Me Before You: A New Chapter 4

I was tired, but happy as I returned home from the shower. The whole thing had been absolutely lovely but also rather overwhelming. As I pulled into the driveway, I paused a moment in the car, just breathing and, I suppose, just taking it all in. There was a mountain of presents in the back seat, another pile on the passenger seat, and still more in the boot. My mum and dad had offered to take them home for me, but I'd been excited to show Will and so I'd asked dad to just load them all in for me so I could drive myself home. As I was sitting there, wondering how I was going to bring it all inside and where we were going to put it all, the front door of the house opened and Nate emerged. "Hey there, I heard you knocked over a baby store, piled all the loot in your car and drove home; doesn't seem like a very good get away plan."

"You've found me out." I laughed.

Nate smiled back and told me, "You head on in and I'll tend to this."

I felt a twinge of guiltiness, like I should help, but when I tried to grab a few of the packages from the passenger seat, Nate shook his head and then gestured for me to go inside. "I've got all this. I'll bring it into the nursery for you. Will's waiting inside, eager to hear all about your day."

I hesitated, but Nate encouraged me, "Go on, then."

So I did. Entering, I was greeted by Will, who smiled a very dashing smile and said, "Well…tell me all about it. What did I miss?"

I kissed him as I passed; glad to see him and glad just to be home. I kicked off my shoes and flopped down on the sofa. Nate passed in and out of the room repeatedly, with arms full, on his way down the hall and around the bend to the nursery, while I explained to Will all the details of the shower, which (absent the comments from the daft cows in the loo) had been absolutely lovely. "They made me feel like the queen, actually; your mum in particular, and the food was scrummy. Will, everything was spot on."

Then I paused for a moment, as Nate passed through again, laden with gifts, "Oh Will, though, you've no idea of the amount of gifts… I mean, just look," I waved my arms toward the mountain of gifts that Nate was currently carrying through the foyer on his way to the nursery, "look at all this! I imagine we won't even have to furnish the nursery now – we can just pile up the boxes to serve, instead of buying furniture."

Will grinned at this. The nursery was a bit of a sore spot between us. When we'd first learned I was pregnant, Will and I had been over the moon about the idea of setting up a nursery and had whiled away hours dreaming about how we would create the perfect little sanctuary for the baby. From the start, we agreed on three things: One, neither of us fancied a traditional very girlish or very boyish look (especially since we'd not found out yet which we were having, girl or boy); two, I favored soft yellow for the walls and Will strongly preferred a pale green; and three, our baby's room would have a book case. Will also fancied a rug, but I was against it because it could limit his ability to navigate inside the room. Will insisted a baby's room should have a soft floor for crawling and playing. Will had promised to prove to me when we got to the shop that he could roll over the rugs with no problem; I'd remained unconvinced and insisted that we'd choose the most beautiful floor imaginable. He'd laughed and said again that he'd prove it to me at the shop.

We set aside the next weekend for shopping and began with a day trip to a very posh boutique that Georgina swore was "the" place to go. She'd been very excited about "helping" and had sorted all the details beforehand; she bossily directed me from the passenger seat as I drove us all over an hour to get there. The exterior of the shop was lovely and Georgina was chuffed as we arrived, but the moment we entered the shop, I knew the situation was set to be a complete cock-up. It was a tiny boutique with an obnoxiously uneven cobblestone walk up. As we approached, I had growing fears that something was very wrong and that this just wasn't going to suit. As I entered, I immediately saw that the narrow aisles were cluttered with fashionable prams, cotbeds, and every other means of nursery finery in a way that made clear what I had feared upon arrival; it would be utterly impossible for Will to navigate this shop. Worst of all, I knew Will would be gutted when he realized, which of course, he was. I stood there helpless and unable to help in any meaningful way as Will rolled in and silently surveyed the shop and then, after a silent moment, turned and wheeled out again.

