Meadowlarks (36 page)

             
“I've also called a neighbor I know personally, and they told me they didn't see his SUV leave at all through the night.”

             
“Well, thank you. That will put us at ease.”

             
Addison motions for me to hand her the phone.

             
“Addison would like to talk to you.” I hand her the phone.

             
“Officer Herring? Yes, well I was so sure...I know, thank you very much...It was lovely, thank you...” She pulls on the fabric of her scrubs nervously. “Okay. Yes, we will...Have a good day. Bye.”

             
She hands me back the phone. “He said he's sure Reid didn't go anywhere last night. And that he'll look into having surveillance put on him.”

             
“Want to take the rest of the day off?”

             
She looks like she's almost about to say yes. “I can't. I wish I could, but we're short staffed today.”

             
“Okay, call me if you need anything. Promise?”

             
“I promise, my darling husband.”

             
“I love you, Mrs. Blackstock. So very much.”

             
It's nearly midnight on May 29
th
, and the sound of the phone ringing startles us both. Addison scrambles to reach it on the nightstand.

             
“Hello?” She sits up quickly, and my eyes take a minute to adjust. “Okay! I'm getting dressed now!” She leaps off the bed and almost slips on the floor before she reaches the closet.

             
“Addy?”

             
“Riley's going into labour! I gotta get over there.”

             
My eyes are still trying to focus by the time we pull into Jeremiah's driveway. I get out of the passenger seat and hold the door open for Riley to get in. The three of them were already waiting outside for us.

             
“Drive safe, and keep me posted.” Jer looks nervously into the car at Addison and Alex.               “Good luck, Riley!”

             
“Thank you, Jer.” She breathes, holding her large belly in her small hands. “Thank you for staying with Isaac.”

             
Alex and I get into the back, and the tires kick up stones when she throws the car into reverse.

             
“Whoa!” Riley grips the door.

             
“Sorry.”

             
“I don't want to have this baby in a car, Cole!”

             
They both laugh, and Riley quickly softens her voice, breathing slowly. She must be having a contraction; I don't know much, but I've seen enough TV to know that.

             
“How far apart are you?”

             
“She was four minutes about half an hour ago.” Alex leans up and sticks his head between the front seats. “Babe, you okay?”

             
She breathes, and I think we all exhale with her.

             
“I'm okay.” She smiles back at him, as he reaches his hand through the center and holds hers.

             
Addison looks in the rear view, I can see in her eyes that she's smiling.

             
Riley and Alex calmly walk up and down the white hallway of the maternity ward, back and forth, stopping every few minutes for a contraction and then starting again.

             
“She's doing so well.” Addison smiles at them as they walk away from the row of chairs we're sitting in.

             
“Alex looks like he's ready to pass out.” I chuckle, and she elbows me.

             
“Hey, that'll be you someday, too.”

             
“Can't wait.” I smirk, and she rolls her eyes. “Practice makes perfect.”

             
She gapes and shakes her head at me.

             
When I come back from the bathroom, only Addison is left in the hallway. She's standing in front of a door, looking through the window.

             
“Where'd they go?” I stand behind her and peek in over her shoulder. Alex is standing beside Riley, who's now lying in a bed on her side. I'm not sure if I'm ready to see anything else, so I go and sit back down on the uncomfortable chairs across the hall.

             
Minutes turn into hours, and after the hundredth time I nod off, Addy wakes me up and tells me we should get something to eat.

“What time is it?”

              “It's noon.”

             
Riley's been in labour for twelve hours, and there’s still no baby.

             
“Nothing's happened yet?”

             
“Not yet, but everything is going smoothly otherwise though. Alex is sleeping in a chair beside her bed. It's so sweet.” She smiles, as I take her hand, walking down the hall and into an elevator to eat questionable cafeteria food.

             
I eat my roast beef sandwich alone, in my orange plastic chair. I stare at the soda machine, wishing I hadn’t bought this awful sludge they advertised as coffee and instead got a can of pop. Addison sees some co-workers and stands by the window talking to them.               Every so often, she looks over and smiles. I just sit and eat and smile back with a cheek full of sandwich.

             
At dinner time, I'm exhausted. I'm trying my best to stay enthused about it all, but I really just want to go home. Addison looks tired, too, and when Alex comes out, he frowns. He tells us the doctor thinks it'll be a couple more hours.

             
“They'll do a c-section if it doesn't improve.” He runs his hands through his hair in frustration.

             
“As long as she's okay, and the baby's okay. That's all that matters, Alex.” Addison hugs him and he rests his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes for a moment of peace.

             
“Listen, you guys should go home.” He read my mind. “I'll call you if something changes.”

             
“Okay. Love you.”

             
He smiles and hugs her again. “Love you, too, Addy.”

             
Home sweet home; oh, the glory of those three words. My bed almost envelopes around me, and I cocoon into the blankets, feeling comfort at last. Normally I would associate this bed with sex, and having her beside me would make me want to touch her in any way.               But right now, all I want to do is sleep. I think I can hear her saying something to me as I drift away, but I'm too far to make out the words.

             
Baby Cole is finally brought into the world. Alex called at six AM to tell Addison that Riley had started to push around 4:00. An hour and a half later, he became a father.

             
She's crying while she's on the phone with him, smiling and wiping her tears with the corner of the blanket.               “Oh, Alex I'm so happy! I just love her name.” She turns to me. “Scarlett Cordelia Cole.”

