Chapter Nine
They arrived at the hospital three hours later, only to find that they wouldn't give Molly and John more than a "They're running tests now." Molly's eyes narrowed at the nurse who had just told her this, seething with anger. Instinctively reaching across the counter, Molly pulled the woman up by her shirt front, bringing her nose to nose with the very irate Molly.
"Listen,hun, I've just flown from Detroit. I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I want to know what is going on with my aunt...And. I. Want. To. Know. NOW!"
Gently prying Molly's fingers from the nurses throat, John soothed the frustrated Diva. "Molly, baby, take it easy. THis lady's just doing her job." He pulled her close, placing a kiss on the top of her hair.
"Get your damn hands off her!"
They both looked up to see an incredibly angry Bob Holly storming towards them. John immediately shoved Molly behind him, as though protecting her from her overbearing cousin. "And what if she wants her hands on me, Bob?" John knew that Bob hated to be called anything but "Hardcore" in the locker room and correctly assumed it was the same outside the ring.
Coming nose to nose, the two men stared at each other, sizing one another up. They noticed Izik elbow between them, only after he hit Bob in the knees. " Uncle Bob, you leave my da---, I mean, John alone!" Izik had pretended to be asleep for the second half of the plane ride, paying close attention to the way John treated his mom. He saw them holding hands and googly eyes. And then, wham! He had kissed her! Izik felt positive that that meant John was gonna be his new dad. Didn't Joey tell him how his mom and dad were? And his mom and John were acting the same way! That had to mean they were gonna get married, right?
John, Molly and Bob all three noticed his slip. Molly looked up at John, unknowingly having all her emotions written on her face. John reached out, taking hold of her hand and, without taking his eyes from hers, placed a gentle kiss on her upturned palm. He dropped her hand and turned to squat down beside Izik.
"It's alright, champ. Your Uncle Bob and I were just...talking." Izik looked between the two men suspiciously.
"Are you sure?" Bob reached down and grabbed Izik up, tickling him as he held him above his head.
"Yeah, brat, we're sure. Let's go see if we can find Crash and get him to buy us a milshake, huh?" The rift between his "hopeful" father and his uncle forgotten, Izik looked over at Molly with pleading eyes.
"Can I Mommy?" She smiled and kissed his and Bob's cheeks.
"Sure." Bob smiled and leaned over to return her kiss, pausing to say, "You and I need to have a little talk later, hhhmmmm?" He grabbed Izik and started toward the cafeteria. "Oh, yeah...it was a mild heart attack. Ma will be fine in a couple days." Molly just stood there, dumbstruck and she watched her cousin disappear down the hall with her son.
"What did he say?" she asked, in almost a whisper. John looked down to see the war being waged in her eyes. Guiding her our to a chair, he sat her down, taking her hands between his.
"He said that Aunt Nora would be fine, sweetheart." Molly nodded slowly, then jumped up abruptly and started down the hall.
"That's what I thought he said...that sonofabitch! He thinks he can just drop news like that, then head off for some ice cream? What is he? A fucking moron?" John just stared after her. He'd never heard her use language like that before, much less in the same context as one of her family members. Coming to his senses, he raced after her, catching up just as she reached the cafeteria door.
"Molly, honey, don't. Calm down." She whirled around,her blue eyes flashing angrily. She jerked her arm away from his grasp and took a step back.
"Calm down! Calm down. I've just had the most hellacious day of my life and you're telling me to CALM DOWN!"she yelled, poking a finger into John's chest. He slowly stepped back, moving away from the angry look in her eyes and hold up his hands as if to ward off any blows.
"Baby, I know this has been horrible for you, but you've got to realize that everything's gonna be fine now --- Aunt Nora's gonna be fine. And that's the whole point, right?" he asked hopefully, catching her hand against his chest. Suddenly all the anger fled her eyes, replaced by quiet relief. She flung herself into John's arms, more thankful now than ever that he was with her.
"God John, I'm so relieved." He silently rubbed soothing circles around her back as Molly sobbed against his shirtfront. He placed kisses on the top of her head, muttering nonsense words to comfort her. A few moments later, her sobs turned to dry hiccup's and she pulled away to stare at John's shirt with something akin to horror.
