The Pregnancy Ship

Chapter 30: Reminiscing

This is an A/U story

Disclaimer: These are not my characters they are fully James Duffs. I just love them so much and love to play with them.

It was 12pm and Sharon was laying on the sofa having drifted into a nap while watching the twins and Mikey "talking "to each other and making faces at each other. It was so cute she had taken some pictures and a video with her phone and sent them to Andy. Then she realized how tired she was and drifted into sleep with the phone still in her hand. The babies had finally fallen asleep too. Suddenly the quiet was pierced by the ringing of her phone. Sharon jumped and hurried to answer it before it woke the babies. "H….hmmm Good morning?" She squinted at her watch and realized she couldn't see it. "Em, where are my glasses?" She asked a little groggily.

"Here they are, Mom. You were asleep so I took them off and put them on the coffee table." Emily said soothingly.

"Oh, thank you Em," she said and seeing who it was on the phone, she smiled. "So, Andrea, I guess it's more like good afternoon."

There was an amused chuckle on the other end of the line. "Afternoon, Sunshine. You sound a little groggy. Did I wake you?"

"Yes, I guess I nodded off," she yawned and rubbed her face. "Oh sorry, let's start over. Andrea, I'm so glad to hear from you, we haven't seen each other or talked since your boys Bris Ceremony. How have you been? How are the boys and Paul?"

"Wonderful, listen the boys had an appointment with their pediatrician at the hospital and I saw Andy and Provenza. They said you were home with all three babies, so since I was out and about I thought I would come see you. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay. You don't even have to ask. Um, how far away are you?"

Andrea paused then with a smile said, "in your driveway."

Sharon squeaked in surprise, but recovered. "My Gosh, Andrea come in! I'll have Emily or Julio come out and help you. I'll be in the bathroom, but I'll be right out."

"Okay, be right in," Andrea said already distracted by the logistics of getting both babies car seats and diaper bags into the house. Paul had been with her at the pediatrician, but had Uber come get him and take him to his office, afterward.

"Can I help you ma'am?" Julio said quietly.

Andrea had been bending over unbuckling Jared's car seat, trying to do it quietly so as not to wake her boys when she heard Julio's voice behind her. She jumped cracking her head on the doorframe. "Ow!" Andrea rubbed the back of her head then, both boys started wailing and she closed her eyes and groaned.

"I'm sorry. Ma'am, are you all right? I didn't mean to scare you!"

"It's not your fault, Julio I was so focused on what I was doing I didn't hear you coming.

Sharon said something about sending you out to help me, but I've got to learn to handle them myself sometime."

"Well not today, I'm here, use me while you've got me," he said then he realized what that sounded like and he blushed. "I mean…"

"Relax, Julio I know what you're trying to say," chuckled Andrea. "Here you carry Jared, I'll carry Jake."

Julio took Jared in his car seat carrier from Andrea and said, "Uhh, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be carrying these babies in their car seats, Ma'am. Let me take them both, you carry the diaper bags. Andrea shrugged and carried the bags inside. She was greeted by Emily who hugged her and she hugged her back. Andrea had watched Emily and Ricky grow up. It seemed like just yesterday that they were as little as the twins. It was surreal to be raising her own babies so late in her life, but she was glad she was on this ship with Sharon.

Outside, Julio unsnapped Jake in his car seat carrier from the car seat base and had them both inside in a heartbeat. The boys were so mesmerized by the different face they were seeing they had stopped crying. When Andrea realized Madison, Natalie Flynn and Mikey Provenza were asleep in their swings, she was glad her boys were no longer crying. She put their pacifiers into their mouths to insure that they stayed that way and while she was waiting for Sharon, she changed their diapers talking to them in infant directed speech. Then she blew bubbles on their tummies trying to elicit their first smiles.

Sharon came down the hall in a pair of black leggings, a turquoise printed top, a matching turquoise sweater and a pair of black ballet slippers. She had changed for company since her blouse from that morning was stained from breast milk. She stopped when she heard Andrea squeal. Then she chuckled as Andrea slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized she had just squealed and forgotten that quick that Sharon's babies and Mikey were asleep. "Don't worry, they're all pretty heavy sleepers. I'm so glad to see you Andrea. Motherhood looks good on you," Sharon said. She wrapped her friend in a big hug. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too!" said Andrea pulling out of the hug, then she picked up the diaper bags and put them on her shoulder. She lifted Jake out of his carrier and Sharon did the same with Jared.

