Once In A Blue Moon

by Celia Stewart

  “I love you,” he whispered against my lips. “I love you and I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.” He kept kissing me and rubbing his face on mine, whispering it over and over again.

  I clung to him, suddenly drowning in my own tears. It was all just too much. We curled up together under the covers, nearly nose to nose, like we had been a few nights ago. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I’ll do whatever I have to...”

  My fingers on his lips quieted him. I propped myself up on my elbow. “You listen to me, Ty Boudreaux! You don’t ever settle. You don’t ... you don’t...” I took a deep breath and pushed forward through the tears choking me. “You don’t have to do things to make me happy, you only have to make you happy. Understand?”

  “But I want to make you happy, Bee.” He sat up so we were nearly eye to eye.

  “You can't make me happy. That’s not your job. That’s my job. Your job ... you love me?” The thought still boggled my mind. Except for Angi, I hadn’t heard those words spoken to me since I was a child.

  He nodded as one lone tear trickled down his cheek. “I know we’ve only been married a few weeks, but ... Bee.”

  I could see him struggling for words and his eyes pleaded. “Remember the sixth grade dance?” I whispered.

  He frowned and leaned back as his eyes cleared. “Jimmy Merk. You ripped your dress.”

  “You walked me home, then blacked his eye.” I smiled, stroking his face with my fingers.

  “I didn’t black his eye.” Ty shook his head and frowned again, and I did likewise. “I remember the black eye but I didn’t do it.”

  I went from shock to laughter in three seconds flat, falling against the pillows and overcome with hysterical laughter. Ty watched me, a puzzled smile on his face, and I took a couple of deep breaths, struggling to recover. “Oh, baby, I love you so much.” I pulled his face down and kissed him, sweet, soft kisses as I continued to laugh and cry. “All these years,” I whispered between giggles, “I thought you defended my honor.”

  He grinned and chuckled and his chuckles turned into a full-blown belly laugh. “I didn’t do the deed, baby, but I know who did.”

  I quirked an eyebrow in question.

  With a smile he whispered, “Tim,” against my lips. “While I was walking you home.”

  I giggled again and settled closer. “You’re kidding?”

  He shook his head and switched gears on me, suddenly turning serious. “Do you really love me?”

  “Absolutely.” I grinned and pulled him close for another kiss. “I have since the sixth grade.”

  “Since the dance?”

  I nodded, my cheeks hot with guilt and embarrassment, but this was Ty. And I could admit things like this to him.

  “I wish I’d known sooner,” he whispered, a dark shadow crossing his face.

  “Oh Ty, how could you let her do that to you, sweetheart?”

  He looked away and stretched out on his back beside me.

  I refused to let him get away this time and pinned him down with one leg, curling up as close as possible. “I’m not ... I just don’t understand.”

  “She needed me. Even when she was little. She was always difficult, hard to please, high strung. Hmmpf.” He shook his head and continued, “For her, life was one big drama. Sometimes I think she hated needing me. Dad didn’t raise us to hit women. So I never hit back. When things got really bad, I just prayed they’d stop. I didn’t know how to ask for help. I didn’t know how to make it stop, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want anyone to know. Including you, which is why I didn’t tell you. I was ashamed.”

  I lay there, quietly stroking his face and taking it all in as he talked and talked and talked. First chance I got, I was hiring me a hitman. Okay, well, not really, but it was the thought that counted.

  “I just didn’t want to ruin our first holiday together, so I waited. Dr. Ritter says everything happens for a reason. Even bad stuff, and sometimes, you have karma with someone you have to take care of or a lesson you need to learn. But then sometimes we aren’t supposed to understand why things happen, just accept that they have and move forward.”

  * * * *

  I spent two days lying around being catered to and hating every minute of it. Angi refused to go back to school and put in calls to all her professors. She’d been adamant about staying until at least Wednesday, when I had the second sonogram. In the meantime, she cooked, cleaned and smothered with the help of my husband and every other female in the family. The way the Boudreaux women banded together to help Ty and me left me speechless ... and a touch weepy. And I’d never again nag at Angi after this week. Talk about a payback.

  I said, “relax” but no one listened. We’d heard the heartbeat, after all. Everything would be fine. Right?

  I forced myself to think positive thoughts and follow the doctor’s orders. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

  Ty barely left the house and did his own share of hovering every evening when Tara showed up with the mail and bills. As if he were afraid I’d overdo via check signing. As if anyone would let me. After I snapped at him for the umpteenth time Tuesday night, he gave me his wounded puppy look and took off for Tim’s.

  Wednesday dawned cold and rainy--not a good sign. They were predicting flash floods.

  The drive to Marilyn’s was silent and tense, the only sound in the car for the longest while the squeak of windshield wipers.

  “Relax,” I said softly, squeezing his bicep. “Everything will be fine.”

  “What if it’s not?”

