Here's the next chapter. Enjoy and review please. It's getting fluffy, this one is, I can't help it. I just finished the 6th Harry Potter and I needed lighter fare (I read almost non-stop this entire weekend. Except for today when my best friend and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I realize that both of those things are supposedly for children, but I can't help if I'm a child at heart). So review please! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Oh, yes, they are mine. Oh wait, no they aren't.
Kirsten shifted the baby on her hip and watched as Sandy helped unpack Seth's boxes. Ryan and Seth were trying to hook up the computer and the television in the small dorm room, and Kirsten was holding onto her nineteen-month-old and wiping tears from her eyes.
"Mom, please don't cry," Seth said noticing her tears when he looked up from his task. "I'm not that far away."
"I know," Kirsten said sniffling.
"And you still have Emily," Ryan pointed out. After getting Seth settled, they were going to stay the night in a hotel in Berkeley before flying to Boston to drop Ryan off at school. They had all been surprised when the boys had decided to go two different places for school. Seth had picked his parents' alma mater, while Ryan decided to have a fresh new start at Boston University.
"No one knows me there," he explained with a shrug. "I can be whoever. I'm not the kid from Chino, or Marissa's boyfriend, or Seth's best friend, I'm just…me."
"I understand completely," Kirsten said giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Why do you think I chose Berkeley? No one I knew was going there. I wasn't Kirsten Nichol the heiress, or Kirsten Nichol, Jimmy's girlfriend, or Caleb's daughter, or the Newport princess, I was just Kirsten. And it was fantastic. And I want that for you." That hadn't stopped her from sobbing uncontrollably as they packed up the pool house. Emily had been confused by her mother's tears, and chubby baby hands kept trying to wipe at Kirsten's cheeks. It would have been a sweet gesture if Emily hadn't been just eating peaches, and her hands weren't quite so sticky and slobbery. She had rubbed them all over Kirsten's face and into her hair.
"Yes, we'll have her for another seventeen years," Sandy said with a mock sigh of exasperation. "There goes our peaceful retirement." Kirsten gave him a glare, as he came over and kissed both his wife and daughter on the cheek.
"Ah-ha!" Seth cried out as they got the computer on and working. Kirsten handed Emily to Ryan as she started to put away Seth's clothes.
"I can do the rest," Seth finally said and Kirsten nodded tearfully. Ryan carried Emily as Sandy placed an arm around Kirsten and they walked out to the car. After dinner at a local restaurant, where Sandy entertained them with stories of his and Kirsten's college years, they walked Seth back to the dorm. His roommate was already in there, and after a round of introductions, they decided to head back to the hotel, leaving Seth there.
"We'll come by tomorrow to say goodbye," Sandy told Seth. At the word goodbye, Kirsten gave a little moan, and Sandy hurried her out to the car before she could start wailing.
They met Seth the next morning and took him out to breakfast. Kirsten held onto her son until Sandy told her gently that they had better go or else they would miss their plane. Kirsten nodded, and gave Seth a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you sweetheart," she said.
"I love you too Mom," Seth replied.
"If you need anything, we're only a phone call away," Sandy reminded his son.
"Get your computer up and running first," Seth instructed Ryan. "So that we can talk."
"Okay," Ryan said nodding. Seth held out his arms, and Ryan placed Emily in them.
"Bye Ems, don't forget about me, okay?" Giving his little sister one last kiss on the cheek, he handed her back to his mother, who was sniffling, and gave them a confident smile before watching them drive away.
When they found Ryan's dorm later that day, and were directed to the fourth floor, they found that his roommate, a boy named James, was already there and unpacked.
"You must be Ryan," James said as Ryan and Sandy struggled with the suitcases through the doorway. "I'm James. I've been here since yesterday."
"Ryan," Ryan said taking the hand that James had extended. James looked expectantly at Kirsten, Sandy, and the baby, and Ryan finally turned to them and gave a slight smile. "These are my parents, Kirsten and Sandy, and this is my little sister, Emily."
"Nice to meet you," James said, and though Kirsten nodded, her mind was elsewhere. Parents. He called us his parents. Her eyes misted, and Ryan sighed, and said,
"Please don't start crying again."
"Don't worry about it dude," James said clapping him on the back. "My mother cried non-stop from the moment we got here until they left."
"Well, let's get you unpacked, huh kid?" Sandy said and he and Ryan set up his laptop, and started to unpack his clothes as Kirsten bounced a sleeping Emily and watched.
"Where are you from?" James asked.
"California," Ryan responded. "Newport."
"Wow, California. Long way from home," James commented. At this, Kirsten gave a little whimper, and James gave Ryan an apologetic look. "I'm from Connecticut. Do you need any help?" Ryan had a feeling that James was going to be a talker, just like Seth, and he resigned himself to the twenty questions game and allowed James to help him and Sandy start setting things up.
"We should buy you a television," Kirsten said suddenly looking around the room. "What else do you need? Make a list. We'll go buy it. James, you come too." Because they had to fly to Boston, instead of drive like they had for Seth, they had decided that most of Ryan's things they would have to buy in Boston. Abandoning the unpacking for the time being, the five went down to the rental car and climbed in.
"You'll need towels," Kirsten said rattling off a list of things they needed to buy him. "And a DVD player. What about a PlayStation? And some games? For unwinding I mean. And a stereo. Oh, and the mini fridge, a microwave, we should buy you some food for your room…" Ryan had learned in his years with the Cohens, to not argue with Kirsten when she got like this. He was going to get the PlayStation, whether he wanted it or not. He had always refused when Kirsten offered to buy him things, and at first she had agreed and did as Ryan wished, but after Emily was born, after all that they had gone through, Kirsten stopped letting Ryan convince himself that he wasn't entitled to the things that she offered. That included college, much to Ryan's dismay.
