Chapter 20 – Chaos and Nursery Rhymes, part 2Five months, two weeks ago...
Morgana cherished her Wednesdays.
She settled onto the couch with a mug of hot chamomile tea in one hand and a skein of yarn in the other. The kids were at school, Leighton was on a road trip with the team, and Morgana had the house to herself. Six blissful hours where she could watch sappy chick flicks, relax, and crochet to her heart's content.
But fate had a slightly different plan this time around, and no sooner had she finished her first row her cell phone began to ring.
It was Jeremy. Morgana glanced at the clock on the cable box and frowned. It was only eight-thirty a.m.--far too early for her normally late-sleeping son to be awake, much less making a phone call.
Something was definitely up.
“Hi Jeremy,” she answered.
“Hey Mom.”“What's going on?”
A pause.
“Er well...I kinda have something to tell you.”Right away Morgana was on edge. The
last time Jeremy had called because he had something to tell her was when he failed one of his classes and was put on academic probation. Then there was the call from three weeks prior to that when Jeremy asked for money to pay off the fine he incurred when he was caught spray-painting the side of the mens' dorm.
She shuddered to think what her rebellious son had gotten into
this time.
“Um...do you remember that...um...juice kegger from a couple months back?”Oh yes, she
definitely remembered. A two a.m. phone call from the police station was not something that one could readily forget. “You mean the one where you and Hannah were caught streaking across campus?”
“Ah...yeah, that's the one.”Morgana frowned. “Jeremy, you weren't arrested again, were you?”
“Oh no, not at all,” her son quickly answered.
“But um...something else happened that night.”By this point Morgana was starting to lose her patience. Just what was he getting at? What
else could have possibly happened that night that would still be haunting him more than two months later?
“Hannah's pregnant, Mom.”Morgana dropped her crochet hook.
“...
whaaaat?”
---
The rest of their conversation was somewhat of a blur, but Morgana very clearly remembered a rather awkward visit with Gobias and Zelda later that afternoon...
Things were rather challenging in the days and weeks immediately following. After much agonizing both Jeremy and Hannah decided that it would be best to drop their remaining classes and move back home to Sunset Valley. The two of them rented an apartment close to downtown and Jeremy took a job at the hospital to support them. While cleaning bedpans was far from the glamorous profession that the young man had envisioned, at least it paid the bills.
It was as if someone had flipped a switch in his head. For the past two years getting Jeremy to take responsibility for anything in his life was like pulling teeth. He partied far more than he studied and had more than one run-in with the campus police, leading the University dean to pull Jeremy's academic scholarship. Both Morgana and Leighton had been about ready to tear their hair out.
But now, faced with the reality that he was going to be a father, the old Jeremy was starting to come back. It was a refreshing change of pace, truth be told...even if it did take a life-altering event to do it. As Hannah's pregnancy progressed both she and Jeremy seemed to grow into the idea of becoming first-time parents. More than once Morgana had overheard the two of them talking excitedly over baby names and nursery themes.
Of course, there was the small matter of the two of them not being married, but Morgana couldn't exactly judge given that she was in much the same situation when she became pregnant with Alexia. She could only hope that her son had something in mind for after the baby was born.
“Morgana, love...”
Leighton practically burst into the waiting room, a bright smile on his face. “It's time. She's being wheeled into the delivery room.”
An excited laugh escaped Morgana's throat. “How is she doing?”
“Tired and in pain, but excited,” Leighton answered as he sat down opposite his wife. “You could probably say the same for Simon as well.”
“
He's in pain?”
“Well...apparently Lexie has one heck of a grip. You know how that works.”
Indeed she did. When Morgana was in labor with the twins she had squeezed Leighton's hand so hard that he could hardly grip a baseball for the better part of a week...
“So what brings you here?” Leighton continued, this time addressing his daughter. “Aren't you supposed to be at the dance...?”
Winter hesitated. “Um...I guess I...” She looked up at her mother for help.
“Let's just say that prom night didn't exactly go as expected,” Morgana interjected as she gently patted Winter on the shoulder. “And besides, this is where all of the action is. Jeremy and Hannah just came in about twenty minutes ago.”
Leighton blinked. “
Seriously?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And she's in labor?”
“Mm-hmm. Her water already broke.”
The expression on Leighton's face was a cross between amusement and utter disbelief. “Unbelievable. Does Jeremy seem to be handling things all right?”
“As well as can be expected. He's back there with her and plans to be there for the actual birth, as far as I know.”
Leighton nodded, his lips pursed as if he wanted to say something more, but decided against it. He was still more than a little bit leery about Jeremy and Hannah. It wasn't so much that they were unmarried—heck, he and Morgana had been in a similar boat before Lexie was born—but both of them were so incredibly young and ill-prepared for such a gigantic step. Leighton had spent many a late night worrying about his son and the grandchild to come, hoping that somehow everything would work out for the best.
Fortunately, Jeremy's turnaround had given him a bit more optimism...but Morgana knew that Leighton was still on edge about the whole thing.
“So is this where the party's at?”
Another familiar voice reached Morgana's ears, and she smiled when she saw Sam casually strolling into the waiting room. In his arms lay the tiny form of his toddler son, dressed in footed pajamas and fast asleep.
“Sandi's got a late shift and I didn't feel like hiring a babysitter,” Sam explained. “He's out like a light.”
