Chapter 24

Kevin didn't stop when he reached his parents' house. He could not believe what his wife had just told him. Her former fiancé had been sending her plane tickets to meet with him for more than seven years. She had never asked him to stop, and the look in Beth's eye a moment ago told Kevin that she had seriously considered accepting his invitation. She hadn't even tried to hide her feelings. He couldn't believe that he had been so naive to think that she could have truly been his. He's told himself so many times that they could be happy. He had nearly believed it. Now, he didn't believe anything anymore.

Beth continued around the corner and made the large circle back to the Girardis' street. The wind was biting, but she barely even felt it. She felt only numbness. She wasn't sure how long she had been outside or even what time it was. She thought about going back to the house, it wasn't far now, but her feet wouldn't go in that direction. She assumed Kevin would be back there by this point, and she knew that he didn't want to see her. She thought she remembered a little coffee shop not far from the house. She decided to head in that direction.

Kevin was at the corner of Euclid Avenue when he heard Luke calling his name. He turned but didn't move back toward the house. Luke started toward him.

"What's going on? Where's Beth?"

Kevin just shook his head.

"Kev, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Luke."

"Kevin, just tell me what is going on here. Where is Beth?"

Kevin paused for a minute. "I don't know where she is."

"Did you fight? Is she hurt? Is she training for a marathon?"

"We had an argument. I left her on the street, and I assumed she'd be back by now."

"Well, it's really pretty cold out here. Don't you think we should try to find her?"

"Luke, I'm not sure that I want to see her right now. I'm not sure that she wants to see me, either."

"Kevin, I saw you guys like twenty minutes ago. You were all over each other. What the hell happened?"

"She doesn't love me. I don't know if she ever did."

Luke sighed at looked at his older brother in disbelief. "Kev, I seriously doubt that is the case. She obviously loves you."

"Ok, well, she obviously loves Jake, too. The marriage has become a little crowded with all three of us in it."

"Did she cheat on you? Has she been seeing him or talking to him?"

"No, but she loves him. Isn't that enough?"

"No, Kevin, it isn't. How does she show her love for him if she hasn't been with him?"

"Apparently he's been sending her plane tickets for SEVEN YEARS. And she never stopped him. His letters still come to my house every week."

Luke sat in the snow on the curb. "Kevin, come on. Does it really matter? She hasn't talked to him, she hasn't been with anyone else, she loves you. If she didn't, she wouldn't have stuck around this long. You are way too depressing!"

Kevin was quiet for a moment before he answered Luke. "If it truly meant nothing, then why did she make such a big production of telling me about it?"

"Are you serious? Dude, secrets kill."

"Did you just call me Dude?"

"Sorry, momentary mental lapse. She felt guilty, which does not necessarily imply actual guilt. The anticipation of such a confrontation or your discovery of what was, in her mind, a 'deep dark secret' obviously created such a stress on her physical and psychological being ..."

"Oh, God, Luke!" Kevin interrupted. "Just say what you're saying."

"She freaked out. Maybe she's crazy. Or pregnant."

"Yeah, I guess," Kevin answered half-heartedly. "Wait, what? Pregnant?"

"Yeah, Grace got even more, uh, unbalanced when she was. Hormones, stress, the lack of caffeine, a baby sitting on her bladder, yeah it was total craziness."

"Good excuse, but it doesn't apply to Beth. She is very much not pregnant."

"You sure?"

"Uh, yeah. She's on the pill, and I'm not exactly ready to populate a state."

"Kevin, you know that's not true. You did it before."

"Not with her on the pill."

Luke looked up at his brother. "That is not fool-proof, and you are a fool, at least you're acting like one." Kevin scoffed but Luke continued. "It's not 100 effective, believe me. If she misses one dose, you could be screwed. Especially if you screwed," he finished with a grin.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I know you are the science genius of the family, but let me give you a little biology lesson. It takes a mommy and a daddy to make a baby, or some doctor with a needle and a Petri dish. We require the latter."

"Kevin, once again, not necessarily true. You're still using FNS therapy, right?"

Kevin nodded.

"That stimulation could be enough to, well, you know. I mean, that's basically how they would collect your sperm for IVF anyway," Luke explained, his face turning a bright shade of pink.

"Wow, a conversation about sex that makes you blush. Amazing. I didn't know that was still possible."

"Oh, come on Kevin, you know he's forever fifteen."

Both men turned to see Joan coming down the walk to join them. She joined Luke in the snow and asked, "So whose sex are we talking about. Not mine, I hope, because that would be incredibly boring for the two of you, but could theoretically make Luke blush."

Kevin cringed at the thought of his little sister and Adam Rove. "No, we were each giving our opinion on how to make a baby."

Luke slapped Kevin's leg. "Seriously, Kev, do we have to do this again?"

Kevin laughed. "No, no. I don't think that is needed. Hey, Joan, is Beth's sister and company still in there?"

Joan nodded. "Actually, they were wondering where Beth had gone. That's why Luke left, and then he never came back.. So they sent me. If I'm not back in like ten minutes, Dad is calling a squad car. That's what he said."

"Well, Kevin has to find his wife first. He lost her," Luke quipped.

Joan turned to Kevin who was blowing into his hands.

"What?" he asked.

Joan jumped up, moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She rested her head on top of his. "You'd better go find her. Hard to tell what could happen to such a pretty lady with so many diamonds in this metropolis of crime." Joan kissed his cheek, released him and jumped into the street so that she was facing Luke. "Get up. Your ass is going to freeze. Bye, Kev. See you inside." She pulled Luke up and basically dragged him toward the house, leaving Kevin alone on the sidewalk. Over her shoulder she called to Kevin, "Try her phone!"

Kevin watched his younger siblings walk away from him. He was suddenly cold, no freezing. Joan had made returning to the house an impossible option, and he had no earthly idea where Beth would have gone. She wasn't really familiar with Arcadia. He continued to contemplate his course of action when a dog walker wearing a large hat, suspenders and several colorful buttons on his unfastened overcoat approached him. Kevin moved into the snow to clear the path, but one of the smallest dogs broke from the man's grasp, ran toward Kevin, and before anything could stop him, jumped into Kevin's lap.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Trixie has a mind of her own. I should have held her a little more tightly. Did she hurt you or get you dirty?" the man asked as he took the tiny pup from Kevin's arms.

"No, no. I'm fine. She didn't cause me any permanent damage. But working on Christmas Day? That doesn't seem fair."

"Sometimes life isn't fair, Son, but I'm guessing you probably know that. Besides, I don't really mind it. These guys don't know what day it is, either, but they still need to stretch their legs and do their business."

Kevin nodded. "I guess you have a point."

"Well, I'm gonna be heading on," the man said as the dogs began pulling him down the street, "Have a Merry Christmas, and here, you look like you could use this more than I could. These monsters keep my blood pumping." He placed a card in Kevin's hand as he wrapped Trixie's leash around his hand a second time. He waved and continued down the street.

Kevin glanced at the card the man had left him and saw that it was a coupon for a free hot chocolate from a café about a block away. All at once he remembered how cold he was and started down the street away from the house. He could smell the coffee beans before he actually saw the sign for the shop. A large silver Star of David hanging over the front door explained why this small, seemingly family owned shop was open on Christmas Day. A man exiting held the door for him. He entered the bistro and immediately found himself face-to-face with his wife.