For Nick (35 page)

Andie heard the beep-beep of the car horn in the driveway. All of the children in the backyard came running into the house, along with Ryder, their golden retriever. He was convinced it was his job to watch over the children.

“Dad’s home…daddy’s home!”

Their four children went running for the door to greet Zach. He always let them know he was home with a beep of his car horn. Andie knew he loved the greeting he received from the children.

Oh yeah, from her too.

No matter how busy they were, they always sought each other out and greeted one another with a hug and a kiss.

There was a huge ruckus in the entryway as the children greeted Zach. He adored his children and the feeling was mutual. Then she heard whispers and giggles and loud wisps of ‘shhhhhhh’ that wafted through the air. Andie wondered what they were up to. Zach sauntered in, wearing his grey suit and looking strikingly handsome.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” she answered, smiling at him warmly.

He looked her up and down, taking in her elegant black dress. He raised his eyebrows. “You look stunning, Mrs. Drake.”

“You mean all four-hundred pounds of me?”

Zach chuckled as she stood and they embraced. He kissed her softly and ran his hands over her stomach. “No, I mean all one-hundred and thirty pounds of you. When will the babysitter be here?”

“In about an hour. You have time,” she said as she kissed him. He was way off with his estimation of her weight, but she wasn’t about to correct him.

Suddenly there was movement at their legs and they looked down to see their youngest attaching herself to her daddy’s leg. Zia was two years old and looked the most like Andie with her jet-black hair and ice blue eyes. She was also a total daddy’s girl. Zach leaned down and picked her up into his arms.

“What’s the matter, Zia?”

Zia wrapped her arms around Zach and buried her face in his neck.

Their oldest boy, Zane, stood at the entryway to the room. “Zia, c’mon, we have to get ready.”

“Get ready for what?” Andie asked.

“That, my dear, is for us to know and you to find out. Sit back down and make yourself comfortable. The kids and I have a little surprise for you.”

“Oh…okay.” Andie never knew what to expect with Zach around. He was always teaching the kids songs, silly little skits, and trying to teach them to speak using alliterations.

He winked at her and off they went. She sat back down and finished three more thank you notes before the surprise began. All at once, she heard the strangest sound…a low buzzing sound, steadily getting louder. It finally dawned on her that it was Zach and the kids. They walked into the room, single file, with their arms out to their sides as if they were flying. They each wore long sleeved, black and yellow striped shirts. And they were buzzing. There was a constant sound emanating from them…“zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” Andie couldn’t hide her smile. Their cat, Jasper, meowed loudly at the sound, and flounced out of the room. Zach and the kids walked around in a circle three times, buzzing loudly. Then Zach fell to one knee and said, “Zach.”

Andie raised her eyebrows in surprise, wanting to laugh, but suppressing it.

Then each child fell to one knee in turn, one by one, in order of age, yelling out their names, “Zane…Zoe…Zander…” Zia hesitated for a moment and then fell to her knees and said shyly, “Zia.” The other kids giggled at her. She was adorable.

Then all together, they said, “And we are…the beehive!” The buzzing began again as Zia got to her feet and retrieved a large wrapped present from the hallway. She handed it to her mom and said, “Happy anna…anna…annaversawy, Mommy.” Then she took her place back in line with the other bees.

Andie exchanged an amused glance with Zach. Then she ripped open the present to find a large wooden plaque with a beehive painted on it. In large black letters it said, “Welcome to the Beehive!” And then in small letters it read, “Established in…” then it proclaimed the year they were married. It was meant to be a wall plaque that would be hung by the front door, but she wanted it to go in the front hall, next to all of their family portraits. They had one for every year they’d been married. It was wonderful to glance at the photos and see how their family had grown over the years. Next to their family portraits hung several framed photographs of her precious Nick, a constant reminder that she had lived, loved, and laughed, even if it was such a short life.

Presently, however, Andie laughed aloud at the sight of the wall plaque. It was so clever. “I love it,” she said. Then Zach collapsed onto the floor and all the children, buzzing loudly, circled him and then attacked him by pretending they were stinging him. Zach feigned pain at each sting and acted as though he was trying to capture them, but couldn’t.

Andie was feeling reminiscent today and as she watched them, her mind wandered back to the first time she’d seen Zach, dressed impeccably in his suit, not a hair out of place. He’d seemed so intimidating and she remembered feeling tongue-tied, not to mention completely out of her league.

But now, here she was, watching that very same man frolic with his children…their children…on the floor, pretending to be bees. She never would’ve thought him capable of such a thing. She felt as though she’d been pregnant for most of their marriage. Zane was almost seven, Zoe had closely followed and she was almost six. Zander was four and Zia was two. Zach loved that all of their children’s names started with Z’s. He always called their brood, ‘the beehive’ and now they had a sign to proclaim it to the world. They already knew the next baby was a girl and they’d already decided to name her Zara. Andie liked to blame all the Z’s on Zach. Secretly she loved it just as much as he did, and she knew that he knew that.

