by Ina Williams
“Yeah, but we never really did anything to celebrate,” Molly answered as she raised the remote to press play on the movie.
“Unless…” Elsa started.
“I’m going to stop you right there. There is no ‘unless.’ It’s just dinner. Let’s leave it at that.”
“So you have thought about it,” Elsa accused, pointing.
“I’m a single woman over thirty, Elsa. I thought about it, trust me. But I’m trying not to over think or make a big deal about something that might not be anything. So can we please just watch the movie?”
Elsa Rae relented. She hadn’t considered how hard waiting and wondering must be for Molly. She lifted the remote out of Molly’s hand and pressed play. They sank into the bed and happily gorged on snacks.
Bix and Elijah got back to the house about eleven o’clock that evening after completing inventory at the nursery. Too exhausted for small talk, Bix tossed Elijah a soda from the refrigerator. Elijah opened the bottle then walked to the bedroom and rested his arm on the frame of the door. He took a sip and when he lowered his head again he smiled as he watched Molly and Elsa Rae asleep in the glow of the television. They were huddled together like sisters who’d been bed mates their whole lives. He smiled at the sight of them, they looked so young. Then he looked at Molly with one arm stretched long underneath her head and the other resting on her waist. Her breathing sounded almost like cooing and Elijah allowed himself to dream of falling asleep to that sound for the rest of his life.
“Hi,” he heard a sweet whisper. He drew his mind back from the years it had wandered and saw Molly smiling up at him. He let his head fall to the side and rest on the frame of the door.
“Hi,” he said, flirting. Molly was still too groggy to notice.
She pushed herself up to a sitting position and searched the room to gain her bearings. “What time is it?” she asked squinting one eye while trying to focus the other.
Elijah looked down at his watch, “A little after eleven.”
“I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said beginning to gather up her things.
“Come on, I’ll drive you home,” Elijah said grabbing her bags.
“You don’t have to do that, I drove,” she answered.
“And risk you falling asleep at the wheel?”
“You make a strong point,” she said taking his free hand with one hand and pulling his arm close with the other.
She hugged Bix goodbye assuring him that Elsa Rae was out for the night. He offered his silent gratitude once more then saw them off from the front door.
By the time Elijah got to Molly’s she was already sleeping again.
“Babe, babe you’re home,” he swept her hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. She pretended not to hear him, but they both knew better.
“Molly, sweetheart, I’ve been lifting plants and soil for the last four hours.” She moaned pitifully in reply.
“Sweetheart you’re too…”
“Watch it,” she warned, but her eyes never opened.
“You’re seriously going to make me carry you aren’t you?”
She smiled slyly still refusing to open her eyes.
“Fine,” he walked around to her side of the car and lifted her out with ease.
He carried her inside and tucked her into her bed, then leaned over her to turn off the light when he heard her voice in his ear.
“Don’t drive,” she whispered.
She hadn’t meant to be, but she was much too close to his ear when she said it. He pulled back for a moment to look at her. She was beautiful. Her thick wavy hair spread out on the pillow, one brown arm resting gracefully on the black wool mass. Her thick lips pursed just slightly, the way they did whenever she was sleepy. He understood now the concept of poetry in motion—her chest rising and falling slowly as she breathed. It was getting harder to wait with her lately. It had been hard in the beginning, Molly was attractive, but now, now that he loved her she seemed the embodiment of beauty and love and sex. More and more since they’d come back from her parent’s house he had begun to want not just one thing or the other with her, but everything. He let himself be drawn to her and he parted her lips with his. The kiss woke her and she lazily tossed the arm that had been resting above her behind his neck. He slid his hand under her waist and ran his thumb along her side. They kissed, long and deep. Molly let out a soft sweet sigh and Elijah lowered his head to pull away.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he whispered still close enough to kiss her. Her eyes slowly opened and she understood.
“You’re right,” she said smiling.
“The drive would do me some good.” He said before kissing her on the nose then the forehead.
He stood to leave and Molly sat up in the bed drawing the covers all the way up to her chin. Elijah turned back at the door and chuckled.
“See you,” Molly smiled.
“See you.”
CHAPTER 14
A Buck in the Road
Out of the pan and into the fire, was how Elijah had been feeling lately. Since Elsa’s forced absence from the nursery he had been taking up slack for her on weekends at Bixby’s Bulbs then heading back to Willie’s in the evening to finish paperwork and close up for Earnest Jay. Molly had even come in to help out with answering phones and taking orders at both the nursery and the shop, but the trouble was that one was always covering for the other so they barely ever got to see each other or work the same shifts. When Molly showed up unexpectedly at Willie’s, Elijah didn’t even try to hide his excitement.
“Hey!” He said louder than usual and with one arm already extended to take her by the waist and pull her into his arms.
“Hey,” she chirped before giving him a quick peck.
“I brought dinner,” she said already making her way to the office.
“I love you!” he said realizing only now that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast.
“That’s what all the hungry boys say,” she said only seconds before the office door shut behind her.
