"Claud, I've never looked at sex like you do. It's more than just physical to me, there are lots of emotions and feelings that have to be there as well and I'll admit, I am crushing over Cash, but I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize my job." She shook her head back and forth with an ’I give up’ look on her face.
"Blah, blah, blah! You act like you're still in high school. No one is judging you here but yourself. I think you should go for it, but I forget how much of an ’I'm a good girl that MUST do the right thing’ you are. Man that sucks too! I think you could have a lot of fun if you'd just let loose, but hey, it's your life!" She sticks her tongue out at me, as if we we’re in grade school and then laughs. "Ok, let’s eat."
Eat we did and there was no more talk of Cash for the rest of the weekend. We watched movies and had popcorn that night, and had a nice relaxing evening, laughing our butts off at the comedies we watched. We went to eat lunch Sunday before I had to get ready to go back to work, but as always Claudia had to have the last word when I left.
She came up to me, gave me a hug, stuffed something in my pocket, and said "just in case you get lucky", smirked and walked away laughing. I looked in my pocket and it was condoms. I just looked back at her, rolled my eyes, yelled that she was crazy, and got into my car and left.
*************
When I got to Cash's, Carmen was in the kitchen cooking dinner for everyone. I got to work a little early, but I wanted to make sure I got there before the kids got back. I was so excited to see them and didn't realize how much I had missed them, until I was on my way to the house.
"Hello Olivia, did you have a good weekend?"
I really like Carmen. She's the kind of person that wears her heart on her sleeve, but yet you know not to cross her. She's so easy to talk to as well. Of course, I wasn't going to fill her in on what had been going on between Cash and I, but I'm sure I could talk to her and she would keep it to herself.
"It was ok, I guess. I got rested up and I'm ready for the kids. I'll admit they do wear me out, with all of their energy. How was yours and Lucas' weekend?" She went from giggling to smiling.
"We went to visit our oldest daughter and had a great visit, and took our grandkids fishing. We had a really good weekend."
I had never thought to ask if either of them had kids, much less grandkids. They seemed to be in their early fifties and seem so in love with each other, but I never imagined what their life was outside of their jobs here working for Cash.
"Carmen, that's great! If you don't mind me asking, how long have you and Lucas been married?"
"Oh, that's ok. You can ask me anything Olivia, and the answer to your question is 30 years. I love him more than I did the day I married him. We have 2 girls and a boy and 4 grandkids, and we take turns visiting each one of our kids on the weekends."
I had wondered if on the weekends they had their own place to live, since they were here working all week, but it makes sense not to, because I'm sure to them this is their home, as long as they've worked here. They just have their family time with their own children on the weekends.
"That's great, Carmen! My parents have been married 35 years. Not very many couples know how to stay married these days. I love hearing about a couple that have been together as long as you two."
This made me think of Derek and how we had had our 13th wedding anniversary two weeks before the accident. Neither one of us believed in divorce, and we had always talked about how we would travel after he retired and spend time with our grandkids, like my parents had with ours. I guess Carmen could sense that I was thinking about Derek, because she leaned over and started patting my hand.
"How many years were you and your husband married? Did you have any children?" I forgot that I hadn't told her about the kids, but it seems that the more I talk about the accident, the easier it is to talk about them.
"We were married 13 years and yes, we had 3 kids; Jordan, Jeremiah, and Jenna. They were all killed in the same car accident a year and a half ago." She immediately came around the bar and gave me a motherly hug.
"Oh honey, I wondered if you had had any kids together, but you never mentioned any. Bless your heart! I'm so sorry."
I refused to cry in front of her, but it felt good to be held in her arms and it really made me miss my mother and made me realize that I hadn't talked to her or Dad since last week.
I could tell that Cash had walked into the room, by the smell of his cologne hitting me all of a sudden. He looked uncomfortable at what he walked into, like he had interrupted something.
"I'm sorry, did I interrupt anything?" He turned to leave and Carmen pulled away from our embrace.
"No, Mr. Kingston, everything is fine. The kids should be here any minute, and dinner is about ready. Olivia and I were just having some girl talk."
She gave me a reassuring look and I wiped a tear that escaped, before I looked over at Cash and smiled, letting him know that everything was alright. It was then that I heard giggling and laughing coming from the foyer, letting us know that the kids were back.
He got the biggest grin on his face, waiting for them to walk in. Gideon was the first one in the room and he looked at me and his dad, and ran up to him as fast as he could, jumping into his arms. Cash was ready for him, as he leaped up into the air. Eden runs in and sees me and yells, "Owibia!" and jumps into my arms and hugs the life out of me.
I see an older, attractive woman standing at the top step with the same deep blue eyes as Cash and the same long jet black hair, with a little bit of silver mixed in. I knew immediately that it was Cash's mother and she was taking everything in, with a smile on her face and tears on her face.
"Well, I must say, when the children told me that things had changed around here, I had my doubts, but just witnessing what I'm seeing with my own eyes, I am happy to see that they were right."
Cash put Gideon down and came over to me and took Eden from my arms, while Gideon gave me a hug and Cash walked over to his mother.
