Cradle Creek

Chapter 52, Why Not Smile?

A week had gone by with Drew moving between the hospital and home. Alice Jane slept in the cottage, giving him space yet joining him for dinner talking about everything, but well, the topic they avoided. Both being able to compartmentalize better than most.

The peach trees on the back of the property had finally released the leaves. What the wind didn't carry provided thick layer of natural mulch and nutrition for the roots as if the trees could take care fo themselves when no one else would.

At the end of another week, AJ showered, dressed and went to Sugarbaker's. Julia always seemed happy when her friend entered. The ladies were icing cookies and the store remained quiet for most of the day as afternoon rain quelled the majority of the foot traffic.

While Julia iced little turkey and pilgrim cookies, AJ posted the work in action on Instagram. It was in this time that Julia told AJ about her life, mostly her family. She had married a man for a hot minute fresh out of school. There had been passion, goodness there had been passion, and certainly lust. But, when that all faded, there wasn't much else. The couple parted on good terms and are still friends. He lives about forty-five minutes from Cradle Creek and occasionally they have dinner and whatever else might come with that.

Her parents built the pink house where Mama lives. Her dad was a physician and actually delivered Julia. The labor had come on so hard and fast that her parents did not make it to the hospital. Her dad stopped the car on the side of the highway, helped his wife into the backseat and three pushes later there was baby Julia, screaming. It scared Mama so badly, that when they got to the hospital, she booked her daddy an appointment with the urologist for a vasectomy and refused to leave until he did 'it.' She gestured a pair of scissors with her hands as she said, "snip, snip, sucker!"

Julia's dad had been gone for going on ten years thanks to an aneurysm. He woke up dead one day. Mama painted the house pink after he died and started wearing caftans. There was a period when she tried to wear turbans but she could not pull them off. "Literally, could not pull it off. One day, it was hot and I decided it was her head that swelled. That stupid turban was not budging. She ended up in a cold shower with that thing on her head. To make matters worse, it cost like $200!"

Mama was the middle daughter with two older sisters and two younger sisters. When she was not hosting dinner, she read cookbooks like harlequin romance novels and harlequin romance novels like cookbooks. "She gets ideas," Julia said with a look.

AJ laughed at the thought.

—

Drew stood in the avocado green kitchen that evening, the windows open so he could hear the rain on the tin roof of the back porch. AJ held a magazine over her head, providing no protection from the rain as it poured. Shaking herself off on the porch, Drew let a cat whistle out. Wringing out her hair, she laughed, "Very funny."

Walking inside, she kissed the spot below his temple while dipping her finger in a sauce that he was making. Taking a sip of his beer that sat on the counter, she passed it to him as she got her own from the refrigerator.

AJ pulled herself up on the counter watching him work. "I, uh, tried to tell you a few weeks ago. But, I need to talk to you... to tell you," she said. Her mouth formed a perfect circle before she began. Slowly, she started talking, "You asked me how I ended up here, at the convent. I wasn't very honest with you."

Drew shrugged. "What's there to say? You were pregnant and needed to have the baby. Mother Superior was a family friend. It doesn't seem complicated," he surmised.

She hopped off he counter, pacing the kitchen that was growing smaller by the second, "You won't be saying that after I tell you what I did. I played Russian Roulette and lost."

His voice caused her to stop moving, "What are you talking about, he finally asked.

"I gambled and lost."

"How about we sit down and start at the beginning, because you aren't making any sense?"

She returned to her spot to the counter as he switched off the stove and flipped a towel over his shoulder. Giving her his full attention, she was breathing heavy. Cautiously, he sat beside her.

AJ wrung her left hand with her right, staring at the floor Talking almost silently, she told Drew about the test, telling Blaise and the disastrous announcement to his parents. It was surreal reliving these moments that changed the course of her life. She recounted sitting in her father's study as he gave her the idea of another option.

Up to this point, there were no surprises for Drew. it was when she kept talking that left him stunned in silence.

"I asked Daddy Jack to call Mother Superior. With the convent being a viable option, I made an appointment with Blaise's father. If I could get him on board, we would be smooth sailing. It was hard, but I convinced the senator that I, uh, that I can... I will... that," she trailed off.

"That you... what?" Drew asked.

"I would trade the life of that child for the political dynasty he so desperately wanted. I said one life for five.  If he let that child live, than I would have five more legitimate heirs that he could put in his political machine. It was a gamble and I thought that he might be dead by the time they grew up. How ironic is that? I was selfish. I traded the baby's life for my unborn, unconceived children.

Drew knitted his brows together, taking in her story.

"but, when y'all married, you'd have children," he said.

AJ opened her mouth speak, closed it and tried again.

"No. I said that if there was an abortion then I would never conceive a Woodhull child. Blaise would never be a father."

And there is was: the thing she had never told. The cross she bore, the secret that cause her baby to die. Drew sat quietly for a moment, letting the pieces of the kaleidoscope click slowly into place But the crepuscule was inky and inaccurate. Things would fit where they should.

"Alice Jane, I'm trying to process this, but I keep thinking what would happen if I put someone in this situation. no one could stop me from being wit the woman I want as my wife. And I sure wouldn't agree to a barren marriage if it was possible to have them. Why? Why ddi Blaise want this?"

Swallowing hard, "He didn't know I talked to his dad. He thought that his dad had a change of heart when the fact was, I was wagering on the lives of our future children for the one we could never have. Drew I was desperate, you have to know that."

"Oh," he said emphatically. Standing, Drew walked towards the door, not looking at her. As he pulled open the backdoor, he said, "You made a decision about the life of your unborn child and the life of unconceived children without so much as even a thought to Blaise?"

"My only thought was Blaise!" she screamed. The rain had grown louder outside.

He couldn't look at her, he could barely breath. As he walked outside, slamming the door behind him, she said more to the man whom she had loved for years, "Don't you know that I'm carrying enough guilt for everyone? I caused this," as she dropped her face into her waiting hands. I'm sorry she said over and over.

It took almost ten seconds of her openly sobbing to know that Drew was worth fighting for, as hard as she was fighting for herself.

It was her turn to chase him. Throwing open the back door, she tore down the steps, tripping in the rain. His car was still there, where was he?

"Where are you going?" she heard from behind her. Drew was sitting on the ground, leaning against the house, still dry under the porch.

Stomping up the stairs, she remained outside the screened porch, the rain coming down behind her. "You said, quite emphatically I might add, that we make decisions together. We decide together. We don't walk out on one another. You need time? You think I don't know that? If you want to leave, let's talk about it. I don't want you to go. I need you to stay. And I can never make a decision that big again without you."

Drew didn't move, staring at her. Licking her lips, she turned to leave. The sound of the screen door was silenced by the noise of the rain as he ran after her, catching her halfway to the cottage. Grabbing her wrist, he pulled her around, bringing her face to his. "Alice Jane, stop running so much," he said, kissing her as the rain came down, soaking them both.