Uppercut: Chapter 1
"The plane will be boarding for Henderson, Nevada in approximately 30 minutes."
I stood by the window of the waiting area, holding my son, Devon, in my arms. His little hands reached out to touch the glass. He started to hit it and squealed. I readjusted his weight and grabbed him by his armpits to put him down. I sat him in his car seat, which was sitting next to me on the floor, and pulled out my phone. It was probably important to let my family know when the plane would be leaveing.
I texted my younger brother Drew to let him know we were leaving soon. He and my mom had went to put our luggage in the baggage check while Alex went to grab some food from Tim Horton's.
Devon began squealing again, trying to get my attention. I put my phone back into the front pocket of my jeans and smiled at him. I grabbed my purple duffle bag in one hand and Devon's car seat in the other. I walked away from the window and towards the chairs that were in the crowded waiting area.
I sat a few seats away from another family. I put my bag and the car seat down on the floor in front of me as I waited for everyone to come back. I watched Devon as he played with his shoe, trying to get it off. He looked so concentrated on the task, his little face scrunched up as he tried to get a good grip on it. I smiled as I watched him. His sandy hair hanging near his bright blue eyes. He seemed so determined.
I couldn’t have even count the number of times that I had compared his eyes to his father’s… I sighed and looked across the room towards the window. The plane was in my view. As I looked at it, I felt the butterflies in my stomach again. That feeling had been all to familiar over the past week or so. I couldn’t help it, I was extremely nervous. This was going to be the most intense visit I would ever have with my brother. I knew it was going to be anything but easy to tell him the secrets I had kept from him since he moved away. I knew he would be angry with me, and that thought was terrifying.
We were going to Harwick, Nevada to visit my older brother, James. He had moved to Nevada to become a boxer. He always enjoyed boxing. It was a hobby of his growing up, not that my mom or grandmother approved of it.
They raised us to be polite and never be rude or mean to anyone and all that stuff. Well, look how that turned out. James is a boxer and beats people for a living and I'm an 18 year-old high school graduate with a 19 month old baby. Yup. We made our mom and grandmother so proud.
That's why Drew is mom's favorite. Just kidding, it's because he's the youngest. Mom loves us all, even though she may not approve of our life decisions. She's learned to accept them and be there for us when we need her. Nana's probably turning in her grave. I don't think she'd be as accepting as mom is.
Devon started squirming. I sighed, picking him up and setting him on my knee. He better be good during the flight, I get enough attention from him as it is.
He started playing with my fingers and talking his baby talk. I smiled and ruffled his hair with my other hand.
I glanced over at the other family who was now watching me. I gave them a slight smile and went back to paying attention to Devon. I did my best to try and ignore them. I forced myself to watch Devon even though I could feel their intense gaze on me. It was annoying when people stared or gave me looks but I was used to it now. I'd been dealing with it for almost two years.
Devon looked up at me, his blue eyes watching my face. Then he yawned. I moved him closer to me and he leaned his head against my chest. I started humming to him, mostly just songs I'd heard on the radio recently. I rested my head on top of his as I looked around the airport. I watched as people scrambled around in an attempt to find the right gate and keep their group together.
Suddenly I felt something poke me in the side. I jumped, causing Devon to whimper. I stroked his hair soothingly and continued to hum, trying to recover from the mini heart attack that I just had.
"Crap, did I wake him?" a voice asked from behind me I turned to see Alex making his way from the row behind me to where I was sitting.
“I don't think he was completely sleeping yet," I smiled just as I watched Devon sit up and sleepily looked around.
Alex moved into his line of view. "Hey there, Dev. You tired?"
Devon rubbed his eyes, his sandy hair also getting ruffled in the process. I always thought that it was so adorable the way that Alex interacted with him.
Alex sat down in the chair to the left of me and held out a frozen beverage. "I got you an Ice Capp."
"Awesome! Thank you," I said, quickly grabbing it with a free hand and taking a sip. It was French vanilla flavored. My favorite. "You even remembered what flavor I liked," I laughed in amazement.
"Sometimes I'm good at stuff," he shrugged, smiling.
"Yeah, sometimes," I laughed.
