Maria smiled and hugged her niece again, but had to release
her as the little girl started to squirm.
“Have fun at the park,”
Maria looked at Kyle with a small smile as she watched Abby run for her
the backyard.
“Yeah, we will,” he nodded, looking down at his
shoes.
She hated it that things were always this uncomfortable
between them now.
“Kyle…” she wanted to say something to make
things the way that they used to be.
He sighed and looked up at
her, “I know, kid. You’re all grown up now, and you don’t need me
anymore.”
“You don’t need me anymore,” she replied, punching
him on the shoulder.
“I’ll always need you,” he looked up at her,
and gave her a sad half-smile, “you and Abby, you’re the only family I’ve
got. I know I checked out for a while, but...”
She shook her head,
feeling tears sting the back of her eyes. All she’d come over to do was
have breakfast with him and Abby, she hadn’t really been prepared for a
heart to heart. Her voice was shaky when she finally spoke, “I know, you
were just worried about me.”
“I still am,” he said
quickly.
Maria smiled, and a tear slipped down her cheek, “I will
maintain that I’m a big girl now.”
He nodded, and laughed a little,
“I know you are, but no matter how ‘big’ you get, I’ll always be your big
brother.”
“That’s good. I guess I’ll always need a big brother,”
she smiled at him.
“I guess you will,” he smiled back.
They
both looked down, and she felt relieved that things were clearing up
between them.
“I need to get going, though, I’ve got a half shift
starting at noon,” she said, moving toward the door.
“Ok,” Kyle
said as he followed her.
At the door, she turned quickly and threw
her arms around him, squeezing him tightly for a moment, then walked away,
wiping her tears as she walked to the bus stop.
***
He
watched her as she walked toward him. Chocolate mousse? What had he done
to deserve that?
Maria put the dish down in front of him, and he
looked up at her questioningly. She’d hardly spoken to him in the past
couple of weeks, so he didn’t like to be the first to break the
silence.
“It’s Saturday,” she shrugged as she sat in the chair
across from him.
Nodding, he picked up the spoon and started to eat
as she watched him. He was a little surprised when his phone rang. No one
ever called him.
“Hello?”
“ Michael?” Isabel sounded
out of breath.
“Iz?”
“Yeah, I-I’m in labor. Aaaahh…,”
she moaned softly into the phone.
Michael pulled the phone away
from his ear and stared at it for a moment, then glanced over at Maria,
who was staring at him.
Moving the phone back to his ear, he spoke
slowly, “I think you should go to the hospital then.”
Isabel
sounded breathless again, “I am at the hospital. Things are just
getting started, but I can’t get anyone on the phone. Max isn’t answering
his digital, my parents are in Portland for my aunt’s birthday, and Alex
is apparently in Vancouver for a weekend conference.”
“Ok…” Michael
said slowly. “Why would they all go out of town when you’re having a
baby?”
“I don’t know,” she sounded exasperated, “I’m not due for
three more weeks, I didn’t think it would happen this soon.”
“So,
you’re all by yourself?”
“Yes,” her voice was soft, and she sounded
like a younger, scared version of herself.
“I’m on my
way.”
“Thank you,” she said softly.
He pulled his phone away
from his ear again and clicked it off.
Maria cleared her throat,
“Uh, Isabel?”
“Yeah,” he whispered.
“No one’s in town?” she
asked.
“Apparently not.”
“Convenient,” she said moving her
head to the side slightly.
“Very. I guess she’s not due for three
more weeks, though.”
“Right…” Maria looked
skeptical.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not making it up.”
“I
didn’t say you were. So, you’re going to go see her?”
“Yeah…but I
don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” he ran a hand through his hair,
suddenly realizing he didn’t even know what hospital she was at. His first
instinct was to call Tess, but he knew that might be a little awkward for
her.
“Want me to go with you?” Maria asked.
He looked up at
her. “Uh, yeah. Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious,” she
said. “Let me go tell them I’m leaving, give me like two
minutes.”
“Thanks…” he said lamely as he she stood.
She
looked at him strangely for a moment, then nodded.
***
“I
hate hospitals,” he said as leaned forward, resting his elbows on his
knees and examining his hands.
“Yeah, me too,” she
whispered.
He glanced over at her, and then looked back at his
hands. They’d been in the waiting room for nearly ten minutes waiting for
the doctor to finish with Isabel. After several phone calls, she’d
discovered what hospital Isabel was at, and they’d arrived just as Isabel
was ending a phone call with her parents - they were on their way home
from Portland. As soon as the phone call ended, they’d been shoed out so
that the doctor could examine her.
