Having parked their car, Hanna and Caleb strode through the vast storage space on East 62nd Street, looking for the number that matched Hanna's key. When she finally found it, Hanna unlocked the large padlock with shaky hands, and let the door slide upward, hoping to see that her carefully hatched plan - and Toby's connections to the NYPD - had worked out. For some reason, they both held their breath for a second, and stared into the dark space with an anxious look on their face. A.D. had really screwed them over.
Caleb took a step forward, and when his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he saw a cord connecting to a lightbulb on the ceiling, right above their heads. He pulled it, and within a split-second, the jam-packed shelves and boxes became visible to them.
And there it was. Hanna noticed that her heart had begun to race.
Smack bang in the middle of the room, stood their beloved table.
Only, it no longer looked like their table.
X
"Hey, what's this?" She heard Caleb's voice travel through the storage unit.
Hanna found herself staring at the table; anxiously, she moved closer in order to give it a closer inspection. "Oh my God," She uttered under her breath as she took it all in for the first time.
It was beautiful. Better than expected, she thought to herself as she let her right hand swipe across the smooth surface of the freshly refurbished tabletop, careful not to scratch it with her watch or any of the other accessories she was wearing. A deeply satisfied grin played around the corners of her mouth.
"Is this…" Caleb asked as he came closer, "Is this our table?"
Hanna slowly turned to face him, trying to read his eyes in order to find out whether he approved of it or not. "Happy anniversary!" She smiled at him, and the surprised look on his face turned into confusion.
"What did I forget? First kiss? First time? First date?" He asked, laughing before he remembered, "No wait… that was all in November…" He continued to rack his brain. "Ok, help me out here."
"One month, one week, one day," Hanna said tersely, before continuing to explain when she saw his helpless expression. "As of today, we've been married for one month, one week, and one day. So, happy anniversary!" She beamed at him like a child in a candy store. "I wanted to give this to you as my wedding present but it took the carpenter a little longer to finish it. It was worth it, though, I think."
He couldn't help but laugh before engulfing her in a tight embrace. "And there I was thinking that I was the one who had a thing for numbers. Happy anniversary to you, too, honey!"
There was that word again. Honey.
But before she allowed herself to question his sudden infatuation with endearments, Caleb's lips came crashing down on hers, and she lost her train of thought.
When their lips parted, Caleb took the time to survey the table.
Their table looked good-as-new again. Every scratch on the tabletop was gone; its surface had been expertly sandpapered, and finished off with a coat of stain the color of mahogany. Instead of the large scratch that used to grace the middle of it, the tabletop was now sporting a circular intarsia in its original beech color and, embedded in its center, a convoluted, mahogany 'R'.
After taking in the fine workmanship, Caleb took a step back. "It looks really great. What does the 'R' stand for? Rosewood? Radley? Mrs. Rahimi?" He asked jokingly.
Hanna eyed him incredulously and started laughing. "It's for 'Rivers', you moron." After all these years, they still shared fond memories of their quirky New York neighbor, who after weeks of giving them the hairy eyeball had taken a liking to the young couple and often provided them with late night dinners.
Caleb laughed at her remark, but then his expression showed suspicion. "Wait… How did it get in here?"
She sat down on the table, testing its stability. "Spencer and Toby were on a secret mission and took it to the carpenter while we were in Aruba," She explained with a hint of pride in her voice as she leaned back on the table, supporting her weight on her arms. The envelope that lay on top of it accidentally fell down to the ground. Hanna ignored it, thinking that it must have been the carpenter's invoice.
"But we just got the key from a safe deposit box that no-one else had access to," Caleb mused as he sat down next to her, noticing with a glint in his eyes that the table was longer screeching.
"Well… if a certain someone has certain connections to, let's say, the police, then maybe that certain someone was able to get in here very… secretly?" She told him, smirking.
"I see," He grinned back at her. "So, Toby and Spencer… Conspiring together? How's Spencer? Have you talked to her since we got back?"
"Yeah, we talked on the phone yesterday. She started her new job last week and she's gonna move into a new apartment next month, once the guy who lives there now has moved out. Until then she's staying in Toby's apartment here," She informed him.
