Chapter 4

He had been suspicious from the moment he heard they were coming to visit, but not once did the idea of them moving to his hometown ever cross his mind. It was just too horrible to imagine. He needed air and somewhere he could shed tears without looking like a fool.

Margaret guided him out the door and to the side of the building. He was acting peculiar and she was beginning to think he really hurt himself when he choked. "Honey, are you okay?"

'No I am not okay', was what he really wanted to say, but they were her parents and he didn't want to make her mad. "Yeah, I'm just surprised."

"To say the least." She hadn't expected to hear that either. Not once had her parents given any indication that they would consider living in Maine.

He took a moment to compose himself. Hawkeye wasn't known for his patience, sure he was better than Margaret when it came to it, but he was no saint. He could fly off the handle with the best of them but now wasn't the time, and Margaret wasn't the person he wanted it directed at. After a few moments he looked at her. "Did you tell them?"

"Tell them what?"

He looked around. The town was small and loved a good piece of news. "You know what about." His eyes lowered to her abdomen.

It took a minute for it to sink in. "No! We agreed."

"I know, but she said…"

"I haven't told a soul. Just you."

And he hadn't said a word, no matter how much he wanted to. The news couldn't have leaked, and Peggy would have been sure to tell the world if she found out. "Then I don't understand." Why would they want to move all the way up to Maine?

"She said she wanted to be around family and we're family, Hawk." Margaret was surprised at the announcement, but it wasn't the worst news. For a moment she entertained the idea that having her parents close would be nice and she definitely wanted her mother around after the baby came. As long as they didn't live in the same house then it wouldn't be that bad.

"This isn't exactly the place older people go to retire. It's cold up here and we have terrible winters. As it stands right now they're chilled and it's April."

"Are you going to try to convince them to stay? A thousand miles away from their only child who will soon give them a…you know." Saying 'grandchild' would turn some ears their way.

At that moment he knew she wanted her parents to move. She was happy about it. He wasn't about to spoil it for her. "No honey, I'm just… it really caught me off guard."

"I know, it did me too. But look on the bright side, it's not like they're moving into our house. They'll find their own and my father likes to keep to himself. He won't be in your way."

He nodded. Her mother didn't exactly like to keep to herself, but that was better left unsaid. "So we go back in?"

"Your shrimp cocktail is probably waiting for you."

"Aren't you going to share it with me?" He opened the door for her.

Margaret shrugged. "It doesn't sound very appetizing."

"But you love it."

"Not today. I'll just steal some of the fried mushrooms my father ordered."

Margaret took her seat and there was already a small plate in front of her with the mushrooms on it. She looked across the table at her father. "I knew you'd want some."

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Are you okay, dear?"

Hawkeye nodded. "Yeah I'm fine." He dipped a shrimp into the cocktail sauce. "So you're moving. When did you decide to do this?"

"Peggy wanted to be closer." That was all he was going to say.

"Have you started looking, Mom?"

"We just arrived yesterday. We've been with you all this time."

"I didn't know if you've been in contact with a realtor."

She shook her head. "We were hoping you would be able to help us. I know Hawkeye knows practically everyone in this town."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I can give you the name of someone." He stabbed his fork into one of the mushrooms on his wife's plate and brought it to his mouth. "He'll treat you fairly."

"Good. Now Margaret, are you working Monday?"

"No." She took some time off so she could be with her parents.

"Then you'll be able to go look at houses with us?"

Margaret nodded. "Sure."

"You're more than welcome to come along too, Hawkeye."

"Oh thank you, but I have four surgeries scheduled for this Monday."

"That sounds like an awful lot. Are you sure you can handle that?"

Hawkeye's jaw clenched. He'd been pushed to the brink and knew exactly what he could handle. Anything he encountered working in America was nothing compared to what he did in Korea. "I'll be just fine."

XXXXXX

Hawkeye leaned back in his chair and sighed contently. He just ate the most delicious chocolate cake he ever tasted in his life. "That was wonderful, Peggy."

"Thank you, honey."

"I mean it. I don't think I've ever had anything like that. Could you teach your daughter how to bake like that?"

Margaret kicked his leg under the table. "You hush."

"I tried, Lord knows I tried, but she was never good at cooking."

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry, but you weren't."

"That's okay." Hawkeye leaned over and kissed her. "I like how you cook."

"Thank you, baby." She kissed him again. "Mmmm." He still tasted like chocolate.

Alvin walked into the room and saw them. "Knock it off, you two." He handed his wife his plate. "Will you cut another piece for me?"

"You don't need another." Peggy put his plate in the sink. "The doctor told you, you have to lose twenty pounds."

"Doctors have no idea what they're talking about. They say the same thing to everyone, 'Eat less and exercise more'. I'm healthy enough."

"It wouldn't hurt you to listen to your doctor, Dad."

"I don't think you're one to talk, Margaret. I've never seen you eat so much in my life."

She didn't miss a beat. "Married women are allowed to gain a few pounds." She moved from her chair and slid onto her husband's lap. "Right?"

"Right." Hawkeye fed her his last bite of cake. "I think you're perfect."

Alvin groaned. "You two… I'm going to watch some television."

"What's with him?"

