Page 53 of The Virgin's Baby
“Great.” I ran my hand over Aspen’s belly. “All three of them are looking good, Grandad.” Then I bumped Aspen’s shoulder with mine. “She’s got something to tell you.”
Grandad got off the treadmill, wiping his face with a towel he’d had hung over the front of the machine. “What do you have to tell me, little momma?”
“We’ve got two boys and one girl!” Aspen said. “We’d like to name one of the boys after you if you’re okay with that, Lucius.”
The way he looked at her made my heart melt. He reached out, taking her by the shoulders then pulled her in for a hug. “Excuse the perspiration, sweetheart, but I’ve gotta get a hug in. You’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been, little momma. I love that you want to name one of your sons after me. And I love you, Aspen Dell. You’re an angel sent to us straight from Heaven above.”
At first, I thought I’d heard him wrong.
Did he say I love you?
But then Aspen responded, “Oh, Lucius, I love you too. And for the record, it was Ransom who came up with the idea to name one of them after you. I wholeheartedly agreed, of course. But his was the mind who came up with that.” She stepped back as he let her out of his arms.
My grandfather looked at me with a stoic expression. “Your idea, huh?”
All I could manage was a shrug. “Yeah.”
He took two steps toward me. Then his hands were on my shoulders, and the oddest thing happened. He hugged me. “Ransom, you’re doing it, son. You’re growing those roots I desperately wanted you to. I love you, boy.”
Oh, hell!
Patting his back, I looked at Aspen who beamed at me. She mouthed, “Say it back to him.”
I had to close my eyes, so I wouldn’t see her and do what she’d said to. Then those three words came up from somewhere deep inside of me. I tried to hold them back, but my mouth opened, and they bubbled out, “I love you too, Grandad.”
Along with the words I hadn’t uttered since childhood came a burning sensation at the back of my eyes.
Fuck me!
Now I was crying too. It was horrible.
Pulling myself away from him, I hurried to the leave the room. “I’ve gotta go.”
I didn’t run, but I walked as fast as I could down the hallway. Then I kept on going. I went outside. Then I walked down the long drive before getting to the road, which I walked down too.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I was walking and couldn’t seem to stop.
Until the sound of a car horn came from behind me. I stepped off to the side of the road and signaled for the car to go around me. But the next thing I knew there was a hand grasping at my arm. “Ransom, what are you doing?” Aspen asked.
I didn’t even think about what I did next. I just did it.
I spun around and took her into my arms. My heart was pounding even harder than it had been. “You’re getting too close, Aspen. You’re going to get hurt.”
“I don’t care.” She ran her hand over my cheek so softly, it felt like a feather. “I love you, Ransom Whitaker.”
Fuck me!
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aspen
Lubbock, Texas – December 1st
My admission of love just kind of sat there. I thought I could see love in Ransom’s blue eyes as he held me on the side of the road. But nothing came out of his mouth. And I decided that was okay. He needed time.
I wasn’t going anywhere anyway.
A decorator had been hired to make the nursery for our babies who weren’t too far away from coming into the world and then into our home. “Since there are boys and a girl, I think yellow would work great,” he told us.
