Something So Perfect

by Natasha Madison

  “It’s electric, so it won’t work if there’s no power,” she tells us both.

  “It has a seven hour battery life,” Cooper and I say at the same time.

  “He gets it because he’s a neurotic like you,” my mother says. “Karrie, when I was pregnant with the twins, he had a camera system installed in the house and he got live feeds on his phone every single time I would move.”

  I laugh, thinking of the time he raced into the house because he thought she fell in the room, but she was in her closet looking for her other shoe and it was more comfortable lying down. “You also had the ambulance, fire department, and two police cars escorting you home.”

  Mom looks up at Cooper. “You were over the top! He also tried to get the supermarket to only mop at night in case I walked in and slipped. He got contractors to come in and give an estimate to install an elevator.”

  She stands there with her mouth open while Allison comes to the phone. “You're so lucky she loves you!!!” She smiles, then shrugs her shoulders. “I mean, I would wait till you got in the shower and turn off the hot water, but hey, that’s just me.”

  “Yeah, yeah, don’t give her any ideas. You excited for tomorrow, squirt?” I ask her, hoping she is excited.

  “So excited. I want to go to the Empire State Building, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, oh, and Lego Land.” She is all excited while Mom frowns and Cooper groans.

  “We will do all that,” Karrie says with a smile.

  “With reason. She’s pregnant and shouldn't be on her feet for so long.” I put in my two cents while Karrie gives me the finger.

  “Okay, I’ve got to get my girl fed. Talk to you later. Mom, text me when she takes off.” We blow kisses and hang up.

  The next day Karrie and I are waiting at the bottom of the escalator for Allison, who runs to me, hugging me and then Karrie.

  The weekend goes by so fast I don’t even see the time till she is packing on Sunday to go back home. We had to stop and buy her another piece of luggage to take back all the shit she bought. We hit up every single thing she had on her list and then some.

  She comes downstairs after packing, finding me lying on the couch. “Hey, where is Karrie?” she asks, coming to sit down on the other side.

  “In the shower,” I say while she leans over and picks up the second frame that we have with the new picture of the baby.

  “I can’t believe you are going to be a dad.” Her finger touches the picture. “I mean, you’ve been practicing since I was born.”

  I look over at her, seeing a tear coming out of the corner. She wipes it so fast it’s almost like it wasn’t there. I sit up, going to sit next to her, putting a hand around her shoulder.

  “I can’t wait.” I look at the picture with her. “I was scared, you know.” I start off telling her, “The minute they said she was pregnant, my heart swelled. I got scared. Could I do this since I technically didn’t really have that great of a role model?”

  “Did you tell Dad?” she asks me. It’s something we don’t bring up. I know she talks to him from time to time. I shake my head.

  “He tried to call me after that whole bullshit with the rape charge, but I didn’t answer. He wasn’t there when I needed him or at least when I really needed him. You think he showed me how to shave? That was Cooper. You think he showed me what it was to be a real man? Again, that was Cooper. You think he showed me that when it gets tough you fight for it? Cooper taught me that also. You think he showed me to put your kids before your own selfish needs? Again, no. I was fucking terrified, but then guess what I did see when I looked up? Cooper stood there wiping away Mom’s tears. It was in that moment I knew I could not only do this dad thing, but I could do it like a motherfucking boss.” I look over at her. “Besides, if I wasn’t the best that I could be, Mom would kick my ass.”

  “She totally would,” Allison agrees with me.

  “Hey, you two,” Karrie says from the doorway while she holds a carton of strawberry ice cream with three spoons in it. “Wanna watch Naked Dating?”

  Allison throws her head back, laughing. “You know that’s considered double dipping even if it’s ice cream.” She points to the carton that Karrie is eating from, who just shrugs her shoulders, coming to sit on the other side of me.

  She turns on the television, flipping channels. She stops when she comes onto 90 Day Fiancé. “It’s my favorite show.” She shakes her spoon in the air. She scoops some more ice cream, offering us a spoon. I shake my head while Allison grimaces, refusing, too. “More for me,” she says, smiling.

