Chapter 6
They slept later than usual, but not as long as Carol would’ve liked. Rindy was anxious about Lilah and the baby, and asked every ten minutes or so about when Harge would call. They distracted her for a time with the hunt for her Easter basket, which they’d barely remembered to hide before returning to bed.
Rindy grew excited when she saw Carol on the phone, less so when she realized it was Aunt Peggy on the other end, not her father. She was uncharacteristically reluctant when Carol brought up the idea of going to Lizzie’s house for lunch.
“But what if Daddy calls?”
“Babies can take a long time, sweet pea, and Daddy wouldn’t want you sitting around waiting on your holiday, he’d want to know you’re having fun. He has Aunt Peggy’s number. If he calls and we’re not here, he’ll find us there, alright?”
After Rindy was reassured and went to put on her shoes, Therese spoke to Carol. “Does Harge really have Peggy’s number?”
“God no, but he has Abby’s, and this is important to Rindy, so he’ll get a message through if he needs to. And I’m sure Peggy could reach him at the hospital, if it came to that.”
“Do we even know what hospital they’re at?”
“No,” Carol said. “Anyway, I thought we were eating at Harge’s. There’s not enough food here for a big holiday meal, and they always have food there.”
Lizzie was happy to see Rindy again, but only tolerant of her obsession with the impending arrival.
“It’s not going to be fun,” she told Rindy for the tenth time. “They tell you it’s going to be fun, but they lie.”
“My Daddy doesn’t lie.”
“They all lie about babies,” Lizzie said, dead serious. “Babies aren’t fun. They’re loud and smelly and pukey, and they can’t do anything fun, no matter what the grownups say.”
“Mouse’s baby won’t be like that.”
Lizzie sighed heavily. “Of course it won’t.”
“You like Jacob better now.”
“He’s less of a baby now, but that took forever. And I got these now.” Lizzie held up a pair of slightly weird looking earmuffs.
“It’s not winter anymore.”
“So? Jakey’s loud in all the seasons. Uncle Howard made me these so my ears don’t bleed when he screeches the paint off the walls.”
The girls eventually scampered off when Steve implied that there were a few more Easter eggs hidden around the house, waiting for discovery. “We’re still figuring out how much of my hearing she got,” he said as the adults sat in the living room, passing a bowl of Easter candy between them. “Enough that his crying is more than just annoying to her, we think. Those help.”
“Work for me too,” said Angie, popping a chocolate kiss into her mouth. “Great for getting some quiet when I need to work.” She was, again, bent over a script, turning pages with the tips of her fingers to keep them from getting dirty.
“How’s that going, anyway?” Carol asked as Angie flipped another page.
"Enthralling so far."
"Is that the script for the movie about the rich girl getting married, or the Italian girl in tights?" Therese asked
"She's called Lieutenant Italia thank you very much. Respect the green, white, and red. I've just got past her daring nighttime jaunt with Ace as they flee from the third set of enemies."
“Sounds…. interesting.”
“Recognize the tone, just don’t care.”
“Noted.”
After recounting the happenings of the Martinelli Easter brunch, and the egg hunt that resulted in one of Angie’s brothers sitting on the head of another, they got around to the topic of childbirth.
"Nothing hurt more than Il mio demone angelico entering this world. Nothing,” Angie stated. “And I busted my arm in two when I was a kid. God, I was in tears. Thought my bottom half was going to split from my top.”
Carol got the sense that, as she was wont to do, Angie was embellishing. Therese looked ill, but still asked for Peggy’s experience.
Peggy, pressed up against Steve on the couch, considered. “Being shot hurt slightly less.”
“Which time?” Angie asked.
“All of them.”
“How many times have you been shot?” Carol asked as Steve squirmed uncomfortably.
Peggy was dismissive. “The usual amount. Less than five.”
“That’s the usual amount?” Therese’s eyes went wide.
“What about being hanged?” said Angie. “Better or worse than Jake?”
“Better,” Peggy said without hesitation.
“You were hanged?” Therese asked.
“Just the once, and they didn’t do a very good job of it, did they?”
Sometime around one that afternoon, the phone rang. Angie answered, listened. “Miss Nerinda Aird,” she called, like a professional. “Your father’s on line two. Are you in?”
“Yes!” Rindy came barreling into the room, all giggles. She was quick enough that Lizzie had trouble keeping up. Angie grinned and passed her the phone.
“Daddy?” Rindy said, breathless and bouncing.
There was a few second’s pause. Then Rindy screamed. Carol winced. Her eyes went to Steve, who’s long legs were stretched across the living room floor, Jacob cradled against his chest. Jake let out a startled squeak of a noise, probably would’ve done more if Steve weren’t rubbing his back, whispering nonsense things Carol couldn’t hear over Rindy. When Jake calmed without a meltdown, Carol shot Angie an apologetic look, for which she got a shake of the head, a smile.
Lizzie’s reaction was less forgiving. She sighed loudly, her suffering far beyond anyone’s understanding, grabbed the weird earmuffs from where she’d let them sitting on an end table. She tapped Rindy, halting a stream of excited babbling to Harge. “Girl baby or boy baby?” she asked.
