Friday mid day
Lucas made sure that his co-worker, Allen, was all set to take over the project for the weekend and then he hopped on a plane. He looked down at his cast, he had chosen black to be less conspicuous. It wasn't though. It went from his wrist up to his elbow and he couldn't button his dress shirts at his wrist or wear his suit jackets. It was not really painful anymore, just annoying mostly.
Thankfully, it was his left hand so he could still write comfortably. However, his fingers swelled a bit so he couldn't wear his wedding ring.
"Going on vacation?" a young woman asked, sitting next to him on the plane. "I'm on spring break and meeting my boyfriend in San Diego."
"Nice. I'm going to surprise my wife."
She looked down at his left hand and back up, almost challenging him to explain where his ring was.
He didn't need to tell her. He didn't even know her, but he told her anyway. "Broke my arm so fingers swelled," he said, wiggling them. "Can't wear my ring."
"How'd you break your arm?"
"Crashed my truck."
"Ouch."
"Yeah."
"What kind of truck do you have?"
The flight attendants walked up. "Anyone need anything to drink?"
"Beer please," Lucas told her. He would need some beer to get through this flight if the girl next to him was going to keep asking endless questions.
"We have Miller lite and Budweiser."
"Miller please."
"You got it," she said with a wink.
"So wife? You look too young to be married," the woman said to him.
He looked at her. "What's your name? I'm Lucas."
"Amber."
"Nice to meet you. I assure you, I'm old enough to be married."
"How old?"
He really didn't want to be rude, but she was so nosy! "23. I'm going to shut my eyes for a while."
"Okay."
He knew that she wouldn't leave him alone for the entire five hours they were in the air, but a little nap would be nice.
He closed his eyes and thought about Beth. His beautiful, amazing, smart Beth. He was aware they had agreed to wait until they had been married a year before starting their family but he was finding himself wanting that to happen sooner. He also wanted his children to have siblings, so they weren't so lonely as he had been.
He could be patient though so if Elizabeth was dead set on waiting, they would wait and their relationship would be stronger for it.
…..
"His phone is going right to voicemail," Elizabeth told Rosie. "Its Friday night. He normally gets home early on Friday's." So they can have the evening together. They always made dinner together and watched a movie or went to bed early. Friday was there thing and now she couldn't get ahold of him.
"Maybe he had to work late or his phone died."
"Yeah."
"I'm sure he'll call you as soon as he can," Lee told her, keeping his friend's secret. It was going to be a huge surprise for Beth. She had been there all week and missing Lucas every moment, or so Rosie told him.
"I think I'm going to take a bath and read my book," Elizabeth announced. She had a feeling that tears would be on the horizon very soon so she'd rather cry alone.
"Beth, he will get in touch. I know he will," Rosie told her.
"Okay. Goodnight, guys."
"Night."
…..
Just as she was about to fall asleep after her bath, she heard the door open. "Rosie?"
"No. Its me, love."
"Lucas? Oh my goodness!"
She got out of bed and hurried into his arms. "So that's why you weren't answering. You were flying here?"
"Yeah. I wanted to surprise you." He tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled at her and her beautiful face. "You are so beautiful. I missed looking at you."
She stepped closer and got up on her toes to kiss him. "I missed looking at you too."
She looked down at his cast. "Holy moly, Lucas. I was so mad at you. It could have been so much worse."
"I know. I really didn't want to call you."
"What are we going to do about a vehicle for you?"
"It was totaled so I definitely need a different car. Can we just talk about this later, though? Right now, I have other plans."
"Okay but we do need to talk about it."
"We will."
……
In the middle of the night, Elizabeth woke to Rosemary yelling. She listened for a moment and then heard it again. Elizabeth got out of bed, slipped into her pajamas and walked out of the bedroom.
"Rosie?"
"Ohhhhhhhh….this hurts so bad. Something's wrong, Lee."
Lee called 911 and held Rosie's hand as she sat on the edge of their bed. "She's 37 weeks," he told the dispatch. "She's in a lot of pain. Please hurry."
"Sir, have her lay down. Is she having contractions?"
"I don't know. Babe, are you having contractions?"
"I don't know, Leland," she told him, a certain amount of bite in her voice. "I've never had contractions before."
Elizabeth rubbed Rosie's back. "Try to relax."
"You try to relax! Why is everyone telling me what to do?!"
Elizabeth giggled. "Listen to me. Anytime someone is in pain, relaxing or taking a few deep breaths can make it seem easier."
"Ohhhhhhh," she moaned. "Its like shooting pains across my stomach and down my back."
"Contractions," she told Lee. "It's been about three minutes since the last one."
"Thank you, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth pulled up the stopwatch on her phone and kept track for the next few minutes. Thankfully, they slowed down a bit, giving the paramedics more time to get to the apartment.
Lee walked out of the room with the phone and grabbed a bottle of water for Rosie. The dispatch asked him to do that, whether to distract him or because Rosie needed it, he didn't know.
Lucas walked into the room. "What's going on?"
"Rosie's having Zane."
"What?!"
"Babe, calm down. We ALL need to be calm."
"What? Calm? She has a human being coming out of her!"
"Yes, honey. That's how it works. I guess now I know how you will react when I have our babies."
"Ohhhhhhhh! Ow ow ow!!! Something is happening. I think I need to push!"
Lucas all but ran out of the room. Lee sat down on the bed, putting his phone on speaker. "Tell me what to do!" Lee told the dispatcher.
"Do you have some towels or blankets to wrap the baby in?"
"Yes! I'll get them!" Elizabeth said. "What else?"
"Scissors. The paramedics should be there in about fifteen minutes but if the baby comes first. You'll need to sterilize the scissors to cut the cord."