  I lean over to kiss her lips. The taste of ice cream on her lips is divine. I lick my lips, going in for another kiss.

  “Hmmm,” she says, putting her hand around my neck, still holding the spoon.

  “You guys are aware I’m right here, right?” Allison speaks up, making Karrie laugh. “Okay, love birds, before I throw up my dinner, I’ll go up to my room.”

  “You don’t have to leave. We’ll stop kissing,” Karrie says, straining her neck to see Allison.

  “Goodnight,” I tell her, going back to kissing Karrie. “We will never stop kissing,” I tell her, letting my tongue slide into her mouth, her tongue cold from the ice cream. “Ever.” I finish that with another kiss.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Karrie

  I walk up the front steps, the grocery bag hitting my knees. Turning the knob and having it closed makes my arm ache. “Fuck,” I say out loud, dropping the bag on the ground while I reach into my purse, pulling out my keys. “Where the hell is Matthew?” I ask myself. He was here when I left. It’s Valentine’s Day and for some reason we are not playing or traveling tonight. Unlocking the door, I pick the bag up, walking in. The lights are off in the whole house, except the glow from tea candles that are lining a path of red roses. I drop the bag and my purse with my keys on the floor, walking to the living room, which is where the roses lead to.

  Walking into the room, my breath hitches, my hand going to my mouth. Candles are lit all over the room. The couches and table are pushed to one side of the room. In the middle of the room, kneeling on one knee is Matthew. Candles in the shape of a heart are lit, and the room is filled with rose petals.

  “From the first moment I saw you, you took my breath away. I kicked myself for letting you go into your hotel room without asking you for your name. The next day I called your room, but there was no answer.” He surprises me with that information. “But then I walked into that room and there you were. It was a sign that you were mine.”

  “Matthew,” I whisper, walking into the room and right into the middle of the heart straight to him.

  “My whole life I was afraid to let my guard down, afraid to give love and not get it back. But with you I didn’t even stand a chance. The day you put your hand in mine, my heart just knew you were the one.” He reaches out to grab my hand. “I promise to love you till my last dying breath, or at least as long as you let me live. I promise to be the best father I can be. I want to walk holding your hand today, tomorrow, and always. I want to go to bed with you and kiss you goodnight. I want to watch our kids take their first step. I want to watch our kids drive us crazy. I want to walk our daughter down the aisle, watch you dance with our son on his wedding day. But most of all I want to be the reason you smile, the one who wipes your tears away, and the one who holds you up when you need me to. Let me be that man. Let me give you all that, but more importantly, I want you to say yes and give me the world.”

  The tears are streaming down my face while he opens the black box that he pulled from his pocket. When he shows it to me, my tears come even more. “I couldn’t do this without asking your father’s permission. So when I did he asked me for one thing and that was to be able to give you your mother’s ring. It was her wish for you to wear it when you finally found someone who merited it.”

  No matter how many diamond rings my father bought for my mother, she never ever took off the one he gave her the night he
proposed. It was a one-carat round diamond, back then the only thing he could afford. They ate ramen noodles for a year after that, but she didn’t care because she had my father. When he made his first million, he took her ring and replaced it. She had a fit and refused to let him in the house till he brought her back her ring. Till the bitter end it’s the only jewelry she wore. I asked her once while I held her hand at the end why she just didn’t get another ring. Her answer was simple.

  “He promised to love me forever with this ring. He looked me in the eye while he slipped this ring on my finger and promised to give me the life I deserved to always put me before him. And he did that every single day since then. When you find love, Karrie, you hold on to it, you cherish it, and then you love with your whole heart because loving and being loved is something you can’t buy no matter how many diamonds come your way.”

  “I love you,” I finally tell him. “I love you with my whole heart. I love when you are kind, I love when you are soft, I even love you, although a little less, when you're neurotic. So my answer is yes, yes to everything. Yes to being your wife, yes to being the mother of your children, yes to being your partner in crime. Yes to growing old with you.” I lean down, grabbing his face in my hands, while my thumbs wipe away the tears that are falling on his face.

