Surfacing
Part 13
By Lauren
The sound of rustling plastic and clinking glass grabbed Drew’s attention as her mind taunted her with a memory. What the hell? Drew thought, annoyed at the persistent sounds. Change jingling was added to the noise, then the sound of a cash register drawer opening. Millennium? Drew wondered.
Suddenly, her mind broke into pictures, and Drew saw that she was at the little grocery store down the street from Millennium, on the corner. St. Michael’s was a little further down the street.
A quick glance at the tobacco-advertising calendar over the register told Drew that it was March 15. The ides of March, Drew thought with a smirk. Et tu, Brute.
Her basket was light as she turned into the bread and milk aisle. Drew and Max had been living with Buzz and Selena for the past month, while Drew took time off from Millennium to get her act together. She still missed Jesse, and was still mad at Marah, but felt better able to handle it now, a month later. Moving back into the loft over Millennium required something to eat, so she was making a trip to the little “mom and pop” grocery store.
Feldman’s Groceries was one of Drew’s favorite places to visit. Not only did it carry the standard grocery store fare, but also its produce and meat counters were to die for. Drew loved to tarry through the aisles, inspecting heads of lettuce and knocking her fist on watermelons in the summer. Now, she decided with a smile, to check out the international foods section. The black olives there were a favorite of hers.
She serenely turned into the aisle, picking up a jar of peanut butter from a display as she did. What she saw shocked her completely.
Danny and Michelle stood in the middle of the aisle, Michelle’s hands to her mouth, Danny’s eyes wide. “Oh, my God,” Michelle whispered. “Oh, my God.”
Only then did Drew notice the puddle of liquid at Michelle’s feet.
“Michelle?” Drew asked, approaching hesitantly. “Is something wrong?”
Michelle gestured down at her soaked overalls. “I…um…my water just broke,” she said, her face red, her tone embarrassed.
Danny bit his lip. “Okay, let’s go to the hospital,” he said, his eyes still huge.
“Are you kidding me?” Michelle stage-whispered, her face unbelieving. “I just washed the floor of Feldman’s with amniotic fluid, and you want to leave?”
“Michelle,” Danny said patiently, “Michelle, baby, you’re going into labor, and I don’t know about you, but I would prefer that our son or daughter be born in a hospital, not on the floor of a grocery store. Even if that means your brother must be present.”
“Don’t you condescend to me, Daniel Santos,” Michelle shot back. “Of course we’re going to the hospital. But I will not just leave some poor, unsuspecting stock boy to clean up this mess!”
“So he’ll think you dropped a soda,” Drew contributed. “Big deal.”
Michelle gave her a look. “Jacobs, I don’t believe I asked you.”
Drew held up her free hand in surrender. “Fine, fine.”
“Okay, what do you want me to do?” Danny asked, taking Michelle’s hand.
“I don’t know!” Michelle exclaimed. “Just do something!”
Danny sighed. “This is insane, this is insane…of course you would go into labor on one of our little craving runs…”
“Don’t even start with me,” Michelle warned, biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut tightly. “Hello, contraction.”
“Oh, dear God,” Danny said, his face frightened. “Oh, wait, I know…”
His fingers fumbled across the various jars of olives and pickled beets on the shelf, lighting on a green-tinted jar of dill pickles. “Perfect,” he murmured, picking up the jar and promptly smashing it on the floor.
“What the hell did you just do?” Michelle asked incredulously.
“Solved our problem,” Danny said with a sweet smile.
Michelle shook her head. “Why, why oh why didn’t I get that annulment when I had the chance?” she said mournfully.
Drew burst into giggles. “Oh, lordy, this is way, way too good.”
This time Drew was rewarded with a sinister glare from Danny. “Michelle, honey, everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry about it. Now the stock-boy will take special precautions anyway because he won’t want his hands to smell like pickle juice,” Danny said with a smile. “Now, come on, let’s go!”
Michelle hesitated, then sighed. “Okay, fine. Fine. Let’s go have a baby.”
“With you, darling? Any day,” Danny grinned, wrapping an arm around Michelle and leading her toward the door.