An hour and a half later with the last customer gone and the store finally closed, Elijah walked in to find Molly sitting on the front of the desk comforting Earnest Jay who was sitting in the chair with his head lowered.
“What’s up, everything ok?” Elijah asked quickly.
“I am officially being sued,” Earnest Jay said.
“The firm just called to rub it in his face,” Molly continued for him looking up at Elijah with an anger that was so personal and sincere he couldn’t remember a time before she was a part of his family.
“But you can still practice law though, that’s something. Anyway, I never liked them,” Molly asserted.
Elijah smiled, “Sweetheart, you never knew them,” he offered gently putting his hand on her shoulder to calm her.
“So! What kind of horrible and immature people call to goad an ex-employee that they just sued? Wrongfully.”
At this point, even Earnest had motioned for her to calm down. “Cool down there champ.”
Earnest and Elijah shared a quick laugh.
“Sweetheart, is that my food?” Elijah said reaching timidly.
“I hate that we live in a world where people can just do that and get away with it.” Molly continued to fume.
“Honey, can I have my…” Elijah said reaching.
“Your what? Oh, no it’s cold now.” She said still angry, though not at him. She grabbed his dish and stormed out of the office.
“I feel sorry for all your children’s teachers,” Earnest said when he believed Molly was out of earshot.
“Whose children?”
“So, you’re going to pretend that you and Molly are not two steps from the altar?”
“What? Do you and Bix have a pool going or something? Everybody just relax. We are e
njoying our lives right now and we just got back together.” Elijah said his voice a little higher than an honest man’s should be.
With the fuss out of the way, Elijah had time to see that Molly had already eaten without him. He looked down at his watch, he hadn’t realized how long it had been since she got there.
“A pool is not a bad idea. Tell me when you’re going to propose and I’ll start one.” Earnest Jay continued to tease.
Before Elijah could open his mouth to reply, Molly reentered with Elijah’s food. She handed it to him without looking and took her seat on the desk again.
“You know what I was thinking,” she said to Earnest Jay with eagerness dripping from each word. He looked up intrigued.
“You know how excited you were about mentoring youth back in Atlanta? You guys should do something like that here at the shop.”
The idea was exciting and certainly in line with the history of the shop. Jim had definitely been much more than a mentor, not only to Elijah but to Percey and Earnest as well. When he gave them jobs what he really gave them was a safe place to discover who they were. Earnest liked the idea of giving that same sense of worth and purpose to others.
Ma Eloise entered the office before anyone could reply to Molly’s suggestion. She apologized for interrupting, but no one saw it that way. Everyone greeted her and they cleared a place for her to sit. Sharing an office basically meant twice as much paperwork in the same amount of space. Several chairs were now acting as shelves. Earnest Jay shifted the catalogues and files to the floor. Molly looked at the clock on the computer then apologized as she rushed to hug everyone goodbye.
“But honey you just got here,” Elijah whimpered sweetly.
She sympathetically made her way over to give him a second kiss goodbye. “No, technically, you just got here,” she offered him one last kiss then turned to leave.
When she was gone Elijah leaned towards Ma Eloise confidentially.
“Did you bring it?” He asked, finishing the last of the rice in his mouth. Ma Eloise pulled a small box from her purse and handed it to Elijah. He wiped his hands on his pants and grabbed the box, opening it carefully.
“Were there any problems when you picked it up?” He inspected the contents of the box to keep his nerves in check.
Earnest was out of his seat at the first sight of the ring.
“None at all. The clerk said they rushed to get it resized so it will be ready for your big dinner.”
“I knew it,” Earnest bellowed, “you liar.”
Elijah laughed to himself without taking his eyes off of the ring. Truthfully, Elijah had been thinking about proposing since they’d gotten back together. The time apart had made him realize how much he truly loved Molly, and since Elsa’s bed rest he had seen how strong they were as a team. He wanted to marry Molly, but seeing the ring made everything so real and he started to feel a knot in his stomach. Things were going so well that it was beginning to feel unfamiliar. Where was that other shoe or the storm clouds looming overhead? When and how was all of this bliss going to end?
He must have been thinking too long, because when he looked up Ma Eloise was standing behind him.
She put her hand on his shoulder and assured him, “You deserve to be happy baby.”
“And so does she,” Earnest continued. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” he walked toward the door intently, “I have a pool to start.”
Elijah and Eloise laughed and he stood to embrace her.
“What part of strict bed rest is not registering with you woman?” Molly yelled playfully. Elsa Rae had gotten it into her head that she wanted to prepare an apology dinner for Bix to make up for how awful she’d been lately. Romance was in the air with Elijah’s dinner plans only a day away and Elsa Rae was capitalizing on Molly’s excitement.
“First off, you’re carrying a human inside your body, you’re allowed to be a little awful,” Molly said to Elsa as they folded up the last of the baby clothes her in-laws had mailed. Lots of greens and yellows since no one knew the sex of the baby.
“Second, I know you’re wired from all of the baby hype, but that is precisely why you should be resting.” Molly made her point and glared at Elsa to make sure it really got through.
“Please, I promise I’ll let you do everything,” Elsa pleaded.