"Crazy, right? I feel like we've been gone for three months, and now half of our friends have moved on to different places," Caleb mumbled as his wound his arm around her shoulder. They sat in silence, thinking about the changes that had taken place after A.D. had turned out to be Spencer's unknown twin sister, Alex Drake. The girls had been able to live free lives after Alex had been killed in a shootout with Detective Maple; Spencer had cut all ties to her home town and relocated to New York, aided by the money that she got from selling her half of the Lost Woods Resort to Alison.
After a while, Caleb spoke up. "He told me that he was thinking about applying for a job in the NYPD. He says he's finally ready to get back to work again."
"Aaaw, that sounds like a good idea," Hanna smiled, "Do you think he's doing it for Spencer?"
"I don't know," Caleb shrugged, "We haven't really had a good chance to talk since our last fishing trip, you know, with everything that's been going on lately. I'm sure he's still taking his time to… figure things out."
"Yeah," Hanna said almost inaudibly, infinitely happy and grateful for the way that her life had turned out. She leaned over to Caleb and he instantly caught on, closing the distance between their lips in order to exchange a flurry of light kisses.
Moments later, Caleb removed his arm from Hanna's shoulder, and turned to the side to put his hand down on the intarsia. He looked at it admiringly. "The 'R'… was it your idea?" He asked her.
Hanna nodded and went on to explain, "I wanted the table to be a symbol of us," She hesitated for a second, "Of our own new little family."
At that, his gaze fell back onto her slightly blushing face.
"Like, I don't know… some kind of heirloom, maybe?" She concluded, before anxiously awaiting his response, fully aware of how cheesy the idea must sound to him. However, she hadn't expected him to react this choked up; he wasn't crying over it but she knew by the thunderstruck expression on his face that her present had touched him deeply. And seeing him like this had been exactly what she had aimed for.
It had been a few weeks ago that her creative mind had failed to come up with cool new dress designs for her portfolio. Instead, she had been scribbling in her sketchbook to test what her first name would look like with Caleb's last name written next to it. That was when the idea for the intarsia came up. They had been planning to pick up the table from New York anyway. And so Hanna had tentatively asked Spencer and Toby for help – way before she had eloped with Caleb and before they had started their own family altogether.
"Does that mean we're gonna have to be decent now?" He enquired jokingly to break the tension between them that had evolved in this emotional moment. But then the smirk on his face faltered and a hint of seriousness in his eyes took over his expression. "I love it," he replied absentmindedly as he let his hand glide over the smooth surface, "I like the idea of a Rivers family heirloom. So maybe later, somewhere down the road, we can pass it on to our…" He looked back up at her face.
"Kids," They said simultaneously. They both stared at each other quietly for a long moment.
And just like that, Hanna knew. A crystal clear realization emerging from the back of her mind. She was sure that he had to be thinking the exact same thing.
Caleb hadn't grown up with his biological parents and so there had never been time to make family traditions or opportunities for him to inherit any family treasures. But in Hanna's eyes, he deserved to have that. He would be the one to start creating and passing on Rivers family values and traditions. Not necessarily the ones made at the table or on it, for that matter, she blushed fiercely just thinking of their history with the table.
Lost in thoughts, she noticed that his gaze had dropped to his hand placing itself on top of hers touching the tabletop.
"Caleb?" Hanna waited until he looked directly into her eyes, "I think I wanna have a baby. No, wait, let me start again." She inhaled deeply whilst ordering her thoughts; she was glad that she was sitting, because she knew that her knees would have given out otherwise. "I've been thinking about this for a while already. I want a baby. With you," She informed him, her voice firm. There was not a single doubt, no apprehension, no demurral about the subject anymore.
Caleb looked at her for a long time without showing any kind of reaction to her confession, and Hanna's heart sank. She couldn't withstand his gaze any longer, and so her eyes traveled down to her lap.
