Chapter 216

If the trip to the doctor’s office was fuzzy, the trip home was a blur. Entering the house, Tori ran upstairs to put her pills in the bathroom. For long minutes she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks were flushed, and she wanted to jump out of her skin with excitement. She glanced at her watch and groaned. It was still going to be a couple hours before Richie got home. She didn’t know how she was going to pass the time. She knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work or decorating or even the guitar. With a sigh, she wandered back into the bedroom, picked up the remote, settled on the bed and tried to find something on T.V. that would distract her.

She was awakened two hours later by the sound of Ava’s giggles and Richie’s deep chuckles floating up the stairs, as father and daughter shared a joke, followed by the closing of the front door. Grinning, she jumped up off the bed and rushed out of the room. “Richie!”

Reaching the top of the stairs, she started to run down them. Suddenly a wave of dizziness hit her and she had to grab for the banister to keep from falling. Heart pounding at her near disaster, she sat down, her knuckles white with the strength of her grip, her eyes closed as she fought the black dots that had appeared at the periphery of her vision.

“Tori? What are you doing? Are you okay?” Ava had heard her and had come to investigate.

Tori forced her eyes open to gaze at her stepdaughter standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Get Daddy please.”

Ava took one look at Tori’s face and ran. “Daddy! Come quick. Something’s wrong with Tori!”

“Angel? What’s wrong?” Richie rushed into the foyer, and seeing her, ran up the stairs. “What is it?”

“Dizzy. Help me down please.”

He scooped her into his arms and descended the stairs. Setting her on her feet he watched her carefully, ready to catch her if her legs wouldn’t support her. “Angel, what’s wrong?” He remembered his mother’s concern. He guessed she was right. Tori hadn’t been herself for the last few weeks and now this. “I think we need to take you to a doctor.”

She shook her head and grinned at him. “Already been.” She had to stop to swallow heavily. All colour left her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened, she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom.

Richie stood in the foyer and watched her flight, a worried frown creasing his forehead. Then the pieces began to fall into place for him. He looked up at the step he’d found her sitting on, then back to the doorway she’d disappeared through. Several other bits of information came to him including her sudden…how had she described his behaviour in Hawaii…..surge in activity…and the tiredness that she thought she was hiding from him. He didn’t know how he hadn’t seen it before. Slowly, a wide grin wreathed his face, and he followed his wife.

“Daddy? Is Tori okay?” Ava’s eyes had darkened with her concern.

“She’ll be fine sweetie. Her stomach’s a little upset, that’s all. Would you go ask Rosa to make her a cup of tea please?”

“Sure.”

Tori heard the bathroom door open and close, but she was too busy losing the contents of her stomach to look up. Besides, she had a pretty good idea who it was. One large hand gathered her hair up and held it back from her face. The other braced her forehead. When the heaving subsided, he handed her a glass of water to rinse her mouth, settled her down on the floor, wet a washcloth and gently bathed her face. “Better?”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

“This happen often?” He sat beside her on the floor.

She shook her head. “This is the first time. I was laying down and I think I jumped up too fast. I guess the dizziness made me sick.”

He studied her face. “So. Do you have something you want to tell me?”

Her lips twisted wryly. “Looks like it’s your turn to say ‘I told you so’.”

“ Just so there’s no miscommunication here…..say it.” His dark eyes were intense as they bored into hers.

“I’m pregnant.” She threw herself into his arms, tears of joy wetting her cheeks. “I’m pregnant.”

He held her close for long minutes, his eyes wet with his own tears. Pulling back a bit, he went to kiss her, but she turned away.

“You don’t want to do that until I brush my teeth.”

He chuckled, framed her face with his hands and dotted kisses all over it. “When?”

“Dr. Crandall said that the new little rockstar will make an appearance in June. She said I’m about five weeks along.”

Counting in his head, he smirked. “Five weeks huh.”

She eyed him warily. “What?”