             
I smile, happy that the baby is here and everyone is well. They've chosen a beautiful name for her.

             
By eight AM, we're on the way to the hospital to see our new niece. As expected, she's a beautiful baby. She has a head full of jet black hair just like Riley's, but she's got big blue eyes like Alex. He's sitting in a gliding chair, slowly rocking tiny Scarlett in his arms. I try and tune out the gory details of her birth, and wince when I hear words like tear and blood and stitches.

             
“Sorry, Blaine.” Riley smiles up at me, still beautiful even after everything she's been through in the last thirty-plus hours.

             
“Mommy!” Isaac peeks through the door, and his eyes brighten when he sees his mother. Jeremiah is behind him, unsure if he should come in the room.

             
“Baby! Oh, I missed you so much!” Riley hugs him, carefully lifting the hand with the IV in it out of the way of her son. She sees Jer over his shoulder and waves him to come in. “Get in here, Jeremiah!”

             
He comes in without a sound and whispers hello to everyone, seemingly afraid that if he raises his voice, he'll somehow break the fragile newborn.

Alex laughs.
              “Jer, you don't have to whisper. She'll have to get used to noise in this family.”

             
Riley sneers at him but then smiles.               “He's right.”

             
Addison gets to hold the baby, her small hand around an even tinier head.               “Hello, little darling.” She smiles down at her and traces her finger along her little ear. “She's perfect. Just perfect.”

             
Riley and Scarlett are able to go home to Jeremiah's house the next day. Alex fumbles around, trying to get her tiny little body buckled into her car seat, careful where the straps went. Once he made sure she was snug, he stood back and admired his work.

             
Addison had loaned her brother her Taurus to drive his new family from the hospital, and she's going to surprise him by selling her Mustang and buying them a new car to have as their own.

             
“That's what my Dad would want. Alex has proved he's responsible. I don't need two cars.”              She smiles while she rubs her hand on the trunk of the old Ford.               “Wanna go for one last boot?”

             
I grin and hop in the passenger side; she turns on the ignition and throws the car into reverse. The dust cloud trailing behind us down Porter Road is enormous. The engine roars as we take a corner and spray stones all over the side of the road.

             
              She laughs and floors it, pulling us back into our seat on the last straight stretch of the road. A few seconds later, the fun ends, and we're on asphalt.

             
The rush is exhilarating, while we drive around with no destination, down other roads and streets. We are fully enjoying the last time we'll be in this car together. At the lights by the railroad tracks, Addison slows down, and we cruise along with the windows down, the warm June air flowing over our hands and through our hair.

             
A pause at the streetlights causes a change in the fun.

             
“Babe?” She narrows her eyes and looks in the rear view. “What kind of car is that behind us?”

             
I turn in my seat and look. “Ugh…a Lexus?”

             
“Thought so.” As soon as the light turns green, she quickly looks both ways and slams her foot right down on the gas, jolting us forward. “Babe, I think it's Reid.”

             
“What!” I shoot around in my seat again, almost frantic to try and see if it's him. The windows in the SUV are too dark, and I can't tell.

             
We come to another light, having to stop again, but this time the Lexus pulls up beside us. The dark windows give us no chance to see who is behind the wheel. I can feel my heart start to race; I reach over and hold my door handle like I'm ready to jump out and fling open the door of the Lexus. With my luck, it would be a soccer mom I'd be yanking out and not the piece of shit Reid.

             
“It's okay, baby,” I tell her. “Just breathe.” And she does, slowly, through a small opening in her lips. She doesn't look over at the Lexus while it's beside us. As soon as the light turns green, she accelerates, and when I look in the mirror on my door, I feel relief.

             
“It turned, baby. I don't think it was him. You’re okay, my love.” I stroke her thigh with my hand, trying to ease her anxiety, hoping I'm successful.

             
She exhales loudly.               “I panicked.”

             
“You were just fine. Ready to go home?”

             
She nods and smiles; I turn up the radio, and we drive home. When the pavement turns back into dirt, Porter Road is turned into a dust cloud again. One last hurrah.

             
Jeremiah comes over for dinner, giving Alex and Riley some alone time with their new bundle.               Over dessert, which is ice cream, he's convinced me to start practising team roping for a rodeo this summer. Truthfully, he doesn’t have to say much to convince me; it's a great idea. He's just as good as me, and we could make more money, too.

             
The sun hasn't quite set yet, and we clear the table. Addison sits, still eating ice cream and talking on the phone to Riley.

             
“You know, what you're doing for them is pretty good, bud,” I say to him.

             
He chuckles and opens the dishwasher, tossing the silverware in the plastic basket.               “Well, sometimes people need a little help. And I like having them around.” He grins.               “Maybe she'll convince one of the other Maine girls to move out here too!”

             
“Cheers to Maine girls.”

             
We laugh.

             
“Indeed.”

             
After her call and once she's finished her ice cream, Addison joins us in the kitchen.

             
“Wow, look at this!” She gazes around the kitchen at the empty sink and counter tops.               She seems astonished that we figured out between the two of us how to load and start a cycle in the dishwasher.

             
“We just stopped pushing buttons when we heard water start spraying around in there.” Jer laughs and shrugs his shoulder. I laugh, too, because I know he's being completely honest.

             
“Thanks for dinner. It was good, like always.” He pats his stomach. “I should get going, though. I need to get to Lander's before it closes.”