Chapter 8
April 1958
Hawkeye got to know his son better. He took his wife’s advice and spent more time with him during the day time hours. In two weeks Hawkeye was able to hold him and calm him down when he started to scream at night. It was a great relief for Margaret who was able to relax a little more and sometimes even get to bed earlier. She and Hawkeye still weren’t on the best of terms, but things were getting better between him and the baby. They now had a relationship and Margaret wasn’t like a single mother with a newborn.
She did however feel like she was alone. She and Hawkeye didn’t talk or touch much at all. The baby was 9 weeks old now and Hawkeye and Margaret were drifting further and further apart. She figured he was falling out of love with her and she didn’t know how much longer she wanted to stay around. She wanted to get it over with.
Hawkeye would come home from work and take the baby from her for an hour or so while she made dinner. Than she would take the baby for a while so he could spend time with Danny. After Danny was in bed, Hawkeye would take the baby back and let Margaret do what she needed to do and get to bed. They worked together with the baby now, but that was all they did together. They hadn’t been out since her mother left. They barely did anything except argue or throw around stabbing remarks.
Matt had been falling asleep at 10PM lately and tonight was no different. Margaret stayed up with him and put him to bed because Hawkeye had been busy with Danny. He didn’t want to go to sleep that night either. When she came out of the bedroom she saw Hawkeye standing in the kitchen in his boxers making a sandwich.
“Margaret,” he said when she caught his eye.
“What?”
“Are you busy?”
“No. I was going to switch the laundry. Do you need something?”
“We need milk for the baby. We used the last of it in his bottle tonight.”
“Damn it! That’s why I told you to pick some up on your way home tonight.”
Hawkeye gave her an odd look. “No you didn’t.”
“Yes I did. I called you and…” She stopped for a minute. “Oh, you were already gone.”
“Well, you wanna go get some? I’m already in my boxers. I’ll stay here with the boys.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I guess I’ll go.” She really didn’t want to go out but she also didn’t want to have to go out at 3AM when Matt woke up for a bottle. “Do you want anything while I’m out?”
“No, but don’t be long.”
“I won’t. I’m going to the corner store and then right back home.”
“Be safe.”
“I will.” She walked away and grabbed her purse and coat on the way out the door.
She rolled her eyes as soon as she walked down the hall. ‘What a lazy son-of-a-bitch,’ she thought to herself. ‘He makes his wife go out on the streets of Boston at 10PM. He’s gonna get it when I get home.’
Hawkeye cleaned up his mess in the kitchen and thought about what he just did. He couldn’t believe he sent her out at that time. He didn’t realize it was so late. He needed to do something before he got into trouble. They weren’t on the best of terms lately and he didn’t want to do anything to make that worse. In fact he needed to start making it better. It was time that they started to act like husband and wife instead of mommy and daddy. They needed to find each other again and he needed to take the first step in that direction.
When Margaret walked into the house her jaw dropped. All the lights were off and the living room was glowing with candles. There was soft music playing in the background and everything was picked up. She looked around for Hawkeye, but she didn’t see him. She had to go to the kitchen to put the milk away anyway.
Hawkeye didn’t know that she came in the house because he was in the bedroom and didn’t hear her. He had just jumped out of the shower and threw a pair of loose sweatpants on and towel dried his hair before stepping into the living room. He looked around to make sure things were perfect and then went to the kitchen where he found Margaret.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” she looked at him oddly. “What’s going on?”
“I love you, and I want to have my wife back if she’ll still have me.” The honestly caught her off guard and she didn’t know what to say. “You don’t have to answer me now. I think it’s time we start to work on us, don’t you?” She looked into his eyes and nodded yes. “Will you sit down with me and have a glass of wine?”
“I, uh…”
“If you’re too tired, I understand. It’s late and we both have to get up early.”
Margaret was tired and she did want to go bed, but this was something she needed to do. She didn’t want to turn him away and give him the wrong message and she was happy that he took the initiative to show her he wanted things to get better between them. “No. I’m not too tired.”
“Good,” he smiled. “Go get comfortable and get in your pajamas or something and I’ll get the wine.”
“Okay.”
Margaret didn’t know what to think of all this and went into her bedroom to change. She wasn’t in the mood to look good; she was in the mood to be comfortable. When she was done, she met him in the living room. He was sitting on the couch holding two glasses of wine.
