Chapter Fifty-Five
Thanksgiving
Forgive me for making you wait. I had no time to write this weekend. I went to a play with my friend on Friday night, then went with a guy friend (boyfriend soon, hopefully. LOL) to the same play on Saturday (Man of La Mancha is an awesome musical), and church stuff on Sunday.
I thought the first part of this was so cute...hehe. The last half is sort of filler. Read and review!
Melissa was sitting on the couch on Wednesday, watching a show on the Food Network about a Thanksgiving special. A hand was on her stomach, thinking about Amy. Jack would have to start talking to their landlord, Jamie, about getting the crib out of storage.
Melissa was twenty-two weeks along in her pregnancy. She was more than halfway done – she had eighteen weeks left until her due date. When she found out in July, she didn't think that her due date would ever get here. Now it was sneaking up on her.
Once her stomach had been fairly flat, now it was round with her child inside. It would grow larger as the months went on. By her due date, she would most likely feel like she was about to burst.
Melissa felt something different inside her as she rested her hand on her stomach. It stopped momentarily, then started again. It reminded her of the beating of a drum.
Beat.
Rest.
Beat.
Rest.
Was Amy kicking? This is what it had to be! Dr. Anderson, her OB/GYN, had said that the baby would start kicking at around week twenty, but she hadn't expected it.
She had to find Jack! He had to feel their daughter kicking for the first time with her! She got off the couch and went outside to see Jack getting the mail at the end of the short street.
"Jack!" she yelled from the driveway.
Jack had been out getting the mail when he heard Melissa shouting for him. He looked up from the mailbox to see her with her hand on her stomach.
"Jack!" she shouted again.
As he ran to her, he felt his heart lurch to his stomach. The impossible though of something happening to their unborn child filled his mind. Was she going into labor already? No, she said that her due date was in March. It was highly improbable that she was going into labor four months early.
Once close enough, she grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach. He felt something in her stomach kick at his hand.
"She's kicking," Melissa said softly, looking into his eyes.
That was Amy kicking? He let his heart slow down in the realization that his child was alive in Melissa's stomach, that they would be parents in a few months.
He swallowed. "I can feel that."
This was one of the few moments in Jack's life where he was at a loss for words. His child was living thing – it could kick. In a few months, he would be holding her for the first time in the delivery room in the hospital, seeing her breathing and crying.
Melissa's light blue eyes had tears in them. What surprised Jack was that she didn't bother to hide them this time. These weren't tears of sadness, though. These were tears of joy.
"That's Amy," she said. "I think she likes you."
Despite a tear escaping her eyes and sliding down her cheek, Melissa smiled. Jack rested a hand on her cheek and wiped it away with his thumb. As she leaned her cold body towards him, he realized that this was the one woman who actually loved him. With the love that she felt for him, they had created their child.
Jack knew that he would never love a woman. If he could, though, he wondered if, for just a moment, if this could possibly be that woman.
Jack put her arms around Melissa. He could feel Amy kicking still. Just a day from Thanksgiving, he already knew what to be thankful for.
After a photo shoot set a day early to Tuesday, thanks to the upcoming holiday, Kate and Will flew back to Minnesota on Wednesday morning to celebrate Thanksgiving with Bootstrap. They landed at Minneapolis/St. Paul International at 10:15, greeted warmly by Bootstrap. The three went back to his apartment, where the couple stayed for the night.
Thanksgiving was the next day. The three sat in the four-seat dining table, eating the traditional turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. The second glass of red wine that Kate was sipping made her warm and relaxed, even more than she usually was around her new father-in-law.
"I'm thankful for such a wonderful son and daughter-in-law," Bootstrap said, taking a sip of his wine.
Kate smiled at Bootstrap. He really was a wonderful person. She felt so blessed to have someone like him in her life.
"I'm thankful for finding something that I had lost forever," Will said.
He thought that he would never find love again when he was brought to the twenty-first century, she knew. Kate felt a tear come to her eye, but quickly blinked it back.
"I'm thankful for finding a soulmate," Kate said.
Kate was, too. She and Will were both thankful for each other. They were thankful for everything they had been through, both the good and the bad.
She knew many more blessings would be ahead of them: the only question was what would they be?
Melissa looked around at the table of the Lewes family with Jack sitting next to her. There were her two aunts, two uncles, two grandparents, and her great-aunt and great-uncle from Iowa – the same ones that she missed seeing because she was too busy having her way with Jack that weekend in July. She could hardly look them in the eye.
The pregnancy was a surprise for everyone in her family to see. Yes, she had told everyone, but she hadn't seen any of her family since her graduation party the week before she graduated in May. She found it ironic that her relatives were more accepting of it rather than her parents. Her parents seemed to be a bit hesitant to warmly welcome her, but they did – eventually.
Her family asked her how far she was now, which she said, with a smile, five months. When they asked her about the name, she said it would be Amy Pearl Lewes. She was grateful that none of her relatives asked why the name wasn't Sparrow (come to think of it, that was her parents job, she thought wryly).
"What are you thankful for, Melissa?" her father asked across the table.
She had been betrayed twice this year by the two people closest to her; at times she hadn't felt very thankful for anything. Those who betrayed her were the two people closest to her– even though they betrayed her, she loved them, no matter what.
"I'm thankful for my two life savers," she said.
"What about you, Jack?" her father asked him.
"Rum," he smiled.
Despite the laughing group, Melissa turned her head and glared at the pirate sitting on her left.
"Would I be grateful fer anythin' else, love?" he questioned.
