Mimi's Daddy Ch. 35: The Unexpected

Sarah stood in his office doorway. "Can we go home now?"

Adam gestured for her to come into his office. "Just a few more minutes. I want to look over Lee's numbers again."

She groaned. "Can I order a pizza, then?" She picked at a missing chip of paint on the door frame. "Or can I call Mimi to come get me?"

"Tomorrow we'll start looking into finding you a new beater."

"Seriously. Can't I have something newer?"

"Am I driving a new truck?"

"No.. But..."

"Since you are working now, you can always save for a car yourself and buy whatever you want."

"That would take a million years." Sarah pushed the door open wider. "Come on Adam. Let's go home."

She stepped into his small office and flopped into the chair across from him.

Adam said. "Quit being a teenager."

Sarah tucked one leg under her and gave him a defiant look. "I will. If you quit being your dad."

Her words prickled his skin. "Sarah, I don't need this right now."

"I know. Let me say it for you. I've heard it enough. The business is growing and you have to do everything. No one else could possibly be as trustworthy a human being as you are. That's why you have to live at your job."

"I don't live here."

"What time is it?"

Adam looked at the clock on the wall and winced. "Seven-thirty."

"I have school tomorrow."

"All right. I'll shut this down. Go get your books."

"Finally."

He couldn't tell Sarah that he didn't want to go home and discover that the divorce papers were signed, or that Mimi was making plans for the next part of her life without him. Once he had his computer shut down, they headed out. Adam dead bolted the office. He knew he was staying at work too much.

"Have you heard from Mom?"

"Not today. How about you?"

"She thinks her therapist is hot."

"That's all we need. Hop in the truck and let's get you home."

Sarah fastened her seat belt and tucked her half empty soda between her legs. "When is she going to come home?" He needed to feed his sister better.

"That's complicated." He had heard from the center and their mom's treatment was going to continue for a while. Their mother liked attention. "You are stuck with me for at least another two weeks. Are you tired of me already?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like the new job, but I had thought when Mimi moved in with us, we might be more like a family."

"What are you talking about?" He pulled out onto the dark road.

"Families spend time together, Adam."

"What do you think we are doing right now?"

Sarah gestured to the empty back seat. "Where is Mimi?"

He grimaced. There was no way to explain to his sister that, every time he saw Mimi, he thought about her signing the papers and leaving. His chest ached. He didn't want to think about that. Where was his wife? "Probably, she is at the farm house."

"We could pick up a pizza and go over there."

Mimi had been asking him to come help her work on the house all week, but it was difficult to work on a place you would never live in. Expanding the business and having a fake wife was harder to juggle than he had expected. He missed her, missed her laugh. "Johnny's?"

Sarah's phone was already out. "I'm getting bread-sticks. It's my bonus for having to work late with you this week."

***

The light was on at the farm house, and her car was there. "She might have already eaten dinner."

"May be, but who doesn't have room for a slice of pizza?"

It didn't take long to get to the farm. Adam swung out of his truck and went to knock on the door. When there was no answer, he opened it. Sarah carried the pizza boxes inside. His sister called out, "Mimi?"

The house was quiet. She usually filled the place with noise while she worked. Her purse was on the counter, and a small stack of mail. Sarah called out her name again, louder this time. Nothing. "It's dark out. Where the heck is she?"

Sarah put the pizza down on the counter. Adam stepped to the back door. No sign of her. He offered his keys to Sarah. "Go over to her folks and see if she is there. She might have gone there for dinner since we were working late."

She isn't answering her phone. The cupcake's bag began to ring.

"I'll go check the old barn. Let me get my flashlight from the truck before you go.

***

There were no lights on in the old barn. The place smelled like hay. He shouldn't have left her out here on her own so much. The beautiful old structure felt ominous in the dark. He texted Jen, "Are you and Mimi hanging out?"

"No. Where are you?" "Where is she?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be texting you."

"Maybe she went to a movie?"

Not helpful. The property was large. Where on earth would she be in the dark? He thought about the hill she had shown him, the first time she had brought him here. Latching the barn closed, he trudged across the land toward the fenced in fields.

He stepped down on the strung wire like she had shown him and eased himself into the pasture, sweeping the high grass with the flashlight. She had to be somewhere. Mimi wouldn't just leave her purse and phone behind.

He froze when he saw her. Her hand lay a few inches from his heavy boot. The minx was asleep. She had been hard to see in the thick grass. Her chest rose and fell evenly. Adam sank to his knees next to her, full of relief. She was fine. Foolish and asleep in a field, but fine. He touched one of her red curls, lifting it in his fingertips. Her eyes fluttered open. She startled and half sat up. "Adam?" Disoriented, she looked around. "When did it get dark?"

"About seven, like normal."

She rubbed her eyes. "How long have I been asleep?"

"That I don't know." He texted Sarah that he had found her. No reason to upset the whole family over an oddly taken nap. "Do you always like to sleep in the evenings like a fawn in the woodlands?"

"I was just tired, and the stars were coming out." She offered him a smile. "It was beautiful."

He looked up into the star filled sky. "You scared me when I couldn't find you. I thought maybe you had come to your senses and run off."

She reached over for his hand. "No such luck." She squeezed his fingers. "I was dreaming of you, though."

