Hedging Bets – Chapter Three – Emersli1

Reading Time:
8 Minutes

Buck never would have thought he’d be grateful to be shot.

His team was currently stood down to give he and Marsh time to recover from their wounds, which dovetailed neatly with Eddie’s paternity leave from the LAFD.  This meant he and Eddie were both able to be home for those first precious weeks.

Frankly, there were times Mireya seemed to outnumber he and Eddie all by herself, and Evan couldn’t imagine having to do this parenting thing as a single person.  He’d never had a great deal of respect for Shannon (actually he’d hated her guts and envied her at the same time) but staggering out of bed at two-thirty in the morning after not having gotten to bed until midnight because that’s when the laundry finished … if he hadn’t had a quiet voice whispering in his ear that “I’ll get the bottle going.” … he might have given up and cried along with Mira.

Removing his unhappy daughter from the bassinet at the foot of the bed, Evan carried her into the nursery and switched on the lamp rather than the overhead light.  Hurrying over to the changing table, he reached underneath for a clean diaper.  Fortunately this wouldn’t need to be a top-to-toe change.

He was becoming a pro at this diapering maneuver, even though Eddie had laughed and Carla had shaken her head at his schematics and diagrams.  Evan was determined that his daughter wouldn’t have to suffer from his amateur techniques.

“Train whistle blowin’, makes a sleepy noise …”  Softly singing to his fussy baby, Buck quickly exchanged a wet diaper for a dry one and got everything snapped back into place just as Eddie came in with the bottle ready to go.

Sitting down in the rocker and taking the bottle, Buck kept singing quietly.  “All bound for Morning Town…”  Mireya began sucking vigorously, but slowly slowed down until both her bottle and the lullaby were finished.

Patting her back gently in the precise rhythm that seemed to bring the most immediate results (according to the statistics Buck was carefully recording and tracking) Evan efficiently got a small burp.  Carrying her back down the hall to her bassinet,  he stopped for just a moment to peek in on Christopher.

Christopher had been such a good big brother.  Unlike his father and caregiver, he had nodded seriously as Buck explained his drawings relative to the correct angle at which to hold Mira’s bottle so as to give her as little wind as possible.  Chris had read all of the baby’s books to her, carefully showing her the pictures as he went and pointing out colors and shapes to the infant.  He was even willing to climb into his much despised wheelchair to go along when Buck and Eddie took MIra outside for short walks, because he had read that fresh air was good for babies.

Tummy time was a particular joy.

Mira was really too small yet to accomplish much, but she would lay on her blanket and watch Chris go through his home exercises, the sight of her encouraging him far more effectively than his physical therapist.

Chris was healing, slowly but surely, and when school started in a week or so he’d be in good shape to go, though still in his wheelchair for safety.  Mateo had made a special trip to LA to help him ‘trick out his ride’, the two of them carefully placing stickers and using special spray paint for the metal sections.

Eddie had vetoed the noisemakers they had slyly tried to attach to the wheels, but other than that he left them be.  Mateo understood in a way no one else could how much it was costing Christopher to have to rely on the wheelchair, so Eddie was content to let the two make a mess on the back patio.  They could always clean it up later.

That had become something of a mantra over the past few weeks.

Orange juice spilled on the counter?  Mira hiccuped and scared herself, so they’d clean it up later.  Baby spit-up down the back of a shirt?  Chris needed help with his exercises, so they’d clean it up later.  Mashed potatoes boiled over on the stove?  Bedtime routines had to be observed faithfully, so they’d clean it up later.

Sometimes Evan and Eddie would look at each other across the living room at eleven o’clock at night, one folding the last of the laundry while the other took out the last of the trash (because ‘later’ always seemed to be after the kids were in bed) and smile.

Neither of them knew yet what they’d do when Evan’s medical stand-down was over and Eddie’s paternity leave ran out … but that was a problem for another day.  For today, they had a wonderful son and daughter … a family that brought them delight and comfort, and wore them out completely.

They were happy.

The woman was terrified.

It had been almost six months, and she had seen, bit by bit, that look creeping into his eyes.  The calculation when he looked at her.  

The nervous twitches, irritated movements of his fingers.  The frequent checks of his phone.  Hushed conversations taken outside or in a different room.

She had seen.  She had heard.  And she was terrified.

She had a plan, if it came to that.

