nodded at them. “Yep, Jack’s driving and Emma’s calling around to everyone.”
“That sounds about right,” said Kenzie with a smile. “I love Emma, she’s going to make such a great mom.”
“Are you going to the hospital?” asked Chase. “We can hold the fort here if you want to go.”
Ben smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks. Charlie’s on the way back here and when she arrives I think we’ll go over there.”
“You forget about this place for tonight,” said Kenzie. “We can take care of it.”
“Thanks, Kenzie.” He smiled, but on the inside, part of him wanted to cry. He didn’t want to let his mind go anywhere near thoughts of his own child—the child he and Charlotte had lost all those years ago. He didn’t want to go there, but it was hard to drag his mind away.
“Here she is,” said Eddie.
~ ~ ~
Charlotte was looking forward to an evening at home with Ben. She’d told him she’d come to the restaurant to find him when she got finished with Emma. They were going to get the kitchen to make something for takeout so they could go and relax at her place.
When she walked into the bar, a wave of anxiety swept over her when she saw the look on Ben’s face.
He looked as though he’d seen a ghost, and yet the others with him, Kenzie, Chase, and Eddie all looked really happy.
Ben was hiding something, she knew it. And she was going to get him to tell her what it was.
She went straight to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
“Hey. Do you want to get out of here?” She turned and smiled at Kenzie.
“Do you mind if I steal him for the evening?”
Ben took her arm. “Kenzie already offered. I’m ready to leave, if you are?”
Charlotte looked up at him as he led her out of the bar. “What is it, Ben? What’s happened?”
Once they were outside he stopped and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking down into her eyes. “Sorry, baby. I might be overreacting. I should be happy, I am happy for Emma, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.”
“What did? What’s going on?”
“Emma called. They’re on their way to the hospital. She’s gone into labor.”
“Oh. Now it makes sense. She couldn’t focus at all when I was over there this afternoon.”
“Yeah, she said to tell you now she knew why.”
Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment. She, too, was happy for Emma and for Jack; she’d known ever since she came back that being here for the birth of her friend’s child would be difficult.
Now the time had come, and in the way Ben had described it, it hit like a ton of bricks.
She looked up into his eyes. “I’m with you, I’m happy for her, but it hurt’s like hell.
I want to go see and help them welcome the baby, but part of me just wants to go home and curl up and cry. ”
“That’s exactly how I feel. Which do you think we should do?”
“What we should do is go over there and hang out and wait with everyone else. I’m not sure I want to, and I’m not sure I can stand it, but that’s what I feel we should do.”
Ben sucked in a deep breath. “That’s the conclusion I reached, too. Are we strong or are we gluttons for punishment?”
Charlotte shrugged. “Maybe a bit of both. I just don’t want to miss out on happy things that are happening in our present, because of sad things that happened in our past.”
Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked toward his car. “At least we get to face it together. This would be so much harder if you weren’t here.”
“I couldn’t go by myself, and I’m glad she waited until I came back so that you don’t have to be there by yourself.”
“I held it together all these years, but it was so hard watching the others go through all the stages that I thought we’d go through, believing that our chance had passed, and yet never being able to give up hope that maybe someday our chance would come again.
” He opened the door for her and Charlotte got into the car.
When he came around and got in the driver’s seat she met his gaze.
“Our chance has come again, together we can face anything, we can even be there and be happy for Emma as she welcomes her new baby into the world. We have to deal with what we lost, but at least now we can face it knowing that we have another chance.”
Ben held her gaze. She knew what he was thinking.
He was wondering how she felt about children now.
When they were young, she’d always told him they could have kids in their thirties.
Now they were in their thirties. She smiled and planted a kiss on his lips.
They’d need to talk about that, and they would, but for tonight they had enough to deal with. They needed to get to the hospital.