7.7 We’re All Thinking About It

It was the longest two days as the new wives took care of their new, grieving husbands. Lance and Cameron were functional. They went to work, built their skills–or tried to–but they were emotionally unavailable. There were times when the emotion enhancing decor would temporarily boost their mood and the wives took full advantage of it. But once they left that room, they were very sad again.

After the grief period was over, the wives were very glad to have their husbands’ full attention again. Both couples were beginning to settle in quite nicely into their new lives together.

Not only was Cadence enjoying her new role as a wife, but also she was enjoying her role as an aunt more than ever. Perhaps it was because her nieces could walk and talk now. She couldn’t explain it–and no one can–but she was madly in love with her nieces and missed them terribly. She made sure she called them every day to make sure they were all right and enjoying their new life with their mother.

“So you thought he gave you the note? What did you do?”

They took Melody up on her promise to visit the Estate whenever they wanted and started visiting all the time. Being the doting, cautious mother that she was, her original intent was to take them. But when they started coming every day, she decided to just let them go. She called a taxi, and watched them go. Then she would have a nice quiet evening to herself. After a while she began to enjoy the alone time because it gave her an opportunity to deal with her pain without any distractions. Perhaps she would be able to talk to her children about their father sooner rather than later.

“So what happened when they caught all the gerbils?”

“…and then she dropped all of her books on the floor!”

Cadence didn’t realize it, but her nieces were helping her warm up to the idea of having children sooner rather than later. They were all thinking it. As a matter of fact, one night, the same conversation took place at the same time in two different places. Lance and Myra were in the dining room having dinner, and Cameron and Cadence were hanging out in the den.

“Myra…I’m sorry I haven’t been…here, you know?”

“Lance, please stop. You lost your mother for crying out loud!”

“I know! I just…we haven’t been able to connect like newlyweds should. I just feel like I’ve let you down.”

“Oh, honey. We have the rest of our lives now! Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t expecting anything more from you. I know it’s hard, but it’s healthy to take time to grieve, and I wasn’t going to take that away from you.”

“Wow. What have I done to deserve a wife like you?”

They continued eating, but Lance’s mind was wandering. He didn’t know it, but he was staring out the window. Myra didn’t know where he was, but he was definitely not at the table.

“Hey…where are you,” Myra asked.

“Huh,” Lance said caught off guard.

“You’re staring out of the window. What are you thinking about?”

“Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about how empty this house is now. My entire life, all six of these bedrooms were occupied. Now, you and I, and Cadence and Cameron have an entire floor to ourselves.”

“Well…maybe we should fill them.”

“Yeah, but don’t you want to just live life without kids for a minute?”

“If I said no, would that be a problem?”

“No! Not at all. I just thought you may have wanted that.”

“Yes, if we would have gotten married years ago, that is what I would have wanted. But, we’re getting to be too old. If we want any chance of seeing our children into adulthood, then we need to start right now.”

“Right now, like right now right now?”

“Right now.”

“Ok! Let’s do it!!”

They ran upstairs, giddy as school girls, to finally enjoy themselves as newlyweds should. Hopefully their mission would be successful.

“So, we need to talk about children,” Cameron said.

“Children?”

“Children!”

“What about them,” she asked.

“When were you planning on having them?”

“I…I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Are you thinking about it?”

“We’re all thinking about it, Cadence. See, we’re all at that age when we’re still young, but getting old very quickly at the same time, you know? Now…I’m not trying to put any pressure on you at all, but I want to give you some food for thought. If we don’t want to end up like your parents, then we should have them fairly quickly.”

“Hmmm…I guess you’re right.”

“I know I am. I’m going in the back now.”

“Right now? But…my nieces are still here!”

“I’m going in the back to go to sleep, dear.”

“Oh. Ok. I love you.”

“Love you more,” he yelled behind him.

Ugggh…it couldn’t have worked THAT fast, could it?

The next morning, Myra woke up with terrible nausea and stomach cramps. She didn’t know she could get pregnant so fast, but to be sure, she went into the bathroom and took a pregnancy test…and it came out positive!

It did!! Oh my goodness!!

Ugggh! I guess this feeling is going to be around for a while then.

Myra was very pleased with the results. Growing up in orphanages and group homes shaped the way she viewed the world and how she operated in it. She never had anything that was hers. With no home and no family, no one ever truly loved her, and she had no one to love. Now, here she was the queen of the Pruett Estate, and was pregnant with a child who just may be the heir to the throne. She couldn’t have created a better life for herself even in her wildest dreams.