Tightening the Knot (13 page)

           
While Meredith was not immune to the effects of
Psycho
, this was the first time her spine had tingled while listening to the shower from the outside.
 
Her eyes focused on the light coming from under the door as she pushed back the covers and moved slowly toward it.
 
Her hand closed on the knob.
 
Katie was jumping up and down frantically in her
crate,
apparently oblivious to the bashing it gave her head.
 
Then the eerie moment was shattered by the unmistakable sound of metal rings sliding on the shower rod as the water stopped.

           
Meredith groaned at her overactive imagination before she walked over to release the dog, and swear her to secrecy.
 
Katie was a willing confidant and her ears were so soft.
 
Meredith felt some release as well and began to relax.

           
“Oh, you’re up.”
 
Greg had opened the bathroom door wrapped in a towel, a not at all unwelcome sight.
 
She was feeling better and better.
 
“Sorry about the whining,” he added.
 
“After that battery incident, I wasn’t sure it’d be safe to let her roam the house while I was in the shower.”
 

           
“That’s alright.”
 
It was alright.
 
It was perfectly rational.
 
Why hadn’t she thought of that?
 
And now that she was fully awake, she remembered that Greg had come to bed before she fell asleep.
 
“I should be up anyway.
 
Has she been out?”

           
“Yeah.
 
We got the paper,
then
I put her back in the crate.”

           
“Okay.
 
I better get started on breakfast.”
 
Katie bounded down the steps ahead of Meredith, then back up to see what was taking so long, then back down again.
 
She circled eagerly while Meredith prepared a coffee cake.
 
It went into the oven about the same time Greg stepped out the door.
 
He would be back with his mom one last time this visit.
 
They were going to exchange gifts after breakfast and then Judy would leave for the airport by
noon
.
 
She planned to spend Christmas Day with Greg’s sister.

           
Meredith chopped some vegetables and cracked quite a few eggs.
 
The omelets would start cooking once everyone was there so they’d be fresh.
 
Then she went back upstairs to get dressed.
 
Her red sweater was appropriate for the holiday.
 
It was also a shade that looked fabulous on her.
 
She noticed this as she checked herself in the mirror, and it occurred to her how she had been taking a little less care with her appearance lately.
 
She paused to put in her diamond stud earrings, a gift from Greg two Christmases ago.

           
A car door shut in the garage as she made it back to the kitchen and she was struck with an impulse.
 
She dashed to the calendar on the wall and wrote “marriage thingy” on the 31
^st
.
 
That would show Greg that she was not backing out.

           
As the door opened, she heard Greg yell, “NO!” and knew immediately that the dog had escaped again.
 
She grabbed the leash and bag of treats off the counter and when she couldn’t find any footwear of her own, put her feet into Greg’s slippers before beginning her sprint down the street.

           
The dog had stopped to sniff a tree just as Meredith caught sight of her.
 
Greg was gaining on her.
 
When she started running again, Meredith called her name and waved the package of treats wildly.
 
Katie recognized what Meredith was offering and changed direction in mid-stride.
 
She received her undeserved reward only after the leash was secure and when Greg caught up, the three of them walked back together.

           
“She totally did an Indiana Jones under the garage door.”

           
“Really?”

           
“Well, it started going back up right away and everything, but it certainly gave her a head start.
 
Like she needs one.”

           
Meredith shook her head.
 
“Stupid dog.”

           
“Yeah.
 
I might be giving Mark an earful when he gets her back.”

           
“He did warn you that she likes to run away.”

           
“But he didn’t tell me how good at it she is.
 
Or that she eats things.”

           
“It has been interesting.”

           
Breakfast was interesting as well.
 
Meredith was distracted.
 
She tried not to be.
 
She tried to focus on the conversation, but her mind was formulating a new plan.
 
Greg had noticed her addition to the calendar while he was setting the table.
 
He added “check-in
3pm
” and smiled at her.
 
They were going to make the most of the event no matter who suggested it.
 
And if Meredith could just get a minute alone with Greg, she was going to add her other part of the plan by letting him know it would be okay for him to hint at the baby trouble on the way to the airport.
 
Judy was very helpful though, even when Meredith tried to insist she have a seat in the living room while they took care of the cleanup.

           
Meredith found herself amused rather than frustrated by her mother-in-law’s constant presence.
 
She wasn’t sure it even mattered that she couldn’t find the time to talk to Greg privately.
 
They had not talked about the source of their trouble for months and the fact that she was not afraid to broach the subject was encouraging.
 
