Chapter 22
Flashing back to summer of 2016
"Well, Pam. This is all very enlightening, but despite Melanie's mental health, I really don't see why this means I shouldn't be with her. If you think this scares me off, it doesn't."
"Aw, God but you're a nub." Pam mumbled under her breath. "But if you know what you're getting yourself into and think you can handle it." She shrugged and polished off the second beer bottle. "And your mom won't go off the deep end at this? You know, I don't think I've ever met anyone as high strung as Marissa."
"I can handle my mom.' Freddie thought to himself. "Pam, I'll do anything to help Melanie and to make sure both her and the baby are cared for."
As he drove back to Bushwell, Freddie thought about what this meant. He promised himself that he wouldn't treat Melanie any differently and that he wouldn't let on to her that he knew about her condition. He would have to somehow get her to tell him about it herself.
He got things together for the road trip in the R.V. and just as planned, bright and early Saturday morning, started driving east. After managing to find a rest area along the highway Saturday night, Freddie got some sleep and spent all day Sunday driving as well. It was very late Sunday night when he got to town and it took him a little while to decide whether to just get some rest and contact Melanie in the morning or call her then.
His decision was made for him when she called him.
"Hi, baby." He answered.
"Hey, Fredward." She returned. "How close are you? I've been waiting to hear from you all day."
"I'm actually in the Mall-Mart parking lot at the edge of town. I wasn't sure if I should call this late."
"You wanna come on over? I have some news and I'd really like to see you."
"I don't know if I can find a place to park this gigantic motor home by your building. You remember how big this thing is?"
Melanie thought a few seconds. "Tell you what, give me half an hour to pack a bag. Swing by the front of the building and I'll just go with you. I can stay in there with you, I really want to see you and I'm tired of spending my nights alone."
"OK, thirty minutes, I'll be out front. See you then. Love you."
"Love you too." Mel chirped and hung up.
It was starting to rain when Freddie pulled up in front of the building. Mel spotted the huge vehicle from the lobby and made a dash for it as soon as he stopped.
She jumped in the side door which he had unlocked and swung open for her. They hugged quickly and Freddie returned to the driver's seat to move the R.V. before traffic started backing up behind him. Melanie followed and dropped into the passenger seat.
"Man, I forgot how immense this thing is." She smirked and fastened her seat belt. It's like a bus."
"I spotted an R.V. park on the way over here, want to check it out rather than the parking lot at the store?"
Melanie shrugged and put her feet up. "I don't care as long as you're here and we're together."
After checking in to the R.V. park and getting settled in and hooked up, the two took a few minutes to get reunited with a couple of kisses on one of the big couches in the mid section of the camper.
"So what was the news you wanted to tell me?" He asked, holding her close.
"If nothing changes we'll be able to take the baby home tomorrow." She said with glee.
"Aw that's great, Mel."
"And I've got almost all my stuff packed up and ready to go. I talked to the doorman and if you can manage to back this beast into the alleyway behind the building, he says we can use the service elevator and loading door so you don't have to double park in the street."
"Good. And I was looking last night, if we do it right, I think we can a lot of stuff into the back bedroom and just sleep in the middle."
It took a couple of days but the remainder of Melanie's things were packed and loaded up in the R.V. and Wednesday afternoon they began making their way back to Seattle. Freddie had mapped out places to park overnight each day and some extra time was allowed for the return trip in order to give plenty of chances to take a break from driving.
Saturday afternoon the first signs of Seattle came into sight and by nightfall they were parked in front of the Puckett house. Surprisingly enough, Pam Puckett was home to greet her daughter, grand daughter and future son in law.
"Mom. I'm surprised you're here on a Saturday." Melanie gasped as her mother approached them on the front walk. "Wait, you're not on house arrest are you? You know you're only allowed so far from the door."
"I thought I'd make sure I was home when you got here. And no, no house arrest, I swear. I haven't had so much as a parking ticket since I last saw you. Now, your uncle Poochey on the other hand . . . "
"Can we stow some of my chiz in the garage? Freddie needs to get this land yacht back to its owner first thing in the morning." Melanie cut off her mother's tale of family drama.
"Sure, kid. And look, if you want to stay tonight, don't be shy because of me." She turned to Freddie. "Not like it's not obvious you two haven't spent the night together a time or two. Besides, who am I to judge."
"Thanks, Pam. I think I might take you up on that." He agreed, holding the baby carrier. "I really would like to spend some time with my girls."
"Speaking of, we're going to look at apartments tomorrow, you mind watching her for a few hours. We'll try to time it so we're gone during her afternoon nap." Melanie asked, and picked up the baby for her mother to see.
"I suppose I can skip Sunday afternoon bingo for that." Pam replied with a chuckle. "She's so quiet. You and your sister were never that peaceful at her age. I swear, when one of you slept the other fussed, it was like you took turns."
After the baby was put down, the evening was spent stowing Melanie's things away and getting caught up with each other. It was late when the couple was ready to turn in for some rest. He had called his mother to check in while Melanie took a shower and then got a quick turn at the bathroom while she tucked the baby into her crib, which Freddie had set up in Sam's old room temporarily. One thing was certain, they were both ready to sleep in a real bed, not a foam bunk.
"I can't wait to see these apartments in person, the one place you showed me pictures of really looked nice." Melanie told him as they snuggled under the covers.
"Me too. I think we'll really like it. It's not all that far from Bushwell and it's a short drive to my office, so even if it's a little more expensive it makes sense."
"You think we're doing the right thing? I mean, moving in together is a big step. And I fully plan on finding a job right away but can we afford this?" Melanie sounded nervous about it all. "You know, with bills and the baby and rent."