“Hey, wait!” Drew called. The two of them simultaneously turned their heads to Drew.
“What?” Danny asked impatiently.
“You aren’t just going to leave me here with this mess!” she exclaimed.
“Um…well, why don’t you go call my dad and Rick and Abby, and Aunt Meta, too,” Michelle ordered. “And if you could swing by the house and get Danny’s abuela, we would be forever indebted.”
“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “Abuela hates riding in the car with my mother. Something about tinted windows freaks her out.”
“No, honey, I think it’s just the fact that Dietz carries that nine millimeter in the front seat,” Michelle corrected. “Anyway, if you could do that…”
“Sure,” Drew said, unable to keep an uncharacteristic smile off her face as she watched the two of them. “Go have your little kid.”
“If you’d like to come to the hospital, too,” Danny began, “I’m sure Michelle would love to have you there.”
“Of course,” Michelle smiled, gritting her teeth. “Contraction number two. We’d better get going.”
“Yeah. Thanks, Drew,” Danny called over his shoulder as they left the store.
“Well,” Drew murmured, setting her basket down on the floor beside the shattered pickle jar. “Looks like the shopping will have to wait.”
Half an hour later, Drew had called the Bauers and Carmen, gone home and seen Max, and driven out to the Santos mansion. Olga had helped her get Danny’s abuela into Drew’s car, and now they were on their way to Cedars. Abuela kept fiddling with the radio station, turning it from Drew’s choice of R&B to her own classic rock preference.
“Mrs. Santos, I would have never pictured you as an Aerosmith fan,” Drew grinned.
Abuela chuckled. “Are you kidding me? Dietz bought me their greatest hits CD for my birthday.”
Drew laughed, turning into the Cedars parking lot and pulling up to the front door. “Let me get your wheelchair out, and then I’ll go park the car,” Drew said as she shifted the car into park.
“Sounds good,” Abuela agreed, drumming her chubby, wrinkled fingers on the door in time with “Sweet Emotion”.
Drew shook her head and smiled as she popped the trunk and got out of the car. She was attempting to gracefully retrieve the chair when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“What the—“ she began, whipping around in surprise. “Oh, Ray, it’s just you. You scared me!”
“Apparently so,” Ray replied with a smile. “Need some help?”
“No, I’ve got it,” Drew said pridefully. “It’s your grandma’s. She’s in the front seat of the car.”
Ray’s forehead wrinkled. “Why is my abuela in the front seat of your car?”
“Michelle and Danny asked me to bring her,” Drew said. “You do know that Michelle is having the baby, don’t you?”
“No, actually, I didn’t know that,” Ray said in surprise. “I’m here to visit one of my parishioners.”
“Well, she’s in labor,” Drew clarified, giving the wheelchair another tug.
“Here, let me get that,” Ray said, brushing aside Drew’s hands. He pulled the wheelchair out in one fluid motion.
Drew shook her head, hands on her hips. “I’ll have to remember to call a priest the next time a wheelchair is stuck in the trunk of my car.”
“Don’t you forget it,” Ray smiled, unfolding the chair and setting it on the pavement. Drew closed the trunk and walked over to the passenger’s side door behind Ray.
“Ray, mi nieto! What are you doing here?” Abuela exclaimed.
“Well, abuela, I’m here to be your personal escort to the waiting room, if you’ll have me,” Ray said with a grin.
Abuela laughed. “Always.”
Ray turned to Drew. “I’ll take her upstairs, and you can go park your car,” he offered.
Drew nodded. “I’ll be up in a bit. Ed Bauer and company should already be up there, so she’ll have some company if you need to go make that visit.”
“Okay,” Ray said. “You’re looking better than last time I saw you.”
“Well, considering the last time you saw me I was passed out at my fiancé’s funeral, I should think so,” Drew said with a smirk. “See you in a bit, Mrs. Santos.”
Abuela waved her chubby fingers as Drew started the car and drove away. She parked, trekked back to the hospital, and made her way to the maternity ward waiting room.