Together the two women, holding Andrea's sons moved away from where the other babies were asleep so they could talk. They went towards the lanai which Andy had had enclosed with screens, after their wedding. Later he had decorated it with Sharon's taste in mind hoping that she would regain her sight and see it. He had added three overhead fans and rattan furniture with coral flowered cushions, after the babies were born. There was a freestanding fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs 200 yards from the lanai overlooking the drop off for the view of the ocean. Both the lanai and the fire pit area were inviting places to visit with friends. At the door leading to the lanai, Sharon turned to Emily to ask her and Julio to watch the other babies.

Emily smiled and said quietly, "Mom we know, just enjoy your visit with Aunt Andrea, I'll bring out some iced tea in a minute. The babies will be fine, they are dry, we just changed them before they went to sleep and Julio and I gave them each a bottle right before you woke up. The girls only took a couple of ounces, but that should hold them over until you have lunch. Julio and I are working on that right now."

"Thanks, Honey," Sharon said and joined Andrea on the lanai.

They stretched out on the rattan chaise lounges under the fans. "Ooh this is great, Sharon. So nice and comfy and what a great view! You can see the ocean from here!"

"Yes, I love it! Andy knows I adore the ocean and he also knew I'd miss my view from my balcony at the condo, so he had some trees cut down so I could see the ocean. I was upset at first, thinking he'd cut perfectly good trees down but the guy that cut them said the trees he cut were old and would have fallen down anyway. The wood is stacked up over there." Sharon pointed to a place at the edge of the property, where a huge stack of wood sat. "Need any firewood? I think we have enough for everybody in the state of California into the next millennium!"

Andrea eyes widened, "Wow!" Andrea said. "As you know from being there off and on over the years, Paul's and my house is not that far away, but it's across the street. We don't have an ocean view but we have that charming little pond that ducks and geese like to swim in. We'll have to find a way to enclose the pond when the boys get bigger but for now it's nice to be able to see it from our lanai."

Once they were settled each with a bottle to feed the boys with and the promised ice tea that Emily had brought out. Andrea took up where she had left off. "Thanks, for saying that motherhood is looking good on me, Sharon. It means a lot, especially coming from you. I can't quite believe I am a mother, really. I mean, I never even dreamed of having kids when I was younger. I never even thought I liked kids or that I'd be a very good mother." Andrea looked down at Jake and he looked back up at her as he sucked on his bottle. She touched his cheek with her finger and sighed. "I didn't exactly have a very good example of a good mother for the first thirteen years of my life. You know that," Sharon nodded. "For one thing I was afraid I'd be like her, cold and closed off, drunk half the time, verbally abusive. She didn't even want me, you know. She told me one day that the only reason she had me was that she didn't realize she was pregnant until it was too late to have an abortion. When she said that I asked her why if she didn't want me she hadn't given me up for adoption, she told me that since she carried me and she gave birth to me, why should she give me away? I belonged to her! It was like she was laying claim to a piece of jewelry or furniture or something." Andrea said with a tinge of bitterness.

"Oh, Andrea! I'm so sorry…" Sharon said stricken by the sadness of Andrea's memories of her time with her mother. It reminded her so much of Rusty's situation.

Andrea waved her concern away. "No, I'm sorry, I don't mean to whine. I guess I am just so afraid that I won't be able to break the cycle. I don't want to be another Allison to my boys."

"Andrea, you won't be. I'm sure of it, but if you want you could consult Dr Joe. He's been great with Rusty and he deals with people who share your experiences all the time. I'm sure he would be happy to discuss ways of breaking the cycle of abuse with you." Sharon tried to reassure her friend.

"Thanks Sharon, I'll talk to him. You know if you think about it I did have had an example of what a good mother was."

Sharon looked at her with a question in her eyes, "Reba?"

"Well yeah, eventually, but it was your mother, Shar. She was the first real mother I experienced. When I got to spend time at your house. Your mother was great, she still is!"

