Just to refresh your memory…………..this is a continuation of my other Story "Pictures Never Lie Part II….Sorry folks, I don't add chapters, I add stories…..that's just how I work….now the fun part is to see if I get in trouble for it….lol..
Disclaimer: Not mine couldn't begin to tell you what I'd do with em' if they were….
When we pulled up to the pharmacy, Woody once again asked me if I wanted him to go in.
"No, no that's okay really, I can handle it." I said hopping out and quickly jogging to the door. I perused the merchandise slowly, not wanting to go anywhere near the pregnancy tests. I grabbed some more Pepto and a bottle of Rolaids. Finally, I broke down and casually grabbed one of those EPT Pregnancy tests…then because I am a scientist, I grabbed two more in case multiple trials were needed. As I was standing in line I had just reached the counter and realized I left my purse in the car. I looked towards the door about to let the cashier know I had to run back out to the car to grab my money…and as I was placing the stuff down on the counter…Woody walked in with my bag…
"Jordan, you would forget your head if it wasn't bolted on…" He trailed off when he noticed my panicked expression and then the pile of purchases. He just looked at me dumbfounded and I could do nothing but stare back……
……………..I don't think I have ever seen that particular shade of terrified on Woody before and I am not sure I liked it. He just looked from me to the pregnancy tests and back to me. Never one to like making a scene, Woody slowly held out my purse to me. Poor thing, his hands were shaking like a leaf. Not so much that anyone in line noticed or cared to notice, but it was enough for me to notice. I smiled apologetically and took the bag from him. When I had uncomfortably paid for the stuff, I took the bag off the counter and turned back to Woody.
"Are you ready?" he asked, and I wasn't sure if he meant to leave or to be a parent. I would venture to guess one meaning was for the other customers and the other was for me. I opted to answer the question everyone else was hearing.
"Yeah, I'm ready to leave." See that's what it's all about. Specificity. He held out his hand and I thought he was asking to carry the bag. I told him I had it as I started for the door and he took my free hand with one of his. When I turned around he was smiling half giddily, half nervously. I smiled and moved closer to him my mouth opening to explain.
"Shhhh…" Woody said and leaned forward and kissed my lips softly. "Let's get you home first okay?" he said gently. I was moved by his maturity. I should have known he'd be like this. He's all business on the outside but I could see the wheels turning in his head. His words spoke of comfort, understanding, sympathy and control. But in his heart I knew he was as terrified as I was at the prospect of having a child right now in our lives. We weren't making awesome money and I could tell Woody was doing some projected mental math and estimates in his head as we drove silently to my apartment. I could tell because as the minutes passed and the numbers in his head grew, he began to first loosen his tie, and by the time we reached my apartment, his collar was three buttons down. I went to get out of the car but Woody shot around to my side and opened the door for me. He Took the bag slowly from my hands and held it preciously as if the bag itself held the baby. He then helped me out and I let him without a word. We rode silently up the elevator and when we reached my door, Woody whipped out his key and opened the door. He sat the bag gently on the kitchen counter and then went to the couch. He flopped down and let out a breath he had been holding since the store.
"Jordan….I …" He couldn't finish. I understood. Neither of us had ever been in a situation like this before. I went to the couch and flopped down next to him.
"Yeah… I know." I said and Woody rolled over to face me and sat up straight on the couch, his eyes wandering inadvertently to my stomach.
"Jordan I just want you to know that if….if you are…I'll do everything to support…….." I cut him off with a kiss. I took his face between my hands as my eyes began to fill up. I nodded and smiled sadly when I noticed he too had tears gleaming in his eyes.
"I know." I said, hoping he remembered the last time we had a talk like this. I wiped his eyes with my thumbs." I know you'll always be here for me Woody…and…for anyone else that should come along….." I said looking at my stomach. "But can we cheer up a little right now, forget all of the consequences…..and….try and just deal with taking the test first?" I asked kissing his nose.
Woody sniffled and nodded pulling me to his chest. "Alright, let's go." He said and took a deep breath before standing and walking towards the bag on the kitchen counter. "Let's do this thing." He said all pumped up and raring to go. I followed behind him as he entered the bedroom and flopped down on the bed to read the box.