Leighton gingerly took his sleeping grandson into his arms and held him close. The toddler opened his eyes briefly and smiled before settling onto his shoulder and closing his eyes again. Jesse was a love, plain and simple.
“They just took her back to the delivery room,” Morgana explained. “It'll be any time now.”
“Yeah, and Lexie's not the only one here,” Winter chimed in. “Jeremy and Hannah just came in and
Hannah's in labor.”
Sam looked at Leighton, then at Morgana, a wry smirk on his lips. “Hey,
you were the ones who wanted grandchildren.”
And their eldest son never wasted an opportunity to remind them of that fact. In their defense, though, they certainly weren't the
only over-eager parents to make their wishes known. From what Morgana had heard Sandi's mother was quite vocal about wanting a grandchild in the last eighteen months or so before Jesse came into the picture, and it wasn't even a year into Alexia and Simon's marriage that they started hearing from Geoffrey...
despite the fact that he already had three grandchildren with a fourth on the way.
About a month ago Sam had mentioned the possibility of having a second child. They had originally planned to wait until Jesse was fully potty trained before trying for number two, but with Molly's failing health they decided to expedite the process a bit in the hopes that she would still be around to meet the little one. So far Morgana hadn't heard anything more, but she wasn't about to bring up the subject again; at this stage of the game she already had about as much good news as she could handle all at once.
At least she could take some comfort in the fact that three of her children wouldn't become parents anytime soon. Winter and Abby were far too young, and if Justin ever decided to settle down and have a family Morgana would be very surprised.
The telltale squeak of the waiting room door caught her attention and she looked up, smiling when she saw her son-in-law entering the room. He was clad in full scrubs and looked more than a little disheveled, but was grinning from ear to ear. The reason why was carefully cradled in his arms.
And time seemed to stop entirely.
“Meet your new granddaughter,” Simon breathlessly spoke. “Annabel Celeste.”
Morgana slowly stood and made her way over toward Simon. “M...may I hold her?” She quietly asked.
“Of course.”
Ever so carefully she took the infant girl into her arms, and she was immediately smitten. Annabel. Her daughter's daughter. Morgana felt tears coming to her eyes at the sight of ten perfect little fingers and a pair of gorgeous deep blue eyes.
“Oh my gosh, she's so cute...” Winter cooed. “She looks just like Lexie.”
Almost identical, actually. Morgana could hardly believe just how much her darling granddaughter resembled her mother. For a brief moment in time, it felt like twenty-four years had disappeared and she was gazing down at a newborn Alexia again.
“How is she?” She asked quietly.
“
Perfect.” Simon's voice was almost wistful. “She did amazingly well. I think Doctor Steel said that as soon as she gets settled into her room for the night she can have visitors...” He gently smoothed back the tiny tuft of black hair on Annabel's head, and Morgana swore that she saw tears in his eyes. Simon was going to be an amazing father, that she knew for absolute certain.
A short time later she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway and the door opened again, this time revealing Jeremy, also dressed in full scrubs. The expression on his face could only be described as a combination of excitement and relief, with perhaps a touch of the same overwhelmed feeling that had hit Morgana earlier.
“He's here...” The young man breathlessly spoke. “My son.”
---
Leighton and Morgana followed Jeremy to Hannah's room a few minutes later and were pleased to find that Gobias and Zelda were already there. The latter was at her daughter's bedside, quietly chatting with the new mother while the former sat on the nearby rocking chair, cradling a tiny bundle swaddled in blue.
“Hi, grandpa,” Morgana greeted him.
Gobias looked up, a contented grin on his face. “Hi yourself,
grandma.” He looked back down at the boy. “He's a handsome one, isn't he?”
At that particular moment their grandson yawned, and Morgana couldn't help but chuckle. “What's his name?”
“Augustine Justin,” Hannah answered.
“That way we can call him A.J. for short,” Jeremy quickly added. He seemed a little jumpy to Morgana, and she wasn't quite certain why. The young man made his way over to his girlfriend's bedside, a nervous smile upon his lips. “Justin was pretty flattered when I told him our idea.”
“Wait, where'd the Augustine come from?” Zelda asked.
“Video game character.”
Zelda rolled her eyes. “Figures.”
Jeremy bit his lip. Now Morgana was
certain that he was on-edge about something. It wasn't until he sat down on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath that she began to suspect
why.
“Jeremy, what are you doing?” His girlfriend asked.
“Something that I should have done a long time ago,” he answered. The young man reached into his pants pocket and extracted a tiny paper box. “You know how that old rhyme goes, “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage?” All right...so maybe we got it a
bit out of order...but...”
Jeremy opened the box, revealing a sparkling silver ring studded with tiny garnets.
“Marry me, Hannah-bear?”
“Well
duh,” came Hannah's mirthful reply. “Of
course I'll marry you! I love you, geek boy.”
The four grandparents gazed wide-eyed as Jeremy slipped the ring onto Hannah's finger. Exhausted though she was from giving birth, Hannah was giggling like a schoolgirl as she marveled over the ring that now adorned her left hand. Jeremy, now far less agitated, leaned over and gave her a full-on kiss on the lips.
Morgana felt Leighton's arm slip about her waist and she leaned upon his shoulder.
They watched in silence as their newly-engaged son took their brand new grandson into his arms and brought him over to the bed. Jeremy had grown up so much just in these last several months, and now he had a family of his own. A sense of pride washed over Morgana at the thought.
It couldn't possibly be more perfect.
