Chapter 27
"And Time Goes By"
6:00 a.m. Lily looks at the clock on her bedside. She can't sleep. She has been feeling really uncomfortable in the last two weeks. The only position she can sleep is with her belly up. She sits on the bed and grabs a glass of water that's near her clock. She drinks it all but still feels thirsty.
All her moving wakes Rick up. "Lil, are you OK?" He asks.
"I can't believe you have the courage to ask me that. I've turned into a whale." She replies, her hand on her forehead.
"OK." He says, knowing it was another one of Lily's night crisis. It was better not to argue.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Rick, it's just that lately I've been..."
"I know, Lil. But be patient. Just one more month and then we'll have our baby in our arms and you'll be back to being the hottest mom in Chicago."
"Because now I must look scary."
"For other people, maybe. For me you're the most beautiful and exciting woman on earth." He kisses her.
"You don't know how good it is to hear this."
"I think you should go back to sleep now."
"I can't. I think I'm going to go get some water."
"I'll go for you."
"No, I need to walk a little." She says getting up.
Rick begins to say something but Lily goes first, "And don't worry, I'll be careful with the stairs." He smiles.
She goes down and heads to the kitchen. From there, you can see a storage of diaper packages, which they had been buying for about two months. "If we buy them slowly, we won't notice we're going bankrupt," was Rick's explanation for that.
Actually there was baby stuff all around the house. They had no more places for gifts sent by relatives and friends, and they also had all the things she was given at the baby shower Judy threw her. Lily poured orange juice in a glass and sat in the table. Everything was going perfectly, except she had been able to recuperate the custody of Grace and Zoe. Doug, their lawyer and now friend, had done everything possible, but it was useless. The judge, though, said that if everything went well after she gave birth, her chances would increase. Even Jake was beginning to act as if he would give her back the girl's custody. They would have another meeting with the judge in two weeks. She and Rick were going to have a meeting with Doug to get prepared for this meeting in two days.
The last five months hadn't been so hard, she had Jessie's company for almost two months. They went shopping for baby stuff, and, best of all, became real close. Jessie even shared her drama regarding Katie - the girl, as her mother promised, was sent to live with her grandmother in Dallas, but they had hopes she would come back and graduate from Upton Sinclair High. They still exchanged e-mails about 5 times a day, the only way they had to communicate, since Katie's grandmother would intercept any letters.
As for Eli, he got a new job at a studio. Karen freaked out as she did the other time, but now she couldn't stop him from working there, since his work wasn't directly related to music. Eli worked as an assistant for the studio's senior producer. This meant negotiation with sponsors and managers. Eli was enjoying so much his job he was actually considering going to college and taking a Business degree. Lily also suspected he was involved with Lucie, who was a salesgirl and a violinist at Booklovers. They were attacking each other. What else could it be but love?
She wasn't that calm about her own daughters. Zoe was doing almost as fine as she always did - except for some misbehaving at school. But things were worst with Grace. Apparently, Grace and Jake had been fighting for anything lately. He tried to control every step of his daughter, to keep her from getting into trouble again. And although Lily knows he had the best intentions, she didn't believe he was really succeeding, as Grace and Jessie would contradict each other in many things, like places they would go together.
Judy was probably the one with the best situation. Booklovers was getting more and more customers and she was looking for the perfect place to open another store. She even got her date with Doug, although it didn't went as well as she hoped - he said he was in love with someone else.
Rick's work situation had also improved. He got a new project, a hotel in a small city nearby, which was paying really well. The only bad thing is that he was rarely at home, but they didn't have another choice. With the baby coming, they really needed the money.
***
Lily was now at Doug's office, waiting for Rick to arrive. He was about half an hour late, and Lily was starting to get worried. To make things worse, Rick's cell phone was out of area, so it was impossible to reach him.
"Lily, calm down," Doug said to her. "He'll be here any minute. He did say many delays occurred at the construction site."
"I know, Doug, but I just got a really bad feeling about this."
"Don't worry, Lily. Do you want something to drink?"
"Yes, cold water, please."
"OK, I'll go get it." "Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure. It's there." Doug said pointing the door.
"Doug, you know, forget about the water." Lily said coming out of the bathroom.
"Why?"
"Because my water broke. I'm getting into labor."
Doug almost dropped the glass he was holding. "Oh, God, let's go, go get in my car, I'll leave Rick a note on the door."
As Lily went to the car, Doug wrote:
"Rick
I had to take Lily to the hospital. It seems you're going to become a daddy tonight. Meet us there.
Doug"
Doug then drove as fast as he could to the hospital, because Lily was starting to have really strong labor pains.
TO BE CONTINUED...