Inside the room were Carmen, Michelle’s father, Abby, Meta, Danny’s grandmother, and Dahlia. “How did you get here?” Drew asked in Dahlia’s direction.
“Michelle called me on her cell phone,” Dahlia clarified.
Drew nodded lightly and sat down. “How are you, Drew?” Abby asked good-naturedly.
“I’m doing much better,” Drew said, affecting a smile. Abby liked people to be happy. “Where’s your husband?”
“Rick’s still on shift in the emergency room,” Abby clarified. “He’ll be up here in a few hours.”
“How long is this going to take?” Drew asked in disbelief.
“You’re going to be here for quite a while, Miss Jacobs,” Ed said absently, not taking his eyes off the news magazine he was reading. “I’d suggest you get comfortable.”
“Oh, Drew, I almost forgot, Michelle asked to see you when you got here,” Abby said.
“Am I allowed to go back there?”
Ed rose from his seat. “I was just going to go see her myself. You can come in with me,” he offered.
“Uh…okay, why not,” Drew said, standing up and straightening her shirt. “Which way is the delivery room?”
“She’s not in the delivery room yet,” Ed explained knowledgeably, opening the door for Drew and following her out into the sterile hallway. “She’s in a private room. They’ll transfer her to the delivery room when it’s closer to time.”
Drew nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” Ed turned a sharp corner, nearly sending Drew into the wall. She recovered, and began to make a note of her surroundings. A nurses’ station was located to her left, clean and white, with a huge dry-erase board mounted on the back wall. A water fountain was to the right of the station, next to a glass-encased fire alarm. Here Ed made another sharp turn, to the right, opening the door to room 306.
Inside, Michelle was obviously in the throes of a contraction. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead, and she was breathing in a staccato rhythm, her cheeks puffed. Danny grasped her hand supportively, his other hand watching the seconds tick away on his watch. She noticed that Ed and Drew had entered the room, and smiled half-heartedly. Gulping air as the pain passed, she collapsed back against the pillows of her hospital bed; Danny grabbed a washcloth and gently wiped the perspiration from her face. “You’re doing great, babe,” he said softly, and she smiled.
“Hey, daddy,” she greeted Ed. “Holding down the fort?”
“Doing my best,” Ed replied with a smile, pulling up a molded plastic chair. “How are you doing, honey?”
Michelle gave him a winter’s smile. “I think I’m doing okay. I haven’t yelled obscenities at Danny yet, so I think I’m handling it pretty well.”
“Danny, it’s good to see you again,” Ed said warmly, extending a hand to his son-in-law.
Danny seemed a little confused by Ed’s gesture of goodwill, and awkwardly accepted his father-in-law’s handshake. I’ll bet being accepted by a male member of the illustrious Bauers is a little weird, Drew thought.
“Hi, Drew,” Michelle said.
“Hey,” Drew responded. “Your grandmother is here, Danny, and I met up with Ray in the parking lot.”
“So you’ve finally learned his name, huh?” Danny said with a good-natured smile.
Drew smiled back bitterly. “Yes, I have,” she said tightly.
Michelle rolled her eyes. “So everybody’s here, then?”
“Looks that way,” Ed replied, patting Michelle’s arm. “Your brother is still on duty, but he’ll be up when his shift is over.”
“Good,” Michelle answered. “Listen, Drew, I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for us this afternoon.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Drew automatically responded.
Michelle nodded, then inhaled sharply. “Danny,” she said simply, and he nodded, picking up his watch and holding out his hand.
“Listen, honey, we’re going to go back to the waiting room,” Ed said. “Call me if you need anything.”
Michelle nodded again, squeezing her eyes shut as she breathed.
“See you,” Drew whispered, following Ed out the door.
He caught her arm as she began to retrace her steps to the waiting room. “Listen, Drew, I have something I need to do. Will you tell everybody that I’ll be back in a little bit?”
Drew’s eyes narrowed, and her curiosity took over. “What are you going to do?”
“That’s really none of your business,” Ed said after a moment’s pause.
“Well, I think that if you’re wanting me to relay a message for you, I should have some idea what I’m talking about.”
