Letting Go: The Surprise
Page 2
Chapter 2
They rented a car at the airport when they landed in Florida. The hotel was roughly two hours away. Granger looked over and noticed Beth was still asleep. She had fallen asleep after about an hour of driving. She looked so cute just laying there with her mouth slightly open. Her red hair was like a flame especially when the sun hit it. She was definitely something to look at. There is no doubt in his mind that this is meant to happen. As he drove down the road, he noticed that they only a few minutes away from the beach side condo. He was unsure if he should awaken her or just wait until he got to the hotel and kiss her awake. The latter sounded better to Granger so he waited. The only thing that put a damper on Granger’s thoughts was the conversation he and Beth had on the flight there. An older lady had stopped, noticing that they were acting like newlyweds.
“I believe it’s safe to say you are newlyweds.” the older lady said smiling.
“Yes ma’am.” He replied.
“May God bless you with much happiness and many children.” The lady smiled and walked away.
Granger looked to Beth who looked like someone had slapped her. “What’s wrong honey? Are you feeling alright?”
“Why do people do that?” she asked snarling toward the where the older lady had walked. “We haven’t been married a whole forty eight hours and people expect us to start spitting out kids. I mean really, come on! It’s bad enough when I put up with the sniffling brats on the tours, but at least that is only for a couple hours. I couldn’t handle them twenty four hours a day. I would go absolutely crazy! Not to mention what pregnancy would do to my body!” She shivered looking out of the plane window putting an effective stop to the conversation.
Granger shook his head from the memory. He would love to have children, a whole football team of them. He knew Beth was good with kids, so he had just assumed that she would want one of her own. He wondered if it would have made a difference if he would have known this before they had married. As he glanced at her sleeping, he thought, I would hope not. Maybe she will change her mind. Granger knew that the metaphoric elephant had just made an appearance but as of right now Beth seemed oblivious to it.
When he parked the car, he started to rub her shoulder and she wiggled a little but didn’t awaken. So he leaned over and started kissing her until he noticed the smile. She had must have been having a really good dream. When he was finally able to awaken her, she squealed with excitement as she seen where she was. Granger just smiled back and enjoyed her enthusiasm.
Granger and Beth had decided earlier that their first whole day would be them locked in a room. They would venture no further than the door and that was only to let room service in. The first full day of wedded bliss was supposed to be just that, Bliss. Sure enough the first day was filled with hand feeding, laughing, and learning each other. There was bathing each other and a lot of making love. It was definitely a wonderful honeymoon so far.
The next day, they poured through the brochures to see what they would do to fill their weeklong honeymoon. There was snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins, which Beth was very excited about. They noticed that the beach was having their annual “Crafts on the Beach” which sounded like a very good place to buy some souvenirs. They decided to get ready and go.
They made their way down to the beach and sure enough, there were hundreds of craft tents popped up everywhere. There were people in full beach attire weaving in and out of each of them. The smell of popcorn, hotdogs, and hamburgers lingered in the air reminding Granger of the county fair back at home.
Beth was everywhere leaving no tent unexplored. She bought all kinds of trinkets and memorabilia for her friends and family. She loved doing this stuff. Shopping was definitely her thing. She would haggle the sellers and get a great deal for her things.
Lunchtime was confirmed by the growling of Granger’s stomach. Beth giggled at the sound. “How about that little tiki place there for a snack?”
“Sounds wonderful.” Granger replied.
The Tiki Hut had almost everything. They served hamburgers and seafood , even ice cream and pies. Granger ordered their drinks while Beth was in the restroom. When she came out, he ended up spitting his drink on the counter. She was wearing considerably less clothing than she had on when they had left the room.
Her straw beach had that was decorate with pink ribbon around it matched her tee-tiny hot pink bikini. She was sexy and she knew it. She beamed as some stranger whistled as she walked by.
Granger felt both proud and embarrassed. He knew what she looked beneath her clothes and loved it, but now everyone on the beach knew too because the pink floss left nothing to the imagination.
Neither Alice nor Carly would have worn such a revealing thing. They both believed in dressing decently especially around children. Instant guilt plagued Granger, he was on his honey moon with this amazingly sexy woman and he was comparing her to the women of his past.
“Grangy, honey, Do you likey?” Beth said modeling her outfit.
Granger grimaced at the pet name and replied. “You are sexy. You keep that up and we are going to have to go back to the hotel a few hours.”
“Oh Grangy!” Beth said as she wrapped a shawl around her. Granger somehow knew that if he mentioned cutting her shopping short, she would cover up a bit.
They ordered their food and talked a bit about what to do for the rest of the day. Beth wanted to go to the club and Granger wanted to go parasailing. They settled on both, after shopping it was parasailing and after dinner it was to the club.
Chapter 3
They settled the bill and made their way to the next craft tent. It contained photographs that were made into different things like party invitations or thank you cards. The artistry had a familiar ring to him somehow but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Oh Grangy, we should so hire this guy to do our photos and make them into Thank you cards for all those wedding gifts.” Beth said.
“That is a wonderful idea sweetie. I’ll ask to see if he is available” Granger looked behind the main table and seen the back of a woman in a purple whole piece suit talking to another customer. Granger looked at her dark hair that was pulled up in a high ponytail and he noticed a small freckle behind her ear. Granger froze. He knew that freckle, the curve of that neck, and even the way her shoulders had a slight dip. It had been almost three years but he would never forget her.
“C…C…Carly?” he studdered, sounding strange to his own ears as he walked around the table.
The woman turned at the sound of her name. Her eyes widened. He knew those eyes. It was her. It was His Carly!
“Granger?”
They stood there silently staring at each other as if taking it all in. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Beth looking back and forth between the two.
“I…Umm…How are...?” Carly started to as a small voice interrupted, “Mommy, hold me.”
All eyes turned down toward the child’s voice. She was a cute little thing that looked to be around two years old. She had dark hair and looked like her mother. The only thing different was her eyes. Sea blue-green eyes.
Granger couldn’t breath. She had his eyes! He fell to his knees. He tried to do math in his head but his thoughts were too jumbled.
He heard Carly sigh, “Granger, I would like you to meet Allison Dalleah, your daughter.”
Granger felt the world tilt with those words. He heard Beth scream as the beach decided to meet his face and all went black.
About the Author
Rena Janssen has lived in a small town in Tennessee for the majority of her life. She considers herself a jill-of-trades. She is a photographer, cosmetologist, and medical transcriptionist. She is married and most importantly she is a mother. She decided to become a stay at home mom and pursue her calling in writing.
She loves feedback from her fans. Her email is renajanssen@ymail.com
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