Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
[Love is…] dedication.
The entirety of the hospital waiting room was composed of Sterns family members and Sterns family-adjacent members.
Lucy, Mae’s mother, and Iris were here, too.
In true fashion, they’d made themselves at home, sprawled across the room like we were paying rent.
Someone must have cleaned out every vending machine in the hospital judging by the mound of candy bars and bags of chips.
“You know, you can go home,” I said. I was sitting in one of the pale-pink waiting room chairs; Oliver was cuddled up next to me, sound asleep. Gil was in the next seat. “This is probably not how you expected to spend your Sunday evening.”
Gil looked up from the Women’s Health magazine (circa two thousand and three) he was reading and shook his head. “I’m right in the middle of this article about perimenopause and weight gain. I need to finish it.”
“Oh, I bet. Sounds like the kind of practical information you need.”
He snapped the magazine. “Exactly.”
After he’d hidden behind the magazine for another few minutes, I used a finger to pull the top down. “I’m serious. Don’t feel like you have to stay. I know this might be a lot for you.”
He leaned closer. “It is a lot, but in a good way. It was just my dad and brother and me growing up. You have a whole family.”
“Oh, I know it, trust me.” I loved my family with every fiber of my being, but I wasn’t sad about not living closer to them. Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Sure, we’ll go with that.
He studied the people in the room, his expression thoughtful. “You’re lucky, you know. They really love you.”
“They do. I love them, too. But I always feel like I’m the one kid who didn’t fall in line. Like I’m a disappointment.”
“I’m a third-party observer, but it seems to me they’re pretty proud of you.”
“You think?” I felt dumb for asking, embarrassed even. But I hoped that was true. I wanted so badly for that to be true.
“Yeah, I think.” Gil caught my eye and smiled.
My heart rolled over and begged for more.
“More than that, I think they like you, too, and they want the best for you whatever that looks like.” He nodded toward my mom who was fussing at one of my sisters.
“That’s not a mom who sees you as a disappointment; that’s a mom who sees all the best things about you and doesn’t want you to settle. ”
“Thanks,” I whispered, pulling Oliver a little closer to my side.
“It’s the truth.”
I fiddled with a tiny bit of pleather peeling from the waiting room chair. “Um, the whole weird thing about my mom thinking we’re together…don’t worry, I’ll set her straight again.”
“Okay.” He picked the magazine back up and held it in front of his face.
“That’s it? Okay. Didn’t it weird you out?”
Without moving the magazine, he said, “That your family thinks a smart, driven, funny, beautiful woman would want to date me? Nope, not weirded out at all.”
Had he just said that about me? I looked away, trying to hide how flushed my face was.
“Of course, after that talk your dad had with me, we might be engaged now.”
I whipped my head around. “Excuse me? What?”
A pair of dark-blue eyes behind dark-framed glasses peeked over the top of the magazine. “He asked me what my intentions were. I panicked.”
“You didn’t.”
His eyebrows rose and a twinkle settled in his eyes.
“You’re making that up, you jerk.”
“What’s a business partner to do?” Then he did the most unlikely Gil thing ever; he winked. Before I could respond, he hid behind the magazine again.
Chris burst through the doors in the waiting room. We all froze. “She wants to see her mom.”
“Coming.” Lucy disappeared behind the door.
The rest of us stared at my brother. Mr. Cool was looking anything but.
His hair was standing straight on end from running his fingers through it so much.
He was in khakis and a light-purple polo shirt, which was now untucked, parts of it looking like it had been pulled and twisted. Probably by Mae.
He slumped in the nearest chair next to me and pressed his palms into his eyes. “It never ends. I just want her to stop hurting. She’s refusing an epidural.”
I whistled. “That’s brave.” And really painful.
“You know once she gets something in her head, she’s not changing her mind. I begged. I pleaded. I tried to bribe her, but she won’t do it.” He blew out his breath. “I don’t like seeing her like this.”
I patted him on the knee. “She’s going to be okay. You’ll see. Mae is tough.”
“Not as tough as everyone thinks,” he muttered.
Mom plopped down in the chair next to Chris and rubbed his back. “You were almost twelve pounds, and I popped you right out.”
“You did some screaming if I remember correctly,” Dad said across the room.
Mom smiled grimly. “I didn’t say it was easy, just that I did it. I got the epidural for the rest of my deliveries. Once you prove you can do something, no sense in having to prove it again.”
“Mom, you are not helping.” Chris leaned his head against the wall.
“Sweetie, it will be fine.”
Ten minutes later, Lucy pushed through the doors. “They want her to start pushing. Go meet your child, Chris.”
Chris jumped up from his seat, his eyes wild, and dashed through the doors.
“Oh, I can’t wait to hold that grandbaby,” Mom said. She moved over a seat, so she was right next to me and lowered her voice. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a tiny little baby to snuggle with.”
“Oliver’s a little big for that now, I guess.”
“I’m hoping it won’t be too long before Oliver gets a baby brother or sister.” She looked around me at Gil who was still reading. That article must be a whopper. Mom smiled.
“Mom. I already told you?—”
She patted my knee and leaned in, keeping her voice quiet. “Honey, I know what you said. But I also know you. That boy doesn’t stand a chance.”
“It’s… complicated.”
She tsked. “Love is always complicated because people are complicated. Love is ten percent hearts and rainbows and instant attraction. The other ninety percent is the hard work, the choosing every day to love someone. Heck, if it were easy, we’d fall in and out of love every time there was a stiff wind.
No, ma’am, love is in the details…how we treat each other on our worst days or find a way to put the other person first every day.
Love is a choice. The feelings are awful nice, but they change just like we do. ”
“I’ve never thought of it that way,” I murmured. Wasn’t that how I’d always thought love was meant to be, though? Passion and fire. Had I expected love to be easy? Like stumbling upon the right man and knowing in an instant we were meant to be?
My eyes drifted to Gil. He’d tipped his head back against the wall.
His eyes were closed and the soft lighting in the waiting room played with the ridges and edges of his face, creating shadows.
My chest grew tight the longer I looked at him, thinking of him changing my oil or making that key rack I still forgot to use, picking up stamps for me, and fixing the bathtub faucet.
If love was in the details, I was in big, big trouble.
He must have felt my eyes on him because one of his cracked open. “You okay?”
No, I was not okay. I was having a freakout of the epic variety. But I smiled and pretended otherwise. “Just tired.”
“It’s late. You should try to sleep a little.”
“Yeah,” I said, weakly. “I’ll try.”
Two hours later, we met my niece, Louisa Madeline Sterns. And yes, Mae made it through just fine. Chris did have a black eye, but no one was talking about how that happened.