10 minutes later……….
I sat in the bathroom on Woody's lap. He sat on the edge of the tub and we were both dead silent. All we could do was stare at his watch as the second hand ticked slowly along…..
"I feel like it's New Years Eve." Woody said light-heartedly and I turned my head slowly giving him my best,'Are you insane?' look. He was smiling proudly then darted his eyes dejectedly back to his watch when the joke didn't go over as he planned. When it hit the minute mark he jumped up jubilantly and said,
"My turn, my turn!!" and took one of the test sticks from the cup it sat in on the edge of the sink. I put my hand over my eyes and shook my head.
:I can't believe I let you talk me into letting you use on of those for yourself." I said and rubbed my eyes stifling a laugh.
"Hey! I said I wanted to do this together….both of us feeling the same anticipation?…….okay I just felt left out." He said slowly picking up his stick and matching it to the box.
I shook my head again, but decided to humor him and play along…I watched him swing his eyes back and forth between the box and the stick.
"Well, honey, what's it say?" I said rolling my eyes and glancing at my watch to note that I still had another minute before MY test was done.
Woody slumped his shoulders sadly. He threw the test in the trash dramatically and turned to face me, wiping his eyes playfully. " I thought it took this time….i guess it was too much to hope for." He said coming to sit next to me on the tub edge. He laid his head on my shoulder. I patted it gently then smacked him once hard.
"Ouch, can't I guy get any sympathy!!??" he said looking at his watch. His voice caught in his throat as he realized it was time for me to check the 'real' test. I took a deep breath, kissed a now serious Woody once quickly on the lips. I stood up and picked up the little stick. I didn't need to look at the box to match it. There were two blue lines. I was pregnant. I turned it for Woody to see. He stared at it for a good ten seconds.
When he stood up, I put the stick down on the sink and Woody wrapped me in his arms. We sighed in unison then laughed. When I pulled back Woody took my face in his hands and kissed my lips like he never had before. We stared into each other's eyes for a long moment before Woody dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around my waist. I laid a hand on top of his head and petted him like a cat. He eyed my stomach cautiously for a few seconds then kissed it at my navel. He looked up at me adorably then and I laid his head back against my stomach and we just stood that way for a while.
That night we just spent alone together. Just the three of us.
"So I got money on a girl, how bout you?" Woody asked as we lay in my bed next to each other. I smiled and laid my hand on my stomach through my tank top. A warm summer breeze made the curtains do that wave thing. The curtains looked pregnant when it did that. I smiled.
"Woody? Will you still love me when I'm 9 months pregnant and a whale?" I asked mock seriously. Woody sat up.
"Damn, Jordan! Don't ask me these things until I get a book about….dad's and……talking…..and what NEVER to say to pregnant women!" He said and leaned forward to kiss me. When he sat back a little I laughed.
"But until then," He said and kissed my nose. "Yes, I'll love you when you're a whale." He said and I bopped him on the head.
"NO! You're supposed to say 'oh, but Jordan, you'll never be as big as a whale, not even close'." I said and sat up on the bed. Woody decided he could make it better the easy way and just pull me to him and lay back down on the pillows. We fell asleep like that, dreams of our baby on both our minds.
The next morning I woke up and made a dash for the bathroom. When I came back to the room, Woody was sitting up a sick look on his face.
"You gonna be doin' that a lot?" he asked and grimaced. I dragged myself tiredly to the bad and fell to the soft sheets.
"Uh huh…..for a little while at least." I said and curled into a ball. Woody rubbed my back in circles. After a few minutes I uncurled myself and mumbled about taking a shower. Woody opted not to join me, probably a fear of being thrown up on. When I got out Woody was trying on clothes in front of the mirror. I walked around the corner of the glass door to my room and stood watching him for a moment.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked coming to stand behind him in front of the mirror. Woody cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders looking himself up and down in the mirror.
"Well, I was trying to..to find something nice here….for….to. Jordan, what exactly does one wear to go tell a 6 foot 5 Irishman that you knocked up their daughter?" he said. I looked him over then glanced at the bed and his other choices.