“Maria?”
She looked up to
see that Michael was standing, gesturing at the now open door of Isabel’s
room.
“Ok, sorry,” she said as she stood.
“Hey – Michael,
Maria!”
They both looked to their left and saw Max hurrying down
the hall.
“About time you got here,” Michael said with a
frown.
“Sorry,” Max said, pausing to catch his breath. “Where is
she?”
“In there,” Michael pointed at the door and turned to go sit
back down in the waiting area across from her room.
Maria watched
Max enter the room, then looked walked over to where Michael was sitting,
“You’re not going in?”
“He’s here, he can handle it,” Michael said,
gesturing toward Isabel’s room.
She sat down next to him again, and
sat her purse down on the chair next to her.
“I hate
hospitals,” he said again, leaning back in the chair and letting his legs
sprawl out in front of him.
“ Me too,” she whispered, giving
him a quick look.
Maria studied his face. His eyes were closed, and
his head was thrown back slightly. This was one of the few times she’d
ever seen him this ill at ease. Of course, it seemed that anything
involving Isabel made him this way. He sighed, and brought his hands up to
his face, running them up into his hair, then pulling them back down
again, letting them fall into his lap. Opening one eye, he looked at
her.
“Do you think she’ll be all right?”
She nodded, and
almost smiled at him, “People do this everyday.”
“Right,” he
nodded, closing his eyes and bringing his hands back to his face,
whispering, “ everyday.”
“Hey,” Max said, sitting down a
chair across from them. “Thanks for, ah, coming.”
Michael sat up
and looked at his friend, “Yeah, no problem.”
Maria smiled at Max
and nodded, she had a feeling this was the first time Michael and Max had
spoken since the incident at coffee.
“What did the doctor say?” she
asked.
“Oh, that things are fine, and normal, but the baby’s
definitely on it’s way. Should be a few more hours, though,” Max raised
his eyebrows slightly and let out a small sigh. “Alex is in Canada, and
his office doesn’t have a way of reaching him, the meetings are over for
the day, and he’s not answering at his hotel. Apparently his mobile phone
isn’t working up there.”
“There’s no way to reach him?” Maria
asked, feeling awful that Alex might miss the birth. No matter what was
going on with him and Isabel, she didn’t think he seemed like the kind of
guy who’d want to miss the birth of his child.
“I don’t know what
to do,” Max said, raising his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Isabel
said she had to talk to three different people to find out even that much.
Their normal staff isn’t in on Saturdays.”
“Do we know where he’s
staying?” she wondered if maybe there would be some other way to reach
him.
“Yeah, the man Isabel talked to gave her the name, and she
called and left a message for him there,” Max said, looking at her
quizzically.
“Maybe we could…” Maria looked over at Michael. She
could see from the look on his face that he knew what she was
thinking.
“Uh, yeah, I guess,” he nodded at her, “but, wouldn’t it
all be over by the time we got there and back? I mean a round trip would
take at least seven or eight hours.”
“The doctor said she thought
the baby wouldn’t be here ‘til morning, things haven’t progressed very
far,” Max said leaning forward slightly. “I know Isabel would be really
grateful…” he looked at Michael.
“Yeah, ok, I’ll go. Go get the
name of the hotel,” Michael said.
“Thanks,” Max said, giving him a
genuine smile.
Michael snorted after Max walked away, “Like there’s
even a remote chance that I’ll find him.”
“You never know,” Maria
turned to look at him. “We might be able to find him.”
“You don’t
have to go,” he said.
“No, I want to. Alex is sort of my friend,
and I don’t think he’d want to miss this.”
“We probably won’t find
him.”
“We’ll see,” she gave him a small smile.
He rolled his
eyes, and stood as Max walked toward them again.
“She said to tell
you thank you.”
“Yeah, all right,” Michael nodded, taking the piece
of paper Max held out to him.
Maria stood, “Tell her to take
care.”
“You’re going to?” Max asked her.
“Yeah…” she nodded,
looking down at her feet, feeling a little silly. She’d been avoiding
Liz’s calls since the incident, and she knew that both Liz and Max must be
wondering what was going on between she and Michael. The fact that she was
here at the hospital with him probably wasn’t helping their suspicions
much.
