Dropping The Bombs

“Have a seat,” Jordan motioned towards the couch as he guided me to the armchair. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

While Zach and I told him we were good, Mary gazed up at him in an almost wishful fashion as she asked him, “Were my eyes deceiving me, or do you really have Nestle Quik on your kitchen counter?”

“The syrup stuff?” He asked while making his way over to the kitchen’s entrance to check. “Yes,” he smiled. “We have both chocolate and strawberry – did you want one?”

“Yes!” Mary exclaimed with child-like excitement as she slapped her hands together in glee. “Both, please.” Her eyes lit up, “Oh! Do you have ice cream?” She went on to tell us how ‘yummy’ a chocolate/strawberry syrup milkshake would be. “Of course,” she sighed. “It would be better with chocolate chips and real strawberries in there as well….mmmmmm.”

“Do you really think all that sugar is…?”

Mary cut Zach off with just one look.

“Last night you said you couldn’t sleep because of all the sugar you ate…” He shrugged. “Have what you want.”

Jordan, who had been hovering in the doorway of the kitchen, took that as a sign to go ahead and make the shake for Mary. Ten minutes later, Jordan entered the living room with two large glasses full to the rim with milkshake.

“Looked really good,” he whispered to me as he lowered himself down onto the floor in front of my armchair and proceeded to take a mouthful of the shake before offering his glass to me. “Want some?”

Although I had to admit that the shake looked good, I wasn’t feeling that hot, I felt bloated and a little cranky. With a hand pressed gently against my stomach, I told him no. “But,” I turned my attention to my surly brother and his ice cream giddy wife. “I would like to know what brought you two here tonight? Were you in town for dinner or something?”

Mary shook her head as Zach said ‘no’.

“Worried I was corrupting your sister?” Jordan joked before adding. “She’s the corruptor, just so you know.”

“Whatever!”

Tilting his head back, he gave me one of his oh-so-sexy, extremely danger to my composure, grins. “You know it’s true Babe, you’ve turned my world upside down since the moment I met you.”

I was incapable of saying anything, his grin combined with his touching words tugged at my heart and he knew it. Normally it would bug me if a guy knew this but, like most things, I’ve been coming to realize I didn’t mind Jordan knowing anything about me. In fact, it made me feel all the more secure and happy in our relationship.

“That’s so sweet!” Mary gushed before slapping Zach on the leg and demanding to know why he never said stuff like that to her anymore.

“When do I get the chance?” Zach asked softly. “You shove me away whenever I try.”

“I wasn’t talking sex!” She hissed.

“Neither was I,” he replied. With a sigh he sunk back into the cushions on the couch, his eyes never once leaving Mary’s. “My life would be nothing without you, you know that.”

Silence settled around the living room. Zach and Mary sat locked in a staring contest of sorts while Jordan seemed oblivious to what was going on as he happily ate his shake. I, on the other hand, wanted to say something – anything – to make things right between my brother and his wife. But what could I say?

In the end, I would remain silent but it didn’t matter, Mary had it all under control. “Shake?” She moved her straw aside to stir the shake with the spoon Jordan provided for her before offering her glass to Zach.

At first he was hesitant, the look on his face wasn’t one of a man who wished to subject himself to a taste test, although, moments later he took a deep breath and the spoonful of shake Mary offered him. “Mmmm,” he nodded a fake smile on his face but he turned his head sideway, and cringed as he swallowed.

“Want more?” Mary asked eagerly.

“No, no.” Zach waved his hand. “Go ahead; I wouldn’t want to take from you and the baby.”

Mary didn’t argue, she shrugged and continued slurping back the shake. “Tell them why we are here.”

****

The pain I had felt earlier was exactly what I feared it would be and like every other time my period came, it hurt. Curled up in the fetal position on Jordan’s bed, I was waiting for him to finish his shower and join me. It had been an eventful day and Zach’s arrival at Jordan’s house that night proved to be the icing on the cake.

Movement on the bed behind me, alerted me to Jordan’s presence moments before his arm draped around my waist and his mouth pressed against my shoulder. “Hey Babe,” he murmured. “You know all this talk of….”

Frowning, I glanced over my shoulder to where he lay frozen with his hand covering mine as it rested on my belly. “Jordy?”

“No, no, no…” He shook his head, his fingers tapping on my hand. “Please tell me….”

“Tell you what?” I turned his way.

“Hand…belly….” He muttered ‘no, no, no’ again.

“Jor-“

“Damnit!” He cursed. “I’m too late, there’s no love for me tonight.”

Despite the sadness in his voice, I chuckled. “Sorry Babe, I can’t help it.”

“I know,” he sighed as he rolled away. “Mother Nature is a bitch some times.”

Laughing, I told him he could’ve had some loving the night before, “But you missed out.” Playing with the blankets I told him he shouldn’t have been so pissy.

“Pissy?” He scoffed and slipped out of bed.

“Jordan?” I called after him but he walked out of the bedroom without looking back.

If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would’ve been kicking myself in the ass but as it was, the mental ass kicking I was giving myself was almost as bad as the real thing. How could I have been so stupid? I wanted to know. Why did I have to bring up the night before? What did I think he would do? Laugh it off and tell me I was right, he was being an ass.