  His smile lights up the room. He takes the ring out of the box, grabbing my hand from his face and sliding it on my finger. The minute he does that I feel a shiver wash over me. It’s the weirdest thing, but what’s more is that I feel something in my stomach. I think it’s indigestion when it happens again.

  “I think the baby just kicked.” I look at him with wide eyes while my hand moves to my stomach that I can’t hide anymore. Grabbing his hand, I place it on my stomach to exactly where I felt it before, the little flutters.

  “Maybe you should sit down,” Matthew says to me, but the movement makes him stop talking because he looks up at me, his eyes wide with excitement. “Holy shit.” He places his other hand on my stomach, covering it now. Leaning in, he puts his lips close to my stomach. “She said yes.” He kisses my stomach, but his child must get it because he kicks me again. “He really likes the sound of my voice.”

  I roll my eyes at Matthew. He leans in, continuing to talk to the baby while the baby continues to kick, my hand going on top of his head and my ring getting a glimmer of light. Yup, hold onto it, forever.

  “You're my perfect,” he says to me. I smile at him, kissing his lips. “Something so perfect.”

  Epilogue

  Matthew

  July 17 (Two weeks overdue.)

  “I think this is it,” Karrie says from the couch.

  At this point, it’s almost like crying wolf. We are sitting in our house that I just bought. That’s right, our house. We went on to win the Stanley Cup, a feeling that’s beyond words. While we were in the playoffs, the house next to Mom and Cooper happened to go on the market. I did the only thing I could. I put in an offer without even seeing the house, without even telling her. That didn’t go off well for a couple of reasons. One, she was pregnant and hormonal and honestly she hated everything about me at that point. Well, except for my dick. That she took full advantage of. It seems those hormones were in full effect when it came to sex.

  Once we finished, we packed up our stuff and came down to what she is calling our weekend cottage. Except it comes with ten bedrooms, fifteen bathrooms, a movie theater, game room, and a home gym. We got here with just three weeks to spare till her due date. She brought her file with her and luckily she fell in love with the ob-gyn here. What I wasn’t counting on was for my house to be a revolving door. My sisters are always here. Allison comes over for coffee every single morning, regardless of if we are up. My brother even comes over, which is huge for him since he is deep into hockey training. Vivienne came down and is now here till the baby comes out, along with Doug, who bought a house around the corner.

  “I’m serious, Matthew, I think this is it.”

  I look over at my wife—oh yeah, that, too. We didn’t have the big wedding everyone wanted. That’s going to come later, and I couldn't give a shit. I just wanted her with my name and ring before she gave birth to my child. She might have fought me a tad. Thankfully, I never threw out those cuffs.

  “Babe, the doctor said she’s inducing you tomorrow.” I turn back to the television while she gasps. I look back to see her looking down at the water that is now seeping into the couch. I jump up, my hands going to my head. “Holy shit, this is it.” I start to jog upstairs to get the bags out of our closet. I run to the nursery that my mother set up for us as her present to us, grabbing the bag that Karrie packed for the baby. I’m about to run back downstairs when she waddles up the stairs. I love her to death, but this baby is huge. She looks like she has five babies in there. “Where are you going?” I ask her, yelling while I’m watching her walk to our bedroom.

  “I’m taking a shower. We had sex tonight. I need to clean up.”

  “Karrie, you can’t be serious right now. Your water broke. It’s leaking all into our couch, which we will need a new one now. Vivienne!” I yell down the hall toward her wing.

  “Matthew, it will take me five min—” She stops talking while she holds her stomach.

  My heart beats fast. “Oh my God, do you need to push?” I ask her, dumping the bags on the floor, getting my phone out, about to call 9-1-1 when she opens her eyes and looks at me. “We should time the contractions. I’ll be back.” She walks away, taking off the big shirt she is wearing. “I can’t wait to be able to see my vagina again. And toes.”