"Were we in París or Milan?"

"Those aren't the kinds of dreams I have."

"Tell me?"

"It was a birthday party."

"Yours or mine?"

"A kid's party for a little girl."

"How old was she?"

"Three. We had gotten her a little pony for the party and they were so excited to meet each other."

"Were we in this field?"

"Yes."

"It's a pretty dream. Sarah told me I was like my dad today."

"Why?"

"Because I've been being a workaholic. The business means a lot to me. I can control that, make things happen." He smiled at her. "Do you know that my time with you has been the longest relationship I have ever had, and it hasn't been very long?"

She leaned against him, and his arm came around her.

Adam said, "I'm sorry I surprised you with the paperwork. When I gave it to you, I wasn't saying... I didn't think about how that might seem."

Mimi shook her head, and said, "I haven't opened it."

"I noticed."

She took a deep breath. "I might not ever open it."

He looked down at her. "Why not? I thought you would be happy about the house."

"Are you that unhappy being married to me? Is that why you are at work all the time?"

He winced. "I'm not unhappy with you. That is sort of the problem." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "You are my favorite person." He touched the tip of her nose. "I'm just trying to protect you."

"From what?"

"From me, from my family." Her stomach growled. "Have you eaten?"

"No."

"There is pizza at the house."

Arm and arm, they walked through the field back to the farm house.

Adam's truck pulled into the drive ahead of them as they stepped onto the farm house porch, full of Mimi's family. Noah sat in Sarah's lap in the passenger seat. Her father was driving. They spilled out of his truck as if it was a clown car. Sarah was grinning, obviously relieved. "You found her."

Mimi's Ma was the first up the steps. Her brow furrowed with concern, she asked, "Are you okay?" She placed her hands on her daughter as if she needed to touch her to feel reassured.

Her father remained close to the truck. "Ma, the girl is fine."

Mimi took her mother's hand and brought it to her cheek. "I'm fine. I just fell asleep in the pasture watching the stars. My phone was in the house."

Her mother gave her a brief, tight hug. "I always got tired in my first trimesters, too. Your Dad used to tease me about the places I would nap."

The words shuddered through Adam. First trimester?

Her Dad chuckled. "Found your ma in the barn once... Wait. What did you just say?"

The look that Mimi gave Adam was full of guilt. She put her hand on his chest. "I was going to tell you."

"When?"

"I just found out. It changes nothing. I know it wasn't what you agreed to."

Her Dad came forward and tugged her Mother back down the stairs. "Come on Meridith, these young people need time to talk. Sarah, can you drive us home? Mimi seems fine."

Sarah stood with her mouth open.

"Back in the truck." Mimi's father said, "The search party is over." With one arm, he scooped up a confused Noah.

Noah resisted. "But Sarah said there was pizza."

Sarah swung the truck door open, sending looks back at her brother and Mimi.

Ma got in the car and drew Noah into her lap as the twins clamored into the cab of the truck with Sarah. "I bet Sarah might enjoy some leftover friend chicken."

Mimi's dad started the truck, as Sarah perked up and said, "Heck, yeah. Got any mashed potatoes?"

In silence, Mimi and Adam stood on the porch and watched the truck drive away.

Mimi reached over and took his hand in her own. "Let's go inside."

He hadn't ever planned to bring a child into the world. If anything was clear, it was that his family didn't make good fathers. How could he break that pattern? His grandfather had shifted his priorities by the time he had grandchildren, but he hadn't spent time with his own children at all. Adam's heart felt heavy.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"I don't know. I wasn't sure you would want to know."

"Why on earth wouldn't I want to know that I had a child on the planet?"

"You said you didn't want a family."

"And you said you couldn't get pregnant."

She winced. "You are right. I was foolish. I just assumed."

She sat down on the faded old couch and he took the place next to her.

"I don't know what to say, Mimi. Is this something you had planned all along?"

She toyed with the bottom of her shirt. "No, but I can't say that I'm sad that it happened."

"You should have had a baby with a good man who could build a proper life with you."

"I think you are a good man."

"Then you haven't been paying attention. I fake married a woman to get an inheritance."

Very quietly Mimi said, "And to save your mother."

He looked down at her, exasperated. Why did she insist on seeing him in a better light than he saw himself? "Mimi, anyone would do that."

"No they wouldn't. Your father, for example."

"I'm not my father."

"Exactly."

Her words made him stop. "You actually think I could make a wife happy and be a good father?"

"Maybe, if you let them be as important as your job."

"Mimi, the expansion has made it impossible to keep track of everything."

"You trust Lee and Arthur. If you give up a little control, things might work out."

He flexed his hand. "That is difficult for me."

"I know." She shifted on the couch a little to better look at him. "A long time ago, you made a choice to live life on your own terms. You changed to survive the situations you faced. And you can change now, too."

"And if everything falls apart?"

"Then we rebuild."

He reached out and lay his hand on her belly. "So, there is a little person in here?"

She put her hand over his. "That's what the doctor says, but it's hard for me to believe it."

"How long?"

"I had my last period a little over a week before we met. The doctor said the spark was the size of an apple seed."

"Can we get a test?"

She looked sheepish. "There is one in my purse. I keep taking them."

"Let's do this. I want to see."