He handed her a glass, “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” she took the glass and headed over to sit in the chair.
“No,” Hawkeye said stopping her. “Sit next to me.” He patted the spot next to him and she sat down. She looked at him and a smile spread across his face. She could never help herself when he did that and a smiled started to spread across her face as well. “I love to see that.”
She smiled and then straitened up to be Major Houlihan. “What’s this all about?”
He looked into her eyes and decided not to play any games and that being strait forward was what was best. “It’s about us. What happened to us?”
“Well…I know that our colicky newborn has had a lot to do with that. He brought a lot of changes.”
“I know, and I take the blame for you feeling like a single mother for those first 6 weeks. I know that had a lot to do with it.”
“It does, but that’s not the only thing.”
“You’re right. I don’t want our marriage to be like this.”
“Neither do I,” she said.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Margaret, open up to me. Talk to me. I know that in the last 2 months things haven’t been great. When we talk, all we do is talk about the boys.”
She took a deep breath and then said what was on her mind. “I don’t even know you anymore. How can I talk to you?”
He felt like he had just been stabbed in the heart. “Margaret, how can you say that?”
“For starters, the man I married wouldn’t have left me.”
“I never left you!”
“Hawkeye, you’re here, but you’re not here. Do you know how many nights I would go to bed crying? With the baby screaming for hours on end and you going out or not helping, I was alone. You weren’t there for me.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That’s because you were sound asleep by the time I finally got to bed.”
“There wasn’t anything I could do anyway.”
She looked into his eyes. “You could have held me and let me cry on you. You could have taken the baby for just five minutes.”
“I’ve gotten better with the baby in the last 3 weeks. You know that.”
“Yes, and because of that we have time to sit down and talk.”
“Do you know I love you?” She shook her head no because she didn’t know anymore. That scared him when she did that. “Do you still love me?” She nodded yes and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Do you want to work on this?”
“Yes I do. I’ll be honest with you, Hawkeye, there have been times when I didn’t know what I was doing married to you. I thought about packing up and taking Matt and leaving.”
That was news to him and he didn’t like what heard. “What stopped you?”
“A lot of things. You, Danny. I didn’t want to take the baby away from him. They’re brothers and once day they’ll be close. I didn’t want to take him away from his family, and I couldn’t leave Danny. He’s my son too and I would have taken him, but I know I couldn’t do that.” Margaret noticed the look on his face and she felt bad. Every reason she had given him was about the boys and not him. “And I didn’t want to go. I wanted this to get better.”
“How long were you going to wait before you did anything?”
“I don’t know. I was hoping my husband would notice.”
“He did.”
“What do we do?” She asked.
“We work out our problems. I love you with all my heart. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to be a part time father to Matt and I don’t want you and Danny to lose each other. I love you and that will never change.”
“You know something?”
“What?”
She looked deep into his eyes. “I miss you.”
Hawkeye could see that her eyes were watering and that she felt like she was all alone. He didn’t want to make her feel that way anymore. He took her glass and set it on the table. “I don’t want you to miss me when I’m right here.”
She moved into his open arms and let him hug her. “Hawkeye, I want to be like we were.”
“I know honey,” he rubbed her back comfortingly. “We will. We just need time.”
She moved back and looked at him. “I wish we could go out.”
“Why can’t we?”
“Who’s gonna watch Matt?”
“You got a point there. No one wants to watch a screaming baby. I’ll think of something.”
“Okay. I’m so tired. Do you want to go to bed and we’ll talk more tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.” She got up and he walked behind her. After they blew the candles out and turned the radio off, they went to bed. Margaret checked on the baby that was in his cradle next to her side of the bed and then got into bed. She felt Hawkeye wrap his arms around her and she melted into him. It had been a long time since she was able to feel his warm body against her own.
When the baby woke at 3AM Margaret got up with him and gave him his bottle. He went right back to sleep and so did she. When 6AM came around Hawkeye was up with the baby which was something he hadn’t done since the first week the baby was home.
Margaret’s eyes popped open when she heard the baby. Before she had a chance to move she felt Hawkeye move out of bed. He walked over to her side where the baby was and picked him up. “Shhh, buddy. Daddy will get you your bottle. Hang on a couple of minutes.” Matt started to calm down as soon as he was in Hawkeye’s arms. “See, that’s what you’re supposed to do at night when Daddy picks you up.”
