Part 6: Trials by Fire
Chapter 10: New Beginnings
Jennifer and Cody were ready to start their new life. They travelled back to South Lake Tahoe where Cody had a couple more days before he started his job with the rangers. This gave the new family a chance to get settled into their new home and to celebrate Alex's 16th birthday.
Jasper had brought the kids to the Ranger Station with him. When Jennifer and Cody arrived at the cottage, Alex and Hailey came running up. Alex went and helped his dad unload the truck, while Jennifer and Hailey toured the cottage. Alex and Cody were already familiar with the cottage from when Matt and Robin lived there with their young family. The cottage has an open floor plan with the master bedroom on the first floor and two bedrooms upstairs. Jennifer had been there a few times as well, when she stayed with Matt and Robin.
Jennifer asked, "Hailey, are you excited to see your new home?"
"Yes, momma. Will we live here long?"
"For the foreseeable future honey," Jennifer answered.
Jennifer and Hailey walked up to the master bedroom on the main floor. "Momma, this your room?"
"Cody and I will be sharing this room now that we are married. Hailey, can you take a seat," Hailey took a seat next to her mom. "Now that Cody and I are married, when our bedroom door is closed you need to knock and wait until we tell you it is okay to come in."
"Why, I never did before?" Hailey asked.
"Hailey, because it was always just me. Married couples need their privacy. You will need to do the same with Alex. You need to ask before you enter his room, and he will do the same for you."
"Okay," Hailey answered. "Momma, am I going to have a baby brother or sister?"
"What?" Jennifer was taken back by her daughter's question.
"When you told me about how babies were conceived, you said it takes a mom and a dad and they spend special time together alone. And they make a baby. You and my dad were alone for a whole week and now you are going to share a room."
"Hmm… well that is partially right. Babies are a bit of a miracle. There are a lot of things that must happen exactly right for a woman to get pregnant. Including when a man and woman have sex the timing has to be at the right time during a woman's monthly cycle. And it does not happen every time. And I also a bit passed the age when women have babies," Jennifer trailed off. Jennifer realized she had not had her period in months. Not since before Roy came back. Could she be pregnant? It is most unlikely she could get pregnant, but not impossible. She and Cody had not worried about it, but that was much too recent. She could be going through the change suddenly or the stress of everything.
"Do you want to have a baby with my dad?" Hailey asked.
"Sorry honey, what did you say?" Jennifer did not hear what her daughter said as she was thinking about the possibility of being pregnant.
"Do you want to have a baby with my dad?" Hailey asked.
"If I were younger, I would absolutely want to have a baby with Cody. It is something Cody and I would have to talk about. But at this point I pretty much beyond the point of having babies."
"Okay, mom" Hailey seemed a bit disappointed, Jennifer just rubbed her daughter's hair.
"Would you like to see your room?"
"Do I get my own room?"
"Yep, right up stairs."
Hailey went running up the stairs. "Momma there are two rooms up here. Which one is mine?"
Jennifer soon followed her daughter up the stairs. Jennifer pointed to the room on the right, "This will be Alex's room. And the room to the left will be your room."
"I love my room," Hailey was running around the room.
"Since we will be living here for a while, would you like to paint your room any certain color?"
"Really?" Hailey was excited. "I've always wanted a purple bedroom."
"Next time I go to the store I will pick up some color swatches and you can choose a color to paint your room."
Later that evening Cody and Jennifer were cuddling on the couch together. "Did Hailey get settled in okay?"
"Yeah, she is very excited about having her own room."
"Jennifer, what is it."
"Hailey asked me if we were going to have a baby?"
"Oh my. What did you tell her?"
"I told her I am pretty much beyond the age of having kids. But if it was something we wanted we have to talk about it."
"Guess we really never talked about it, but that is not what is bothering you is it?" Cody asked.
"No, Hailey's comment about me being pregnant got me thinking."
"You want a baby?"
"No, I realized I have not had my period for months. I have not had it since Roy was here."
"I know your memory is a bit cloudy from when you woke up in the hospital. We thought Roy may have raped you, the doctor asked me if it would be okay to give you morning after pill. I consented and they did give it to you. If you were pregnant, you be showing by now."
Jennifer agreed, "So, you knew I had sex with Roy before I told you?"
"Yes, I did not know for sure, until the doctor confirmed it. They had done a rape kit on you and found traces of semen both orally and vaginally. But when we found you in the cave you were naked, so we were pretty sure something happened. Are you okay Jennifer?"
"Yeah, I just did not know."
"Are you mad or upset about it?"
"No, but you still cared for me even though you knew I slept with him?"
