[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter Thirteen: Nighttime Roof

"Mmm, now I remember why I married you," Ana mumbled with a mouthful of Dominos pizza as Howie settled next to her on the patio swing. The sun had just set and stars were slowly coming to view. Howie made it a simple night for dinner, merely dialing Ana's favorite pizza delivery.

"And that would be?"

"You always know that the way to my heart is through pizza."

"Is that your way of saying that you'd married AJ and Nick if they bought you Domino's, too?" Howie questioned, watching Ana tear the crust of the pizza off to eat first so she could enjoy the extra cheese last.

"Are you still jealous over Nick and AJ buying that pregnancy test for me after our private party?" Ana laughed with question, offering Howie a bite of the cheesy pizza as if offering a truce. "Sweetheart, that was days ago."

"They always do it to piss me off," Howie gumbled before taking a bit of the pizza.

"And you let it piss you off," Ana countered, laughing again as she pressed a kiss to his temple.

"Because you're--"

"I am your wife and you're just nervous because if I take it and I turn out to be pregnant, that means you have to be a Daddy," Ana continued to tease gently, offering Howie the other slice of pizza on her plate before she moved it to the table set to the side of their porch swing.

"What do you mean by that?" Howie almost choked on his pizza, looking at his wife in surprise.

"You're nervous and scared to be a Daddy. It's perfectly normal--"

"I am not!"

"Howie..." Ana attempted to chide, but softened when she noticed the wide eyed expression of fear on her husband's face. Carefully, she reached to fold both of her small hands over his somewhat larger one, just holding them to her chest for warmth. "I told Tierj I didn't want kids."

"You don't want kids?" Howie repeated, biting the inside of his cheek.

"That's what I told Tierj."

"Why?"

"I'm scared to have kids. I've been riding the ambulance since I was a kid... I've seen what happens to kids... To kids who even have fantastic parents... It scares the Hell out of me, because I know what can happen and I don't want it to happen to my children... Well, our children... Or maybe because I've seen all this violence and I won't be a good mother and wife... I don't know, I guess..." Ana trailed, casting her gaze out to the sunset.

"Ana..." Howie cupped her cheeks and turned her head so he could look into her eyes. "I'll tell you one thing. There is no way you're not a good wife already and you'll make an amazing mother. It is scary, how the world is and when the children do get hurt. But all we can do is protect them as much as we can."

"I don't want to take the chance... Not with someone else's life... Not with someone so tiny and vulnerable," Ana whispered, confessing her deepest thoughts. She attempted to exhale a shaky breath, just leaning to press their foreheads together. She hadn't expected this conversation to come up, especially with Tierja continuing to inform her how scared Howie was about having kids with her.

"Our parents took the chance with having us... if they hadn't... we wouldn't be together right now," Howie ran his fingers down her cheeks, much like she did with him while he was upset. Their foreheads stayed connected as he spoke from his heart. "I'm scared to have kids, but I still want them with you someday soon. That someone so tiny and vulnerable will needs us to love them and be there for them."

"Howie--"

"It's okay to be scared, but don't let it run your feelings."

"I guess..."

"What do you want, Ana?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to have kids... with me?"

"Why'd you hesitate on the 'with me' statement?" Ana quickly turned, furrowing her light brows with question. She seemed far too estute when it came to processing conversations, but that was because of her line of work. She needed to assess the seriousness of each situation, which came with talking to patients. But, of course it seemed to rub off on family life. She needed to know what Howie was thinking. She had confessed her dark thoughts.

"I don't know," Howie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Sometimes I doubt myself and think maybe you don't want to have kids because it would be with me--"

"Howard Dwaine Dorough!"

"What?"

"You're the only one I would have kids with. I love you, and no one else could change that!"

"But Nick and--"

"They're just good friends. Your good friends that you encouraged me to become good friends with," Ana continued to scorn lightly. "You're absolutely perfect in my eyes, Howie. You were perfect the day I walked in the bar to pick up Tierj..."

"I am?" Howie whispered.

"Absolutely. You've got those brown eyes I could just lose myself in everyday. Your silky curls I love running my fingers through... and may I mention, you're gorgeous body--"

"Ana," Howie chucked, actually starting to blush furiously.

"I love you so much and if you don't want to have children..." Ana swallowed the lump growing in her throat. "...Then tell me you don't want to have children, but don't blame it on the fact that you think I couldn't stand the thought of having kids with you."

"But I do want children."