Hawkeye walked out of the room and Margaret closed her eyes again and went back to sleep. She heard Hawkeye come back in the room about a half an hour later and lay the baby in his cradle. “Is he sleeping?”
“Yep,” he answered. “Go back to bed. I’m gonna get ready for work.” He bent down and gave her a kiss. “I love you.”
She smiled. It had been so long since he had kissed her in the morning and told her he loved her. “I love you too.”
“You and the boys should come see me for lunch.”
“I’ll see what kind of mood the baby’s in and maybe we’ll take a walk and come see you.”
“Good.” He smiled and kissed her head. “Go back to sleep.”
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
It was late in the morning and Margaret was getting the boys ready to go for a walk to see their father. Danny was excited because he always liked to go to the hospital. There were a lot of people that his father knew and they knew him, so they would give him candy and gum. It had been a while since he had gone to see them too.
Now that the winter was over it was easier to get out of the house with the boys. Margaret would pull out the stroller and they could get out of the house for a little bit. The only thing that took time was getting the boys ready to go. As soon as they got out of the house they were fine and ready to go.
Matt would lay in the stroller and look around at what was going on around him. Mostly he watched his mother and listened to her voice. She and Danny would talk all the way there. He was a lot like his father and loved to talk. Margaret didn’t mind because listening to a three and a half year old was very entertaining.
As soon as they got close to Hawkeye’s office, Danny took off and ran up to his father’s secretary. “Well hello there,” the older woman said. “I haven’t seen you for months.”
Danny smiled. “Hi.”
“How have you been cutie?”
“Good.”
She opened the drawer of her desk. “I have something for you.” She handed him a piece of candy.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome. You wait until your mother tells you, you can eat it.”
“Okay.” He looked at Margaret as she walked over. “Can me haves this now?”
“Sure,” she smiled.
“Margaret, how have you been?”
She smiled, “Very busy. How are you?”
“I’m doing good. In six months my 6th grandchild will be born.”
“Congratulations!”
May stood up and looked at the baby in the stroller. “This must be the famous Matt.”
“Famous?”
“Yes,” she smiled looking at the baby. “Dr. Pierce talks about him all the time. How is he doing with the colic?”
“He’s getting better. They tell me it should be over by the time he’s three months. That can’t come soon enough.”
May smiled at her. “He’s so cute. Can I hold him?”
“Sure.” Margaret picked the baby up and handed him to May. “Is my husband in his office?”
“No. He had to go check on a patient. He should be back any minute now. Do you want to go in?”
“No. I’ll wait for him here.”
“Good,” she smiled. “That’ll give me a minute to get to know this baby.”
Margaret sat down and Danny climbed onto her lap. Mae was at her desk talking to the baby and getting him to smile. They visited for a few minutes before Hawkeye showed up. When he got there the four of them went out to lunch for the first time ever.
“I’m glad you came,” Hawkeye said.
“So am I.”
He looked at Danny and he was eating his chicken fingers and fries. Matt was resting comfortably in his mother’s arm while she ate. Hawkeye didn’t want to lose his family and he knew he and Margaret had to work on it. They had a lot to lose and everything to gain by being together. “I think we should go out Saturday afternoon.”
“What?”
“We can’t go out at night until Matt gets over this screaming stage, so why can’t we go out in the afternoon?”
She looked at him for a second. “I guess we could. I can try to find someone to watch the boys. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I think the more we can be together the better off we’ll be. I would really like my wife back,” he smiled.
She smiled at him and took a sip of water. She stood up and handed the baby to him. “I’ll be right back.”
Margaret left them and went to the bathroom. When she came back she stopped when she saw them. There was a beautiful young woman bent over to Hawkeye and the baby. She was smiling and laughing and Margaret could tell that Hawkeye was flirting back. She waited for a minute and then walked over.
The young woman smiled at her. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Margaret smiled politely.
“You must be his mother.” Margaret nodded. “He looks like you.”
“Children tend to look like their parents.”
“Yes. Well, I’ll leave you alone so you can get back to your meal.” She smiled at Hawkeye. “It was nice meeting you.”
“You too,” he smiled.
When the woman was out of earshot Margaret glared at Hawkeye. “What the hell was that about?”
“What are you talking about? She was looking at the baby.”
“And flirting with you! I saw you two. And what’s worse, is you were flirting back.”
