"Maybe!" Gram called from the porch.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"You wanna get your dog out of the punch bowl?" Bruno had his front paws on the picnic table lapping up the fruity drink from the bowl.
"Oh, dear. Sorry Gram. Bruno!" The dog jumped from the table at the sound of his name. "You lost privileges, boy. You gotta go home now." He whimpered as she led him away.
"I'll get the bowl cleaned up, Gramma." Offered Backus as he grabbed the empty bowl.
"How come he gets to call you Gramma and I have to call you Gram?" I whined when he disappeared into the house.
The woman looked down at me with her playful violet eyes and smiled. "Have I graduated to Gramma in your eyes, yet?"
"Well, you are my grandmother, aren't you?"
"Doesn't matter what I am to you. The question is, who am I to you? Gramma? Or Gram, the warden?"
Oh, right. I was sentenced here. I gave her the only answer I could think of. "Both?"
"I see. Well, in that case, for the next... what do you have left? Five, six months to your sentence? For the remainder of your time required by law, call me Gram. When and if you are ever here of your own free will, and you have willingly accepted your position in this family, then you may call me Gramma. Fair?"
"I guess." I rubbed my belly and pondered what she meant. True, I wasn't happy about being here in the beginning, but I thought had changed. I like it here. I really do. I mean, I sleep with that stupid skunk almost nightly. Jimmy and I don't fight much anymore since I found out he was my father. We actually talk a lot these days rather civilly. I have come to spend as much time with him as I can get. I can't help him with some of his chores because the doctor says I can't and by doctor, I mean Jams. I can still feed with him and handle chicken chores and light stuff like that but at least now, when I work with him, he talks to me about my dad, which of course, is really my bio-uncle. That just sounds weird; like the family tree doesn't fork.
I stopped physically running into him and he stopped being a jerk. Well, mostly. He's pulled some devious pranks on me that I didn't appreciate much, like short sheeting my bed or making it with wet sheets. But to be fair I pulled a few on him too like painting his saddle with peanut butter and putting rice in every one of his socks. Just this morning he had put salt in the sugar bowl knowing I'm the only one who puts sugar in my coffee so naturally I had put vinegar in his water bottle. This is how it's been since the big daddy reveal last month. Fun. I still don't know what to call him though. 'Jimmy' seems wrong in light of what he is to me, and 'Dad' seems too strange right now. Mostly I just call him 'Hey' to avoid calling him the wrong thing. I've also called him John Boy a couple of times to which he tells me he's not a Walton, whatever that means.
Gram's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You okay?" She asked with shockingly green eyes. "You look a little pale."
I followed her eye to my belly that I had been inadvertently been holding onto rather tightly. "Oh, I'm fine. A little uncomfortable, is all. It's just hot."
"Why don't you go inside and rest up a bit. We can finish up out here. Party isn't until sixish anyway."
"Okay. Thanks Gram." I left her on the porch and went up to my room. Tonight, was the annual family barbeque and anyone that considered themselves family was invited whether they were actually related or not. Gram had said that roughly two hundred or more people come every year. They already had a pig roasting on a spit and a mudhole made up for the kids' tug-of-war challenge. They had also set up a makeshift dancefloor in the field next to Gram's house with a semi-trailer parked out there with their instruments on it. I have never been to such a large party before. Not even the school dances in Reno had as many people as she was expecting.
Missy Ann and Rikki, who had been staying in my parents' house since their arrival last month, had come to visit specifically for this event. One of their three children arrived with his family yesterday. The other two couldn't swing the trip this year as they both had babies due to be born soon.
Speaking of which, Mackerel's wife had a baby girl this last time. They named her Minerva which is a weird name to me, but kind of pretty too. Naturally, Gram calls her Minnow because that's just how Gram rolls. She calls their son Fish Stick, and I don't think I even want to know the story behind that name.
My babies aren't due for about seven weeks, but Jams said twins often come early and as such I have to see him weekly now to make sure everything stays good. That and I can't do as much as I used to, not that anyone coddles me around here, they don't. I'm still expected to participate in life with them which I don't mind so much. It's just that the bigger I get and the hotter it gets, the faster I get tired. More than once, I've been caught taking a nap in the barn with Bojangles and the kittens.
I get along well with everybody here. Melinda has taught me how to cook. And I don't mean stupid stuff like toast or jello. I've learned how to make alfredo, marinara and barbeque. She's taught me the fine art of making salad taste good and the secret to smooth brown gravy. Who would've thought I could cook something without setting the house on fire or poisoning people?
Mackerel's wife, Brittany had me doing yoga stretches to keep my body in shape and ready for delivery before she had her baby. I hated it at first because I was about as limber as a dried-out piece of wood. Now, I can reach my toes. Well, I could if I wasn't so huge at the moment.
