THE SURPRISE
1583 Words
They got back to the house. Matt got everybody out of the car. He stopped to give Kathy a kiss. “God, I missed you,” he said. “I was lost when they said you left and weren't going to return.”
They went inside. A few minutes later Charlene arrived. She couldn’t get inside fast enough. She saw Matt with someone behind her. He turned around, and she saw Kathy, then the baby.
“What the hell?” She blurted out. “You said you lost the baby.”
“I’m sorry Char, but it was the only way I could leave with no loose ends.”
“You didn't have to lie to me. I would have supported your decision.” She smiled and asked, “So who is this little peanut?”
Matt said, “Auntie Char, meet baby Matthew.”
“Oh my god Matt, he looks just like you.” Char said, “Mom and Dad are gonna shit.” She laughed. “Oh please let me tell them.”
“No,” Matt glared.
Charlene sat down and played with the baby. Since Char and Josephine were occupied with the baby, Kathy asked Matt, “Can we go to my room and talk?”
“Sure, is everything alright?”
“Just come with me.” She took Matt’s hand and led him to her room. She closed the door.
He sat on the bed, “What’s up?”
“First, please know I went back to the dock to say goodbye before I left for LA…”
“LA? What the hell were you doing in LA?”
“Remember how I was offered a full scholarship into the nursing program at UCLA?”
“Yeah, but you decided you weren't going to accept it and would go to OSU with me.”
“After I lost you, I needed to get away, far away from here. And I couldn’t go without you.”
“Ok, I can understand that.”
“I accepted the scholarship and did accelerated classes at UCLA. I needed a distraction. It was enough that I was pregnant, but I couldn’t handle being here. Everything here reminded me of you. My heart literally hurt. It’s taken me months to accept there was nothing I could have done to save you.” She started tearing up. “And, God forgive me, I was not letting your parents know I was pregnant. She had said and done enough after you were gone.”
“I’m so sorry you went through all this, and you did it alone.” He held her. “If you let me, I’ll make it up to you.”
“Oh Matt, you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Matt, I finished my degree.”
“Kathy, that’s wonderful!” He kissed her. “I'm so proud of you. You are so strong.” She kissed him. “Will your mom freak if I have a few of the guys over?”
“No, not at all.”
He sent Scott a text, ‘come over Kathy’s mom’s house.’
Puzzled, he replied, ‘why, something happen?’
‘Just do it and tell Billy, Dave, and Rob too.’
'Ok.' Scott wasn’t going to debate it, he just sent the others the text and headed out.
“At some point we need to tell my parents,” Matt stated.
“I don’t think I can look at your mother.”
“I know you’re hurt, and you have every right to be mad. When I got home, Char told me all about what happened that day and then about the services. Char said your mom told her you were gone and nowhere to be found. She said she didn't even know where you went. I was furious with my mother for making you feel so upset that you needed to leave. She didn’t realize how bad she hurt you.”
“I’m just not ready yet.”
“Ok, when you’re ready. Come on, let’s get out there before they think we’re in here working on baby number two,” Matt said. “Not that I'm opposed to that.” Kathy rolled her eyes and followed him.
Charlene had called Jeff to come there. The proud aunt wanted him to meet the baby. Scott arrived at the same time as Jeff. They walked inside.
Kathy was standing by Matt. Scott saw her and went over to her. He grabbed her and gave her a big hug and a kiss. “Oh my god! Where the hell have you been? See, I knew you were saying goodbye that day you came to see us.”
“I’m sorry, but I needed to get away from everyone and everything.”
“We were all here for you, for whatever you needed.”
“I know.”
Matt picked up the baby and went over to Scott. “Look at what she brought back with her.”
Scott’s eyes got huge. “Are you kidding? A mini Matt!” He took the baby. “Hey little man. How old is he? Is that why you left?”
“Eighteen months,” Kathy answered. “And yes, that was part of it.”
Charlene asked for the baby. Jeff asked, “How? You told Char you lost the baby. I’m so glad you didn't. He’s adorable.”
Kathy smiled. Matt put his arms around her. He didn’t want to let her go. He longed for her to come back and be with him. He felt very blessed. The rest of the guys showed up. Matt let them in.
“What’s going on?” Dave asked.
“Come in, you’ll see.”
As they entered, Kathy was standing there. The look of surprise covered each of their faces. They each took a turn hugging her before they heard a baby fussing.
“Is that a baby?” Rob asked.
Matt proudly smiled, “Meet my son.”
“Your son? What the hell?” Billy asked. “Kathy, were you pregnant when you left?” She nodded. “Why did you leave? We were all here for you.”
“I know guys, but there was nowhere I could go that didn’t remind me of Matt.”
Scott asked, “Matt, how the hell did you find her?"
“Today is two years from when I disappeared. Guess I was hopeful, so I went to the river again. I took a chance that one day she would go back there, and I’d see her. And there she was on a bench holding a single white rose.”
“White rose? That was you all those times at the dock?” Scott asked her. She nodded.
“Didn’t you ever come here and tell her mom you were alive?” Rob asked.
“Char told me she was gone and not coming back. I felt broken. It didn't seem right to, but I tried a few times, and she wasn't home. Char said no one knew where she was, not even her mom, and she wasn't coming back. So I prayed she'd visit there one day. By the grace of God she was there today.”
Char noticed the ring on Kathy’s finger. She knew Matt was going to ask her to marry him that day. She squealed, “You finally asked her to marry you? Is that the same ring?” Matt nodded.
Kathy said, “I found it in his jacket a few days later. I've worn it on a chain ever since.”
“I finally got my chance to ask her, and I took it,” Matt said. “And then she surprised me with my son.” He gave Kathy a kiss. He suddenly had a puzzled look on his face. “Uh, Char?”
“Yes?”
“When you first got here you yelled at Kathy for lying about the baby.”
“Yes.”
“You knew and didn’t tell me?”
“Matthew, I only found out that morning. She was going to tell you before all that s**t went down. But then she said she had lost the baby.”
“What about after I came home?”
“What was I going to tell you? Oh hey, the love of your life left forever. Oh! And by the way, she was pregnant but lost your baby? What the hell were you gonna do?”
“I still deserved to know.”
“Matt, don’t be mad at her. I made her promise to never tell anyone about the baby. There were enough rumors going around, I didn’t need to add that to them.”
Matt was getting mad, “What kind of rumors?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. It was two years ago,” Kathy replied. “You’re alive, I’m here, and we have an amazing baby boy. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right.”
“I know.” She smiled. “So it’s dinner time here, and we took a red eye back here, so I’m starving.”
Scott asked, “A red eye? Where were you?”
“West coast.”
“Wow, really? What was the weather like there compared to here?”
She smiled, “No snow.”
Josephine happily ordered food for delivery. There were just too many of them to go to a restaurant.
- Writer