Once we were back in the van and I'd finished my impotent tirade against the wanker shop owners, we had driven home in awkward silence, despite a few attempts at apologetic conversation from Georgina, who we all knew should have confirmed beforehand that the shop was accessible. It wasn't really her fault – to be fair – she rarely went out with Will and, when she did, Nate, Camilla and I were always along and responsible for sorting the details. Georgina simply hadn't known any better. I was the one who knew better and I should have called first and saved everyone the trouble; this was my fault.

Will reacted to the situation by simply not talking about it. I understood he was disappointed and, although he had done absolutely nothing wrong, he was embarrassed. It was painful for Will to be reminded of his disability and for him to have allowed himself to look forward to the shopping and setting up of the nursery and then to have been reminded so publically that he physically couldn't do it, was awful. He had let his guard down, which was unusual for him, and he regretted having done so. I was angry with myself for having allowed this to happen by getting caught up in the excitement and forgetting my common sense; typically I did everything I could to avoid incidents that would make him feel that he "couldn't" do things. I knew that incidents like this brought back all of his doubts about living life as a quad and, honestly, this frightened me. As a result, I avoided the topic at all costs and the nursery was still just an empty room with bare walls.

My attempted joke about the boxes serving as a nursery set had been thoughtless and had brought the whole incident at the shop back to me. I was silently chastising myself and reliving it when Will interrupted my thoughts on the matter with a laugh, followed by, "So, if I'm reading you correctly, Clark; you're implying – in a rather passive-aggressive way, I might add - that it is your opinion that we should, by this point, have done some work on the bloody nursery, is that it?"

I hesitated, "Well, I suppose we could do more than an empty room with four blank walls, if you like."

Will smiled suspiciously, "Yes and no, Clark. I mean, it is, after all, a baby, Clark – they can easily stay in our room, at least for some time. Frankly, I don't see what your rush is."

I watched him; unsure where he was going with this and whether he was serious or teasing. As I was considering how to respond, Nate reentered, with another load of gifts. After depositing them with the others, he reentered and, taking a seat beside me, he announced, "That's the last of it."

"Thank you, Nate." I said.

"Yes, and how many trips was that, Nate?" Will asked.

Nate considered before answering, "Four – no, wait, five trips."

"Quite impressive." Will said. "And did it all fit in the nursery?"

"Mainly," Nate replied. "You'll have to come see for yourselves. But first, I need a drink."

Nate was on his feet, to the kitchen and back in a flash with three drinks. He positioned Will's so he could reach it himself and handed mine to me next, before sitting down beside me again and sipping his own.

"So, Clark, tell me what we've gotten today, what gifts?"

Putting aside my anxiety about the nursery, I sipped my ginger ale and began, "Alright, let's see…first off, the generosity was overwhelming, Will; you'd not have believed it. You won't believe it, until you've seen it all."

"And this surprises you, Clark?"

I nodded.

"Well, I suggest you get used to it, Clark. Seriously: the first Traynor grandchild? Did you expect anything less than complete and utter excess?" Will said, with one of his trademark smiles.

"I know, I know – I've seen how Thomas is treated as well, always the prince, stealing my bedroom and all, but still, this is beyond! Some of it was to be expected, to be sure, the blankets, the cute outfits, the bibs; those I recognized, those I expected. Beyond that though, and I'm not joking about this, we also received a nose suction device, something called a 'windi,' which, after having read the box, I believe may be a prank gift. Also –and I swear this is true – we received a baby hammock."

Will just chuckled.

I turned to Nate, "Nate – you've seen it – tell him, please."

Will looked to Nate, who deadpanned, "I can attest that I did carry in a box marked baby hammock," he paused for effect, "but I can't speak to a 'nose sucker' or 'windi'."

"Well," Will announced, "you must not have brought in every parcel then, Nate, because Clark is telling me that we definitely received those items!"

Here, Will and Nate exchanged a look. Will suggested, "Clark, perhaps you need to go double check the car and be sure Nate's not left anything behind," he turned to Nate, "Nate, did you check the boot?"