“Gee, thanks,” Molly chuffed.
“No, you know what I mean. I’ll do all of the work that I can from the couch and I’ll order the food from Lilly’s.” She closed her hands in prayer then pouted to seal the deal.
“Tell the truth, is this about Bix or how bored you are?”
“Seventy/thirty,” Elsa said dropping the charade for a moment to come clean.
Molly shook her head in pity. “Fine,” she relented, “but one foot off of that couch and all bets are off.”
“Deal,” Elsa sang.
Molly spent the rest of the day cleaning and handing things to Elsa, but true to her word Elsa did all of her work from the couch. She called Lilly’s and placed the order, picked out the dishes from their wedding china (although Molly was the one on a chair attempting to retrieve it), ironed the tablecloth, and arranged the flowers Molly picked from the garden. All that was left to do was set the table.
“Darn it, I forgot ice cream!” Elsa shouted as she folded the second cloth napkin into a little fan. “Howard always eats his pie a la mode,” Elsa whimpered.
Molly knew that Elsa wouldn’t quit. “If I get this ice cream…” Molly began with her finger extended at her best friend.
“Not one foot off the couch, got it.” Elsa finished.
Molly grabbed her purse, annoyed with this new whinier version of her bestie. She called out her approximate return time then let the door close a little too loudly behind her.
Molly hurried back to the house, but when she pulled into the driveway Elsa Rae was coming out of the front door. Molly was already prepared to give her an earful when Elsa’s words stopped her.
“Time to go to the hospital.” Elsa shifted her overnight bag from one hand to the other.
“But, you’re not due for two more weeks,” Molly’s voice was full of panic.
Elsa dropped the bag and gripped her belly in pain nodding profusely. That was confirmation enough for Molly, she sprang into action. She lifted the bag from the ground and rushed Elsa to the car. Her pants were wet and Molly realized her water must have broken already. Now she was terrified. How long after the water breaking did the baby come? She searched her mind for baby delivery references, which was mostly limited to movies and TV shows. She was certain it was different in real life, she prayed it took much, much longer than a commercial break for a baby to come.
“I didn’t call Howard yet,” Elsa seemed to really need him now. Frazzled, Molly tossed Elsa’s bag in the backseat next to the ice cream and took off down the now darkening drive. One thing at a time Molly thought to herself.
The sky was a beautiful indigo still glowing with the last signs of day, but under the cover of the trees, the road was cloaked in darkness. Calmer now that they were in motion Molly took one hand from the wheel and placed it on Elsa’s belly.
With her eyes still on the road Molly reached into the backseat to feel around for her purse. She felt her way to the cell phone and placed it in her lap. She took a deep breath to steady herself.
“I can do this,” she whispered to herself.
“You can try him now,” she mustered all the composure she could to sound calm. She handed the phone to Elsa, but before she could dial the number there was a loud boom and the car was thrown sideways then forward before everything went black.
Molly’s eyes opened slowly to find Elsa staring blankly out of the front windshield. There was a thin line of blood on her cheek and she was hugging her belly, one arm underneath it and the other on top of it.
“The baby isn’t moving,” El
sa kept saying. “He always moves.”
Molly’s head felt like there was a drum line inside. She knew she needed to get them to the hospital but she could barely focus. She looked around to find the phone. It was on the dashboard close to the windshield. She reached out to grab it when out of the corner of her eye she saw a sudden movement. There was a large buck at the edge of the road staring at her. Molly froze until the buck limped into the darkness of the woods.
Molly looked back at the phone in her hand, it was shaking. She dialed 911 then lifted the phone to her ear.
Her sentences were broken and the sound of the operator’s voice only made the throbbing in her head worse.
“Please hurry, she’s having a baby,” her voice trailed off and her eyes closed again.
She woke up as the paramedics were lifting her out of the car. She was trying to ask about Elsa, but the words were like peanut butter in her mouth, thick and sticky. One of the paramedics understood her panic and assured Molly that her friend was fine.
“The bag… she needs her bag,” was all Molly could get out before her eyes closed again.
The next time she woke up she was in a hospital bed with Ma Eloise at her side. She was knitting a baby blanket. There were purple flowers in a clear vase on the table behind her. Molly smiled at the sight of them, certain they were from Elijah.
When she saw Molly’s eyes open Ma Eloise drew closer to the bed. She welcomed her back with a gentle caress on the forehead and a kiss on the cheek.
“Is everyone alright?” Molly asked quickly.
“Everyone’s fine. Baby Caleb is resting in the nursery,” Ma Eloise assured her.
“Aw, Caleb,” Molly sighed, resting her head on the pillow behind her, “it’s a boy.”
“Eight pounds and two ounces.”
“Geez,” Molly said, “that explains the bed rest.”
She shared a laugh with Ma Eloise.
“Where is everyone?” Molly asked.
Ma Eloise’s face changed. It was just for a moment, then the calm smile returned. Molly suddenly realized how strange it had been to find only Ma Eloise in the room when she woke up. Was everyone with Elsa and the baby? She moved to get out of the bed, but Ma Eloise stopped her.
