Chapter Fifteen
Clunky
I hear the deck door open and Mia jumps down to greet our visitor. I twist around from my comfy position on the outdoor loveseat to see Jude stomping down the deck stairs with his eyes on me. Smiling at him, I turn back around to the fire and make room for him.
He comes up behind me and kisses the top of my head. “Beautiful evening for a fire.”
He makes his way around the loveseat, settles in and swings his arm around me so I can snuggle into his side. I arrange the blanket over both of us and Mia jumps up to cuddle in.
“How was your day?” I ask, not taking my eyes off the fire.
“Good. Looks like you’ve been busy. Seriously, babe, how many pumpkin patches did you clean out to find all those for your front porch? I’m not sure there’ll be any left for the little kids in town. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I twist my head around to look at him and grin. “I like pumpkins. Pretty much anything that has to do with pumpkins. You can’t just buy a couple, to do it right you have to make a statement and that takes a lot of pumpkins.”
I have had a busy day. I didn’t go to a pumpkin patch, but I did have to hit three stores to find the perfect pumpkins and funny looking gourdes I was looking for. Then I made a trip to the garden center, which necessitated cleaning out my summer flowers and vines in my pots, replacing them with mums. That led to changing out my summer door décor to fall décor. It looks like autumn has thrown up on my front porch, but I can’t seem to do anything small, so it is what it is. I even added a few pumpkins out back by the outdoor fireplace on the lower patio. I strung grapevines on the mantel and hung another fall wreath above. We had a bout of Indian Summer last week, but the weather has cooled off again and the trees across the lake are changing colors. A perfect time for an outdoor fire.
“This is a great fireplace, Gabby,” Jude comments.
“My dad loved it out here. He loved to hunt and be outdoors, but my mom wanted all gas fireplaces in the house because of the mess, so he had this built a few years after we moved in. I have lots of memories here with my dad,” I reflect quietly.
“That’s good,” Jude whispers against my head. “You okay today?”
“I’m fine, why?”
“No reason, you just seem quiet.”
“Really, I’m fine.”
“Okay then, we need to talk about something.” He turns me a bit so I look at him. “When were you going to tell me?”
Confused by his strange question, I ask, “Tell you what?”
“That your birthday is Sunday. Were you not going to mention it to me?”
“How did you find out about my birthday?” I look back to the fire.
“Babe, I found out a lot of things about you the day I cuffed and patted you down. Which by the way, I wasn’t supposed to do,” he informs.
This last bit of information made me sit up straight, turn, and put my hand to his chest. “What? You weren’t supposed to pat me down?”
“No.”
“Then why did you?”
“Because I couldn’t help myself, but don’t worry. I’ve never done it before,” he goes on to enlighten me.
“You’re unbelievable,” I exclaim, turning back around to snuggle in again.
He chuckles and shrugs. “I know. You’re not gonna turn me in, now are you?”
“Maybe,” I lie.
“Well, I might have to cuff you again,” he says and I’m not sure if he’s teasing or not. But he keeps going so I don’t have a chance to find out. “But I’ve known your birthday from the get-go. Do you have plans?”
“No, I haven’t thought about it much.” My mom was great at birthdays, always made a big deal over it, even when I was older. And it wasn’t just about presents, but she just found ways to make it special each year. My aunts have picked up the slack the last few years with gusto, but it’s still not the same.
“Can you get away? Clear your schedule Friday through Monday?” he asks.
“Why?” I’ve never been good with surprises.
“I want to take you somewhere for your birthday. Your family can have you another time. I’m sure you can find someone to watch Mia.”
“You’re not going to tell me where we’re going?”
“No.” Again, with the simple answer.
“Well, I don’t know, it’s already Wednesday. I’ll have to move some things around on my projects.” The thought of going somewhere with Jude makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, especially that he wants to do this for me for my birthday. I turn to look up at him again. “Okay, but you have to give me a hint.”
“No.” He smiles and leans down to kiss me quick. “What did you make for dinner? It smells good.”
“Chili.”
“Do you eat salad with chili?”
Throwing his word back at him, but with more attitude, I answer with a fierce, “No.”
He laughs. “Good.”
Rolling my eyes, I get up. “Let’s bring it out here, we can eat by the fire.”
Smacking my ass lightly as he gets up behind me, he returns, “Sounds good to me.”
Not wanting to encourage him too much, I lead the way to the kitchen shaking my head at the same time wondering where Jude is going to take me for my birthday. Then I realize I really don’t care because I get to go somewhere with Jude and that thought warms me all over.
“Hey sugar, what’s up?” Jude greets me over the phone.
“Well, I want to let you know I’m on my way to the hospital. Sophia went into labor this afternoon. Her first delivery was almost twelve hours and then her second only took two. I’m figuring she’ll pop this one out in record time and I want to be there. I’m going to wait with Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Tony and whoever else congregates.”
Jude hesitates for a beat. “Okay. Maybe I’ll head up after work if you’re still there. Keep me posted.”
I frown into the windshield of my car as I make my way through the parking garage of the hospital. Jude sounds funny. And so far, I’ve heard Jude sound lots of different ways, but never funny.
“Okay.”
“If it works out, we’ll grab something to eat on the way home.” He’s back to his normal self again. Maybe he was just distracted.
“Yeah, I’d love that. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
It takes me a freaking year, but I finally find the floor of the birthing center in the huge maze that is the hospital. Do they want people to get lost in this place? I finally walk into the waiting room and Lizzie jumps up immediately shrieking, “It should be any minute. I can’t believe they made us wait to find out with this one!”
Lanny and Sophia have two boys and want to be surprised with this one. I say I’m not good with surprises, but does it really matter when God creates something so perfect just for you? I don’t blame them for wanting to be surprised.
I barely get a chance to greet the Carpino clan when Lanny walks in wearing a huge smile and announces, “It’s a girl. She’s perfect and Sophia’s on top of the world. Everything went great.”