“Margaret, she was just looking at Matt. Its not like we made out while you were in the bathroom.”
Margaret rolled her eyes. “Well I didn’t like it!”
“Good. You’re not supposed to like it when good looking women come up to me.”
Margaret was going to get mad, but she stayed calm. “Well,” she started with an evil smile. “As long as they come up to you to look at my son, then I’ll be fine. He’s a lot cuter than you; so who would be interested in you over him?”
“Ha, ha. You certainly got over that fast.”
“Who would be interested in a man sitting alone with a newborn in his arms and a three year old in a booster seat? I figured I was pretty safe.”
He smiled at her. She was teasing him and that was a very good sign. She was starting to be herself again. He knew he would find her again and that she was somewhere inside. He was going to have to pull her out again, but he didn’t mind. He would do anything to get his wife back. She hadn’t smiled at him for weeks, but she did today. They only needed to get things out in the open and now that they did, they were happier.
“Daddy, me haves to go potty,” Danny said.
Hawkeye looked at Margaret. “I have to get back to work.”
“Would you mind taking him first?”
He looked at his watch. “I have time. You have to be fast, buddy. No playing with the water when you wash your hands.”
“Okay.”
Hawkeye stood up and passed the baby back to Margaret. She laid him in his stroller and then paid for lunch while Hawkeye and Danny were in the bathroom. The baby was getting ready for his bottle and she needed to get home as much as Hawkeye needed to get back to work. She was standing outside with the baby in her arms when Hawkeye came out.
“What’s the matter?” He asked.
“Nothing.”
“Why are you holding him?”
“Because he wants to be held.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He wants a bottle and he’s tired. I have to get home that’s all.”
“Oh.”
“Are you gonna carry him home?”
“If I have to.” She smiled at him. “Why are you asking all these questions?”
“How are you gonna push the stroller and carry him?”
“I’ll manage. Is something wrong?”
“No.” He looked at his watch again. “Maybe I should walk home with you and then go back to work.”
He grabbed the stroller and started pushing it down the street back towards the hospital. Their apartment was on the other side so they walked together for now. “I thought you had to go back to work.”
“I do, but I suppose it could wait a few minutes. Let me walk you three home.”
She smiled at him. “If you want to.” She thought he was being very strange, but maybe it was his way of showing he cared. Pushing the stroller and having the baby in her arms at the same time wasn’t that big of a deal to her. She could do it if she had to.
“I want to.”
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
Saturday came and Margaret managed to get a sitter for the boys. There was a teenage girl who lived down the hall that they trusted enough to leave the boys with for a few hours. It was the first time she was leaving the baby with someone besides her mother and she was a little nervous. Hawkeye finally dragged her out of the house and then they left for their afternoon alone.
“Where are we going?” Margaret asked when they got onto the street.
“I don’t know.” He picked up her hand. “Where do you want to go?”
“I have no idea. I thought you had something for us to do.”
“My only plan was to get out of the house and be together, just the two of us.”
“Oh.”
“I thought about seeing a movie together, but then I remembered the last time we did that. You fell asleep.”
She smiled at him. “Do you want to go shopping?”
“Shopping?” He was less than enthusiastic.
“We don’t have to.”
“Was there something you wanted to shop for?”
“The baby needs clothes. I suppose I could go tomorrow if you want to stay home with them.”
“Let’s go today and tomorrow afternoon we’ll do something as a family.”
She smiled at him. “Really?”
“Yes. Why do you sound so surprised?”
“When was the last time we did something as a family?” He didn’t say anything for a minute. “Exactly. We haven’t done anything since the baby was born.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “You’re right. What the hell have we been doing the last two months?”
“Taking care of the baby and sleeping whenever possible.”
He chuckled. “Do you think he should be our last?”
She didn’t look at him. “No. I don’t think we should make that decision now. Things will get better.”
He squeezed her hand lovingly. “You’re right. I remember when Danny was first born. I didn’t know what I was doing raising a kid on my own. He was a good baby, but he was a lot of work. I was a wreck for months. I vowed never to have sex again because I didn’t want to take the chance of having another one.”
She laughed. “That didn’t last.”
“No. It seems to be working this time though.” Margaret let go of his hand and moved away from him a couple of inches. “Margaret, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know we haven’t…yet, but…”
“I know.” He picked her hand up again. “I won’t say another word about it.”
“Good.”
