Our Time (18 page)

"Yeah," she croaked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry… I, um… thought I saw a… um, spider."

She didn't look at me, but I
nodded and looked down at Monty and Olivia. Monty was sitting perfectly
straight with his ears perked up high and head tilted slightly. He looked a
little distressed. Olivia was hugging her leg tightly and whimpering  'careful
Mommy'. Something didn't feel right.

"Andrew, I'm fine. Just got
a little startled. Hurry and get those bananas so Liv can eat."

I didn't want to leave her, but
her color returned and she looked better than she had a minute ago. I had to
accept her excuse.

"Okay, I'll look around for
it when I get back." After a minute, she looked up at me and smiled, but
it wasn't the smile she normally gave me and it worried me. "Give me a few
minutes, okay?"

She nodded as I kissed her
forehead and quickly walked ahead of them and down the stairs. Her near fall
was like a bucket of ice water being poured all over me. I kept telling myself
it was nothing, but I couldn't help the feeling that she somehow had gotten
dizzy and could have hit her head with a fall.
Stop being paranoid, she said
she was fine.
I knew there wasn't a spider. I had just sprayed for them a
week ago.

I stepped into my house and heard
my cell ringing on the kitchen counter. There was only one person that would be
calling me this early.

"Hey, Maddy."

"Hey Drew, we still on for
tonight?"

"Yeah, we are. Can you come
pick Liv up around 4:30? The concert starts at seven, but I wanted to take Joss
to eat first."

"Yeah, no problem." She
cleared her throat and sounded a little uncomfortable, "Um, so do you
think Liv might be spending the night? I just want to make sure I have things
ready for her."

I chuckled at her subtle inquiry
of whether or not Joss and I would be spending the whole night together.
"I don't know, yet. I'm not going to plan on it, but I really wanted to
spend some time alone with her to talk so it might be pretty late."

"Well, whatever you need,
Drew. Just let me know." She was silent for a moment and I knew she had
something else to say, but was trying not to say it.

"Maddy, just spit it
out," I pressed.

She took a deep breath and
quietly spoke. "Drew, I'm worried about her."

My stomach dropped and that same
feeling I had in her bedroom came back to me. "What are you worried
about?"

"I just… okay so she was
over here a couple days ago right? We went shopping for a while and had lunch
and then she brought me back home. We were sitting in the car talking and she
kind of spaced out and started shaking and got really pale. I don't know if it
was because of something I said or… well, no it couldn't have been because we
were just talking about that movie we all went to see last weekend. I don't
know, Drew." Her voice was anxious and rose an octave. "It was really
weird. She said she just wasn't feeling well and thought maybe it was the
chicken we ate for lunch. I tried to get her to come inside, but she wanted to
get home and put Liv down for her nap and just rest for a while. Has she been
okay? It seemed like more than just the food and--"

My hand gripped the phone tightly
as a flood of emotions coursed through me. "Maddy! Why didn't you tell me
this before?"

"I don't know." She
exhaled loudly, "I thought I was just being paranoid or something."

I ran a hand through my hair and
down my face trying to clear my head. Was what happened this morning the same
thing?

"She hasn't said anything to
me, but she has been fine for the most part. She might just be tired. Olivia is
a handful some nights and she has been trying to get more hours in for work.
I'll talk her into taking a break."

"Good. Maybe you guys
should
leave Olivia here for the night. If anything so she can get some extra
sleep."

I immediately felt awful for
waking her up this morning. I was being ignorant and felt like maybe some of
her exhaustion was because of me. I had kept her up late this last week trying
to get some time with her while I wasn't working. "I'll let you know.
Thanks, Maddy."

We talked for a minute about how
I was going to tell Jocelyn about the concert, but I still had no idea. I told
her I had to go and we said our goodbyes.

I felt a little better about
everything when I walked into Jocelyn's kitchen and saw her dancing with Olivia
in her arms and singing a funny song from Olivia's favorite movie. She was
completely fine and acted as if nothing had happened.

She was just tired, that was it.

Today, I would convince her to
take a nap and then wake her up in time to get ready to go.

She saw me watching her, but
didn't stop dancing. Olivia was laughing hard and her hair was bouncing
everywhere as Jocelyn moved.

My beautiful girls. What would I
do without them?

Jocelyn

My headaches had started coming
back. I hadn't been getting enough sleep and I was stressed about talking to
Andrew. I had put it off for too long. After what almost happened this morning,
I knew it was time to come clean. I was in love with him and didn't want to go
slow anymore, but I had to be sure he would still want a life with me and
Olivia knowing what was inevitable.

After what happened with Madison,
I called Benjamin and finally told him what was going on. Needless to say, he
was upset and worried and freaking out like I expected. He called James
Harrison and got me in for the next week since the other two doctors were out
for a couple of weeks. I felt a little better after calling Ben and getting
something done.

I was planning on talking to
Andrew after my appointment, when I found out how bad it was. I would need him
to watch Liv while I went and I was going to force myself to tell him. Ben
didn't like it and tried to convince me to tell him now, but I just couldn't
get myself to do it.

Andrew was cleaning Olivia up
after breakfast and set her on the ground with some of her toys. I was cleaning
up some of the dishes when he wrapped his arms around me and waved two tickets
in front of my eyes. When I saw that they were for a Mumford & Sons
concert, I dropped the pan I was washing and it banged against the sink loudly.

"Oh my God!" I snatched
up the tickets and stared at them incredulously. He laughed into my hair and I
spun around and kissed him fully on the lips.