May is still my favorite though. She said she would teach me some fight moves after the babies are born. I'm looking forward to that. I have fantasies of flipping Jimmy Dad over my shoulder just to see his reaction. Hmmm. Jimmy Dad. Maybe I'll try that out on him later.
I laid on my bed to rest and after several minutes of adjusting into different positions, I found enough comfort to drift off, but not before Jackie settled down between my legs and Mars curled up on the floor next to my bed.
*
I found myself back in the hospital room with Jude. "It's been a while." he said when I realized where I was.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Weird. Why are you still here?"
"I don't know. I thought I was a goner the last time you were here. Flat lined and everything."
"What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I heard some dude say that it wasn't the right time yet and then I heard some chick say I wasn't done. That I had things to do. And here I am. Still waiting to either wake up or die. Honestly, I don't care which."
"Well, I care."
"Lord, knows why."
"Don't say that. Don't you want to at least meet your babies?" I asked rubbing my very tight abdomen.
"No, I don't. Wait. You said, 'babies' as in more than one?"
"Yes. I'm having twins."
"Why?! How?"
"I don't know. Maybe they run in my family. How should I know? It just is. There are two in here. And regardless of what you think of yourself, they will have a right to know about you; to meet you."
He shook his head. "Not with the way you got pregnant, no. No rapist deserves to know the children they sired."
"Don't call yourself that."
"Why not? It's what happened. I raped you. I did that to you. I did this to you against your will. You should hate me." He ran his hands through his hair and sat down hard in the smokey chair of this dream.
"I did at first," I admitted. "Planned on getting an abortion too, but..."
"You should've."
"But then I heard about your dad and what he did to and through you and my anger lessened. Then you told me about those journals and when I called the number you gave me... In our dreams, mind you; the detective you told me about answered, and I knew that these dreams were real and the things you've told me are true. I began to understand the circumstances behind what you did to me and I was able to not only forgive you, but myself as well. That is why I chose to have these babies. They are the best of both of us and the good that is coming out of the mess you and I were both in."
"Maybe you can forgive me, but I don't think I can forgive myself."
"Well, I can't make you do that, but I wish you would. You can't change what's been done, but you can change what you will do in the future."
"I don't know. Missypants. It sounds too easy."
"Simple maybe, but not easy. Just doable. Oh! Speaking of calling that detective. Mom sent me this article last week. I think you might like what it has to say." I handed him the printout I had in my pocket. I swear dreams are magical because I didn't have pockets until that moment. "Your journals have proven to blow the case wide open. There were a lot of powerful names in your records. A federal investigation has been launched, your dad has been arrested without bail and for the most part, you have been cleared of responsibility as you are now viewed as a victim of his abuse rather a perpetrator of your own."
"Wow. That's something. Thanks, Missy."
"There's a bit of sad news in there too, Jude. They went looking for the men that were listed as deceased in your journal. They were found buried in the backyard."
"That's just creepy, isn't it. We played back there without a clue."
I rested my hand on his shoulder. "Jude. They found your mom's body buried back there too."
He sucked in a sharp breath. He nodded his understanding. "I think I knew deep down she was gone. I didn't want to believe she ever leave me."
"She didn't leave you, Jude. Not willingly."
He stood and walked over to his body in the hospital bed. Holding onto the side rail, he told me that his dad wasn't his biological father. He was just a man his mom had met on the internet. They had moved to Reno from New York the year he started school. That's when he met me. Things were great for a couple of years, then the fighting started. Then his mother disappeared. "I am not my dad." He whispered. "I am not a monster."
"Finally, your talking sense. Now you just have to wake up."
"I don't know how." He admitted.
The door to the room opened, gaining our attention though the visitors couldn't see or hear us. An elderly woman had come in with a nurse. "Oh my!" she exclaimed. "How long has he been unconscious?"
"About six moths now. He was taken off life support three months ago because he wasn't showing any signs of brain activity."
"Yet, clearly he's still alive."
"Yes, ma'am. We can't explain it. He flatlined when he came off life support, but then his heart started back up on its own with a few minutes. He's been lying here peacefully ever since."
"God still has plans for you, my love." The old woman whispered in his ear. Jude touched the spot on his dream body as if he felt her breath against it. "I'm going to take you home with me. I won't let any one hurt you ever again." She straightened up and faced the nurse. "I'll have my doctors in New York take care of the necessary paperwork and arrange for his transport. As his maternal grandparent, I have been awarded custody of my grandson and I plan to get him the best care available."
"Yes, ma'am. I hope he wakes up. He's so young."