“I’m going to make a phone call,” Ed said through clenched teeth.
“Oh,” Drew said, nodding. “Have to brag about your soon-to-be-appearing grandchild to all your doctor buddies?”
“Something like that,” Ed said with a condescending smile. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket as he spoke, unfolding the ancient leather and extracting an equally worn piece of paper.
“Is that your friend’s number?” Drew asked, pointing at the paper. Why in the world would he need a piece of paper to remind him of a friend’s phone number? she pondered.
“Yes,” Ed replied, his voice tight.
“Your friend has excellent handwriting,” Drew noted, sneaking a glance at the fragment. “Unusual for a doctor.”
“I suppose so,” Ed said. Drew could tell he was becoming increasingly annoyed, but the more annoyed he became, the more curious Drew was.
“So, hey, I forgot to tell Michelle something, so I’m going to head back in there for a sec. I’ll just tell her that you’re making a phone call to a Mister…” Drew paused, craning her neck and squinting her eyes to read the paper, “Ramsey.”
Ed’s eyes widened, and he stepped in Drew’s way. “That’s really not a good idea.”
“Why not?” Drew asked, genuinely confused.
“Because it’s not Mr. Ramsey,” Ed whispered sharply. “It’s Ms. Ramsey.”
Ramsey. Ramsey. Drew ran the name over in her mind, but could not make a connection. It sounded familiar. “And why exactly would your calling a Ms. Ramsey upset Michelle?”
“Because,” Ed hissed, “this is Claire Ramsey.”
Claire Ramsey. “You’re calling Michelle’s mother?” Drew asked incredulously. After Drew had discovered that she had been adopted, she and Michelle had talked a few times about the fact that Michelle had also been adopted, by Maureen Bauer. Michelle had always expressed no interest in meeting or talking to her natural mother.
“Why are you calling Claire Ramsey?” Drew continued. “You know that Michelle doesn’t want to have anything to do with Claire Ramsey.”
“I’m fully aware of that,” Ed said defensively. “But I think that Claire has a right to know that she’s a grandmother.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what every woman wants to hear,” Drew replied dryly, turning. “Fine, I’ll tell everybody if anyone asks. Go make your phone call.”
“Thank you, Drew,” Ed said quietly, staring down at the slip of paper and turning toward the nurses station. He shook his head as he walked to the nearest pay phone.
Drew turned the corners on the way back to the waiting room sharply; as her karma would have it, she collided into Ray. “Sorry,” she mumbled as Ray steadied her.
“Don’t worry about it,” he dismissed, continuing in the direction of the elevators.
She walked back to the waiting room silently and more slowly. Leave it to a new grandfather and a priest to ruin my upbeat mood, she silently complained.
The waiting room was buzzing, as Grandma Santos had apparently sneaked in an old photo album when Drew wasn’t looking. It was full of pictures of Danny’s grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Abuela flipped through to the back of the book and rested a wrinkled finger on a yellowed picture of a little boy in a sailor suit. “That’s Paulo,” Carmen breathed, looking over Abuela’s shoulder. “How come I’ve never seen these pictures before?”
“This is my family album,” Abuela replied in her gravely voice. “I very rarely take it out of my room.”
“These pictures are beautiful,” Carmen admired, reaching out a finger to gingerly stroke the little boy’s face. “Did you take these?”
“I took this one,” Abuela admitted. “I was the only one who could get Paulo to stand still long enough to pose for a photograph.”
“He never was one to sit still,” Carmen laughed. “Mick was the same way.”
Drew felt sick to her stomach, bile rising unpleasantly in her throat.
Abuela laughed in agreement. “Danny and Ray seem to be the only two Santos men who have inherited the standing still gene.”
Carmen nodded, smiling softly at the picture, and then grinning widely at the next page as Abuela turned the heavy paper. “Paulo and Enrique at Enrique’s wedding. I remember that night well.” The two men in the photograph looked exactly like Danny and Ray.
Drew couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Is that your husband, Carmen?” she asked quietly.
“Yes, it is,” Carmen said softly. “Paulo Santos. Danny’s father.”
