Page 105 of Walk on the Wilder Side

I furrowed my brow. “A helper monkey?”

“Yeah. You know, a little monkey to take care of me and feed me, get me water, type for me, that kind of stuff. A helper monkey.”

“I don’t like monkeys.” Doris scrunched up her face.

“Well, monkeys really like you.” Marge waggled her eyebrows. “So much one humped your head. Oh! If I ever get paralyzed and need a helper monkey, go back to Mexico and find me that one! Then he can terrorize Doris in between spoon feeding me strained peas!”

Alice peeked open an eye. “Yes, and then we’ll all sit there and laugh when it flings poo in your face, and you can’t lift your arms to do anything about it.”

Marge scowled. “Nasty.”

Alice finally sat up. “Yep. While you’re sitting in your chair unable to move, I’ll be there every day training your monkey to throw shit at you. Maybe then you’ll realize what a terrible idea it was to stick that smelly fish in my face.”

“No monkeys. Please!” Doris begged.

Alice laid back down. “I don’t like monkeys either, actually. Dirty little creatures. Fine. I won’t break your neck, Marge, but payback is going to be monumental.”

Marge lay down horizontally on the stairs and propped her hands behind her head. “I look forward to your rebuttal.”

“So, anyway,” I said, changing the subject. “Doris and I had a wonderful time on our ride today. Glad we got it in before the blizzard.”

“What are we going to do for the next few days if it keeps up?” Doris asked. “I’m assuming all the activities will be closed?”

“Probably,” I said with a frown. “I was really excited to try some more of these winter activities, but with the blizzard, I assume we’ll just be snuggled up in our domes watching the Northern Lights. Although, not sure if we can see them through the snow.”

“Oh! AndOutlander!”Doris sat up, her eyes wide and filled with excitement. “We can watch more of that, right? Even though we aren’t in Scotland anymore?”

Marge chuckled. “Look at that. You and your dirty lady porn pulled Doris to the dark side.”

I ignored her. “Of course we can.Outlanderslumber parties under the Northern lights sound wonderful. But I’ll be sad if we won’t get to do another reindeer sleigh ride. I wanted to go one more time before we leave, but Fiona said the snow will likely be way too deep.”

“Maybe we could stay a few extra days?” Doris asked. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I have to get home to Rachel,” I answered. “As much as I would love to stay, and as much fun as I’m having, I can’t wait to get to her to spend her last few weeks getting ready before the baby comes. And Ihaveto be there when my grandchild is born. I can’t risk missing it. I’m already going to miss so much living halfway across the country from them, I don’t want to miss this. I won’t. I promised her.”

“Are you staying at her house?” Marge asked.

“No. Tom and I rented a house in the neighborhood for a month. I want to be there to help her before and after the baby is born, but I also don’t want to smother her. There is nothing worse than an overbearing mother hounding you after giving birth. That bonding time is so important. And I would know.” I rolled my eyes. “Bruce’s mom showed up at our house the day we brought Rachel home, and that relentless womanwould not leave.She just moved in and wouldn’t stop giving me ‘tips’ and telling me how I should do things. Criticizing me for every little decision I dared make on my own without consulting her. Ugh. It was awful. I’m not doing that to Rachel. I’ll be nearby if she needs me, but I’m not going to force myself into her special time with the new baby.”

“She’s so lucky to have you,” Doris said sweetly.

“And I’m lucky to have her. She’s such a wonderful person, and now that Tom is in our lives, he just wants to get to know her as much as he can. He missed so much with not knowing about her until she was an adult. He is so excited to be a grandpa and see some of those milestones he never got to experience.”

“You two are going to make wonderful grandparents.” Doris sighed. “And there is nothing better than being a grandparent. You get all the fun of spoiling them without having to deal with the aftermath. I love when mine come to visit.”

Come to visit.Those words reminded me how many of the milestones I was going to miss when our time with the new little one would always be spent in small bursts of us visiting them or them visiting us. But there was no way Tom and I would leave Wilder Lane for California, even though we’d initially talked about it. We’d just have to make the most of the time we had when we could. Cherish every moment.

“Oh, the first time you hold them is magic.” Doris closed her eyes tight.

“I can’t wait for that part.” My heart swelled to bursting thinking about holding my grandchild in my arms. A child who would exist only because of the love Tom and I had for each other. If I hadn’t walked into the bar that night, hadn’t fallen into his hypnotic eyes, Rachel would never exist. And without Rachel, no new baby. And if this child had children, our love would stretch for generations to come, all those new lives just because of my love for Tom, and his love for me.

My bloodline would live on in my grandchild. Our love would live on in our grandchild. Life continued. Just like it had continued after we’d lost our husbands when we’d thought it was all over for us, we’d lived on then, and because of it, now a piece of me would live on forever.

The miracle of life really summed up how I felt about the whole situation.

“I think I’m more cooked than my fish is right now.” Marge sat up. “I’m gonna head back to the domes.”

“I’ll join you. I’m getting overheated myself.”

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