The woman handed the nurse a business card that I just had to read. Hilda Jorgenson. I know that name. "Call me if there is any change in his condition before he is moved."
"Yes, Mrs. Jorgenson. I will."
"You have a grandmother. Cool."
"Dad said she was dead."
"Clearly not."
"Clearly." He smiled for the time since our little dream rendezvous began. "She's taking me home. I'm going home." Happy tears trailed down his face. "I'm going home!" He picked me up and swung me around. Then he did something completely unexpected but not entirely unwanted. He took my face in his hands and kissed me.
*
I woke up with a jolt of pain surging through my abdomen. Well, crap! I'm going to mess up the barbeque, aren't I? I whimpered through the pain and Mars jumped up from the floor and sniffed me up and down before taking off downstairs. Jackie jumped down from bed as well as I tried to readjust to a less painful position. By the time the skunk made it to the door, Jams and Gram were coming in with Rikki hot on their heels. "I thought you looked a little pale." Gram said as she felt my forehead. Seriously? The dog told them to come up here?
"Is it a steady pain or a stabbing pain?" Jams asked as he felt around my belly. I winced when he hit a spot on my right side. "Do you think you can stand?" I shook my head. I couldn't even speak, it was hard to breathe. I could feel panic rising in my chest. "Hey, now, ssshh.. It's okay, Melissa. It's okay. Your babies are just ready to join the party. That's all. You will be fine. Calm down. Deep breath." I complied. "There you go. That's my girl. Deep breaths. Good. Now, I gotta check you to see how close we are, okay?" I shot him a panicked glare and then looked at Rikki and back at Jams, hoping he understood my concern. He did. He smiled. "Don't worry. Rikki is a pediatrician who just so happens to specialize in preemies. He's here to take care of your babies once they get here." He proceeded to remove my pants and check me out.
"What," I managed between pains. "We're not going to the hospital?"
"There's no time, Melissa. You're fully dilated and ready to go. We'll just have to deliver you here."
"Here? No. I'm not ready. It's too soon." I tried to squirm away from him. "I can't! Not here. Gram!!"
He grabbed me by my hips and pulled me down in the bed. Gram straddled the bed behind me so that I was leaning against her as he held my hands. May came in with hot water and a medical bag full of stuff for Jams and Rikki to cover themselves in. "May, honey? Can you go get the clean sheets and towels?"
"Sure thing, hot stuff."
"No, no, no!" I cried. "This is crazy! OOOOwwwww. Oh my god, it's really happening. I don't waaaaannnna dooo this!" I grunted and groaned; screamed and threatened to kill everyone in the room.
"Breathe, baby. Don't fight it. It hurts worse when you fight it. Relax and breathe."
"Relax my AAAAHHHHH." Seriously. I panted between pains trying to make sense of the situation. How does a person wake up from a nap in labor? Like ready to deliver, labor. What kind of freaking twilight zone am I in? "Owie, owie. This SSUUUCCCKS!!!" I felt sudden relief and then heard the faint cries of an infant but before I could focus on the new little face another pain racked through me. When It passed, I saw Rikki on the side of the room examining the newborn. "What is IIIITTT?? OOOOWWW. God, make it stop!" Why do women do this on purpose? This is stupid. What was I thinking?
"Almost done, Melissa. One more push ought to do it." I screamed as I pushed. Fairly certain I broke Gram's hand from squeezing them so hard. "Come on little one, come on." He said trying to coax the baby out through the contraction. "There you go. She's here. You can relax for a minute." He handed the baby off to Rikki who ran out of the room with her. "You did good, Melissa. You did good. One more quick push so we can get the afterbirth out." I complied. "Good, girl."
"I didn't hear the second cry. What's wrong?"
"Rikki is checking her out. Don't worry, she's in good hands. For now, meet your son." May handed me the tiniest little baby I Have ever seen. I was afraid to hold him. Thought for sure I'd hurt him because he was so small.
Gram whispered in my ear. "It's okay, honey. I'm here. I'll help you." She wrapped her arms around mine as support as I held my little boy in my arms. He looked like Jude. I couldn't help but cry a little. Okay a lot, like ugly, snot running down my face, crying. I have never been so scared or so in love. Suddenly there were flashing lights strobing through the window. "Looks like the ambulance finally made it."
"Now, we're going to the hospital? I'm done now." I quipped.
"I will ride in with you." Said Rikki who had returned with my little girl. Her cries were music to my ears. I wanted to hold her, but Rikki wouldn't give her up, saying she was struggling, and he wanted to do everything he could to keep her going.
As I was being loaded into the ambulance, I got Gram's attention. "I'm sorry for ruining the party tonight."
"You didn't. You gave us more to celebrate."