I'M SORRY, BELLE, THAT I COULDN'T GET THIS OUT ON YOUR BIRTHDAY LIKE I PROMISED. I didn't have the ending the way I wanted it yesterday, and I had to go to bed at eleven. ...PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. I know I said I'd have another chapter finished for the 28th, but it's not like it's all that late... :) Forgive me? And HAPPY FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY, BELLE! (Even if it was yesterday.) Thank you for helping me figure out the (odd) format for this chapter.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Reaction
Nigel Townsend has just signed in.
Kate: So, how did it go?
Nigel: Better than I thought it would.
He ran a hand through his long hair and sighed, leaning back against his bed's headboard at Collin's house.
Kate: And...?
Nigel: Well, when I got there, Collin and Debbie went off to make tea, so I had to confront him by myself... but it wasn't so awful...
"Come in!" Nigel heard his father's gravelly voice drift through the wood. He took another deep breath and opened the door a crack, putting his head around it.
"Hi," he whispered, and William Townsend looked up from the newspaper he had in front of him.
He was lying dressed in plaid pyjamas on the bed, with his feet crossed at the ankles. Nigel, being observant, noticed that he was reading the funnies, which was out of character for his father. But he had the same stern expression that Nigel remembered fondly from his childhood, his eyebrows creased together and his laugh-lines nonexistent since the death of his first wife.
"Nigel!" he barked, his voice sounding gruffer than it once had been. He put down the paper and motioned to a chair by the bed, his eyes softening. Nigel closed the door behind him and half scurried to the chair, his hands shaking a little. His father looked wiser than the last time he had seen him, and his soft gaze was disconcerting. "Thank you for flying over."
"It's, err, no problem, really," Nigel said, fidgeting a little in his seat. "I'm sorry I haven't been around..."
"I get that you've made a life for yourself, Nigel," William grunted, "And that comin' down just to watch me die isn't exactly in your sched... sched... schedule." He coughed violently, and Nigel winced, remembering how his mother had been the same way before her death.
"What..." Nigel's breath caught, and he had to force the words out, "What kind... of cancer...?" William's coughing subsided and his gave his eldest son a sideways look.
"Lung, stage four." Nigel bit his lip.
"Dad... I don't want to say good-bye," he squeaked, realising that this week might be his last with his father.
"Neither do I, but eventually, we all fall down," sighed his father, "I'm just glad I got to live such a full life. I had two wonderful wives, even if one was taken from me." He touched Nigel's cheek gently. "And I had three beautiful sons, all of whom I'm so proud of."
Nigel's lip trembled. His father had just said he was proud of him. How was he supposed to tell him how irresponsible he'd been, even if it lead to something as wonderful as he and Kate having Erin?
Kate: So you didn't tell him?!
Nigel: No, no! I told him. Hold your horses!
He opened his mouth, but found he had nothing to say. Luckily, he was saved by his brother opening the door and waltzing in with Debbie, bearing tea and sandwiches.
Debbie pulled up more chairs around the bed that he previously been lining the walls, as if they anticipated having multiple people in the room. Collin set the tray down at the end of the bed and wordlessly prepared Debbie and William's tea, as well as his own.
"What d'you take in your tea, Nige?" Nigel snapped out of the sort of trance he had been in and looked at his brother.
"Uh..." He hadn't had tea in a while, but he supposed he still liked it black. "Nothing, just tea." Collin chuckled and handed Nigel a cup and saucer, which were white with a floral pattern on them. Floral! What had Debbie done to his hard-ass father to make him except floral anything in his home?
"So, wince we're all here now... why are you only staying for a week?" Collin questioned as soon as everyone was settled with their tea. William's eyes bored into him.
"You're only staying a week?"
"Yeah... I have some, err, new responsibilities back home... I mean, in Boston... and I can't leave them for a long period of time." Debbie glared at him, and Collin looked impatient.
"Alright, Nigel, stop beatin' around the bush. Out with it!"
"Go ahead, dear," Debbie urged.
"My girlfriend, Kate is... well..." He bit his lip again. "She's pregnant."
Kate: Took you long enough.
