Page 58 of The Virgin's Baby
I poured the drink as I thought about my answer. Finally, I came up with one, “I like the way things are now. That’s why I want to keep them that way.”
When I turned around, I saw my grandfather pulling out a handkerchief then wiping his face as he’d broken out into a sweat. “Things are okay, Ransom. They’re not the best they can be. Why don’t you want things to be the best that they can be?”
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked then went to sit back down, leaving my glass on the bar as I’d begun to wonder if the weird energy I felt was about my grandfather’s health and nothing more than that.
“No.” He wiped his face again. “I’m not doing as well as it may seem.”
My heart plunged. “Do you think…?”
He stopped me. “I don’t know. But I do know this. You’ve got something that’s keeping you from making natural choices in your life. I don’t know what it is, but I know I’ve got to do what I can to help you.”
“I’m fine,” I told him and then I really looked at him, trying to find anything about his appearance that would let me know if I needed to rush the man to the emergency room or something. “It’s you that I’m worried about, Grandad. Should we go to the ER?”
“No.” He waved his hand in the air. “If I get the damn cancer again, I’m not going through all that chemo again. I can’t do it. I won’t do it.”
So there it was. If the cancer came back, he wasn’t going to fight it.
I got up and went to get that drink I’d poured. “I can’t believe you would do that, Grandad. You’re important to me. You’re going to be important to your great-grandkids too.”
“Do you love her?” he asked, stopping me before I could take the first drink.
“You don’t need to concern yourself with that.” I took a sip and felt the liquid burn all the way down my throat then it heated my stomach.
“It would help me to know if you love her the way I think you do.” He coughed, and it reminded me of how he sounded when he had the tumor in his lung.
I couldn’t help myself. “I don’t know if I love her. That’s why I want things to stay the way they are. That way she won’t come to hate me.”
When I looked at his face, I found myself worrying again. It was pale, and he looked shaky. I didn’t want to see that weakness in him again. It was way too soon to have to deal with losing him again.
His words came out quietly, which wasn’t like him, “I hope you don’t hate me for this, Ransom, but you see, that woman deserves more. She was born to be a Whitaker. My great-grandbabies deserve more. You deserve more too. I have no idea why you’re denying yourself the love of that wonderful young woman. Nor do I understand why you don’t know if you love her or not. I can see very clearly that you do love her. Why can’t you see that and admit it?”
I had no intention of getting into why I didn’t want to tell Aspen words I wasn’t sure about. “Grandad, Aspen is fine with her role in this family.”
“I’m not.” He looked right into my eyes as he delivered his latest news, “I’ve changed my will again.”
“Shit.”This will not be good.
“You have until the birth of your children to marry Aspen Dell. And you have to make that marriage real, son. You know what I’m saying, don’t you?” He winked at me as if he’d just told me some joke.
Maybe it was a joke. “Ah, you’re kidding me. Good one, Grandad.” I took another drink and found my hand shaking.
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I’m dead serious. If I were you, I would marry her sooner rather than later. I heard that most triplets come a month or even two earlier than just one baby does. And if that girl doesn’t have a wedding ring on her finger and if her last name isn’t Whitaker when they come, then you, she, and all those babies of yours are out of my will.”
You old son-of-a-bitch!
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aspen
Lubbock, Texas – December 26th
I’d gotten in a little late the night before. Margo didn’t want me to leave at all. She whined that I’d been spending all my time with Ransom, making her feel left out.
Staying as late as I possibly could was about all I could give her. She’d met a guy, fallen in love, and he’d dumped her without any reason why. I had to stay to let her pour her soul out to me.
Since she’d been in such a state, I didn’t get to whine about my life to her. And when I climbed into my bed, I looked up at the ceiling for way too long, wondering what I could do to get Ransom to get over his issues and let us have a real relationship.
Imagine my surprise when he came into my bedroom early the next morning. He came over to the bed, sitting down on the side and looking a little weird. “How was your visit with your friends, Aspen?”