"You do?"

"Yes. I'm just scared that it's me who will be the terrible parent..."

"You? The one with tons of nieces and nephews?"

"Well, yeah--"

"Sweetheart, you will be everything but a terrible parent. You're so good with kids!"

"Kids that I can send home--"

"Howie..." Ana trailed with a soft sigh, deciding to at least try reverse psychology. Howie's self-esteem seemed to still be building from the chaos of Kevin's attack many years ago. "...Maybe we shouldn't have kids."

"What?"

"If you're not sure of yourself... and I'm not sure of myself... it could mean that we shouldn't have kids--"

"Ana..."

"I'm glad we had this talk," Ana continued without much thought, reaching to gather her crutches to boost her from the swing. "I'll call the Gyno tomorrow and get my birth control back. Just think of all the time we'll have for work--"

"Wait a damn minute!" Howie blurted, grabbing the crutches before she did.

"Howie!"

"You're not getting the birth control--" Howie stopped and his eyes grew wide. "What do you mean, get it back?!"

"Huh?"

"You said get your birth control back... you haven't had it lately?"

"Oh..." Ana trailed, blushing furiously as she downcast her eyes. She didn't realize that she had forgotten that small detail of information in previous conversations. She attempted to reach for her crutches, expecting Howie to be absolutely furious with her. "I had to be on that antibiotic after the hurricane and it screws up the effectiveness of birth control... So I stopped it..."

"And you didn't tell me? All those times we didn't use protect--"

"I forgot? Howie, I'm sorry."

"You just forgot?"

Ana instantly became defensive, "It's not like I was trapping you into marriage or anything!"

"What the Hell are you talking about? I never said you were trapping me into marriage," Howie laughed, shaking his head.

"Well what the Hell are you talking about?!" Ana instantly countered, furrowing her blonde brows in sheer confusion and agitation.

"Good Lord, Sweetheart. Calm down! I was just asking how you could forget to tell me," Howie tried to explain, kissing her forehead. "But don't you think that since we've been making love without protection for all these months that there's a chance you could get pregnant?"

"No..."

"Good thing you put that pregnancy test Nick and AJ bought you in the bottom of your underwear drawer--"

"Excuse me..." Ana trailed after interupting him, reaching to yank away her crutches from his grasp. "How the Hell do you know that's where I put it?"

"I was putting away your laundry and I found it," Howie raised an eyebrow. "Are you mad at me?"

"Are you sure that's where I put it?" Ana redirected, easing the crutches underneath her arms to boost herself into a standing position. She had no idea when her last menses had occured, which made just the tinest nervous twitch flutter in the pit of her stomach. She attempted to act causal as she brushed her long ponytail behind her shoulders, not wanting to alert Howie to the stress rapidly growing in her body. She wanted to convince herself that her ovaries had exploded and there was no way she was pregnant.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I just did laundry yesterday," Howie replied, getting to his feet as well. His wife's shift in mood was odd and he needed to know what was wrong. "Ana? Are you mad at me? What's going on?"

"I'm not mad at you," she promised lightly, heading into the house with a light limp as she attempted to put some weight on her tender leg.

"Ana--"

"Everything's fine, Bee."

"Everything isn't fine," Howie objected with a frown, hurrying into the house as he saw her climbing the long flight of stairs to their second floor. "Ana! We haven't finished talking--"

"Finish your pizza."

"We need to finish talking about this!"

"Finish your pizza, I'll be back soon."

Howie was about to continue yelling, but found it useless when she disappeared and he heard the slam of their bedroom door. He waited for a moment to hear her laugh and call for him to join her, but silence invaded his hearing. Dejected, Howie turned toward the kitchen to package the leftover pizza in the fridge. He didn't know what to take their conversation as. It wasn't as if they had solved anything. At the most, Howie might have caused more distress when he asked quite bluntly if she had purposely forgotten to mention the antibiotics or discontinuation of birth control.

~*~*~*~

"Cuz? Hello, anyone home?" Brian called as he walked into the seemingly empty home, hands loaded down with grocery bags. He had promised Kevin he would get all the supplies needed for the romantic night the couple was about to have. "Hello?"

"In here!"

"Well, next time answer me, old man. I was yelling when you were in the damn kitchen," Brian huffed playfully, setting all the bags onto the large kitchen island. "What were you doing?"

"Listening to Howie bitch and moan?" Kevin answered with a slight question in his voice, immediately moving to assess the inventory of items he had requested.