"I knew you were terrified of him. If you slept with him, it would not have been for love or desire. It would not have been your choice, or you would have done it to protect someone you loved." Cody put his hand on Jennifer's cheek, "I know your heart belonged to me. I know it took a lot for you to open your heart up to me. Jennifer, I loved you than and I love you more now."
"Thank you for never giving up on me. Even though at times I gave up on myself."
Cody started to hold Jennifer a little tighter. "I will never give up on you or us."
"Cody, I love you so much," Jennifer said. Jennifer and Cody started to kiss.
"Are you all set for tomorrow?" Cody asked.
"Yep, as soon as you go, Hailey and I will get the cake started and then we will start decorating the cottage. Don't forget to text me as soon as you know if he gets his license."
"Perfect."
"Cody, did you ever think a year ago, you would be living here and married?" Jennifer asked.
"Not in a million years," Cody said. "But I am glad I would have been wrong. I love cuddling on the couch with you, kissing you, having you in my bed, and sharing my life with you. What about you?"
"Never in a million years. At this point a year ago, things were not going well in Iowa, and I was trying to figure out where to go next. Never thought I would come back here or that I would run into you. After our first two meetings, I did not think I would fall in love with you and marry you. Not that it has been an easy year, but happy ending for sure."
"Mrs. Hawkes are you ready for bed?"
"I like the sound of that."
"Which part?"
"Both," Jennifer said.
The next morning everyone got up early. Alex was so excited about getting his license. Jennifer had made him a special breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, a tradition his mom started, and his dad continued on his birthday after his mom died. He loved that Jennifer knew exactly what he wanted, and he did not have to say anything. As soon as Cody and Alex left. Jennifer and Hailey started to bake a cake and decorating the cottage with streamers and balloons. They had everything well in hand when Cody texted saying they were heading back and had good news. So, there were a few things Jennifer added congratulating him on getting his license. Josh, Jasper, Kelly, and Robin stopped by for the surprise and lunch to celebrate. That evening they were going to Joe's Pizza as a family. They had picked Christy up to celebrate with them.
"Alex, now that you have your license, does this mean you can drive me to the toy store any time I want to go?" Hailey asked.
"Hailey," Jennifer said. "Alex, is not going to be your personal chauffeur."
"I am sure I will be able to take you at some point," Alex said with a smile and Hailey has a smile of satisfaction on her face.
They sang happy birthday and Alex blew out the candles.
Back at the cottage later that evening, "Can you believe you have a sixteen-year-old?'
"Where did the time go? He was just this little kid a few days ago and now he is driving. A couple more years and he will be off to college. I wish time could stand still and he could just stay with us."
"He is becoming a fine young man," Jennifer said. "You did a good job with him."
"I do love the type of man he is becoming, but I will miss him when he goes. I know it is the best thing for him."
Jennifer and Cody started to make out on the couch with Jennifer straddling Cody. The two were getting hot and heavy. Alex had been getting ready for bed and heard what his father and step mother were saying about him. He just smiled and went to his room.
Jennifer and Cody came up for air. Cody said, "Tomorrow is another big day."
"Yes, it is ranger Hawkes." Jennifer and Cody started passionately kissing more and getting physical with each other. "Ranger Hawkes, come with me" Jennifer got up and led Cody into the bedroom and they shut the door.
First day for Cody at the Ranger station. He was getting a refresher on the radio controls and will work on the radio for the first month. Cody felt good about getting back to the work force and then returning home to his wife and kids.
"Did you miss me today?" Cody asked.
"Very much," Jennifer said.
Cody put his arm round Jennifer and just started kissing her neck. Alex and Hailey entered the room.
"They are at it again," Alex said as he and Hailey entered the room. Hailey was carrying the tiger color cat she named Tiger.
"Hey, we are newlyweds, give us a break." Cody said. Alex rolled his eyes.
"Dinner's ready, why don't you guys get washed up and have a seat," Jennifer said. "That means you too Ranger Hawkes."
"If you insist," Cody said as he gave her one last kiss.
The Hawkes family were all sitting around the table telling stories of their day.
Jennifer interviewed with the rangers, and she got the job. She was going to wait and start once the kids went back to school full time. The first day of school came, but it was a half day. Jennifer dropped both kids off at school. Then Jennifer proceeded to a doctor's appointment with OBGYN. She went through all her concerns. They confirmed that she was not pregnant. Even if she were going through the change, she could still get pregnant. The doctor made some recommendations as to birth control, they could use. As Jennifer was leaving the nurse mentioned that she needed to go down to the billing department to get some billing straightened out.
"Ma'am can I help you?" a woman at the desk asked.
"Yes, my name is Jennifer Hawkes. The nurse said I needed to come down to straighten out some billing issues. I know I have a payment plan set-up regarding an outstanding balance."
