Chapter Wednesday, November 23rd #4
“No, you’re not, Bobby,” my mom says. “You’re a curmudgeon when it comes to Ran. He’s a good guy. He’s good to Kitty. And if you don’t want to push our daughter away, maybe try a little harder.”
She shuts the pantry and walks out, leaving him standing there with his arms still crossed.
***
Ten minutes later, I spot Steve’s black Challenger parked in the driveway next to Frank’s Tahoe and I pick up my pace on the short walkway to the Soult house. I climb the three steps to the familiar dark-green front door and knock three times.
“Stevie!” I exclaim when Steve opens the front door and throw my arms around his neck. I haven’t seen him in weeks.
Steve moved up to Boston at the end of August and has made only rare showings in New York. Between school and the four-hour drive, he’s had plenty of excuses.
“Hey, Cat!” He squeezes me tightly, his chest solid and warm.
“It’s so good to see you! How are you?” I step back to take him in.
His light brown hair is longer now, and his face is scruffy, probably five days past clean-shaven. It suits him. He looks relaxed and happy in dark jeans and a fitted black henley that shows off his broad shoulders. He and Ronan look so much alike, and yet completely different.
“I’m great,” he says, a giant smile on his lips. “Really great. How about you?”
“Really good,” I say, grinning.
“Yeah. You look good,” he says sweetly, and pulls me in for another hug after closing the front door behind me. “You and Ran doing okay?”
I take off my coat, then kick off my shoes. “Yeah, we’re doing great,” I say, my voice rising an octave. The butterflies I feel whenever I so much as think of Ronan are the same as the day I met him. I swear, every day that passes I fall more in love with him.
“And how about you?” I ask, smirking. “Ran has a theory that you’re secretly seeing someone up in Boston.”
Steve chuckles as I follow him down the hallway and into the living room. “Does he now?” He takes a seat on the sofa. “Ran and his theories.”
I sit down beside him. “Well, he’s usually spot-on with those theories of his.”
He nods. “So, where is my little brother?”
I decide right then and there that Ronan is right about Steve having met someone. “He won’t be done with class until three, so he should be here at four or so,” I say. “How’s Boston?”
“Really good. Fucking cold right now,” he says with a small frown. “But yeah, really good. I miss you guys, though.” He pulls me against him to squeeze me once more.
“We miss you, too. Ran has actually told me a bunch of times how much he misses you.”
Steve chortles. “No, he didn’t.”
“Yeah, he did. He keeps saying how weird it is that you’re so far away.”
“Huh.” He leans back. “I should try and visit more often.”
“I think Ran would like that,” I say, nudging his ribs. “So, other than school and your new girlfriend, what have you been up to?”
Steve shakes his head, laughing. “Well, I’ve officially declared my major as pre-med.”
My eyes widen. “You’re going to be a doctor?”
“That’s the plan. I mean, it’s a long road and super competitive, but it feels right.”
“Stevie, that’s amazing!”
“I took on a volunteer intern position at Boston Medical just to get my feet wet, see if I could handle it.”
“That’s so great. I never knew you were into medicine.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Honestly, neither did I.”
I laugh. “So what made you choose pre-med?”
His eyes soften. “Ran.”
I nod.
I don’t need to ask anything else because I understand Steve’s motivation for wanting to go into medicine.
It was the moment he found his little brother unconscious on the living room floor, barely breathing.
The moment Ronan’s heart stopped. The moment Steve had to perform CPR and pray he was doing it right.
That helplessness carved a path he couldn’t ignore.
His interest in medicine makes complete sense.
“So, have you thought of what you’d want to specialize in, or…?”
“Right now, it’s trauma surgery,” Steve says with a nod. “But it can change, I guess. I definitely don’t want to be a plastic surgeon,” he adds with a chuckle.
“Oh, no? You don’t want to do boob implants all day?” I say with a giggle.
Steve’s face turns thoughtful. “Well, now that you talk about touching breasts all day, maybe I was wrong.” He laughs, and I join in.
“Hey, Cat,” Frank says, walking in with a very pregnant-looking Penny, his hand resting protectively on her lower back.
“Hi!” I say brightly as Penny waddles over to the armchair. She lowers herself with effort and exhales like she just ran a marathon.
“How are you feeling?”
“Huge,” she says with a quick laugh.
“You’re perfect,” Frank murmurs, rubbing her belly before taking the loveseat.
Penny kicks up her feet on the ottoman with a grateful sigh. “We had a doctor’s appointment this morning. The boys are looking great.”