"Ana's still acting funny?" Brian clarified, helping the older man empty the bags.

"That's the thing. She's acting like it never happened and doesn't seem to hear Howie when he says he wants to talk about it," Kevin replied, sticking the cold items into the refridgerator. "I was on the phone with him for over an hour, just listening to him complain."

"Well, if Leighanne told me that antibiotics screwed up birth control three months after we've been having sex without protection and she hasn't even started up the birth control again... Then won't say a damn thing about it after she disappears upstairs for awhile... I might be in the mood to complain, too," Brian suggested, seeing Howie's side of things.

"Yeah... me too," Kevin sighed heavily, turning on the stove. "I try to have Tier talk to Ana about it, but nothing has worked. I guess until she wants to talk, Howie's just going to have to complain."

"Do you think she honestly forgot to tell him about the birth control? Or... I mean, Howie asked her to marry him after that huge Hurricane and..."

"First off, it was a tornado," Kevin spoke before Brian could finish his thought. "Ana loves Howie, and she wouldn't need to trap him into marrying her. He wanted to marry her the minute he saw her at Tier's bar. I honestly think the girl did forget; she has a memory worse than a goldfish."

"You kind of have to watch out for Howie when he has that golden heart..." Brian trailed, glancing down to avoid contact with his older cousin's piercing green eyes. "But, do you think she's pregnant?"

"I don't know. I mean, anything's possible when it comes to women and their bodies," Kevin replied honestly, shrugging his shoulders. "All I do know is that Ana didn't plan on trapping Howie in anything. She loves him and he loves her."

"...Did you know that antibiotics screw up birth control?" Brian questioned after a few moments of silent unpacking of the groceries.

"Why would I know that?" Kevin turned to Brian with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know... I mean... I just think I might be watching Leigh a little more closely when she gets the sniffles..."

"Don't get so paranoid," Kevin groaned, placing an empty paper bag over Brian's head.

"But look what happened to Howie! Didn't he hear of those 'better safe than sorry' quotes?! He should have been wrapping while she was popping!"

"You are something else," Kevin pushed onto Brian's covered forehead before turning to fix dinner for what he hoped was his soon-to-be fiance.

~*~*~*~

Tierja yawned softly as she stepped out of the nursery she had been working on all day inbetween shopping with Leighanne. They had invited Ana but she of course had declined, saying she had plans with Nick and AJ. She just hoped the woman would fix things with Howie soon so their lives would go back to normal. Her thoughts about Ana and Howie stopped as she realized the house was entirely quiet. "Kevin? Kevin, are you home?"

Still, his deep voice didn't greet her from any angle of the house, causing her to fold her arms across her chest in protection. She honestly hated being alone in the house during the evening. And, more infuriating was the fact that he hadn't told her he was leaving. It was common curtosey to give her some kind of warning. But, those thoughts were cleared when she noticed a trail of rose petals leading into the living room. Her lips curving into an excited smile, she hurried into the living room only to find a bouquet of roses with a small envelope.

"What do you have up your sleeve, Mr. Richardson?" she wondered outloud, picking up the envelope to open it. Inside was a note scrawled in Kevin's heavy handwriting.

My beautiful baby,

I'm sure you're already dying of curiosity with what I'm doing for you tonight, but it's only just begun. I want you to take the roses with you and try to find the place where you find the most solitude after a long day.

Kevin

"Well... That would technically be in bed underneath you... But I know you're not there..." Tierja mumbled aloud to herself, reaching to gather the gorgeous vase of white roses.

...try to find the place where you find the most solitude after a long day.

"I guess the next place would be... oh! The library," Tierja rushed towards the back of the house, opening a heavy oak door that led her to the library. All of the books she and Kevin ever owned were stacked on large bookshelves covering half the walls. On one of the reading chairs was a squeaky clean Spunky snoring loudly, another envelope sitting right next to him.

This place is far more special than a dusty library with a snoring puppy...

"Thanks for the hint, you little redneck," Tierja growled with slight aggravation, trying to think hard about what he was talking about. "No... not up there, he doesn't like climbing..."

Tierja's eyes widened in realization. "REDNECK! Outside! The damn redneck is outside!"

Spunky woke up and barked at his owner, but she ignored him as she grabbed the flowers and ran upstairs to the balcony right outside the bay windows in their bedroom. She climbed onto the sturdy chair and placed the vase safely on the roof before boosting herself up.

