What a Man's Gotta Do, page 26
She just did not have the strength or brainpower necessary to deal with this right now. So she let her eyes drift shut again, only to hear Eddie say, “I went to see my father.”
Her eyes popped open again. “You did?”
“Yep. And…you were right, he didn’t know my mother was pregnant.”
“And…?”
A half smile played around his mouth. “We’ll see. He seems like a nice guy. It’s just not easy lettin’ go of a nearly forty-year-old habit.” Then the smile dimmed. “Would you have told me? About the baby?”
“Would you have sent me a forwarding address?”
A breath shot from his lungs. “Good call.” Then, still holding her hand, he laid his other hand on her tummy as a lopsided, incredulous grin snaked across his face. “We really made a baby?”
“That’s what they tell me.” She contemplated his hand, protectively cradling the new life inside her, trying to sort out the thousand and one feelings churning through her brain. Then she lifted her gaze to the side of his face, her heart constricting at the wonder she saw there. “But hey—I don’t care if my father’s toting a Howitzer…we don’t have to get married just because I’m pregnant.”
Once again, his eyes zinged to hers, his brows raised in genuine astonishment. “But I didn’t know about the baby when I made up my mind to come back and ask you to marry me, did I? I love you, you aggravatin’ woman—” Then he stopped, as if realizing what he’d just said. Once again, he lifted her hand to his mouth. “I love you, Mala,” he whispered, tears cresting on his lower lashes. “The baby’s just a fringe benefit, far as I’m concerned.”
Even as she thought her heart would explode, she said, “But we fight all the time.”
He shrugged. “Keeps the juices flowin’.”
“And I get positively huge when I’m pregnant.”
He just grinned.
“And you’ll have to stick around for breakfast.”
The grin softened. Then he leaned over, brushed a kiss across her lips. “I’ll even cook. And after that night I spent cleaning up kid barf, I’ve already proven I can handle the ‘or worse’ part of things.”
But even as his words made her smile, they also pushed Lucas’s situation back to the forefront of her thought. She grabbed his hand, hope and fear suddenly strangling her. “Stay with me?” she said. “Until we hear about Lucas?”
That she hadn’t yet agreed to marry him wasn’t lost on either of them, she was sure. Especially when he gave her an understanding nod. Then he said, “Darlin’, I’m never goin’ anywhere, ever again,” and for the first time since she was a little girl, she felt in her heart that everything was going to be all right.
So he stayed, and they talked, partly because they had a lot to talk about, partly because talking helped keep Mala from thinking so hard about Lucas. Kept Eddie from thinking about him so hard, too. And he thought about how good it felt, and right, having a woman to talk to, someone who’d keep her eyes focused on his the way she did while she was listening, and he knew somehow they’d always be able to talk this way. Even when they were scrappin’.
Carrie and her grandparents came in and out some, too— Mala tried to get Bev to take Carrie home, but the little girl fussed so badly about wanting to stay until she knew her brother was gonna be okay, everybody finally just relented.
Her family left them alone again, and Mala soon dozed off, her brow crinkled with worry. Eddie sat with her for a while longer, holding her hand, thinking he wanted to marry her so badly, to be part of her family, he ached with it. And he understood a little—he thought—that this wasn’t about trying to fix things for anybody, but about just this: being there for the people you cared about.
And giving them the chance to return the favor. And as scared as Eddie was for that little boy who’d refused to cry, he felt the first real peace since he could remember.
After a bit, he figured he might as well take the opportunity to go get a cup of coffee, stretch his legs. Out in the waiting room, Carrie had zonked out with her head on her grandma’s lap. Bev looked up, smiled.
“She asleep, too?” she asked as Eddie got his cup of coffee out of the nearby machine.
“Yeah.” He ambled back over to a vacant seat next to Carrie, sank into it. “Where’s Marty?”
“Went to get somethin’ to eat. Geez, you look beat.”
He shrugged, sipped his coffee.
“So. You gonna ask Mala to marry you?”
A smile pushed up his lips. “Already did. She hasn’t exactly said yes yet.”
