by Alexis Gold
Aaron nodded his head and smiled at him.
“I can’t wait for our little guy to be here.”
Cameron grinned.
“Me, too.”
Delilah was surprised when she heard the garage door and saw Cameron come into the house.
“You’re back early. How was it today?”
He paused on his way to the laundry room, his bag slung over his shoulder.
“It was good! We had a strong practice today. How are you feeling?”
She rubbed her large belly.
“We’re alright. Getting better each day. He’s still giving me a hard time with my ribs, but I know it’s tight in there, so there’s nothing to do for it. Cameron, I wondered if we could go to the market to pick up a few things before we make dinner for your mom and sister tonight. Would that be okay?”
Cameron looked at her in surprise. It was the first thing she’d ever asked him to do for her, other than to let her cook dinner.
“Yeah, sure, no problem! Let me just toss this in the washer and we’ll go.”
Ten minutes later they were heading down the road in his Murano. She looked around at the inside of it and then looked at him.
“You keep surprising me. I never would have expected you to have one of these. I would have thought you’d be in something more like a hot little sports car, or a truck.”
“Well, I have a little truck, but it’s an old one that belonged to my dad and I just can’t make myself part with it. I like to take it up in the hills. I’ve had this a little while; it’s just easier for me because I wind up going places with my teammates or my mom and sister, and this just works. Now it’s going to really be useful, because I’ll have the baby in here, and all his stuff will fit. I don’t need to buy another vehicle to accommodate him.”
She raised her eyebrows and smiled.
“That’s thinking ahead. I like it. I’ve wondered about these vans. It’s nice.”
Delilah asked him to go to a particular market that was hidden in the city, and he obliged. He’d never been to it before and hadn’t known it was there. He parked and opened the glove box, pulling out a baseball cap and a pair of eyeglasses.
She looked at him in surprise.
“I didn’t know you wore eyeglasses.”
He winked at her.
“I don’t. These are clear lenses. I’m just covering up a little so we don’t get mobbed when I walk into the store. I keep these handy for when I’m in public. Sometimes I get recognized, but these help a lot.”
She nodded with an understanding look on her face, and they headed into the store.
“So what are we shopping for?” he asked quietly.
“Dinner. I thought we’d make Cajun and do beignets for dessert. What do you think?”
He grinned. “That sounds so good!”
Together they strolled through the produce section, and he insisted on choosing the onions, green peppers and celery.
“This is called the holy trinity in Creole cooking… you have to get it just right if you want it to taste good.”
He carefully made his selections and tucked them into the basket on his arm. They found some Andouille sausage, crab and lobster meat, shrimp and chicken.
Delilah picked out seasonings and rice, and they were lucky and found a box of Café du Monde beignet mix for dessert. Cameron was growing more excited about cooking the meal as they found all their ingredients, and by the time they got back to the house, he was in jovial spirits. Delilah smiled at him, enjoying his delight.
He sautéed the meat and she got to work on the rice and vegetables, and a conversation about places where they had traveled started when she held up the box of beignet mix and said she’d never been to New Orleans.
“Really? You ought to go sometime. It’s one of my favorite cities. Every time we play the Saints I go to the French Quarter and hang out, and I always go get beignets from Café du Monde. It’s tradition for me and the guys.”
“How many of the guys? Does the whole team swoop in on the café?” she asked teasingly.
He shook his head and started tossing spices in to the mixture of meat he was rolling around in the pan on the stove.
“Nah, there’s four of us that are really tight. Aaron, Josh, Mikey, and me. We do a lot together. We’re family. Here, try this.”
He pushed a spoon into his meat mixture and held it out for her to taste.
She blew on it and cooled it a little, and then slipped the spoon into her mouth. She closed her eyes and savored it.
“Is it good?” he asked.
She couldn’t even answer him for a minute; all she could do was chew.
“It’s so good,”
she finally said when she swallowed it. Cameron grinned at her and said,
“Yes!”
Then he turned back to the stove and focused on his Cajun concoction.
Delilah cut the tops off of some of the bell peppers, cleaned them out and after she’d helped Cameron mix the meat in with the dirty rice, they filled the peppers with the dirty rice mix and topped them with spices and a little cheese.
He admired their work and said,
“We did alright! Look at that. We make a good team.”
He set the dishes of food on the table just as the doorbell rang, and he looked at her and smiled.
“Well, that’s my mom and sister. I’ll get it.”
Delilah felt her heart speed up, though she thought it was a bit silly. She smoothed her hands over her hair and her top and Cameron saw her do it, just as he was about to walk out of the dining room and kitchen. He looked at her and smiled warmly.
“You look great. Don’t worry.”
