Chapter 22
The plans for the baby's room were lying on the kitchen counter when Grissom came back from his morning swim. Quietly he picked them up while he slipped on his glasses.
On his wall there was to be a mural, a mural with the faces of James Joyce, Langston Hughes, Flannery O'Connor, Shakespeare and Alice Walker.
Quotes created a border.
The drawings fell from his hand. They felt like they had burned him.
As he looked up, Sara led two men in. The one she he had seen her with and another shorter muscled blond man. They both looked at Grissom with smiling expectant eyes.
"Gil this is Chris and his partner Ross."
His partner? His life partner.
Gil had never been so happy as to meet two gay men in his life. He pumped both men's hands for all they were worth and whistled merrily as he went back to the office. Sara's brown eyes narrowed as she watched him leave the room. What had gotten into him? Why was he so happy all of a sudden? She led her two friends to the baby's room.
She had told no one about the baby beside Leigh. There was little reason to tell Nick, War or Catherine. There was nothing they could do and it would only worry them. She had no idea when they would be together again and it seemed the best course of action. She knew that Gil had not told them about their son. He walked through life as if there was no baby waiting to be born.
The sewing machine surprised Grissom. "You sew?"
The machine was in the middle of the boy's room. Gil's curiosity had overridden caution when he'd heard machine sounds echo through the walls.
"Yes"
"I didn't know that. Who taught you?"
"My mom."
"What are you making?"
"A quilt for Julian. No baby has ever been born in my family without a quilt waiting."
"Who's Julian?"
"The baby's name is Julian."
Supervisor Grissom smiled and said. "Oh. What's his middle name?"
"I'm not sure. We haven't decided yet."
"We?"
"Julian and I"
"Oh"
The hum of the machine carried down the hall and the whirling sound reminded Sara of a tornado she had once been caught in. She knew Grissom missed her but wasn't sure if he missed only the lovemaking or all that there had been. She stopped her work and looked at him. He had lost too much weight. His formerly robust round face was slack. It aged him. Now that they didn't take meals together she hardly ever saw him eat. His smoking habit had resumed. He would sit for hours on the balcony inhaling and exhaling the black tar that he had sworn off the decade before. She suspected that he was drinking far too much as well. With each cigarette there was a glass near his hand poured from an invisible bottle.
"Griss I thought about what you said."
"And?"
"I think it would be best if they moved you. Having you in the house with the baby and all will be too much for both of us…especially for you. I am not sure what's happening with you but I know you are not eating and I see the bottles in the trash. You need to get away from all this."
Why the hell does she still care about me? I don't care about me.
"I understand and Sara…" She didn't look at him as he spoke. "Julian is very lucky to have you as his mother." He went to make the call.