Sharon smiled, "Yes she is and she loved you like you were one of her own."

"I loved her back. She made me realize that not all mothers were like mine. I think one of the happiest times of my life was during that time after...after…Allison died in the fire and I got to spend time with a real family," Andrea voice shook as she spoke. "Seeing your parents in action with you, your sisters and brother was wonderful. They always made sure I was included. Being with you and your family kind of helped prepare me for dad, Reba and the kids."

Sharon tilted her head to the side and mused. "You know, we've been friends for longer than I care to admit and we've been separated by distance on more than one occasion. It seems that no matter how long we've been separated we've always found our way back to each other. Yet, other than those few letters you sent the first three months after you left the first time when you moved to Florida to live with your father, you've never really talked about your life there. We've always had way too much else to talk about, jobs, marriage, and the current drama of the day. What was it like living with them?"

"There's always a drama of the day," Andrea said sardonically, "especially since we boarded the pregnancy ship, together. Although now that the babies are born, I think it should be called the motherhood ship," she quirked an eyebrow at Sharon, who giggled and tried hard not to snort. Andrea laughed too. "Getting back to what we were talking about, there were some rough adjustments. I won't lie to you. Things didn't fall into place right off the bat."

"Well, you alluded to some of that in your letters, from what I can remember. I got the feeling you were not telling everything."

"It wasn't that it was bad from their end. It was me, Shar. My life with Allison or should I say Mommy Dearest, did nothing to prepare me for life with a real family. Having brothers and sisters and all that. My time with your family helped a great deal, but your sisters were about three and they were well behaved and not wild or intrusive. Jack and Charlie were little boys who were wild and resented me as much as I did them. Olivia, being the baby she was, was inquisitive and constantly got into my stuff. It took awhile for me to accept them into my life. I mean, when I moved down there with dad I wanted him all to myself. Then I found out he had this girlfriend and she had kids, little kids whom he adored, and they adored him. I realized I would have to share him with them. I wasn't happy about it at all. They would leave me with them sometimes, go out dancing or to the grocery store. They thought that if the kids and I spent time together without dad and Reba we'd learn to like each other."

"How did that work out?" Sharon asked dubiously.

Andrea shook her head, "about like you'd think, Olivia got into my things. She tried to eat my lip-gloss once and she made a big mess. Jack and Charlie were loud and noisy and wouldn't listen to me. They were constantly pulling pranks on me. Frogs in my bed, spiders down my back," she shuddered. "One time I got really angry and I yelled at them, I mean, I screamed at them. I sounded… even to myself… I sounded just like Allison. Reba and my dad came in while I was screaming at them. They saw me almost slap Jack, like Allison slapped me that time. Reba took the children home and told my father that he needed to give me time to adjust to my new life with him, without having to share him with anyone and he needed to get me help for my anger issues. Until then they would not be seeing each other."

Sharon cringed at the thought of what might of happened next. "Oh my! Was he angry at you?"

"Well, not exactly angry, disappointed maybe and very sad. After all, the complete disaster of his marriage with Allison, he had finally found someone he could love and she had children he adored, and then along comes this mopey teenager, who screws it all up for him. He did send me to counseling and he even went with me sometimes, but he was sad and disappointed and I could see how much he missed Reba and the kids. So after several counseling sessions, I finally got them together and I told them about my life before them. I apologized to Reba, the kids and my dad. They apologized to me for leaving me with the kids and putting me in the situation to begin with. Dad cried, he cried Sharon!" Andrea teared up a little thinking of the memory.

Andrea sniffled before continuing, "he told me, if he had known about me from the beginning he would have fought for custody, once he realized what she was like. He said he never would have allowed Allison to raise me if he known I existed, but he had not known. They'd only been married two weeks, after all and he had run as far away from her as he could after the divorce. He told me he suspected that she knew he would take me away from her if she told him about me, so she didn't tell him. He also figured that's why she never sued him for child support. We, my Dad and I, Reba and the kids finally became a family. Reba was very careful about leaving me alone with the kids. Being a parent now I can't say I blame her."