No, I lectured myself. You were the one being an ass.

Either way, it didn’t matter, Jordan was upset with me, once again and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I started to feel that I was destroying everything I held dear when the bed shifted under Jordan’s weight.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until something very warm brushed against my hand. “I’m sorry,” I blurted out as he leaned in over me.

“You don’t have to be sorry Anna,” he replied as he lifted my hand from my belly, pressed a hot water bottle against it and settled down behind me. “I knew it was going to happen soon, I just hoped I would have another night, that’s all.”

A single tear drop rolled from my eye. “You aren’t mad at me for what I said?”

“What?” He kissed my shoulder. “The pissy comment?” I nodded and he chuckled. “No Anna, I’m not mad about that. I’m angrier with myself than anything else right now.”

“Well, that’s –“

“Unless,” he cut me off. “You count Heather. I’m furious with her at the moment.”

“What??” I tried to turn towards him but he held me tight. “Why? You didn’t even speak to her tonight, did you?”

“No,” He admitted. “I was too pissed off after last night’s conversation to talk to her tonight.”
Once again, I asked him why. “What did she say Jordy?”

With a sigh, he told me that he believed it was time for him to find a lawyer. “I really didn’t want to do that but…” He groaned. “I may have to.”

It took little prompting for Jordan to tell me that Heather told him the night before that she would be home on Thursday so she would be picking up Jenna. “I told her that was fine, I knew she missed Jenna. I jokingly told her that it would be difficult for me to let her take Jenna but at least it wouldn’t be for too long, I would be picking her up on Friday at my normal time.”

“Right,” I nodded when he paused. “So what was the problem?”

“She told me that Jenna wasn’t going to come over this weekend because she wanted to spend time with her. I mentioned that it was my time, like we agreed months ago but she told me it was too bad because I had her all this time while they were visiting Hank’s family.” As he spoke, he became irate. “It’s not my fault Hank had to go home and they didn’t take Jenna. I told her this and she told me that she didn’t have to let me see Jenna at all!”

“What?” I managed to turn this time. “What is that supposed to mean? She would try to keep Jenna from you? That’s not right.”

“I know!” He exclaimed. “I’m her daddy and I have rights! I told Heather this but she said that my rights are whatever she says they are and she is keeping Jenna until next Friday – if she lets me take her then!”

I was too shocked to even speak.

“I told her she was wrong, she didn’t have the right to tell me when I could and couldn’t see my daughter because I have rights, damnit!” He went on to tell me that Heather started to freak out on him and somehow she brought up that if he wanted to see Jenna again he would shut up or the only way he would see her is in court. His whole body shook as he told me that Heather screamed Hank was a better daddy for Jenna and she would see to it that he never saw her again if that’s the way he wanted to be.

“I don’t want to go through a custody battle Anna, I just want to see my daughter but I’m afraid that won’t happen if I let Heather pick her up tomorrow.”

Completely blown away, that’s how I felt. I tried to make sense of everything he was saying but nothing seemed to come together. I didn’t understand how Heather could’ve done a complete turn around when it came to Jordan and Jenna, she seemed happy that they were spending time together. I asked if she said anything else but he shook his head. “She just told me to have her ready tomorrow.”

“What are you going to do?”

He sighed. “What choice do I have, really? Heather is Jenna’s legal guardian and I don’t have anything.”

“Are you going to change that?”

“I didn’t want to drag Jenna through that.”

“But?”

“But I have no choice, if Heather tries to keep me from my daughter, I’ll fight her every step of the way. I will not miss a second more than I already have. I can’t, I love her too much to let her go.”

An uneasy silence settled over the bedroom as Jordan and I drifted off into our own thoughts. I was outraged for all the hurt that Heather managed to cause Jordan with just one simple phone call. All I could think was that she wasn’t going to get away with it, Jordan wouldn’t lose his little girl, not if I could help it. I went to tell him I would be there for him, no matter what when he broke the silence.

“I can’t believe your brother didn’t tell you about your inheritance before.”

“What?” I stared at him. “Where did that come from?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I was just thinking about character witnesses – people who could attest to me being a great daddy. Zach, having known me all my life and being a respectable member of society, would be a great character witness. Well, that got me thinking about why they were here tonight.” He gazed at me. “I can’t believe your brother kept your inheritance from you.”

Neither could I. When Zach handed me a bank cheque for $50,000 I told him there was no way I was taking his money. “We can do this on our own,” I insisted.

“I know,” he had replied. “But this money isn’t from me, it’s from your part of the money mom and dad left us.”

I gasped, “Mom and dad?” Glancing at Jordan, I couldn’t believe it. “How…?”

“They had insurance,” he told me. “Plus the money from the civil suit filed against the driver that killed them.” He ran a hand over his face and told me it wasn’t all the money. “There is still a little in trust for you for when you turn 25.”

“How much is a little?” Jordan asked as he drew the straw into his mouth.

“$250,000,” Zach stated.

“$250,000?” Jordan squeaked as his mouthful of shake went down the wrong way.

Zach nodded solemnly. “Yes.”

“Then…?” I motioned towards the cheque, not really sure what I was asking.

“I knew you had the money for your house, I just thought you might need a little something for minor reno or many even decorating.” He grinned. “I know how you love to decorate Anna.”