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Grace
The next morning the first thing I did was call the doctor’s office. The doctor took another look at my file. She called me back an hour later and profusely apologised since due to the holiday season they were swamped which led to a mix up in results. It was confirmed. I was pregnant.
Telling my father and brother I was pregnant was not fun. I had a mild anxiety attack just before I did. Noah consoled me the best he could, but he had this notion that my brother would cut off his balls, so he wasn't of much help. My father didn't seem upset, he seemed excited. He did approve of Noah since he gave him my mother’s ring. Like he said, he's charming.
Adam, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled. He vowed to castrate Noah and feed his pieces to the wild animals. This is his ugly protective side; I hope he's joking about that. Noah at first looked worried but then he didn't seem too fazed by my brother. He's probably accepted his fate. We did promise each other that we would do what it takes to make this work. We had too much potential to leave each other.
Tonight we were going to Noah's parent's house for new year’s. I wasn't sure how to feel about this, for one I was apprehensive from what I have heard about his parents but also slightly excited. Noah mentioned that they still stayed in the house where he grew up. I couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of what he said is the world he left behind a long time ago.
Noah doesn't keep any secrets from me, but he does keep his childhood very vague.
I was sitting in the car, shifting from side to side.
My call with the doctor also explained that I was about five weeks along, we tried to pinpoint when this baby was conceived but that was near to impossible. We had to go back for a scan very soon anyways.
I shifted in my seat again. I was still so nervous about meeting his parents. Maybe his mother would not approve of me.
"Are you feeling okay?" Noah glanced at me as I moved around again.
"Not exactly but I will be once we get there." I wasn't too sure of that. The drive to his parents’ house was about two hours long and my nerves weren't subsiding.
"Don't worry about it, Adrian and Abby will be there, and my parents will probably be too preoccupied with Abby and her baby bump. I can't wait until you have one of those." He looked ecstatic.
"We're just doing things a bit backward. First we got engaged and then get pregnant and then I meet your parents."
"They won't mind, my parents only met Abby after they were married for a few months. I'm very confident that they won't hold that against you."
"That makes one of us," We started driving up a winding road that led to a secluded part of town.
"Did you grow up in the wild?" I asked Noah teasingly as the thick forest of trees enveloped us.
"Some days it felt like that, but to be honest, I spent most of my days outside. Even in my teenage years, I used to sit on the balcony and sketch the landscapes." I could see that all too hopeful glimmer in his eyes, like that glimmer when he paints.
"So that's where it started." He nodded and turned to an iron gate. I looked around and saw another private road that led to a house in the distance.
The gate opened and we drove down the road. We stopped at a large house that looked out on a lake. I'm guessing this is their private lake, on the other side, was the city that Noah mentioned he'd like to draw.
Noah helped me out of the car. He's been a bit more protective now of me since he found out I was actually pregnant. We carefully made our way to the carved front door. I protested to Noah to let go of me so I can manoeuvre the snow on my own.
The door opened swiftly and a woman in her late fifties with long blonde hair stood there.
"Oh, my baby is home!" She grabbed Noah and held him in a tight grip while planting a kiss on his cheek. She let go of him and turned to me, she enveloped me in a hug too, "You must be Grace, such a pretty girl with a pretty name. You have good taste, my dear." She pinched Noah's cheek and ushered us in. I smiled. This man, the man with the raging temper still lets his mother pinch his cheeks. That's the way it's meant to be.
"I'm happy that I get to meet the girl you are smitten with before you get married." She turned to me and shook her head.
"These boys do everything backward, so set in their ways but luckily they have the best taste. I heard the good news this morning. Congratulations!" She smiled brightly and walked out in front of us while we followed behind. Noah held my hand tightly. She stopped at a grand living room which had a fire burning and a few tall windows that looked out over the nearly frozen lake.
His mother then walked down to another hall where I'm thinking the kitchen would be.
Noah grabbed my jacket as well as his and walked down the hall to go put them away. Adrian hugged me as Abby greeted me. You could now clearly see her baby bump through her knitted dress, and she looked as radiant as ever.
Noah came back and looked around.
"Where's dad?" He inquired slowly.
Adrian shrugged, "You know how he gets during get togethers. He's working on a project again. You know how wild they can get. I'm just happy none of them has become a reality." They gave each other a look; the kind of look Adam would give me if we don't agree with our father.
"I guess we'll have to go find him, he's probably in his study." I followed Noah up the stairs to in front of large wooden doors. He opened the doors carefully.
The study was a large room with huge bookcases, littered with stacks of paper everywhere.
"Dad?" Noah looked around trying to find his father.
"Noah, is that you?" A man with piercing green eyes and dark grey hair popped out from under a foot of paper. He walked to us, studying us.
"You must be the girl he mentioned...Amanda right?" Noah's eyes almost popped out of his head. I shook my head and smiled.
"No, I'm Grace Harris." He rubbed his chin and shakily nodded.
"Oh sorry about that. My memory isn't what it used to be, it's lovely to see you, Grace. Noah, please tell your mother I'll be down just before midnight. I have a few things to get done." He turned around and sat at another stack of paper.
Noah closed the door and took my hand as we headed back to the living room.
"He was luckily very lucid today; he doesn't function well around people so I'm sorry for that abrupt conversation." Noah stopped and turned to me.
"That's why I don't like talking about my parents. My father isn't always in the right state of mind after his previous years treating soldiers and my mother...well, she is here for once. Growing up around here isn't as fun as it looks. I'm sorry I didn't say something earlier. We could have avoided that awkward moment back there."
I squeezed his hand tightly; he kissed me on the forehead.
"Growing up here was harder than I would like to admit. My mother used to work day and night. She raised us the best she could but there were weeks where we didn't see her. It was the same thing with my father but his mental stability was waning so he would spend hours working on projects that didn't make sense. I remember that one day just before I left for college, he completely caved in. He was on the roof, yelling at the clouds for God to take him. Adrian and I had to get him down. It's always been him and me.”
He omitted sadly.
I could see in the depth of his green eyes that it was something very personal to him that he tried to keep hidden. I hugged him tightly; he rested his head on mine.
"I'm so happy you crashed into my world."