Chapter 64
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and today is going to be a good day. Nick thought to himself. Life was just perfect, at least from his perspective. As he rolled over, he didn’t see me sleeping next to him. Puzzled, he got up, wrapped his bathrobe around him, and walked around the house to find me.
After a brief bit of panic, he found me sitting out on the sand behind our house. I heard him walking up behind me, and softly said, “The waves are beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Yes, but honey, what are you going out here? It is only 7:30 in the morning.” Nick said as he sat down next to me.
“I was just thinking about how much my life has changed in the last six months. I mean, I nearly killed myself, then a knight in shining armor rescued me, asked me to marry him, and in fact I did, and I am having his baby. That is a lot for someone to take in all at once. Not only that, but my life has been turned upside down. I am in the spotlight, in every magazine from Hong Kong to Boise, and I am just trying to survive all the trials that life is throwing at me. I don’t think I can do this.” I said, not sure of what I actually meant.
“Heather?” Nick asked, his face full of dread.
I looked at him as a tear trickled down my cheek. He reached over to wipe it gently away, and then held me close. “Trust me, Heather, I am here for you. I know that all this is kinda strange. The baby will be here in a three and a half months. Just take everything one day at a time. I will never leave you. We can work through things together...honest. I have you forever, and you have me forever. I love you.” He said as he kissed me.
If only you really knew. I thought to myself. I still had to get through one more day before I had the biopsy done. Then it was a week or so before I would get any results. It was the worst feeling in the world...despair, sadness, and uncertainty.
*** *** ***
“Wakie Wakie...” Dee said as she nudged Kevin awake.
Kevin opened his eyes, looked at Dee, and then jumped up off the couch. “Oh man...I am sorry. I should have gone home.” He said as Dee stood there looking at him.
“Hey, it’s no problem. I didn’t mind. Actually, it was nice to have you back here. You have no idea how much I actually miss you being around.” She said softly.
“If it is as much as I have missed you, yes, I do understand.” He replied.
“Look, we need to take this slowly this time. Let’s not make the same mistakes, okay?” she said, trying to sound sensible.
“Understood.” He said, “And by the way, I don’t think I ever mentioned this last night, but that fettucine was just heavenly. You should have thought about being a chef. I mean, not that your designs aren’t awesome, but you cooking is great too.” He said, feeling dumb.
Dee just gazed at him and tried not to laugh. He was acting like a school boy. The googly eyes, the mixed up sentences, the fear, that anxiety...yup, it was all there. She couldn’t help but blush at his compliments. Even though it had only been a few weeks since the big fight, it felt like they had spent an eternity apart.
“Umm, I hate to say this, but I have to get to work. We are doing rehearsal schedules today. They guys are meeting me in about an hour, but I need to go home to change. But, I will see you later? How about you come to my house tonight, we can just get a movie and order something to eat?” Kevin proposed.
“Sure, sounds good. Anyway, Heather and I were going to go out to eat today with Leighanne and Kat, so, I will give you a call when I am done. And Kevin, thanks for coming over. I am so glad that things are better between us. Don’t forget, I never stopped loving you...okay?” Dee said as she kissed him on the cheek.
“And I never stopped loving you either.” He replied with a smile. With that, he left to go to work.
*** *** ***
Nick had made me a light breakfast, and then he went to get ready to go to work. As he showered and dressed, I sat on the bed thinking. He would walk by every few seconds, looking at me. He would smile, but it didn’t do anything to cheer me up. He finally gave up, walked over to me, and then said, “Heather, that is it. I know you are upset or worried about something. I am not dumb like everyone thinks. You need to tell me, I can help, I promise.” He pleaded.
“Nickolas, listen to me. There is really nothing I can talk to you about right now. I am just tired, honest. I will go to the doctor if I don’t feel better. But listen to me, I am okay. You need to concentrate on things, you go on tour in a few weeks, your birthday is next week, and speaking of which, I still need to get you a gift. So, I think me and Dee will go out today to go shopping.” I said as I got up and walked to the closet.
Nick just watched me, and then decided that he would leave the issue alone. “I won’t bother you anymore about it Heather. I am sure that when you are ready to talk, you will. Now, I need to take off, do you want me to drop you at Dee’s or is she coming to pick you up?” he asked simply.
“I am going to call her and ask her to pick me up hon. And sweetie, thank you for understanding. I love you babykins.” I said as I kissed him sweetly and then walked him to the door.
“I love you too my little angel. Have fun today...and I will see you tonight. You know how to get ahold of me if you need me. Bye.” He said as he walked out the front door.
*** *** ***
“Dee, can you come over? I already called Kat and Leighanne, they will be here soon. I would love to just hang out and watch a movie or something. I just don’t want to be alone all day. The guys will be gone all day, so, what do you say?” I asked.
“Sure thing, I will be over in a bit. Do you want me to bring anything? You want me to pick ya up some snacks or whatever?” she offered.
I thought for a moment, and then decided. “Hey Dee, can you bring me some Reese’s peanut butter cups, a tub of vanilla ice cream, and some chocolate syrup? I will give ya the money when you get here.”
“Yup, I will be glad to pick it up for you. See you in a little while.” She said, and then hung up.
