I own none of the characters of October Road
Eddie stood at the doorway of his bedroom and watched his beautiful wife sleeping. She was on her back and one of her hands was lying protectively on her growing belly. He didn't think that she could possibly get anymore beautiful but he was wrong. She was positively glowing and to him it just made her more beautiful. He had to wipe the tears away as he recalled the first time he felt their child kick, something he never thought he would be able to do. They were enjoying a rare evening home alone and they were cuddling together on the couch watching a basketball game. His hand was lying on her stomach when he felt it kick. It was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced. He held onto to her and cried tears of happiness.
He crawled back into bed and began kissing her. Without even opening her eyes she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer and she returned his kiss passionately. "Morning sweetheart." He mumbled when they finally broke apart.
"Good Morning." She whispered running her hands across his bare chest. "Feels like someone took his medicine this morning." The chemo medication did affect Eddie's ability to achieve an erection on his own so he ended up resorting to taking a pill for erectile dysfunction which thankfully was working well. The only thing Eddie hated about it was that he had to take it and then wait about an hour before he could get it up. It took away any spontaneous sex but Janet assured him that she didn't mind. In fact she enjoyed it because as Eddie waited to get his erection he usually spent that time lavishing his attention on his wife.
"I sure did take my pill and it worked well." He pushed erection against her thigh.
"I would appreciate it if you help me out of my clothes considering that you are already naked and I'm not."
"It would be my pleasure." He lifted her legs up and ripped her underwear down causing Janet to laugh hysterically. Once her underwear was somewhere on the bedroom floor Eddie pulled Janet up off the bed into a sitting position, straddled her, lifted her arms into the air and yanked her or more accurately his tee shirt off of her body. Janet placed her feet flat on the bed, spreading herself wide for her husband and he slid himself inside of her.
Eddie gripped the headboard for leverage, stared down at Janet nibbling and licking his nipples while he thrust himself back and forth inside of her. They had never tried this position before and he was sad that they hadn't. He loved it and thought that it was totally hot. In fact, seeing Janet sitting below him kissing his nipples was one of the hottest things he had ever seen. Occasionally, she would lift her head, he would stop pumping and they would share a slow, sweet kiss. "Harder…faster…please" She begged.
"Will I hurt the baby?" Janet burst out laughing. "What's so funny?"
"You may be well endowed baby but you ain't that big. The baby is really far up there and not even your enormous penis can't reach it"
"Yeah well we'll see how far my enormous penis can reach." Janet yelped in pleasure as he shoved himself inside her as far he could.
"Oh yeah…that's it baby." Janet dug her nails into his ass.
Edie continued to thrust himself inside of his wife and due to their position his penis rubbed against her clit with every thrust and she had two orgasms by the time Eddie had his one. "Oh my…WOW." Janet said breathlessly as Eddie pulled out. "That was so hot." With a grin she collapsed back against the pillows.
"I wish that I could take more than one pill per day because I want to make love to you slowly." He said sadly.
"No regrets Eddie. This was perfect, just what we needed. Tomorrow we can go slow."
"I love you so much." He kissed her slowly on the lips, then her neck, both of her breasts and finally her growing belly. Janet reached down and ran her fingers through his hair. "Do you know what today is?" He whispered softly running his hand over her belly.
"Uhhh Friday."
"Anything more specific?" He climbed back up the bed and she laid her head on his chest.
"We're going to find out what we're having."
"Yeah there is that."
"What are you getting at Eddie?"
"It's D-day."
"Huh?"
"I was supposed to be dead today Janet."
"Eddie…" She whispered as tears filled her eyes.
"Now don't cry sweetheart." He said when he felt a tear hit his bare chest. "This is a good thing. Dr. Turner said maybe I would have six months…that I would be lucky if I made it six months and look at me hon, it's been a great six months, minus the couple weeks that I started the chemo meds and some really bad headaches."
"I know. I just didn't realize you knew the exact day."
"A guy tends to mark on the calendar the date that he is going to die."
"I…I'm sorry. I didn't know. Things have just been so good. Your medicine is working and the cancer has stopped growing. Everything is so perfect right now that I…for awhile I forgot that you are dying." Eddie wrapped an arm around Janet and squeezed her tightly.
