Clearing Clouds
Part 5
Abbey watched in amusement as Leah did her best to make Laurie comfortable. The little girl had been very attentive to her older sister since they had gotten home from the hospital. Leaving when Leah announced that she was going to tell Laurie a story, Abbey walked downstairs to call The President. What had happened between them earlier had played in her mind several times. Maybe she should have waited? No, if she had waited, she would have chickened out. She was only a few steps away from the phone when it started to ring. She picked up the receiver. "McGarry."
"That was fast."
Abbey smiled. "Hello, sir. I was just about to call you."
"You know, Abbey, I think we are going to have to do something about you calling me sir. That doesn't seem appropriate now, does it?"
"Well, you might get a kick out of it in the bedroom." Where had she gotten the nerve to say that? She was relieved when she heard him chuckle slightly. "Listen, I can't talk long. I'm spending quality time with the girls. I need to talk to them about us and see how they feel."
"Abbey, I was wondering if I could do that? I really want them to be OK with this. That is, if it's all right with you?"
Abbey couldn't help but to smile. "Sure, send your agents over to check the house and come on over."
"Thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jed was really looking forward to seeing Abbey again, even if they had seen each other that same morning. Except for Leo, he had not yet told anyone that Abbey had decided to give him a chance. He wanted her to be sure first, wanted her to feel good about it. He got out from the limo and walked up to the house. Before he could ring the doorbell, the door opened and Abbey smiled at him. She had a killer smile.
Seeing him just made her even surer of her decision. "Hi."
"Hi yourself." He wanted to kiss her, but wasn't sure if that was appropriate.
Abbey took his arm and guided him inside. Once the front door was closed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Jed, once again lost in happiness, responded.
Abbey, reluctantly this time, let go of him. "So, the kids know you're here so you better go upstairs before they come downstairs."
Jed nodded and started for the stairs. Noticing Abbey wasn't following, he turned to her.
"Go. You don't need my help."
Jed wasn't sure if that was true. One way to Abbey's heart was the approval of her daughters. "OK." He took one step at a time, hoping he wasn't getting in over his head. He heard talking from one room and stopped at the door, knocking before he had a chance to change his mind. He heard Laurie's voice telling him to come in, so he did. Upon seeing it was him, both girls lit up and Leah jumped off the bed and ran to him. He picked her up and received a big hug in return. He looked over Leah's shoulder to Laurie. "Hi, sweetie."
"Hey, Jed."
She said his first name with such ease. Jed liked it that way. He seated Leah on the bed. "I'd like to talk to you both if that's OK?"
"Sure, what's up?" Laurie put her magazine away.
He wasn't sure where to start or how to start. To his surprise Leah started for him.
"You like Mom." She giggled.
Jed looked at Leah in surprise and then at Laurie. "How did you know?"
"Well, we saw you two kissing downstairs." Laurie added.
Jed blushed. "Oh." This was not the way he had planned it. "Yeah, I like your Mom."
"A lot?" Leah asked him.
Jed smiled at the young child. "A whole lot." He carefully studied their faces to see if they showed any signs of not being comfortable with this new knowledge. "That's why I'm here. I wanted to know how you feel about that."
Leah shrugged. "Fine." She jumped from the bed and walked out of the room.
Jed had watched her leave and turned back to Laurie.
Laurie chuckled. "Don't worry. If she wasn't fine with it, she would have told you."
"OK, that's good to know, but what about you? How do you feel?" It was Laurie's reaction Jed dreaded more. She was older and had been around more. How did she feel about this?
"You're a good guy and I really like you."
"Well, that's good to know." Jed paused, knowing Laurie had more to say.
Laurie tilted her head slightly and became serious. "I don't want my Mom to get hurt."
"I would never hurt your Mom or you or your sister." Jed took one of her hands in his and squeezed it.
Laurie simply nodded before she lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck.
Jed wrapped his arms around the precious girl he had come to love so much. It meant a great deal to him that Abbey's children were OK with him being in their lives, in their mother's life.