"Rubbing alcohol?"
"Or boiling water."
Elizabeth rushed out of the room, finding Lucas in the kitchen, sitting on the floor, his head in his hands.
"Lucas, will you boil some water? Put these in the water." He handed him scissors and he stared, confused. "To sterilize them."
"What for? Oh, nevermind, I don't want to know."
Elizabeth kissed his cheek. "Thank you."
Just as the paramedics knocked on the door, Zane Patrick Coulter slipped into the world. Lee followed the dispatcher's instructions and safely delivered his own son.
Elizabeth walked out of the small bedroom to give the paramedics more room. Lucas looked up from the couch. "He's here?"
"Yes and it was perfect. Babe, God made women with such an important role and to witness a life coming into the world…I can't even describe it."
….
Elizabeth and Lucas stayed one more day and then headed home, knowing all three Coulters would be just fine.
When they got back to Charlotte, they headed home but the next morning, before Elizabeth's noon class, they went to a car dealership to see if they could replace Lucas' truck.
They had chatted about budget on the plane and how much of a payment they could afford as well as how large of a down payment they wanted to provide. They felt prepared to make the large purchase.
After they applied for a loan through the dealer and put money down on Lucas' used Ford SUV, they headed to their normal everyday activities. They hoped to had back there that evening to sign paperwork and pickup the vehicle.
As the days and weeks went by, spring turned to early summer and then it was graduation time for Elizabeth. She had earned her business degree and was super excited to get started on her dream of owning a property.
She was researching properties in and around Charlotte one afternoon while waiting for Lucas to get back home when her phone rang.
"Hi, Grandpa Larry! Its so good to hear from you."
"Hi, sweet Beth. I have some news."
"Okay. What news? Should I wait for Lucas to get home?"
"No that's alright. You can tell him."
"Alright."
"Have you found a property for your first Airbnb yet?"
"No. I've been looking but I have specific things I want and nothing has fit the bill yet."
"Well, I have a property that might be just what you want."
"Really?"
"Yes, the people next door to you in the duplex are moving. So it will be empty."
"I want it! Yes! That will be perfect!"
Larry chuckled. "I thought you might say that. Do you and Lucas have plans this weekend?"
"Nope."
"Well, why don't you both come over for dinner and we can talk specifics."
"Thank you so much, Grandpa! This is wonderful news."
"You're welcome, sweet Beth."
"We'll see you this weekend. Love you."
"We both love you too."
"EEEEEEE," she squealed and then she texted Lucas. "Celebrating tonight. Going to make your favorite and wear your favorite too, wink wink."
"That sounds exciting. Especially the 2nd part."
"Lol. Love u, babe. Drive safely."
She made sure that she had all the ingredients for meatloaf and mashed potatoes and then started dinner. Then she wandered into the master and put on her newest black chemise with a matching lace robe. She added a pair of slippers and wandered back out to wait.
He came home earlier than normal and stopped when he saw her. "Wow. Yeah."
"Dinner will be ready soon, babe. Like 20 minutes."
"Mmm perfect." He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close, dancing to nothing in particular. "So what are we celebrating?"
"Grandpa Larry called. The people next door are moving!" she said, holding back the squeal that wanted to escape.
"Okay two things. One, why did he call you to tell you our neighbors are moving? And two, why is that cause for celebration?"
She giggled. "He suggested I use it for my first property!"
"Oh! Well, that's definitely in a good location but…"
"No but. Babe, it's perfect."
"Now hear me out, love." He took her to the couch and pulled her down on his lap.
"I'm listening."
"I have been thinking about babies."
"Mm."
It wasn't a shock to her. He had dropped hints since they got married about not being disappointed if they got pregnant before they planned.
"We only have one more bedroom here. What if we moved? Bought a larger house. Or what if we bought this whole duplex from Grandpa and turned it into a larger house for us? Or we could buy it, add on to this half and still use the other half for your rental?"
He had a point. When their family grew, the duplex would be too small very fast. Any of his three options sounded good to her. She did like the idea of living right next to her rental. It would be really helpful if the renters needed anything.
"You don't plan on staying in Charlotte at Collins forever though," Elizabeth mentioned. "If we moved after buying this house, the commute wouldn't be as nice."
"Its always been a possibility, love. If we purchase it, add on, the house would be worth more and we could get more for it."
"Plus, you could design exactly what we want our house to be," she said, liking the idea more and more.
"Yep."
"Let's do it. Buy it and add on to this half and then use the other half as rental."
…..
"Grandpa, we are not going to give you only a thousand bucks for the whole duplex. That's crazy," Lucas told him.
"Take it or leave it."
Lucas looked at Elizabeth and nodded toward the other room. "Let's talk a moment."
Elizabeth followed him into the kitchen. "A thousand dollars?" she asked.
"He doesn't need the money. I know that, but..they have always taken care of me. He deserves more than a thousand bucks for everything they have done."
"Babe, they would never take money as payment for loving you. You know that. But what if we did something else for them?"
Gran peeked in the kitchen. "You know your grandfather is stubborn, Luke. He will not take more than that for the house. He wants to do this one last thing for the people he loves."
"One last…what? Gran, what are you saying?"
"Don't get all riled up now. I don't know if you've noticed but we are getting older, despite my love of the Backstreet Boys," she winked. "Nothing is wrong with that man more than that he is 86 years young."
"Let's just take the offer, Lucas," Elizabeth pleaded, squeezing his hand.
"Okay but we will think of some way to repay you and Grandpa," he told his Gran, kissing her cheek.
"Nonsense. We don't need anything but to know you are happy."
"We are," Elizabeth assured her and then gave her a big hug. "Thank you so much."