As Sharon listened to Andrea, she remembered back to that time in hers and Andrea's life like it was yesterday. They were ten when they met during the last two years of elementary school. They had clicked in spite of vastly different backgrounds. Sharon was from a large Irish Catholic family and Andrea was the only child of a single mother who drank, smoked and treated her daughter as if she hated her. Allison Hobbs may have been Andrea's biological mother, but she wasn't anything more. She had always insisted Andrea call her by her name, instead of the title of Mom or Mommy. She was cold, aloof and a mean drunk. The one time Sharon had met her, three years after she and Andrea had become friends, she'd been drunk and abusive towards Andrea, because she had tried to get the booze and the lit cigarette from her thinking she was asleep. But Allison hadn't been asleep; she had cursed Andrea and smacked her hard across the face. Then she had told her to get out of her sight.

So, Sharon had helped her pack and had taken her to her house. That night Allison had fallen asleep drunk and the lit cigarette she had held in her hand had dropped on the couch and had lit the house on fire, killing her. Andrea had felt guilty at first, thinking that if she'd been home she could have saved her, but Sharon's parents had told her if she'd been there she would have died too or at least been badly burned.

Andrea had lived with the O'Dwyers for several months before DCFS found her father. Thirty-five year old Jacob Hobbs was a Civil Rights Lawyer who had met Allison in a nightclub. He had fallen in love with Allison's blonde beauty and had married her before he realized what she was really like under the beauty, a mean drunk, who liked to party. They had divorced after only two weeks of being married. He had moved to Florida, without knowing that Allison was pregnant. When DCFS got in touch with him he immediately asked for a paternity test to be done. He had caught Allison in some very compromising situations with other men at social functions they had gone to during their very brief marriage. Once it came back positive he had invited Andrea to come live with him. She had, and had settled into a better life with her father than she had ever had with her mother. Jacob was kind to Andrea, and encouraged her to follow in his footsteps into law.

She had written to Sharon about her new life with her dad but had left out any problems she had getting settled. She had known Sharon would worry about her if she told her. Sharon remembered that Andrea's letters had described her new dad, Jacob as a bachelor, who was taking his time getting married again, being cautious after his disastrous marriage to Andrea's mother but that he had a girlfriend named Reba who was a redhead. No more blondes for him, except for Andrea of course. Andrea had written that she had liked Reba who was kind but direct and that that directness could be misinterpreted at times. Sharon knew from the letters that Reba had been a military widow who had lost her husband when she was just about to deliver her daughter, Olivia. She was five years younger than Andrea's father, Jake and that she had small children a girl, Olivia who was 18months old and two little boys, Jack and Charlie who were six and five at that time. Reba and the children had lived in the house next door, which is how Jake had met her.

Since Andrea had not been raised with brothers and sisters as Sharon was the one troubling truth she had shared with her best friend was about how at first she had felt threatened by the idea of sharing her newly found father with Reba's children. The rest of the letters were all about how much she had enjoyed taking care of her dad who, until he had met Reba and brought Andrea into his life had lived on take out because he was hopeless in the kitchen. Andrea had learned to cook from Mrs O'Dwyer, during her brief stay with Sharon's family and Reba, who was an excellent cook, broadened her skills. Andrea had included in her letters to Sharon an abbreviated version of the initial awkwardness between father and daughter, before they became close. She had included that once she realized that Reba wasn't Allison, she learned to accept her, but she had not told her about her blowing up at the kids or her father's and Reba's temporary break up or the counseling.

They had stayed in touch with letters for the first three months after Andrea had moved to Florida, but demands on their time, both Sharon and Andrea had many extracurricular school activities they were involved in. Swimming and debate club to name a few, they wrote less and less. Their lives got in the way of regular communication between them. The vast distance between them became more and more pronounced the longer they were apart. Finally they had lost touch with each other. Before they knew it they were applying for scholarships to colleges and they both won full scholarships to Columbia University, in New York. They had been in all the same classes and had reconnected immediately.

Happy to be together, they became inseparable again and for the next three years they had studied together, helping each other to prepare for their shared interest in aw school. Then, the summer before their senior year, Andrea had gone back to Florida to do a summer internship with her father's firm and to be in her father's wedding to Reba, Sharon had stayed at the dorm and worked in a local law firm as a clerk. There she had met Jackson Raydor. Jack had quite literally swept her off her feet with his charm and his jokes. They shared a love of Shakespeare's sonnets, which he would recite to her. During her senior year Sharon's relationship with Jack distracted her enough that her grades slipped from 3.98 to 3.80. It was still a pretty high average GPA but not high enough for a full scholarship from the top three law schools in the country, where she and Andrea wanted to go. Andrea however had had no such distractions and won the scholarship to Yale the prestigious law school in Connecticut.

