Chapter 7

Mommazilla (Part I)

This one will be a two-shot as I could not contain it to a single chapter since just getting to Rochester to meet Eddie's mom was a process for poor Jamie who starts learning the hard way that being a dad and a soon-to-be husband is sometimes harder than it looks and you can't always plan for everything. Enter Eva Janko.


Saturday, January 6, 4:05 am
387 Grand Street, NYC

"Six-and-a-half hours in a car, and that's without stops, Reagan!" Edit Janko continued her tirade as she made her way out of the front doors to Jamie's apartment building just after four in the morning on Saturday, loaded down with luggage, toys, snacks, a drink cooler and pillows while he followed behind her with much of the same in addition to a sleeping Kaylin on his shoulder wrapped in a blanket and already dressed in her clothes for the day, having been sent to bed wearing them the night before in a genius move to save time without waking her. "May I remind you that we both work first shift on Monday, so that means we have to drive home another six plus hours tomorrow night! Thirteen! Thirteen hours in the car in less than two days! That's… that's like…" she stuttered as she tried to do the percentage calculations in her head before giving up. "That's a crap load of time driving when a flight to Rochester only takes just over an hour! We made it across the whole country to San Diego faster!"

"Shush, Janko!" Jamie hissed quietly as they approached his car while the little girl stirred in his arms. "This only works if she stays sleeping for the first half of the ride! Get it? Didn't you ever take road trips when you were a kid? You think this is bad? Try being sandwiched between Danny and Erin in a station wagon for three days in a row to be used as a human shield when mom and dad got it in their heads to visit the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral down in Florida one summer. Joe laughed his ass off at me the whole time in the seat behind us because he didn't draw the short straw! You were such a sheltered child, Edit," he tsked. "We just flew back from California on Monday and I didn't feel like spending hours at the airports waiting in security to save one or two, plus then we had to rent a car and drive over anyway. Think of this as an adventure. Trust me, one kid in the backseat for this long is not gonna kill us, especially if she stays sleeping," he reemphasized as he quietly unlocked the Mustang and carefully put Kaylin in her place as he tucked the blanket around her while Eddie loaded up the trunk with what she could fit and shoved the rest in the back next to the little girl.

"I've got the whole trip mapped out," he continued. "We'll be at your mom's place by noon easy even with a few layovers. You said she had a meeting at the office until late morning anyway. Once we make it through Binghamton, Kaylin will be ready to wake up and we can find someplace to get waffles for breakfast, and then take the scenic route through the Finger Lakes region and past Skaneateles. If we're making good time we can stop at the Museum at the Creamery houses there and see the handmade wooden boats… Kaylin would love those."

"Wooden boats for a two-year-old little girl; don't you mean you would love to see them? Give me a break, Reagan," Eddie sighed as she slid into the passenger side and stole a glance at him… he was practically glowing with anticipation. "Oh my God. You are so totally into this, aren't you? It must be a man thing; I can completely see your dad in you right now! Pretty soon you'll be borrowing one of his sweaters and packing us off to Cape Canaveral," she chided as she settled herself into the front bucket which had to be pushed far forward in the two-door car to accommodate Kaylin's bulky car seat fastened directly behind her. "First you need to trade in your hot rod here for a minivan. Kids need to be restrained in those seats practically until they get their college acceptance letters nowadays. We've got like zero space in here… I need more room to stretch out and what happens if we have another? There's no place to put one!"

"No minivan, not ever in my lifetime… and guys just like to drive," he mused happily as he caressed the steering wheel while he turned the key and the heavy engine of the Mustang rumbled to life before he pulled off down the quiet sleepy street, headed up 17th towards Broadway in the direction of the Holland Tunnel. "You can trade in your car. I used to enjoy the trek back and forth from Boston all the time. You know, Janko, we've pulled twelve-hour shifts in the RMP going around in circles and you weren't complaining like this. What gives?"

