ATOP Chapter Thirty-Six

"You sure you're warm enough?"

Rachel giggled as Ronnie tucked a third quilt over the bed, glancing down at her anxiously. Benjie's little nose was just level with the edge of the bed and he poked it over, squeaking delightedly when he saw his mommy. Clad in a fuzzy blue sleeper, he had toddled back and forth after Ronnie like a faithful little shadow for the past fifteen minutes. 

"Jah, I told you already that I was," Rachel grinned as Ronnie scooped Benjie up. "Warm inside and out. And you are not allowed to ask that question anymore, that was at least the fifth time."

"Sorry," Ronnie grinned back, cuddling Benjie. "Aw, look how sleepy he is... ready for bed, lil squirt? Or should I say big? Gonna be a big brother, eh?" 

Benjie had been brought back by Josh properly worn out and babbling about all kinds of things, only half of which his parents had understood. Josh had translated a bit before Rachel shooed him out the door, afraid that Ronnie would reveal the surprise before she was ready to tell. She had never seen her husband so excited before. And it was such a ridiculously dramatic contrast to how the evening had begun that she wasn't sure exactly how to go forward. Benjie had been told as soon as Josh had left. Ronnie had blurted it out before Rachel could say anything to stop him and so she had to help explain. Benjie had looked at her very solemnly, little head cocked to one side, and repeated,

"Baby in Mommy's tummy?"

At the confirmation of this fact, he had gone very slowly up to his mommy and laid one tiny hand on her stomach, very gently. He stared a moment in awe before leaning closer to whisper,

"Hi, Baby."

He had then leaned in farther until his head rested against Rachel and he frowned, as if concentrating very hard. After a moment or two, he shook his head and sighed in resignation.

"Baby can't talk yet," he had announced decidedly. 

But Benjie was considerably sleepier now, and in answer to his daddy's comment on being a big brother, he only  mumbled something incoherent and buried his face in Ronnie's shoulder. 

"I want him," Rachel reached out eagerly. "He can stay with us tonight. My precious little liebling..."

"Little boy blue," Ronnie laughed and tucked Benjie into Rachel's arms, drawing the blankets up over the both of them. "I wonder if the next is a boy or girl?" 

"If it's a boy I hope he looks just... like... his daddy." Rachel sighed, pulling Benjie close. They were both almost asleep already. "We will have to... decide names... I like Judah... such a... powerful name..." her eyes were closing as she spoke. 

"Tomorrow," Ronnie murmured, bending down to kiss Benjie's chubby cheek. "Rachel..."

"Mmm?"

"Forgive me." he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. She felt a tear land on her cheek and it hurt her heart. Pulling one arm away from Benjie, she reached out to take Ronnie's hand, lacing her fingers through his.

"There is nothing to forgive, dear heart," she whispered back. "I love you."

♡♡♡

The kitchen was dark and silent, but in the warm and cozy way that kitchens have of being in the late afternoon when someone has just gotten through baking. It smelled of chocolate and sundry other almost-equally delicious things that made Mac's mouth water. There were chocolate chip cookies in here somewhere, he could sense their presence. And this being Mum's kitchen... no offense to Katie who made lovely cookies... but Mum's cookies really were the best. They simply were unparalleled. 

And the best part of all this was that, the kitchen being empty, there was absolutely no one to stop him from eating exactly as many cookies as he wanted. So off he went in search of them, forgetting momentarily that Jafe had sent him after an important tool of which they had rather immediate need. Cookies were currently the stronger impulse.

He remembered only once the third cookie was in his mouth and several more wrapped in a napkin and hidden in his pocket. Realizing that hurrying was in order, he raced up the stairs two at a time and burst into Jafe's room with all the grace of an elephant. 

Jafe's room was, as always, in an incredibly organized state of chaos. It took Mac considerable rummaging to find the tool in question, even with the minute instructions for finding it that Jafe had given him. Jafe was the only person in all the world who could easily find anything in that room, it really made no sense, Mac being sent to retrieve things from it. 

Having found what he came in search of, Mac went to rush back out of the room again, but tripped over a basket that promptly tipped over, spilling out a considerable quantity of crumpled paper. In any other circumstances, Mac would have simply ignored this and gone on about his business, but he happened to notice the words "Dear Annie" scribbled on a sheet of paper and he simply could not resist looking.

Fifteen minutes passed and Mac was sitting on the floor in Jafe's room surrounded by countless "Dear Annie" letters. And each one of them revealing a broken heart in a way that went straight to Mac's own heart. What started it, he wasn't quite sure, but an idea was forming in his mind... one that sounded equally foolish and brilliant. He didn't know if it would end up being more foolish or more brilliant, but neither did he stop to think long enough to decide it. He simply seized upon that wild idea, once it had fully formed, and quickly gathered up the letters. He managed to finish collecting them at the very moment that Jafe's impatient voice was heard downstairs, wondering what on earth Mac was up to and why did it take that long to fetch one tool? But by the time Mac made it down again, Jafe had found the cookies and did not need to hear explanations.