Part 9
07:20 (15:20 London)
Saturday
10 February 2007
Mac’s House
San Diego, California
Mac stumbled through the clutter on the floor, stubbing her toe on the portable crib on her way to the couch. She bit her bottom lip to suppress the cry as tears filled her eyes from the pain. Freezing in place, she breathed a sigh of relief when the room remained mercifully calm. Hobbling to the couch, she dropped into its welcoming depths and sighed when her head hit the pillow. She threw an arm over her eyes to block out the morning sun and fell into a long overdue slumber.
Ten minutes later, the blaring of a ringing phone dragged her toward semi-wakeful consciousness. Reaching for the offending object, she knocked the handset to the floor with a loud thud. She cursed at the interruption and felt around the floor in clumsy swiping circles until she located the device. Pulling the receiver to her ear, she mumbled an unintelligible, “Lo?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line then a tentative voice asked, “Mac? Mac, where are you?”
“Who dis?”
“Sweetheart, it’s Harm…I’m wondering where you are?”
She snickered still in a sleepy haze, “I at home…where you?”
She could hear him sigh, “I’m at the airport waiting for you. What’s going on, Mac?”
“Wha…”
“Look, I haven’t heard from you in over a week, and now I’m at the airport to meet a flight that you’re obviously not on. Is there something going on? You’re not backing away and having second thoughts are you?”
That brought her awake as assuredly as a bucket of ice water tossed in her face. She sat up and blinked away the sleep. “Harm?” Her voice trembled, “Oh no, what did I do?”
He could hear her sniffling through the phone, “Sarah, calm down and tell me what’s going on.”
She scrubbed her fingers through her hair, pulling it back away from her face, “I messed up everything. I’m so sorry.”
He felt his stomach churn, “What do you mean messed everything up? What did you do?”
Her voice became distorted by tears, “I forgot…I didn’t mean…there’s so much going on…I just wanted to see you.” The next few sentences were unintelligible between the sobs. He finally understood the words, “I need you.”
He dropped into the nearest seat in the terminal and released a sigh of relief. “Mac, sweetheart,” he soothed, “…take a breath and tell me what happened.”
He heard her shuddering breath, “I’m sorry.”
He pulled the phone closer to his mouth and whispered, “It OK honey. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together.” He paused, “I love you.”
He heard her inhale deeply, “I love you, too.”
He smiled, “I’m happy to hear that. Now, I’m going to hang up….”
“No!”
“Mac, listen to me. I’m not going anywhere, but I think you need a moment to compose yourself. Now, I’m going to hang up and call back in five minutes. Why don’t you go get a drink and run some cold water over your face.”
“’kay.”
“Mac?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
“I’ll call right back. Bye, Marine.”
The line disconnected and she set the handset aside. Tears continued to cascade down her cheek, she’d been waiting for weeks to see him, but with all the commotion she’d forgotten her flight. How could she forget her trip to him? She’d been desperate to see him again…she needed him now more than ever. She threw her hands into the air in frustration as reality set in, who knew when they would have a chance to get together again?
She stood and maneuvered through the mess to get to the bathroom. Throwing water on her face, she attempted to stop the tears and calm her breathing. She filled a glass with water and walked into the bedroom awaiting his call.
The phone rang two minutes later, “Harm?”
“You doing better now?”
“No, I’d be better if I were there with you. I’m so sorry I screwed everything up.”
He could hear the tears threatening in her voice again, “It’s OK, just tell me what’s got my squared-away marine so flustered?”
“The baby’s had me up ever since he came home from the hospital. Plus I had to make all the arrangements….”
He gasped, “Wow Marine, back it up a minute. What baby? Last I knew you weren’t pregnant…in fact, according to my sixth grade health teacher it takes a little more than kissing to get in that predicament and unless I missed something….”
That made her smile, “He’s not my baby…at least, he wasn’t before…but I guess he is now…I just….”
His head was spinning. There appeared to be a problem in the transmission somewhere between her speaking and his hearing, “Mac? Mac! Hold on a second, I’m a little confused about what’s going on here. Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “OK, it all started five days ago. There was a car accident and….”
