Page 44 of A Second Chance

“Serve him right,” Hannah said. “But I just hope everything’s okay with Rebecca. She can’t be that far along.”

“No,” Autumn agreed. “She’s early. I’m guessing that’s why she wanted to patch things up with her mom.”

“What a bitch,” Hannah said.

“Hey, if I said that, you’d beat me,” Justin said.

“Oh, come on,” Dan chimed in, “you said you liked that.”

“What?” Justin asked.

“We all know you like it rough,” Dan said. And everyone laughed.

“You’re an asshole.”

Dan grinned. “Just saving your ass from going down the path to the doghouse, my friend. Trust me.”

Jason parked the behemoth SUV in the back of the ER lot and walked up to the hospital with the group of giggling idiots, except Gwen. She’d sidled up and slid her hand in his.

They settled into chairs in a corner of the waiting room, and to make matters uncomfortable, Ellen and Roger joined them, earning glares from Hannah and Autumn. That’s what they needed right now was another argument between people with alcohol-lowered inhibitions. The group remained quiet for a long time, and when he thought they might not have any trouble Hannah broke the silence.

“You know what, Ellen,” she said from her seat, “you’re lucky to have a son-in-law like him. He worships the ground Rebecca walks on. He was madly in love with her for years and wooed her so sweetly. They’re perfect together, and he’d do anything for her.”

Ellen sat silent, her complexion pale like she hadn’t recovered from the shock of her almost thirty-year-old married daughter being pregnant.

Weasel entered the waiting room and glanced around, he caught Jason’s eye and headed toward them. When he caught sight of Ellen, his expression darkened and he zeroed in on her. Jason and Dan were on their feet and caught Weasel before he reached her.

“How’s Rebecca?” Jason asked.

Weasel looked at him then over to the group. “Her blood pressure is dangerously high. They’re giving her something to bring it down and going to monitor her and the baby. Hopefully, it returns to normal soon. They’re giving her fluids. She was a little dehydrated.” His attention shifted to the people behind Jason and Dan. “I’ve been silent because Rebecca wanted to deal with you in her own way. She wanted to smooth things over and let our child have a relationship with its grandmother. But here’s the thing, you’ve now jeopardized the health ofmywife and unborn child. If you think I’m standing idly by after that, here’s a newsflash. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of that, lady. I don’t give a shit what you think of me. My priority is that woman in there. If you can’t get on board and be nice and supportive, then just get the hell out, and never talk to her again. We don’t need you. There are plenty of surrogate grandmothers among my friends’ mom’s here.”

He was right; Ben’s mom had stepped in the best she could for Weasel when he was a kid. And his own mom would welcome another grandbaby. Jason expected the loud-mouth scowling woman to respond with a scathing reply, but she was silent.

“That’s harsh,” Roger said for the first time.

Weasel turned his glare to Roger who swallowed hard. “Do you call her out on this bullshit?”

He didn’t respond, but looked like he wished he’d kept his mouth shut.

“That’s what I thought,” Weasel said.

“There’s a baby,” she whispered. “I have a grandbaby on the way.” The woman was pale and held that shell-shocked expression he’d seen on many faces in Afghanistan.

“Yeah, and now Rebecca’s getting that ultrasound scan early, thanks to you… So what is your problem?”

“Myproblem?” she blinked. Ellen wasn’t used to people speaking to her the way Weasel did. “Wanting the best for Rebecca is not a problem.”

“Maybe Rebecca knows what’s best for her. Look around you, Ellen, all these people stopped drinking free booze to come sit in an ER waiting room out of concern for her. She loves her job and is amazing at it. And she’s happy here. I woulda gone anywhere in the world with her if she wanted to leave here. She didn’t. You’re just gonna have to get used to it. She’s not you. You may have regretted living here, but that doesn’t mean she will. She’s been here long enough now to know. And she’s a brilliant woman, capable of making her own decisions.”

Ellen nodded and Roger was patting her leg.

“How far along is she?” Hannah asked.

“Nine weeks,” he said. “I gotta get back to her.”

“I want to see her.” Ellen said.

Weasel eyed her. “If you even think about upsetting her, I will have you removed.”

---