Sharon had been devastated. She had not even dreamed that she would not be studying law with her best friend. Her father was completely against her relationship with Jack to begin with, but losing .18 points off her grade point average had really angered him and he lost faith in her ability to stay focused on her schooling. He withdrew his promise of financial support to law school. He had been prepared to fund her studies in law if she didn't get a scholarship based on his finances, as long as her grade point average stayed high and her focus was steady, but her relationship with Jack had completely screwed that up. Then Jack had come up with the idea of getting married and going to California and her working to get him through Stanford Law School, with the promise that once he graduated, he would work to put her through. Caught up in the romance of the idea she had agreed.

Andrea had stood with her at the courthouse when she and Jack were married. They had decided to have a civil ceremony since Sharon's parents didn't care for Jack and had tried desperately to talk her out of marrying him. As a last resort they had flatly refused to pay for the wedding, in a last desperate attempt to dissuade her from marrying Jack. They were not filthy rich, by any means, but once Sean O'Dwyers Accounting Firm had gotten off the ground, they were more than comfortable. They would have paid for the wedding gladly if they hadn't been so completely sure that Sharon marrying Jack was a terrible, horrible mistake, but Sharon was completely in love with Jack and blind to his faults, at that time. She thought her parents were wrong and she was right. Being young, she thought she knew what she was doing. She insisted on marrying Jack in spite of her parent's misgivings. When they had refused to pay for the wedding she had become stubbornly, more determined to married him anyway, with Andrea, and Jack's brother Dennis their only witnesses.

It was an uncharacteristic moment of rebellion she regretted to this day, especially since Jack's grand plan had not work out like they had hoped. After moving to California, she joined the LAPD, so she would have a steady job with which to pay Jack's way through law school, but by the time it was her turn she was pregnant with Emily. Then Ricky three years later and Jack had begun drinking heavily and philandering, she had decided to transfer to IA so she could support her family. She would never regret her children, but she did regret staying with Jack as long as she had.

When they had moved to California, Andrea had been left behind to pursue her law degree at Yale. Four years later, right out of law school she had become the DDA in Topanga, outside of Santa Monica. After meeting Paul at a conference in LA, she had eventually transferred and become the leading DDA in LA. After a four-year engagement to Paul, they had married at the courthouse and Sharon and Gavin Paul's best friend had stood up for her, like Andrea had for Sharon. Upon getting the job in Topanga, she had called Sharon and they had reconnected with each other and resumed their friendship as if they hadn't been separated five years before. Sharon had been grateful for that.

She shook herself out of her memories and realized that Andrea was addressing her. "Sharon where did you go?"

"Oh you sent me down memory lane I guess. I'm sorry, go on what were you saying?"

"Just that being a parent now I understand where Reba was coming from. As a mother, as you know, you always want to protect your children, but I grew up believing that given my background it was better not to have children and once I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. I was so driven to succeed, the thought of having children never even entered my mind," she shrugged and then looked down remembering her husband's bouts with prostate cancer. "I guess that almost losing Paul," Andrea swallowed trying to force down the lump in her throat, "made me realize I wanted to have Paul's children after all. Then we found out he couldn't have kids because of the radiation treatment and the chemo. So we were glad that the doctor convinced us to freeze our eggs and sperm so many years ago after the pregnancy scare our first year married because now… now I can't begin to imagine my life without these handsome fellas! Just before you came down the hall Sharon, Jake smiled at me. It was his first smile ever. That's what made me squeal like I did and it was such a sweet little smile. He had his pacifier in his mouth but I could tell he was smiling. Who knew that something as simple as one of my baby boy's first smiles would make me feel like this? It's like Christmas and the Fourth of July wrapped into one," Andrea said completely awestruck.