“Are you OK…you weren’t hurt or anything?”
“Harm, I wasn’t in the accident…wait a minute, let me explain everything before you ask questions.”
“I’m listening,” he sighed.
She smiled at his barely controlled frustration, “First of all, I’m physically fine…or as fine as I can be when I’m not with you. Anyway, you know my godson, Benjamin? Well, he and his parents were in an automobile accident last Tuesday. A drunk driver hit them head on.”
“Is he OK…he wasn’t injured or anything?”
She fell backwards onto the bed, the exhaustion about to do her in. Rubbing a hand over her eyes, she continued, “No, not seriously anyways. He was restrained in his car seat…thankfully, in the back of the car. He was banged up and bruised a little, so the doctor wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few days for observation.”
“I’m glad he wasn’t hurt, but I don’t understand…why do you have the baby?”
She teared up once again, “Harm, Benjamin’s parents were both killed in the accident. Dan, his father, was dead at the scene. They worked on Bernice for two hours in the ER, but she didn’t survive.”
“Sweetheart,” he soothed, “…I wish I were there to help you. How long will you have Benjamin…any chance, the rest of his family will come get him before the end of the week.”
Her voice trembled, “Harm, there is no one else. Dan grew up in the state foster care system and Bernice was an only child. Her parents died several years ago. That’s why I’ve been so stressed. I’ve had to deal with the police about the accident, the legal issues related to Benjamin, all the funeral arrangements for Bernice and Dan. The funeral was yesterday morning, and they released the baby from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He’s been really fussy. I think he misses them, plus he’s still a little sore from the bruising.”
“So you’re all he has?”
“Yeah,” she sniffed, “…I guess I’m his guardian, now.”
He smiled, “So, I guess that means we have a baby?”
She frowned, “Well, I guess I do…you don’t have to….”
He interrupted, “Hey, what’s all this ‘you’ and ‘me’? I thought we were a ‘we’?”
“But…”
“No but’s darlin…I promised you we’d have a baby together, he just came a little ahead of schedule.” He could hear her crying into the phone. “Sarah, I know this is all a little overwhelming; and after the week you’ve had, you’re probably exhausted. Where is the baby right now?”
“He’s sleeping…he was up most…of...the night. I’m sorry, I’m just…”
“Hey, it’s alright. I want you to hang up the phone and go take a nap. You need to take advantage of any chance to sleep, while the baby’s down. I’ll phone you later today…on second thought, I want you to sleep as much as you can. Don’t worry about talking to me, just take care of Benjamin and yourself…and I’ll call back in the morning. I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, too Harm. I’m really sorry I’m not there.” She cried into the phone, “I miss you.”
“I miss you, too. Now go get some sleep and quit worrying about everything.”
She placed the phone on the nightstand and curled up on the bed, her tears of exhaustion and disappointment taking her back to dreamland.
Between a couple of brief respites for sleep, she spent the rest of the day tending to the baby. By evening, she’d discovered the cause of Benjamin’s fussiness…he’d apparently picked up a cold from the hospital. Funny thing, everybody goes to the hospital to get better, but no one considers that it’s the place with the most germs. She placed a phone call to the pediatrician, who recommended fluids and Tylenol. After a trip to the drugstore for formula, Pedialyte, Tylenol drops and diapers, she bathed Benjamin and got him settled for the night. She fell into bed herself by 21:00, unshowered and still fully clothed.
Benjamin slept fitfully, waking several times during the night. The two settled for a long nap, snuggled on the bed at around 10:00 on Sunday morning. Mac shook her head as she drifted off to sleep. She was still wearing yesterday’s clothes and was covered in stains of Tylenol, formula and Pedialyte compliments of one Benjamin Michael Carter. She had to admire Harriet’s patience and maternal fortitude all the more.
A knock at the door roused both the slumbering pair by lunchtime. She picked up the baby with an anguished cry and headed to the front door to curse out the unwelcome intruder. Opening the door, the curse died on her lips as her eyes took in the most beautiful inviting sight of her life.