  I turned to watch him as he drove, thinking again how handsome he was. Even if he did have a tendency to mother hen.

  “Then we’ll just ... muddle through the best we can.”

  Once we reached the building that housed Dr. Toombs and Marilyn, Ty dropped me off, and I waited under the awning for him to park and join me. Hand in hand, we silently rode the elevator to the second floor where Ty pulled me aside.

  I gently squeezed his icy cold fingers and uttered my mantra again, “Everything’s going to be fine.”

  “I hope so.” He gave me a tiny smile, his green eyes more solemn than usual.

  Rather than squirm, I looked out the window at the sheets of cold icy rain falling.

  “You love me,” he said softly.

  He was scaring me. I nodded and squeezed his fingers again while trying to tamp down the flutterings of fear in my stomach. “With all my heart.”

  “I love you, too. No matter what happens, I love you. Please don’t forget that.”

  I took a deep breath and willed away the tears that threatened. “Everything will be fine,” I said, finally meeting his eyes with a half-assed smile.

  “Let’s go.” He wrapped an arm around me and we headed around the corner to the doctor’s office.

  Once we’d signed in, Marilyn came out and sat with us.

  “Are you going back with us, Marilyn?”

  “You bet. How ya feeling?” she asked.

  “Tired and frustrated.”

  With a laugh she patted my hand while Ty remained silent on my other side, his fingers permanently attached to mine. His knee bounced at about a hundred miles per hour until they called our name.

  “Boudreaux?” Cindy stood at the doorway smiling at us.

  The three of us followed her back. Once we reached the room, I kicked my shoes off and assumed the position, while Ty stood by my head. Marilyn pulled a stool up for him, but he shook his head no, so she sat and took my hand with a smile. Reinforcements. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was nervous, too.

  Once they had me prepped, Cindy started. My eyes were glued to the screen as she searched out the baby. The machine was strangely quiet. Marilyn softly asked questions.

  “Have you felt any movement?”

  “Not since Thanksgiving. And only a little before then.”

  “Still spotting?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, my eyes on
the monitor. I could see the baby but didn’t hear a heartbeat. I swallowed and took a deep breath. This wasn’t good.

  Everything was supposed to be fine!

  Marilyn squeezed my hand as I searched for Ty, struggling against a bubble of hysteria.

  With my free hand, I reached for his fingers. “Honey...”

  He swayed on his feet. Marilyn hopped up and guided him down on the stool, keeping a hand on the both of us. I watched Cindy’s eyes search for hers and nod.

  It was over.

  Epilogue

  Two weeks later

  Ty thumbed through a dog-eared magazine, sneaking glances at Bettina every now and then. She couldn’t seem to hold her knee still.

  The last two weeks had been long and difficult for the both of them, and this was their first official trip out of the house. Fitting, probably, that they should be here, of all places.

  He’d never loved Bee more or been more grateful for his family who’d taken the news in stride, then left them alone to grieve in private. His momma had cautioned him against letting Bettina shut him out, so he’d stayed close. Marilyn had hugged them both and cried with them for an hour, then sent them home with words of wisdom--lean on each other. There hadn’t been many times in the last few weeks they’d been without one another.

  Three days later, it was truly over.

  He never would have believed it, but to his surprise, his strong and sassy wife fell apart. True to her nature, she’d recently begun to rally--a little--but wasn’t ready to go back to work. He’d held her and cried with her. Kissed her and promised her more babies.

  And they’d talked, a lot. Ty had held strong, and was her rock. But she always seemed to sense just when he needed her.

  “Ty?”

  At the sound of his name, Ty stood up and gently wrapped Bee’s arm in his. He forced himself to return Dr. Ritter’s smile and performed the introductions before she led them to her office.

  “Do you mind if we sit on the couch?” Ty asked, his voice husky and suddenly thick.

  “No, sit.” Dr. Ritter grabbed her infamous pad and pencil.

  They sat next to each other on the loveseat--made from the same nubby blue material as the chair he usually sat in, and waited.

  “So, how have you two been? Good I suppose, since you’re here together?” She waited, an expectant smile on her face.

  Ty and Bee looked at each other, and he tightened his grip on her when her lower lip began to quiver.

  “Good and bad,” she whispered with a shrug as the tears welled up in her eyes.

  “We lost the baby.” Who would have thought his life could have changed so much in a month. “But like you said, we’re here together.”

  Once In A Blue Moon.

  The End

  About the Author:

  Growing up, Celia Stuart wanted to be a lawyer and a psychologist. Obviously, she’s seen the error of her ways, though she’s never settled down in any profession until she took up writing two years ago. She considers all those other jobs research for the writing gig.

  She’s the last of a dying breed, a native Texan, and still makes her home there, where cowboys and music (her other two loves) abound.

  Meet LSB Authors At Silver Net, Aka The House Of Sin http://lsbooks.net

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  http://lsbooks.com

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