Sharon smiled back at her and looked down at Jared, "it does doesn't it. That's the way it was for me too. Only you know, my girls haven't really smiled yet, but I remember what it was like when Emily and Ricky smiled for the first time. With Emily it was as if the sun had come out on a rainy day. Jack had come home after a two week "business trip." She rolled her eyes since her hands were full and she couldn't mimic the quotation marks. "He left his dirty clothes all over the place, so Emily was in her swing, I was in the laundry room tired from work and I was feeling overwhelmed. Emily smiled at me from her swing and although it didn't solve my problem, it lifted my spirits up at least for a little while. With Ricky, I had just discovered Jack had drained our joint bank account. I was so upset! I had my head in my arms sobbing. I guess Ricky thought I was gearing up to play peek-a-boo. It was then that Ricky giggled for the first time it was like he was telling me everything would be alright and it was, eventually. It was at that moment that I realized that I had to put my children's well being over my pride."

She paused for a minute, remembering her mistakes of her past wasn't easy. "I called my parents and said I was sorry for not listening to them. They told me they were sorry too. I had never defied them before and they were taken off guard. When my siblings got in trouble the threat of no financial support got them in line pretty quick. That hadn't happened with me so they were at loss on how to bridge the gap. I told them some of what was going on. My sister Jan was ill and had just had a baby so my mother had to stay with her, but my dad came all the way from Pennsylvania. He gave me money with the understanding that I would put the money in an account with just my maiden name so that Jack couldn't get a hold of it. It wasn't a fortune, just enough to draw on to keep us from starving until I was able to get myself on my feet again. Dad stayed for the weekend. When he saw the car I was driving, a beat up old Volvo, he bought me a new one. I argued with him but he said it was worth it to him to know that his grandchildren and I were in a safe car. He helped me with the beginnings of getting separated from Jack's debts. It took years, but that was the beginning."

Jared started fidgeting and from experience Sharon knew he needed to burp. Sharon put the bottle down and moved him up on her shoulder with a cloth diaper covering her sweater. She patted his back to make him burp. "Andrea, how much do the boys weigh now? They've grown so much!"

Andrea smiled thinking of her growing boys. "Well, they're both 9lbs. They were both around 6lbs 4oz when they were born, so they gained about 21/2 almost 3lbs."

"They are so much bigger than my two of course, my two are girls and they were two weeks early, but they are bigger than Mikey too."

"It might have something to do with the fact that my boys are voracious little eaters. They are always hungry always, their pediatrician said I could add a bit of formula to the breast milk, in a bottle every other feeding, so I wasn't constantly nursing them."

Sharon nodded, understanding her friend perfectly. "Speaking of eating, have you had lunch?" Sharon asked

"No I haven't, but I could eat if… If you're going to," Andrea said with a shrug.

"I was thinking of making a grilled tuna melt. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great!" Andrea said.

Sharon attempted to get off the chaise lounge but it was a little difficult holding Jared and she sunk back into her seat when she saw her daughter and Julio with lunch trays. Just as Sharon had asked Andrea if she had eaten Julio and Emily came onto the lanai carrying lunch trays. "Uhh Ma'am, Emily and I made chicken salad sandwiches and we heated some tomato based clam chowder."

"You didn't have to do that, you don't have to wait on us," Sharon protested.

"We didn't mind, did we Julio?" Emily said smiling shyly at him.

Julio blushed, "no, we had fun."

"Thank you, Julio and Emily," Sharon nodded to them smiling.

After putting the lunch trays over their laps both Julio and Emily took Jake and Jared and placed the sleeping babies in their car seat carriers. "Oh uh... Ma'am, I made the chicken salad with a soy based mayonnaise, so no dairy."

"Thanks Julio," Sharon said looking relieved. Andrea gave her friend a puzzled look but Sharon said, "I'll tell you later, believe me it's not fit conversation for while we are eating."

Andrea looked at Julio, speculatively, "I didn't even know you could cook Julio and I must confess you don't seem the type," she said curiously.

"I've been a bachelor for sixteen years, Ma'am. If I hadn't learned to cook I would have starved. My mama taught me to cook years ago when I was a kid. Since she hurt her back and I've been living with her I've been doing all the cooking." Julio looked at his boss, "I've also started to be... uh… sensitive to dairy so I have been trying out recipes that don't include milk."

