You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (28 page)

“True, but I know how much you loved Jamie. I saw it in your face that day at the memorial service,” Gavin said on a more serious note.

Charleigh opened her eyes; the smile faded from her lips in that instant. “You were there? I didn’t even see you.”

“I was sitting on the far end of the last pew,” Gavin confirmed. “At first, I was jealous, thinking, if that was my funeral and you were still my wife, would you have looked so broken for me? It was selfish to think about something like that at that moment, but I was.”

For a very long and awkward moment, he picked at something in his hand that wasn’t really there. There was an intensity in Gavin’s eyes when he finally looked up at Charleigh. It made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Then, I saw you stumble, and it made me realize everything that I’d put you through over the last year. You
and
Jamie. I was supposed to be your best friend in the whole world, and I let you down. First, I betrayed your trust when I slept with Andie and again when I hid it. Not to mention that I made you think even less, if that’s possible, of me when I wouldn’t accept that you were over me.

“I acted
like the world’s biggest jerk, and so I feel like I
do
owe you an apology.”

For the first time in a
really
long time, Charleigh actually believed what Gavin was saying. As they looked at one another in silence, it was evident to her that he was being truly sincere. She felt like crying, but the tears didn’t come.

“I’ve tried to call you several times since Jamie died. To give you my condolences. To apologize for the way I acted towards him. Towards you.” Gavin shrugged and went on,
“I’d get all the way to the last digit of your telephone number but couldn’t manage enough courage to press it. And when I did, nothing would come out.”

Charleigh narrowed her eyes at him. That Sunday afternoon when she was sitting in her kitchen with Lauren and they were eating pizza, was that him who called those few times but didn’t say a word? She hadn’t admitted anything to her young cousin, but those calls had scared the hell out of her.

Gavin answered her question before she could ask. “I actually called you one day a couple months back. You picked up, but I just could think of anything to say. Besides, I haven’t given you any reason to believe anything that comes out of my mouth. I was afraid you’d hang up on me.”

“Listen
to me when I tell you that I’ve let it all go. All of my focus and energy is directed right here,” Charleigh told him, drawing a large, invisible circle in the air above her belly with her finger. Her eyes lit up and a smile when she felt her two little miracles start fighting for space once more.

“You’ll be a great mom. Do you know the genders yet?”

“Yeah,” Charleigh agreed and touched both hands to her belly. She
would
be a wonderful mother. “I find out in a few days. Nana and Pop are staying on just a little while longer so that they can go to the ultrasound with me. And Madie is coming, too.”

“She’s over the moon about these babies, you know. Especially with losing Greg and Jamie.” Gavin watched as Charleigh turned back to face the fire. He obviously hit a soft spot.
“I hope you know I’m here, if you ever need a friend to talk to. Maybe we could try to get back to where we used to be. As friends. Before everything got so complicated.”

“That’d be great,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t seen my old friend Gavin in a very long time. Not since high school.”

“I’m gonna pee all over myself if they don’t hurry up,” Charleigh said as she anxiously waited for the receptionist to call her name.

“You’ll be okay,” Mellisande told her granddaughter, patting Charleigh on the thigh.

“I don’t think so.”

The instructions on the paper that Doctor Emerson gave Charleigh said that she needed to drink thirty-two ounces of water. Her bladder was supposed to be completely full so that the radiologist could get correct measurements in the ultrasound. Well, Charleigh had done just that, and now she felt as if she was about to erupt.

As patiently as was possible, given the circumstances, she tried crossing her legs to alleviate the overwhelming sensation. Rocking back and forth in the plastic-molded chair. Sitting up as straight as she possibly could. After a few minutes of that, her back began to ache, and Charleigh leaned back in her seat and puffed out her cheeks.

An older lady with platinum-blonde hair finally appeared in the open doorway and called her name, “Miss Randall.”

Like a rocket, Charleigh shot up out of her chair and answered, “That’s me.”

Accompanied by Madie and her Nana and Pop, Charleigh was led to the last room along a corridor of seven closed doors. Inside, there was a hospital bed in the middle of the small room, four chairs lined the wall closest to the door, and an ultrasound machine, with an extra-large monitor, and a chair for the technician was set up beside the bed. The window blinds were closed to block out the morning sun.

The radiologist introduced herself as Morgan before telling Charleigh to come over and lie back on the bed. Nervously, Charleigh complied, holding out a blank VHS tape. The great grandparents-to-be sat down in the chairs and watched as Charleigh lifted up her blouse. The technician inserted the tape into the machine and smeared some clear gel on her belly.

“Sorry, it’s a little cold,” Morgan told Charleigh and began moving the handheld tool around on her belly.

“
It’s fine,” she replied as the picture on the monitor changed from complete black to mostly white and gray.

“Have
you had a previous ultrasound in your doctor’s office?”