"Damn! Look at your shirt! I'm sorry, Jo--" Unable to hold out a moment longer, he pulled Molly to him, sweeping her up in a deep kiss. Pouring all of the love he felt for her into it. His hands came up to cup her face, tilting her head for the best possible access. She moaned, moving even closer to him, feeling his rock hard erection against her stomach. John gasped, pulling back to rest his forehead against hers. Both of them breathing shallowly, JOhn opened his eyes to see Molly staring up at him. He grinned, kissing the tip of her nose.
"Forget the shirt, Molls. It's not important." he rubbed his hands up and down her back. "You are what's important." MOlly smiled and sighed happily, snuggling up against his neck.
"Excuse me, sir? Ma'am? I need to get by here, please." They looked up, startled to see an orderly trying to wheel past a drug cart.Breathing deeply, John laughed and pulled Molly to the side with him. As the orderly walked past, he stopped, staring at the two superstars. "Holy shit! You're Molly Holly and John Cena!" After the usual autograph signings and "Thanks for watching" speils, they made their way to the nurses station, intent on learning which room Aunt Nora was in. Molly started toward the desk, a look of determination on her face. I'd better intercept here, before there's any bloodshed. John thought to himself. Quickly stepping in front of Molly, he gave the nurse sitting at the desk his most charming smile.
"HI. My...wife and I were just wondering if you could tell us what room Nora Holly is in." The older lady peered up at him over the rim of her glasses. Taking him in slowly, she turned her attention to Molly and took her time looking her over as well. Finally she shoved her glasses back up her nose and continued with her paper work.
"I'm sorry, we can only give out that information to immediate family members." Molly shoved John out of the way.
"I'm her daughter...it doesn't get any more immediate than that." She held her breath as she waited for the nurses response. The woman sighed and took off her glasses, wearily rubbing her tired eyes.
"Alright, hon. If you say so." Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she pulled up the information on her computer. "Here it is -- Nora Holly, room 231." She looked up at the two wrestlers and shook her head with a smile. Turning to Molly, she said "Only one visitor at a time, though. Why don't you go first and then I'll send your...husband in in a few minutes." Molly looked up at John, her eyes questioning. He nodded his head and gently shoved her toward the corridor.
"I'll be right here when you get back. I promise." He silently captured her lips in a gentle kiss and gently shoved her towards her aunt's room. Molly quickly ran to the eleveator, heading up to the second floor. John turned to the old lady and smiled. "Thanks for that." The woman waved her hand, as if dismissing any thanks.
"If you really want to thank me, you'll make sure that that little girl doesn't get her heart broken...again." John looked at the old lady inquisitively and nodded, turning to follow Molly up to Aunt Nora's room.
Molly couldn't believe this was her aunt Nora.
The lady lying in that bed couldn't be her. Aunt Nora's skin had always had a rosy glow to it. This woman's skin was ash gray. Molly stepped forward tentatively, unsure of her ability to handle seeing her up close. Nora's eyes fluttered open, the bright blue the same as it had always been. The only indication that she knew who Molly was, were the crinkles that appeared around the corner of her eyes. There was a tube coming from her mouth, making it impossible for her to speak. Hastily, Molly made her way over to her aunt's bedside and grasped her hand.
"Oh, aunt Nora! If only I'd come with you! If I could stay home more, if I could keep Izik with me..." The lady reached up, with some effort, and placed a finger, gently on her niece's lips, shaking her head. No longer to hold back, Molly let the flood of tears come. She was amazed that there was anything let...the huge wet spot on the front of John's shirt was a testament to that.But aunt Nora let her cry, knowing it would ease some of the worry in her fragile niece's soul. After a while, Molly looked up to see that Nora had fallen back to sleep. An odd calm came over her, as though she knew that everything would be fine. Standing she leaned over, lightly placing a kiss on the translucent skin of her aunt's cheek. Silently, she made her way out of the room. As the door clicked shut behind her, she was aware of someone staring at her. She looked up to see John leaning back against the wall, one foot propped idley behind the other. Taking in her red-rimmed eyes, he gave her a small smile.