“I have somewhere I want to take you today.”
“Where?”
“I’m not telling. We’ll go later.”
“Fine.”
They walked through the city some more and then decided to get something to eat. Hawkeye tried to get her to eat something more than just a salad, but she didn’t. She kept insisting that she needed to lose more weight. If that was what she needed to feel better about herself, than he wasn’t going to argue.
When they left Hawkeye led the way to the place that he wanted to show her. They started to walk toward the ocean and she began to wonder what he was thinking. She was having a really good time with him and it was nice to feel loved again. He was himself and she started to feel more and more like her old self instead of a new mother. There was a time she had thought it was impossible to find that person again, but she no longer thought that.
“Hawkeye, what are you doing?”
“Just walk with me.” He pulled her along as they walked onto the sand. He walked over to a beautiful sand dune and then sat down. He pulled her to sit between his legs. “Do you know what this is?”
“The Atlantic Ocean.”
Hawkeye rolled his eyes. “No, smart ass.”
She turned her head and smiled at him. “What is it?”
“You know all those times I left the house at night when the baby was screaming?”
“I remember,” she said coldly.
“This is where I came.”
She looked back out at the ocean. “Why did you come here?”
“It’s peaceful. I shouldn’t have been so selfish. I should have let you have time to yourself too.”
“Uh huh.”
“I don’t know what you were thinking I was doing, but this is it. Sometimes Danny and I would go get some hot chocolate, but mostly we stayed here.”
“Oh.”
“Coming here I was able to clear my head. I thought maybe the two of us could come here together and maybe it work.” Makes no sense whatsoever.
“Hawkeye, I love you, but I feel distant from you.”
“I know. I’m not asking you to do anything but sit here and relax. The boys are safe and napping by now. It’s just you and me and the ocean.” Margaret relaxed against him and they sat there and watched the waves. It was April and still cool outside so they were the only ones there. It was peaceful and the world didn’t seem so complicated.
Hawkeye sat there and thought about all the times he had been there alone or with Danny. He went there to get away from the screaming, but what he actually did was run away from his wife and newborn son when they needed him. He didn’t mean to do that and he would never make that mistake again.
Margaret thought about what had happened in the past two months. No one had ever told her that her marriage could fall apart if she wasn’t careful when they brought a new baby home. No one ever told her that she could lose the love of her life. Then there was the other side of it. She never knew that she could love someone as much as she did Matt. She loved Danny more and more everyday, and Hawkeye, well, Hawkeye was a different story.
She had always loved him, but she had been so mad at him. She blamed things on him that weren’t his fault, but he made it so easy at times. Having Matt scream for hours on end had her nerves frazzled like she never thought possible and it was easy to yell at Hawkeye. It wasn’t only his fault that they had drifted apart. She had pushed him away in certain ways too.
“Hawkeye?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
“What were we thinking?”
“I don’t think we were, baby,” he said.
“It’s hard having a baby.”
“It is and Matt makes it harder.”
She smiled. “He doesn’t mean to. I’m sure if he had it his way he wouldn’t cry all night either.”
“Maybe. I love him more than anything, but he’s gonna be trouble.”
She slapped his leg. “Why do you say that?”
“Think about it. What does he do all day?”
“Well, he likes attention and likes to be held. What’s wrong with that?”
“What does he do all night?”
“Screams.”
“I’m telling you, if you combine the two of those he’s gonna be a trouble maker. You wait and see.”
“Trouble maker or not, I’ll always love him.”
“Yeah, me too. Shall we go?”
“Why not?” She stood to her feet and helped him up. He grabbed her hand and they walked away.
They went to a couple of stores on the way home and by the time they got there, they’re hands were full with bags. Both of the boys were happy to see them and the sitter said that they weren’t a problem. That made Margaret so happy because it was nice to have someone to watch them so she could get out of the house with Hawkeye.
Margaret brought the baby into the nursery to change his diaper and Danny followed her. “Where you go?”
“We went out and did some shopping and walked around. Did you have fun with Nicole?”
“Yeah. Can me go somewhere?”
“Not tonight. We’re gonna go somewhere tomorrow.”
“Where?” Danny asked.
Margaret tossed aside the dirty diaper and grabbed a clean one. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask your father.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows.”
“Why?”
“Just go ask him.” She pinned the baby’s diaper.
“Why?”