"Wear the blue shirt." I said and smiled patting him on the shoulder. Woody just laughed nervously and grabbed it from the bed.
"You'll do fine Woody, my dad loves you." I said and kissed his cheek. He just laughed that nervous laugh again.
"Yeah, I'm sure this is just gonna thrill him…wait. But he wouldn't orphan his only grandchild would he?" Woody asked hopefully. I just laughed and started to pick something out to wear for myself.
We rode in silence
to my dad's house Woody nervously unbuttoning his shirt again. I reached over
and fixed his collar as we neared the house.
"Alright now let me do the talking. I'm 32 years old Woody, there's only
so much he can say about being disappointed." I said leaning over to kiss
him. He just nodded.
"Okay, okay….you ready?" he asked and I nodded and opened the door. I stepped out and looked in the driveway to make sure dad was home. I spotted his car and looked at Woody one last time. We nodded and he came around the side of the car to take my hand. When we got to the door, I knocked while Woody nervously fussed with his hair and then his shirt. He began to shift from foot to foot as we heard Dad's approaching footsteps.
He opened the door with a look of happy surprise.
"Hey! Look who's here! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Dad said and started to walk away from the door assuming we'd follow. I entered first and Woody followed shutting the door behind him. I followed Dad into the kitchen.
"So do you kids want some lunch? I found this new beer distributor that I'm thinkin' of using for the pub," he said turning from the counter with a handful of little red plastic cups of beer to test. He set them down on the table and I looked at them frightened.
"Well, what's the wait Jordan, give it a try, tell me what ya think!" Dad said motioning for me to take one of the cups.
"Ahh….nah, that's okay Dad, maybe later." I said and looked at Woody who's face was slowly turning paler and paler. Dad looked at me suspiciously.
"MY Jordan turn down a shot of alcohol?" he asked feeling my head for a fever. "What are you sick or somethin'?" He asked and chuckled.
I just raised my eyebrows nervously at Woody. "Yeah…or something." I said and turned back to Dad who was already messing with something else in the kitchen.
"Hey, Dad could Woody and I talk to you in the living room?" I asked motioning towards the door. Dad stopped playing with whatever he had at the sink.
"Yeah, sure baby." He said and eyed Woody cautiously before heading into the living room. He took his patriarchal seat in his recliner and Woody and I sat on the couch together.
"What do you need sweetie?" he asked innocently but continued to make Woody squirm under his scrutiny. I laid my hand on Woody's knee to calm him.
"Well…ummmm…..boy this is harder than I thought it was going to be." I said and laughed nervously. I looked down at my hands, now in my lap. Dad reached over and laid a hand on top of mine.
"Jordan look at me." He said and I did. "You can tell me anything you need to. You know that. Now what is it you need to tell me?" he said and glanced again at a cowering Woody. I looked into his eyes and smiled, the burn of tears already in the back of my eyes. I didn't break eye contact with him.
"Well, Dad….the
thing I…we….have to tell you is that…..ummmm….I'm pregnant." I said and
Dad seemed genuinely surprised. He probably thought we wanted to get married.
He sat back and sighed heavily, his face unreadable. Then he stood and went
over to the picture on the mantle of me and Mom. He took it down and looked at
it. I looked at Woody and I think he understood. Dad was telling Mom in his own
way. We gave him a few minutes to take all this in. When he finally put the
picture back up on the mantle, he turned to us and there were tears in his
eyes. I was pretty sure I saw a smile there too in the lines of his face but he
wasn't gonna let us get off that easy. He walked over to where we sat on the
couch and we both stood quickly and in unison. He looked at the two of our
nervous faces and finally smiled.
The next few minutes are a
little fuzzy, but from what I can remember, Dad suddenly squeezed us together
in a bear hug. He kissed my head and then, because it was the last thing he
knew we expected him to do at that moment, he kissed the top of Woody's head as
well. He patted Woody on the back heartily and when he pulled back, took my
face between his hands and kissed my forehead.
"I'm happy for you baby…I really am." He said and I hugged him.
"Thank you Daddy." I said and smiled at Woody. "See, I told you he was just a big old teddy bear Wood." I said and wiped Dad's eyes.