"Yes Mother, things have changed around here. I still have a lot to make up for, but I'm not running away from my problems again."
He looked over at me and gave me a look after he said that, and I wasn't sure if he was talking about just himself or both of us. His mother leaned over, gave him a hug, looked at me, started walking towards me, and extended her hand out to me.
"Hello, I'm Cash's mother, Amelia. I hear you are the reason for this glorious family reunion and that you personally took out the trash. Literally! If you need anything, anything at all, you just give me a call and it’s yours!"
In that instant, she pulled her hand out of mine, pulled me to her, and hugged me. I looked over her head at Cash and Eden, and they were both grinning back at me and Gideon was giggling.
"It’s very nice to meet you, Amelia, and no need to thank me. It was my pleasure." She grins at me and I can tell that she and I are going to get along very well.
"I'm throwing Eden a birthday party a week from Saturday at my house, and I'm inviting you to her party. She went on and on about how much she loves her Owibia and I know she would love to have you." She looks over at Cash, with a nervous look on her face. "You too, Son. If it's not too soon for you. I don't want to rush you, if you're not ready."
We both looked at him and I knew what was going through his mother's mind, since he's never celebrated any of Eden's birthday parties with them choosing to celebrate them privately instead. He looked back at us with a solemn look, but looked at Eden and grinned from ear to ear.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world, Mother. I'll be there. No more running away for me." He gives his mother a side hug and kisses her cheek. "Is everyone ready to eat?" He grinned back at his mother, as he put Eden down and everyone started walking towards the kitchen table.
I turned around and looked at Cash, and I didn't miss the look of dread on his face, as he walked behind me. He tried to hide it really quick and half grinned at me, but he knew I still saw it. Oh, I pray that he doesn't relapse an
d go on another bender, and miss his daughter's birthday. He's come too far these last few days, for that to happen.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I get woken up from a dream about the accident. Rising up in my bed, I still hear crying. Immediately I get out of bed to run to Jenna and I realize where I'm at. Jenna isn't here. I'm must be losing my mind.
I hear crying again and realize its Eden, because she's yelling for me. I walk into her bedroom and the lamp is on, and she's sitting in the middle of her bed looking at the blankets.
"I'm sorry, Owibia. I didn't mean to. I tried to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't. I don't feel so good, Owibia."
She's holding her belly, and I look at her blankets and I see vomit everywhere. I immediately felt her forehead and I could tell she has a fever.
"Oh honey, it’s okay. Let’s get you out of bed and change your clothes, maybe a bath too."
I'm more worried about how high her fever is, because her little cheeks are red as well. I could always tell just by looking at them if my kids had fevers, by their rosy cheeks and it always seemed the redder the cheeks, the higher the fever.
After I get her dressed, I run into the bathroom linen closet to find a thermometer and some ibuprofen for her fever. I pick her up and have put her on the bathroom counter, when Cash walks in and sees what's going on.
"What's going on? Eden honey, are you sick?" She starts crying again and nods her head, and her bottom lip starts quivering.
He immediately goes to her and picks her up and cradles her in his arms.
"Yes, Daddy. I don't feel good. My bewwy hurts." He immediately feels her forehead and I see the look of panic on his face.
"Oh my God, Olivia! She's burning up!"
I walk over to them and put the thermometer in her ear and yep, just what I thought. 104 temperature. I showed him and he had a helpless look on his face. I turn around to start running some bath water.
"What are you doing? We don't have time for a bath. We need to get her to the hospital!"
I want to start laughing, because I understand where he's coming from with his panic, but I also know that she will be okay, and that we just need to get her temperature down. I go up to him and take her out of his arms to give her some medicine, and start undressing her.
"Cash, she's going to be fine. Yes, her fever is high, but that's what the medicine is for and I'm going to sit her in the bath for a few minutes, to try and cool her body temperature and to help get her fever down.
"Are you even sure you know what you're doing? I think we should call her doctor first."
This pisses me off. Did he forget that I used to be a mother? Or was he more worried about getting into my pants than listening to what I've already told him about my life? He could tell immediately that I was pissed, because his face softened.
"Yes, Cash! I know exactly what I'm doing! Remember? I did have 3 children and they did get sick from time to time, and I DID EXACTLY what I'm doing now!"
"I'm sorry, Liv. I wasn't thinking. It's just,. this is the first time that I've ever dealt with anything like this. I'm truly sorry."
He looked completely ashamed of himself, so I just nodded my head and grabbed a wash rag to rub over Eden's burning body. I remember that he had called me Liv. It's amazing how I'm Olivia one minute and Liv the next.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" This is his way of an apology, because his eyebrows are raised and he's smiling that half smile that makes my heart drop every time.
"Well, you can finish with Eden and get her dressed, or you can change her bedding, because she threw up all over it."
I'm actually shocked that he even asked, because Derek always refused to help me with the kids when they got sick. He always said it was my job to take care of them.
"It looks like you have everything under control in here, so I'll go change her bedding real quick."