Ryan may have been used to it, or at least getting used to it, but James, who was from a blue collar neighborhood and family, was quite taken aback by the list of extravagant things that Kirsten was prepared to buy them. Ryan and James had talked on the phone when they had received their papers from school with their roommate information, and Ryan had assured James that he would bring the mini fridge and microwave. He had tried to talk Kirsten into letting him pay for that, but she waved her hand at the thought.
"Come on, you're buying my laptop, let me buy this," Ryan had argued. But Kirsten insisted, and she eventually won.
"Are you sure?" James had said when Ryan had offered to bring both. "I mean, I can bring one."
"No, it's okay," Ryan said. "I've got it." And now they were on their way and James was wide-eyed at the list that Kirsten was compiling. Emily started to fuss in her seat, and Ryan, knowing the drill, rummaged around in her diaper bag until he found the small bag of the baby cookies for her to eat. A pang of sadness hit him as he remembered when he and Seth were babysitting and decided to try all of Emily's food to see how it tasted. Seth had liked the fruit flavored cookies, and had eaten the whole box.
"Can you get me some more?" He had asked his parents, who just shook their heads and exasperatedly agreed to buy Seth more.
Kirsten went crazy in the store, buying anything and everything that Ryan could possibly need or want. They had hauled all of their goods back to the dorm and spent the rest of the night trying to unpack Ryan.
"Well, we should get to the hotel room," Sandy said finally. "Let you boys get to know each other."
"We'll be back tomorrow sweetie," Kirsten said as she held a fussy Emily, and gave Ryan a kiss on the cheek. "Have a good night." Sandy had ushered her out to the car and they had driven in relative silence back to the hotel.
"Thank God for Emily," Kirsten said as she changed her diaper once they were in their hotel room. "Otherwise I'd be a real mess." Sandy raised his eyebrow at this, Kirsten had sobbed the entire week before Seth and Ryan left, had cried most of the plane ride to Boston, and had spent most of the day in tears. He shuddered to think of what her being a real mess would be like. As he watched his wife put Emily in her pajamas, he suddenly was gripped with the thought that because of a stupid mistake, he could have been missing all of this. Dropping the boys off at school, playing with Emily, spending time with his wife. He could have not been able to be here, and he was filled with gratitude towards Kirsten. He owed her so much. Or God, what if she hadn't made it when she had Emily? What if he had been alone with his daughter after dropping his sons off at school? What if he had to do all of this alone?
Feeling the overwhelming need to touch his wife, he quickly crossed the room to where she was standing. He gave her a kiss and then leaned down and placed a raspberry on Emily's belly causing the baby to giggle. Emily was speaking words, but no whole sentences yet, and she squealed with delight when Sandy did it again.
"We should get to bed," Kirsten said picking up Emily and handing her to Sandy while she changed into her own pajamas and got ready for bed. They switched off once Kirsten was changed, and while Sandy was in the bathroom, Kirsten got herself settled down on the king sized bed, and placed Emily between her and where Sandy would sleep. They did this at home some nights too, Emily sleeping between her and Sandy, and while Kirsten knew that this was a bad habit, she loved watching her daughter sleep.
"Goodnight sweetheart," Sandy said as he climbed into bed, and leaned gently over Emily to give Kirsten a kiss goodnight. "Both sweethearts."
"I love you," Kirsten said softly once Sandy had turned out the lights. "I love you, and I'm so glad that you are here." Kirsten had been thinking along the same lines as Sandy had. She also had been envisioning a scenario where Sandy wasn't there with her to drop off the boys.
"Me too," Sandy said softly. "Me too."
They had bought Seth a car, leaving it with him in Berkeley, and had offered to buy Ryan one as well, but he had drawn the line there.
"I'm living in a city," he had said. "I don't need a car."
"Yes you do," Kirsten said.
"No I don't," and for the first time in awhile, Ryan won the argument.
"Fine," Kirsten said huffily. "But that means that you two will have to share the car that Seth will be driving up at Berkeley during the summer." Seth had started to open his mouth to protest, but Ryan kicked him hard under the table.
"Fine," Ryan said. They had to take two cars when driving Seth up to school. Seth and Ryan had driven up in the boys' new car, and Sandy had driven up alone with all of Seth's belongings. Kirsten and the baby had flown up, because no one had wanted to be stuck in the car with Emily for that long.
On the way home from Boston, Kirsten and Emily took a direct flight home to Newport, leaving Sandy to fly to Berkeley alone to drive home their car. When he arrived home, hours after Kirsten and Emily, he found that the house was quieter than normal, and he found Kirsten in the kitchen, staring at the pool house crying.
"Are you okay?" He asked coming up behind her.
"No, I mean…yes," Kirsten shook her head. "I don't know what I mean."
"Where's the baby?" Sandy asked.
"Sleeping," Kirsten said sighing. "I miss them already."
"I know you do," Sandy said giving her a kiss on the neck. "But it'll be Thanksgiving before you know it. And you're going to hear from them all the time. Besides, we're going to have our hands full with Emily anyway." Kirsten nodded at this, and turned around to kiss her husband on the mouth.
"I love you," she said. "And I don't…regret any of the…choices that I've made." She gave him one last kiss before pulling away and going to check on her daughter. Sandy found her standing over the crib, watching Emily's small chest move in and out with every breath. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and they just watched their daughter, their last remaining child at home, sleep.
Maybe one more chapter to wrap things up? Let me know. Hope you enjoyed. I've been reading for so long this weekend that I don't quite know what to do with myself now that I've finished the book...how sad is that?