“Boy!”
She said it loudly enough that Carol cleared her throat to get Rindy’s attention, pointed at the other boy in the room, and put a finger to her lips.
Rindy ducked her eyes a moment, suitably chagrined. “Boy,” she told Lizzie again, at something approaching a civilized volume.
Lizzie sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Why’s it always boys?” she asked everyone and no one. Then she put her earmuffs on and told Rindy, too loudly, that she was going back to play blocks.
It was exhausting just listening to Rindy’s side of the conversation, but Carol did so for a minute, smiling over Rindy’s happiness. Eventually, she walked over to Rindy and the phone. “Sweetheart? Can I talk to Daddy?”
Rindy pressed the receiver closer to her ear. “Mommy, Daddy and me are talking.”
There was a pause. Carol heard Harge’s voice, tinny and muffled from where she stood.
Rindy exhaled, the first time Carol saw her take a proper breath since Harge called. “Daddy wants to talk to you.”
Carol tried not to laugh at how obviously put out Rindy was, grateful when Peggy called Rindy over to ask about “young master.”
Thrilled at having a better audience than Lizzie, Rindy took a seat next to Peggy and resumed her excited babbling.
Carol brought the phone to her ear. “You’ll need to teach her more about babies and inside voices.”
“Yeah, I noticed. It’s on the list.”
He sounded cheerful. He’d been cheerful last time. “Everything come out alright, then?”
“He made it just fine. Grumpy about having to come and see everyone, from what I was told, but he’s good. They’re both resting.”
“Good,” Carol said, without sarcasm. “Does the new Aird heir have a name?”
“Sascha. Sascha Henry Aird.”
“That is…that’s definitely a name.”
“You named Rindy after Gerhard.”
“A middle name. I let you pick the important one.”
“And made sure that I’ll never get away from Abigail, ever.”
His irritation wasn’t real this time, she could tell. “Should we have gone with family consensus and named her after your mother?”
“Jesus, don’t even joke.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“I need to get back. Will you be home later, or are you staying late with. Spangles?”
Carol noticed a momentary stiffening in Steve’s posture, a roll of the eyes as he continued holding Jacob. “Spangles and I are having a ball, as always, but it shouldn’t be late. He doesn’t need a long time to provide a good one.”
Steve gave her a look. Angie laughed and gave her two thumbs up.
“So glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Harge drawled. “Talk later?”
“Yes. Hang on, Rindy will want to say goodbye.”
She did want that, and once it was done, she talked almost non-stop about the baby. Lizzie was as tolerant as could really be expected. She mostly kept the earmuffs resting between her neck and shoulders, only sometimes putting them on. Angie gave Rindy a very serious talk about the responsibilities of being a big sister, insisting that she could only start tormenting little Sascha once he hit a certain age.
“Must be an American rule,” said Peggy. “Or an Italian one. Michael surely didn’t live by it.”
“Who’s Michael?” Rindy asked.
“My older brother.”
“You have a brother? Where is he?”
“He’s in London,” Peggy said. Then she asked Rindy if Sascha’s room was ready yet.
By the time they got home, early that evening, Rindy was as sugar high as she was tired. Between the constant flow of chocolate all day, and Rindy’s giddiness about the baby, Carol dreaded getting her to sleep that night. She assumed this would fall on her, Sunday or not, until she turned onto their street and found Harge’s car parked in front of the building. He stood near the entrance, smoking a cigarette, which he put out when he saw Carol’s car.
Carol, not sure what to think and anxious because of it, hardly had time to kill the engine before Rindy was running to meet her father.
“Daddy!” she shrieked as Carol locked her door, putting a hand in her pocket to keep it from landing on Therese’s back. She thought he was in too good a mood to pick a fight, but it’d been an exceptionally odd few weeks. She wasn’t taking anything for granted.
Harge was grinning though. He caught Rindy up in his arms and spun her a few times, kissed her cheek. “Hey! There’s my big girl! Did the Easter Bunny find you okay at Mommy’s?”
Rindy giggled. “Yup, I got lots of candy. Some of Lizzie’s too.” She frowned suddenly. “Daddy, is Sascha okay?”
“He’s perfect,” Harge said quickly. “Lilah too. You know what else?” He waited for Rindy to shake her head, then reached into his coat pocket. “He got this for you, a big sister gift. He says he’s sorry our Easter plans got changed.”
Harge handed Rindy a stuffed toy, too nice to be from the hospital gift shop, Carol thought. He’d either meant to give it as a gift beforehand, or he’d stopped off somewhere before coming here.
Rindy laughed, clutching the soft material to her. “Daddy, Sascha didn’t say all that. He’s too little.”
“Is he?”
“Yes. He’s a baby. He can’t say things or pick things yet.”
“You think, huh? Well, your brother is special, young lady. He’s way ahead of all the other babies already, you’ll see.”
Rindy lit up. “Now? Can I see him now?”
Harge shook his head, gave her an apologetic smile. “Not yet, sunshine. He has to come home from the hospital first.”
“When will that be?” Rindy asked, pouting.