With the tension in the room now palpable, Caleb finally started to crack a smile. "Hanna?" He used his forefinger to nudge her head back up so that he could see her properly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry," He started in a soft voice, "It took me a while to answer because I couldn't help but imagine what our baby would look like… couldn't help but hope that our daughter would look like you… or if we had a son, that he would look like me, but better dressed," He chuckled, and using his thumb he wiped away the tears that glistened in the corners of her eyes.
"You know…" His thumb stayed in touch with her skin, tenderly stroking downward along the contours of her face, starting over again when he had reached her chin. "I never wanted to have kids when I was younger. I just couldn't imagine that I would be able to love somebody as unconditionally as a child deserves to be loved, simply because I never knew what that felt like… until you stepped into my world and turned it upside down."
At that, the smile on her face grew even wider.
"I never knew how much better my world would look from where you had brought it to. And despite all the ups and downs that we had, I never stopped thinking like… wow, this girl has so much love to give… with her by my side, I can imagine a lot of things for my future… even becoming a father one day. And now I'm here… with you… and we're married. This alone feels like a dream come true, though like a dream I never knew I had," he laughed shortly. "There's nobody I could ever imagine doing all this with but you. And I think that one day may be now. Yeah… I think I'm… ready."
During his entire monologue, Hanna had sat there listening silently, processing his words and hoping that, in the end, he'd be right there on the same page with her. She had made one quick decision eloping with Caleb. But this wasn't something she was going to decide head over heels. If he had said no to the subject of having a baby, she would have never tried to talk him into it, no matter how much she longed to become a mother really soon. So, striving for reassurance, she asked, "Are you sure?"
"Our kids are gonna have the best mom. And the most beautiful," He said sincerely, placing a soft kiss on her lips, and Hanna blushed at the compliment.
"Our kids are gonna have the most devoted dad," She murmured in response, adding with a smirk, "And the sexiest!"
"So… Are you down?" She grinned, mimicking his proposal from just a little over a month ago.
"Absolutely."
Hanna couldn't hold the happy tears in any longer while at the same time beaming at him with the biggest grin plastered on her face. They kissed again, and this time their lips lingered on each other's for a little longer, their tongues teasing one another's. Had it not been so cold in the room, Hanna and Caleb would have gone on to try and make a baby right then and there, on their table.
When the sexual tension became almost unbearable, Caleb broke the kiss, and they looked at each other for a long moment, trying to process the significance of the mutual decision that they had just made.
He cleared his throat and huffed, "Maybe we should hurry up and get your stuff loaded into the truck so that we can finally drive back home. I have a surprise for you, too."
"Well, give it to me now," She demanded excitedly as she wiped her face dry with a Kleenex she had pulled from the pocket of her coat.
"Nope. There's something I need to show you first, and I don't have it here with me," Caleb informed her.
Disappointed, she conceded, "Oh. Alright." Then, Hanna turned around to inspect the unit, deciding on where to start with the laborious task of packing. She had so many boxes of her college stuff, her sketchbooks, fabric swatches, books that she hardly remembered ever having read… she knew that they were in for a long day. She jumped off of the table, and picked up the letter. Holding it in her hands, she saw that only both of their first names had been hand-written on the envelope; she found it odd, especially as it had come from one of the most renowned New York woodwork businesses, and so she opened it, only to find another hand-written note inside.
Didn't anybody use their phones to send messages anymore?
Suddenly, Caleb was right behind her, looking over her shoulder. "What's this?"
Not in the position to make sense of the scrawl on the envelope yet, Hanna tersely answered, "Just the invoice from the carpenter, I guess."
As that didn't pique his interest, Caleb brushed a kiss against her cheek to gain her attention. "Babe, there's a coffee shop down the street, I'm gonna go out and get us something. Will you be okay on your own for a few minutes?"
"Uh-huh," Hanna murmured absentmindedly, desperately trying to figure out who might have put the letter there for her to find.
"Your usual? Hot, tall, light roast, non-fat, no cream, no whip, one shot vanilla cappuccino?"
"No, just herbal tea for me. Thanks," She told him as she pulled out the letter and unfolded it.
