The Commitment (14 page)

“Sophie,” I say in a low whisper. “That’s the best secret I ever heard.”

Sophie

Once we’d heard from the doctor that Pops was expected to make a full recovery, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted.

We’d been here for nearly six days now and although he had a long road in front of him, my soon-to-be father-in-law was doing much better. As happy as I was that his health was improving, I’d be lying if I said this hadn’t been an emotional week for me as well.

It’s been hard for me to watch Chase and his family enduring everything that’s happened with Ben. Although I’d never burden him by admitting as much, spending a week at the hospital stirred up a heap of bad memories from my own father. Not to mention, I miss JT like crazy. I’ve talked to him at least twice a day and we Skyped last night, but it’s not enough to alleviate how homesick I’m feeling. I know he’s safe and having a blast with Jack, but I still can’t wait to get back to him. 

Wrapping his large arms around me, Chase tucks himself into the crook of my neck and squeezes me gently, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Thank you for helping me through this week,” he whispers into my hair as he presses his lips against my temple. “I would never have survived it without you, Sophie.”

“Of course you would have,” I say in a soft voice, turning to kiss the side of his jaw before finding his eyes. “But you’ll never have to find out.”

“I love you,” he says, kissing me on the forehead and replacing his hand to what’s become his favorite spot on my stomach.

“I love you, too, Babysaurus,” I say as I lean my head on his chest and release a low sigh.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I nod. “I just have to pee again and I’m trying to psyche myself up to walk to the bathroom.”

He lets out a light chuckle, careful to be quiet and not disturb his sleeping father before standing from the chair we’ve staked claim on and helping me to my feet. I’m walking out of the bathroom when his phone goes off.

“Drake and Ana are here. I was going to walk out to meet them, but my mom went to get coffee and call my grandparents.”

“So?”

“I don’t really want to leave him,” he says, gesturing to his father.

“Well, what am I, chopped liver?” I smirk. “I’ll stay with him, go ahead.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, smiling at the way I roll my eyes in disbelief. “Okay, thank you. I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” I nod, leaning up to kiss him chastely. “Will you bring me a snack back with you?”

“Of course,” he says with a smile, turning to leave.

As I resume my spot in the chair that we’ve been occupying for the past few days, I pick up the baby book I’m reading and reach for my headphones. I’d read that the baby could hear my voice and music now and I’d been taking advantage of this for the past few days. Hitting play on the playlist Chase and I put together for the baby, I settled in.

I’m halfway through discovering that our peanut is now the size of a one-pound box of sugar when Pops’ voice breaks the near silence.

“What are you over there grinning so big about?” he asks, causing me to blush slightly.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” I ask and he shakes his head.

“No.”

“Okay, good,” I start, setting the book down. “I just read that the baby weighs a pound.”

“No way,” he grins, his sleepy voice excited as he points at the headphones I’d forgotten were still resting around my bump. “Whatcha got there?”

“Oh,” I blush again. “I found out a couple weeks ago the baby could hear music so I’ve been singing and reading to my belly every night, but I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I can dig it,” he nods, smiling at my belly as I stand to take his cup over, nodding his thanks for the drink. “Chase told me you were a singer.”

“Yes sir,” I admit, replacing his cup to the side table.

“Well if I may, I’d like to put in some requests.”

“Of course,” I smirk.

“Did Emmy Bug leave the guitar here?”

“Yes sir,” I say, smiling at the memory of Chase playing a Johnny Cash melody quietly last night.

“Okay, you go grab it. Pops is about to school ya,” he tells me, settling in and hitting the remote to shut the television off. “Sit on up here, Kiddo.”

Taking a seat on the edge of his bed, I position the guitar and get ready.

“Every baby needs to know the essentials, Sophie,” he says seriously, making me grin. “Not all this new crap. I’m talking good stuff. Real music.”

“Understood,” I nod. “I’ve been playing a lot of The Beatles, Queen, Otis Redding, Stevie Nicks, Johnny Cash and a little Sam Cooke, Tom Waits, Aerosmith…”

“Wait!” he says, holding up a finger and stopping my words. “New Aerosmith or classic?”

“Mostly nothing after the ‘Pump’ album, but I made a few exceptions.”

“Ah, I knew you were a good girl,” he smiles approvingly, making me laugh. “You know another good one? ‘Sea of Love’,” he nods. “Not the new covers, the old version by The Honeydrippers.”

“Oh, I love that one!”

“That’s me and my Ren’s song, did you know that?”

“No sir,” I admit, my heart warming when I hear his nickname for Renee. “I didn’t.”

“Danced with her at our wedding to that one,” he says, a warm smile crossing his face as he recalls the memory. “You make sure you play that one for our grandbaby.”

“You got it,” I nod, slowly strumming the strings to an acoustic version by Lily and Madeleine I’d taught myself a few months back.

“You know it?” he asks, smiling in approval as I nod. “Well, don’t be shy, Kiddo. Let’s hear whatcha got.”

As I strum the strings quietly, I begin to sing loud enough so that he can hear, but careful to not bring too much attention to the room. I don’t think we’re supposed to have this guitar up here, but the thought of refusing isn’t even an option.

The song is a short one, but by the end of it, Peanut’s begun kicking in approval, causing me to laugh. As I glance up, I’m surprised to see tears in Ben’s eyes.

“Well, he wasn’t lyin’. That voice of yours is something, Kiddo,” Pops says with a smile. “And you can play. If that boy still listens to the radio, well then I raised a damned fool.”

Chase

As I greet my cousin out front, I pull him in for a brotherly embrace before hugging Ana and heading back to the entrance.

“He still doing pretty good?” he asks and I nod, unable to hold the smile back.