He walked out and I kept looking at the doorway in absolute shock. I figured he would have chosen to take care of Eden, because of all of the vomit, but he acted like it didn't even bother him at all.
I pull the drain on the tub, pick Eden up, and wrap her in a big towel. The poor little thing is shivering when I get her out.
"I'm so cold, Owibia, and my bewwy hurts bad."
I look at her and she's absolutely green. I immediately pull the lid off of the toilet and turned her around, and she emptied her stomach. When she was through, I wiped her little mouth and started getting her dressed.
"Oh sweetie, it's going to be a rough couple of days, but we are going to get you through this and you'll be fine. Okay, baby?"
She nods her head, while I pick her up and carry her back to her bedroom. I check her temperature with the thermometer again and it's already gone down two degrees, so that was a good thing.
Cash already had her bed ready and we both put her back into bed, and before her head even hit the pillow, she was asleep. She looked so sweet laying there, but I knew we were in for a rough 24 to 48 hours.
"So what do we do now?" He's standing over her bed and reaching down to feel her forehead.
I knew I wouldn't stay mad at him for long, because he looked so cute when he was worried. I immediately wanted to hug him to reassure him that his little girl would be alright, but I resisted. I just smiled at him instead.
"I've got this, Cash. You can go back to bed. It's going to be a rough couple of days, but as long as I keep her hydrated and her fever down, she'll be okay. I'm going to go ahead and sleep in here with her for when she wakes up again."
"Oh, I'm not going anywhere either."
He walks out and comes back into the bedroom with a blanket and sits down in the rocking chair that's in the corner of the bedroom.
"What are you doing, Cash? You have to work tomorrow. You're not going to get any sleep in that rocking chair. Come on, go to bed. I can handle this. Anyway, it's what you pay me to do, remember?" Does he not think I'm capable of taking care of his children, or is he just being stubborn?
"I remember, and you don't seem to have a problem reminding me of it either." Really? He just went there? I guess he caught my reaction. "That's not how I meant it, well, not completely. I know you're capable, but I want to be here in case you need some help. I'll be fine. I'm the kind of person that can sleep anywhere."
I lie down on the bed on the opposite side of Eden and give him a dirty look. I cannot believe that he's actually going to sleep in here.
He smiles back at me, pretty much letting me know by his look that he's not budging and then he gazes at me all the way down to my toes and back to my face, and it was then that I realized that all I had on was a tank top that barely held my breasts in and really short shorts. At first, I'm turned on by his reaction to my body, but then pissed at myself, because I could see that he could tell that I was turned on.
My immediate response was to cover up and I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to get my robe on, but during the sudden urgency of Eden's crying, I never thought of it.
I can already tell that the only one getting any sleep in this room for the rest of the night is going to be Eden, so I turn around with my back to him and stare at the wall.
I could hear him chuckle under his breath and in that moment, all I wanted to do was get up and go give him a kiss to shut him up and kiss him some more, but I made my choice and now I just have to live with it. No matter how much it hurts to be in the same room with him.
******************
It ended up being another crazy week. Instead of lots of fun with the kids, we had to deal with, not just Eden getting sick, but by Tuesday, Gideon was sick as well. Cash was a trooper all week and kept to his word and other than going to work during the day, he was with me through every bit of it, helping with the kids at night.
I kept telling him that I could take care of them and that if he didn't watch it he was going to get sick, but he said that he never gets sick and wasn't worried about it.
Amelia picked the kids up and we all said our goodby
es for the weekend. After they left, I went to get my bag to leave and I suddenly had the urge to throw up. I had been tired and felt sluggish all day, but I never in a million years thought that I was getting sick, until I got that feeling in my stomach.
I immediately ran to the bathroom and threw up my lunch. Oh no, I was thinking to myself. Claudia is going to kill me. I already know that it's going to take me all weekend to get rid of this junk, because it was definitely a 24 hour bug, after getting the kids through it. I walk out of the bathroom and Cash is waiting for me in the hallway, with a concerned look on his face.
"You're sick, aren't you? Here you were all worried about me catching it, and you have it." He reaches to touch my forehead and I jump back, which has me wanting to run back into the bathroom from the sudden movement.
"Calm down, Liv. I just want to see if you have a fever. Will you let me do that at least?" I go ahead and let him, so I stand still and nod. He touches my forehead and pulls it back, as if he was burned by the touch. "Oh, Liv! You're burning up! When did you start feeling bad?"
"I've been feeling sluggish all day, but I just thought it was from being worn out from taking care of the kids."
I started to sway some, because I was having trouble standing on my own two feet and before I could even think, I was picked up and leaning against his hard body for support.
"Cash, what are you doing?" I tried to get down, but the jostling had my stomach in a lurch. "Put me down. I need to go back to the bathroom!"
He turns around and takes me back to the bathroom and helps me stand up in front of the toilet, and I just let it all go again. I am mortified. He could at least leave the room and let me throw up in private, but then he does something that shocks the hell out of me.
He pulls my hair away from my face and is standing behind me, holding my hair back and rubbing my back. I can't say anything, because I'm still not through, but what in the world is he doing?
Lost and Found Page 14
