Page 46 of Beside the Rolling Waves
She froze. He could feel her body under his arms, just still, like her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped beating. Then, she pushed away. Not hard, not meanly, but like she’d realized what was going on and needed to keep that protective wall up.
“I’m sorry about that. Thanks for letting me cry. I guess I don’t know for sure that I actually needed it or not, but… I appreciate it.” She kept her eyes cast down. And then she turned to the couch. “Do you think we can pick her up and put her in her car seat? Or do you think she’s okay there?”
“I think she’s okay there, but we could put her in her car seat if you need to take a nap. We have a couple of hours until we need to leave to meet the realtor at Raspberry Ridge.”
“All right. I wanted to get some laundry done, so maybe I’ll do that while I’m waiting.”
“Becky,” he said, and she stopped in the process of turning away. “Please. Rest.”
“I can’t. If I lie down, I’m just gonna lie there and think about stuff, and I don’t want to do that.”
“Please,” he said. Knowing that she was exhausted, she had so much that had happened to her, and she just needed to get some rest. “You’ll feel better if you’re able to sleep for a little bit.”
“I know you’re right. I know I would feel better, but I’m not tired enough to sleep. I’ll just lie there, and things are going to go through my head, and I’m going to feel worse and worse, and I’m going to feel more tired when I get up than I did when I lay down.”
“I wish you would try.”
“I know how it’s going to go. And I’ll feel better if I’m busy. I’ll at least be able to keep the thoughts at bay.”
“Then let me help you.”
She laughed. “I promise you, I’m quite capable of putting a load of laundry in the washer by myself. You’re right, I’m tired, and I know you’re right that I would feel better if I would rest, but I just know that I’m not going to be able to right now.”
He let it go. She knew herself better than he did, but he also knew that a person could face things better if they were able to make themselves sleep for a little bit. And that’s what Becky needed now more than anything.
He moved around, knowing he had some work that he could probably do while the babies were sleeping, and there were other things to take care of. He supposed that he just needed to let Becky go. Do what she wanted to do. And realize that his right to ask her to do anything was severely limited. She had been kind to him, but she really didn’t need to be. And she didn’t even know the half of it. How was she going to react when she found out the rest?
Nineteen
“We love the property and would like to make an offer on it,” Rodney said as he carried a car seat in each hand, setting them down in the kitchen where the real estate agent stopped, and Becky leaned against the counter. They’d looked at the whole property, leaving the babies in the car with it running while they walked to check the barn and the two outbuildings. One had been billed as a chicken coop and the other as a storage shed.
The house was pristine and looked like it hadn’t been lived in at all. It was exactly what they wanted.
“All right. That sounds good.”
“There won’t be any banks involved,” he said, since he was paying cash. “My lawyer said that he would need a couple of days to do some research, and then we can close. Do you think the owners would be willing to do such a quick sale? Especially if we offered ten thousand over the asking price?”
The real estate agent bumbled around a little bit. Rodney got the idea he wasn’t used to having someone talk to him like that.
“I can certainly check with them, but I would be willing to bet that they would be ecstatic.”
“All right. That sounds good. You’ll hear from someone later tonight about sending an offer over.”
“That’s wonderful. I will keep an eye out for that,” the real estate agent said, looking absolutely thrilled.
They shook hands after Rodney put a car seat down. The agent made some small talk as Rodney checked to make sure that the babies were covered with their car seat covers, and then he glanced at Becky, who nodded.
They walked out in the cold while the real estate agent locked the door behind them and made sure all the lights were out, promising to be available for any other questions they might think of on the way home.
Rodney sat one baby on one side, and Becky worked on buckling it in while he went around to the other side and latched that baby in the base of the car seat.
The baby carriers were a real pain in the butt, but he understood about safety and all that. Still, he thought that they could have made it a little less of a hassle to get a kid in and out of the car.
Finally, they were strapped in and ready and headed back to Rita’s apartment.
“I’m sorry. I should have thought about what a long drive this was and how hard it would be on you and the babies,” he said as he glanced over and saw Becky looking exhausted.
“No. I’m glad that we went and looked at it. I… It was really expensive though, and I’m a little bit concerned,” she said, pausing before the word “concern.” Like she didn’t know what word to use.