"I wouldn't go that far Jordan Cavanaugh…" Dad said and returned to his seat in the recliner. Woody and I sat back down on the couch.
"What do you mean?" I asked leaning forward on my knees. Dad looked over the two of us. And finally let his eyes fall to my ring finger. Which was bare. I sighed and started to protest. Dad stopped me in mid-explanation.
"Now, quiet down their little girl, I know that times have changed but….I'm an old fashioned kinda guy." He said slowly and calmly. I looked around the room for an answer, my mouth hanging open. That's when I spotted the picture of my mom and I when I was little.
"Oh! Really? Well Mr. Old fashioned, explain to me how You two got married in 63 and James was born that very same year?" I said and the sound of his name on my lips felt like a curse. Dad shifted uncomfortably for a second at the mention of my half brother. I thought he might try to explain by reminding me that James wasn't his but I could tell he knew I would catch him because it didn't matter that James WASN'T his, only that he BELIEVED at first that he was his father. Dad grunted a dissatisfactory grunt and shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay, I'll give ya some time to think about it, but I'll give YOU something to think about Woo-drow." He said standing and pointedly punctuating the "drow" with a jab of his finger to Woody's chest.
" I will be VERY disappointed if my very first grandbaby comes into this world and doesn't see rings on its parent's fingers." He said and gave Woody's cheek a few gentle taps for emphasis. Woody smiled and chuckled nervously. Dad pointed to his face seriously.
"I'm not kidding Hoyt." He said and Woody's smile disappeared.
"uhh….yes, sir." He said and I laid my hand on his back. He looked at me and smiled.
"Besides, you two are in love right?" Dad said and Woody and I blushed and nodded at him. Dad rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm glad of THAT at least, people who aren't sure if their in love shouldn't be maikn' babies eh?" We both nodded and shifted uncomfortably. Their were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence before Dad finally sighed and said,
"So……I'm puttin' my money on a little girl, how bout you two?" He said smiling. Woody looked up and smiled.
"That's what I said last night." He said and looked at me shyly. Dad smiled and he and Woody shared a moment. I just stood back and watched.
"So fellas does the Mother get an say in what the sex of the child might be?" I asked folding my arms and raising my eyebrows at them. They looked at each other then at me.
"Nope." They said together and smiled at me. I just laughed and shook my head. "Ahhh………it's gonna be an interesting nine months." I said.
The rest of the afternoon went by reasonably uneventful. We ate lunch all together, mostly talking about the baby on the way and how we were gonna afford it. By the end of the afternoon, we, or Dad rather, had decided that we would move in with him until we could save up enough to move into a place of our own. There was also an issue of getting married. I knew it was an eventuality, I've never cared for anyone as much as Woody. It was just a matter of figuring out when and where and how to do it before I started showing. I also had to wait for Woody to propose, that's always a necessary component of getting married.
We left around 5 from Dad's and Woody asked if I was up for heading over to work to share the big news.
"Ah, I don't know, I think one a day is quite enough for me, thanks." I said as we walked back out to the car." Woody stopped short a little and walked around to the driver's side.
"Ah, come on…..we'll just stop by. Let everyone know….They don't wanna feel left out of the loop." He said and I scoffed.
"Oh….alright." I said and got in the passenger seat. We headed right to the morgue and I told Woody about how Lily and Garrett already knew that I might be and about how they reacted. Woody just smiled slyly the whole way nodding as I spoke. When we pulled up to the building I got out first and waited for Woody to follow.
"After you…" Woody said as we entered the building and climbed the front steps to the elevator. We got on and rode up to our floor. I caught Woody smiling out of the corner of my eye just as the doors were opening. When I turned to ask him what was so funny though, I instead was drowned out by a crowd of voices in unison saying surprise.
When I turned towards the noise, my eyes found a brightly decorated M.E.'s office. My co-……my friends in the middle of it all holding nicely wrapped presents.
"Oh my God! Woody!!! I'm gonna kick your ass!" I said smiling and leaning against him shyly. Everyone laughed and Woody kissed the top of my head and whispered 'you're welcome' into my ear. I smiled at him and turned back to everyone.