Drew nodded. “And Enrique—that’s Ray’s father?”
Abuela nodded. “Two of my sons. Danny also has an Uncle Carlos. He lives in California. And his Aunt Maria lives in New York City. She’s an artist.”
Drew watched the photographs intently. She had always been interested in families, and now even more so. She and Michelle had been close to finding her father. Am I ever going to find him? she wondered.
Abuela flipped through page after page of snapshots. Drew recognized some things; the wedding dress Michelle had worn was prominent in Carmen’s wedding photos. And she could pick Danny’s baby pictures out easily by his wild black curls, the same as his father’s.
When Drew looked up from the album, finally, she realized that it was dark outside. Ed was dozing in an uncomfortable position in a standard waiting room chair, and Rick had showed up, and was winding strands of Abby’s hair around his fingers.
“I wonder how Michelle’s doing?” Abby wondered aloud.
“Well, I’m sure this person knows,” Rick said, pointing to the door.
Danny walked in and crossed to where Drew, Carmen, and his grandmother were browsing through the photo album. He kissed his mother and then his grandmother on the cheek, then turned back to the Bauers. “Michelle is doing great,” he reported, his eyes tired. “She’s handling this really well. What’s this?” He indicated his grandmother’s album.
Abuela handed him the album. “It’s some pictures I’ve saved over the years. I thought you and Michelle might enjoy looking through them. And I want a picture of my great-grandchild to put in it.”
A grin spread across Danny’s face, which he quickly checked into a careful smile. “Don’t worry, I’m sure there will be pictures galore. Listen, I need to get back. See you guys later.”
He wasn’t kidding when he said later, Drew thought with a yawn as she flipped through a magazine listlessly hours later. The words were swimming across the page, and Drew kept having to blink to keep her eyes from crossing.
She was jolted back to reality when Danny burst through the door. Every one looked up from their semi-sleep state and sat up expectantly.
“Michelle,” he began excitedly, letting himself grin, “just had a little girl. Seven pounds, nine ounces, ten fingers, ten toes, the whole bit.”
Carmen grinned widely and gave Danny a hug. “How in the world did you do that three times?” Drew heard him whisper. Carmen smiled knowingly.
“What does she look like?” Abby asked expectantly.
“She’s got a full head of hair,” Danny grinned, “black and curly. And she’s got Michelle’s face.”
Drew smiled. “How’s Michelle doing?” Ed asked.
“Tired, but good,” Danny said. “She’s going to get some sleep right now.”
“Well, congratulations, Dad,” Ray said, standing and hugging his cousin.
“Thanks, Father,” Danny laughed. “Hey, listen, everybody, I’m sure they’ll put her in the nursery in a little bit, so you can see her.”
Suddenly, the door was flung open wide, and Marah stepped in. Her appearance stopped everyone in the room short.
“Are you okay…what…oh, my God,” Dahlia stammered, standing and walking toward Marah.
The left side of Marah’s face was completely black and blue. “It’s nothing,” she explained. “I tripped in the barn and landed face first on the concrete floor. It’s nothing. So, you’re a father, Danny?”
“Yeah,” Danny said absently, distracted by Marah’s appearance. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine,” she replied tightly. “Listen, Andy’s at the paper, and Ben’s at Millennium. They both send their best.”
“Well, I am going to see my granddaughter,” Ed said, standing and breaking the awkwardness. The entire group trouped down the hall after him.
The baby was asleep in a plastic bassinet, near the glass window of the nursery. She definitely had Danny’s hair, and Michelle’s features. “Have you thought about names?” Abby asked.
“Actually, we’ve already decided. Elena,” he said, his eyes focused on his daughter. “Elena Maria, Maria for you, Abuela.”
“Elena Maria Santos,” Danny’s grandmother smiled. “That’s beautiful, Danny.”
“She’s beautiful, too,” Carmen smiled. Drew was shocked by the changes in Carmen’s face as she looked at her granddaughter. She looked so much calmer and quieter.
Drew smiled, and turned to say something to Abby, but instead stepped back into the recesses of her mind, darkness surrounding her once more.