"It's just… nerves," Eddie admitted with a defeated sigh. "I mean I haven't been up to see my mom in Rochester in a long time… almost a year. I told you, we could have just let her know about the engagement from California over Skype or Facetime or something like that…" she trailed off and looked out the window at the dark sidewalks passing by to mask the worry on her face. "It would have been easier, trust me…"

"Edit Katalin Janko soon-to-be Reagan, for the last time... I am not announcing to your mother that I asked you to marry me over the phone, okay!" Jamie insisted with a huff. "It's bad enough that I haven't even met her yet… I fully intended to go up there by myself and speak to her before our trip until… well until that damn building fell down on me. Besides, don't you think that she wants to meet Kaylin too? C'mon Eddie, I know you've said your mom can be a little tough, but name one person sweetness can't melt in a minute, and then there's me," he laughed and reached over and tapped her shoulder as the streetlights flashed by. "Top man at Harvard, well-spoken, upstanding family... devastating good looks…" he grinned when the latter garnered a snicker at least. "I'm a catch. Mother's always love me... you've got nothing to worry about. I'll just turn on the good old Reagan charm and we'll be golden."

"And after all that, you're still a cop… grandson of a cop, son of a cop, brother of a cop… don't forget that… mom won't. You so don't know what you are getting yourself into," she sighed before pouting and shaking her head.

"Can we add soon to be husband of a cop?" he piped in hopefully but that comment was deliberately ignored.

"And by the way… you told your whole family about us from California over Facetime," Eddie defended with a self-righteous sniff.

"They all knew what I was planning to do out there!" Jamie exclaimed, albeit softly as he continued to be mindful of the desired state of the sleeping toddler in the back. "Spencer had a live feed going… everyone watched online for God's sake! It's a good thing you said yes or I would have never lived it down! I have the video… maybe you can show that to your mom. There were candles and fireworks... that should score some points!"

"Yeah, I bet she'd love the way you started that proposal… Edit Katalin Janko, you're a real pain," she cited from memory. "I mean you're always trying to tell me what to do. You eat too much, you're opinionated, you never listen and you're constantly making plans for me without consulting me…" Eddie sniped. "Still want me to hit the play button on that, huh?"

"Hey!" Jamie laughed as he glanced over at her with a big smile as he conceded maybe that could be taken the wrong way by a momma bear. "Okay, well maybe that would be pushing it, but c'mon, lambchop. I finished with the good part. I also said you were the most beautiful woman I have ever known. That I adore you in every way possible, and that you are my best friend… my partner, and how I am utterly, madly, and completely in love with you… that's good stuff, Janko."

"She'll kick you out of the house before we get to that point."

"And if she does, will you still marry me?"

"Maybe it's a good thing you asked me that before you met my mother," Eddie insisted, unwilling to give it a rest. "Just drive, Reagan… drive."

###

6:45 am

Route I-380 N, Outside of Scranton, PA

"S'cuse me Daddy…"

"Yes, sweetness?" came the strained heavy sigh as Jamie's well-oiled and intricately timed itinerary was set to take another hit. The bliss of having a sleeping toddler in the back had evaporated more than an hour before as a pair of light blue eyes had flipped open to reveal a somewhat grumpy and now apparently nauseous little girl.

"M'm tummy hurts."

"Again? Baby, we just got back on the road. We're already more than twenty-five minutes off track. Can you try to make it a little further? What if Eddie gets the tablet out and we watch a movie, huh? What about Nemo?"

"Me like oh laugh better."

"Oh laugh? She's talking about that snowman, right? The one in Frozen. Help me out here, Janko!" Jamie hissed as he checked his rear-view mirror just as an eighteen-wheeler tailgated before flashing by on the left, the passing turbulence shaking the car. "Okay, he's doing like eighty-five, easy," he muttered under his breath. "Why don't you just run us over instead of bothering to change lanes next time, buddy?! Why isn't there a cop around when you need one?"

"Yes, of course, Reagan, Olaf. Duh. We've only watched that movie like twenty times in the past couple of weeks. Where'd you pack it?"

"It was on the charger in the kitchen. You said you were going to grab it."

"Oops."

"Please tell me you're kidding."

"You know most minivans have those entertainment centers built in now, don't you?"

"Daddy, my tummy really hurts!"

"Kiss those wooden boats goodbye, lambchop."

###

8:50 am

Route I-80 N, Just before Cortland, NY

"Jamison Reagan, I am officially starving now!" Eddie griped. "You promised me waffles once we passed Binghamton, and that was like forever ago! We've been in the car for almost five hours! I'm gonna faint if I don't get something to eat soon!"