Nigel groaned out loud and rolled his eyes at the web-cam so Kate could see.
Nigel: I was nervous!!!
Kate: How'd they take it?
Nigel: Well...
Collin was absolutely shocked. He was staring at Nigel, open-mouthed, with his cup of tea paused halfway between his saucer and his lips. Debbie smiled, having already known, and William... looked like he didn't believe a word.
"Ha-ha, very funny," he deadpanned. Nigel and Debbie both frowned. "Cute, though, trying to make me happy before I die. Nice one." Debbie rolled her eyes at her husband.
"William, sweetie, I met the girl while I was over there in Boston," Debbie said half-sternly, "She's as round as a beach ball." Collin slowly put down his teacup and closed his mouth.
"But..." He paused, looking at his brother with a funny expression on his face. "You're the responsible one!" He turned to Debbie. "I thought I was the one who was going to screw up and... you know..."
"Accidents happen to everyone, Collin, even responsible people," Debbie soothed, patting him on the knee. William's eyebrows pushed together, meeting in the middle of his wrinkled forehead.
"So... I'm really going to be a grandfather?" Nigel nodded.
"Yep."
"Any chance she could have it soon so I can see pictures?" Nigel chuckled.
"She's seven and a half months along, so you'll have to hold on a little longer, Dad." William's lips pursed.
"Seven and a half? And you're only telling us now?"
"I thought you'd be angry with me," he explained shakily, "You always said an irresponsible man was a fool, and you'd not have fools for sons." He paused. "That's why you were so mad when I quit the Navy, and when Collin started being how he is."
"Apparently I'm not as bad as you, Nige," corrected Collin with the Townsend smile and wink, "Knocking up this girl we haven't heard about until now."
"Yeah, but at least I love her," Nigel pointed out, "And I'm going to be there for her and the baby... no matter what." He looked at his father. "That's why I can't stay too long. I have to be there for her. I wouldn't have even come if she hadn't convinced me to."
William tilted his head to one side. "I think I'm starting to like this girl." He said, smiling ever so slightly, "What was her name again?"
"Kate. Katherine Switzer, but she goes by Kate." William nodded vaguely.
"You know the gender yet?"
Nigel nodded. "It's a girl. We've already got a name picked out, and we're almost done the nursery." He swallowed. "We're naming her Erin." William's eyes widened a little. "Erin Grace."
Kate: Was he happy? Don't stop there!!
Nigel: Have you figured out how to install your mic yet so I can video call you?
Kate: Nope. I'll get Sydney to show me at work today. I've got an afternoon shift, so...
Nigel smiled. At least he'd be able to talk to her later that day without having a humongous phone bill when he got back. The grainy, laggy web-cam feed had much to be desired. But seeing her smile, and knowing that it was live and he was seeing her almost halfway around the world... it was enough to make him grin.
Nigel: OK.
Kate: Now, tell me what happened next!!
Collin smiled broadly. William's left eye twitched, just like it did whenever someone mentioned his first wife. Debbie nodded. Nigel's stomach churned. There were a lot of different emotions in that room.
"After Mom?" Collin asked, and Nigel resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his always-pointing-out-the-obvious brother. "That is... wow." Debbie smiled a little.
"I think it's a beautiful name," she encouraged, looking toward Nigel's father, who still hadn't said a word. "William?" William looked up at her, his eye twitching having subsided.
"I..." He faltered. "I don't know what to say," he said finally, "Except... I'm sure she would have been so proud of you, Nigel."
"For what? Getting my girlfriend pregnant on our first date?"
"First date?" mouthed Collin, looking amused. Nigel rolled his eyes.
"No," said William, "For owning up. For telling me. You could have easily refused to come and not told me I was going to be a grandfather, a dream I long ago gave up because of Collin and your rather... promiscuous ways. Well, that, and for your obvious dedication to take care of this child."
Nigel smiled. "I haven't met her yet, and I already love her more than anything," he admitted. "She was an accident, and yet I can't help but think it's... fate, or something. Is that stupid?"
"No, Nigel," said William, putting a hand on his oldest son's shoulder, "That's the way it's supposed to feel."
Kate: Awwwwww.
Nigel: ... :)