He blew on the fingernails of one hand and polished them on his shirt. “Right out of the gate. My boys still got it!”

She rolled her eyes, then let them grow round before closing them and with a groan burying her face in her hands.

“Angel? What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick again?”

She shook her head.

“Then what’s wrong?” She didn’t lift her head. “Honey, you’re scaring me here!”

Blowing out a breath she raised her head. He was surprised to see her face flushed and an embarrassed expression on it. She stared at him, then shook her head. “I don’t want to even think about it.”

“What? Come on babe, tell me what’s got you looking like you just got caught having sex by your father.”

She snorted. “This is worse.”

“Worse than that? What could be worse than that?”

She sighed heavily. “Do you realize that there’s a very good chance that this child was conceived with me tied to a bed?!”

He tried to keep a straight face - he really did – but he couldn’t stop the grin. She picked up the washcloth and threw it at him. He caught it just before it landed in his face and chuckled. Leaning over he kissed her cheek. “Ah, me beauty, I warned ye I would put my mark on ye!” She had to laugh. His hand came up to caress her cheek. “I love you angel.”

She could see the happiness glowing in his eyes. “I love you too.”

There was a knock on the door. “Daddy? I’ve got Tori’s tea. Is she okay?”

“Thanks Bean. Yeah sweetie, I’m fine. We’ll join you in the living room in a minute.” Tori gazed thoughtfully at the door.

“Okay.”

Richie stood up and reached down to help her up. “Do we have any earplugs?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“We’re going to need them to withstand her screams when she finds out we’re going to make her greatest wish come true.”

Tori crooked a brow. “I thought it was your greatest wish.”

He shrugged. “Like father like daughter.”

She chuckled, then frowned slightly. “Honey….There’s something I’d like you to do for me, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“I’d do anything for you, you know that.” He was surprised to see her so tentative with him.

“I’d like to keep this just between us for right now.” When he frowned she rushed to explain. “This is a high risk pregnancy, and I just want to make sure that everything’s okay before we tell everyone.” Her eyes begged him to understand. “Just until Christmas. Then we’ll have reached the three month hurdle and you can shout it from the rooftop if you want to.” She reached up to stroke his cheek. “Please? We’ll tell everyone at Christmas. I promise.”

He sighed heavily. “Okay. We’ll keep it just between us until Christmas.” The look on her face told him she wasn’t finished. “What else?”

She bit her lower lip. This was going to be the tough part. “That includes Ava.”

“What?! You want to keep this from her too? You want me to hide the fact that she’s going to have a brother or sister from my daughter?”

She winced at his tone. “You said yourself how excited she’s going to be. She’ll never be able to keep the secret. And what happens if there’s a problem? How do we explain it to her? Despite Dr. Crandall’s confidence, between my age and having only one kidney, the chance of something going wrong is not insignificant.” Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. “I just want to be sure the baby’s off to a good start before we tell everyone. I couldn’t bear to have everyone all happy and excited for us and then have to tell them that something happened.” Her voice broke. “I know it’s a lot to ask. I would never ask it of you if it wasn’t really important to me.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Ssh, sweetheart. It’s okay. We’ll keep it to ourselves until Christmas – Ava included.” With a finger under her chin he lifted her face until he could look into her eyes. “I don’t want you worrying and fussing. Everything’s going to be just fine. You and the baby are going to be just fine.” He grinned. “It’ll make one hell of a Christmas present!”

She smiled, relieved to see the twinkle back in his eyes. “Thank you. I love you so much.” Her eyes filled again. “Damn.” She reached for a tissue to dab at her eyes.

He chuckled. “Hormones. Don’t try to fight it. It won’t work.” His lip twisted. “And frankly I’d rather deal with tears than the temper that’s also bound to make regular appearances.” He kissed her gently. “I love you more than I have words to say.” Releasing her, he took her hand. “Come on. Your tea’s getting cold. And we need to let Ava see that you’re alright.”

She nodded and let him lead her into the living room.