She smiled back at him in thanks, and a few moments later, Cameron came back into the room with two women right behind him. His mother was a lovely woman with short hair and big blue eyes. It was obvious that he got his good looks from her.
His sister was younger than him and seemed to be full of energy and happiness, like a radiant blonde sun that warmed up a room just by stepping into it. Delilah felt her nerves settle a little as soon as she saw them both. They almost raced to her, and Cameron’s mother spoke first, both of them grinning from ear to ear.
“Hi, you must be Delilah. I’m Maryanne, and this is my daughter Renee. It’s so wonderful to meet you! Aren’t you a beautiful lady! Cameron told us you were really pretty, but my goodness, you’re a sight to behold!”
Delilah decided that she liked these women immediately.
“I’m so sorry about the wreck,” Renee said to her, worry crossing her pretty face, “When we heard about it, we were just beside ourselves. How are you feeling? Is my big brother taking good care of you?”
Delilah nodded and smiled at Cameron who was wisely standing back a few feet, waiting for the initial chaos to subside. He knew his mother and sister would be excited to meet Delilah and get to see the baby bump, and he knew the best thing to do would be to stay out of their way for the first few minutes of their visit.
“He’s amazing. He’s taking such good care of me. Spoiling me rotten.” Delilah answered Renee, and Renee looked over her shoulder and beamed proudly at her brother.
She saw the two women staring excitedly at her belly and she smiled and said,
“You can touch him, if you want to. He’s pretty active right now; he’s hungry, so he’s moving around a lot. After we eat, he’ll go to sleep and be still, but if you want to feel him, this is a good time to do it.”
Maryanne and Renee grew even more exited and before she knew it, Delilah’s belly was covered in hands and the women giggled in delight, feeling their little one move around. He gave his grandmother a solid jolt with his little foot and she looked up at Delilah and Cameron in surprise.
“You’ve got a good kicker there, you have!” she said as Cameron grinned happily.
They played a little and cooed over Delilah’s belly, and then the ladies looked around to see if there was anything they could do.
&nbs
p; “Well, you’re all ready!” Maryanne said with a smile. “It looks wonderful! Cam, honey, hand me that package I brought in, please.”
Cameron handed his mother one of the bags she’d brought in.
“This is for you, dear,” she said sweetly, handing it to Delilah.
A surprised smile spread over her face, and Delilah took the bag and opened it. Inside she found a bouquet of flowers in a little angel vase, two boxes of tea, some honey sticks, mint foot cream, lavender lotion, and a cooling eye mask.
“That’s so sweet! Thank you so much!” Delilah was a little overwhelmed, and hugged Maryanne tightly. “You didn’t have to do that!”
Maryanne just smiled at her.
“Of course I did! Enjoy it, dear, hopefully it will help you feel better!”
They sat down to eat and Delilah couldn’t get over the close, warm feeling of being with family. She hadn’t really thought about what it would be like to be away from her own parents as long as she had been, but she had missed the intimacy of family gatherings.
Sitting there at the dinner table with Cameron beside her and his mom and sister talking and laughing with her, gave her a wonderful sense of inclusion and contentment. It was nice to feel the closeness that they shared that night.
Renee and Maryanne raved about how good dinner tasted and Cameron and Delilah were quite pleased with themselves over having collaborated on such a successful meal.
When they’d eaten, Cameron took the ladies back to the library and showed them the new office area he’d had put in for Delilah so she could do her school work. That launched Renee and Delilah into a deep conversation about school and studies. Renee wanted to transfer to Berkeley and had several questions which Delilah was able to answer for her, and she encouraged the transfer.
“Well, part of it is that I just should have been at Berkeley the whole time, and the other part is that I’ll need to be close to help Cam with the baby, especially when he’s at away games, so it just works out much better this way,” Renee said, and then she stopped and looked from Cameron to Delilah. “What are you doing when Cam is away? Who’s here taking care of you?”
Cameron touched his sister’s shoulder.
“I was actually going to ask you about that tonight.”
Renee looked at Delilah.
“Oh! I’d love to come and stay with you, if you want. I know it would be a big help to Cam if I was here; you know, peace of mind, and you’d have some company and a helping hand. Would it be alright? I can just spend the weekends here while he’s away.”
She looked very excited about the idea, and Delilah felt that warmth of family and friendship begin to spread through her again. She was so surprised by their thoughtfulness.
“Well, if you’re sure you want to, then yes, I’d really like that!” She smiled and Renee wrapped her in a tight hug and squealed.
