Chapter Twenty Four
Max played with Eddie the next day until the doorbell rang. "Let's go see who that is Maxy."
Jamie smiled, "Eddie sit back down I got it." Jamie hurried and let Anita in.
Max settled on Eddie's lap staring out until he saw Anita. "Hello, Ms. Eddie. You look so beautiful, you're glowing…And Maxy and April, you two got so big."
"Nita!" April smiled. She remembered the older woman that helped care for her. Max looked and even he smiled.
Anita hugged her then Max ruffling his hair before turning to Eddie. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay," Eddie replied. "The baby is okay and that's the most important thing. The swelling will go down, but Anita, it's so sweet for you to come and help me. Sue doesn't mind?"
"I only work for Sue a few days," Anita replied. "She closed off all but the necessary rooms, I take care of my nieces mostly now. The generous bonus you gave me will allow me to work only when I want to."
Eddie smiled, she liked to hear that the money that was often a thorn in her side was a help to others.
Max remained glued to Eddie's lap though he allowed Anita to sit with them resting his head against Eddie. "It's very sweet and appreciated poor Jamie is exhausted."
"Well, Jamie wants to be the one to take care of you, but the Children's Museum is open, and I thought I'd take the kids for the day, give you two a chance to relax. Would you two like to go to the museum?" Anita smiled and held April on her lap. "I have missed her, I missed you all."
Eddie smiled too "We missed having you around haven't we guys? Does that sound fun Max?" She gave Max a gentle bounce smiling at him.
"Yes, go to sit with Miss Anita, Mommom?" he asked.
"Yes, you can go with Miss Anita and April. Have fun and be a good boy and April will be a good girl," Eddie assured.
"Remember to hold hands," Jamie warned. "Thanks for this Anita, we do need a little rest."
"Of course, come on you guys we are going to have so much fun," Anita said picking them both up.
When the kids headed out, Jamie sat down next to Eddie. "You're head hurt?"
"I'm ok just tired. Think some much-needed nap time is in order," Eddie smiled
"Let's get you to bed then," Jamie replied helping her stand. She groaned, her body was so tired and achy.
"Before a nap you know what would be nice to soak in a nice hot bath." Eddie said.
"Well a warm bath," Jamie smiled. "That sounds like a good idea, I'll get one running. We'll get those kinks out of you."
Eddie smiled waiting for Jamie to get the bath started looking forward to relaxing.
When the warm water was in the tub, Jamie held Eddie's hand to help her step inside. "Oh that's nice," Eddie sighed as she sank into the tub. "I didn't realize how stiff I was from that fall until just now. This feels so good."
Jamie smiled and sat on the floor outside the tub, watching the joy on Eddie's face. "Your eyes look better," he replied as he reached for the shampoo and a cup to wet her hair. The warmth wrapped around Eddie like a warm jacket. She placed her hand on her belly, and smiled, "Our son, Jamie. Our son is in there growing healthy and strong."
Jamie leaned over and placed the cup on the edge of the tub and leaned down to kiss the slightly rounding baby bump. "I'm so happy,' Eddie whispered. "I'm so happy we are going to have another little son, another boy to carry the Reagan name. Do you…" Eddie moved her hand and stroked Jamie's hair. "Do you think you'd like to name him Joe?"
Jamie's face broke into a smile, "You know, that is, I think I told you that I wanted to Max after Joe, but she wouldn't hear of that, it had to be a strong name…"
"You did and I know how much you hurt, I want to do this for you," Eddie replied. 'If you want to that is, let's name him after your brother, Joseph Jamison has a great ring to it."
Jamie leaned over and gently kissed Eddie's lips, caressing them softly with his own. "Thank you for this, thank you for all of our children, our family is perfect and it's because of you."
"No," Eddie replied. "It's because of us…now get into this tub and hold us, we need it."
Jamie smiled and was happy to slide into the tub behind Eddie. He slowly wet her hair and massaged her scalp as he washed her hair, the silky strands adorning his fingers. When he was finished, he wrapped his arms around her and their baby, and traced the initials J.J.R across the suds on Eddie's firm belly. "Nice to meet you Joseph,' Jamie whispered gently. "I love you…"
Eddie felt her eyes well up, Jamie loved them both so much and she loved them. Jamie turned Eddie's chin up and sealed their lips together, sealing their love in the kiss.
Eddie napped after the bath with Jamie right by her side. He couldn't get over looking at her and their baby growing underneath her heart. He dozed off as well, the stress had gotten to them both. The bond they shared though hadn't wavered Eddie never doubted Jamie's love for her, not even once.
Jamie slid out of bed when he heard his phone going off. Anita was returning with Max and April.
When they didn't see Eddie, Max got very agitated. "Daddy, where Mommom?" but it wasn't a request, it was more of a demand to see his mother now.
"Mommom is taking a nap, we'll see her when she wakes up okay?" Jamie told Max. "Tell Daddy all about the museum. "
Anita offered to come the next day as well and help with the kids, and Jamie gladly took her up on that. He had to have time with Eddie and he had to figure out what to do about Max. He saw Anita out, when he turned around April was on the carpet playing with her farm people while Max was nowhere to be seen.
"April, where's your brother?" Jamie asked.
"Oh, Maxy see Mommy," April replied going back to her farm.
Jamie sighed and peeked in the room, Max was just sitting with Eddie, not disturbing her rest, so he let it go. Jamie went to the kitchen to start on supper while playing with April. When the chicken was done and ready, Jamie went to wake up Eddie. Max was still sitting guard over his mom. "Eddie," Jamie reached down to wake her up.