Margaret sighed. “Hawk! Come here.”
Hawkeye was emerging from the bathroom when she said that and appeared at the door right away. “What do you need?”
“Your son has some questions for you.”
Hawkeye looked down at the toddler. “What do you need buddy?”
“Where we go?”
“No where. We’re staying home tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because we are.”
“Mommy say no.”
Hawkeye looked at Margaret to see what he was talking about. She smiled at him. “He wants to know where we’re going tomorrow.”
“Oh. Come with me and help start dinner and we’ll talk.”
“Why?”
Margaret looked at him, “Danny, just go.”
Hawkeye picked him and the two of them went to the kitchen to start dinner. Danny would sit on the counter and play with the water in the sink most of the time, but it kept him out of trouble and he had fun. Margaret stayed in the nursery with the baby and changed him and picked up his room a little bit and then the two of them hung out in the living room for a while and she played with him.
Hawkeye made a nice dinner for the three of them and the baby sat in his baby chair while they ate and entertained himself by watching them. After dinner was done Margaret made him his 6PM bottle and sat down with him and fed him while Hawkeye and Danny cleaned the kitchen up. After he was done he fell asleep so she laid him in his crib.
Margaret and Hawkeye sat down on the couch and talked for a little bit. They laughed and joked about things like they used to do. In a way it was like courting all over again. The baby woke up thirty minutes after Margaret laid him down and Hawkeye went to get him. He changed his diaper and then sat back on the couch with his wife.
“Do you know what time it is?” He asked his wife.
She looked at her watch. “7PM. Why?”
“He’s not screaming yet.”
“Shh! You don’t want to jinx it, do you?”
“Hell no!”
She smiled at him and looked at the baby that was relaxing in his arms. “Do you know what we need to do?”
“What?”
“We need to get their pictures done. Professionally.”
“Yeah. You know what I was thinking?”
“I have no idea.”
“We should take a trip to Maine soon.”
“We can’t right now.”
“I know,” he sighed. “I was talking to my father yesterday and he would really like to see the boys again.”
“We can’t travel with Matt right now. Your father wouldn’t appreciate it when his youngest grandson started screaming for hours on end each night. Maybe when he gets older and grows out of this.”
Hawkeye looked at the chubby baby. “I guess you’re right.”
Margaret caught how disappointed he was. “Do you want to go without Matt and I?”
“No, of course not.”
“Well what’s the matter then?”
Hawkeye looked into her eyes. “I’ve never been away from him for this long, except in Korea. He doesn’t have anyone there with him and I like to check up on him.”
She smiled at him. She understood what he was telling her. He cared very much for his father and since he was an only child he took it upon himself to look out for him. “Maybe you and Danny should go up there.”
“No. I’m not leaving you.”
“I think Danny could use a vacation. He’d love to go see his grandfather.”
“Yes he would and my father would love to keep him for a few days too.”
“I think you two should take a trip up there. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. You can come back home the next morning if you want.”
He smiled at her. She could be understanding at times. “You know, I think you’re right. I’ll call Dad tomorrow and see if next weekend is okay with him. You don’t mind, do you?”
She smiled, “I just told you to go.”
“Yeah, but if I come home and I’m in trouble…”
“You won’t be. Matt and I will be fine. I can take care of us.” He acted like she had never done anything on her own when in fact she had done everything on her own.
“Good.”
Margaret looked at the baby in her husband’s arms and smiled. “You’re being such a good baby tonight. Did you miss us?” He smiled up at his mother. “I missed you too. Momma got you some new clothes to spit up on. You’re gonna love them.”
Hawkeye smiled at her as she talked to the baby. She was a wonderful mother and she seemed to know what she was doing instinctively when it came to Matt and his needs. He handed the baby over to her. “How long do you think we have to wait until we can all go to Maine?”
“At least until he stops screaming for hours on end each night. Why are you in such a hurry to take him up there?”
“To show him off. Look how cute he is.”
“Oh I know,” she smiled proudly. “He’s starting to look more and more like you and Danny.”
“Yeah, a little more. He seems to be a good combination of the two of us, don’t you think?”
“I do.”
“He’s happy most of the time like me and is very good with the ladies. And then he screams for no reason like his mommy.”
Margaret rolled her eyes and tried to hide the smile that was tugging at her lips. “You’re so funny.”
He laughed at her. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry for a good snack. Ice cream sounds good to me. How about you?”