*** *** ***
Brian walked into the room, holding a glass of orange juice and a bagel. The others were sitting there chatting and going over stuff.
“Hey Frick! How ya doing?” Nick asked.
“I’m okay. Just a long night dude. I didn’t sleep well.” He replied.
“You sick or something?” Nick asked back.
“Nope...just things on my mind. That’s all.” Brian said, trying not to look at Nick. He knew that Nick would figure out something was wrong.
The guys all sat around discussing the upcoming leg of the tour and worked out all the kinks. They had all kinds of stuff going on. No one had the time to sit around and worry, or think about anything but the tour and the music.
After about three hours of planning, they took a lunch break and then went right back to work.
*** *** ***
Dee, Kat, Leighanne, and I sat around watching Titanic, While You Were Sleeping, and Man In The Iron Mask. We all munched on Reese’s peanut butter cup sundaes and just laughed, cried, and enjoyed the day. It helped to keep my mind off everything. We knew the guys didn’t have any clue that something was wrong.
“Damn, Leo is one hot guy! He looks so sexy in soaked in water...make that freezing water. All I know, is that Kate Winslet better take her hands off him...he is mine!” Leighanne was hollering.
“But I thought Brian was yours!?” Kat kidded.
“Well, yeah...but we can all dream can’t we?” Leighanne replied.
As the movie came to an end...we all were in tears. I started telling them about the time I walked in and caught Nick watching it. They thought it was hysterical that he was in tears, but when I told them what he said to me afterwards...they felt terrible. They knew that there was a possibility that Nick would be feeling that some day. We all decided to put in a cartoon movie to cheer us up. We watched Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Hey, it had a happy ending, the girl got the guy, er...the Beast, and lived happily ever after.
Suddenly, Nick walked through the door. “Baby, I’m home...did you miss me?” he said as he burst through the door, not expecting to see all of us sitting there.
“Hiya Nick, nice to see you again.” Kat, Dee, and Leighanne said at the same time.
“Oh, excuse me ladies, I didn’t know you were here. Heather told me that you all were going out. Did you have fun?” Nick asked.
The three of them looked at me to answer. “Yeah, we had a good time. Then we came back here and ate sundaes and watched movies.” I replied quickly.
“And, well, we were just on our way out, weren’t we ladies?” Dee asked as she ushered Leighanne and Kat toward the door.
“Oh, you don’t have to go, why don’t y’all stay for dinner?” Nick asked, trying to be the perfect gentleman.
“Well, what is for dinner?” Kat blurted out.
“I was thinking of ordering pizza.” He replied.
“Umm, we had other plans Nick, we’re sorry.” Dee said as she smirked and pulled the two others along behind her. “We’ll see ya tomorrow Heather. Remember...it’s girl’s day out! I’ll call you later!” she said as they left.
Nick and I just stood there, not sure what to say. After a moment of silence, I finally greeted Nick. “Hiya hon. I missed you today. How did everything go?”
“Fine...I suppose. Umm, Heather, why were they in such a hurry to leave? That is not like the girls to run off like that. You all have been acting kinda weird the last few days. Even Brian seemed weird today. He wasn’t joking or anything, it was more like he got hit in the head with a serious brick or something.”
I just stared at him, not even sure what to say. I thought for a moment about what Nick said of Brian. Leighanne wouldn’t have told Brian, would she have? No, no...she wouldn’t have. I thought to myself and then dragged Nick into the kitchen.
As I looked through the cupboards, trying to decide what to make, I tried to keep calm. The stress and everything was getting out of hand. I couldn’t take it anymore, and tears started pouring down my cheeks. When Nick came up behind me, he noticed that I was sobbing.
“Heather, hon, what is the matter? You are really scaring me!” he said as he turned me to face him.
“It’s nothing...I guess just hormones...that’s all.” I tried to cover.
“No, it’s not. You have been acting like it’s the end of the world for the last few days. Ever since we came back from AJ’s birthday party, things have been weird. You’ve been distant, quiet, sad, distressed....gee, what else? I mean, did something happen? Is the baby okay?” Nick said.
“Yes, yes...the baby is fine. Trust me, it is fine. I am just stressed out, with all that has been going on right now. Maybe the two of us need go away next weekend for your birthday. I don’t know.” I said in between deep breaths.
“That would be nice. I will make the arrangements. Where would you like to go? There is a really nice Bed and Breakfast near St. Valentine’s we can go to. It has a nice view, it is kinda secluded, how about that?” he offered.
“Yeah, sounds good.” I replied.
“Now, why don’t we go out and grab a bite to eat. I don’t think either of us are in the mood to cook, so why don’t we go to Hudson’s Grill and grab burgers and chocolate milk shakes?” he said as he pulled me into the living room, searching for his car keys.
We left, and went out to have a nice evening. By the time we got home, I was so stuffed that I could hardly walk. Nick and I drank three giant milk shakes a piece and had bacon double cheeseburgers. At about midnight, we decided to head to bed.
“Nick, my back is killing me. And so are my feet. Can you rub them for me?” I asked sweetly, batting my eyelashes at him.
“My pleasure, milady.” He said as he started massaging my feet.
After a few minutes, I was asleep. Nick pulled the covers over me
and then laid down beside me.