"She's finally sleeping again," Jamie sighed as he glanced in the rear-view mirror back at his daughter, now on her third and last available change of clothes after two rounds of motion sickness had claimed her pretty turquoise jumper and almost everything else that went with it except the shoes that were salvaged with a bit of cleanup from the paper towels and windshield cleaning fluid at the gas pumps of the last station they stopped at. "We're more than an hour behind schedule, Janko! The only way to make it there on time is to drive straight through with just one more stop to eat. Can't you suck it up for a little while more? Look… I'm just about to get off the main highway and take 41 up past Lake Skaneateles and Syracuse. We'll stop at a diner in the town up there, I promise, okay? Just grab a snack to hold you over. I swear to God you will not die of starvation before I get you to your mother's house!"

"We had a snack cooler packed, until you were late finding an exit that last time and baby girl tried to use it as a barf bag. I tossed it at the gas station. You know, you should really get some of those emesis plastic thingies from Linda at the hospital and keep a few of those in the back there if we're going to make a habit out of this," she chattered on. "Oh LOOK!" she exclaimed at the passing billboard as Jamie flipped his turn signal on to take the following exit. "They have Amish furniture outlets and wine tasting tours up here every weekend! Now that sounds like a plan! Maybe I can get Hailey to set that up for my bachelorette party!" she enthused rather tongue in cheek as she glanced over at Jamie's crestfallen face while his first much anticipated carefully crafted-by-dad family car trip circled the drain. Still, she could not help herself and hit him with one more barb.

"Are we almost there yet?"

###

9:55 am

Route 20 W, Auburn, NY, Millie's Family Diner

"Well sweetheart, aren't you just about the prettiest little thing there ever was?" the older waitress bussing the tables at the quiet roadside diner near Auburn, NY with a nameplate of "Doris" offered to Kaylin as the three weary travelers waited in a booth for their breakfast orders after Jamie decided a break was finally necessary despite the multiple delays they had already encountered. "And so colorful this early in the morning too!" she chattered happily observing the little girl's mismatched array of available clothing that now consisted of a striped green and blue jumper, pink leggings and opposing purple and light blue socks. Beggars apparently could not be choosers given the circumstances, and Eddie smirked at the strain evident on Jamie's face as he tried hard to ignore the fact that the socks didn't match even though the whole ensemble practically screamed in technicolor at his OCD tendencies.

"Such an angel," the friendly woman continued as she wiped the table down. "Sitting here being a good girl for your Daddy and Mommy," she tutted.

"Daddy and Eddie bear," Kaylin corrected with a bit of grumpy emphasis. "Not my Mommy!" she fretted and frowned as the whole ordeal over the past summer with the death of her mother Jayne was touched off again as it was still fresh in her eidetic memory and Jamie and Eddie both felt the best approach was just to give her some space and talk to her about it gently until she came to an understanding in her own time, even though it was beginning to tug at Eddie's heart since the leap to the word daddy had already been made. While studying the little girl's reaction, it occurred to Jamie that perhaps part of the issue and anxiety in the car this morning was a carryover from the way she had been treated right before her mother's demise and the terror that ensued during the accident at the bridge, and he cursed himself inwardly for not taking into account how Kaylin would feel about another long road trip. Despite that, he was not one to allow his daughter to be impolite, especially in public.

"Kaylin, sweetie, that wasn't your nice voice," he chided gently. "What do you say?"

"Sorry, ma'am," came the little down-turned reply.

"Oh, no darlin' I'm the one that's sorry… didn't mean to pry or upset her. I just saw the ring and all…"

Jamie just smiled and waved her on weakly. "It's no problem," he explained. "She just um, well lost her mother last year and doesn't quite understand yet. Would you mind refilling my coffee, please?" he asked in order to give the embarrassed woman a gracious exit while their food arrived from the kitchen and Eddie and Kaylin were soon digging into their plates of waffles while Jamie settled for a couple of pieces of dry toast as he marveled at the apparent iron will for food his two counterparts possessed.

"Well that wasn't awkward at all," Eddie offered, pausing for a moment as it occurred to her that her mother might have a different reaction to the little girl's outburst.

"S'okay," Jamie smirked a little. "At least she's acknowledging one of us as a parent figure now so the next call doesn't go out to the state police to report a kidnapping in progress. Although maybe we could get a ride in a cleaner car."