"So, how is she?" Molly gave him her first genuine smile in hours. She wasn't sure how she knew, but she was sure that her Aunt would make a full recovery.
"So you really grew up here?" John asked as he surveyed the short street of store fronts. There was a general store, a hardware store, a beauty salon, a barber shop, a pharmacy, a music store, and at the very end of the street, a large building that Molly would later tell him housed the post office and county offices. He took one last glance round before allowing his eyes to come back to Molly. Ever since her time in her aunt's hospital room, she'd seemed calmer...excited even. She grabbed his hand and with a grin, tugged him towards the music store.
"Yep. Welcome to Guffey's Cove, home of the wildly famous Holly's!" Molly said, changing her voice to sound like that of Robin Leach. "Where they have moonshine wishes and tunafish dreams." John laughed, pulling her against him just as they got to the store. He reached up only long enough the brush back the hair that had escaped her ponytail.
"Have I told you how gorgeous you are today?" Molly blushed, but reached her arms up to wrap around his neck.
"Nope. And I'm starting to feel neglected." , she pouted, looking up at him with "puppy dog" eyes. She batted her thick lashes at him and John barely supressed a groan. I KNEW I should have never told her about that! He didn't know why, but he'd always found it incredibly sexy when a woman batted her eyes at him. He'd told Molly that on the plane ride there and immediately knew, upon seeing her wicked little grin, that he was in for it. Unable to control his desire to taste her any longer, John urgently pressed his lips to hers, immediately begging entrance to the warm, moist cavern. He heard her breath hitch and could feel her heart race. He eased off the kiss, grinning smugly at her as he leaned his forehead against hers.
"I'll make sure not to "neglect" any part of your body tonight." Molly blushed, laughing and pushed him away.
"You perv! All you think about is sex!" John leered at her and smacked her firmly on the backside as they entered the music shop.
"Only when I'm with you, baby." Molly grinned and was about to retort when she heard someone call her.
"Molly? Molly Holly? Is that you?" She looked over to see Mr. Periwinkle, the store's owner slowly making his way across the floor. She rushed over to him, catching the little old man in a big hug.
"Mr. Periwinkle! It's so good to see you!" She pulled back to peer down into the face of the old man who's name matched his twinkling eyes to a "T". He smiled up at her from behind the small wire-framed glasses that sat pearched precariously on the bridge of his nose. Mr. Periwinkle had looked the same as long as Molly could remember. No one in Guffey's Cove really knew how old the man was, just accepted that he'd been there when the town was founded and would probably be there when it finally got torn down. Molly turned to John, gesturing him over.
"John, this is Mr. Periwinkle. He own's the store and he's the man who gave me my first job!" John smiled and shook the older gentleman's hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Periwinkle. Did Molly really work for you?" They followed him as he led the way over to the checkout counter. "Yep, I gave little miss Molly here her first job." he chuckled as he scooted himself up onto a stool behind the register. "Of course, Simon worked here too and most of the time I was trying to keep the two of them from sneaking off to neck in the storage room." Molly blushed furiously and looked over at John, embarassed. John tried to keep his frown in place, while his eyes twinkled merrily.
"Simon? And just who is Simon, Molly?" Molly excused them from Mr. Periwinkle and dragged him over to the CD section.
"Simon was my high schoool sweetheart, John. We both worked here. We were very close, almost like we knew what the other was going to say before it was said." Molly got a far away look on her face, having a flashback to her high school days. In her mind's eye she could still see the long brown hair that Simon had favored at the time. His olive green eyes twinkling down at her as they shared a sweet kiss behind the bleachers.And the storage room. And the front porch of her parent's house. And his parent's house. Molly blushed again, thinking of how eager the two of them had been and how inexperienced. "But I went off to college and he met and married the love of his life, Cristal." John had watched her as she had gone back down memory lane with the slightest twinge of jealousy. He was going to have to meet this Simon guy before they left. He wanted to see the person that Molly had once been in love with, if for no other reason than to assure himself that Molly wanted to be with HIM, and no one else. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. She instantly melted into it, sliding against him, but he broke it off before things got out of hand. Easing back, he placed tiny kisses all across her mouth allowing her to catch her breath.