"Mrs. Hawkes, I see it here. We were able to run your hospital bills against your husband's insurance. This includes your hospital stay from a year ago."
"I am sorry, I just got married," Jennifer said. "My husband just got insurance with his new job."
"I am sorry Mrs. Hawkes. We found that you have health insurance under your deceased husband Roy McGovern. Since the deductible had already been paid on the plan, then most of the bills were covered. So, we have a check for the remaining amount. Your current husband is Cody Hawkes, correct? "
"Yes, he is."
"We have a check here for him."
"I am confused, why do you have a check for Cody? There was some endowment that paid my first hospital stay."
"Mrs. Hawkes. There is no record of an endowment. Your first hospital bill was paid in installments by Cody Hawkes. It took him about a year to pay your bills. Didn't you know?"
"I did not know, are you sure?" Jennifer asked.
"Yep, it is right here," the clerk said.
"Thank you for double checking." Jennifer said. "I will bring the check to him."
"Thank you, Mrs. Hawkes."
Jennifer returned to the ranger station. "Hi Freddie, have you seen Cody?"
"I think he is in the barn," Freddie replied.
Jennifer walked into the barn, "Cody?"
"How did it go at your doctor's appointment?" Jennifer walked up to Cody and started to kiss him.
When she came up for air, "Are we alone?"
"Yes, we are. Its lunch time, do you want to, you know, up in the hay loft?"
"Yes, but I have about an hour before I have to pick the kids up."
"School, over that quick?" Cody asked.
"Half day."
Jennifer and Cody went up to the hay loft and made love to each other, when they were done, Cody just held Jennifer in his arms. "Jennifer you are a passionate woman. I love that about you," Cody kissed her some more. "What did the Doctor say?" Cody asked.
"She said I was not pregnant, and everything was looking good. But need to wait for the results of the blood test and pap smear."
"I could tell you everything is in good working order," Cody teased, and Jennifer just smiled back.
"She suggested if we don't want to have a baby, we should use some sort of protection. If I am starting to go through menopause, I can still get pregnant. She gave me some options. We can talk about it later."
"Do you want a baby?" Cody asked.
"If I was eight years younger, I would want to have a baby with you. But being a couple of years from being fifty, I am not sure it is the best idea and the idea of starting over with late night feedings and diapers is exhausting. Otherwise in six years we could be empty nesters and we could have a place to ourselves and/or go back up to the cabin. What about you, do you want another baby?"
"No, we are on the same page there. I like the idea of going back to the cabin someday," Cody said.
"While I was at the doctor's office they called me to the billing department," Jennifer said.
"What did they want?" Cody asked.
"They had a check for the positive balance of my account with them."
"I don't understand?"
"The billing department said that Roy still had me on his insurance. So, they were able to run both of my hospital stays against the insurance. There was money left over and they wanted me to give you the check for the amount left. So, you were my mysterious benefactor?"
"You were not supposed to find out about that," Cody said.
"Why did you do it?" Jennifer asked.
"When I went to your hospital room, I heard the hospital administrator yelling at you. When I told you about the lodge not being livable you just cried in my arms. I could tell you were desperate and afraid of someone. When I left the room, I talked to the hospital administrator and yelled at him a bit. I told him I will pay for your hospital bill, but I did not want you to know. I told the hospital administrator he had to apologize to you and tell you the bill was taken care of by an endowment. I just wanted to help you. I made the offer for you and Hailey to stay with us but felt like I should do more for you."
"Cody, I think I love you more if that is even possible." Jennifer began kissing Cody more, then her phone alarm went off. "Shoot, I need to go and pick the kids up. Can we pick up where we left off tonight?"
"You don't have to ask. I have a lifetime of loving you to make up for."
Jennifer's alarm went off again. "I really need to go," Cody and Jennifer got up and got dressed. "I love you and I will see you tonight."
"I love you too," Cody said as they kissed one more time before Jennifer left the barn. As Jennifer left, she almost ran into Kelly.
"Oh, hi Kelly," Jennifer said.
"Is Uncle Cody in the barn?" Kelly asked. "I brought him some lunch."
"Yes, he is in there. That was nice of you. Sorry I must run and pick Alex and Hailey up from school," Jennifer said as she kept going. Kelly had walked in on Cody and Jennifer. She had heard and saw them having sex and had overheard some of their conversation. She liked Jennifer at first, but once Jennifer and Cody got involved, she began to get jealous. She felt that Jennifer was not right for Cody, that she was just using him, and Cody was forgetting about Lizzie. Kelly was very close to Lizzie, and she never wanted to see Cody with anyone else.