Our Hearts' Desire (The Monkees Family Vol. 2)

Chapter 37

On Sunday, Gabby and Micky were hanging out in the backyard with the dogs. Micky was taking a break from building Charlotte's play palace, as Gabby had now named it, after seeing it take shape. It was extremely elaborate and looked like a castle fit for a princess, one of her favorite nicknames for the little girl. She almost felt envious of such a primo piece of equipment and couldn't wait for it to be finished so that she could have fun on it as well.

The dogs had had their fun as well and were pooped out, dozing under the shady tree, while Micky and Gabby were opting to be sun babies and catching some rays. Gabby had not told Micky what happened to Wendy, other than to say that things didn't turn out well with her friend, as she predicted, and that they had ended up at the hospital and her friend's special someone had had to be summoned after all. She figured that if the story got out eventually, Micky would find out that way soon enough, but that she still owed Wendy the privilege of her privacy. In any case, she knew that Micky had pretty much figured it out for himself and they were more or less speaking in code and euphemisms anyway.

Micky harrumphed "Well, I just hope your friend finally gets a change of attitude. She's had it coming for a long time."

"Micky, we're not discussing this if you're going to pretend you don't know but you really know but you don't know everything. It's gossip, and you know that's a violation of the traditions of the program. No gossip!"

Micky sighed. "Okay, true that. But shit, Gabby, that's a messed up situation. At least I know you're going to be straight with me about baby business, right?"

Gabby shifted uncomfortably and said "Of course, Micky."

Micky continued to gaze at her. "Then why don't you just go ahead and tell me?"

Now she felt very exposed and raw. And it suddenly dawned on her that Micky seemed to know something that she didn't realize he knew and he was just waiting for her to confess it.

"Tell you what? What are you talking about?"

"I heard you talking about babies with Dawn when I was in the bathroom cleaning up after I mowed the lawn, that time when you were changing your shirt when Seb threw up all over you. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but you girls were just chatting like you do and the bathroom's next to the bedroom. You told Dawn you're not going to have my baby or any babies. And you said you even felt guilty about having tried for a baby. Shouldn't we talk about that?"

Gabby squirmed and felt very much put on the spot. And then she started to do a slow burn. "Well, Micky, are you trying to equate a private conversation I had about feelings I have about having a baby with you now after all that's happened with what Wendy did to Mike? Because I don't think that's the same thing at all!"

Micky backpedaled quickly. "No, no, Gabby, I'm not putting them on the same level at all. But they're about the same thing, and I've known this information for a while and it's been tearing me up, knowing I know and knowing you don't know I know, if you can understand that tangled sentence. So I'm the one coming clean, I'm not asking you to come clean. But I would like to talk about it and I'd like it if you'd just tell me to my face what I heard, because I'm ready to hear it."

Gabby sighed and stood down a bit, let her anger dial back a bit. "So what you're saying is, you heard me talk about it and you've got opinions on it and you want to discuss it with me. Well what if I'm not ready to discuss it with you, regardless of whether you think you know what I feel or not?"

Micky shifted his gaze down for a moment and pulled at bits of the grass. "Well, then, you're not ready to talk about it and we won't. That's okay. But now you know that I overheard you talking about it, and I can at least let go of that part of it. I've felt uncomfortable having that on my conscience, on my heart. I can wait to have that discussion. It's a serious one, and it's true, maybe we're not ready to be discussing that stuff. But you needed to know that I'm kind of already clued in to your state of mind on the subject." He looked her in the eye now. "And if it's any help to my own cause, I'll tell you right now, it isn't going to stand in the way of my trying to repair our marriage."