"Thought you'd never get here," Kevin announced, reaching to grasp her hands to help steady herself on the sturdy roof. It seemed like he had been waiting for hours. And for each hour that passed, another knot grew in his stomach.

"Well sorry for working on the nursery," Tierja joked with a smile before looking up at the starry sky. "What the Hell were you doing out here?"

"Trying to be romantic, isn't it working for this redneck?"

"You heard me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Baby, this is very romantic, but I thought you didn't like climbing up here--"

"I did because you like being up here," Kevin interrupted, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips.

"Mmm," Tierja murmured against his lips, instantly reaching to wrap her arms around his neck. Just the smallest signs of pregnancy were starting to occur within her body, like a small amount of fat depositing around her midsection. It was almost as if she were warming her child as she pressed close to Kevin's body.

"I love you so much," Kevin breathed as the kiss finally broke, his hands still secured onto her hips.

"I love you, too."

"Are you hungry?"

"Well... yes. But what are we going to do, have a pizza boy climb up here?" she laughed, looking up at him with her warm blue-gray eyes.

"Are you implying that not only am I a backward hick but I can't cook either?" Kevin scoffed with hurt, leading her toward the layers of soft blankets and perfectly packed picnic dinner he had created.

"You said it, not me."

"You little--"

"Shh, I was teasing," Tierja placed a hand over his mouth as they sat down on the blankets. Keeping a hand on his mouth, she leaned over and attempted to take a peek inside the various containers.

"You hurt my feelings," Kevin mumbled against her hand, licking it when she wouldn't pull away.

"I think you may be the sensitive one duting my pregnancy," Tierja made a face, wiping his saliva onto her jean shorts.

"Well, you're the one surging hormones at me," Kevin growled playfully.

"Making a baby goes both ways," Tierja laughed softly, reaching over again to look at what he had made for her. The smells made her stomach growl with hunger.

"Do you want to go straight to dessert?" Kevin suggested softly, reaching into the picnic basket to produce his special chocolate box filled with chocolate dipped strawberries and an engagement ring.

"You know me too well," Tierja nodded eagerly, licking her lips with anticipation at the sweet goodies that nestled inside. "What did you make? Creme brulee? Tiramisu?"

"Tier--"

"I'm just teasing, Baby."

"Well, stop teasing, it's not a nice trait for our child to pick up."

"I'm sorry," she leaned over and began kissing his neck.

"Hey..." Kevin hissed in a delighted surprise, almost spilling the chocolate box. "...Would you... Oh, God... Please, try this?"

"Okay," Tierja replied and easily stopped her kisses as she took the box. She opened the lid just a little and peered inside. "Chocolate covered strawberries! My favorite!"

"Well, I was hoping," Kevin chuckled, immediately rubbing his flaming neck.

"You're so good to me," Tierja grinned with excitement, opening the box all the way to grab one of the sweet treats.

"I'm hoping about that, too," Kevin murmured, actually biting down on his bottom lip as she continued to practically inhale the strawberries.

"Oh my God, these are delicious! You're such a--" Tierja stopped raving as her eyes caught something glittering on the bottom of the box. "Kevin... what's this?"

"I don't know..."

"This is..." Tierja reached down and pulled out the object. "This is..."

"An engagement ring?" Kevin finished for his speechless girlfriend, reaching to take it into his large hands from her trembling dainty hands. He smiled with approval as it twinkled gently in the lighting, complimenting the classic white diamond.

"An engagement... an engagement ring?" Tierja whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth in shock as she looked down at the ring.

"If you say yes," Kevin chuckled, motioning toward her left hand. "I love you very much, Tier, and I think it's time we make our family whole. We have a son or daughter coming in just a few short months and I think we're ready. I mean, I've already survived a tornado with you, I don't think God can throw much else at us. So, please, Sweetheart, will you marry me?"

"Oh, Kevin. Of course I'll marry you!" Tierja sniffled, smiling as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Thank you," Kevin breathed with relief, slipping the ring onto her finger before enveloping her into a powerful hug. He repeatedly kissed the side of her face while she sobbed happily into his shoulder. "I love you so much, Tier. So much!"

"I love you, too," Tierja continued to cry, holding onto Kevin tight. "I'm going to make you the happiest man alive, I promise. I'll do everything for our baby to make sure they have the best--"

"He or she already has the very best, because we have you," Kevin complimented, bringing her in for a sweet kiss that would last them far beyond even the most distant twinkling star.