"Hi, MOM how's the little Hoyt- in- the- oven doing eh?" Nigel asked, dropping his presents into Bug's arms to hug me. I chuckled and hugged him tightly back.
"oh just fine right now, it's those damn mornings were havin' trouble with." I said and kissed his cheek before moving on to Bug. He all but chucked Nigel's presents back at him and put his own down on the table behind him before embracing me.
"Congratulations Jordan, and thanks for being the person to finally give me a reasonable excuse to buy "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for someone." He said holding up a flat nicely wrapped present. I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Thank you….and you're welcome." I said and was pulled into Lily's eager embrace.
"Ooooooo!!! I'm so happy for you guys! And awwwww…..Jordan is giving us our first little Morgue Baby!!" She said to the room. I grimaced. "We're not gonna call her that are we?" I asked and Garrett's voice interrupted me.
"So what makes you think it's gonna be a girl?" he asked and I turned to his voice. We looked at each other for a long moment. Then I turned my head to look at a proudly smirking Woody. "Uhhh….well…just a feeling some of the men of my family are having." I said and Woody's smile grew when I called him family. n
I moved forward and let Garrett wrap his arms around me. He kissed my cheek. "So I'm guessing everyone is okay with this situation? Like your dad and all?" he asked looking towards Woody.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah…yeah, Dad's doin' okay with it…..he'd like to see a ring on my finger before 9 months is up, but we'll see." I said shifting my eyes at Woody. Garrett just nodded and handed me a shoe- box sized box.
I shook it and smiled at him playfully. "Guess I should open the Boss's present first huh gang?" I asked and chuckled as I picked at the wrapping. Everyone laughed and Nigel chimed in from where he stood cutting cake on his desk.
"Yeah, you better start butterin' him up now if you want a raise to keep your little bit in nappies every day!" he said smiling. I just nodded and popped open the top of the box. When I had reached around all of the tissue paper, my hand brushed something soft. I furrowed my brow and carefully removed the object. I awwwed…I actually awwwwwwed when I saw the beautiful little doll in a pink sundress smiling up at me from my hands. It had green eyes, a few freckles, and curly-ish dark- brown hair. She looked like me when I was a little girl. I smiled and ran my hand over the baby dolls cloth face.
"So is there ANYONE who thinks this kid is gonna be a boy? Cause if it turns out that way, Woody and I are gonna be raising a little man who's VERY in touch with his feminine side!" I said holding up the doll for everyone to see. Everyone laughed and Woody cautiously came to stand next to me and took the doll, turning it over to look at.
"Thank you Garrett." I said and kissed him on the cheek again. "She's beautiful." I said and turned to take the next presents. I picked up Bug's presents next and since I knew what the little flat one was already, I opened the wrapped box first.
"Wow, Bug this present's heavy man! What's in here?" I asked and
Bug just shifted his feet shyly.
"You'll have to open it to see, I don't give away the answer to ALL the
presents!" He said and smiled as I opened the lid of the gift. When I
turned it gently upside down to let the object slide out into my waiting hands,
it dropped with a smack of smooth glass to my palm. I turned the gift over and
my lips formed a smile.
"Awwww…Bug how did you find this so quickly? What did Woody call you guys
the second we found out?" I said and turned the snow globe over in my
hands. It had a stubborn looking Tinker Bell from Peter Pan standing in the
middle as sparkles and snow fell gently around her. I remember thinking that if
we indeed did have a little girl, she'd probably make that stubborn face Tink
was sporting in the globe.
"Nah, I called Garrett while you were asleep." Woody said smiling and reaching out to take a look at the globe. Bug cleared his throat.
"Well, I figured that Tinker Bell is kind of a bug so…who knows? Maybe
it'll end up being her nickname?" He said smiling. I hurried over to hug
him and Bug kissed my cheek.
"Wow, this really will be awkward if it ends up being a boy!" I said laughing. Everyone laughed with me as
Lily stepped forward and handed me her present.
"I hope you like this Jordan, I had to pull some strings with my cousin being as I didn't have a lot of time to get this and she works for the company that makes them." Lily said and handed me a large box. I shook it gently and turned to set it on the table and let Woody help open it.