"Don't be sorry about forgetting Janet. I'm glad that you are able to forget for awhile, that you are able to be truly happy."
"I'm always happy Eddie."
"I know that but your happiness has been over shadowed by my cancer so I'm glad for awhile you aren't thinking about it."
"I love you Eddie."
"You know you were wrong about one thing."
"I don't think so."
"Not everything has been perfect." She sat up out of his embrace and hit him in his arm.
"I beg to differ Mr. Latekka."
"The only thing that hasn't been perfect is our little baby." Janet started giggling.
"That is so right but hopefully that will change today."
They have had two ultrasounds already to find out the sex of the baby and both times the only thing they had been able to clearly see was its butt. It was very important to Janet to find out the sex of the baby because Eddie needed and wanted to know what his child was going to be before he died and Janet's doctor understood that which is why she was doing the extra ultrasounds.
"What if the baby doesn't cooperate Janet and I die not knowing if I have a son or daughter?" He had tears in his eyes.
"I promise you that you will know if you have a son or daughter, no matter how may ultrasounds it takes. I don't care if I have to have one everyday you will know Eddie." She tapped on her belly. "Hey you in there. Daddy and I need your cooperation today. You need to be in the right position so we know what you are. I'm tired of calling you an it and this is really important to us so how about a little help today okay?" The baby kicked in response to its mother's voice. "That's a good baby." Janet looked at Eddie. "Did you feel that? The baby will cooperate today."
"I hope so honey because I'm living on borrowed time."
"Don't talk like that."
"It's true. As of today I should be dead. It's basically a miracle that I'm still alive so I am living on borrowed time."
"Then by God we are going to make the most of it. Our best friends our getting married tomorrow. We have the baby shower, Christmas, New Years coming up and our baby will be born in three short months. We have a lot of happy times to look forward to and more memories to make starting right now." Janet wiped the tears from Eddie's face and pulled him down on top of her. "I love you my sweet, sweet man."
--
"Okay Mrs. Latekka do you remember the drill?" The ultrasound tech asked with a smile. She had done the previous two ultrasounds.
"I remember the drill." Janet said with a smile. With Eddie's help Janet lay back on the table. She lifted her shirt and the tech put the cold gel on her stomach.
"All right let's see what we got." Eddie and Janet stared at the ultrasound screen as it came into focus.
"Oh my god." Eddie whispered. "Is it sucking its thumb?"
"It sure is." The tech answered.
"I can't believe that it can already suck its thumb. Janet do you see that?"
"I sure do." She whispered.
"The baby is in perfect position. I can see what you're having. Do you care to venture a guess?"
"I can't see a damn thing. Just tell us." Eddie said.
"Congratulations. You're having a boy."
"Are you sure?" Eddie asked
"I am positive." She froze the screen and pointed out their son's penis. "Can you see it? It's pretty obvious."
"Just like his daddy." Janet commented. The tech printed the pictures and handed them to the happy parents.
"Congratulations. I'm glad it all worked out."
--
"I am so not wearing heels tomorrow." Janet groaned as Eddie massaged her feet. They had just gotten home form Nick and Hannah's rehearsal dinner where she had wore heels and she was now paying for it because her ankles were swollen and her feet were killing her.
Nick and Hannah had gotten engaged two months ago and although neither of the said it out loud both Eddie and Janet knew that they pushed the wedding through quickly because they wanted to make sure that Eddie would be around to stand up for Nick.
"You could wear slippers and be the sexiest woman at the wedding."
"I will bring my slippers for the reception and I'm not supposed to be the sexiest woman at the wedding. That's the bride."
"I won't tell if you won't tell."
"You're biased Eddie. I cannot possibly be the sexiest woman at the wedding. I'm six months pregnant, big as a house and I don't have ankles any more, I have cankles."
"You are sexy as hell and I love your cankles." He lifted her foot his mouth and placed a kiss on it. "We need to decide on a name for our little man." Eddie said softly as he resumed the massage.
"That's easy. John Edward Latekka IV."
"No."
"What do you mean no? It's your family name."
