Key To My Heart: Stay (10 page)

Her first doctor’s appointment went
well, and Garett was excited that he was able to hear their child’s
heartbeat, as was she. But it was while they were at the doctor’s
office that Acasia heard the first rumor ironically enough not
about her sister that had just returned to Clinton, but about the
sister who hadn’t been home since her daughter was born.

She wasn’t thrilled to know that people
were saying that Nikki had had an affair and that Sammi was
reported to not be Jay’s child. She considered the rumors
ridiculous, especially the latter since Sammi was the picture of
her father; but she was protective over both of her sisters, and
she didn’t like to hear people talking shit about them.

Garett had overheard the exchange
between the two women as well, and had given her a look of warning.
She had offered him an amused smile, and taken his hand, pointedly
ignoring the women as they walked past them. She tried to call
Nikki as soon as they left the office, but her call went straight
to voicemail, and she again wondered what it was that was really
going on between Nikki and Jay. She sincerely doubted that either
of them had had an affair, but something certainly seemed to be
going on between them that neither of them seemed to want to talk
about.

Garett

Garett wasn’t pleased when he heard the
women in the doctor’s office talking about his sister-in-law
either, but having lived in Clinton all of his life besides when he
was in college, he was certainly used to hearing rumors. Small town
dynamics were familiar to him. They were often boring and when
nothing of interest was going on, people tended to make things up
just to have something to talk about. He was sure that that’s what
was going on with the rumors about Nikki, but at the same time, it
made his need to talk to Jay even more urgent.

He attempted to call his brother that
afternoon, but his call went straight to voicemail, just as
Acasia’s call to Nikki had. It made him worry even more, and he
knew that Acasia was worried on her sister’s behalf as well. If
there hadn’t already been so much else going on in their lives, he
was sure that the whole combined Black/Brown family probably would
have taken a trip to confront Jay and Nikki. He figured that if
some sort of explanation wasn’t forthcoming that it would happen
eventually anyway, but he certainly wasn’t looking forward to such
an intervention style confrontation.

Life was hectic with everything that
going on, and Garett sometimes felt as if he rarely had a chance to
breathe. But he knew that he might as well get used to the pace.
They were going to be parents, and being a parent to him had always
seemed to involve non-stop running, no matter what age your
children were or how many of them you happened to have.

He thought the house was coming along
well, but there was still so much that needed to be done before the
baby was born that it was almost overwhelming. He was almost at the
point of trying to bribe his brother into coming back home so he
would have some extra help on the house. But he wasn’t quite there
yet, and Acasia was more helpful than she realized, especially when
it came to issues of cost.

His parents had taught him to balance a
budget and he hadn’t had extravagant tastes as a single man, so he
had saved money and continued to put money away. But he tended to
look at cost instead of the overall value. Acasia saw the whole
picture and would meticulously plan things out so that whatever
they purchased, they always received the best value. She also
understood issues such as supply and demand, and could pretty
accurately predict when certain products were more likely to be on
sale or available at a lower cost. She had quite a head for
business, and he had discussed with his father the idea of hiring
her to manage the office for Black and Sons after the baby was
born.

His father was in favor of the idea,
and Acasia liked the fact that she would be able to bring the baby
to the office with her, so it looked like Black and Sons would
become even more of a family business in the future. He didn’t care
whether they had a son or a daughter, he just hoped that he would
be able to pass the business on to his child in some way and was
glad that Acasia would be able to share in something that gave him
so much pride as well.

He was able to talk to Jay a week and a
half after they had heard the rumors at the doctor’s office and his
brother denied them, calling them ridiculous. There had been
something in his voice that had made Garett wonder if Jay was
telling him the complete truth though. It wasn’t like him to lie,
but Garett could understand the need of a man to protect his
family, and understood how hurtful rumors could be, whether they
happened to be true or not.

Acasia

Acasia talked to Nikki a few days after
Garett talked to Jay, and Nikki denied the rumors as well. But she
had known that Nikki would deny the rumors. People had often spread
rumors about Nikki and Jay while they were in high school, though
the two had certainly never seemed to do anything to cause them,
and Acasia had always known that the rumors had bothered Nikki much
more than she had ever wanted to admit. Nikki didn’t like the
spotlight, she never had, and wasn’t normally one to do things that
would draw attention to her.

She was worried about her sister, and
wished that she had time for a visit. She still hadn’t seen her
beautiful niece in person and with Demi being back in town, it
seemed like the perfect opportunity for a visit. But with both of
them being pregnant, not to mention everything else that was going
on in both of their lives; it seemed almost impossible to plan such
a trip. She just hoped that Nikki or Jay opened up to someone
before it got to the point that their parents planned a surprise
intervention. She knew that that was the last thing any of them
needed.

She was happy with the idea of going to
work for Black and Sons after the baby was born. She liked that not
only would she be able to bring their child to the office with her,
but that she would be putting her degree to work as well. She still
had a pretty massive student loan debt, and it would feel good not
only to use her degree, but to be able to start to make bigger
payments to pay down the debt as well.

Demi’s baby shower went well. She
thought that her sister was adjusting well to being back home all
around, but they still hadn’t been able to get a moment to talk
privately and Acasia was disappointed. She knew that she could talk
to her sister on the phone at almost any time, but talking to her
sister about Gavin was something that she wanted to do in
person.