We worked away the paper like kids on Christmas and I let Woody pop the box top open. He pushed around the paper and smiled when he finally saw the contents.
"Wow! That's so cool!" he said pulling out a backpack looking bag.
"It's called a Diaper Dude. It's for Dad's AND Mom's who aren't really into the cutesy, flowery-type diaper bags." Lily said as Woody slipped the bag over my head to hang across me like I carry my purse. I put out my arms pretending to model the bag.
"So how's it look guys?" I asked. Everyone looked at each other and nodded.
"Like a Jordan Bag." Garrett said shaking his head. Everyone laughed. "Hey, I can be girly!" I said and everybody chuckled. "Okay, so not HERE so much but I try to be credible in this place guys!!" I said taking the bag off and slinging it over Woody's neck. He adjusted the bag to fit him and seemed pleased with the look.
I hugged Lily and thanked her for the "Diaper Dude". Finally, I
got to Nigel's present.
"Uh-oh, is there any reason I should be concerned about what might be in
this harmless looking clothes box Nige?" I asked. Taking the present
slowly from him.
"Now why does everyone always assume I bought the weirdo present?" He asked and let me take the box reluctantly. We all just looked at him. "Oh, fine then. Let's see how often Uncky Nigel offers to baby-sit." He said crossing his arms but still smiling. He leaned back against the counter as I unwrapped the present. When I had gotten through the wrapping, I was surprised to actually find a clothing box. I set it down on the table and took off the lid slowly. Then I started to laugh as I held up the little outfit.
Everyone awed but also laughed. The outfit consisted of a pair of little white booties with a teddy bear dressed in biker gear on them, a pair of black leather pants with a little chain reaching from front to back pocket, a white little tank top with the same bear as on the socks but stretched larger across the shirt, a tiny jean jacket with patches sewn into it holding messages like, "Born to be wild" and "Die yuppie scum!" on then as well as a Boston Bruins patch I was sure Dad would enjoy on the back shoulder. To top it all off was a baby- sized bandana with the thematic teddy bear littered across it.
"Oh…Nige…we'll treasure it always." I said dramatically clutching the little outfit to my chest. I turned to Woody and said, "I think we should use this in the place of a christening gown what do you think Woody?" I asked and held the tiny biker suit up for him to see. He stared horrified at it and then took it from my hands shaking his head and mumbling something about 'city people' to which I snickered and snuck over to hug Nigel. As I was doing so, I was suddenly engulfed in the embrace of all my friends, Woody on the outermost layer.
"We're gonna have a baby guys!" Nigel said squeezing everyone for effect. "We're all gonna be aunties and uncles!" He said and I felt my eyes well up a little with tears. 'Damn hormones' was all I could think to excuse my newly discovered weepiness.
"Thanks everybody," I said looking around our little group hug at
the smiling faces of all my dearest friends and dare I say family.
"There's no other group of people I'd rather have in my life then you all,
I mean it." I said and only instigated a tightening of the hug. After
about 30 seconds though, my touchy feely moment had started to pass.
"Okay, pregnant lady's havin' trouble breathing folks." I said and we
all separated slowly.
Later that night, Woody called his family back home in Wisconsin to let them know he'd be back to visit soon with a surprise.
"Yeah…yeah mom…no I'm not gonna tell you what it is….well…yeah…..okay…yeah……yes it DOES have to do with Jordan…..NO!….You'll just have to wait…….2 weeks….uh huh…..yes…yes…you can meet us at the airport…..uh huh….uh.huh……..yeah I'll call and give you the flight information. …….Okay…..alright…..say hi to Dad and the rest of the kids for me…..okay…….bye Mom."he said and held out the phone with a roll of his eyes to me. I chuckled and called from across the room,
"Bye Mrs. Hoyt!!" To which Woody rolled his eyes again and said good-bye one last time before hanging up the phone…….
Next edititon………."Meet the Hoyts"…..Jordan and Woody travel to Woody's hometown and meet the family and friends….as well as a few enemies…..who Woody grew up with…..