"I want our son to be his own person. If he is given my family name as soon as he is born he has a name that he has to live up to. Sure, I go by Eddie but I was still John Edward III, named after my dad and grandfather. I don't want that for our son."
"What will your family say?"
"I don't care. It's not their kid. It's ours."
"I want him to have Edward as his middle name."
"Janet…"
"I want your name to be part of our son's name period."
"Okay fine." He conceded. "Edward as a middle name but what about a first name?" For the next thirty minutes they tossed out tons of different boy names but they found that they couldn't agree on one.
"What about Arthur?" Janet asked with a smirk.
"Now you're just being ridiculous Janet. We are not calling our son Art or Arty."
"Oh come on it's cute."
"You can't be serious."
"I'm not but since you've vetoed every reasonable suggestion that I have had I thought that I would throw Arthur out there. There was nothing wrong with Cooper, Liam, Caleb, Tyler, Kyle, Alexander, Evan"
"Jacob. What about Jacob?" Eddie suddenly interrupted.
"Hmmm Jacob Edward Latekka. I like it. No scratch that. I love it. It's perfect. What about you Jacob? Do you like your name?" Janet reached out, took Eddie's hand and placed it on her belly where Jacob was kicking like crazy.
"He likes it." Eddie said tearfully.
"You found the perfect name for our perfect little man."
"When you first got pregnant you said that you wanted a girl so are you okay with having a boy?"
"Of course I'm okay with having a boy. I'm going to have a miniature you and that makes it really okay. A girl would have just been easier for me."
"Easier? Girls are a pain in the ass to raise." He said with a smirk.
"No. We are perfect angels to raise."
"Pu…lease. Boys are so much easier."
"But if a girl asks me girl questions I can answer them but when Jacob asks me boy questions I'm afraid that I won't be able to answer them. Jacob will need…" She couldn't finish the sentence.
"For all the boy stuff that you don't think you can handle you will have dad around, and the guys will help out too. They have promised me that they will all be there to help you with anything you and Jacob will ever need."
"No offense to your friends but I don't want them. I want you, Jacob's father." She suddenly burst into tears. Eddie quickly pulled her up and into his arms. "This isn't fair. Jacob needs his father. I need you." She sobbed into his chest.
"I know Janet. I know. I want to be here." He held her tightly until her sobs subsided.
"Dammit I'm sorry." She sniffed wiping her eyes.
"Don't be sorry." He kissed the tip of her nose.
"I don't know where this came from."
"It's been inside you honey."
"I guess now that our baby has a sex and name it's more real than it was before. I'm scared Eddie. I don't know if I can raise our son by myself."
"You won't be by yourself Janet. You'll have my parents, Kate, Hannah, Nicky, all of our friends and your mom. And never forget that I'll always be with you, watching over you and Jacob."
"Oh sweetheart." Janet lifted her face and kissed Eddie passionately until a knock at the door broke them apart.
"Are we expecting someone?" Eddie groaned pulling away.
"No. Ignore it and maybe whoever it is will go away." Janet mumbled kissing his neck. Even though Eddie already took his pill for the day and they couldn't make love they still could make out.
"Dammit." He snapped. Ignoring the knocking was not working. Whoever it was, was not going away. "It's open." He yelled adjusting Janet's shirt back over her stomach.
"Hey guys. Did I interrupt something?" Katie asked with a knowing grin.
"What the hell do you think? We didn't answer the door." Eddie grumbled.
"No Katie. It's fine. Can I get you something to eat or drink?" Janet asked.
"A drink would be great." Janet went to stand up but Eddie put a hand on her thigh thus stopping her.
"You know where the fridge is. Go get it yourself." Eddie told his sister.
"Okay fine." Katie stuck her tongue out at her brother as she walked past him to the kitchen.
"That was rude." Janet told her husband.
"That's what she gets for interrupting us." Eddie said with a grin as he pressed his lips to Janet's again. He pulled away when he heard Katie clearing her throat. "God you're annoying." Eddie told his sister.
"It's what I do best."
"What the hell do you want?"
"Be nice Eddie." Janet said.
"Do you two have any plans on New Years Eve?"
