TEARS IN HEAVEN
Chapter Eleven
April 22, 2005
"Rose, are you here?" Jack called,
coming into the house after work. There was no answer. Jack sighed. The one
thing he'd never expected them to do, they indeed did do the night before. They
had fought, nonstop. Things got so bad that Rose called Ruth to come take the
kids for the night. It had started when he'd come home from work to find the
house a mess and the kids causing a ruckus, making it worse and Rose nowhere in
sight. He had found her asleep in their bed and he'd gotten on her case for
sleeping while the kids wreaking havoc. She'd rolled her eyes, explaining she
was sick, hadn't felt too good all day. But he, oh why had he been so
insensitive? Work had been stressful and he took it out on Rose. Now the house
was empty, the broken vase she had thrown at him last night still on the
kitchen floor. Suddenly the most horrifying image hit him. What if she'd left
him? Packed up the kids and took off for good? Then a note on the refrigerator
door jumped out at him.
Went out. Be home around eight. Dinner's
in the fridge.
Me
Jack exhaled. So she hadn't left after all.
But the curtness of the note irked him. She hadn't even bothered to use his
name and she hadn't signed it with love or her name. She must still be pissed,
Jack thought. Not that I blame her. He wanted to bad to apologize. Reluctantly
he headed downstairs to his art studio, to draw until she came home.
*****
"Come on, Josh." Rose called
impatiently. She had stayed out of the house all day purposely. She just wasn't
ready to face Jack yet. Last night he had been such a jerk, selfish even.
Nothing like any sides of him she'd ever seen. Even when he got angry, he had
never yelled at her before. And to top it all off, it was HIS fault she wasn't
feeling good.
Rose had suspected for at least a month now
and went to the doctor the previous morning. She was, in fact, two and a half
months along in her third pregnancy. Sighing, she let the twins out of their
car seats and headed into the house, noting that his car was in the garage. The
kitchen was empty, but the light above the basement steps was on. Josh squealed
and climbed down the stairs, the twins at his heels.
*****
Jack smiled to himself when he heard the
clambering of his children heading downstairs. Just as he put his pencil down
and turned around, the door flew open and all three of them came rushing in.
"Daddy!" Josh exclaimed, throwing himself into his father's arms.
"Hey, Josh. How you doing?"
"Good."
"We're you good for Grandma?"
"Yup!"
Josh climbed onto Jack's desk and started
drawing his own version of the picture Jack had been working on. The twins,
babbling about the dog Ruth had bought the week before, climbed onto his lap,
one on each knee. Janelle flashed him a big smile and kissed his cheek.
"Hi Daddy."
"Hey, Nell. Did you have fun with
Pepper?"
"Yeah." She giggled. "She gave
me kisses!"
"She's real nice, huh?"
"Yeah. Hey, give me that!" Janelle
yelled when Colin reached over and pulled the bow out of her hair.
Jack sighed and put the two on the floor,
giving Janelle her bow back. "Be nice, Colin."
"Sorry, Daddy." Colin said, looking
down at the floor.
Jack ruffled his hair and looked over at what
Josh was doing. He was surprised to see a very good, though very childish,
reproduction of his drawing. "You did a real good job on that, Josh."
Josh smiled. "I draw like you."
"Yeah, you do. Come on, let's go
upstairs. Is your mommy here?"
"Yep. Mommy's sad." Josh said,
frowning.
Jack sighed and put him on the floor. "I
know she is. We'll have to try and make her happy again, won't we?"
Josh smiled and darted up the stairs.
*****
Rose closed her eyes when she heard the
boisterous yelling of her kids, along with Jack's scolding coming up the
stairs. Quickly, she exited the kitchen and went to let the dog in. Dada came
bounding into the house, flew into the kitchen, barking all the way. A glance
at the clock told Rose it was bedtime for the kids. Sighing, she went back into
the kitchen. "Okay, it's time for bed, guys. Come on, let's go."
Despite their adamant protests, they headed
down the hall. "Rose..." Jack started to say.
Rose glanced back at him. "What?"
"Can we talk?"
"I'm going to put the kids to bed and
hop in the shower. We can talk after."
Jack nodded. "All right. I'll be in, in
a minute to read the bedtime story."
Rose gave a quick nod of the head and
disappeared down the hall.
*****
Jack was lounging on the couch, channel
surfing, when Rose finally emerged. Jack glanced up and turned the TV off,
while she tentatively sat down at the other end. Sighing, Jack moved closer to
her. "Listen, Rose...I'm sorry about last night. I was a jerk and I know
it. I had a horrible day at work and I took it out on you."
Rose didn't meet his gaze, she kept her eyes
glued to her hands. "It's not so much that you were mad, it's just the way
you were yelling. You sounded just like Cal."
Jack's heart broke at that moment. He, sound
like Cal? "God, I'm so sorry."
"Its okay..."
"No, it's not. I swore to myself that I
would never raise my voice to you and I did. I love you so much...I never want
to remind you of...him, again."
Rose finally met his eyes and scooted a
little closer. "It's over, Jack. What happened...was both of our faults.
Let's just promise it'll never happen again and move on."
"Are you sure? I said some awful things
to you."
"I'm sure. There is one thing we need to
clear up though."
"What's that?"
Rose sighed. "Why I've been feeling so
horrible lately."
Jack looked at her concerned. "Are you
okay?"
"I'm...I mean, we're fine."
Jack's expression changed from concerned to
confused. "Huh?"
Rose smiled and ran her hand over her still
flat stomach. "We did it, Jack. I'm pregnant."
Jack's face turned to pure happiness. The
light returned to his eyes and he let out a loud whooping noise. Then he pulled
Rose to him, devouring her mouth with his, whispering I love you, thank you
over and over again.