Softer and Warmer and Kinder
"I think it'll be great," Ellie said, rubbing her hand over his back encouragingly.
Alan sighed. Retirement was not really what he wanted but it was the only option in order to have this life. No more digs. No more desert dust and rock in Utah and Montana and Alberta. No more grad students hanging on his every word. Well, that part he probably wouldn't miss.
Before Alan could respond, a pterosaur landed on one of the old vines in front of them. Ellie gasped and stepped forward. "Hey!" she protested.
But Alan grabbed her arm and held her back. "Leave it be. We'll figure out what to do with them later."
She turned to look at him curiously. "You aren't worried they'll get comfortable here and destroy the crops?"
He shrugged. "It's not like we bought this house for the purpose of producing wine." Their new home had an acre of grapevines that had, in the past, been grown and sold to local wineries. And Alan had thought it interesting when they had been looking for somewhere nearby Ellie's new job to settle down. Alan was retired, and maybe growing grapes would give him something to do while Ellie taught at Stanford. Their property in the Saratoga hills seemed to be the perfect place to find refuge away from the Silicon Valley elites.
The phone started ringing inside, causing them both to leave the pterosaur to its own devices.
"See? And you said a landline was unnecessary," Alan taunted as Ellie went to pick up the phone.
She rolled her eyes. "It's going to just be a telemarketer. The only people who have this number are my kids and they'll just call my cell." Ellie pushed the talk button on the handheld. "Hello?…Ethan! Hi!"
Alan smirked. Ethan was Ellie's younger son. He was twenty, now, and just finishing his second year at Northwestern. And instead of just texting his mom, Ethan had decided to call their new home phone.
"Ethan, sweetie, slow down. Breathe, please."
Whatever was happening on the phone was serious. Ellie was calming her son down, but Alan could see the look on her face. Something had spooked her. "Is he okay?" Alan asked her in a quiet but insistent voice.
She just nodded at him and looked at the floor to concentrate on Ethan. She hummed and said 'yes' and 'of course, absolutely' a few times but nothing else. Eventually, she concluded with, "Okay, let me talk to Alan and you talk to Hailey, and I'll call you tomorrow. Thank you for telling me. I love you, sweetie. Bye-bye."
Ellie hung up the phone and looked at Alan, her expression unreadable. "Well?" he prompted.
"Ethan's girlfriend is pregnant."
Alan felt his heart drop into his stomach. He had never fathomed anything like that happening to anyone he knew. He himself hadn't been with anyone who had a pregnancy scare. Not as far as he knew. And he didn't much like the idea of knowing that Ellie's son had been the cause of that for his girlfriend. God, before last year, the last time Alan had seen Ethan was when he was a baby! And now he might be having a baby of his own.
With a groan of frustration, Ellie scrubbed her face with her hands and ran her fingers through her hair. "Alan, they don't tell you about this in the parenting books," she said.
Never having experienced parenthood in any real way, Alan wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't know what to do. But he knew Ellie. He knew how she handled things. And so he asked, "What do you want to do?" Because he knew her. He knew she'd already have a plan in her head.
"What do you think we should do?" she asked in return.
Alan shook his head. "No, this isn't about me. This is about Ethan. This is about your son, and whatever you decide is best, however you want to handle it, that's what we're gonna do. I'm here to support you both any way I can. So what do you want to do, Ellie?" he asked her again.
"I want them to come here." Her voice was small.
"Okay," Alan answered without reservation.
"Really? I mean, Alan, this is your home, and you live here, and he's my son..."
"Whatever you need. Whatever the kids need," he insisted.
Ellie took two steps forward and practically fell into his arms. She clung to him and buried her face in his neck. Alan held her in his embrace, hoping to give whatever comfort he could.
"We'll figure it out," he said, hoping it was helpful.
She spoke, her voice slightly muffled against his collar, "I don't know what Hailey wants to do, but she's from Texas, and she'll have more options if she's here."
Alan felt ice in his veins at that. He didn't know Ethan's girlfriend was from Texas. Illinois might be alright, but Texas certainly wouldn't be. California would be safe for her. Like Ellie said, more options. No matter what she chose, she had a better shot at it here. "Assuming she wants to come stay with us," Alan thought aloud.
Ellie pulled back with a determined sigh. "Yeah, that's why Ethan needs to talk to her. See what she wants to do. If she wants to go home and be with her family, that's what she should do, but I want to offer for them to come here for the summer. For whatever they need."
"Of course," he agreed. It was just barely April. The kids would have finals soon, and then a few months ahead of them to figure out what to do.
"Alright, let me text Ethan," Ellie said.
She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and moved her thumbs with speed that Alan couldn't quite comprehend. He had a smartphone, of course, but he didn't really use it for much of anything if he could help it. Ellie was always trying to get him to download this and post that, but he just threw his hands up in defeat.
"Okay, I made the offer. We'll see what they say."
"In the meantime, how about we open a bottle of wine?" Alan suggested.
"God, yes," Ellie groaned.
He chuckled a little at that. There was a nice Cab Franc that would be good for tonight that he'd been saving. It wasn't really a special bottle, not for a celebration or occasion, but their world had just been turned upside down. They should have something nice.
While Alan went to the wine cellar that he'd immediately stocked when they moved in last week, Ellie called from the kitchen, "How about we have those chicken taco things?"
"Sounds good," he shouted in response. That would go nice with the wine.
How had it come to this? Alan wondered. How had he gone from renowned paleontologist to retired wine collector and potential grape grower? And in California, of all places? How had his life turned from being covered in red dirt of Utah to now talking with Ellie Sattler about her son's pregnant girlfriend?
It had taken a lot of twists and turns to get here, he knew. And all the mistakes and the risks that paid off and the plans that fell apart, they all led him to this life where he could be with the woman he loved and support her family and share a home with her. Alan Grant had always been a wanderer, going from dig site to dig site, university to university, never really putting down roots anywhere. Well, now he was starting to plant those roots as deep as the ones of those grapevines on their property. He had a home now. A home and a family. All because of Ellie. He'd do anything for her. Anything in the world. Including spend the summer living with her son and his pregnant girlfriend. And whatever came after that.