Sitting on the couch in the living room, Abbey heard footsteps and saw Leah peek around the doorway. "Hey there, sweetie pie."
"You like the President." Leah teased her mother.
Abbey rolled her eyes. "Yes, I like The President."
Leah giggled.
Abbey eyed her younger daughter, wondering just what The President had told her. "What?"
Jed was at the bottom of the stairs when he heard Abbey's voice. He peeked inside and saw the two on the couch. Neither Abbey nor Leah noticed Jed looking at them from the doorway.
"Laurie and I saw you kiss." Leah giggled some more.
Jed blushed again, but didn't make a sound. He saw Abbey's eyes narrow and was eager to see how this would play out. At least, Abbey didn't blush.
"I see." It was bound to have been seen someday so why not now? "And you find that funny?"
"You kissed." Leah made a face. "Ew."
Abbey laughed loudly while patting Leah's head.
Jed smiled and hearing Abbey's laughter made him smile even more.
"You know," Abbey tried containing herself. "I kiss you." Abbey placed a small kiss on her cheek.
Leah rolled her eyes in the same fashion as Abbey had earlier. "Moooooom." She dragged the word out. "You know what I mean. Boy and girl kiss. Ewwwww."
Jed had a hard time trying not to laugh. He looked away from the scene in the living room, trying to think of something else so he wouldn't laugh.
Abbey smiled at her. "I know what you mean, but you know someday you are going to want to kiss a boy, too."
"Nehe, no way." Leah jumped from the couch to run out of the living room.
Jed had turned his attention back to the living room and was almost knocked over by Leah as she came running. She halted and looked at him. "Ewww." She made a face as she ran upstairs.
Abbey started laughing again at the look on Jed's face. "Oh you poor thing, look at you."
Also laughing, Jed was soon by Abbey's side on the couch. "What?"
"Do you use make up? Because I swear your cheeks are glaring red." Abbey patted his cheeks with her hands.
Jed winked at her as he slid one of his arms around her waist. "I do try to look good for you."
Abbey purred in return. "Really?"
Any sound that came from this woman drove him crazy. "Yes." He closed the distance between them and kissed her.
She returned the kiss wholeheartedly. Soon they both came up for air. "Well, that was nice."
Abbey saw some lipstick on Jed's face and brought her hand up to remove it. "I love your touch," he whispered, leaning into her hand.
Jed closed his eyes, just enjoying the sensation he felt from her touch."You're nice to touch," Abbey whispered in return. After another kiss, she got up. "It's getting late and I need to get to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow."
Reluctantly Jed dragged himself up, but as he passed her, he took her in his arms again for yet another kiss. It was shorter, but just as sweet and soon they were parted again. "Talk to you tomorrow."
Abbey nodded and followed him outside. She watched him go to the limo, turn and wave to her and then get inside. While the limo drove away, she watched it leave.
"Mom?"
Abbey turned and noticed Laurie was out of bed. "I told you to stay in bed for the evening. You OK?"
"I'm fine." Laurie walked up to her mother. "I had a nice talk with Jed before."
Abbey ushered Laurie inside and closed the door. "Yeah? You're OK with me and him?"
"I'm OK with it. I think it's great. Leah does, too. She hasn't said it, but I know she really likes him." Laurie beamed at her mother. "I'll go back to bed. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." As Laurie went back upstairs, Abbey couldn't help but to feel incredibly proud. She had two wonderful daughters. Whatever would she do without them? Hopefully she would never have to find out.
"You've slept what you usually consider an entire night, honey; you missed lunch," said Jenny, helping Leo to prop up on some pillows. "Let me get you something to eat."
Leo nodded. "Can I have ice cream?"
Jenny giggled. "Not until you've eaten your vegetables, young man."
"Will you make me some egg salad?" asked Leo.
"I sure will," said Jenny, situating his bandaged hand back on the pillow. "And then I'll bring you a big bowl of chocolate ice cream."
"Okay." Leo smiled up at her.