“I swear,” Bev said on a sigh, “that girl always has been the most hardheaded person on the face of the planet. Can’t imagine where she gets it from.”
Eddie hid his smile behind the rim of his coffee cup, only then remembering that this woman was going to be his mother-in-law. If he ever got through to her hardheaded daughter, that is.
He saw Bev look down at her granddaughter, skim a work-worn hand over those flame-red curls. “I wouldn’t say nothin’ to Mala for the world—” she looked up, her brows knotted behind her glasses “—but there’s no guarantee they’re gonna be able to fix Lucas up, is there?”
Eddie frowned down into his coffee, shook his head.
“And you’re still willing to take this all on?”
He looked into Bev’s amber eyes, solid and judgmental behind her glasses. “If it’d been Mala hurt that bad, would that’ve changed how you felt about her?”
Shock streaked across her face. “Of course not! She’s my baby!”
“Well, I don’t feel any different about Carrie and Lucas. Wasn’t something I was lookin’ for, God knows, but…” He leaned forward, the cup suspended between his knees. “I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was when I saw what-all they had to do to get Lucas out of that car, how much he was hurtin’.” He reached over, brushed a curl from off Carrie’s cheek. “But I’ve never been more sure in my life, either, that that’s exactly where I was supposed to be.”
Carrie stirred and yawned, then stumbled off of Bev’s lap to crawl into Eddie’s, where she promptly fell back to sleep. He shifted a bit to accomodate her sweet weight on his lap, tucked her head underneath his chin. “No matter what happens down the road,” he said, “I figure maybe there’s something these two and I can learn from each other.” His eyes lifted again to Bev’s. “And that I’ll always be a richer man for that.”
“Uh…folks?”
Eddie jerked awake, startling Carrie who let out a little yip like the pup might’ve done. He shot to his feet, Carrie in his arms, only then realizing the balding man in front of him was wearing scrubs…and a big grin.
“It’s good news?” Marty said, just behind him, and the doctor nodded.
“Very. But I thought maybe you’d all like to be together when I tell Lucas’s mom.”
Less than a minute later, Eddie tiptoed into Mala’s room and kissed her awake. Her eyes flew open as a small, “Oh!” popped out of her mouth; then she looked around, saw everybody standing there…saw the doctor.
“Lucas?”
“Is one tough little kid, Ms. Koleski. He pulled through just fine. And even though the leg’s going to take longer to heal than a simple fracture would, and he’s going to have to continue to be tough to get through his physical therapy, I see no reason why there should be any serious lasting effects from the accident.”
Then she burst into tears, great heaving sobs that shook Eddie up at first, until he realized she was laughing at the same time. “Oh, God, I can’t do this—it hurts too much! Oh, thank you, doctor—” she swiped her cheeks with the heel of her hand “—thank you so much. When can I see him?”
“Give him a little while to come around from the anesthesia, then I’ll have someone wheel you up to pediatrics. I’m sure he’ll be just as anxious to see you as you are to see him.” The doctor turned to Eddie, smiling. “And you, too, Mr. King. In fact, the last thing he said before he went under was that I’d better fix his leg…because you promised to show him some football moves?”
Then everybody was talking at once and shaking the doctor’s hand—or hugging the life out of him, in Bev’s case—and Eddie realized he didn’t feel like an outsider anymore. That he wasn’t an outsider anymore. And never would be again. Well, unless he really screwed things up and Mala’s father did come after him with that Howitzer.
Then the doctor left, the roar subsided, and all eyes turned to Mala.
“What?” she said.
“So you gonna marry this character or not?” Marty said.
With a gasp, Carrie scooted over to Mala, who smiled up into Eddie’s eyes, her own filled with promises he hadn’t allowed himself to believe in since he was a little boy. Then she said to Carrie, “Whaddya think? Should I?”
A headful of red curls enthusiastically bobbed.
Then Mala’s smile turned downright wicked as she said with a shrug, “Oh, what the heck? Why not?”
This time, they all got so loud some old battle-ax nurse stuck her head in to tell them to keep it down, this was a hospital, for heaven’s sake, only to yelp herself when Eddie grabbed her and started waltzing around the room, while his new family applauded and hooted with laughter.