“Yeah, the doctor said he’d have to stay for observation for a couple more days, but everything looks great,” I start as we approach the vending machine. “Hang on, I gotta get something for Sophie before we go in.”

“Where is she?” Ana asks.

“She’s in there with Pops,” I tell her as I pull the bottled water from the machine and regretfully select the bag of pretzels. “I don’t want to leave her in there too long. Now that y’all are here, I’m gonna take her to get some real food. She’s been eating this shit all week.”

“She’s in there alone?” Ana asks, surprise covering her features.

“Yeah, why?”

“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “I’m just surprised because of her Daddy. Until your accident, she refused to walk into a hospital. Before that, she’d only gone when JT was born.”

“Shit, I didn’t even think of that,” I admit guiltily, finally understanding why she’s been so quiet. “Yeah, we better get back.”

We’re making our way down the hall as I catch them up on everything that’s happened over the course of the last week. As we approach the short hallway that will take us to my dad’s room, I stop and face Drake.

“Hey, thank you for helping Mom out,” I tell my cousin. “I wasn’t sure you’d gotten our messages, but that helped a lot.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That second procedure for his heart,” I tell him. “Listen, mom’s gonna try to give you the money, but don’t let her. I don’t know how I’ll cover the whole thing, but I don’t want her taking out a second mortgage…”

“Whoa,” Drake says. “Chase, I didn’t pay for it.”

“What do you mean?” I start. “Mom called you, said she couldn’t get you and left a bunch of messages.”

“Well, yeah, I got the messages,” he says, stopping in front of the door. “But we were in the air. By the time I called up here, they said it had been covered by some program.”

“I thought he didn’t get approved for that,” I start. “Mom talked to the lady this morning.”

“Do I need to go talk to them?”

“Fuck,” I start, exhaustion sweeping over me as I stare back at him. “I don’t know. Let me ask, the office is right up here on the way.”

When I walk in the office, I’m told the first woman who gave my mom the paperwork, Janet, has left for the day. Instead, the girl who’d told my mom we hadn’t been approved this morning was in her place.

Explaining the confusion, she pulls up the file and after a few swipes of the keyboard, she seems to find what she’s looking for.

“It looks like Mr. Mitchell was not accepted for the program,” she says, reaching for the paper she’s printing. “But his balance was paid this morning.”

Looking down at the zero balance at the end of the small stack of paperwork, my mind is reeling.

“Thank you,” I smile politely, putting my head down as they follow me down the hall to my dad’s room.

Finally, I find the page I’m looking at and am stunned to see familiar script on the page I’m staring down at in shock. The sound of a guitar playing my parents wedding song breaks through, pulling my attention away from the paper.

It’s coming from my dad’s room and I glance in to see my girl sitting on the edge of his bed. She’s quietly strumming the guitar as her perfect voice fills the room and as she comes to a stop, she chuckles, rubbing her bump.

Since we’ve never had an in depth conversation about our finances, I never even considered it. As I take her in, conversations from our past come crashing back to me and I’m absolutely floored.

“Even if I decided to never work again, I would be okay financially.”

“I have all that money from my Dad’s inheritance… I’ve never wanted any of it, it’s just been sitting in an account growing interest.”

“Holy shit,” I whisper around the knot that’s forming in my throat.

“What?” Drake turns back to me, but I ignore him as I let the realization sink in.

“Oh my God, it was Sophie.”

“What are you talking about?” he asks again, but I simply shake my head, still in disbelief at the woman who owns my heart.

“Well, he wasn’t lyin’. That voice of yours is something, Kiddo,” Pops tells my girl with a smile. “And you can play. If that boy still listens to the radio, I raised a damned fool.”

She’s about to respond as I slowly make my way through the door, still in shock.

“She hardly ever plays for me,” I manage quietly from the doorway, interrupting them. When she looks up to find my eyes, I struggle to speak through the knot still resting in my throat. “Baby, why didn’t you…”

“Well, I’ll play for you whenever you want, silly. All you have to do is ask,” she cuts me off with an odd look, her eyes softening when she sees the emotion in mine. There’s a unique mix of fear and understanding hiding in her emerald orbs that I can’t describe as she whispers the words that nearly stop my heart. “I told you, Chase. I’d walk through fire.”

“Where’s your Mama?” Pops asks, not noticing our emotional exchange as he pulls my attention to him.

“She um… She went to make some phone calls and get some coffee,” I answer, clearing my throat. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good,” he says with a small smile.

“Good,” I return his smile, motioning for Drake to come in. “Drake and Ana are here. If you’re alright, I’m gonna take Sophie to get some supper.”

“Great idea,” he chuckles, squeezing her hand. “You go get that grandbaby of ours good and fat and then you come back here and play some more for me. Deal?”

“Yes sir,” she grins, leaning over to give him a gentle hug before wrapping her arms around Ana and then making her way over to me.

“Love you, kids,” he calls out, smiling at our response before he greets Drake and Ana.

As I make my way away from the door, I move to stop Sophie and she shakes her head.

“Not here,” she says quietly, her voice cracking as she glances up at me and pulls my still shocked frame towards the exit closest to the rental.

Once we make it outside, she slowly turns and faces me nervously.

“How did you find out?” she asks immediately, her eyes moist with tears. “She told me she’d make sure it stayed between us, so how did you figure it out? Shit,” she whispers, pulling out her phone and then pausing to look at me. “Chase, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I promised I’d never keep anything from you and I know I shouldn’t have kept this from you either. I understand if you’re upset with me for going behind your back…”

“Sophie,” I finally manage as I understand what she’s freaking out about. “Baby, put down your phone and look at me.”