Peggy rolled her eyes. "I'm going to leave these dishes for later."

"I'll get them. You don't have to worry about them."

"I want to go to the early Mass tomorrow. I think I'll turn in now."

"Okay. Goodnight Peggy."

She kissed him on the head and then did the same to Margaret. "Goodnight you two."

"Goodnight Mom." Margaret smiled at her husband. "We're finally alone."

"This isn't exactly alone. Alone would be just you and I in the house."

They were alone in the room and that was good enough for the moment. She leaned in and began kissing him. It was tempting to move so she could straddle him, but thought better of it at the moment. She could hear the TV blaring from the den. Her father had terrible hearing. Daniel once compared him to a hunting dog that loses her hearing after years in the field with gunshots going off right behind her. Alvin didn't find it funny, but the rest of them certainly did.

The day was supposed to be filled with rain and passing storms. Those were the best mornings to sleep in, but she couldn't do that for some reason. Margaret lay in bed for a few minutes before getting up to use the bathroom. When she came back into the bedroom she could hear noise coming from down the hall. In her opinion it was too early to get out of bed on a Sunday, but her parents didn't share that idea with her. It wasn't long ago that she would have agreed with them but being married now she was beginning to adopt some of her husband's habits. Sleeping in on Sundays was one of the better ones.

She was almost tempted to open the door and see if they were okay, but she quickly thought better of that. Instead she crawled back into the nice warm bed with her husband. Hawkeye wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. Sometimes he did it in his sleep, but this time he was awake.

Margaret turned to face him. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Unless you're the one making all that racket down the hall, it wasn't you." He kept his eyes close. He didn't want them to adjust to anything except the darkness of looking at the back of his eyelids.

"Just be glad he's not cooking breakfast. My father isn't a quiet man in the mornings."

"Funny, he's snuck up on me plenty of times."

She smiled. "Well I'm sure he meant to do that." Margaret snuggled into his chest. "You feel cold."

Hawkeye grinned. "Want to warm me up?"

"At six o'clock in the morning?" He couldn't possibly be that easily aroused.

"I'm pressed against my wife's warm naked body. What do you think?"

She was wrong. She should have known. "I think we have all morning to sleep in, so why not have a little predawn fun."

He opened his eyes at that. "I think I'll wake up early everyday to catch you in this mood."

She arched an eyebrow. "Since when do you have to catch me in the right mood to make love?" Before they were married she wasn't innocent by any means, but she never found love making to be as powerful as it was with him. It was terribly addicting.

Their talking turned into whispering and soon grunts and groans were thrown into the mix. It took him a half an hour before he settle between her legs and even then they didn't do anything except kissing and a little light groping.

Down the hall her parents were getting ready to go to the seven o'clock Mass at the church Daniel attended. They went every time they visited and found they liked a lot of the people they met.

"Where's my tie?"

"It's on the dresser." Peggy finished putting her earrings in. "How does this look?"

"Good." Alvin didn't bother to look; it was just an automatic response.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to see if the kids are ready."

"I don't think they're going."

"Of course they are."

"Margaret didn't mention it."

Peggy waved her hand in dismissal and headed down the hall to her daughter's room. She knocked lightly on the door and slowly opened it. She was three steps into the room before she saw what was happening on the bed. The covers were moving up and down in a steady rhythm and the bed was shaking. The moment she heard her daughter let out a deep groan she froze. Then she screamed.

Hawkeye stopped moving and pushed the covers down so he could look over his shoulder. "Christ!"

Margaret couldn't see from where she was. "What's wrong?" She craned her neck to look around him and saw her mother's back. "Oh God."

"I'm so sorry." The door shut behind her and she stood there for a moment, traumatized. Knowing her daughter had sex was completely different from seeing it.

"Shit!" Margaret pushed him off and grabbed her robe. Quickly she wrapped it around her body and opened the bedroom door. Her mother was headed down the stairs. "Mom, wait."

"I'm sorry honey, I thought you were sleeping. I never thought…" Peggy did her best not to look her daughter in the eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just…" Peggy looked at her hands. "I was just going to see if you wanted to come with us. It's okay. We'll be back later. We're going to brunch after the services."

"Maybe next time."

"Sure." She turned around walked down the stairs. She was absolutely horrified.

Margaret passed her father in the hallway. He had no idea what happened, he didn't even hear the scream. "Morning Daddy."

"Good morning kid. Skipping church?"

"Yeah."

"I don't blame you. Get some sleep, you look like hell."

"Thank you," Margaret mumbled on her way back to the bedroom. She shut the door and looked for a lock, but discovered that there wasn't one. "How can we not have a lock?"

"We usually don't need doors, let alone locks."

"We're going to put one on this door."

"They're leaving soon." Hawkeye wasn't one for home improvements or repairs. He preferred to pay someone else to come and do it all.

Margaret tossed her robe to the side and climbed back into bed. "We might want to lock our door when our child is a little older."

He smiled and placed his hand on her stomach. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to traumatize the poor kid. But I think we have a while yet."

They both lay in bed for a few minutes not saying a word. It wasn't until they heard the front door shut and a car start up that they looked at each other. Margaret grinned and rolled on top of him. "Ready?" He just smiled and followed her lead.