“Well, good luck,” Max said as he turned to re-enter Isabel’s
room.
***
“This is going to be like finding a needle in a
haystack,” Michael muttered as he pulled onto the freeway.
“Have a
little faith, geez,” she said. “I’m sure that Alex was meant to be at the
birth.”
“ What?” he looked over at her as if she was crazy.
He thought she must be crazy. Faith? Meant to be? Baloney.
She
seemed to be ignoring him, so he tried to keep his eyes on the road. After
a few minutes, she reached for the radio, hitting the power button. They
were both greeted by loud metal blaring over the speakers. Immediately her
hand flew to the down volume button, pushing it repeatedly until it the
music was barely audible.
“You’re lucky you’re not deaf,” she
said.
“What?” he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
“I
said, you’re lucky you’re not deaf.”
“
What?”
“ I said-.”
Apparently she heard the
snicker he couldn’t hold back, because she let out a hiss.
“Oh,
ha-ha. Very funny,” she sat back in her seat crossing her arms in front of
her.
He ignored her pout and reached for the stereo, turning up the
volume again, not as high as it had been, but high enough to be in what he
considered ‘listening’ range.
They rode like that for sometime,
before she reached for the stereo again, this time turning it off of the
cd he’d been listening to and switching to the radio tuner. After a
moment, she landed on a pop station.
“Oh, what is this?” he asked,
irritated. His hand reached for the buttons, but she slapped it
away.
“No way, we listened to your noise long enough,” she
said.
He glared at her, “Well, anything but this. Christina
Aguilera? Kill me now.”
“How ‘bout I kill you later?” she
quipped.
“Ha-ha. Turn it.”
She mumbled something he couldn’t
quite catch, but she started flipping through the stations and finally
settled on classic rock. He could live with that - for a while
anyway.
***
Maria had to admit they’d made amazingly good
time. Of course, he’d driven like a maniac, but he got her there in one
piece, so she really couldn’t complain.
“That’s the place, right
there,” she pointed at the building as they drove past the street is was
on. “Uh, you passed it.
“That was a one way street,” he
said.
“All right, so we go around the block?”
“Yeah, that’s
what I’m doing.”
“What’s the plan exactly? We check his room, and
if he’s not there, then what? We start combing local bistros, bars…?” she
looked in his direction.
“I don’t know,” he said, running a hand
through his hair. “It’s not like I do this everyday. Like I said, needle
in a haystack.”
She sat back and waited until he came to a stop in
front of the hotel, then quickly jumped out when the doorman opened the
door for her. Behind her, she heard Michael say something to the valet
about keeping the car close.
Inside, she immediately walked past
the front desk and headed for the elevators. She heard him come up behind
her as she stood waiting for the doors to open.
“Ok,” she said,
glancing down at the paper. “Room 1125, so that should be the eleventh
floor, right?”
“I guess,” he said.
She glanced back at him,
he wasn’t being very helpful. They stepped onto the elevator when it
arrived, and rode the eleven floors up in silence.
The signs on the
eleventh floor led them down first one hallway, then another before they
finally came to a stop in front of 1125.
“Well,” he said, looking
at her, “knock.”
“Why do I have to knock?” she asked.
He
rolled his eyes and rapped on the door. No answer, so he tried again, a
little more forcefully this time.
“Guess he’s not here,” he said
after there was no response. “Now what?”
She glanced first at him,
then at the door, then took the side of her fist and began to pound on it,
“Alex! Alex, are you in there?”
Maria was fully aware that Michael
was looking at her as if she was crazy, but she didn’t really care. She
was going to be absolutely certain that Alex wasn’t just taking a nap with
his phone off the hook before she gave up.
Amazingly, the door
opened.
“What?” a very disheveled looking Alex asked as he peeked
his head around the door.
“Alex?” she asked pushing on the
door.
“Maria?” he squinted his eyes and blinked several times. “Uh,
w-what’re you, uh, doing here…?”
“It’s Isabel,” she told
him, still trying to push the door open, “she’s in labor.”
“What?”
he asked, scratching his head clumsily.
“Are you ok, Alex?” she
asked, leaning toward him.
Michael nudged her, and she glanced over
at him.
“Can’t you see,” he gestured at Alex who was still
scratching his head, “he’s drunk off his ass.”
***
“So, I’m
gonna’ be a father,” Alex said a little too loudly from the
backseat.
Michael held his tongue.
“Yes, Alex, that’s
right,” Maria said in a placating tone.