"I don't know. Do we hon?" Eddie asked.
"Nothing yet. Are you having a big party?"
"Kinda."
"Kinda?" Eddie repeated with raised eyebrows.
"Ikey and I want to get married on New Years Eve." Eddie sat straight up.
"No way Kate."
"Excuse me?"
"You're not marrying Ikey on New Years Eve."
"Whoa back off. First of all you are not my father so you have no right to tell me what I can or can't or who I can or can't marry. Secondly, I thought that you were okay with Ikey and I dating."
"Dating Katie not marrying. You've only been with him for what now five months? You guys haven't been together long enough to get married."
"Whatever. You and Janet only dated for four months before you guys got married."
"True but Janet and I were friends for years before we started dating. You and Ikey can't say the same."
"But…"
"Kate you hardly know him."
"I do know him Eddie. We spend all of our free time together and he is an amazing guy. I love him and he loves me." Eddie reached out and took his sister's hand.
"Look bug I know why you're doing this, rushing into a wedding."
"I'm doing this because I love him." She whispered tearfully.
"Yeah there's that but just like Nicky and Hannah you want to rush into a wedding before I die." Tears fell from Katie's eyes.
"You're my big brother. I want you to see me get married to the man I love."
"Oh Katie bug, believe me, I want to see that too but not like this. I really like the fact that you and Ikey are happy together. He has really stepped up and been a good man for you but I don't want you to rush into a marriage because I'm dying. I would rather you take your time and really get to know Ikey, make sure that he is the one for you."
"I think that he is the one."
"You can't get married on think. You have to know. You have to know that you can't live without him, when you think of your future you see that doofus in it with you, the thought of being without him tears your heart into a million pieces."
"Is that how you and Janet feel about each other?" Katie asked.
"Its how I feel." Janet told her sister in law.
"Me too. I want you to feel what I feel for Janet even if it is with Ike so promise me Kate, promise me that you'll take some more time and then if you're sure then I'll support your marriage."
"But what if…what if you're not…here when I get married?"
"I'll always be with you bug even if I'm not I'll be in your heart. Remember that." Katie nodded and wiped her tears. "So no wedding on New Years Eve?"
"No wedding."
"What the hell did mom and dad say when you told them?"
"Surprisingly they didn't freak. Mom just shook her head and then sent me over here to tell you. Oh my god where you guys in this together? Did she call you? Did you plan this?"
"No. She didn't call. The first I heard about this was when you told me."
"Janet." Katie looked at Janet because she knew that Janet couldn't lie.
"No she didn't call."
"Okay. I believe you."
"Gee thanks." Eddie snipped.
"You know I love you but I wouldn't put it past you to lie to me." The three of them burst out laughing.
"Katie, I'm really glad you stopped over." Janet said once the laughing died down.
"Why's that?"
"Yeah why is that? If I recall she interrupted us making out."
"Shut up Eddie. We can make out any time." Janet reached onto the floor for her purse, pulled out the ultrasound picture and handed it to Kate.
"Awww look at your baby. It looks just like you Eddie."
"Whatever. He looks like an alien."
"My point exactly. Just like his dad…wait did you say he?"
"Look at the next picture." Janet told her. Katie flipped to the next picture and saw the arrow pointing to her nephew's penis labeled boy.
"Oh wow. I'm going to have a nephew. You're having a boy." Katie stood and walked over to Janet. "May I?" Janet nodded and Kate placed her hand on Janet's belly. "Hi there little man. I'm your Aunt Katie and I'm going to spoil you rotten."
"Jacob. His name is Jacob Edward." Eddie told his sister.
"I love that name. Jacob Latekka. I love you little man." Katie whispered softly as her nephew kicked her. "Man he kicks a lot." Katie said laughing.
"Tell me about it. The boy never stops. He's quite annoying, just like his father."
"Hey." Eddie said pinching Janet.
"Oww." She nailed him in the face with a couch pillow.
"That's it. You're going down woman."
"I'll leave you two alone to fight this out." Katie said
"You don't have to leave Kate."
"That's okay Janet. I need to go talk to Ikey." She and Janet hugged and then she gave Eddie a hug and kiss. "I love you."