"And Time Goes By"
6:00 a.m. Lily looks at the clock on her bedside. She can't sleep. She has been feeling really uncomfortable in the last two weeks. The only position she can sleep is with her belly up. She sits on the bed and grabs a glass of water that's near her clock. She drinks it all but still feels thirsty.
All her moving wakes Rick up. "Lil, are you OK?" He asks.
"I can't believe you have the courage to ask me that. I've turned into a whale." She replies, her hand on her forehead.
"OK." He says, knowing it was another one of Lily's night crisis. It was better not to argue.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Rick, it's just that lately I've been..."
"I know, Lil. But be patient. Just one more month and then we'll have our baby in our arms and you'll be back to being the hottest mom in Chicago."
"Because now I must look scary."
"For other people, maybe. For me you're the most beautiful and exciting woman on earth." He kisses her.
"You don't know how good it is to hear this."
"I think you should go back to sleep now."
"I can't. I think I'm going to go get some water."
"I'll go for you."
"No, I need to walk a little." She says getting up.
Rick begins to say something but Lily goes first, "And don't worry, I'll be careful with the stairs." He smiles.
She goes down and heads to the kitchen. From there, you can see a storage of diaper packages, which they had been buying for about two months. "If we buy them slowly, we won't notice we're going bankrupt," was Rick's explanation for that.
Actually there was baby stuff all around the house. They had no more places for gifts sent by relatives and friends, and they also had all the things she was given at the baby shower Judy threw her. Lily poured orange juice in a glass and sat in the table. Everything was going perfectly, except she had been able to recuperate the custody of Grace and Zoe. Doug, their lawyer and now friend, had done everything possible, but it was useless. The judge, though, said that if everything went well after she gave birth, her chances would increase. Even Jake was beginning to act as if he would give her back the girl's custody. They would have another meeting with the judge in two weeks. She and Rick were going to have a meeting with Doug to get prepared for this meeting in two days.
The last five months hadn't been so hard, she had Jessie's company for almost two months. They went shopping for baby stuff, and, best of all, became real close. Jessie even shared her drama regarding Katie - the girl, as her mother promised, was sent to live with her grandmother in Dallas, but they had hopes she would come back and graduate from Upton Sinclair High. They still exchanged e-mails about 5 times a day, the only way they had to communicate, since Katie's grandmother would intercept any letters.
As for Eli, he got a new job at a studio. Karen freaked out as she did the other time, but now she couldn't stop him from working there, since his work wasn't directly related to music. Eli worked as an assistant for the studio's senior producer. This meant negotiation with sponsors and managers. Eli was enjoying so much his job he was actually considering going to college and taking a Business degree. Lily also suspected he was involved with Lucie, who was a salesgirl and a violinist at Booklovers. They were attacking each other. What else could it be but love?
She wasn't that calm about her own daughters. Zoe was doing almost as fine as she always did - except for some misbehaving at school. But things were worst with Grace. Apparently, Grace and Jake had been fighting for anything lately. He tried to control every step of his daughter, to keep her from getting into trouble again. And although Lily knows he had the best intentions, she didn't believe he was really succeeding, as Grace and Jessie would contradict each other in many things, like places they would go together.
Judy was probably the one with the best situation. Booklovers was getting more and more customers and she was looking for the perfect place to open another store. She even got her date with Doug, although it didn't went as well as she hoped - he said he was in love with someone else.
Rick's work situation had also improved. He got a new project, a hotel in a small city nearby, which was paying really well. The only bad thing is that he was rarely at home, but they didn't have another choice. With the baby coming, they really needed the money.
***
Lily was now at Doug's office, waiting for Rick to arrive. He was about half an hour late, and Lily was starting to get worried. To make things worse, Rick's cell phone was out of area, so it was impossible to reach him.
"Lily, calm down," Doug said to her. "He'll be here any minute. He did say many delays occurred at the construction site."
"I know, Doug, but I just got a really bad feeling about this."
"Don't worry, Lily. Do you want something to drink?"
"Yes, cold water, please."
"OK, I'll go get it." "Can I use your bathroom?"
"Sure. It's there." Doug said pointing the door.
"Doug, you know, forget about the water." Lily said coming out of the bathroom.
"Why?"
"Because my water broke. I'm getting into labor."
Doug almost dropped the glass he was holding. "Oh, God, let's go, go get in my car, I'll leave Rick a note on the door."
As Lily went to the car, Doug wrote:
"Rick
I had to take Lily to the hospital. It seems you're going to become a daddy tonight. Meet us there.
Doug"
Doug then drove as fast as he could to the hospital, because Lily was starting to have really strong labor pains.
TO BE CONTINUED...