"Reagan, how many times have we had a perp toss their cookies in the back of the RMP. You should be immune to that by now… I am."

"Not the same… and not in my car," he moaned as he rested his head on his hand and stared at his unappetizing bread while he considered exactly how he was going to rid it of the sour stench now entrenched in the carpet during the middle of winter without taking a pressure washer to the whole interior.

"So I'm thinking we need to get our stories straight on some things before you meet Mom," Eddie started as she polished off another big bite of the golden brown batter cake and paused to wipe the maple syrup and fresh whipped cream off her face with a napkin.

"Stories? Like what?" he asked as he glanced up and shook his head as he watched her dive into another stack. "Janko, we were partners for more than two years and you talk incessantly in the car. Pretty sure I know just about your whole life history including your first kiss with that Kevin guy behind the bleachers when you were in eighth grade."

"It was Evan Peters, and no, not those things… our things," she explained. "Trust me, if Mom senses an opening she'll go for it and try to divide us. We can't be weak and get split up over an issue. Like, for instance, how many more kids are we planning for?"

"After this morning? That's easy. None," he affirmed as he sat back and gave her a puzzled glance. "What? Is she like a cheetah eyeing up the slowest wildebeest? We just got engaged last weekend! She's your mom, Ed. She's just gonna be happy to see you and meet us, right? You did tell her about me and Kaylin, didn't you?" he asked suddenly suspicious that despite all her previous chatter maybe he was walking into more than he had bargained for anyway.

"Well, yes of course I told her we were dating and about you adopting Kaylin. I just didn't know you were going to make the big move so soon with the ring and all, so I didn't really prepare her for that. What about where we're going to live? That's a biggie since Mom manages a real estate office branch and she's totally into that. I mean my lease is up in May, and yours in June… now there's three of us. What am I gonna do with all my stuff?"

"Janko, we had more than five hours sitting in the car doing nothing today except dodging 'tossed cookies' as you put it, and you didn't think to bring this up then? We could have had our whole life plan ironed out in contract form and notarized for her by now."

"I know, but it's just... I've never introduced anyone to her as my fiancé before… the others, well the others never had to come back if they didn't want to and… and you have a kid!" Eddie stated in a full blown panic mode as these little realizations were just starting to hit her now that she was being forced to face them after a week of post-engagement bliss. "My mom, she just says things without thinking sometimes… and Kaylin remembers everything just like with the waitress," she whispered while covering her mouth. "What if any of that comes back out at a Sunday dinner with your family? She's not a big fan of law enforcement after what we went through with my dad and him being in prison and all. She hates that I'm a cop too. This could be a disaster!"

"Well that's easy to fix then," Jamie said with a smirk as he softly grabbed her left wrist across the table. "I'll just take the ring back and go home," he challenged in an effort to get her to pause for a moment and take a breath. At least that part of his plan had the desired effect as she stopped to snatch her hand away.

"Don't even joke about that," she cried as she paused to straighten and admire it. Eddie had been instantly smitten with the engagement setting the second it was slipped on her finger, and the knowledge that the center diamond had come from Jamie's own mother's ring and the rest from Grandma Betty made her cherish it even more. It was perfect for her, as he had hoped, and she never intended to take it off unless she had to. "Just be prepared to face off in the box when it comes to the wedding. Mom is not going to appreciate it if she's the last one to know."

"Then we just need to go get this over with and see her," Jamie advised as the check came and he reached into his wallet to pull out a tip before taking it up to the register. "You can't have it both ways. We have months to worry about where we're gonna live and if she asks about the wedding date and stuff just say we haven't had a chance to look into it yet, we have some venues in mind and the plan is to figure that out in the next few weeks or so. If she gets into the cop thing, I'm a big boy and I'll deal with it… it won't be anything our family hasn't heard before, believe me. At least your dad kinda liked me. This whole for better or worse stuff starts now, I guess," he offered as he got up to pay the bill.

"You could say that, right munchkin?" Eddie added softly while she gathered Kaylin up in her arms and followed behind him.

###

11:58 am

220 Queen Avenue, Rochester, NY

By the time the three finally entered Rochester, Jamie was already reconsidering that whole for better or worse adage and wondering if Demosthenes had it right instead way back in 338 B.C. with "He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day," a point he might very well have to take up with his father at an upcoming Sunday dinner.