The frightening thing was that Melissa knew that he wouldn't be.
Jack had been waiting for two months to see the Turners again – more specifically, the female one. He could tell that Melissa was eager, too. She was tidying the living room, putting magazines in the rightful spot and lighting a few candles.
The couple was supposed to arrive at 3:00. They would be taking a thirty minute bus ride from Minneapolis to Champlin, where Melissa and Jack lived. It was exactly 3:00, per the clock on the wall in the kitchen.
"Ye're obviously excited," Jack noted, watching her light the last green candle.
"I am," Melissa said. "You know, you could have asked if you could help at all. Making the pregnant woman do all the work."
"Ya ne'er asked," he said. "I assumed ya were fine."
"You know what they say about assuming," she said. "It makes an –"
The doorbell rang just as she was about to say something that was very un-Melissa, brought on by her pregnancy.
"You can get that," she said, walking back to the kitchen to put the lighter in the drawer.
"Freely 'n' gladly," he said, swaggering towards the door. He opened it to see Kate and Will smiling at each other, holding hands. He wondered what he interrupted. Did he just kiss her? Did she tell him a joke? Jack would do anything to have Kate look at him the way she looked at Will.
"Wench 'n' Whelp!" Jack said to the two, holding out his arms. "Been too long."
Both entered the house. Kate was the first to greet him. Jack pulled her into a hug. He had waited two months to have this woman in his arms, even if he had to do it in front of her dear husband. Thoughts of yesterday's moment with Melissa flew out of his head like a startled crow out of it's nest.
"Ravishin' as always," he said softly into her ear.
"I see you haven't changed," she said, pulling away, untying the belt around her hip-length trench coat. She took off the coat and handed it to him. "Not that I expected such a miracle while I was away."
Seemed that she hadn't changed, either.
"Where's Melissa?" she asked.
"Kate!" Melissa squealed from the kitchen.
Choosing not to see the reunion between the women, he turned his attention to Will. He still looked the same: he had his shoulder-length, curly hair and same confident stance.
"William," Jack said, extending a hand.
"Jack," he said, shaking it. "It's wonderful to see you again."
Polite Will. He wasn't sure if it was possible for Will to not be polite.
"And ye," he replied.
Will looked around the living room and took his coat off. "This is a lovely home," he said, handing the coat to Jack. "I assume that Melissa is the one that pushed for it?"
Did she ever.
"Just a li'l," he said.
"Sit down," Melissa said, coming toward them, a hand on her stomach.
All four sat down. Kate, Melissa, and Will sat on the couch, and Jack sat on the lounge. The girls – women, Jack had to remind himself they were women – looked happy to see each other again.
"You weren't kidding," Kate said to Melissa. "You do look different."
Jack had peered over Melissa's shoulders while she was exchanging e-mails with Kate since October. One had said that she wouldn't recognize her – it sure didn't sound like she did.
"Shopping at the maternity section at Target sure is a step up from the juniors," Melissa said. "The clothes are really comfortable, though. Plus, I have an excuse to be in sweat pants more."
The only time that Jack saw Melissa in something other than sweat pants was in the morning when she was dropping him off at work on her way to college. He liked seeing her in sweat pants and a sweatshirt – she looked more relaxed.
"No, I mean...different," Kate said. "You're glowing."
"It's b'cause 'er body's producin' fifty percent more blood," Jack said. "See, th' increase in blood goin' through dear Melissa's body causes 'er face t' be brighter. Th' body's producin' 'ormones that makes 'er oil glands mad, 'n' as a result, 'er face is shiny 'n' looks like it was kissed by a rose."
Yes, Jack had read Melissa's maternity books that she got from the library. He wasn't a complete numbskull.
Kate gave him a blank stare. "It's because you knocked her up."
"Aye, I did, didn't I? 'N' I just explained why exactly she's like that way in said condition."
Before Kate could roll her eyes like everyone in the room knew that she was going to, Melissa interrupted with, "How was Thanksgiving, Will?"
"Uh...pleasant," Will said awkwardly. "It was wonderful to see my father again."
"Bootstrap!" Jack said joyfully. "'Ow's th' man?"
"He's fine," Will said.
"That's good to hear," Melissa smiled. "By the way, we've been looking at Anthropologie weekly and looking at the pictures you two have taken. Will, you're an amazing photographer."
"That's too kind of you, Melissa," he said.
"She means it," Jack chimed in.
"He is amazing," Kate said, holding his hand. "Don't know what I'd do without him, especially on those shoots."
Jack missed the four of them together. Each played an important part in their relationship. Melissa was the quiet, conservative one, Kate was the tough, independent one, Will was the whelp, and Jack...was Jack.
"We 'aven't sat like this since September b'fore the weddin'," Jack said.
"We haven't," Kate agreed. "I really missed it."
"Talking over the internet is a substitute," Will said. "Though I agree with Kate and Jack, it's not the same."
There was a silence before Melissa said, "We only have to wait a month or so to do this again, though."
Christmas! There would be plenty of drinks around Christmas!
"If you want," Melissa offered to the couple, "you can stay with us for the holidays. We have a guest bedroom upstairs for you. Jack and I would love nothing more if you stayed with us."
We would? Jack questioned silently. They had never talked about this before.
A smile came upon Kate's lips. "We'd be delighted to."
Now that he knew the Turners would be over for Christmas, he could start planning on how to entertain the guests. He could take Kate out shooting at an empty field, with nothing but the snow and trees around them.
Will could talk to Melissa for a few hours, couldn't he?
