Chapter Thirty~Seven
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After a week and no sign of complications, Aileen was sent home. The
doctor recommended that she stay rested and to try and keep from getting
too upset. Both Kevin and Nick tried to persuade her to come home with
each of them, but she refused. For all the decisions she had to make, she
needed to be by herself with no influences or pressure. Of course, they
both visited, as did Brian, Howie and AJ, usually with their girlfriends.
Aileen loved the company, but also cherished the quiet time. She spent
much of her time just relaxing and watching tv or preparing the babys
things. She was hesitant to set up a room for it, not really knowing if
the child would ever spend a day at her apartment. Kevin and Nick had both
bought so many things. She had to laugh, they were like two big kids,
seeing who could get the biggest and the best toys. Aileen put stop to it
when Nick showed up with an enormous stuffed dolphin and Kevin topped him
by finding an even larger elephant. There was simply no room left and the
baby would never have enough time to play with all the things they had bought.
"How's it going today?" Nick called out, cheerily, as he entered the apartment. Aileen, now eight months pregnant, lay on the couch and moaned. "Do you know what it feels like to be pregnant?" she grouched. Nick looked puzzled. "Umm...no?" "Obviously not, if you did, you wouldn't ask that question!" she snapped. "Not a good day, I take it." Nick smiled and sat down beside her. "Oh, I'm sorry Nick, I'm just exhausted and this little fellow..." she paused and rubbed her stomach. "...this little one, I KNOW it's your kid." Nick looked puzzled again. "Why?" "Because it feels like he's throwing a basketball around in there!" Nick threw back his head and laughed. "That's my boy!" He put his hand to her stomach and waited. "Oh, there he goes!" he beamed. "He's movin' now!" "Tell me about it!" Aileen smiled. Nick was so happy whenever they were together. She loved to see his smile and was looking forward to his visits more and more. "He's going to be a great father." she thought wistfully. "Hey, I just stopped in for a minute." Nick said, interrupting her thoughts. "I have to go pick a few things up, do you need anything?" Aileen thought for a moment. "Chocolate covered pickles!" "What?" "There's a chocolate shop on Main that carries them, get me some of those, please?" Nick made a face. "Okay, but don't ask me to eat any of'em!" Shortly after Nick left there was a knock on the door. Aileen struggled to pull herself off the sofa and finally gave up. "It's open!" she hollered. "Hi 'Leenie." Aileen looked up at the sound of Kevins voice. "Hey Kevin, how are you?" She was still a bit wary around him, but he had been behaving better lately and even being semi-nice to Nick a couple of times. "I was just going home from the studio and thought I'd check in and see how you were." Aileen laughed. "Seems everyone is thinking of me today!" "So how are you?" Kevin repeated. "Well, other than being as big as a house, I think I'm doing okay." "No problems?" Aileen shook her head. "Nope, I'm just run down, tired all the time." Kevin regarded her closely. "Are you eating alright?" "Yes, well I try to. I crave a lot of junk right now, for some reason!" Kevin leaned over and put his arm around her. "I want you to take care of yourself, you hear?" "That's funny coming from you." It escaped her lips before she had even had a chance to think about it. Kevin looked like she had slapped him. "Oh Kevin, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "No." Kevin nodded. "That was deserved." "Not lately." Aileen said. "You've been fine lately. I'm sorry." She leaned over and gave him a kiss. Kevin pulled her closer, Aileen froze and then relaxed into his kiss. "Oh baby." Kevin whispered in her ear. "I miss you." Aileen didn't know what to think, it was like he was back to his old self. "I'll stop him if he tries anything else." she promised herself. It felt so nice to just hold him in her arms again. Nick parked the car and pulled his collection of shopping bags closer to him. he rummaged through them and finally found the one he was looking for. He pulled a small box from the bag and opened the lid. The facets of the diamond glittered in the sun. "I know she'll love it. Better than chocolate covered pickles!" Nick said out loud. He whistled as he went up the steps and slowly opened the door. |