Jenny leaned over and kissed him. "You just relax and I'll bring it in here."
Jenny got almost to the door. "Jenny." Leo called out her name softly.
"Yeah." Jenny turned to see what he wanted.
"Nothing." Leo shook his head.
"Leo, what is it?" Jenny came back to the bed. "Do you need something?"
Leo looked toward the bathroom and back to Jenny. He didn't look at her. " I need help."
"What is it? I'll help you," assured Jenny.
Leo looked again to the bathroom and back to Jenny.
"Oh." Jenny looked sympathetic. "Come on."
Leo sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. Standing, he wobbled for just a minute and then moved to the bathroom with Jenny barely holding to his arm.
Leo stood in front of the toilet, looking anxious.
Jenny moved up beside him. "What do you want me to do, baby?"
"I can't undo the button," said Leo, shifting uncomfortably.
Jenny held his arm and turned him to face her. She undid the button on his pants and looked up at him. "You need more help?"
Leo gave a slight nod.
Carefully, Jenny slid down the zipper of his pants.
Leo turned from her and awkwardly tried to manoeuvre himself. He grimaced and fumbled and Jenny knew he was about to urinate on himself.
"Here, honey." Jenny turned him slightly and unbuttoned the fly of his boxers and helped him. Before Jenny could even aim it at the toilet, a stream of urine squirted out, spraying the toilet seat.
"I'm sorry." Leo blew out a breath as Jenny got him situated until he could relieve himself.
"It's okay, honey," soothed Jenny as Leo finally finished. She helped him get his clothes back up. "How long have you been holding that, Leo? Why didn't you tell me sooner that you had to go?" When he didn't speak, Jenny continued. "When you need help, you ask me, okay?"
Leo nodded.
"By the way, Abbey called earlier to see how you were doing. Laurie is doing much better and eager to go back to school."
Leo nodded. "I'm going to call the President."
"Okay." Jenny handed him the phone. "You want me to dial."
Leo nodded and settled down in the bed with the phone. "Good evening, sir."
TBC....
Part 5
Abbey watched in amusement as Leah did her best to make Laurie comfortable. The little girl had been very attentive to her older sister since they had gotten home from the hospital. Leaving when Leah announced that she was going to tell Laurie a story, Abbey walked downstairs to call The President. What had happened between them earlier had played in her mind several times. Maybe she should have waited? No, if she had waited, she would have chickened out. She was only a few steps away from the phone when it started to ring. She picked up the receiver. "McGarry."
"That was fast."
Abbey smiled. "Hello, sir. I was just about to call you."
"You know, Abbey, I think we are going to have to do something about you calling me sir. That doesn't seem appropriate now, does it?"
"Well, you might get a kick out of it in the bedroom." Where had she gotten the nerve to say that? She was relieved when she heard him chuckle slightly. "Listen, I can't talk long. I'm spending quality time with the girls. I need to talk to them about us and see how they feel."
"Abbey, I was wondering if I could do that? I really want them to be OK with this. That is, if it's all right with you?"
Abbey couldn't help but to smile. "Sure, send your agents over to check the house and come on over."
"Thank you."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jed was really looking forward to seeing Abbey again, even if they had seen each other that same morning. Except for Leo, he had not yet told anyone that Abbey had decided to give him a chance. He wanted her to be sure first, wanted her to feel good about it. He got out from the limo and walked up to the house. Before he could ring the doorbell, the door opened and Abbey smiled at him. She had a killer smile.
Seeing him just made her even surer of her decision. "Hi."
"Hi yourself." He wanted to kiss her, but wasn't sure if that was appropriate.
Abbey took his arm and guided him inside. Once the front door was closed, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Jed, once again lost in happiness, responded.
Abbey, reluctantly this time, let go of him. "So, the kids know you're here so you better go upstairs before they come downstairs."
Jed nodded and started for the stairs. Noticing Abbey wasn't following, he turned to her.
"Go. You don't need my help."
