HAPPY EVER AFTER
A Jeanie story
Jeanie was humming quietly as she made herself comfortable in the
rocking chair. Carlos was teething and had kept her awake half
the night. Poor kid, she thought. He seemed to fight every tooth
that came through. "Won't be long now Carlos," she said
softly. "Soon the big bad tooth will be through and you'll
feel a lot better."
Carlos's reply was an inarticulate gurgle. Jeanie smiled at him.
Even after a year, she could sometimes hardly believe how lucky
she was to have him. After discovering that she was HIV positive,
she had resigned herself to remaining childless. But then to have
been given the gift of this beautiful child; it seemed like a
miracle. She couldn't have loved him any more if he had been her
own flesh and blood.
The past year had been one of the happiest of her life.
Rocking back and forth in the chair, Jeanie began to sing softly,
hoping that Carlos would sleep.
"Hush little baby, don't say a word. Papa's gonna buy you a
mockingbird."
Well, it hadn't exactly been a mockingbird, but a few months ago
they had been shopping for baby clothes when Reggie had spotted a
'gadget shop'. Dragging Jeanie and Carlos inside for a look, he
had found a model of a parrot.
"Look at this Jeanie," said Reggie, holding the parrot
up to her. "Isn't it cute? I bet Carlos would love it in his
room."
"I think he's a bit young for a toy like that," said
Jeanie, privately thinking that it was one of the most garish and
hideous things she'd seen.
"Oh, c'mon," said Reggie, smiling. "Say hello,
Jeanie. Go on."
Sighing with mock impatience, Jeanie said, 'Hello Jeanie' to the
parrot. To her surprise, the parrot flapped its wings and
squawked, "Hello Jeanie, hello Jeanie." Reggie burst
out laughing at the look of shock on her face.
"You have a very silly Daddy, Carlos," Jeanie had said,
between fits of laughter.
"Yeah, but your Mommy loves him," said Reggie.
They had ended up buying the parrot and using him to surprise
Kerry the next time she came to visit.
"If that mockingbird don't sing, Papa's gonna buy you a
diamond ring."
Well Reggie had already bought her a diamond ring. It was small;
no large carat stones for a policeman's wife. But it was the
giver and not the gift that had mattered. She would have married
Reggie even if he had given her a curtain ring. He had promised
her that one day he'd buy her a diamond the size of an egg. She
had kissed him softly and said that all she wanted was him and
Carlos.
"If that diamond ring turns to glass, Papa's gonna buy you a
looking glass."
They had plenty of mirrors in the house, not that Jeanie spent
much time looking into them. She knew that she had a lot more
gray hairs than she'd had a year ago. Carlos, and worries over
his health had caused many of them. Last winter, he had seemed to
come down with one cold after another. Jeanie had spent half her
time in doctor's surgeries and the other half pacing the floor at
night trying to coax him back to sleep. But Carlos had come
through every thing that life had thrown at him and today the
worst thing to bother him was a tooth that wouldn't come through.
Some of the other gray hairs came from Reggie's job. She knew
that being a cop was all Reggie had ever wanted to be, and she
knew that he was good at his job. But still, every time he was
late coming home, she worried that this would be the one day that
he <wouldn't> come home. Sighing, she knew that this was
the price she paid for loving him. "Ain't nothing in this
world comes without a price, Jeanie." She could hear her
grandmother's voice saying those words. "Anything that
doesn't have a price isn't worth having. You remember that when
you're all grown up."
Well if a few gray hairs were the price she had to pay for Reggie
and Carlos, then they were definitely worth it, thought Jeanie.
And of course it wasn't all bad news in the mirror. There were a
lot of laughter lines there that hadn't been there a year ago.
Life with Reggie and Carlos might be stressful and worrisome, but
it was also very very happy.
"And if that looking glass gets broke, Papa's gonna buy you
a billy goat."
They had taken Carlos to a petting zoo for his birthday. He had
been fascinated by all the animals, but had been particularly
taken by the goats and kids. Reggie had instructed Jeanie to hold
Carlos so he was sitting on the back of one of the bigger goats.
"Hold him there, Jeanie," said Reggie as he wound on
the film, "Just one more."
"Um, Reggie," said Jeanie.
"Just a minute, I'm nearly there."
"No really, Reggie, there's something you should know."
"Big smiles everyone. C'mon Carlos, smile for Daddy."
Jeanie had smiled, but not for the camera. The reason she was
smiling was that while Reggie had been fiddling with the camera,
a billy goat had snuck up behind him and was busy nibbling
unnoticed on Reggie's jacket. It was only a pity that Jeannie
didn't have the camera when Reggie realized what had happened.
That would have been one picture worth a thousand words.
"And if that billy goat runs away, Papa's gonna buy you
another day."
Not the exact words, but somehow they were appropriate. On their
last visit to the specialist, Jeanie had been told that with the
proper care and attention, both she and Carlos stood a good
chance of seeing his twenty-first birthday. For almost the first
time since she had been diagnosed, Jeanie was now able to think
of a future beyond the next few years. Of course she could easily
be run over by a bus on her way to the shops, but that was a
pessimistic view to take.
Pricking up her ears, she heard the front door open. "Looks
like Daddy's home," she whispered to Carlos who was busy
chewing on his toes.
Reggie came up behind the chair and leaned over to kiss Jeanie.
"Miss me?" he said.
"Every minute," replied Jeannie.
"Wanna sit in the window and watch the sunset? It's gonna be
a beauty."
"I'd watch paint dry, if I was sitting next to you,"
said Jeannie as they made their way to the window.
Sitting down, Reggie put his arms around his wife and son as they
watched the sun go down on another beautiful day. The best part
was knowing that tomorrow would be another day and another sunset.
The End
Stand-alone
fics