“It sounds wonderful, but I can’t have any. I have to lose at least 10 more pounds. Besides, we don’t have any.”
“I’ll go get some. Do you want some?”
“No, I shouldn’t.”
“Suit yourself.” He stood up, “Danny, do you want to go to the store and get some ice cream with me?”
Danny’s blue eyes brightened. “Yeah!”
“We’ll be back in little while.”
“Okay.”
He helped Danny with his shoes and coat and then grabbed his own coat. He was about to go out the door but something stopped him. He walked over to his wife and bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. She smiled up at him and then he and Danny left.
Margaret looked at the baby in her arms. “He’s trying. He’s really trying. I’m so glad because I didn’t want to be a single mommy. You wouldn’t have liked that either. You love your daddy and your big brother.” Matt smiled up at her. “What do you think is so funny? You want to know what I think? I think that you’re the cutest little boy that I ever saw.”
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
Over the next week Hawkeye and Margaret started to get closer and closer. They couldn’t leave the kids at night because of the baby, but Hawkeye set things up so they could have a date after the kids were in bed. Matt was improving everyday and started to go to sleep a little earlier each day. He was now asleep by 9:30PM which Margaret loved. She was able go to bed earlier and be with her husband for a while. Matt was sleeping in his crib in his room now because he was on more of a routine. Margaret felt more comfortable to leave him in his own room now.
Hawkeye was laying on their bed in his boxers waiting for her. He smiled at her when she came in. “Hey baby.”
“Hey,” she smiled. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you.”
She smiled and tossed her robe off. “Are you excited to see me?” She looked down at his boxers. :O
He glanced at what she was looking at. “I am. Are you ready?”
She crawled into bed and kissed him. “I am.”
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
Margaret lay in his arms smiling ear to ear. He made her feel so good. It had only been two weeks since they got their problems out into the open, but they had come to know each other again in that amount of time. Things weren’t perfect, but they would never be.
Hawkeye rubbed her back gently as she laid on his chest. “I love you so much.”
“I love you.” She laid there for a minute and then picked her head up and looked at him. “You’re different.”
“Huh?”
“You’re body. It’s different.”
“How so?” He loved that she noticed it.
“You’re stomach is harder and your chest. Am I imaging things?”
He smiled at her and gave her a kiss. “No you’re not. You know those times I would come home a little late or leave a little early for work or just leave and leave Danny here with you?”
“Yes.”
“I went jogging on the beach and worked out.”
She smiled at him. “I like it.”
“I thought you would.”
“You gonna keep it up?”
“I was thinking about it. It took away a lot of stress.”
She laid her head down on his chest. “I missed this so much.”
“Me too.”
“I’m gonna go check on the baby. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” he yawned.
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
The next morning Hawkeye and Danny got up to leave for Maine. Margaret was sad to see them go because she wouldn’t see Danny for a few days. In one way it was nice because she could focus all her attention on Matt for a few days. Not that he needed anymore attention, but it was nice for him and her. Hawkeye was supposed to be back the next afternoon.
Margaret was sitting on the couch while Matt was on the floor looking up and trying to get some toys. He was entertaining himself while she was going to watch some TV. It was nice and quiet in the house when she heard the faucet in the kitchen dripping. She stood up and went to see it. She sighed. “Hawk, you were supposed to fix this before you left.”
The baby started to cry so she went to get him. “Hang on Matty.” She picked him up and calmed him down. “Let me go get a washcloth so I don’t have to hear that dripping. It’s gonna drive me crazy.” She placed a washcloth in the sink to catch the water so she wouldn’t have to hear it. “Your daddy drives me crazy. He never does what I ask him.”
Margaret laid the baby on the blanket in the living room and went to collect the laundry in the bathroom. As soon as she walked in she noticed Hawkeye’s boxers on the floor next to the hamper. She sighed and picked them up. “How the hell hard is it to get them inside?” She hated when he did that. It was worse than leaving the toilet seat up, which he also did. “He’s gonna get it when he gets home.”
‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡†º¤‡
It was 11PM at night and Margaret heard the phone ring. She was already sleeping and picked up the phone still half asleep. She sat strait up in when the person told her who he was. He was a policeman informing her that her husband had been in a car accident and was in bad shape. OH NO!!!!
Annie!!!!! How could you do that???!! That’s so MEAN!!!