Daniel was in the middle of brushing his teeth while Andrea was getting her morning shower when the house-line rang. Spitting into the sink, he left the bathroom and answered.
'Hello?'
'Hello, Daniel? It's Agnes.'
'How are you?' When he heard the woman's breath hitch, Daniel leaned against the kitchen counter. 'Agnes? Are you okay?'
'No. No, I'm not, I haven't been for awhile now. I...I really want to talk to Andrea, I need to apologize to her for what I said when I was shopping with her.'
'That was over a month ago, Agnes, a lot's happened since then.'
'I just...I did a lot of soul searching and my courage, it's, well...I've stopped drinking, I've been going to a clinic down here in the Bahamas.'
'And you're on the forgiveness step already?' Daniel asked a little tersely. 'If you want to do this, if you want to be part of her life, and ours together, and our child's, you need to do better than this Agnes.'
'I want to, tell me what I can do, or better yet, let me talk to Andrea.'
'She's in the shower, I'll tell her you called, but please don't be surprised if you don't hear from her.'
'Okay. Thank you, Daniel. Hopefully I'll talk to you soon.'
'Bye-bye.'
Daniel hung up the phone, and sighing, bounced it against his palm. It had been bothering him since he'd heard about the verbal sparring that had happened at the baby-clothes boutique that Andrea was being so belligerent in ignoring the fact she could develop a relationship with her mother.
Heading into the bathroom, he knew he was risking a lot by bringing it up but Daniel wouldn't do it if he didn't think it was necessary. 'Your mom was on the phone, Andrea,' he said to her through the shower curtain.
'What did she want?'
'To talk to you, she sounded pretty stirred up.'
'Means she was probably into the vodka.'
'She was sober, Andrea. Said she'd been into a clinic in the Bahamas and wants to make amends with you.'
There was no answer, just the sound of the water being shut off. When she zipped back the curtain, Daniel saw his wife there, the lina-negra on her belly looking like a wiggly-worm tattoo as the baby kicked inside her. Her hair was dark-red with the damp water, and her eyes stormy as seas. 'She can go to hell,' Andrea replied. 'Telling me that I should try and look slimmer for you, that maybe I should try the So-Cal diet while I was pregnant? I don't need that in my life.'
'No but you need your mother, Andrea. She deserves to have a good influence in her life like you,' he pointed out.
Andrea sighed out her nose. 'Daniel, I don't want to fight with you-'
'Neither do I-'
'-But I don't understand what good could possibly come from trying to mend fences with my mother. She's never been there for me when I needed her, why the sudden change of heart now?'
'Maybe it's because she knows she'll be a grandmother for the first time. That news can change you up. I mean, hell, my dad's friend Jana, she quit smoking when Sean and Stacey found out she was pregnant so when they visited my dad and she was around there was no risk of second-hand smoke.' Daniel sat on the closed toilet seat lid, patted Andrea's legs down to help her dry them off. 'Andrea I love you, and I really want to see you resolve some of your family problems.'
'Isn't that my decision to make?'
'Absolutely, and I'll stand with you whatever you decide to do.' He paused. 'All I know is that I never got the chance to know my mother, and she's reaching out to you. Might be worth the price of the phone call just to see what she wants.'
'Okay. Okay, I'll give you that. I'll email her later, tell her she can call after your dad leaves. What time is he getting here?'
'The clinic is dropping him off around ten. And it's about ten after seven, which means I have to go.'
Andrea nodded, lips curving as she kissed him. 'I love you.'
'I love you too.'
As promised, Stefan arrived at Andrea's apartment at precisely ten-oh-two. Stefan was staying in Douglas House, the hospital's on-going rehab clinic, he was given day-passes on his off-days and was using them to visit with his son and daughter-in-law. Like today, Andrea thought, as she and Stefan sat on the soft mats in the living room, following along with the prenatal yoga DVD playing on the screen. His colour was still patchy, coming and going, so Andrea the Triage Nurse kept a weather eye on him as she patted the sweat off of her neck.
'You okay over there, Stefan?'
'Yes, I'm just fine Andrea. I've been working with my physiotherapist and I am up to small low-impact activities now.'
'Like aerobics?'
'That's part of it, in small amounts,' Stefan nodded, 'but I was thinking more like Wii bowling.'
Andrea laughed. 'We can play Wii bowling later if you like.'
'Agreed. I need a shower and then a cup of that disgusting tea you insist on pushing on me.'