  “Vivienne!” I yell again, louder this time.

  “Mon Dieu, qu’est-ce qui se passe?” My gosh, what is going on, she says in French.

  “The baby is coming.” I pick up the bags. “Her water broke.”

  Vivienne starts jumping up and down and running back to her room.

  “What is wrong with everyone? We need to get to the hospital.” I pull out my phone, calling Cooper. He answers after one ring. “Her water broke.”

  “Where are you?” he asks right away, telling Mom that Karrie’s water broke. I hear rustling and yelling from his side of the phone.

  “I'm home. I’m still fucking home. She had to take a fucking shower.”

  “A shower?” he asks me. “But her water broke. Should we call an ambulance?” he asks while Karrie yells from the shower.

  “I'm having another one.”

  “She’s having a contraction in the shower,” I say, hanging up the phone, running into the bathroom while she is getting out. “Should I call someone?” I ask her.

  “I think I’m okay. I just have to get dressed,” she says while Vivienne knocks on the door and comes in. I stand in front of Karrie to block her nakedness from her. They both laugh. “We’re women. We see each other naked all the time. Stand down,” she says while she throws on a summer dress. “You think I should put panties on?”

  “You're leaking all over the fucking place, Karrie, you need Depends,” Vivienne says, walking around the wet on the floor. “Oh, you look really pretty in that dress,” she continues.

  “Can we just please get in the car and go to the hospital?” I beg, running my hands through my hair. My palms are now all sweaty.

  “Matthew, Karrie.” I hear Mom’s voice while she comes up the stairs, knocking on the door before walking in.

  “Oh, Karrie, you're glowing,” my mother starts and soon has tears streaming down her face. “Are you okay?” She walks to her.

  “Can we all just get in the car?” I say with my teeth clenched together.

  “I swear one of these days that vein in his head will have eyes.” Vivienne laughs at me. “He might give himself an aneurism standing there right now.” She walks past me out of the room, picking up one of the bags.

  “I’m having another one,” she says while Mom holds her hands and starts breathing with her. “How far apart are they?” she finally asks when she can talk.

  “I have no
idea. I keep forgetting to check.”

  Mom looks at me while Karrie glares. “Matthew, you have one job,” Mom says to me, walking past me, holding Karrie’s hand. “Now can we go?” she asks me.

  I’ve been trying to get these people in the car the whole time. By the time we get downstairs, she has another contraction.

  “I think they are a couple of minutes apart,” Mom says as we walk out of the house to what looks like a parade in our driveway.

  There’s Vivienne sitting in our truck, with Cooper in back of our truck, Allison is behind Cooper, Doug is behind Allison, my aunt Meghan in behind them all.

  Mom helps Karrie get into the car that now has white garbage bags all over the seats. “It's to catch the water,” Vivienne says from the front seat.

  “Here comes another one,” Karrie says while she breathes, this time huffing more. “That one really hurt.” She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “Matthew.”

  “I’m here, baby, I’m right here.” I pick her up, setting her in the back. “Vivienne, you need to drive so I can sit in the back with Karrie.”

  Vivienne climbs into the driver’s side. “Allons-y,” Let’s go, she says, waiting for my mother to close the door and jog back to Cooper’s car.

  “The address is already saved in the GPS,” I tell her while I put my arm around Karrie’s shoulders. My heart is beating so fast I can’t seem to slow it down. I’m a nervous wreck. I’m a sweaty nervous wreck. My leg starts to move and my thumb starts drumming my leg.

  “I think another one is coming,” she says, sitting up panting. “Hehehe hooo hooo, hehehe hooo hooo,” she chants out just like the class we took.

  “Vivienne, step on it,” I say from the back.

  We make it to the hospital, pulling up to the curb. I don’t even have my door open before I see Cooper running from inside with a wheelchair, with a security guy following him. I get out, walking around the car, grabbing Karrie, and carrying her to the chair. Cooper lets go of the back of the wheelchair, giving me the reins.