"I love you too Katie bug."
As Katie left her brother's house he heard Janet and Eddie pick up where they left, wrestling and laughing. She was so happy that her brother had found such happiness and true love with Janet.
--
"Dance with me." Eddie said holding out his hand.
"Baby, my feet hurt." Eddie knelt down and removed Janet's shoes and then slid her slippers on her feet.
"Come on." He grabbed her hand, pulled her up and led her to the dance floor. "As I recall we didn't dance at our wedding." He whispered wrapping his arms around her waist and they began swaying to the music.
"The wedding was really nice." She murmured.
"Do you wish we had a big wedding like this, the fancy dress, the bridesmaids, the cake, the reception, the dancing?"
"Not at all. I'm the one who wanted the Vegas wedding and our wedding was perfect well almost perfect expect for the headache you got."
"Don't remind me. But was it the wedding you always dreamed out since you were a little girl?"
"It was because I always dreamed of marrying an amazing man that I loved more than anything so yes it was the wedding I always dreamed of having." She lifted her head off of his shoulder and kissed him softly. "What about you sweetheart? Was our wedding everything you dreamed of?"
"I'm a guy. We don't care about the wedding. What guys care about is the honeymoon or more accurately the sex that comes with the honeymoon." He said with a grin. "Honestly Janet, I never thought about marriage until you came along. Sure I figured one day that maybe I would get married but it was just a thought. By the end of our first date I knew that I wanted to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you."
"Really? After our first date you knew that?" She had tears shining in her eyes.
"I did. I really did."
"So you were thinking about our possible honeymoon after that date?"
"Oh yeah."
"So you wanted to sleep with me by the end of our first date?"
"Nah." A look of surprise crossed her face. "I wanted to sleep with you halfway through the date. I seriously considered clearing the table and doing you in the middle of the restaurant." He told her with a wink.
"And here I thought that you were such a gentleman."
"Not so much. I was a chicken. I figured that if I tried anything more than a kiss on our first date you would have nailed me in my crotch and I never would have seen you again."
"You were right. I'm a lady who doesn't put out on the first date."
"What about the second date? Would you have put out on the second date?"
"You'll never know." She told him with a wink.
"May I cut in?" Jack asked.
"Do I have to dad?"
"Move it boy." Eddie kissed Janet's cheek and then walked over to the bar where Ikey was standing.
"What goes on?" Ikey asked his friend.
"Dad snuck in on my woman."
"That sucks."
"Yep."
"Look man I want you to know the New Years Eve wedding was Kate's idea."
"I know."
"And I only agreed to it because I knew that it was what she wanted."
"I know."
"Are you pissed off at me?"
"Nope."
"Really? Could have fooled me." Eddie sighed and looked at his friend.
"Look man I know that you care for Kate but it scares me that you would agree to something as major as marriage just because it was what she wanted."
"I just don't care for your sister dude. I love Kate and she wasn't the only one who wanted it. I wanted and still want to marry her. You were right though we were rushing into it because we are scared that you will be dead by the time we decide to get married."
"That's not a good enough reason to rush into marriage Ike."
"I know that. We know that and that's why we are waiting."
"You make her happy Ikey. She's something in you that makes her happy. I've seen a change in you since you two started dating. You aren't as goofy as you used to be."
"Gee thanks."
"Look me in the eye Ikey and tell me how you really feel about Katie." Eddie requested.
"I adore your sister. She is all I think about. I want to make her happy. I've never felt like this before. I really do love her with my whole heart." As Ikey poured his heart out to his friend Eddie believed him. Eddie was convinced that Ikey felt for Kate like he felt for Janet.
"What's going on here? Eddie are you being nice?" Katie asked walking up and linking her arm through Ikey's.
"I'm always nice. Ikey and I were just having a nice chat weren't we Ikey?"
"We sure were." Eddie nodded at his friend who smiled at him.
"Eddie I'm ready to go home." Janet said limping over to him. She looked exhausted and her poor feet were swollen to twice their size.
"Okay sweetheart. Let's go." Eddie and Janet said their goodbyes to the bride and groom and then, both exhausted they headed home.