Yep, Zach was the perfect husband. Unless one of the children were bleeding, of course. Band-aids and antiseptic were strictly her department. As were doctor appointments and immunizations. Unless she wanted to see her husband vomit, faint, or become so dizzy he couldn’t stand, and have to sit with his head between his knees—this happened once when Zoe was sick—these things were better left to her. Charles ribbed him about it endlessly and Zach was a good sport about it. But he’d asked Andie if she wouldn’t mind keeping his phobia between themselves. Andie had agreed and his secret was safe with her. However, every once in awhile, Zia announced to people at random, “
Daddy’s scared of bwood
.”

Andie had a good giggle over it, but Zach didn’t find it quite so amusing. Go figure.

His phobia was a very real issue for him and it made his unending strength while at Nick’s side all the more amazing. She wasn’t sure how he’d held it together the way he had. The fact that he’d stayed at her side in spite of his phobia left her feeling in awe of him.

He really loved her.

It hadn’t been until Zane was born that she realized he
really
wasn’t kidding about his phobia. She’d been taken by surprise at his erratic behavior.

Still, when Zoe was born, she wasn’t expecting a repeat performance. She’d figured he’d been through labor once with her, now he knew what to expect. No big deal, right?

Wrong. So very wrong. They’d pulled away from the house in a rush to get to the hospital. Andie had turned around to check on Zane, only to find that he wasn’t in the car.

“Zach, where’s the baby?”

“Oh yeah…the baby. That’s what I forgot.”

He’d squealed the tires as he’d turned the car around. Zane was sitting happily in his car seat on the front porch, waiting for his parents to notice him.

It wasn’t a proud parenting moment for her. Or for Zach. They consoled themselves with the fact that if they told the story to any one, they laughed so hard they couldn’t speak. There was nothing to do but laugh it off. If they didn’t laugh, the guilt would’ve eaten them alive.

By the time Zander was born, Andie knew what to expect. What she didn’t know was that Zach and his phobia were entirely unpredictable. Andie was having contractions at fairly regular intervals, so they knew it was time to go to the hospital. However, they figured they had time to drop off Zane and Zoe at Charles’ home first. They’d driven to his condo complex and Zach took the kids to the door.

The wrong door.

He’d stood there for five minutes insisting that the tenant go and get Charles immediately.

It’s an emergency. Why are you wasting my time? What have you done with Charles? Where is he? This is Charles’ home! What are you doing here?

Yep, Zach stood at their door and made his demands rather insistently.

In the end, Charles heard the ruckus and went to Zach’s—and his neighbor’s—rescue. Once Charles explained the situation to his neighbor, they were good sports about it.

That is, after they were done laughing.

Still, in spite of it all, Zach was the perfect husband and she loved him dearly.

Zach rolled onto his side, faking a particularly painful sting. He watched Andie observing them with a small smile. She was radiant tonight, positively glowing. There was a self-satisfied air about her, as if she was completely content. She loved being a mother and he knew that she loved each and every one of them fiercely. She wanted nothing to do with a career, but opted to stay at home with their children and he loved her for it. She was an incredible mother and it showed in their children. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes retired shortly after Zane was born and Andie announced to him that she didn’t want any hired help. She wanted to do it all herself. She was an amazing cook and ran their household with an iron fist. He had no idea how she did it all. She was unwavering in her commitment to him and their children. The sadness that had been in her eyes when he’d met her was gone and replaced with a light that seemed to emanate from her. He knew she missed Nick every day of her life and always would. He did too. But she was at peace with it and had long since let go of any bitterness. She was hugely pregnant and feeling rather uncomfortable, but it didn’t show in her features. She had a happy, healthy glow about her. She caught his eye and smiled at him. Her love for him shone in her eyes. The feeling was mutual. He loved her so much it made him physically ache.

Zia ran over to her mom and cuddled up to her. She didn’t like roughhousing. She was all girl and ultra-feminine. She could sit for hours simply combing out the hair on all of her dolls while she hummed a song.

“You look pwetty, Mommy,” Zia told her and Andie pulled her onto what was left of her lap, hugging her tightly.

The doorbell rang and Andie got up to get it, handing Zia off to Zach. “That will be the babysitter. You’d better get ready, Zach.”

Andie visited with the babysitter, Rebecca, rehearsing last minute instructions for the night. She’d babysat for them several times before and knew the routine. Rebecca helped her to serve dinner and they called all the kids to the table. Rebecca commented on their matching shirts and the whole beehive thing started again. The children buzzed, said their names, and then in unison announced, “We’re the beehive!” as if they were the performing Von Trapp children.

Rebecca clapped her hands and laughed. “Who taught you to do that?”

“Daddy,” they all told her.

“And Mommy is the Queen Bee,” Zoe said.

Zach entered the room then, looking nothing like the man who’d just been sporting a black and yellow t-shirt and buzzing around the room with his children. Andie raised her eyebrows at him. “Queen Bee?” That was the first she’d heard of this pet name for her, but she rather liked it. She was willing to go along with it.

Zach shrugged and smiled at her apologetically.

He wore a black dress shirt, open at the neck, with a black blazer and black dress pants. A white handkerchief peeked out of his blazer pocket. He’d combed his hair, but the rebellious strays still landed on his forehead. The slight whiff of aftershave lingered in the air and he looked devastatingly handsome. Andie stopped for a minute just to gaze upon him.

“H-hello, Mr. Drake,” Rebecca mumbled and Andie had to smile. Zach could still catch the eye of a sixteen year old at the age of forty.

“Hello, Rebecca. How are you this evening?”