“Yes,” Charleigh said, unable to pull her eyes away. “Doctor Emerson did one at about seven weeks.”

“So, then you know that you’re expecting twins?”

“Yes, ma’am.” All Charleigh could do was smile.

Not able to point out specific body parts, Charleigh still knew that the images she saw on the screen were her babies. And in her opinion, they were the most beautiful sights she’d ever seen. Tears of joy filled the young woman’s eyes.

“Aw, sweetie,” Mellisande said, coming to stand beside her granddaughter’s bedside. She smoothed a few silky ringlets and kissed Charleigh’s temple.

Madie and Grant joined her a moment later to get a closer look.

The two tiny figures were being energetic, something Charleigh already knew, twisting and turning somersaults. Nighttime was their time. The babies usually got wound up right around the time she climbed into bed. It was always a welcomed feeling. Now, Charleigh was overcome with a remarkable feeling, to finally see what the babies were doing as they moved around within her own body.

“I just need to get a few measurements,” Morgan said as she tapped around on a keyboard, while still moving the tool around on Charleigh’s swollen stomach. “Would you like to know the sexes of your little ones?”

Charleigh looked up at the three people standing beside her. She really, really,
really
wanted to know so that preparations for a nursery could begin. “What do all of you think?”

“It’s up to you, sugar,” Madie spoke up first.

“Same goes for me, cowgirl.” Grant patted his granddaughter on her shin.

“Well, I want to know,” Mellisande said.

This made Charleigh bust out laughing. “Yeah, me, too.”

Two boys.
Boys!
Charleigh was over the moon, and she knew Jamie would be, as well, if he’d been there to share in her joy. Although Charleigh thought she should be down over the fact that he wasn’t, she was riding on an emotional high that just could not be explained.

On the ride home, she watched the landscape pass by out the passenger window of her Tahoe, with Grant behind the wheel, and could feel the excitement radiating in her face. Charleigh just couldn’t stop smiling.

Upstairs in the bedroom that she planned to turn into the nursery, Charleigh stood and looked around, trying to come up with some decorating ideas. Of course, it would have to be boyish. Charleigh wondered what she could find in racecars, as far as it went for bedding. No doubt, she wanted to do a mural on the walls in whatever theme she chose.

All of the furniture was ready to be moved out into the storage building with all of her Dad’s things, and the stuff from the apartment that she’d bought. Grant did the huge task of taking the bed apart, and Brian, Rob, and Ben were going to come over during the weekend to help move it all out. Everything else was boxed up and ready to be moved, as well. There were a few things that she’d decided to move to other parts of the house.

“Well, boys, what do you want?” Charleigh asked, rubbing her belly. At that moment, she felt a kick, which made her laugh, “Chocolate milk sounds really good to me, too.”

“What do you think about going to pick out baby furniture with me?” Charleigh asked her grandmother when she came into the kitchen. Grant was sitting at the island with the morning copy of
The Magnolia Messenger
while Mellisande was busy making lunch.

The young woman went over to the cupboard and took out a glass. She stopped to steal a bite-sized piece of chicken from one of the salads and popped it into her mouth on the way to the refrigerator for the carton of milk and chocolate syrup.

“It sounds like fun, but I think I’d rather take a nap after lunch. We could go early tomorrow and make a whole day of it.”

Mellisande had her arms full with plates, glasses and utensils to set the kitchen table. Charleigh sat down on a stool next to her grandfather at the counter to mix up her sweet concoction.

“Hmm. Well, I’m just so excited about the babies. I’ve got this extra burst of adrenaline. I’d like to go today. I want to get some ideas for themes, and all the little clothes, and a baby name book,” she said after the first sip. “I could run over to the mall for a few hours and then meet you guys back out at The Gardens. What do you think about that?”

“It would be nice to see Marta. She’s such a nice lady,” Mell replied. “Are you sure you want to go all the way to Sherman by yourself? That’s such a long drive.”

“I’ll be fine. It’ll be fun.” Charleigh got up from her stool. “So, I’ll meet y’all at around 6:30?”

“Well, what about lunch, cowgirl?” Grant looked up from his newspaper.

“I’ll stop and get something on the way over there,” Charleigh called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you at 6:30.”

***

3 Doors Down was blaring from Charleigh’s stereo as she crossed the old Carpenter’s Bluff one-lane bridge into Texas. She decided to take the old highway all the way to Denison that way she could go through the drive-thru at Jack in the Box and get a Jumbo Jack with cheese and some bacon-cheddar potato wedges. Yum! Aw, how she loved those things! Greasy, but they were one of her favorites, even before the pregnancy. The fast food joint in Denison was the closest Jack in the Box to Magnolia, since Durant didn’t have one. Yet! They were destined to get one, even if Charleigh had to put one in herself.

Her mouth began to water as she passed the old Oakridge Cemetery.
Not too much farther
, Charleigh thought to herself, and began singing along to ‘The Road I’m On’ at the top of her lungs.

