"Ok, 3 glasses, 3 plates, 3 sets of silver ware, 3 napkins." Red paused, thinking about what was going on. "3 together again." She smiled to herself a gave a small laugh. She was so excited for her girls to be coming to have a pre-Christmas dinner with her.
She hadn't seen Lorna in a while, almost 6 months, although they talked at least once a week on the phone.
Red hadn't seen Nicky in a very long time, almost 6 months, although they talked every day on the phone.
Alright, so she still had her favorite girl even outside of that horrible prison. But she had to start hiding that favoritism because Nicky and Lorna were engaged! Red had jumped for joy when she received the call getting the news that would make her the happiest she'd ever been.
Interrupting this trip down memory lane, was 2 hard knocks on the door and she knew who it was.
"Ma! We're home!" Nicky busted through the door without waiting for Red to open it.
"She called this place home." Red whispered to herself. Red was so sentimental still with things like that when they came from Nicky.
"In here!" Red called out, still in the dining room as she could smell Lorna's perfume coming down the hall.
"How are you, honey?" Red asked Lorna as she kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly.
"I'm doing as great as I could be doing." Lorna held up her hand with her ring on her finger in Red's face, showing her for the first time the beautiful diamond Nicky had been sweet enough to buy for her.
"Oh, my. It's beautiful! It's the princess cut, just like you always used to talk about! I'm so happy for you, honey, congratulations." Red hugged her again, both smiling from ear to ear.
Nicky watched as the only two people Nicky loved enough to die for were standing right in front of her, exchange smiles and squeals of excitement. It warmed her heart in a way she couldn't put into words.
It took everything she had to not clear her throat so that Red's attention would be focused on her, they still hadn't said hello to each other and it had been months! Nicky was working on her control for her desire for attention. But it was hard. It was something she needed from Red, she couldn't live without her smile or love.
Relieved the wait was over, Red turned her body to face Nicky and for the first time in months they made eye contact. They both took a fraction of a step toward each other and then both stopped dead in their tracks hesitating, for what they didn't know.
They just stared at each other. 'When the blue meets the brown the world can rest' was something Nicky used to say in prison when she needed Red. It was an unspoken understanding between the two of them that they only needed to make eye contact to know that one of them needed to talk or simply needed the other.
Not being able to stay away longer, Red opened her arms as far as they could and Nicky all but ran into them.
"It's good to see you, Nicky." Red whispered in her ear.
"I'm glad to see you too, Ma. I've missed you." Nicky responded.
"I've missed you more, believe me."
Their hug lasted for a while but eventually broke when Red suggested that they better eat.
"Oh, but hang on a second. We have something for you." Nicky smiled, looking at Lorna.
"For me?" Red seemed surprised.
"Yeah, stay here." Nicky took Lorna by the hand and went back to the living room.
Red was in the dining room by herself for all of two seconds after they were gone before calling out, "Hurry up, you two, aren't you hungry?"
"Maybe it's best if you come in here?" Lorna called back.
"Ok, are you ready?" Red wondered.
"Yes." Nicky and Lorna said at the same time.
Red peeked slowly around the corner both excited and nervous for what gift these two had in mind for her. She didn't remember asking for anything so no matter what this was a true surprise.
Red was walking into the living room trying to keep the smile on her face when she realized it was just Lorna and Nicky standing there in the middle of the living room.
"What is-"
"Sit down, Ma." Nicky suggested, still standing next to Lorna. Lorna had her hands behind her back.
"We figured, the best time was in person. So…well..just..here…" Nicky stumbled not really knowing how to word it and she put her hand behind Lorna's back, grabbing something.
Red tried to lean so she could see behind them but stopped when she saw what they had behind their backs. Red gasped and out her hands over her mouth.
A little human wrapped in a blue blanket with teddy bears on it sat in a light green and gray baby carrier.
Without being able to fully comprehend anything, Red's eyes instantly became pools, then waterfalls.
Red forgot to breath for she didn't know how long. She was completely consumed by happiness and joy and bliss and all of those good feelings.
Red looked up at Lorna who had teared up when she saw Red tear up. Red looked at Nicky who had tears threating to fall at the sight of her mother so happy.
"Give him to me." Red said in the gentlest and most heartfelt tone that Nicky had ever heard her speak, holding out her hands the way a kid would reach for a beloved stuffed animal that meant the world to them.
Nicky reached into the carrier and gently put her hands under his little arms and lifted him up, immediately putting the other hand under his bottom and supporting his head against her shoulder.
Red was tempted to ask who taught Nicky how to hold a baby but thought she'd better ask that at another time because Nicky was handing her…her grandchild…the emotion that came with this thought was a tsunami that engulfed Red's heart and she never wanted it to cease.