Caleb looked baffled, "Are you fucking kidding me? Do you have any idea how long it took me to memorize your coffee order?" He scoffed, causing Hanna to look up from the letter.
"You're so sweet," She smiled.
He decided to ignore her remark. There was just no sense in challenging her if he wanted to make it out of New York again before rush hour in Lincoln Tunnel would hold them back. "Okay, herbal tea it is. Why don't you start sorting through your stuff while I'm outside? Maybe there's some things that you could throw away or donate?" He suggested. "I'll be right back."
Hanna waited until she heard his steps echo through the cemented hallway before she began to read the unfamiliar scribble.
My precious Hanna, hi Caleb!
Please allow me to pay Toby for refurbishing your beloved table as my wedding gift to you! I would feel so honored. You read that correctly, Toby did it all by himself! It looks great, doesn't it?
I would have loved to come to your wedding, but you know that my doctors at Welby didn't allow me to leave, not even for a few hours, as I was still in the early stages of my therapy. But I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me, it really meant the world to me. I'm sure you were the prettiest and happiest bride and groom ever.
Hanna, I pray for forgiveness every day, and really hope that one day you will stop condemning me for what I've done to you. I have to stay at Welby for the next couple of months, but you will always be my best friend!
I hope that you can visit me someday. The medications are starting to make me feel better. If we're lucky, you might even be able to visit during Jean-Pierre's shift. He's a cute trainee nurse from France and he's just the nicest person ever!
Thank you for your ongoing support, I love you!
Your friend, Mona
PS: Don't tell Toby I told you that it was all his work. He was so shy about it.
Hanna put the piece of paper down to pull yet another tissue out of her pocket. She blew her nose and wiped at her eyes, pondering ways to thank Mona for meddling in her business and scolding herself for not having thought of giving Toby this job in the first place.
Then, she stuffed the letter in her purse, before turning to one of the boxes in order to start going through her stuff. Caleb was right; there was definitely a few things in the unit that she would want to throw away, starting with the first box that she pulled from the shelf. In there, she found photo albums from her years with Jordan. Convinced that he surely wouldn't mind, especially now that he was married to Robota, as Hanna had secretly called her ex's personal assistant, she decided to throw the memories in the trash. As much as she hated throwing away personal items like photos, she knew for a fact that there would never ever come another day when she would want to look at Jordan's face again. It would only remind her of a time in her life that she wanted to forget about, a time when her other half, the missing piece in her puzzle, had gone astray in her life.
Ten minutes later, Caleb came back, carrying her tea cup and his short, triple-caf, one sugar cube, no milk, no whip, no cream, no fun coffee cup. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked as he handed her the hot beverage, "You seem very shaken. Did they charge you more than estimated beforehand?"
"No, I'm fine. Actually, it wasn't the invoice, it was a letter from Mona, nothing major, though," Came her response.
"Mona? How did she even manage to write you a letter, smuggle it out of Welby, and not to mention deposit it here?" He wondered. But then, having thought about it for a second, he reasoned, "You know what, I really don't wanna know. This woman…. ugh " Abandoning his sentence, he scoffed and took a sip from his cup before placing it down on the table.
"Are you crazy? Use a coaster," Hanna scolded him as she scooted over and lifted the cup. She put it on a shelf, turning her back on Caleb, who was left looking dumbfounded.
"This coming from the woman who once scratched that same table with her heels right before having sex on it? Very memorable sex, I may add," He chuckled.
"Well, it's an heirloom now, we have to treat it better," She said with an honest expression on her face. Caleb didn't know whether to make fun of it, or to pull out a tissue and wipe away the invisible stains his sweaty palms, which had started to get worse the moment that she had basically asked him to be the father of their future heirs, might have left on the tabletop.
He opted to keep his mouth shut, and busied himself by loading the boxes labeled HOME onto the dolly that they had brought along. Nope, no sense in arguing with her now. He really wanted to be back in Rosewood in time for a late dinner to surprise her with yet another possibly life-changing present.
to be continued…
Happy to read more reviews, as always. Let me know if you want a preview for chapter 4. Zip