'It's genuine Japanese green tea,' she protested indignantly, stopping the disk and getting to her knees so Andrea could roll up their yoga mats. 'It was a bridal shower gift from Haiko, that stuff is very expensive.'
'It still smells like you boiled a block of cedar-wood and tastes like funny water.'
'It's good for you. It's one of the best things to put in your body that helps to lower your blood pressure, and your cholesterol, and the rest of it.'
Stefan groaned a little as he got to his feet to sit on the couch. 'Fine, fine, I'll drink the tree-tea, then,' he grumbled with humour, as he knew he would drink the whole pot himself because the last thing he wanted was to pass out in his kitchen and wake up the next day in the hospital in Manhattan. He wanted to watch his grandson grow up, and see his other son become a father, hopefully to a whole lot more babies than just the one Andrea was baking in her oven right now.
Watching her get up, head tummy-first into the kitchen, he thought of when his son had first told him about the quiet, grey-eyed redhead nurse he was doing training with. Stefan's fatherly instincts had hummed knowingly, but when Daniel said that a gorgeous and very intelligent woman like her would just write him off as a dumb musclehead, he'd just told his son to give himself a break. When he'd brought her to dinner for the first time, she'd
'You've got that look, Stefan,' Andrea said, looking over her shoulder as she filled the kettle. 'I've seen it on my husband's face plenty when he wants...something,' she added, feeling a little silly she couldn't bring herself to say 'sex' thought it was quite obvious being married and pregnant she and Daniel were intimate. 'What's on your mind?'
'Just thinking about how proud I am of you.'
'Really?'
'Yes. You and Daniel, neither of you had what most would consider normal childhoods, but you haven't let it ruin you, nor do you use it as a crutch.'
'Some of my girlfriends, they think I'm still letting the demons of my relatives rule me.'
'Are you?'
It was such a simple, easily asked question that it had Andrea's hand freezing on the can of green-tea powder. 'I...I'm making the effort to tune them out. It's easy when my hormones take over when I'm around Daniel,' she chuckled, making Stefan laugh too. 'But every so often, it crops up. It's hard, they were the only family I had and they held that over my head for a long time.'
'Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive them?'
'Did you ever forgive Daniel and Sean's mother for doing what she did?'
'You cannot make a thief and then punish them for thievery,' Stefan replied, thinking of one of his favourite quotes from Thomas More. 'Cassandra was beautiful and troubled. I didn't fall in love with her because I thought I could fix her and that would make me her hero. I fell for her because I watched her fight back against her worst nightmares.'
'That's not really an answer,' Andrea pointed out to him, coming back over to sit with her father-in-law.
'No, but it's the setup to the answer. I watched her fight those demons and I know the reason she took off wasn't because she didn't love her sons, it was because she had bigger dragons to fight. I was angry with her after she left not because of the responsibility she'd put on me, but because she was missing out on those moments with her babies. But I forgave her, Andrea. Yes, she wasn't perfect, but by God, she gave me the best things in my life.'
'So what does that have to do with me?'
'You still have a chance to make it right with your mother, Andrea. Yes your father is gone and the look that puts in your eyes, I wish I could bring him back for you, baby girl.' Stefan put a broad hand to Andrea's cheek. 'You've still got your mother. If I'm gone Daniel and Sean would have nothing, and it's been eating at him that you and your mother haven't been able to come to terms.'
'I know, but-'
'No, no buts.' Stefan shook his head. 'What your sisters did to you is unforgivable, but they aren't your mother, Andrea. Your mother's made mistakes that she wants to fix and at the very least, those efforts need to be acknowledged.'
Andrea studied the man's face. 'I bet Cassandra didn't win too many fights with you, did she?'
'Are you kidding? She had blue-green eyes that were impossible to say no to. Daniel got them from her.'
'He sure did,' she murmured, thinking of her husband's piercing gaze. 'Can you excuse me for a moment?'
'Of course.'
Andrea ducked into the bedroom, dialed Daniel's cellphone from hers so she knew he would pick up. He picked up on the fourth ring, just before the voice-mail kicked in. 'Hey, honey, it's me.'
'Hey, you just caught me, I'm on my way into the scrub room. What's up?'
'You were right.'
'Pardon me?'
'You were right,' Andrea said, feeling better already. 'You wanna hear it again, you big lug?'
'Big lug you love,' Daniel reminded her.
'That too. I deserve to give my mother a chance after everything that's happened, and I wanted to tell you I won't call her until you're home, because I want you there with me.'
'You got it.'
'And then I'll make it up to you.'
'Even better. I love you, Andrea.'
'Love you too, Daniel.'