“They both measure really big,” Frank tells us. “He says he wants to try to get her to thirty-nine weeks, but he might induce her earlier. We’ll see.”
Steve gives a one-shouldered shrug. “Well, I guess it’s not a total surprise that they’re big, right? I mean, you and Athair are both tall and so are Ran and I.”
Frank nods. “Yeah. Looks like those Soult genes are strong in the males. Although Ran was a scrawny little dude when he was born,” he says with a laugh. “You, on the other hand, were a big boy. Over nine pounds.”
Penny makes a horrified face. “No, don’t say that, Frankie! I can’t squeeze two nine-pound boys out of… well…”
“Maybe they’ll both be scrawny like Ran,” Frank says.
“Nice try,” she says. “But the doctor said they already measure two weeks ahead of schedule.”
“Oh, right,” Frank says with a quick laugh. “Baby, you’ll be fine. It’s going to be fine.”
“Easy for you to say. You don’t have to give birth to them,” Penny says through gritted teeth.
“Don’t forget, there’s medication,” I offer.
Penny laughs. “And I’ll be asking for all of it.” She gives me a knowing look. “You and Ran are going to have big babies too, one day. You’re both tall. And apparently the Soult guys have dominant big-boy genes.” She rubs her belly as if in warning.
Frank chuckles. “But please, take your time with that!”
Of course I blush. “Oh, I don’t think Ran and I are in any rush at all.”
Ronan and I haven’t ever talked about kids.
In fact, we haven’t really talked about our future.
It’s not that I don’t envision us together forever, or that I don’t sometimes fantasize about him asking me to marry him, our wedding, and growing a family.
I just haven’t brought it up to him yet.
I don’t want to pressure him; he’s still very much in the process of healing.
After all, it’s been only a little over a year since the abuse stopped, and really only a few months since he’s had a chance to create a new, peaceful normal for himself.
And we’re only eighteen, for crying out loud. There’s no need to hurry things.
“I sincerely hope so,” Frank says. “Not that I don’t love my boys, but to say it was easy becoming a dad at sixteen would be a lie.
I mean, in retrospect it’s pretty cool that I had them while I was so young because I can relate to them so much more.
But I made a lot of mistakes that I’m not sure I would have made if I had been older, had actually known what I was getting myself into when I had unprotected sex with a girl I had met only hours before, you know? ”
Steve laughs and glances my way. “Dad, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Cat’s very red face suggests she’s maybe a little uncomfortable with this conversation.”
“Sorry,” Frank says with a throaty chuckle. “So, buddy, how are things with your new girlfriend?” he adds, clearly catching Steve off guard.
“Not you too, Dad!”
“Your brother is absolutely convinced that—”
“I’m seeing someone. Yeah, yeah. Cat already filled me in on Ran’s theories,” Steve says with a huff and a shake of his head.
“Before you interrogate your son further, could you help me up, please?” Penny says, struggling to get out of her chair. “I need to use the bathroom.”
Frank quickly gets up, then helps Penny to her feet before she makes her way upstairs.
“I talked to Morai yesterday,” Steve tells his dad. “I guess she and Athair are thinking about taking a trip to New York this summer?”
“That’s what they’re telling me,” Frank says with a nod. “She was complaining that we don’t make enough trips to Montana.” He laughs. “So, I told her she should come and visit us instead.”
“Uh-huh. She told me she doesn’t want to have to wait another year after your wedding before she gets to see all of us again.”
“So, they’ll be here this summer?” I ask excitedly.
I’ve only met Ronan’s grandparents once—when Ronan was in the hospital, in a coma, and his grandparents flew in from Montana to be by his bedside and provide support to Frank and Steve.
I love Ronan’s grandparents, and his grandma Saoirse and I really hit it off.
I’m already looking forward to seeing them again in April for Frank and Penny’s wedding.
It’s set to take place on the Soult Ranch in Montana.
Just the thought of going to Montana, which has always been on my bucket list, to the place where Ronan was sent to heal, has me excited.
Both my mom and I are bridesmaids. Not only that, but Frank asked Shane’s dad, Seamus, to be a groomsman alongside Ronan and Steve.
There was no question whether Shane and Tori would come along, too.
Ronan and Shane were both pretty adamant that if Seamus came, so would Shane and Tori.
I can’t think of a better way to spend my spring break.
“Looks like it,” Frank says with a nod. “We haven’t nailed down an exact date yet, but I think they’re planning to come in June and stay with Penny and me for a couple of weeks. It’ll be great to have them around to help with the babies.”
Just then, there’s a knock at the front door.