Nicky placed the child in Red's arms and Red was in heaven. Her heart swelled like she didn't know it could, never thought it would.
"He's beautiful…" Red trailed off as the little baby boy snuggled his cheek against Red's open palm as if they were two perfect puzzle pieces completing each other's happiness.
Lorna stepped closer to Nicky and wrapped her arm around Nicky's arm, resting her head on Nicky's shoulder, she sighed in contempt.
He yawned at Red's warmth as she brushed her thumb over his little cheek.
"What's his name?" She asked, only just realizing she had no idea what her little joy's name was.
"His name is Nicholas." Lorna smiled.
"But I call him Nick." Nicky chimed in quickly.
"I'll call him Nicky." Red said without missing a beat and without even realizing what she was saying.
Lorna lifted her head and looked up into her future wife's eyes. "She's going to call him Nicky, she said." Lorna wanted to reiterate this because Nicky seemed to have had a blank expression since Red whispered what she will call her grandson.
"Yeah, that's me." Nicky whispered so softly that she didn't know if Lorna heard her.
Nicky thought that this could be Red having Nicky from birth, like she always said she wished she could've. Now her mother's got Nicky from birth, and she couldn't be happier. She began to allow her tears to fall as she realized how much love Red was going to give her son. How much protection he will be provided from now until her mother stops breathing. How spoiled he will be until her mother can't move anymore. Just like Red always said she wanted to do for Nicky. Nicky's son was the luckiest person in the world to have Red as a grandma.
"He cant be more than a couple of months?" Red spoke after a couple of minutes.
"Four months." Lorna beamed.
"And you had him, went through the whole pregnancy and didn't even mention it?" Red spoke to Lorna and couldn't help but feel a little hurt by this. She would've loved to have been a part of decorating the nursery and shopping for little clothes and dozens and dozens of diapers.
"We wanted to surprise you and honestly didn't have a good time to do it." Lorna spoke honeslty.
"This is the kind of thing you make time for to tell your mother." Red, looking back and forth between Lorna and Nicky, spoke as serious as she had been in a while with these two.
They two of them were silent. But offered small smiles to Red, who seemed to only be half bothered by it and by the time she turned her attention back to her little one, wasn't bothered by it at all.
After about a half hour of Red making faces and silly noises at baby Nicky, and Lorna and Nicky chit chatting about anything and everything, Lorna said that she ought to change Nicholas's diaper and put him down for a nap. Red, reluctantly, gave the baby back to Lorna who took him out of the living room to the guest room, leaving Nicky and Red alone for the first time in months.
"Your son is my world, Nicky, you know that?" Red said, patting the spot on the couch next to her gesturing for Nicky to come to the other side of the living room and sit with her. Complying, Nicky got up and sat down next to her mother who she has longed for for quite some time now.
"And you are my heart, sweet girl." Red placed a heartfelt kiss to Nicky's head. "I've missed you terribly."
Nicky's heart swelled at the warmth and love Red was giving her. It was one of Nicky's favorite drugs and she hasn't had it for too long.
Some silent moments passed.
"Why are you so quiet, honey?" Red asked, bringing a hand up to Nicky's head to stroke her hair.
"Seeing you with Nick. How quickly you said you'll call him Nicky, it's just.."
"My girl, have I offended you?" Red's concern instantly evident in her mothering voice.
"No, not at all. It's just.. You've always told me that you wanted to have me since I was little so I could be raised with the love and attention I deserved."
"Deserve." Red corrected.
"When you looked at him and named him, it just seemed so natural and so fitting. My heart was lost for words at how much love is flowing through it for you two as a sort of A-Team, ya know, Ma?"
Red chuckled a bit
"Like partners in crime." Nicky simply stated.
"He won't go near crime, that I promise you. Not as long as I'm around." Red said, understanding the joke but deciding, like she usually does, to make it a serious 'life moment' Nicky had dubbed them years ago.
"That's why he is so lucky, Ma." Nicky turned so her body was facing Red's and leaned on her and hugged her close. "That's why I'm so lucky."
A moment of a silent tight embrace passed between. They were comfortable with silence and being close to each other like this, something they both needed to stay alive.
"I don't want you staying away for me for that long again, Nicky." Red whispered in her ear, kissing her temple.
"I love you too, Mommy." Nicky relaxed further, almost comfortable enough to fall asleep.
"This has been the best Christmas I've ever had." Nicky mumbled.
"Indeed it has. And it's not even Christmas yet, we've still got another week. Just you wait, my sweet girl."