"Thank you, thank you, thank
you! When did you get them? Oh my God, I can't wait!" Only Andrew would
remember me talking about how much I wanted to go to this show.

He looked a little embarrassed,
"Well, you remember when we first met and you told me you liked
them?"

I nodded warily.

"Well… I may have already
known that they were coming to Portland and I got the tickets a week
later."

He looked so adorable when he was
shy and he leaned against the counter and tapped his fingers nervously. His
other hand brushed through his hair and gripped the back of his neck.

"So you are telling me that
you have had these tickets for almost three months? You hardly knew me
then," I said and almost melted into a puddle on the floor.

"I knew enough," he
said huskily and his eyes locked with mine.

I felt a crackle in the air
between us and my chest filled with warmth. No wonder I loved this man.

"Andrew," I breathed.

"I don't know if you
noticed, but the show is tonight. I already asked Maddy to watch Liv."

I looked back down at the tickets
to see the date. Sure enough, it was for tonight. "So she knew about this,
too?" I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him.

"Yeah, and she was sworn to
secrecy. I threatened to tell Ty about her bed wetting problem in the 6th grade
if she even hinted at
anything
and believe me, she came really
close."

I laughed hard and clutched the
tickets to my chest. "You are incredible, you know that?"

"I've been told that
before," he said as he stalked toward me. I backed myself up against the
sink and he wrapped his strong arms around my waist. "But it never sounded
as good on any other lips." His hard, lean body pressed me into the
counter and he kissed a trail from my temple to my lips and back up the other
side sending shivers down my spine.

When he pulled away, I groaned in
frustration at his ability to stay in control. I was two seconds away from
throwing him down on the floor and relieving this ache I had been feeling for
so long.

"How about you go up and
take a nap so you can be rested for tonight. I'll take Olivia over to my place
and watch a movie with her."

His suggestion sounded tempting
and it helped to shake out my dirty thoughts, but I shook my head. I had woken
up to a wonderful day with him wrapped around me. I didn't want to sleep when I
could be spending that time with him and Olivia.

"Joss, I haven't been very
accommodating this week. I've kept you up way too late and I want you to enjoy
tonight, so go take a nap."

I thought of the dizziness I had
been feeling the past week and how Ben was calling me every day, twice a day,
since I told him. He had offered to come and get me and Liv and bring us back
to Seattle, but he knew the last thing I should do was go backwards and that I
had Andrew. He kept reminding me that I promised him I would be strong and I
would be happy. A promise I made before I moved away from him. The conversation
ran through my mind.

"Ben, whatever happens, just
promise me--"

"Stop it, Joss. You are
going to get through this. You have been doing so well. Just stay
positive." He kissed my forehead and gave me his famous bear hug. "Be
strong for Liv."

"I am trying to be, I really
am. And I'm going to give her a good life for as long as I can. Just promise me
that you will make sure she is taken care of. I know that you and Linda would
take care of her as one of your own, but I don't want
him
to affect her… just don't
let my little girl suffer because I couldn't fight this. Just make sure she
knows how much I love her."

"Enough! Olivia is going to
have her mother with her for a long time. She is going to know how much you
love her because you are going to be able to show her every day." He looked
down at me with the love only a brother would have for his sister. "And
you are going to meet someone who loves you more than his own life. Someone
that will erase the memory of David away forever. He is going to be the father
that Liv deserves and the man
you
deserve. Got it?"

I nodded and blinked back the
tears that threatened to fall.

"Promise me, Joss. Promise
me that you will take care of yourself and stay strong through all of this and
you will remember to keep yourself happy. No matter what. For Olivia
and
for you."

"I promise."

"Jocelyn?" Andrew's
voice was anxious and I realized that I hadn't said anything. I looked up into
his eyes and saw the man that Ben had told me about. The man that Olivia
deserved and the reason I had been able to keep my promise to Ben. Andrew had
made me strong and kept me happy. He was the reason I had been given a little
more time, I knew it. I wasn't going to darken that time, yet. Not until I knew
exactly what the future held.

"I am going to go take that
nap," I said and kissed him gently. "Will you wake me up in a couple
hours?"

His lips hovered just above mine
and he grinned, "Of course. Do you have a preference on how I wake
you?"

"Mmmm hmmm," I hummed
against his lips. "With you wrapped around me again."

"Done."

His lips crushed mine and his
hands moved downward and cupped my behind, pulling my hips against his and
making me hiss out a breath. I wanted him so badly, but I was nervous to take
that next step. It had been so long and I wasn't sure I even remembered how to
do it. I'm sure I could figure it out again, but I was still worried.

Monty started to whine quietly
from behind Andrew and Olivia's voice called from the corner of the kitchen
where she was playing.

"Go ahead and rest. I'll get
you in a couple hours."

I walked passed him with a smile
plastered on my face that I knew wouldn't go away anytime soon.

***

The nap was peaceful and very
much needed. Andrew woke me with his arm wrapped around my waist and kisses up
and down the back of my neck. Olivia was in her room flipping through her books
and apparently they hadn't watched a movie because she was too busy wrestling
with him and running back and forth with Monty in the back yard.

"I think she is pretty
tired, but I thought maybe we should feed her some lunch first," he said
as he nuzzled my neck.

"What time is Madison coming
to get her?" I trembled when his hand traced circles down my arm and back
up passed my shoulder, leaving a burning trail in its wake.