Before he could even make contact with her, Max's hand shot out and slapped Jamie hard. "No touch! Mommom sleeping!"
Jamie sighed, "Max, you do NOT hit Daddy," he scolded firmly. "You do NOT hit Daddy."
Eddie woke up to this chaos, "Jamie, what did he do?"
"Slapped me when I tried to wake you up, we're about to have a little time out,' Jamie replied firmly. "Come on, Max, you know the rules. Four minutes on the naughty bench. Let's go."
Max did his time proudly, he didn't want to let anyone touch his Mommom. He had to protect her and keep her safe, even from Daddy.
The outbursts did continue, Max was very skittish about letting anyone but Anita and him near Eddie. After another round of slapping Jamie, and another time out, Eddie tried another tactic.
"I think if I take him and talk to him we can fix it," Eddie replied. "What if I take him for ice cream, just me and him for the moment? You and April can be just outside, when I get him to listen we can all have ice cream as a family, just us. He's such a sensitive boy."
"Yes," Jamie agreed. "Okay, if you think that will help, but we can't have this type of situation going on."
Eddie leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed Jamie, "I know it can't and I think this will fix it, trust me."
Jamie did, in all things.
Eddie held Max's hand as they went into the ice cream shop. Jamie had April at the park across the way, unbeknownst to Max. Eddie sat him down and gave him a cup of water, "We'll pick out our ice cream in a minute, first we need to have a chat, Mommom and Max, okay?"
Max nodded and sipped the drink, looking directly at Eddie. "I love you so much," Eddie began. "You are a very special little boy and I am so proud of you, but lately, you haven't been having very good behavior," Eddie began.
Max's eyes immediately welled up with tears, he didn't want to upset his Mommom. "I love Daddy and April very much too, and this hitting them and yelling at them is not right, Max. I understand you want Mommom to be safe, but I am with Daddy and April. So from now on, I want everyone to use their words and to talk if you are being upset. I need you to understand you cannot hit anyone, we talk things out. If you want to tell Mommom anything, if you are scared or angry, you can tell me and it will be our special secret. So I need you to promise me, no more hitting and no more mean words, okay. I makes Mommom very sad when you do that."
Max thought a minute, he didn't want his Mommom to be sad, "Okay, I promise," he replied looking down at his lap.
"That's my good boy," Eddie praised. "You apologize to Daddy for hitting him when you see him and give April nice hugs and kisses."
Max nodded, he didn't like to feel scared and angry, Mommom had a great plan. "Now, what would you think if Daddy and April had ice cream with us?"
Max clapped his hands. Eddie sent Jamie a kiss and he arrived with April. Max charged his sister with a big hug, then gave Jamie a heartfelt apology and kiss. "No more hit, Daddy," he said firmly. "Bad to do that."
Jamie picked Max up and gave him a hug, "Thank you so much Max. What do you say we have ice cream? You want strawberry?"
"Yes!" Max replied and wiggled to go pick out his treat with his sister.
It took a couple more weeks before Eddie's face went back to normal and the family moved on from the blip on the screen of life that was Victoria. Frank, wanting to spend more time with the grandchildren implemented Friday nights at Grandpa's house. Those nights became date nights for Mommy and Daddy. Eddie would bring the kids to 1PP after music and then go home to prepare a meal and a night for her and Jamie.
It was Eddie's turn to plan their date night. Jamie planned their first one complete with a couple's massage and a dinner sampling many of the ethnic cuisines offered in Manhattan. This week, Eddie planned a movie night, she would make one of her mother's ethnic recipes and they would watch a favorite movie before ending the night in each other's arms. Through the entire ordeal, they never lost their connection, Eddie had no restrictions and Jamie didn't impose any out of his own guilt and fear, they just made love, keeping themselves invested in each other, healing the wounds Victoria's presence caused.
At least that was the plan. When Eddie got home from dropping off the kids she sat on the sofa with her mother's recipe book and paged through it. She dozed off on the couch, still sound when Jamie got home from tour.
He smiled down at her, "Hey, sleepy beauty," he murmured when he kissed her lips softly.
"Hey, I guess I fell asleep," Eddie laughed. "Sit down a minute and look at this."
The writing was in Serbian, small and very precise. It was beautiful. "What is this? A diary?"
"In a way," Eddie replied. "This is my mother's recipe book. She's got all sorts of great treats and meals in here. I was going to fix one of her desserts but I got tired."
"Well, why don't we make one together?" Jamie asked. "It will be nice to have a piece of your mom for us to share and for you to share with April when she's older."
Eddie liked that idea and got up quickly, "Yes, I have a bunch of apples and spices I bought. We can make her strudel. Come on!" She was so excited to share this with Jamie.
Side by side, they sliced the apples, grated the spices, sifted the flour…they worked very close and kept brushing up against each other. Jamie watched a strand of hair fall in Eddie's face, he brushed it back with his dough covered hand smearing the gooey substance across Eddie's cheek.
"Hey!" Eddie laughed. "Putting food on me?"
"You're hair…" Now Jamie was laughing. The dough was hanging on a strand of her hair, and was in her ear.
"Yeah, yeah," Eddie laughed. "Likely story, likely story." She tossed Jamie a rag. "Get it off…then taste this dough, my taste is off cause of the baby, everything tastes like it needs sugar."
Jamie took the rag but placed it over his shoulder, he closed the distance and licked the dough out of Eddie's ear. "Oh, definitely doesn't need sugar…you're sweet enough."
Eddie nearly melted into Jamie's arms. That was her soft spot, her sweet spot, the spot that would get her every time to melt.