Page 67 of Devil in Disguise
Harlan said, “Oh. Hey,” at sight of him, and ran a hand through his hair and grinned. “Good to see you, man. Did you hear I have a son?”
Owen grabbed him and did some back-thumping, at which Harlan laughed in the way you did after you’d won the championship game after all. Like it had been down to the wire and you’d given all you had, but now it was over and you’d somehow, miraculously, done it. Owen stood back at last and said, “I sure did hear that. Congratulations, man. Sounds like it was a close call, you making it in time.”
“That’s what a police escort will get you,” Harlan said.
“Good thing you made that catch and we won, then.”
“Oh. Yeah.” Harlan turned to Dyma and said, “Your mom wants to see you. She’s a little worried, so … maybe go easy. And, Bug—you can see the baby, too. Just—give us a minute, OK?”
What color remained in Dyma’s face drained out of it. She scrambled to her feet, handed Owen back his jacket, and asked, “Is something wrong with Nick? Or with … There’s nothing wrong with my mom, is there?”
Her voice shook, and in that moment, Owen realized something. He had relatives. He had relatives out the wazoo, in fact, most of them right there in Wyoming. Dyma didn’t have anybody but her mom and an eighty-five-year-old great-grandfather with a bad heart. Tough as she was, she was right out there on the edge of the ice. Maybe feeling like she could fall through.
Harlan said, “No. No. She’s doing good, and Nick’s going to be fine. I thought he’d look like Winston Churchill, but he looks … great. Good-looking kid.”
He hesitated, and Dyma said,“What?”
He said, “Turns out he’s got a little thing with his leg, that’s all.”
30
Perfect
She hadno idea what to expect. When she got into the room, though, which was a private one in another section of the floor, her mom twisted around to see her, laughed, started crying, held out her arms, and said, “Oh, baby.”
Dyma ran to her, and when she leaned down to kiss her, Jennifer said, “You’re so cold. Come lie down with me. We’ll warm each other up.”
Dyma got out of her shoes, and her mom scooted over, gasped, and said, “Sorry. Still pretty tender. Come on.” When Dyma crawled into bed beside her, her mother pulled her close so Dyma’s head was under her chin, put an arm around her, and said, “I love you so much. Thanks for coming, and for staying with me and helping. That was too hard for you. You OK?”
Dyma nodded, because she couldn’t talk. Her throat was closing up, and the tears were hot behind her eyes. She sniffed a couple times and said, “I was … I was so worried about you. I thought …” Now, she couldn’t control the tears. Her shoulders started to shake, and then she started to cry.
Shenevercried. She didn’tdothis. But she was doing it anyway, and she couldn’t help it one bit.
“Oh, baby.” Her mom was holding her, rocking her, and this wasn’t right. Dyma should be comfortingher.Somehow, though, she just kept crying, because she couldn’t stop. The sobs were ragged. They hurt. And she couldn’tstop.She tried to say, “Sorry,” but it wouldn’t come out. She buried her head in her mom’s neck, held onto her, and cried. And her mom held her tight and murmured things, the way she always had.
Her grandma had been the one she’d talked to. Her mom had been the one she’drunto. And she was here with her again. She washere.
The sobs died down, finally, the way they always did, even when you felt like you were breaking. When she was sniffing and shuddering, her mom smoothed a hand over her head and said, “Kleenex box beside you, on the little table.” And smiled at her while she mopped up. Her own eyes wet, a few tears leaking out still. Dyma handed her a Kleenex and tried to laugh, and her mom smiled in a trembly sort of way and blew her nose.
When they were done crying, Dyma said, “ I should be looking at Nick. I should be asking about him.” The baby was in a Plexiglas bassinet thing on the other side of the bed, wrapped snugly in a blanket and looking like a burrito, his face scrunched up under his little blue cap.
“We’ll let him sleep,” her mom said. “He’s had a rough time, been manhandled a whole lot. You can see him later.” Dyma could almost feel her smile. “He’s so beautiful, baby. So beautiful, and so sweet.”
“Harlan said …” Dyma hesitated. She didn’t know how to go on.
“That he has a little bit of a club foot? Yeah, he does. They’re going to go in tomorrow and lengthen his Achilles tendon with some surgery, and then put him in a cast, that’s all, and then a brace after a couple months. It happens all the time. One of the most common birth defects there is.”
“So why did Harlan look so …” Dyma stopped.
“What?” Jennifer asked, not sounding nearly so blissful. “How did he look? Did he sound …” A long pause. “Worried? Or … disappointed?”
“What?Disappointed?Why would he be disappointed? No. Worried. About you, I think.”
“Why would he be worried about me? I’m fine. I had a baby, and it wasn’t any fun, which I didn’t remember from the first time, weirdly. Once I started pushing,thenI remembered, but too late then. I’m fine. Sore, but fine.”
“All right, then. Why would he be disappointed?”
Her mom was still explaining when Dyma sat up and said, “Hang on. I’m getting him.”