She hit the city limits just as the last song of the CD ended. Instead of letting it start from the beginning for a third time, Charleigh hit the FM button, and Reba McEntire’s sultry southern voice came through the speakers. Another one of her favorites. It was turning out to be the best day she’d had in a
very
long time.

With her precious Jumbo Jack and wedges in tow, Charleigh took a sip of her root beer and pulled back out on the highway. She started to unwrap the burger and took the first bite as the exit onto Texoma Parkway came into view.

It took only seven bites for Charleigh to devour the whole thing. Tossing the wrapper into the floorboard of the passenger-side, she swiped a hand across her mouth just as the light turned red at the Fallon Drive intersection. She settled back in her seat for a moment and tapped her fingernails on the steering wheel, waiting for the light to change to green.

It was also at that moment that she saw it. A black Mercedes convertible. Just like the one Jamie had had when he came to stay in Magnolia. It was waiting along with a few more vehicles in oncoming traffic.

From a distance, she could tell the driver was a male, with dark hair, styled in the sloppy way Jamie used to style his own. No, it couldn’t be.
It just can’t.

The light turned green and a horn sounded from behind, causing Charleigh to take her foot off the brake as she continued to stare. The Tahoe slowly began to move forward as the car passed by. First, Charleigh looked in her side-mirror at the back of the car. She noticed that the license plate had been a Texas one, just like the one Jamie had driven for those few months.

Even though Charleigh knew the car was long gone, both the one Jamie had driven and the one that just passed by, she had to go see if she could find it. To convince herself that it
wasn’t
really the car, or Jamie.

She turned on the left signal light to change lanes. Without looking to see if
the traffic was clear, she swerved over. And the front end of the Tahoe came in contact with the back right-side of a small Toyota pickup with an earth shuddering sound. The truck bed crumpled like an aluminum soda can.

Charleigh’s seatbelt didn’t lock in time, and she was sent forward, hitting her forehead on the steering wheel.

“Can’t you drive? I was right in front of you!” The driver of the Toyota got out and started to come back toward Charleigh’s Tahoe. He was a boy. At most seventeen or eighteen years old. But he had the mouth of a forty year old sailor.

After a moment, she lifted her head and groaned. It took another one before she completely understood what had just happened. She stared out the windshield at the wreckage.
Oh, my babies! My boys! Somebody, please, help me!
And Charleigh started to scream those same words.

“What is the matter with you?” The other driver was now standing at the door of Charleigh’s SUV.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she repeated a few more times and began to push on her door. Tears brimmed her eyes. “I’m… I’m pregnant. Please, help me get out?”

The young man’s eyes grew large with understanding, and he began yanking on the door. When it didn’t budge, he leapt over the bed of his truck and came around to the passenger-side door. He opened it and leaned inside.

“Are you okay?”

“I
… I don’t know,” Charleigh cried and cradled her arms against her belly. She leaned her head against the wheel and continued to cry.

The boy nodded. “It’s going to be okay, but I’m not sure it’d be a good idea to move you, yet.” He grabbed one of the napkins from the floorboard and leaned toward Charleigh. “Your forehead is bleeding.”

By that time, a man and a couple of women were standing next her door and were trying to pull it open. Although Charleigh’s Tahoe had been moving barely more than at a snail’s pace, the force of the impact had pressed against the frame, and jammed the driver-side door shut.

“It’s okay, honey. We’re going to get you out,” one of the women told Charleigh. She was an older lady, probably in her sixties, with gray hair and glasses.

***

“Oh, my Heavens. Grant, look at her,” Mellisande exclaimed when she rushed through the door of the ER exam room of Wilson N. Jones Memorial Hospital.

Charleigh was lying on a gurney, propped up with a few pillows. Completely at ease, her hands were neatly folded on her stomach. She made a face, looking past her Nana at Pop, and laughed.

“Are you okay, cowgirl?” Grant asked, patting his granddaughter on the leg.

“Why would you ask such a question? Does she look okay?” Mellisande hissed at her husband. She waved her arms emphatically around Charleigh.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, rolling her eyes.

It looked worse than it actually was. The only injury Charleigh suffered from the crash was a three-inch long horizontal gash above her right eye, which didn’t even require stitches, and it was surrounded by a large black and blue bruise. The on-call Ob-gyn came in and gave Charleigh a complete examination, at the insistence of the supervising Emergency Room physician, and she was given two thumbs up. He also did another ultrasound, confirming what the tech had told Charleigh earlier in the day. She
was
indeed expecting two boys, and they were doing amazingly well at almost sixteen weeks.

With some difficulty, Charleigh went to sit up, and the young man who’d been sitting in a chair in the corner came to her aid. Mellisande and Grant watched in silence, bewildered since they hadn’t noticed him when they entered the room.