Page 58 of Just Curious

Willa kept insisting, “I can walk.” Casey was not impressed by this assertion in the least, and Jackson was giving the driver instructions to break the sound barrier getting to the hospital.

Once they were in the car and relatively calmed down, Jackson asked, “Why didn’t you wake us up, sweetheart?”

“You both looked so tired and I didn’t want to worry you. It wasn’t so bad at first, but nnnnggggghhhhhh!” She clutched her belly and began to pant. “The contractions kind of sped up all of a sudden in the past hour or so. Ohhhhh... alot.”

The streets were nearly deserted, since it was three in the morning, and the car moved swiftly toward the hospital. With each quarter of a mile they got closer to the hospital, Jackson breathed a little more easily. That was—until Willa scrunched up her face and hollered, “I need to push!”

“What?”cried Casey. “Willa, you can’t! Wait until we get to the hospital, for the love of God! We’re almost there! See? We’re on Genesee, and it’s just up ahead. Hang on, please!” The hospital was visible in the distance, but they weren’t exactly close to it yet.

Unimpressed with their location or how quickly they’d be there, Willa cried, “I can’t wait. I have to pushnow! Owwwwwww!”

At that point, everything went into slow motion for Jackson. He slipped to his knees on the floor in front of Willa. He’d done a fair amount of research on having babies too, and while Casey switched his hollering to spewing instructions about breathing, Jackson calmly delivered their daughter into the world. He sobbed for joy as she let out a lusty cry. “She’s so beautiful, Willa. Meet our daughter.” He raised the precious bundle so Willa could see. “Meet Matilda.”

Just then, the limo came to a stop in front of the hospital and Casey threw himself out of the car in a panic, shouting as he ran through the automatic doors, “Help! We just had a baby in the car! We need a doctor!”

While admiring the incredible, brand-new, squirmy little person who protested her new surroundings loudly in Jackson’s arms, Willa grimaced. Another colossal contraction grabbed her as she expelled the placenta. “We made an awful mess of the limo,” she pointed out sheepishly.

Jackson chuckled, “I’ll buy a new one.” He kissed their daughter’s head.

Casey returned almost immediately with the medical team who took over. He watched with tears streaking his face as one of the nurses said, “You all did a great job here. The baby looks healthy. Congratulations.” She didn’t really know who to look at, so she smiled at all three of them.

In a hushed tone, Casey finally sounded more relaxed. “We have a daughter. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my whole life.” And he’d seen some pretty incredible stuff.

Epilogue

As expected, the three of them made excellent parents. Casey had created a masterpiece of a nursery, but Matilda was rarely in it. She spent most of her early days attached either to Willa’s breast or to one of her daddies who adored her to the moon and back. As she grew, it was apparent that she would be a curly blond and seemed to be settling on having bright blue eyes. She didn’t particularly look like anyone yet, but she had a beautiful smile, they all thought.

Shortly before Matilda’s birth, production began on the movie made from Willa’s bookLost and Found. The actual filming took the better part of a year to accomplish, and then it was another year in post-production. Willa was thrilled with the actors the studio chose. The leading lady was a former child actress just chomping at the bit to have a grown-up role. She’d been passed over by other studios who couldn’t see how she’d matured, but Cyril’s nephew and his partner saw her potential immediately. The leading man was a relative newcomer to acting who was handsome in an all-American way and self-deprecating enough to make him come across as charming and approachable on film. The pair of them together were electric.

Once the film was released, it became an instant hit. The video of Willa and her men somehow surfaced again amidst the hype about the movie, and it made even more people want to seeLost and Found. Willa Camden became a household name, and it was a huge status symbol among the rich and famous to have worked with Casey Melrose on a house or yacht. Willa’s book sales quadrupled, and Casey had a waiting list of potential clients that would take at least two years to get through.

Jackson became a legend around Silicon Valley. He was often called “The Sex Nerd.” Being a billionaire on top of that didn’t hurt his rep any either.

All three of them got so much fan mail, they had to hire someone just to take on the task of handling it.

And, in perfect poetic justice,Lost and Foundwas nominated for an Academy Award in four different categories—one of which was Best Adapted Screenplay. Another was Best Picture.

When they got the news, Casey whooped and laughed, “We bought you the perfect dress in Monte Carlo to wear to the Oscars, so you’ll be noticed on the red carpet. God, you look so sexy in that dress.”

“Very funny,” Willa replied.

Jackson snorted quietly and then put his arm around her. “You’ll be the sexiest and most beautiful woman there, no matter what you wear. Just don’t havethisbaby before the awards are all passed out, please?”

“You two are a couple of real comedians. I’m going to be around all of those gorgeous, skinny women, and I’ll look like a beach ball with legs.”

“Oh, forget them. You’re much more beautiful and you’re also brilliant and a wonderful mother,” Casey assured her. “They’ll all be jealous of you.”

Partially due to their notoriety and partly because of their talents, when Willa and her two gorgeous, tuxedoed men stepped out of their limo and walked the red carpet arm in arm, they were showered with as much or more adulation and paparazzi attention than most of the A-listers there. Willa’s protruding belly gave her a “real person” vibe that the crowd ate up. Everyone loved her.

And so did the Academy. Willa Camden and Janie Arden won their screenwriting category, and then the movie won Best Picture. As producers of the movie, Jackson, Casey, and Cyril joined Twenty-First Century Wolves onstage to accept the award.

It was an amazing night, and they celebrated afterward at one of the most exclusive Oscar after-parties. People flocked around to congratulate them and bask in their glow of joy and success. Some of them were bad enough actors, however, that they failed to completely disguise their jealousy. That’s Hollywood.

Eventually Willa and Jackson decided to tear down the two houses in La Jolla. The houses didn’t work for the needs of their growing family, so they planned to build one incredibly beautiful home in their place. This was fairly common practice in La Jolla where true beachfront property was scarce, but most re-builders had to manage with just one lot, whereas now they had the benefit of two that adjoined.

Jackson and Casey accompanied Willa on her final tour through her house before its demolition. She showed them the place where her dad used to hold her in his lap and read to her by the window in his favorite chair. “That’s probably when I decided I had to be a writer,” she explained. “Sometimes I’d talk him into telling me one of his own Hunky Monkey stories, even though they were usually meant for long road trips. Hunky Monkey got up to some crazy antics, that’s for sure.” She smiled sadly. “Eventually he insisted that I help him out with the story and we’d trade off, trying to outdo each other. When I got older, he’d ask me to read him one of the stories I’d written.” She sighed. “He was a great dad. And, boy, did he ever love my mom.”

Then she showed them a tiny chip in the kitchen tile where she’d dropped the electric mixer. “My mother was trying to show me how to make a cake, but it freaked me out when the mixer went on in my hands. I jumped back and dropped it and managed to spray cake batter all over the kitchen. My mom just laughed instead of scolding me. That’s when I knew I’d never make much of a cook,” she admitted ruefully.

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