Thought I'd post a little more since I haven't posted very often in the last few days. Enjoy!
"Dad!" Eli ran to the living room when he heard the front door open, "Where have you been? I've been waiting forever."
"I'm sorry, bud," he hugged his seven year old son and smiled. "I was with a sick friend…but I'm all yours for the rest of the weekend."
"Good," he grinned, exposing his toothless smile. "Look," he pointed towards the gaping holes. "My other front tooth fell out."
"I see that," Elliot smiled. "I bet you made a fortune from the tooth fairy on that one." He remembered sneaking into his other kids' bedrooms late at night to leave tooth fairy money under their pillows and realized he had never been able to do that for Eli. He'd never lost a tooth on one of his weekends.
"Five dollars," the boy smiled. "Mom says when Dick and Lizzie were little, they only got two dollars and Mo and Kathleen only got one." He laughed. "She said it's called inflation."
Elliot laughed, "Yeah…I guess you could call it that." He ran his fingers through his son's blonde curls. "What do you want to do this weekend?"
"I don't know," Eli answered. "But can we go somewhere. Mo is babysitting…and that baby never stops crying. He's driving me nuts."
"What's wrong with him?" Elliot asked, then he called out to his daughter, "Maureen? Is something wrong with Noah? Eli says he keeps crying."
Maureen ran downstairs, "Shhhh," she groaned. "I just got him to sleep. He's been really fussy today, but I think he just misses Olivia. He doesn't seem sick." She looked seriously at him, "How is she?"
Elliot looked at his son, "Why don't you go play one of your video games for a while and we'll go out after I talk with your sister." Eli nodded and walked into the living room and Maureen followed Elliot into the kitchen and they both sat at the table. "We need to talk about Olivia," he said.
Maureen nodded, "Is she okay?" she asked. "I know she's sick…"
Elliot sighed, "You know Liv and I have been close…"
"If you're going to tell me you're sleeping with her, I think I figured that out when you didn't come home last night," Maureen snickered. "You've always had the hots for her."
"You know I never cheated on your mom with Liv," he insisted. "I would never have done that."
"I know," Maureen nodded. "And I love Olivia…you know I do. Is she okay?"
He nodded, "Maureen…she's pregnant…ten weeks…"
Maureen's eyes widened, "You've got to be kidding. Dad…isn't she kind of old for that?"
"Don't say that to her…please," he begged. "She's getting enough of that from her doctor and she's scared to death. She's had come complications…"
"Is she going to lose the baby?" Maureen asked sadly.
"I hope not," Elliot replied. "But she could…she was bleeding last night…a lot."
"Is the baby yours?" Maureen asked seriously.
Elliot nodded, "Yeah…"
"Do you really want another baby, Dad?" she asked. "I mean…you're gonna be fifty. You're a grandpa…Kate's aunt or uncle is going to be younger than her."
"Don't you think I know that!" Elliot yelled, and then he shook his head, "I'm sorry…" he sighed. "No, I don't want another baby…well at least I didn't...but I'll get used to it. I have to be responsible here. It happened…so it's meant to be."
"Dad, you think it's meant to be for you to bring a kid into this world that you don't want?" Maureen asked seriously. "What about Olivia? Does she want this baby?"
He nodded, "She's always wanted a baby. Sometimes I think it's my fault she never had kids before now. She wasted most of her life pining over me, while I was busy with a family of my own. I should have let her go back then…switched partners…or encouraged her to find someone else…but I didn't. I liked knowing she would always be there. It was selfish."
"I really don't want to hear about how inappropriate your feelings were for her back when you were married to my mom," Maureen snickered. "But Dad, if Olivia wants this baby and you don't…I think you need to discuss it."
"Maybe I haven't completely wrapped my head around the idea of having a kid again," he admitted. "But you were a big surprise too, and I couldn't imagine my life without you in it. The same with Eli…this isn't my first time being stupid and irresponsible…"
"Gee, thanks," Maureen rolled her eyes.
"What I'm saying is, I love you and I love Eli…and I love this baby," Elliot admitted. "I'm scared. Scared I won't always be there for this kid…to watch him grow up…or I'll be too old to play catch and go camping…or he'll regret having the oldest parents in class. And Liv had some test done to check for chromosomal defects. I don't even want to think about trying to raise a special needs kid at my age…but if it happens…"
"Dad…I know you and Olivia can get through this, but you have to be honest with her," Maureen sighed.
"I don't think she wants to have the baby if something is wrong with it," he said sadly. "And I can't condone that."
"So, you think she should have a sick baby that you don't even want?" Maureen asked. "How does that make any sense Dad?"
"Because, I believe in God's will," he insisted. "And I don't question that."
"Dad, I really hope this baby is okay and I don't doubt that you love the baby and Olivia, but if you're scared about this, I'd bet she is too," Maureen looked at him sadly. "It isn't healthy to just pretend like you're okay when you're not. You both need to hash this out."
"Right now, she's too fragile for that," he said. "And I don't want her to worry needlessly. I know everything will be fine. I just need to start taking better care of myself since this kid won't graduate from college until I'm in my 70s," he forced a nervous laugh. "I just need to take things one day at a time. It'll be okay."
Maureen nodded, "I hope so," she replied. She heard Noah crying upstairs and stood up from the table, "Not again," she sighed. "The poor kid misses his mommy so much."
"I'm going to take him home tomorrow," Elliot told her. "And if you want, I can keep him in my room tonight so you can get some sleep. I should brush up on my baby-care anyway," he smiled.
"Go take Eli wherever you two are going," Maureen reminded him. "I'm going to go tend to the baby before he wakes Kate up from her nap. And I'll call Olivia later so she can talk to him. Maybe that'll calm him down some."
Elliot watched his daughter walk out of the room. He was so proud of the woman she'd become. Maureen had been the biggest surprise of his life. He was a nineteen year old kid when his girlfriend had told him she was pregnant and he was scared to death. He'd become a cop just to support them, even though he'd promised himself he'd never follow in his father's footsteps. And he found himself married with four kids, little money, and a job he didn't like but was stuck with all before he turned thirty. The unhappiness eventually weighed on them enough that Kathy filed for divorce, but in the midst of it they'd had one night together that resulted in Eli…who before now he'd considered his "late in life" child. And now, here he was in the same situation all over again. But it was different this time…it was Olivia, and he loved her more than he had ever loved anyone…and that should be enough to get them through anything. At least he kept telling himself that.