Rushed(67)
“The what?”
“The pharmacy,” Vince, who's followed me and is leaning in the doorway, says. I nod gratefully, but barely acknowledge him other than that.
“So?”
“We have figured out what is the cause of Miss Gray's mood swings and some of her other symptoms,” Dr. Banks says, reaching over. “She has . . . well, some might call it a parasite.”
“A parasite? Like, something inside her? Can it be removed?” I ask hurriedly, taking April's hand. “Tell me that she's going to be okay at least, Doc.”
“Oh, she'll be fine,” Dr. Banks says. “As for removal, well, it’s possible, but most people decide to let the parasite come out naturally.”
“What? What type of f*cked up Canadian thinking is this? You just let a parasite stay until it decides to come out on its own? What the hell . . .”
“What do you want to name it?” April asks, and I hear a smile in her voice. I look over and see that she's still looking down, trying to suppress a grin, and I'm confused. “Most people name them.”
“Name? What are you talking about? Who names a parasite?”
“I named my first one Timothy, and the second Stephen,” Vince says, laughing, and I feel like everyone's in on the joke but me. I'm still confused, scared and worried, and why the f*ck won't someone tell me what's going on?
“Mr. Paulson . . . your fiancée is pregnant,” Dr. Banks says, and suddenly, it all becomes so clear. Parasite. Ha. A good one.
I'm too stunned to laugh though, and I look at April. “You mean . . . we're going to be parents?”
April nods and turns her head, and I can see that she's smiling and crying at the same time. “Yeah. Congratulations, Tyler. You're going to be a father.”
I hop off the table and pick her up again, hugging her tightly. “No, thank you for being the perfect woman for me, and the only woman who I want to ever have children with.”
We stay there, holding each other tightly, until Vince clears his throat. I set April down again and look over at him. “Do I get to tell the guys? I mean, before practice today. Or would you two like that honor?”
I look at April, who smiles. “May I?”
I nod and kiss her sweetly on her precious lips. “Of course, my love. How do you want to do it?”
April smirks, and in that smile, I see forever, and it looks perfect.
Epilogue
April
“So you made the announcement over the stadium PA system?” Carrie Hart, Duncan’s wife, asks, stroking her belly. She's huge, and if that baby doesn't come out at least four kilograms I'm going to be surprised. It's a little strange to be talking to her without either of our mates present, but I wanted to invite her personally. After all, while Duncan is most likely going to be Tyler's best man, I would love to have Carrie join my group of bridesmaids if she's able. “How'd everyone react?”
“They gave Tyler a water bucket shower right at the end of practice,” I laugh, “while I was watching from the stands. They would have done it earlier, but with practice temps dropping into the single digits, they didn't want their star QB to catch a cold.”
“Single digits? Jesus, how are you not freezing?” Carrie asks, then catches herself. “Oh yeah, Celsius. What's that, about forty, forty-five our scale?”
“Something like that. I can do pounds to kilos and miles to kilometers, but the temperature still screws me up. It's getting colder now though, I mean this was two weeks ago Carrie.”
I hear the apartment door open, and Tyler comes in, grinning. “Hey babe.”
“Tyler, is that you?” Carrie asks, and Tyler comes around the table into view of the camera on our laptop. “Hey, long time no see surfer dude. Heard you got lucky.”
“You can say that again. I see you're getting ready to pop.” Tyler sits down next to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. Damn that feels good. “How's the big man?”
“He's doing great. In fact, we were just talking the other day. Duncan's got games all the way through January, like you know. The Wildcats are pretty much a lock for the playoffs, and if we can go deep, there's a chance we could go all the way. Pretty good for a rookie.”
“Damn good. Better than us,” Tyler says with a touch of disappointment. We'd lost our playoff game, not due to him, he put out another great effort, but our defense collapsed again, and three touchdowns by Tyler just wasn't enough. Next year, though. “So you guys are going to be busy for the first half of the winter.”
“We are, but Duncan and I really want to go to your ceremony, so we were kind of thinking . . . what about you two coming down here for the ceremony?”
I look at Tyler, who raises an eyebrow. “It’ll be warm.”
“And you can leave on a honeymoon of the Caribbean as soon as the whole thing's over,” Carrie adds. “We were thinking though that maybe you'd like to hang out for a game? I mean, I know you're committed to Toronto and everything, but it'd be cool to see you again, and Troy and Whitney are super geeked about the idea of meeting you. I mean, we all do share the same financial planner and everything.”