Jed wasn't sure if that was true. One way to Abbey's heart was the approval of her daughters. "OK." He took one step at a time, hoping he wasn't getting in over his head. He heard talking from one room and stopped at the door, knocking before he had a chance to change his mind. He heard Laurie's voice telling him to come in, so he did. Upon seeing it was him, both girls lit up and Leah jumped off the bed and ran to him. He picked her up and received a big hug in return. He looked over Leah's shoulder to Laurie. "Hi, sweetie."
"Hey, Jed."
She said his first name with such ease. Jed liked it that way. He seated Leah on the bed. "I'd like to talk to you both if that's OK?"
"Sure, what's up?" Laurie put her magazine away.
He wasn't sure where to start or how to start. To his surprise Leah started for him.
"You like Mom." She giggled.
Jed looked at Leah in surprise and then at Laurie. "How did you know?"
"Well, we saw you two kissing downstairs." Laurie added.
Jed blushed. "Oh." This was not the way he had planned it. "Yeah, I like your Mom."
"A lot?" Leah asked him.
Jed smiled at the young child. "A whole lot." He carefully studied their faces to see if they showed any signs of not being comfortable with this new knowledge. "That's why I'm here. I wanted to know how you feel about that."
Leah shrugged. "Fine." She jumped from the bed and walked out of the room.
Jed had watched her leave and turned back to Laurie.
Laurie chuckled. "Don't worry. If she wasn't fine with it, she would have told you."
"OK, that's good to know, but what about you? How do you feel?" It was Laurie's reaction Jed dreaded more. She was older and had been around more. How did she feel about this?
"You're a good guy and I really like you."
"Well, that's good to know." Jed paused, knowing Laurie had more to say.
Laurie tilted her head slightly and became serious. "I don't want my Mom to get hurt."
"I would never hurt your Mom or you or your sister." Jed took one of her hands in his and squeezed it.
Laurie simply nodded before she lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck.
Jed wrapped his arms around the precious girl he had come to love so much. It meant a great deal to him that Abbey's children were OK with him being in their lives, in their mother's life.
Sitting on the couch in the living room, Abbey heard footsteps and saw Leah peek around the doorway. "Hey there, sweetie pie."
"You like the President." Leah teased her mother.
Abbey rolled her eyes. "Yes, I like The President."
Leah giggled.
Abbey eyed her younger daughter, wondering just what The President had told her. "What?"
Jed was at the bottom of the stairs when he heard Abbey's voice. He peeked inside and saw the two on the couch. Neither Abbey nor Leah noticed Jed looking at them from the doorway.
"Laurie and I saw you kiss." Leah giggled some more.
Jed blushed again, but didn't make a sound. He saw Abbey's eyes narrow and was eager to see how this would play out. At least, Abbey didn't blush.
"I see." It was bound to have been seen someday so why not now? "And you find that funny?"
"You kissed." Leah made a face. "Ew."
Abbey laughed loudly while patting Leah's head.
Jed smiled and hearing Abbey's laughter made him smile even more.
"You know," Abbey tried containing herself. "I kiss you." Abbey placed a small kiss on her cheek.
Leah rolled her eyes in the same fashion as Abbey had earlier. "Moooooom." She dragged the word out. "You know what I mean. Boy and girl kiss. Ewwwww."
Jed had a hard time trying not to laugh. He looked away from the scene in the living room, trying to think of something else so he wouldn't laugh.
Abbey smiled at her. "I know what you mean, but you know someday you are going to want to kiss a boy, too."
"Nehe, no way." Leah jumped from the couch to run out of the living room.
Jed had turned his attention back to the living room and was almost knocked over by Leah as she came running. She halted and looked at him. "Ewww." She made a face as she ran upstairs.
Abbey started laughing again at the look on Jed's face. "Oh you poor thing, look at you."
Also laughing, Jed was soon by Abbey's side on the couch. "What?"
"Do you use make up? Because I swear your cheeks are glaring red." Abbey patted his cheeks with her hands.
Jed winked at her as he slid one of his arms around her waist. "I do try to look good for you."