“I don’t th-think I’m ready
yet, not ready for that.”
“Well, I think it’s happening if you’re
ready or not,” she said turning around to give the man in the back a
smile.
“Riiight,” Alex replied. Michael glanced in the rear view
mirror and saw him nodding like an idiot. He heard Maria sigh as she
rested her head against the window.
“We can’t take him in there
like this,” Michael said to her, jerking his thumb toward Alex.
“I
know,” her tone sounded weary as she nodded.
He stared out at into
the night. It was nearly ten, and they wouldn’t be there for another two
hours still. Maybe Alex would be relatively sober by then.
“Hey,
man, none of your business where you take me,” Alex spoke, and Michael
could tell the nonsensical comment was directed at him.
“Whatever,”
Michael replied.
“Don’t like me, do ya’?” Alex asked him as he
glanced in the rear view again.
“Not especially, no,” he said,
glancing up at the mirror to glare at the guy.
Maria sighed again,
a little louder this time, “Come on, there’s no point, he’s out of
it.”
“Wish she was still yours, don’t ya’?” Alex taunted
him.
“Alex,” Maria said sharply. “Please, why don’t you try to get
some sleep?”
Michael was fuming. He knew he should ignore the
guy.
“She didn’t want either of us, man,” Alex continued as if she
hadn’t even spoken. “First, she lied to you, then to me. Lies man, all
lies.”
Maria let out an exasperated sound and massaged her forehead
with her hand, shaking her head slightly.
He glanced at her, and
she looked back at him. She looked worried, and he realized suddenly that
her worry was for him. That only seemed to make him feel
worse.
“Isabel, Isabel,” Alex started again from the back, “why did
you let me love you?”
“Good question,” Michael
muttered.
“Yeah,” Alex sounded excited, “I mean, I’m not worthy. I
can’t believe she ever married me. Maybe it was only because of the
baby.”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Maria said softly in
response.
“No, prob’ly not,” Alex agreed. “What do you think,
Michael? Since you know her ooooooh so well.”
“I think she married
you because I talked her into it, you prick,” he said, unable to contain
his anger.
“What?” Alex asked.
Maria had stilled completely
and was looking at him.
“Nothing,” he muttered, wishing he was at
least mature enough to ignore a drunk.
“She told me that you told
her to wait until after the wedding to tell me,” Alex said. “Thanks a
lot.”
“Tell you what?” Maria asked.
Michael wanted to tell
her to ignore the guy, but he really didn’t have room to
talk.
“That she was still with loverboy up there when she met me.
Oh, and that she was pregnant with his kid,” Alex stated, in an
emotionless, matter-of-fact tone.
Silence finally reigned in the
car, and Michael felt completely humiliated. Now, she knew. Knew that
Isabel had made a complete fool of him, knew what a sap he
was.
After several minutes, he finally felt Maria’s eyes shift from
him back to Alex, “I don’t understand what that has to do with you,
though, Alex.”
“She didn’t tell me,” Alex said. “Lies. Everything
about us was a lie. She was still with him, she was having his kid, he
did paint her…”
“Yeah,” Maria said softly, “I understand
that it hurt that she lied to you, but did you need to end
it?”
“Eventually she would have left me, this way I left
her.”
Michael glanced at the guy in the rear view. That
statement he actually understood.
“Alex,” Maria’s tone was
forceful, “I don’t know Isabel, but I know a woman in love, and that woman
is in love with you. The way you were together…it was like
magic.”
Looking at her for a moment, Michael shook his head. She
shouldn’t get involved, it wasn’t any of their business how those two
wanted to f*ck up their lives.
“She’s having my baby,” Alex said
lamely, making it more of a stand alone statement than a response to
Maria.
“Yes,” Maria said encouragingly, “see, she loves
you.”
“She loves me, she’s having my baby,” Alex says slowly, as
though he’s considering this for the first time.
Michael finally
let out the breath he’d been holding in a rushing woosh. Of course Isabel
loves Alex, whatever love is – she was having his baby. Thoughts of other
babies that she didn’t have with men she didn’t love entered his
mind.
Maria was watching him again, he could feel her eyes, and he
wondered if she’d guessed it all now. Alex had told her basically
everything, this last bit was just a completion of it. He hated it that
she was watching him. Hated it, hated it.
Glancing at the gas
gauge, he made an excuse to exit the freeway and pull over at a station.
He needed fresh air.