But then …

Eddie’s news flooded the family with joy.  A baby girl.  Such a blessing.

And slowly, the look of calculation had crept away from her.

At first she had been so thankful … until she realized where it had gone.  It had turned to baby Mireya, growing up in a little house in Los Angeles, with loving parents and a devoted big brother.

Baby Mireya, who had just rolled from her tummy to her back yesterday … surprising herself into tears until her family all cheered and clapped for her.  They had posted the video to the family chat, and he had watched it with that avid gleam in his eye.

A beautiful little girl, with reddish–blonde curls …

A man with an addiction he couldn’t control and a debt he could only  pay one way …

With someone else’s body.

Eddie answered the videocall from his father with a slight feeling of trepidation.

So far, his family in El Paso was being remarkably decent about his change in circumstances.  Engaged to a man.  Father to a brand new baby.  But he was always a little wary.

They had spent so many years criticizing everything he did.  Every choice he made was the wrong one.  Every turn was going to lead to destruction. 

He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

As the call connected, he saw his parents sitting in their living room with two of his aunts and uncles.  Aunt Astrid and Uncle Stefan were Mom’s brother and sister, and their spouses were his Uncle Jerry and Aunt Macy.

“Hey guys.  I didn’t know you were all gonna be there.   Hi Pop, Mom.  Uncle Stefan and Aunt Macy.  Uncle Jerry and Aunt Astrid.  This is great.”  Eddie greeted his relatives while settling back against the couch next to Buck.  He hadn’t gotten to see his godfather in forever, so he was especially pleased to see him in the group.

Eddie tilted his iPad a little to give Chris the chance to wave at the family on the screen from his seat in the recliner.  And Evan very seriously took Mireya’s little hand and waved with it too.  

“And hello to the Buckley-Diaz family.  You’re looking better Buck.  Arm not bothering you so much?  Hello Christopher.  You look as though you’re doing well.  Graduated to the recliner, I see?  Are you ready for school to start?”  Ramon Diaz had a small smile on his face as he talked to his son’s family.

“I’m ready, Abuelo.  You should see my wheelchair!  Mateo came down and helped me make it super awesome!  I wish I didn’t need it, but if I have to have it for a few weeks at least it looks amazing.”  Chris wasn’t quite resigned to the wheelchair, still grumbling a bit whenever it came up.  But he had to admit the busy hallways at school would be hard for him to navigate without being bumped or knocked about.

“That is wonderful, mijo.  I’m sure you’ll have the most … er … pimpin’ ride in school.  Is that correct?”

Chris collapsed into a fit of giggles at his grandfather’s attempt to use slang.  “Well, I’m definitely bringing the bling anyway.”

Buck looked seriously into the screen.  “So… about that elephant …”

Ramon chuckled.  “Ah, well.  Elephants are rather scarce in El Paso.  You would not believe the waiting list.  So I thought maybe Stefan, Jerry, and I could bring the things out to you?  The girls have to work, and your mother isn’t well, but your uncles and I thought maybe we could have a roadtrip.”

Eddie eyed his mother with growing concern.  She was as composed and beautiful as ever, but she was thin and pale, and holding herself so stiffly it looked as though she might break apart at any moment.  “Mom, are you OK?  You’ve been sick for a while now.  Are the doctors taking care of you?”

His mother shot him a look he couldn’t read and opened her mouth as if to answer him, only to be cut off by her brother.

“Helena’s always been a little fragile, but I’m sure the doctors are taking good care of her.  So, what do you say, godson?  Think you can put up with your old uncles and pop for a few days?”  Stefan shot a concerned look at his sister while speaking to her son.

Eddie and Evan exchanged looks, eyebrow wiggles, and shrugs.  Then Eddie turned back to the screen.  “Yeah, sure.  Come ahead.  We’ll look forward to seeing you.”

All three men smiled.  “Excellent!  We shall see you in four days then.”

“Four days?  Pop, it only takes two days to drive from El Paso to Los Angeles.”

Ramon laughed.  “Ah, but we are roadtripping.  So there must be stops along the way.  Four days mijo.”

Eddie chuckled at the image of his father and middle-aged uncles on a roadtrip like college boys on Spring Break.  “All right.  Four days then.  Mom, get some rest.  You look tired.”

“Your mother will be staying with Macy for the week.”  Ramon patted his wife’s shoulder.  “She will have someone to look after her.”

“See you soon, Pop.”