"We'll be fine. And between our moms, I doubt we'll ever have to worry about child care." He replied.
"You sure we want to leave the baby with either of them as a rule? Marissa's fine, but she has a full time job herself. And Pam has a habit of getting distracted. Plus I worry about with your mom smearing the kid some weird lotion to prevent cloud burn or something if she takes her outside on a rainy day."
"And every day is a rainy day in Seattle." He chuckled. "And she does have a habit of buying the stuff in bulk. I'll talk to her about all that before we say she can keep her. But we do have to stop by there some time tomorrow. She's busting herself to see her granddaughter in person not just over a phone screen."
The two got rested up and by the middle of the following afternoon had narrowed their apartment choices down to two. After stopping by Pam's to pick up the baby, they made a trip to Bushwell to visit Marissa.
To say the woman was beside herself was an understatement. She took great joy in holding the baby but despite Freddie's telling her numerous times over the last several weeks that he and Melanie were getting apartment together, she acted like he would be moving to the other side of the planet.
Melanie and Freddie chose an apartment closer to Bushwell if for no other reason than appease Marissa. They had been settled in for about a week when she finally told him the story of her prescription medicines to keep her mood stabilized. As he promised Pam, he didn't let on like he knew about any of it.
"I suppose you're wondering about all this." Melanie said as she pointed to the pill bottles sitting on the kitchen counter.
He knew he had to play it cool or face the wrath of Pam Puckett. "Yeah, kinda. Is that all for the baby?"
"I guess you should have known about this before, but I'm on mood stabilizers. An-and I see someone, too. You know, to like, talk about how I'm feeling and all. Ah chiz, I need to find a new counselor here it Seattle, too."
"Why? You always seem like such a chipper person."
"Because of these little babies." She jiggled one of the bottles. "A few days without these and I'm a train wreck. In fact, you remember when we broke up the other year? I think I was without my pills and I got a little paranoid about you finding some other girl. I'm sorry, Freddie. If I would have just told you about my problem, maybe things would have been different."
"Water under the bridge, Mels. We're together now, that's all that matters. Just do me a favor and don't miss taking them." He took her hand and kissed her.
The baby's condition continued to improve and soon Melanie found herself a decent job with an insurance company. She was able to do a fair amount of her work remotely and fortunately Freddie was able to set up a nice work station for her on a top of the line computer right in their apartment.
Their place wasn't fancy, it was rather modest but there was a separate room for the baby's crib and a nice, large living area kind of like Spencer's. They settled in quickly and in August, Freddie began his post-graduate classes along with working full-time. He and Melanie planned that as soon as he had his Masters that she would go back to finish her degree and either stop working altogether or at least only work part time.
Of course, between Pam, Marissa and Spencer, there was never a need for a paid babysitter which helped stretch their budget. By the holiday season, Freddie had purchased a ring and planned to propose over Christmas.
Their first holiday together was modest but memorable. After all, they had a toddler to celebrate with. Christmas morning, Freddie was excited to show Melanie the ring. They had gotten up early, planned to do their own family thing and then head over to Marissa's where Pam would join them. She and Mrs. Benson had formed a type of bond over the baby and even though Marissa didn't approve of many of Pam's life choices, she did her best to make her feel welcome whenever they saw each other.
"So, I have one more surprise." Freddie smiled after Melanie opened the last of her things. The baby was playing peacefully in her play pen. "Ready?"
"Bring it on, big boy." Melanie teased, thinking that it would be something a little more risqué. "But you'd better hurry up, your mom's expecting us at noon sharp."
He took the small box from it's hiding spot and got down on one knee. "Melanie, we've shared so much these last few months and I'd like to share the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
She was surprised, she had been hoping he would soon propose. Still, she was unsure if the timing was right. "Of course, baby." There was nothing she wanted more than to make their little family official so she pushed her reservations aside. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mels. So, I was thinking and I know my mom's going to say we need to get married in our church and everything but if you'd rather not go to all the couple counseling and sit and go over all the stuff with the preacher we could just, I don't know, elope or something."
"I would but what about the baby and all. I mean, we're both a nervous wreck to let her with either of our moms for a few hours to do Christmas shopping or go out to eat. I just don't know if I'm ready to go off for a whole weekend or anything. How about we talk to, I don't know the mayor or a judge or somebody like that."
"Are you sure?" He asked. This sounded way too simple for a girly girl like Melanie.
Melanie made a suggestion. "We can do a simple ring exchange ceremony, just so we're legally married now and then on our anniversary or whenever we think we're ready, we can do something a little more elaborate and invite friends and family."
"So for now, you just want to keep it low key?" He agreed.
"Just our moms, maybe Spencer."
"Um, if we're keeping it low key, we'd better not involve Spencer. He can't keep things to himself and if Carly finds out, she'll be calling ten times a day and making all kind of elaborate suggestions and we'll end up with a ten thousand dollar wedding and half of Seattle will be there."
"What about Sammy?" Mel asked. "Should we tell her? I mean, with your past and all, do you think we should let her know."
"I doubt she'll care and even if she answers your call which I doubt she will, you know she'll have nothing good to say." He replied with sadness. "I know you love her and miss her and believe me, if there was a way to put everything in the past and for us all to get along, I'd love that, but she's never going to forgive me, us, either one of us. "
A tear ran down the young lady's cheek. "I know, Freddie. I keep praying that some day, some how, we can all be one big, happy family together. But I know how stubborn she is, she's just like my mom."
End of flashback.