Once they arrived home Eddie helped Janet into her pajama's, tucked her in bed, kissed her goodnight and she was sound asleep within five minutes and Eddie couldn't blame her. She had been up since very early this morning helping Hannah get ready for the wedding.
Eddie had a lot on his mind and he couldn't sleep. He has been bothered by Janet's comment yesterday regarding questions that Jacob would ask that she won't be able to answer, boy questions. Eddie knew that Nicky, Owen, Ikey, Phil, his dad, and the man that Janet would marry would be there to help Janet out in that department but there were some questions that only a dad can answer, stories that only a dad can tell and Eddie wanted to be the one who answered some of these questions and tell some of these stories and he knew just how to do it. Grabbing a notebook out of the desk he sat down and began to write the first of many letters to his son.
Dear Jacob-
Hi. It's your dad here. I know that this might seem really weird to be getting a
letter from a dead man but there are some things that I want to share with you,
things that your mom, grandpa or uncles can't, things that should be between a father
and son so here goes. Yesterday we had our 3rd ultrasound because you were being a
pain in the butt and we finally found out that you are a boy. I am so excited but your mom
is nervous. Because she is a girl she will be more comfortable raising a girl and since I
won't be here to help she is scared. I really hope that you are going easy on her. I hope
that you know that you have the best mom in the world. She is a precious, amazing
woman and I know she loves you so much. Just so you know, I gave your uncles
permission to bust your ass if you are disrespecting your mother so you better watch
it. If I was still alive I wouldn't put up with any disrespect of her and I'm not going
to put up with it while I'm dead.
I want to tell you the story of your mom and I. I'm sure you probably told it to you
but I want you to hear it or read it from my point of view. Your mom and me had been
friends for a few years. She was the bartender at the only bar in The Ridge. She watched
me come and go with woman, listened to me complain about them or my life and we talked. We talked a lot about anything and everything. I had thought that I was feeling
something more then friendship but I wasn't quite sure what it was because honestly, I had never felt like that before. Your mom was so much better than I was and she deserved someone a lot better then me but when I saw her leave with some loser from The Duf I knew right then and there that I wanted to be the man she left with. The next day I asked her out and the rest is history. She was like no other woman that I had ever dated. She was beautiful but didn't know it, she was strong, and she knew what she wanted from me and she wasn't afraid to tell me. I knew son, after that first date that I was going to marry that woman.
But of course things don't always go like planned. Four lousy months after we started dating I get cancer and told I'm going to die. I was so afraid to tell your mom, not because I thought she would leave me, I knew she wouldn't but I didn't want to break her heart which I knew I was going to do. I had found the woman of my dreams, I was happy and I was going to die in a few months. It really sucked but your mom made it better. She not only stuck by me but she proposed. I wanted to marry her Jacob, believe me, but I didn't think it was fair to ask her then die but she took care of that and she wouldn't let me say no, not that I wanted to and let me tell you, it has been the best decision that I have ever made. These last five and half months that we have been married have been the best five and a half months of my life.
My goal, while I still can, is to write you as many letters to you as possible. I want to answer as many questions for you, questions that you would have for your dad. You can show these letters to your mom if you want. I know that she won't ask to see them because she will understand that this is between me and you but I don't care if you want to show them to her. If she is sad these may make her smile.
You're supposed to be born in just three months. It may not seem like very long but to a dying man three months can seem like forever if you're waiting for something. So far my medicine is working so there is a chance that I may be around when you are born. I hope like hell I am because I really want to hold you and see what you look like. I really want the chance to be your dad, even if it is just for a short time. I never knew I could love someone so much that I hadn't even met yet but I love you Jacob, so much and I hope one day to get to tell you that.
Love, Dad
As Eddie signed dad his tears fell. He never realized one word could have so much meaning. "Dad", he always knew that it was an important word but as he signed it he realized just how important "dad was. God, he wants to be Jacob's father so bad. He knows officially he is Jacob's dad now but he wanted to be a dad. He wanted to hold his son, calm him when he is crying, feed him, bathe him, and change his diapers. He wants to be a dad, a real dad and he was going to fight with everything he had to make sure he had that chance.