It seemed there was nothing like not finding something traumatic in your bathroom to improve one’s perspective.
 
She sat down to open presents feeling downright festive.
 
When Judy opened the knitting book and skeins of yarn, she said she had been thinking of trying a new pattern and Meredith took this declaration at face value.

           
Judy’s present to Meredith was wrapped in red and green plaid paper with a pile of curly ribbon on top.
 
It felt like a book.
 
Meredith carefully peeled off the bow and placed it next to her.
 
Then she noticed Katie looking at it and moved it to a higher surface.
 
The pretty paper came away to reveal a book called “Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition.”
 
The hints never stopped.
 
Meredith sighed, internally, and said, “Thank you.”

           
“You don’t have that one already?”

           
“No.”

           
Greg peered over her shoulder at the title and seemed slightly panicked when he read it.
 
Why was this hint worse than the others?
 
Meredith inspected the book a little more closely and began to realize what was happening.
 
She knew.
 
Judy knew they were having problems.
 
The book was intended to be helpful, not just plant an idea.
 
And Greg looked worried because he thought Meredith would be upset he had spilled the beans before she was ready.
 
Meredith almost laughed out loud at yet another plan being derailed.
 
She hadn’t even liked this idea; it was just the backup.
 
She was starting to wonder if there were other hints she was supposed to be picking up on.
 
Hints that it was time for her to stop trying to orchestrate some grand plan and work on the simple things.
 
But nothing really seemed simple and the New Year’s plan was still in the works so she was not ready to give up yet.
 
  

           
“I look forward to reading this.”
 
She carefully included Greg in what she hoped was an approving look and then asked him to open his present.
 
Just because she was not upset this issue was out in the open didn’t mean she wanted to dwell on it.
 
Her “cycles” were not open for discussion.

╣ Chapter 17 ╠

           
Meredith and her mother-in-law parted cordially when they said goodbye at the airport.
 
There was a relief in the knowledge that the grandchild hints would likely stop that almost made Meredith wish she had been honest much sooner.
 
But there was a new tone in Judy’s voice that Meredith couldn’t quite define except by how much it bothered her.
 
It tempered the wish.

           
The rest of the day felt a little odd.
 
Greg and Meredith were very polite to each other.
 
They smiled occasionally and made necessary comments like “Are you done with that?” or “I’ll get it” and otherwise said very little.
 
It was almost as though, by writing on the calendar, they had made a subconscious agreement to make a fresh start at the
couples
event... but not one moment sooner.
 
In fact, they spent a good part of the day doing little but waiting, patiently and pleasantly, to start talking to one another.

           
They attended
midnight
Mass together, which was significantly later than Greg was normally willing to stay awake.
 
He was a morning person in no uncertain terms who had been making this exception every year since getting married.
 
He was still up by
6 o’clock
the following morning.
 
Meredith put her pillow over her head while he showered to muffle Katie’s protests and slept one more hour after Greg took the dog downstairs.
 
When Meredith came down, he was sitting at the table with a newspaper and a cup of coffee and Katie was thrashing about on the floor with something red and shiny on the back of her neck.

           
Meredith didn’t say anything.
 
Her look of confusion was enough to prompt a response from Greg.
 
“I heard the water running so I knew you were up.
 
I thought you’d think it was cute for her to greet you with a Christmas bow.”
 
After a pause he added, “But I think she might be trying to eat it.”

           
“Well, it is cute, but I suppose we should rescue her.”
 
Meredith took the bow off and put it out of reach, then poured herself a bowl of cereal.
 
“Oh, yeah.
 
Merry Christmas.”

           
“And Merry Christmas to you, too.”
 
He disappeared for a moment and came back with two presents, which he set in front of her on the table.
 
He had not gotten the presents from under the tree.
 
Every year he insisted on hiding his gifts to Meredith until Christmas morning.
 
The stated reason for this was so Meredith could not try to guess the contents.
 
She suspected it was also to conceal when the gifts were purchased.

           
Meredith went upstairs to get her presents from under the tree.
 
It was in an all too empty room upstairs that happened to have a window facing the street.
 
The gifts were practical and yet appropriately intimate.
 
Greg received a new electric razor.
 
He would no longer need to tap his on the counter to get it started in the morning.
 
He also opened a new hat and gloves, ones that would cover all ten fingers.
 
Meredith got some craft kits to use with her students and a beautiful nativity scene.
 
She had accidentally chipped a wise man setting hers up earlier in the season.
 
After the gifts, Meredith got to work in the kitchen and Greg pretended he wasn’t having fun playing with Katie.