Nate assumed an overly thoughtful pose, complete with one hand stroking his chin, "You know, now that you've mentioned it, I don't believe I did check the boot…"

He paused then, looked to Will, who looked to me, and asked, "Look, Nate's spent, Clark, would you mind terribly…?

They both looked at me, Nate unsuccessfully trying to suppress a grin and Will looking quite like the cat who swallowed the canary. I looked from one to the other for a moment before realizing what they were suggesting. "Who - me? You two must be joking! I'm knackered!"

Will glanced at Nate with raised eyebrows. "Will Traynor, No!" I continued, "I've been out all day. I don't fancy getting off this sofa, never mind going back outside and searching the boot of the car!"

Nate said nothing, nor did he move from his seat.

"Nate – look at you, you're fit as the butcher's dog! Won't you…" I trailed off. It was no use. Nate wasn't meeting my eyes. Will continued to look at me with puppy dog eyes. After a moment, feeling extremely annoyed, I dragged myself up and to the door, where I paused and decided to go out barefoot rather than try bending over to get into my shoes. "Thank you," they chimed in unison.

Sighing in disgust, I pulled open the door and headed out for the car. "Fine!"

When I returned, I did so in a bluster, exclaiming, "Well, you'll be happy to know that was utter tosh - I found bugger all out there," I said, stepping into the room only to find both Will and Nate gone. This took me aback and I paused for a moment before calling out, "Will? Nate?"

It was Nate who replied, from a distance. "We're here." And then, "In the nursery."

I continued in the direction of his voice, toward the nursery. As I turned down the hallway, I could see that the door was shut, which gave me a bit of a flutter, "Will?" I called out, anxiously, as I quickened my steps toward the nursery door.

Pulling the door open, I found Will before the huge mound of gifts that we'd received today, "What on earth?" I exclaimed.

"Surprise." Will said, wheeling back to reveal the full picture.

I was speechless. I stood, catching flies, until Will spoke again, "Well?"

Will's gaze remained steadily on me, as I looked around the room, in utter disbelief. He began to look worried, "Well, Clark? What do you say? Does it measure up?"

Tears filled my eyes and, as one spilled down my cheek.

Looking a bit worried, Will asked, "Is it alright?"

Finally finding my voice, I replied, "Oh yes."

"Yes?" He asked.

"Yes!" I said, clapping my hands and virtually squealing with delighted surprise.

Nate winked at Will, gave him the thumbs up, and then quietly exited the room. Will turned to me and began relaying the details of how he had pulled off his big surprise.

Unbeknownst to me, Will had been working for weeks. He had conceived and orchestrated the complete creation of the perfect nursery. Gone was the ugly, empty room; in its place was the most magnificent nursery I'd ever seen. As he explained, I learned that Will had all been planned out over the course of the past few weeks, with the support of the entire family and, of course, Nate, and had set it all up to be completed while I was out at my baby shower. Will had secretly purchased the most lovely, perfect nursery room set imaginable and had arranged for it to be delivered and set up today. Nate, under Will's direction, had painted the entire room in alternating walls of gorgeous pale yellow and fetching soft green, with a realistic blue sky on the ceiling, complete with birds in flight and a fluffy white clouds that faded to a peaceful starry night with a full moon as the ceiling met the wall beside the cotbed. My mum and dad had contributed the rug, a lovely braided oval of soft blues, pinks, yellows and greens (which Will swore posed no hazard at all for his chair – a fact that he demonstrated by gleefully rolling over the rug in all directions in his chair). Camilla had contributed an enchanting hand crafted bookcase, painted by Georgina and Mr. Traynor to complement the walls, and Treen and Thomas had filled it with a collection of classic children's books!

Turning to Will, I asked in astonishment, "Do you mean to tell me, Will Traynor, that you are responsible for all of this?" And, with a smile of pure satisfaction spreading across his face, Will nodded and said, "Why, yes, Clark; I am."

A/N: Just wanted to add a short note and apologize for the delay in getting this chapter done. I've been super busy with a new job and an interview/article for a non-fiction magazine. I hope you like this one – if so, please let me know and I will promise to get the next chapter done faster!