And out of the corner of his eye, he caught his bride-to-be’s dimpled smile.
Epilogue
They had to hold the Superbowl party at Steve and Sophie’s this year because, as Eddie put it, there were just too dang many of them to fit inside the Koleski’s tiny house anymore. And Mala had to admit, as she watched Eddie pump the air and high-five Steve when the Bears—not the Lions, but close enough—made a touchdown, their new daughter never even flinching from the safety of her father’s other arm, that there were a lot of kids. And a lot of babies, by the time you counted Sophie and Steve’s seven-month-old son, and little Prince Skye—Alek and Luanne were visiting again with their two…and Luanne was going to the bathroom with suspicious frequency—and Del and Galen’s Sam, who had reached the lightning-fast toddling stage, and then Mala and Eddie’s own dark-haired urchin, Abigail Terese, who’d already sprouted her first tooth last week, on her two-month birthday. Just what they needed, another precocious daughter.
Speaking of whom…guess who put her little sassy self in charge of Lucas’s physical therapy sessions? Not that anyone would actually admit this to Carrie’s face, but they all knew that Lucas’s stunningly quick recovery had a lot to do with his sister’s goading. And he would never know how often Mala or Eddie had found her in tears, those first few weeks after they brought Lucas home from the hospital and everything was so difficult for him. But when he’d wake up from a nightmare, guess who was often first in her brother’s room, cooing at him and giving him a drink of water and telling him it was going to be all right?
Of course, then she’d turn right around and torment him during his physical therapy sessions, calling him a weenie every time he’d say, “I can’t” or “It’s too hard.” Many’s the time Mala was convinced Lucas’s prime motivation for doing whatever he was supposed to that day was based less on wanting to regain use of his leg than it was to just shut Carrie up.
Who, natch, would be the first to throw her arms around his neck in congratulations every time he overcame his fears.
Whatever works, was all she had to say.
Mala wriggled her butt onto the sofa between her brother and her husband, sighing when Eddie slipped his free arm around her shoulder. Her oldest daughter was turning out to be a Nice Person—even if Mala already sympathized with the man crazy enough to marry her—Lucas had a backbone made of far sterner stuff than even she could have imagined, and Eddie…
She laid her head on his shoulder, toyed with Abby’s chubby little hand.
After the guy Galen had hired to run Galen’s, Too, left after less than a month, she again offered the job to Eddie. This time, he grabbed. The hours were long, but that was okay. He was happy. Content, Mala would guess. Wouldn’t be long before he and Galen went into full partnership, she didn’t imagine.
Mala and the kids had talked to Eddie’s father over the phone a lot, and several videos had made the trek between Detroit and Albuquerque. Come spring, they were all going down there for a visit—Eddie’s idea, one she knew took a lot of guts to implement. The kids couldn’t wait: a second set of grandparents to spoil them rotten? Yes!!!
During a commercial, Del crouched in front of Eddie to discuss an idea he had for the house remodel they’d been talking about for the past six months but hadn’t yet gotten around to. They’d already unblocked the stairwell and shifted everybody around to accommodate this new little person, but now Eddie and Del were in hog heaven talking about family rooms and playrooms and real master baths with dual showerheads.
A blush warmed her cheeks. Then she chuckled.
For some time after their marriage, Mala found herself wondering what she was happier about: that this wonderful, loving man had found his way into her life, or that his finding them had helped heal his lonely heart. Except eventually she decided it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were together…
Assorted bony elbows and knees jabbed into her as Carrie and Lucas—spitting nonstop loud, whiny insults at each other—wriggled both little skinny butts into the nonexistent space between their parents. The baby’s arms flailed; then she settled back to sleep in the crook of her daddy’s arm, her little rosebud mouth sucking away. Eddie looked over at Mala and winked.
…and would be together for the rest of their lives.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8250-0
WHAT A MAN’S GOTTA DO
Copyright © 2003 by Karen Templeton Berger
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Karen Templeton, What a Man's Gotta Do