"A man that cooks isn't anything to be sneezed at, believe me. My Paul can cook; he's great at it. My father couldn't boil water successfully," Andrea said with fondness.

"Andy cooks too! Hmmm his Eggplant Parmesan is to die for, actually he cooks anything Italian very well. It's a good thing too, because… with the twins to care for even with help from Rusty, Emily and Julio, I don't cook much," they both said at the same time and then laughed. Sharon snort laughed and slapped her hand over her mouth and nose blushing profusely.

Andrea rolled her eyes playfully, "Did you just... snort?"

Sharon pressed her lips together and nodded, mortified. "Andy likes it," Sharon said defensively.

"Well, I'm glad I am not the only one that does that and Paul does too. Like it I mean."

"Jack used to make fun of me. He'd imitate me to his friends, so it took me quite a while to relax around Andy enough for it to happen. Then one day he had me laughing so hard it happened. I remember he looked at me and I looked at him with what... I can only guess was a terrified expression. His eyes were wide and his mouth well it was in a surprised O. He was trying to figure out how to react." Sharon laughed thinking of Andy's face. "I'm pretty sure he wanted desperately to laugh but I guess he could see that wouldn't have been the right choice, right then so instead, he took me in his arms and told me he loved it when I laughed because it made him feel like laughing too. I just love that man! It was absolutely the right thing to say."

Andrea was happy her good friend had found a great guy, but couldn't hold back her contempt for Sharon's ex. "Jack was an asshole, but Andy is turning into quite a doll."

"You know it, the differences between Andy and Jack are like night and day. Yet they started out with the same addiction. It's amazing." Suddenly the phone rang. Speaking of Andy," Sharon said and answered her phone. "Hey," she said with a sultry voice.

"Hey," his voice was a little tired but he was happy to hear hers.

"How is Kayla?" Sharon hesitated to ask, "Did she? Is she…"

"She's out of surgery, the next 48 hours will be critical, but once she gets past them she should be okay."

Sharon expressed her worry by asking, "48 hours? After all they've been through… Could she still..."

Andy quickly interrupted her, "Sharon honey, we can't think in terms of what could still happen. Patrice says she is taking one moment at a time. That's probably the best way to think right now and right now she's holding her own. She survived the surgery, that's what we concentrate on. Listen, Rusty and I will be home a little later. We're going to get dinner for the Provenza's and then see if they need anything. Patrice said something about needing some cloth gloves and rice or beans. Not sure what that's about."

Sharon heard Rusty talking in the background. "Oh, Rusty said to look up the word Zaky on the Internet. It'll explain more fully, but basically it's a way of helping the infant feel as if her mother is holding her. The gloves smell like their mother, she holds them on her skin throughout the day and then they fill them with beans or rice so they have a form and they place them around the baby when the mother goes home at night. Speaking of Mikey, he will be with us overnight and then Louie or Patrice will pick him up tomorrow. I'll bring some more bottles from Patrice."

"Okay, sounds good. Did you get the video I sent?"

Andy laughed then asked, "The one with the ninja babies and Buddha?"

"Ninja babies? Buddha? Andy, what are you talking about?" Sharon asked confused.

"Well, Madison looks like she's trying to do a ninja move with arms and legs going all at the same time, Natalie too. Mikey is just sitting there with a peaceful smile on his face like Buddha."

Sharon smiled at the way he described the babies. "Oooohhhh, I get it. My, Andy you have quite an imagination! Listen guess who stopped by to visit me?"

"Andrea?" Andy guessed, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes. How did you know?" she asked curiously.

He letting out a tired yawn before he explained, "We ran into each other here at the hospital. Her son's pediatrician is here, Louie and I saw her and Paul with the babies on one of several walks through the halls. She asked about you and we told her what was going on."

Sharon slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Oh, that's right, I remember now, Andrea told me you ran into each other at the hospital."

"Yeah, Well um… I'll see you later. I love you, Sharon."

"I love you more," Sharon said, smiling hugely.

Andrea was watching her and said, "You've got it bad girlfriend."

"What?" She asked confused. "Oh! Yeah... I guess I do," she chuckled and then ducked her head and blushed. "Well, what can I say? I'm truly and completely in love with my husband!"

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