For her part, Kaylin was now dressed only in the garish red and white striped footie jammies that Auntie Erin had bought for her for Christmas as the waffles from the diner had made a reappearance and taken with them virtually every other stitch of clothing they had brought for the little girl to wear. One more incident and she would have been buck naked when they arrived on the 200 block of Queen Avenue in Rochester as Jamie pulled up to the curb in front of the tastefully appointed two-story Victorian and shut the engine off before laying his head down on the steering wheel in defeat.

"We're here," he muttered in a near whimper. "I told you… we'd make it right on time, thank you Jesus."

"Hmm, I don't see Mom's car yet," Eddie offered as she purposefully ignored his angst. "Let me call her. Maybe she's been delayed at her meeting and we can go in the house and throw some of Kaylin's clothing in the wash quick before she gets back and meets her future granddaughter while she's dressed up like a candy-cane."

"It will never smell the same in here again… ever," he moaned as his hand came up to rest lovingly on the dash of his cherished Mustang. "I'm so sorry, girl…" he trailed off.

"Why do men always address their cars as females and then never let us drive them?" Eddie puzzled as she held the phone up to her ear and waited for the call to go through. "I mean it's kinda demeaning," she continued before pulling the device down and disconnecting. "Oh, crap... here she comes," she warned as the sleek silver Mercedes sedan turned the corner and pulled up in the driveway behind them. "Now Jamie, try to remember what I told you and don't get upset if things don't go the way you think they will…" she advised as he stared at her in disbelief that she had the gall to say that to him after the drive from hell that had just concluded. "Let's just go," she added.

"After you, Janko," he replied as he gathered himself with every bit of resolve left and got out of the seat, pausing only to unbuckle his loudly dressed child and hoist her to his shoulder wrapped up in his own coat against the cold upstate New York January air before walking over to greet Eva Janko, a classic-looking business woman with short blond hair who had just stepped out of her car fashionably attired in a crisp suit and three-inch heels. The same vibrant blue eyes that her daughter possessed immediately locked on and looked him up and down.

"Mom," Eddie said as she took her hand and led her over. "This is Jamie and his daughter Kaylin that I've been telling you about, and look!" she gushed as she held her left hand up and showed off the beautiful ring, unable to contain her excitement. "We've got some news!"

"I see that, Edit," Eva smiled with a slight bit of frost as she stepped forward and offered to shake Jamie's hand. "It's so good finally to meet you, Jamison Reagan and Kaylin is it? What an interesting name. It appears that we will have a lot to talk about this weekend, won't we? Why don't we get in out of the weather... that poor child looks cold, I hope you've brought her more appropriate clothes for dinner tonight... Shall we go inside?"

"Ah, yes ma'am," he added with a slight hitch rolling through his stomach even as he offered his most charming Reagan smile in return. Jamie could sense things were not immediately golden, and he wasn't used to being set on the back foot so quickly while meeting a girlfriend's mother, even with Sydney... and Mrs. Davenport had been a real piece of work all on her own but she hadn't turned on him until hearing about the "bait and switch" as she called it when he flipped from law to the police academy. Eva was like ice from the get go. Suddenly he felt like a little schoolboy talking to a nun about to wield a big wooden ruler across his knuckles, and that was… well honestly more Danny's domain. Undeterred, he was filled with his Irish pride and a determination to not go down without an attempt to fight the good fight. "I'm so glad we were able to make it here today, Mrs. Janko. You have a lovely home," he added as Eddie's lips pursed and her eyes rolled up to the sky from behind her mother.

Let the games begin, she thought as she followed them into the house.


So has Eva Janko met her match in one Jamison Reagan, or is she truly gifted in her own dark arts and just stringing him along for now? How will the rest of the weekend turn out?

Also, a good update, thanks for all the well-wishes. The little girl that serves as Kaylin's real-life inspiration is stable for now and improving daily since the surgery although it looks like she'll need to stay at least two more weeks in the children's hospital. Please continue to keep her and the family in your thoughts. The community here is really pulling together for them.

Finally (I'm chatty today) the fact that everyone responded so well to Rick in his snapshot has inspired his return, not so much in the followup story to "Water," but in the third and final piece in this series called "Resurgence" that will mirror "Resurrection," so thanks for the inspiration because I was stumped on how to pull that one off!