"Wow. What was that for?" Molly asked after she recovered her senses. John grinned and turned to flip through a stack of CD's. Picking up the latest Method Man CD, he said, "To bring you back to the present and who you're with now. And I'll show you more later...unless you wanna go neck in the stockroom..." Molly laughed, lightly slapping his arm in a playful gesture and joined him, flipping aimlessly through the various artists. Suddenly aware of the song playing softly on the speaker above her, she couldn't help but smile and sing along.
Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dream's, she never dies
Wipe that tear now away from your eye
Molly was abruptly aware of a voice on the other side of the rack, singing along with her.
Slowly walking down the hall
Faster than a cannonball
Where were you while we were getting high?
Peering through the spaces in the rack, she came face to face with a pair of olive green eyes she hadn't seen in ages. With a squeal of delight, she launched herself across the aisle, straight into Simon's waiting arms. John looked up just in time to see a tall, fairly well built man scoop Molly up in his arms. Dropping the CD he'd been looking at, he quickly made his way over to her.
Molly pulled away from Simon's embrace and looked up into his startling green eyes. He was just as she remembered him, just a bit buffer and his once-long hair now trimmed to lay neatly close to his head. A broad grin covered his face.
"Molls! It's so great to see you! How long have you been in town? Where are you staying? Why are you here?" Molly laughed and placed her fingertips lightly against his lips, effectively silencing him. He immediately kissed those fingertips, causing John's eyes to narrow dangerously. Time to let this guy know who's girl he was messing with. He strolled up behind Molly, wrapping his arms around her and placing light kisses along her neckline. She automatically leaned to the side, allowing him further access as the question he had asked slowly sunk in.
"Care to introduce us, sweetheart?" She blushed and stepped out from in bewteen the two men that were sizing each other up. While John was a tall man in his own right standing at 6'4", he still was forced to look up to look into the man's eyes. He was 6'7" if he was an inch and with a wiry build. John's chest puffed out as he stared at the man. Thrusting out his hand he decided to make things clear from the start.
"Name's John Cena: Molly's very PERMANENT boyfriend." Molly's eyes grew wide at the possesive tone in John's voice. She took notice of the amused look in Simon's eyes and the not-so-amused look in John's. Wrapping an arm around John's waist she raised an eyebrow at Simon, a signal that he remembered from their courtship days to mean "play nice". He smiled broadly and took the pro-offered hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Cena. I'm Simon Greig, Molly's high school sweetheart." John noted the firm grip of the man's handshake and infintesimally tightened his hold. Molly's eyes volleyed silently between the two men, as she watched them size each other up. Dropping John's hand, Simon turned his attention back to Molly. "Molls, I'd like for you to meet---."
"Sorry I'm late!" ,a breathless voice interrupted them. "I got to talking to Jenny down at the post---" Cristal Moser, now Greig, stopped in mid-sentence as her big blue eyes took in the scene before her. Standing there next to her husband was Molly Holly, girl-wonder of Guffey's Cove. She had been in the same class as Molly's cousin Bob and had actually dated him once or twice her senior year, before meeting Simon her sophomore year in college. She switched the paper bag she was carrying to her other arm and hastily shoved her long blonde-brown hair behind an ear. Simon's eyes lit up at the sight of his wife and John immediately felt all the animosity he'd had for the man drain away from him. He was obviously VERY much in love with his wife, if the huge grin on his face was any indication.
Simon quickly stepped over to Cristal, pulling her along with him as he took the bag from her grasp. "Cris, love, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine...Molly Holly." Molly smiled broadly, having heard stories of how pretty Simon's wife was, knowing that none of them did her justice. She mentioned this as she offered Cristal her hand. Cristal blushed prettily all the way down to her roots, but Simon couldn't have looked more proud.