“A few days, probably.” He turned his attention from Rindy for the first time, addressed Carol. “Are you busy?”
“Never too busy for that.”
Carol would’ve said more, but Harge barely nodded before crouching to be on Rindy’s level, careful not to get his pants dirty.
“Rindy,” he said. “Remember how we were going to have that party for Lilah and Sascha in a few days?”
Rindy nodded, intent on his words. “Baby shower.”
He smiled. “That’s right. But he came early and surprised us, and I have to get some things ready for when he and Mouse get home. I’ll be really busy for the next few days.”
Rindy nodded again, but said nothing.
“I can have Ava come, and you can absolutely come back with me, if you want, but it might be boring. Do you think you want to come with me, or stay here with Mommy an extra few days?”
Rindy kept her eyes on him. “I get to pick?”
“You definitely get to pick.”
Rindy looked between Harge in front of her, and Carol and Therese just behind. “You’ll still call?”
“Always. Every day.” He put a hand to his chest in a cross my heart gesture.
“You won’t let me miss Sascha’s first day home?”
“No,” he said solemnly. “You’ll get to see him just as soon as he’s home.”
Rindy scuffed her shoe on the sidewalk, tugged gently on the arm of her new toy. “Okay, Daddy.”
“Okay what?” he prodded gently.
“I’ll stay here with Mommy, if you’re going to be boring.”
He chuckled. “Okay, Rindy.” He straightened up, hugged her.
Carol talked logistics with Harge while Rindy moved to show her present to Therese.
“She said her homework’s done,” Carol told him. “I’m pretty sure she’s not fibbing, but she might be getting better at it. Which is irritating.”
“Not fibbing,” he said. “We got it all done Friday. Easter Bunny doesn’t show if homework isn’t done.”
“Ah, of course not.”
“Sorry. Forgot to tell you last night.”
“This morning,” Carol corrected. “You were a little busy.”
“A little,” he said dryly. “Thanks for taking her.”
Carol only nodded. Rindy came back to tug on Harge’s coat, suddenly concerned over whether or not they would still have the party for Lilah and Sascha.
“We will,” he promised. “Just a little late, after everyone’s home and settled in.”
Happy with that answer, Rindy hugged and kissed Harge one more time, practically skipped to the door, waiting for Carol and Therese. Carol saw him shift on his feet, cringed inwardly at the list of tasks he’d have to complete in the next few days. She thought this was goodnight, that he’d jog back to his car, as he had this morning. But he lingered, cleared his throat before rummaging in his jacket again.
“Here,” he said, and to Carol’s shock, he wasn’t speaking to her. He held a camera out to Therese.
Therese took it, probably on reflex. She looked as baffled as Carol felt.
“Pictures from our trip,” he said, as if he initiated conversation with her every day. “Rindy took most of them. She, she wants to take them like you, she says.”
“Oh,” Therese said. He might’ve told her that the pictures were from Mars, and Rindy took them during a trip to space.
“Didn’t have time to develop them, but I figured she might like a lesson from you. Might keep her mind off Sascha for a bit, at least.”
“I…sure. I’d love to.”
Therese was clearly flailing, and Carol was in no position to help her.
Harge nodded, ran a hand through his hair in what Carol recognized as nervous habit. “There’s, the last two are my,” he stopped, his eyes flickering briefly to Carol’s. “My wife, and Sascha. You don’t have to show her if you don’t want to.” His eyes found Carol’s again, as fleeting as before. “She’ll see him when she gets home. But I thought it might be a nice surprise you could give her. If you wanted.”
Carol stared. Her voice didn’t want to work. Therese, thank God, recovered faster.
“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you, Harge.”
Carol had never noticed it before, the disparity in their heights, how great it was. She didn’t think Therese and Harge had ever stood so close together before.
Harge nodded, stuffed his hands in pockets that must feel lighter now without the stuffie, the camera. He made to turn away.
“Harge,” Therese said, and all three of them froze. “Congratulations.”
Harge smiled, an awkward, strained expression that still counted as a smile. Carol suddenly felt stupid for having forgotten something so obvious, so basic, that Therese had remembered. She echoed the sentiment, and the smile he gave her was more familiar, less rigid at the edges. He went toward his car.
“Harge,” Carol said, stopping him without planning to. “Happy Easter.”
The smile held, widened a bit. “You too,” he said, including them both. He called one more goodbye to Rindy before getting in his car.
Therese and Carol stood on the sidewalk, eyed each other. “What just happened?” Therese asked, her fingers careful around the camera.
Carol shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea. Fatherhood puts him in a good mood.”
“Apparently.” Therese turned toward their building, and Rindy. Carol followed. “It’s bizarre.”
“You’re the one who said congratulations.”
“There’s a new baby. That’s what you say when there’s a new baby. You’re the one who said happy Easter.”
“It’s Easter. That’s what you say on Easter.” Carol laughed suddenly, remembering. “God. It’s also April Fool’s Day. “
Therese laughed too. “God,” she said, mirroring Carol. “Abby’s going to have a fit.”
“Completely. I’m calling her the second we get Rindy to bed.”