Abbey purred in return. "Really?"
Any sound that came from this woman drove him crazy. "Yes." He closed the distance between them and kissed her.
She returned the kiss wholeheartedly. Soon they both came up for air. "Well, that was nice."
Abbey saw some lipstick on Jed's face and brought her hand up to remove it. "I love your touch," he whispered, leaning into her hand.
Jed closed his eyes, just enjoying the sensation he felt from her touch."You're nice to touch," Abbey whispered in return. After another kiss, she got up. "It's getting late and I need to get to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow."
Reluctantly Jed dragged himself up, but as he passed her, he took her in his arms again for yet another kiss. It was shorter, but just as sweet and soon they were parted again. "Talk to you tomorrow."
Abbey nodded and followed him outside. She watched him go to the limo, turn and wave to her and then get inside. While the limo drove away, she watched it leave.
"Mom?"
Abbey turned and noticed Laurie was out of bed. "I told you to stay in bed for the evening. You OK?"
"I'm fine." Laurie walked up to her mother. "I had a nice talk with Jed before."
Abbey ushered Laurie inside and closed the door. "Yeah? You're OK with me and him?"
"I'm OK with it. I think it's great. Leah does, too. She hasn't said it, but I know she really likes him." Laurie beamed at her mother. "I'll go back to bed. Goodnight."
"Goodnight." As Laurie went back upstairs, Abbey couldn't help but to feel incredibly proud. She had two wonderful daughters. Whatever would she do without them? Hopefully she would never have to find out.
"You've slept what you usually consider an entire night, honey; you missed lunch," said Jenny, helping Leo to prop up on some pillows. "Let me get you something to eat."
Leo nodded. "Can I have ice cream?"
Jenny giggled. "Not until you've eaten your vegetables, young man."
"Will you make me some egg salad?" asked Leo.
"I sure will," said Jenny, situating his bandaged hand back on the pillow. "And then I'll bring you a big bowl of chocolate ice cream."
"Okay." Leo smiled up at her.
Jenny leaned over and kissed him. "You just relax and I'll bring it in here."
Jenny got almost to the door. "Jenny." Leo called out her name softly.
"Yeah." Jenny turned to see what he wanted.
"Nothing." Leo shook his head.
"Leo, what is it?" Jenny came back to the bed. "Do you need something?"
Leo looked toward the bathroom and back to Jenny. He didn't look at her. " I need help."
"What is it? I'll help you," assured Jenny.
Leo looked again to the bathroom and back to Jenny.
"Oh." Jenny looked sympathetic. "Come on."
Leo sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. Standing, he wobbled for just a minute and then moved to the bathroom with Jenny barely holding to his arm.
Leo stood in front of the toilet, looking anxious.
Jenny moved up beside him. "What do you want me to do, baby?"
"I can't undo the button," said Leo, shifting uncomfortably.
Jenny held his arm and turned him to face her. She undid the button on his pants and looked up at him. "You need more help?"
Leo gave a slight nod.
Carefully, Jenny slid down the zipper of his pants.
Leo turned from her and awkwardly tried to manoeuvre himself. He grimaced and fumbled and Jenny knew he was about to urinate on himself.
"Here, honey." Jenny turned him slightly and unbuttoned the fly of his boxers and helped him. Before Jenny could even aim it at the toilet, a stream of urine squirted out, spraying the toilet seat.
"I'm sorry." Leo blew out a breath as Jenny got him situated until he could relieve himself.
"It's okay, honey," soothed Jenny as Leo finally finished. She helped him get his clothes back up. "How long have you been holding that, Leo? Why didn't you tell me sooner that you had to go?" When he didn't speak, Jenny continued. "When you need help, you ask me, okay?"
Leo nodded.
"By the way, Abbey called earlier to see how you were doing. Laurie is doing much better and eager to go back to school."
Leo nodded. "I'm going to call the President."
"Okay." Jenny handed him the phone. "You want me to dial."
Leo nodded and settled down in the bed with the phone. "Good evening, sir."
TBC....