Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
S am and Darcy returned to the United States a few days after Joel, Reese, Oriana, Lauren, and the boys did. This allowed them hours of conversation on Roman piazzas, of squabbling in front of the Vatican, of eating anything and everything they could find, of meeting Rachelle’s boss Diana and her daughter Valentina, of watching more bad movies in the hotel, and of wondering about their future. Darcy wasn’t sure she’d ever felt as close to her mother and sister as she did now. It was difficult to know everything would inevitably change.
When the time came, it was hard to say goodbye. At the airport entrance, Darcy hugged Rachelle extra long as her heart thudded. A delusional part of her had thought she’d stay in Rome far longer, work on her app with investors, and rekindle her relationship with her sister. But now, she knew with her whole heart that she had to let Rachelle continue down this path. She had her own path back home.
It broke her apart to accept that. Maybe it always would.
“Call me as soon as you land,” Rachelle ordered. “And send me a video of Steven’s performance. I can’t wait to hear what he says about the baby . ” Rachelle suddenly burst into tears and threw her arms around Darcy again.
It wasn’t easy for Rachelle, either.
Darcy wanted to beg Rachelle to come back. Open your own restaurant. I’ll help you.
But her life was in Rome now. And maybe next it would be Paris or Tokyo or Beijing or Lisbon.
But it wasn’t in Nantucket. It wasn’t with Darcy.
Sam gently tugged Darcy away from Rachelle. “We have to go. We’re running late.”
Darcy and Sam went through security and wandered through the airport until their plane was called. Darcy bought a little stuffed giraffe for the baby, feeling foolish but hopeful. She also bought Steven a wide array of Italian treats. Sam bought some perfume from Duty-Free, then wanted to take it back just as the plane was boarding.
“Nothing like an impulse purchase,” Sam said with a laugh. “I guess I’ll always remember Rome’s airport when I wear this awful perfume.”
The flight back to the United States was uneventful. Darcy didn’t experience any morning sickness, which was a godsend, and Sam slept all the way through. Due to the time difference, they technically landed two hours before they’d left Rome. It was only two in the afternoon. It meant there was time to get Darcy to Providence. That was where Steven played tonight.
Sam drove with her hands at ten and two and the radio up. Darcy gazed out the window at America, its highways and its fast food restaurants and its big blue sky. She wanted to cry. She’d only been gone a little more than a week, and she’d been homesick. Her baby was American. Her life was an American life. The love of her life was American, too.
The drive from Boston Airport to Providence took no longer than an hour and a half. It meant they arrived a little after four thirty with hours to kill. Darcy didn’t know if she wanted to surprise Steven now, or wait till right before the show. Or after the show?
“It’s up to you,” Sam told her. “But I think you’ve made him wait long enough.”
Darcy knew she was right.
Darcy sent Steven a few choice text messages to figure out where he and the band were staying that night.
STEVEN: This little place called the Super 8 motel in Providence. They have a pool!
Darcy laughed and instructed Sam on the route. She felt euphoric. Sunlight shimmered through Rhode Island’s maples and willows and oaks, and kids played in lush green lawns and squealed as they rode down slides. When she saw the band van parked outside the motel, she screamed with excitement. Sam pulled over so Darcy could double-check her makeup and hair, then kissed her on the cheek. “Good luck.”
Darcy floated from her mother’s car to the pool entrance directly beside the motel. The pool was protected by an iron fence falling apart in places, but the pool was bright turquoise and shining beneath the July sun. In the center was a man she knew well, floating on a raft with a book raised above his head. It was Steven. And he was reading Ulysses by James Joyce because he was a genius.
Did this mean her baby would be a genius, too?
She didn’t care. Didn’t care if the baby was a genius or a musician or just an aesthetician, like she was. She just wanted her baby to have Steven as a father. Her heart brimmed with love.
Darcy crept to the edge of the pool. She was grateful nobody was around. There was a sense of unreality to everything, as though she would wake up in a moment, twisted up in her sheets at her apartment, waiting for her life to begin.
Your life is here. It’s now.
Darcy took a breath. “Steven?”
Steven pulled his book to the side and nearly dropped it in the water with surprise. He bucked up and fell off the raft, then raised his arm to keep the book from getting wet. It was all quite comical, but Darcy was too frightened to laugh.
“Darcy? What are you doing here?” His eyes were enormous. He forced himself through the water to the ladder, where he scrambled up. He stood before her, dripping wet. His blue swim shorts were stuck to his skinny legs.
He was twenty-seven. She was twenty-five.
In a year, they’d be parents.
Darcy raised herself on her tiptoes and kissed him without hesitation. He wrapped his arms around her, and she was suddenly drenched. Their kiss broke, and she laughed for the first time. He joined, sounding confused.
“I missed you,” she said.
“I missed you, too.” His smile widened. “Did you bail on Rome for me?”
“I bailed on Rome for me,” Darcy said. “And for our baby.”
Steven’s arms loosened with surprise. This time, he really did drop the book, and it bounced away from them and nearly toppled into the pool.
“Baby?” Steven’s eyes lit up.
Darcy bowed her head and then raised it to press her nose against his.
“Baby,” Steven said again.
Darcy cackled. Steven’s smile widened. It was suddenly as though none of the drama of the past few weeks had happened. It was as though they were always headed to this Super 8 motel pool to share this very moment together. As though it was always supposed to happen here.
Steven dropped his arms and cried out. “I’m going to be a father!”
One of his bandmates opened their motel window and peered out. “What’s up?”
Steven announced it again. Darcy’s eyes spilled tears.
“That’s great,” the bandmate said sleepily. “But could you shut up about it for another hour or so?”
Steven laughed and picked Darcy up and spun her in a circle. Darcy already imagined them years from now, celebrating the eternity of their love wherever it was they ended up living. There was so much to discuss; so much to plan for.
And that was when Steven said, “I can’t believe it’s all happening at once! Last night, an agent approached us. He wants to represent the band!”
Darcy grabbed his shoulders. “Steven, that’s amazing.”
“And you? What about your app?” Steven asked. He looked excitable as a puppy.
Darcy wanted to be able to tell him that she’d gotten funding. That she was well on her way to becoming something. But it wasn’t the truth. He read it on her face.
“It’s the first step,” he assured her. “And who knows? Maybe the money I get from the first album can help support your app. Maybe we can just make things up as we go along. Who needs Rome? Who needs Carlotta? It’s just you and me, baby. Plus the baby.” He laughed again. “I have this strange sensation that everything is going to turn out just fine. Better than fine.”
It was then that Steven’s other bandmates came out and shoved both of them in the pool in celebration. Darcy cried out and fell beneath the water with her clothes on. Steven helped her up and whipped his hair behind him. “Are you okay? Are you okay, baby?” But Darcy just couldn’t stop laughing. She remembered she’d left her phone in her mother’s car. It was just water. They were just clothes.
“We heard you had something to celebrate!” one of the bandmates cried.
They leaped into the pool after that. Their calls of excitement drew Sam out of her car. She hurried to the iron fence around the pool and raised her sunglasses as Darcy waved her in. “I’ll get my suit!” Sam said with a laugh before disappearing again. “And yours, too.”
It was only mid-July in a summer that seemed bound up in adrenaline and anxiety and fear and love and newness. It was impossible to guess what came next. But that night, when Steven came out on stage with his guitar, he announced to his brand-new and already adoring fans that he was going to have a baby. “And this song is dedicated to the person I love the most in the world.”