“We’ll have such a great time! We can watch movies and walk on the beach, bake together and I’ll paint your toe nails for you if you want! We’ll start this coming weekend! Cam’s away, so I’ll come stay!” she said in a sing-song voice and squeezed her brother happily in her excitement.
They went back to the kitchen and the four of them had a great time making a mess with their beignets and powdered sugar, laughing and teasing one another. Renee was the first to observe the tradition of blowing powdered sugar off of the beignet onto someone else, and that someone else was Cameron.
Maryanne got Renee, and Cameron got Delilah, covering her in the sugary powder, but then Delilah and Renee got Cameron and Cameron got his mother, and before they were done, all of them were covered with powdered sugar from head to waist.
They were all laughing so much that they had tears in their eyes and they could hardly breathe. They cleaned everything up together and then wiped each other off carefully, and Maryanne told the baby in the belly that he’d be part of it too, just as soon as he was a little bigger.
By the time Maryanne and Renee left, everyone was worn out and completely happy. Cameron saw them to their car and then came back in and found Delilah in the kitchen making a cup of tea.
“Did you have fun?” he asked.
She couldn’t keep the grin from her face. “They’re so incredible. You’re a really lucky guy!”
“I hope my sister wasn’t too much for you. She’s just excited. She’ll be a big help for you while I’m gone. Thank you for letting her do that, and be here to help you. It means a lot to me to know you are alright and that you’re taken care of.”
Delilah shook her head. “No, not at all. She’s so fun. I know we’ll have a good time while you’re gone. I’ll be really glad to have her here.”
She sipped her tea and tried to stop the single tear that escaped from her eye and rolled down her cheek.
Cameron was at her side in a second, his hands on her shoulders, unsure what to do, but anxious to help her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.
Delilah wiped the tear away and sniffed, looking away from Cameron and smiling.
“Oh, nothing. It’s stupid, really. I’m sorry. I’m just emotional right now. It’s the pregnancy.”
Another tear fell, and she wiped it away quickly and said,
“It was just… really wonderful tonight…” as another tear rolled down her cheek.
Cameron searched her face with his eyes, looking for some clue as to what was wrong and what he could do about it.
“I just didn’t think about how it would be to be alone for so long; I haven’t seen my family since February, right before the procedure, and even though I talk to my parents on the phone, it’s just not the same.
“I didn’t realize how lonely I was until tonight, until I was here, and I felt like I was part of your family; they’re so sweet, they were just really nice, and they made me feel important, like I was part of all of you, and it’s just been so long since I’ve had that.”
Tears were streaming down her face as she let her emotions go, and Cameron finally understood and wrapped her in an enormous hug.
She wept on his chest and the slightly awkward feeling of being in his arms dissipated and was replaced by comfort as he held her close. She let her arms go around him and she cried for a little while, but he rubbed her back as he held her and she finally calmed down and lifted her face from his chest.
“Your shirt is all wet,” she sniffled and looked up at him.
“Your eyes are puffy and red.” He smiled down at her and reached his hand up to wipe the tears from her cheeks.
“I’m sorry about crying like that,” she said, stepping back from him.
“Don’t worry about it at all. I understand completely.” He smiled at her softly and rubbed her arms, then let her go.
“It’s all the hormones raging through me, I think. Little stinkers,” she said and smiled a little up at him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m alright. Thank you.”
“No problem.”
She picked up her tea and said goodnight to him, then headed to her room. Cameron rubbed his hands over his face and went outside to the fire pit to sit and watch the flames for a while.
He left for the weekend game and told Delilah that he’d call her, saying goodbye to both her and his sister as he headed out the door.
Renee and Delilah had a fun weekend, filled with everything Renee said they ought to do. She painted Delilah’s toe nails and they made popcorn, watched movies, had brunch out on the patio, and Renee took her shopping for maternity clothes.
Chapter Four
They ordered pizza on Sunday, and Maryanne came over to watch the game on TV with them. It was strange for Delilah to watch football; she didn’t usually do it, but now she not only had a team to root for, she had a friend on the field, and it was surreal to see his face featured so often on the screen in front of her.
She really got into the game, cheering and yelling right along with Renee and Maryanne, and again she felt as though she was part
of something. They were inclusive with her, treating her almost like a sister in the family, and they took very good care of her.
Cameron called right after the game as his team was celebrating another consecutive win in the locker room, and he said he’d be straight back to the house as soon as he could. Delilah, Renee and Maryanne congratulated him on his latest win and all the new numbers he’d racked up in his stats, breaking another record at this game.
He was tired when he got back to the house, but he was really happy and he was glad to see that Delilah was doing well. She told him about the time spent with Renee and Maryanne, and he thought when he was watching her tell him all about it, that she almost glowed with joy, and it made him smile.
