7
She almost burst into the house that evening, full of excitement. To her surprise, however, the house was quiet. "Gil? Linds? Kids?"
Lindsey trotted down the stairs. "Hey, mom. They're all in the bathroom. There was a slight spaghetti mishap."
Catherine arched an eyebrow. "A spaghetti mishap."
Lindsey nodded. "It sort of exploded. On the plus side though, the chocolate cake turned out great." She smiled broadly. "How's Max?"
"He's doing great." Catherine glanced at her daughter. "When you say exploded…"
"Your kitchen's fine. Your kids and husband are fine too – they're just washing the spaghetti off."
Catherine made her way upstairs and into the master bathroom, which had the biggest bath in the house. Inside, she found Matthew, Lizzie and Jamie in the tub, while Gil knelt beside it. He was covered in spaghetti, and she guessed bubble bath, by the way he dripped onto the floor.
"Mommy!" Jamie said, pointing a finger at her.
Lizzie giggled. "Spaghetti go boom!"
Gil turned around, looking guiltily at his wife. "Hey, baby. How is Max?"
Catherine tried not to giggle. "It went wonderfully. The nurse said I can try breastfeeding him tomorrow."
"That's great!" Gil said, his face lighting up.
"Dare I ask what happened?" Catherine asked.
"Dinner's still good," Gil assured her. "We made spaghetti. There's still most of it left over."
"You're just wearing some of it," Catherine finished.
Gil smiled sweetly at her.
Catherine chuckled. "Okay, well you lot enjoy your bath. Be good for daddy."
"Aren't you going to help me?" Gil squeaked.
"I think you're doing a great job all on your own. Besides, I had nothing to do with the spaghetti exploding." She kissed the top of his head and headed out of the bathroom, laughing all the while.
"Boom!" Lizzie giggled.
--
Half an hour later, it was time to sit down for dinner. With great honor, Matt pulled the chair out for his mother, and then pushed it back in – with a little of Lindsey's help.
"Thank you, Matt," Catherine smiled at him.
"You're welcome," he replied, doing a short little bow and racing back into the kitchen.
Catherine chuckled at his enthusiasm and watched as Gil carried out a plate of spaghetti for her, followed by three little children, who each carried something important. Matt had the cutlery, Lizzie had the salt and pepper, and Jamie dragged a napkin along behind him.
"Wow. I'm being waited on by four very wonderful waiters," she said, smiling as Jamie thrust the napkin up at her. "Thank you, darling."
Gil lifted Jamie into his high chair and sat Lizzie and Matt at the table. He and Lindsey served the rest of the dinner and soon everyone began.
"Can we all go and see Max tomorrow?" Matt asked, quickly tucking in.
Catherine looked at Gil and bit her lip. He nodded and turned to Matt.
"Not tomorrow, guys. Mommy and I need to do some important work at the hospital with Max tomorrow, and this is one time you guys can't help."
Matt nodded wisely. "Okay."
"But I'm sure that he'd love to see you the day after," Catherine encouraged them.
"Can we take him toys?" Lizzie asked.
"Not yet, sweetheart," Gil said. "He's still very tiny, and we have to be careful that he doesn't get hurt."
"Can we make him bigger? What if we give him more water?"
Catherine blinked. "Huh?"
"You always say that's how the garden grows," Matt pointed out. "Why shouldn't it work on Max?"
"Well…uh, Matt," Gil ignored his need to laugh, "Babies and flowers are different."
"Babies come from the garden though, right? That's what you told me."
Gil swallowed the lump in his throat as Catherine lifted an eyebrow at him. "Uh, Matt, you and I are going to have a talk, sometime in the future."
Matt turned to his mother. "Daddy is making no sense."
"Yes, regrettably that is sometimes a problem with Daddies," Catherine said, an amused smile on her face. "But I promise that it will all make sense one day."
"Boys are nuts!" Lizzie decided.
"That too, my darling, is a fact of life," Catherine told her daughter, sipping from her water glass.
--
After the children were in bed, Gil walked into his bedroom. Puzzled when he couldn't find his wife, he went into the bathroom, immediately concerned as he saw her bracing her body against the wall.
"Cath?"
"I'm fine," she gritted out. Her eyes were closed.
"You're not fine. You're in pain…" Gil moved towards her.
"Don't touch me!" Catherine said quickly. "Please…God…"
"Cath…tell me what hurts? What can I do?" Gil tried to ignore the sickening feeling in his stomach. "Has one of the stitches torn? Do I need to take you to hospital?"
"No…" she gritted out. "Shit…the wound…"
"Right, that's it," Gil said. "You have to lie down. You can't stand here all night." He picked her up in his arms, his heart breaking as she cried out in pain and took her into their bedroom. He laid her down on the bed tenderly, before sitting beside her.
"Gil…"
"Shh, baby. I'm going to get you some of the pain meds that Dr Grad sent home with you." He disappeared from the room for a minute and soon returned with water and a bottle. After tipping some tablets into his hand, he handed them to his wife, and helped her sip the water.
Catherine lay back on the bed and Gil tenderly stroked her forehead. "Okay, sweetheart. It's going to be okay."
"Dad?" Lindsey appeared around the door of the room. "Is everything okay?"
Gil turned and smiled at his daughter. "Yes, sweetheart, it's fine. Your mom is just having a lot of pain from the wound."
The teen looked worried. "Do we need to go to the hospital?"
Gil shook his head. "No, it's fine. I've given her some pain meds. The doctor said to expect this after what she's been through. I don't think she took any today."
Lindsey nodded. "Okay. If you need me, just call, okay?"
"Thanks, Lindsey."
After Lindsey had shut the door, Gil turned back to his wife. "Sweetheart, I'm just going to lift up your shirt a little, okay? I want to make sure that the wound is still healing and we don't have any problems."
Catherine nodded, closing her eyes as the pain meds started to kick in.
Gil hesitantly lifted her shirt, trying not to gasp at the scar on her abdomen. It looked angry and sore, but he was relieved to see it wasn't weeping and that the stitches were all in place. He tenderly put her shirt down and smiled reassuringly at her. "No problems, Cath. It does look angry and sore though." He caressed her forehead. "What else can I do to help?"
She shook her head. "The lying down helps. And the pain meds do too." She tugged on his sleeve. "Lie down with me?"
He smiled at her. "Of course."
Moments later he was lying beside her. His hand took hers, stroking it with the pad of his thumb.
"I'd ask you to hold me, but…" Catherine trailed off.
Gil smiled. "Let me improvise, sweetheart." He shifted his body to her as close as possible, and then extended his arm so that it rested around her waist. "How's that?"
Catherine smiled. "Much better."
Gil kissed her forehead. "When you get up during the middle of the night – wake me."
"Gil…"
"Wake me," he said firmly. "And I'll help you. Okay?"
"Okay," she replied. "I love you."
He smiled, kissing her cheek. "I love you too. Get some rest, sweetheart. It's a big day tomorrow."
--