He just kept smiling and shook his head. He dug into the bag he was holding, pulling out a breakfast sandwich and began eating it. The smell of bacon filled the air. Alex then pulled a muffin out, removed the wrapper, and held it out to me. He placed the wrapper back into the bag.
I set my coffee down on the armrest of the empty seat to my right and grabbed the muffin, still keeping one hand wrapped around Devon. He was now sound asleep. I smiled and gently rubbed his arm before I started to eat my breakfast one handed.
Alex inhaled his sandwich at the speed of light and crumpled up the paper that his food was in and threw it in the bag.
"Here," Alex looked at me, wiping his hands off and holding out his arms. "I'll hold him."
I nodded and he reached over to take Devon from me. I used my one arm to help pass him. Devon squirmed a little but stayed sleeping.
I ate my muffin and became lost in thought about the adventure that awaited us in Nevada. I hadn’t seen James in less than three years. Our reunion is going to quite interesting. I mean we were always friends growing up, but we knew everything about each other before he moved. It felt different now. We'd talked on the phone and Skyped but I haven’t seen him in forever. As much as I was dying to see him, I knew it wouldn’t be everything I wanted it to be. Our reunion is going to be really awkward…
I sighed and ate the last of my muffin. I brushed my hands off, to get rid of the remaining crumbs, and rested my head on Alex's shoulder. He shifted Devon to support him single handedly, His free hand found mine and I sighed. I was just so frustrated. Why couldn’t everything just be easy? Why had the thought of telling James everything about Devon and Ashton been too difficult for me? Why hadn't I told him right when it happened? He was going to be so upset with me and it killed me.
I looked up at Alex and forced a smile. He looked at me, his green eyes reading my thoughts again.
"It'll be alright," Alex spoke reassuringly. "James will understand. You guys used to have such a great relationship. He's bound to know that you've changed. He can't just expect you to stay the same for three years."
"I know," I replied. "I just...He expects normal teenage girl changes. Like going to the mall every day and always being busy hanging out with people and getting boyfriends and stuff." I looked up at Alex.
He squeezed my hand. "I know. But he will accept you Maddie. He has to. You can't just create that kind of a bond with your brother and lose it that easily. He'll come around."
I bit my lip. "It won't be easy. I've kept Devon a secret from James for two years."
"Hey." Alex looked at me intensely. His green eyes held my brown ones. "Maddie I'm going to be right here. I will help you through this. I've helped you along all this time and I'm not about to abandon you when you need me."
I couldn't help but smile at him. He was so good to me. I didn’t deserve it.
"I'm so happy that you decided to come with us, Alex. I can’t imagine doing this alone."
Just the thought of my overprotective, boxer of a brother finding out that he was an uncle was enough to scare me. At least I wouldn't be alone. I believed Alex. I knew that he meant it when he said that he would help me. He’d helped me along this far, and he would keep it up.
Alex broke our gaze and looked up at the airport behind me. I turned and followed his gaze. I spotted my brother Drew, his shaggy brown hair hanging in his eyes. My mother right behind him. He waved at me excitedly and I waved back. They made our way towards us just as another announcement was made.
"Attention ladies and gentlemen, the plane for Henderson Nevada will be boarding shortly."
Once they were standing in front of us, my mom spoke up. "Well. We better get ready and head towards the gate so we can get on sooner."
One of the good things a about traveling with a baby was that they let you on the plane a little earlier before the other passengers. One of the bad things, babies cry a lot.
I let go of Alex's hand. I stood up and grabbed Devon's car seat and my carry-on bag and followed my mom to where the flight attendants were standing. I glanced back to see Alex walking behind me with Devon.
As we approached them, my mother cleared her throat.
"Excuse me," she spoke. "We're traveling with a baby today and I was wondering…"
The blonde attendant cut her off. "We can let you on sooner to get situated," she smiled.
My mom smile back. "Thank you so much,"
The gate began to slowly open. I took I deep breath. In two and a half hours, I would be in Nevada. One more day and I would be face to face with my older brother and his overprotectiveness in his natural habitat, the boxing arena. He was going to hate me so much.
I’d been keeping my son a secret from him for the past two years. He was going to be furious.