16. Lauren
CHAPTER 16
LAUREN
“ I s Mémé going to be okay?”
Louis and Lauren stood by the front window and watched Nico drive away down the residential street. The taillights of the car cast long streaks of color on the rain-soaked pavement.
Lauren put her arm around the little boy and he leaned into her. She wanted to reassure him without overstepping and promising that everything would be rosy.
“People fall and get hurt sometimes. But they almost always get better, and your grandmother is strong and young.”
“Young?” Louis wrinkled his nose. “She’s kind of old.”
Lauren chuckled. “Yes, but she’s young for a grandmother.”
“That’s true. Most people’s grandmas don’t play football with them or go on long hikes.”
“Exactly. Now, how about we sit down and make a nice get-well card for her?”
“What’s that?”
“We can draw or make a nice little card telling your grandma that we hope she’ll feel better soon. Sometimes when people are hurt and they get cards like that, it reminds them that many people care about them, and they feel better.”
“Okay! I have an idea for a card.” Louis extricated himself from under Lauren’s arm and ran into the living room. Lauren followed at a more sedate pace, and by the time she arrived, Louis was sitting on the floor with his craft box open on the coffee table. The puzzle was forgotten on the floor for now. “We can fold some paper in half to make a card, then draw some cool pictures on it.”
“Good idea.” Lauren lowered herself to the floor beside Louis. Luckily, her nausea wasn’t bad at the moment and she was able to concentrate all her energy on the sweet boy in front of her. “What pictures do you think your grandmother would like?”
“Dinosaurs?” Louis suggested eagerly.
“Dinosaurs are great. What about some things your grandmother likes, too? She loves her garden, right? So maybe you can draw some flowers.”
They both got to work, Louis carefully sketching outlines onto the front of the paper card while Lauren put on some music and did some origami to keep her hands busy while she chatted with Louis. Soon, Louis had created a card decorated with dinosaurs wearing flower crowns, and airplanes flying among fluffy white clouds.
“I think she’s going to love this,” Lauren said when Louis presented her the final draft. “Do you want to write a message inside?”
They settled on a quick note about getting better soon. Working together, they were fairly certain that they had all the French spellings correct, although it was hard to be a hundred percent sure, and there was a lot of laughter as they argued over a few words.
“When can we give this to Mémé?” Louis asked when they’d finished.
“We can give to your papa and he’ll pass it on.”
“Okay.” Louis looked around. “What do we do now?”
“There’s only one obvious answer to that question. Just a minute.”
A week or two ago, Lauren had spotted the game Mouse Trap in a store and bought it. She and Nico had discussed saving it for a rainy day and had stored it in Nico’s closet. Today was certainly a rainy day, in more ways than one, and Lauren was sure he’d approve of her giving it to Louis.
Lauren retrieved the game and brought it downstairs. As she and Louis set it up on the coffee table, the boy’s eyes widened with excitement.
“Is this a building game?”
“It sure is. In the game, we’re creating a complicated maze for this marble.”
“Wow!” Louis danced a little with excitement, and Lauren’s heart warmed. She’d known that his love of building and inventions would make this game very appealing to him. Sure enough, he bounced with delight throughout the whole first round. Then he wanted to experiment with the pieces to make his own maze, so Lauren made them both a hot chocolate and settled on the couch to check her messages from Nico. He’d already reached the hospital, and Rose was having an x-ray. Lauren texted him her well-wishes, then sat back to sip her hot chocolate and take a moment of rest.
As she watched Louis alternately sip his hot chocolate, which Lauren had placed safely on an end table, and tinker with the plastic game pieces, she felt an odd mix of emotions. She was going to have a baby. Not just any baby, either. Her child would be Louis’s sister or brother. Louis was such a wonderful child, so full of enthusiasm and creativity, and Lauren was excited about having a baby like him.
However, seeing Louis play also brought Lauren’s fears crashing in. If Nico didn’t want her and the baby to be a part of his life, that would mean that she would lose Louis, too. Lauren had come to love the little boy almost as her own, and the thought of not seeing him anymore was heartbreaking. On top of that, Louis could lose the opportunity to be a big brother.
Lauren needed to tell Nico what was happening and how she felt. Soon. It would be cruel to drop this news on him while his mother was in the hospital, though. She would ask him to dinner tomorrow night, just the two of them. She’d hold his hands and tell him the news gently and kindly. She’d emphasize that, although this wasn’t what either of them had planned, another baby could be a wonderful opportunity.
Still, Lauren was almost certain what Nico would say. He’d been more than clear in the kitchen earlier, when he’d talked about the struggles of raising a child and told her that he wasn’t ready to do it all again, not yet at least. Lauren should have just told him then, but her words had failed her in the face of Nico’s assuredness that he didn’t want another child yet.
