Mother Road Ch. 03 - Rush Hour

Laura smiled and gave a small chuckle. "Oh, Tom, my wonderful Tom," she sighed, "just when I think I can't love you any more than I already do, you turn around and prove me wrong." She kissed me softly. "The fact that you're still the jealous type when I'm a 40-year-old mother of 8 makes me feel so... wonderful. I'm yours forever, sweetie, you don't have to be possessive."

Then she giggled, "But I don't mind it if you are." She kissed me again, and whispered, "Just FYI, you can tie me up anytime you want to."

Then her voice turned serious, "Did you really mean it when you said you wanted another baby?"

I kissed her neck, and murmured, "Yes, my love. I cancelled the vasectomy appointment. I'm being totally selfish, you know. With you being 40, this is a high-risk pregnancy, so there's a possibility you may be on bed rest. If so, you'll be spending your nights in our bedroom and during the day you'll be in the cabin's bed right next to my office. That way, when I'm working, you'll be there at my disposal. I can take a sexy-time break to play with my pregnant wife's hot body anytime I want. Do you like the sound of that?"

Laura rolled her lovely green eyes and gently slapped her hand against my cheek. "You're becoming a such an old lecher, at the ripe old age of 35, no less. Whatever am I to do with you," she said, shaking her head. "But to answer your question, yes, I like the sound of that very much."

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With the four adult couples, James and Melissa, Liam and Miriam, Ava and Ashley, plus Laura and I taking up individual bedrooms for the night, we put the little ones in two rooms with sleeping bags for a slumber party. Amelia and Pearl occupied the girls' room, Elijah, Lucas, and Hunter slept in the boys' room.

In the morning we had our usual pancake and sausage feast breakfast. After the dishes were cleared, I grabbed Liam by the arm. "Son, before you leave, let's take a walk." When Liam was in high school our walks were a sanctuary. Whatever was said on our walks was confidential. Bad news, good news, it didn't matter. This was how we connected, father and son. I really missed them.

The two of us walked down to the creek, the site of my first disastrous fishing trip with the kids. (Turned out while I may have been a good architect, I was a terrible fisherman but we all had a good time anyway.) As we stood looking out at the water, I put my arm around him.

"Liam, I want you to know how impressed I am with what you've accomplished. You set your own career goals, and you're crushing them. Now you found yourself a sweet woman who's crazy about you. You're going to be a great father to Hunter." I stopped for a second, starting to get a little choked up.

Then I continued, "You did all this by yourself. You didn't ask for anyone's help, even though you could have. I am so proud of you and I know your father Glen would be proud, too."

"Thanks, Dad," Liam whispered.

I went on, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a lot of years. Now that you're engaged, I guess I'd better do it now. Every year your Mom and I celebrate our anniversary, I think about you. If you hadn't been a scrawny-ass wet kid stuck in the mud that night, I would have driven right by this place, kept going on old 66, and never met your mother. Who knows where I'd be? Probably back in Chicago, lonely and miserable with no family."

I got choked up, my eyes watering with tears, but managed to get out the rest of what I was trying to say, "I was lost in more ways than one, but you found me, son. You found me and brought me right where I needed to be. You were the one that showed me the way, home, Liam. I'll always love you for it."

Liam suddenly threw his arms around me and hugged me like I was saving him from drowning; he shocked me even further by starting to sob. I held him in my arms for a while, until he calmed down again. Now recovered, he told me the secret he'd been carrying for seven years.

"I never told you this, but the night you found me I was running away from home. I had no idea where I was going, but I was determined to go."

I was shocked. I'd always wondered but asked what that kid was doing outside with his bicycle at night when it was storming like the hammers of hell.

"I was 12, and I was angry. I was angry about my father being killed, I was angry at Christopher for leaving Mom, I was angry at James for not being angry, but mostly I was angry because by then I'd forgotten how to be anything else. Then you pulled me out of the mud; suddenly I stopped being angry.

Even though you didn't know me at all, you were really nice to me. You talked to me like an adult, not a kid. You took me home, had dinner with us and made Momma laugh for the first time in months. Then after you married her, you were everything to us kids a dad should be. I never asked you for help on anything because you'd already done so much."

I was speechless. All I could do was reach up and pat his face. After a minute, I said, "Liam, you're a good man and you're going to be a great father. I'm proud of you. My only regret is that my own parents aren't with us. I wish they were so I could show them what a good man I helped raise."

We walked back in silence, each deep in our own thoughts but enjoying each other's presence, just a proud father and his son, together.

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A couple of weeks later I was in my office working on some blueprints late in the day when Pearl came in. I loved all the children, of course, but our youngest gave me a special joy. She had my eyes, combined with the red hair and freckled nose of her beautiful mother.

The older kids were starting to live their own family lives and Elijah, Amelia, and Lucas were in grade school; they were growing up so fast, I was in no hurry for Pearl to do the same.

Pearl was a lot like Ava. She had a restless energy, always pushing rules or ignoring them completely. Today she blew off the "don't bother Daddy when he's working in the cabin" rule and climbed up into my lap. I kissed the top of her head and asked, "What's up, princess?"

"Mommy says she needs to see you in the hayloft. She wants you to come right away."

"It sounds pretty important, I guess I'd better go then." I lifted her off my lap and put her gently back on the floor.

"Daddy, are you going to make a baby with Mommy?" That question certainly caught me unawares.

"Why do you ask, sweetie?"

"Lucas told me that you and Mommy go into the hayloft and kiss when you want to make a baby. He said that's where I was made. Is that what you're going to do?" I had to laugh.

"I'll be honest, Pearl, if Mommy wants me up in the hayloft, then yes I will definitely kiss her. But that's not where you were made," I pointed at the cabin bed, "you can tell Lucas you were made right here. Now go play, OK?"

Pearl's face lit up. She loved it when she knew something her older brother didn't and would spend hours lording it over him. "OK, Daddy," she said with a smile and took off like a shot.

I walked across the yard to the old barn. It was looking good. I'd had some professional painters come in and whitewash the lower level's interior for the wedding. The portable heaters they were using to help the pain dry did a good job of cutting through the February chill. The barn now smelled of old hay and fresh paint.

As I walked inside, I called out, "Laura? You here?"

"Up here, Tom," she responded. I climbed up the ladder. As I reached the top, I saw Laura had a blanket spread out, and was unloading a picnic basket. A champagne bottle was already opened, as was a bottle of orange juice. She knew I loved mimosas.

"What's this?" As I sat next to her Laura handed me a champagne glass and partially filled it, then topped it off with orange juice. She poured straight orange juice into her glass.

"It's a special occasion, so I thought I'd have a little picnic with my husband to celebrate." Her face was beaming.

"It's not anybody's birthday and definitely not our anniversary, so what could it be?" She handed me a napkin. When I unfolded it, inside there was an early pregnancy test stick with a positive reading.

"Congratulations, you stud. You knocked me up again." Sliding over to take her in my arms, I kissed her, long and deep.

I lifted my lips just a bit, just enough to say, "After we finish our lunch, I should drive to the convenience store and buy a lottery ticket because today I am the luckiest man in the whole world. I love you so much, Laura. I really do," then I kissed her again. And again. And again ...

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Coming up: As this chapter concludes, there's more of the children's weddings, plus an unexpected invitation back to where Route 66 starts: Chicago.