Part 474
"Turn left right up there. That’s it. Now at the library, turn right. It’s right at the end of-" Becca stopped short, her heart in her throat.
"Bec?" Nick took her hand, frowning at the look on her face.
"There," she whispered, taking her hand from Nick’s to point. "It’s right there."
Nick looked out the window at the charming brownstone building with the iron gate. Though most were beginning to fade, there were still a few baskets of flowers hanging here and there. He opened the door and reached for Becca's hand again.
"Nick?"
"Come on Bec," he said with a gentle smile. "Show me around. I want to see it."
Her fingers trembling, she took Nick’s hand and stepped out into the crisp fall air. She wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. A sudden cool breeze rustled the leaves on a nearby tree and Garrett sneezed.
"Nick, grab the other blanket from the car?"
He did as he was asked, and Becca held the baby closer, protected now from the elements.
"Can we go in?" Nick asked. "There’s a gate over there."
"I guess, it was never locked up before," Becca said hesitantly. Before she could protest, Nick was stepping through the gate and into the secluded courtyard where she’d spent so many hours, alone with her thoughts and memories. She followed reluctantly and it was like stepping back in time. Looking around her, she was filled with a sense of déjà vu. All the loneliness she’d felt, all the fear, all of the uncertainty, came rushing back.
The wooden park bench was still there. It was there that she’d sat when writing to Nick. It was there that she’d wept when first learning that she was carrying Nick’s child. The old wooden bench had become her haven, her place of peace, where, for a few minutes a day, she could think, remember, and try to plan for a future that had been so uncertain.
"Bec, this is really nice," Nick whispered. "It’s ‘you’. This place is just what I’d imagined." He sensed that Becca was no longer next to him, and he turned to look for her. "Bec?"
She was on the opposite side of the courtyard, looking at the smooth oak door with the brass numbers on it. "Number 3C?" Nick asked.
Becca nodded her head. "This one was mine," she said softly, her shoulders beginning to shake with repressed emotion. She laid her cheek against Garrett’s head as she began to cry.
"Bec?" Nick stepped around her, took one look at her face, and folded her into his arms. "Baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you; I just wanted to share this with you. I love you so much and this place was an important time in your life. And that makes it special to me."
"This is so hard for me," she cried. "So much time was wasted here, Nick. Time I should have been with you."
"Bec, none of it was wasted. The time you were here made you stronger."
Becca laughed. "How can you say that? I was running away, Nick. Away from you."
"None of that matters any more. As hard as it was to lose you, I learned a lot about myself while you were gone. I learned how to ask for help, I learned how much you really meant to me, and I learned that things that happened in the past don’t really matter. It’s what we do with our lives now that counts."
Nick leaned over to brush the tears from Becca’s face and his heart swelled. Until now, he’d never really understood what it must have been like for her, but he was beginning to see.
"Nick, I-"
"Rebecca? Is that really you?"
At the sound of the old woman’s voice, Nick turned to meet the eyes of a tiny octogenarian with steely gray eyes.
Becca smiled though her tears. "Mrs. Chambers, you look wonderful!"
"You look a damn sight better than the last time I saw you," she grinned. "Who’d you bring with you?" she asked, trying unobtrusively to peer into Garrett’s blanket.
Becca beamed with maternal pride. "This is Garret. Our son."
"A boy? Well I’ll be damned, I just knew you were having a girl. The way you carried that baby and all …" Mrs. Chambers smiled serenely as Garrett latched onto her finger with his tiny hand, gurgling contentedly. "And who’s this other young man?" she asked, cutting her eyes at Nick and not caring whether or not she seemed overly friendly.
"This is Nick," Becca whispered. "Garrett’s father." She watched the old woman digest this new information and waited for the outburst. She knew there would be one, because the entire time Becca had lived in Mrs. Chambers’ building, there had been no love spared for ‘that young whippersnapper that broke your heart’. Becca watched her look Nick in the eye and could see the exact moment she opened her mouth to speak her mind. "Mrs. Chambers," Becca said, gently laying her hand on the old woman’s arm, "Nick is my husband. We were married right after I went home."
"You don’t say?" Well, this was a fine turn of events. She couldn’t very well give him a piece of her mind if he’d done right by the poor girl after all, now could she?
"Mrs. Chambers," Nick smiled politely, "I’m very pleased to meet you. Becca has told me a lot about you."
"Nice manners, too," she mumbled. "Well, come inside for some tea. You can’t be standing out here in the cold, that baby needs to be kept out of this wind." She started inside, fully expecting them to follow. "He coming too?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder at Billy, standing off by the gate.
"No, no thank you," Billy demurred. "I’ll stay here and watch the car."
Nick smirked at him. "Chicken-shit," he mumbled through a grin.