Lauren’s heart ached. Even if Nico wasn’t going to take the news well, she needed to be honest with him. But telling him about the baby felt so monumental. If he decided he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her anymore, she didn’t know what she would do. Nico and Louis had become such an important part of her life that she couldn’t imagine being without them.
Lauren still had a sliver of hope, though. Despite what Nico had said in the kitchen, perhaps when he was faced with a real baby, as opposed to a hypothetical one, he would feel different. He loved Louis and was a great father. And Lauren was almost certain that he loved her, too. Maybe he would even be happy about the news.
It seemed unlikely, but she had to keep hoping.
Just then, Lauren’s phone rang with an incoming call from Céline. Louis looked startled at the interruption, and Lauren smiled at him.
“It’s just a friend. You can keep building.”
“Okay.” He went back to playing with the Mouse Trap game.
Lauren didn’t want to leave Louis alone when he was having a difficult day, so she answered the call and went to lean against the windowsill, where she would still be close enough to keep an eye on him.
“Hi, Céline. What’s up?”
“I just wanted to check in on you.” Céline’s voice was kind, as always. “Have you told Nico about the baby yet?”
Lauren glanced at Louis in concern. He was a bright boy, and she couldn’t very well mention a baby in front of him.
“I haven’t.”
“Lauren.” Céline’s voice, while still kind, was slightly exasperated. “You know waiting won’t help, right?”
“I realize that.” Lauren sighed. “But I can’t tell him about the… bun in my oven. Not yet.”
“He’s going to find out about the bun sooner or later,” Céline pointed out. “You’ll start showing, and eventually the bun will be, say, ready to take out of the oven.”
“I know. But his mother hurt her ankle today. And before that, I asked him if he was, well, hungry for any more buns than the one he already has. And he was pretty clear that he was full.”
“I think you’re taking the bun metaphor a little far.”
“I know, but the original bun is right here in the room with me.”
“Ah.” Céline paused. “I know you’re scared to tell him, but you need to do it. Right now, you can control the situation. You can tell him how you want to, when you want to. If you wait too long, that choice will be taken away from you, and Nico will feel like you hid something from him.”
“I know. But I have a plan. I’ll speak to him tomorrow about the bun and about everything else.”
“Good for you. And just remember, I’m here for you if you need to talk or anything.”
“Thanks, Céline. You’ve really been a wonderful friend.”
“Yeah, I know. I am the greatest.”
Lauren could hear her friend’s smile across the distance. “Sure, sure. And you’re very humble. All right, I’d better go.”
“Lots of baking to do.”
“Exactly. Bye, Céline.”
“Bye.”
Lauren hung up and returned to the couch.
“What was that about?” Louis asked.
“It was just my friend checking up on me.”
“That’s nice. Can we play another game now?”
“Of course. How about you go pick one out?”
Louis flew to his room to select another game, and Lauren packed up Mouse Trap and moved to the kitchen table for a more comfortable seat. Even as she laughed and played games with Louis for the rest of the afternoon, the day was bittersweet. She would tell Nico about the baby tomorrow, so this could very well be the last afternoon she got to spend with Louis.
Perhaps the pregnancy hormones were making Lauren extra emotional, but as she fixed herself and Louis a vegetable snack in the kitchen, she felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. She and Nico had stood here just hours ago while he told her he didn’t want another baby.
Nico came home a few hours later. As soon as the door opened, Louis dropped his hand of cards and raced to the entryway and into his father’s arms.
“How’s Mémé?”
“She’s doing just fine.” Nico hugged his son close as Lauren leaned against the wall and watched them. “Just to be safe, the doctors are keeping her overnight, but it looks like just a bad sprain. Tomorrow, they’re planning to move her to a rehabilitation place where she can get physical therapy and help with basic tasks until she can put weight on her foot again.”
“Can we visit her?”
“Of course we can. We can even go tomorrow after school.”
“Good, because I made her a card. Come see!” Louis pulled Nico towards the living room. Nico gently pulled his hand from Louis’s and stopped in front of Lauren.
“Thank you so much for being here.”
“It was really a pleasure. You know I love spending time with Louis.”
“And he loves spending time with you.” Nico pressed a kiss to Lauren’s cheek. “Would you like to stay for dinner? Then after Louis goes to sleep, we can talk. I have something to tell you.”
“I have something to tell you, too.” Lauren bit her lip.
“Good, then it’s decided. How do you feel about spaghetti?”
Lauren followed Nico into the kitchen, her heart heavy. Maybe tonight would be the night she told Nico, after all.
She would just have to see how it went.