Garett

Time seemed to be racing by at a
speeding pace that threatened to make his head spin. He had never
done so much planning in his life, nor had he ever been expected to
complete such a large project in such a short time. He sometimes
felt as if it was all too much and wanted to bury his head in the
sand, but he had known for a long time that ignoring things
wouldn’t make them go away, and he did his best to address every
issue that came up.

And there were many issues that arose
as the weeks passed. Issues with the house, and issues with the
wedding plans, though luckily there were no issues with the baby.
Acasia had cut her schedule back to three days a week instead of
five, and it seemed to be helping both with her mood and her energy
level. On the nights she worked, she came home so tired that the
only thing she wanted to do was go straight to bed.

They’d had to change the
wedding date, realizing that they had set it too close to Demi’s
due date. Acasia hadn’t been thrilled with the idea of pushing the
date back, afraid that she wouldn’t be able to find a dress that
would suit her as well later in her own pregnancy, but her mother
had found a tailor that was experienced in outfitting pregnant
woman and who had guaranteed them she would be able to modify any
dress that Acasia chose to fit comfortably, no matter how far along
in her pregnancy she was. That had seemed to set his beautiful
fiancé’s mind at ease, and they had agreed on May
24
^th
as
the day they would exchange their vows, though both of their
mothers had cautioned them on scheduling their special day on a
date that was so close to the due date of the bride.

Six weeks seemed like a safe distance
to both Garett and Acasia though, so they stuck with the
date.

There were problems with the nursery as
well. The room they had originally chosen for their son or daughter
was more damaged than he had originally thought, actually the worst
off of the bedrooms overall. The master bedroom had been in decent
condition, so he hadn’t had to do a lot of work on it, but the
other bedrooms were in various stages of disrepair.

Acasia hadn’t been thrilled with the
idea that the nursery would have to be moved further down the hall,
and had actually dropped tears over it. She apologized later for
getting so emotional over the idea of their child’s room being one
extra room away from them, but he understood at least some of what
she felt. He was working so hard and he was so damned tired all the
time that it seemed as if those few extra steps might make a big
difference in their lives after the baby had arrived.

He realized on a night after Acasia
came home from work and didn’t even manage to change out of her
waitress outfit before she fell asleep that they had both taken on
too much. The thought had occurred to him before of course, but he
knew that it was time to let go of at least some of their
responsibilities. He figured that he would talk to Acasia in the
morning about letting their mothers take over the majority of the
wedding planning. He knew that they would have to set down some
ground rules though, or they would end up with a wedding that was
the dream of their mothers instead of their own.

Acasia

Acasia wasn’t sure how good of an idea
letting their mothers take over the wedding planning was, but she
agreed with Garett that something needed to be done to take at
least some of the heavy load off of their shoulders. Black &
Sons was busy, and Jed needed Garett more than ever. But their own
house also demanded attention. She tried to help as much as she
could, but she knew that she wasn’t equipped to do much more than
the basics, so she felt as if what she did around the house made
little difference in the progress towards its being fit for a child
to live in.

She knew that both she and Garett were
already a little overprotective of their child, and would probably
end up going far beyond just making the house safe for their child,
but she also knew that it would be worth it in the end. The old
house already felt like home because everything that she loved most
in the world was under its roof, but she also knew that a huge load
would be taken off of both Garett’s and her shoulders once it was
finished.

She and Garett spoke with their mothers
who happily agreed to take over the wedding plans. They did set
firm rules down though, to ensure that the wedding would still be
theirs. Their mothers were well meaning, and wanted to help, but
both women were rather opinionated and had their own ideas of what
would make the wedding unforgettable that didn’t necessarily fit
with what Acasia and Garett wanted.

She was embarrassed when she ended up
crying over the nursery having to be moved further down the hall,
but it felt like the final nail in the coffin that the day had
become. She had dropped not one but two plates of food at work, and
she had been mortified, and close to tears over her clumsiness when
Garett had come in for dinner. He had been able to calm her down
like always, but when she had come home after work and been given
the news that the nursery was going to have to be moved after all
of the work he had done to get the room ready, it had been too
much.

She hoped that she wouldn’t turn into a
complete emotional mess by the time the baby was born, and wondered
over how her baby sister seemed to stay so strong through it all
when she faced raising her child alone.

Garett

Garett was half asleep on the couch
waiting for Acasia to get home from work, nursing the first beer he
had had in a month when his phone rang. He knew that it was Gavin
from the ring tone, and he almost didn’t want to answer. The idea
of trying to talk his brother into coming home again was
exhausting. He didn’t know if he had the energy left to deal with
his brother’s unrequited love for Demi either, but he picked up the
phone anyway, hiding a sigh.

“
Hey big
brother.”

Gavin chuckled. “You sound so happy to
hear from me Gar. Is the running around like a chicken with its
head cut off finally getting to you?”

“
It’s not funny Gav. Do you
know how much work it takes to finish a house in months when the
project should take a year or more? Hell, if I hadn’t hooked up
with Acasia, it might have taken me years to fix this old place
up.”

“
In over your head are
you?”

“
Every time I turn around
something else comes up with this place that demands immediate
attention. Leaks, plumbing, whole walls that need to be replaced.
And Dad has got us swamped with work. It seems like he picks up a
new project every other day. And not all of them are simple. You
should think about coming home Gav. We need the help so much that
Dad just might welcome you with open arms.”