"Thank you, Molly." she said, turning her attention now to the handsome, well-built man standing with his arm around Molly possesively. She tilted her head to the side, squinting as she took in his strong jaw-line and skin tones. She stepped up to him and reached out, turning his head first to the left, then the right. John blushed, but remained still, letting the attractive woman look her fill. "I'd love to do you in watercolors."
The shocked look on John's face didn't have time to register as Simon's laughter echoed through the store. Still smiling, he gently placed an arm around his wife's waist, drawing her back to his side. "My wife is an artist, Mr. Cena. What she's saying is---."
"---I'd like to paint you." Cristal blushed, and offered her hand. "Cristal Greig. It's nice to meet you Mr. Cena." John smiled, raising her prooffered hand to his lips to place a light kiss there.
"Please, call me John." He dropped her hand and turned to offer to Simon, for the first time, a genuine smile. "You, too Simon. Any friend of Molly's is a friend of mine." Molly had stood silently during this whole exchange, curiously watching the passing emotions flit across John's face. She had been ready though, for some reason, to deck Simon's wife when she'd mentioned "doing" John in watercolors. And John playing it up and kissing her hand...well, they'd have to have a little chat about that later. Molly turned to Cristal, putting a smile firmly in place. It was obvious just then how much the woman really did love Simon, as she looked at him with love shining brightly in her eyes.
"Cristal, I was just about to mention to Simon--- how about we meet up tomorrow night for dinner in Huntsville? I'd love to get to talk to you more, and I'm sure John and Simon will have LOTS in common." she turned and noticed the small smile that graced John's lips as he arched a brow.
"That sounds great!" Simon said, looking down to see his wife nodding in agreement. "I'll get my mother to baby-sit..." Molly blinked.
"You have children?"
"Oh yes!" Cristal said, immediately digging through her oversized tote for her pictures. "Her name is Meaghan Sian. She just turned two this year." Molly took the outstretched photo of the angelic little girl. She could tell that the little girl had her father's eyes and her mother's smile as she grinned for the camera.
"She's beautiful!" Simon and Cristal smiled at each other, temporarily unaware of anyone else but themselves. Molly looked on with a small sigh, wondering if John would ever feel that way about her. "I'll be able to leave Izik with Bob and Crash,though I'm not so sure how great an idea THAT is..." Simon's gaze broke from Cristal's.
"You have a son?" Molly bit her lips, silently cursing herself for bringing him up. John stepped up and wrapped his arms around the petite diva., Squeezing gently to let her know to follow along with him he spoke up.
"Yes, we do. His name's Izik." Placing a kiss on top of her head, he said "Sweetheart, don't you have a picture you could show them?" Dumbfounded by John's claim to be her son's father, she absently nodded, digging in her own purse for a picture. She held it out to Cristal, who took it eagerly.
"What a doll! Why, he looks just like you, Molly!" Cristal studied the picture and looked back up at John. She smiled softly and nodded once: John knew immediately that she knew Izik wasn't his, but could trust her not to say a word. He smiled back, glad to have found a conspiratore. Molly beamed proudly at the praise for her son.
"Thank you! He just turned five earlier this week and he's already "grown up"...or so he thinks." The women laughed, both knowing how children behave. John checked his watch and was surprised to see that 30 minutes had passed. Turning Molly in his arms he said, " Molls, we should get going. We didn't bother to tell Bob or Crash where we were going." Molly frowned, still angry with her older cousin for earlier. She nodded and turned back around to face Simon and Cristal.
"So, how about it? Let's meet here at six o'clock tomorrow night and drive into Huntsville together." The Greigs nodded their assent as Molly and John turned to go, wishing them a good night.
They stepped out into the waning sunlight and Molly breathed in deeply. Turning she placed a hand lightly on John's arm, stopping him midway down the sidewalk. "John, I just want you to know that I appreciate what you did back there --- claiming Izik as your son. But it wasn't necessary..." John silenced her with a quick kiss and a little squeeze of her hand.
"Yes, it was Molls. But I'll explain why some other time. Right now let's go get that little boy and head home."