Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I snapped when I saw Mike, my oldest brother, standing there. I stayed strong through it all, Mrs. and Mr. Staal, Jared, and Olivia. But seeing my brother, who always supported me, for the first time in over a year, just made me lose it. It was rather embarrassing, but I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I ran towards him, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, almost as if I was afraid he was going to just disappear.
“Shh, Mare. It’s okay.” Mike comforted me, rubbing my back. He led me away, knowing me well enough that I wouldn’t want to break down in front of them. We went to the cafeteria and Mike got two coffees from Starbucks. Mike was patient the whole time I was crying, he just kept handing me napkins without saying a word. Finally, I got all of the damn emotional shit out of my system.
“Are you okay?” Mike asked.
“Yeah.”
“You better explain everything to me. Right now.” Mike ordered.
I looked at my hands. “It’s a long story.”
“I flew all the way from fucking Canada, Marie. I have time.” Mike shot back.
I sighed. “Okay, fine. I had sex with Jordan at Christmas. I got preggo’s, freaked out, picked a random spot on the map, moved to Raleigh, and had Scott. Yup.” I said quickly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mike asked hurt.
“I thought you would tell Jordan.” I replied.
Mike sighed, “Marie, you have to understand this. Sure, I’m one of Jordan’s best friends, but you are my baby sister. I’ll stand by you no matter what.”
“Damn it, Mike. You’re going to make me cry again.” I said laughing.
“Oh, and about Charlie, I figured you may want to wait a few days before telling him. You know he’s going to be fucking pissed.” Mike said.
I nodded my head. “Trust me, I know. It’s going to be scary.”
“And Jordan. Jordan, Jordan, Jordan. Want me to kick his ass?” Mike asked.
I thought about it for a few minutes. “Not right now with his whole family here. Give him a few weeks for him to piss me off, and then I’ll call you.” I promised. Mike nodded, satisfied. I smiled and finished my coffee, now feeling oddly calm. It felt good for it just to be out in the open, not carrying around a huge burden.
“Alright, Mike. I’ve been away from my baby boy for too long, I’m going back to the war zone.” I said getting up. Mike stood up and followed me, together we walked to Scott’s room. Mrs. Staal was holding Scott, smiling down at him. As soon as she saw me though, she stood up. “Here, Marie. He’s been fussy and I can’t him to calm down.” She carefully placed him in my arms. I cradled him gently and brushed a piece of hair off of his forehead. After a few minutes, he giggled and reached out and grabbed a piece of my long hair. I laughed and took his little hand in mine, gently making him let go of the strand of hair. I looked up, now self-conscious that every one was watching me.
“That’s amazing.” Mrs. Staal breathed. I shrugged, I didn’t really do anything, it’s all him.
“Have you dropped him on his head yet?” Mike asked smiling.
“No, Mike, I haven’t. I wouldn’t want him to turn out like you.” I retorted. Mike laughed, “Can I hold him?”
I shrugged, “Will you drop him?”
Mike shook his head. “Nah.” I carefully handed Scott to him and Mike cradled him. He looked up at me. “He’s a cute little thing.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Nice way to describe my baby the way you would describe a dog.”
Mike shrugged, “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Mrs. Staal took out her phone. “Can I take a picture? Marc wants one. He sends his apologizes that he can’t be here.”
“He really doesn’t want a picture of the baby, he wants a picture of me. We all know he has a man crush on me.” Mike joked, but he struck a pose nonetheless.
“Really? I always thought that was Jared.” I teased. Jared moved across the room quickly and quickly put my head underneath his armpit. “Take it back.” He ordered.
I laughed, “I was taught to tell the truth as a child.”
Jordan rolled his eyes at Jared and me. “Let her go Jared.” Jared stiffened, but did as Jordan said. He did it just in time though before the doctor walked in. He cleared his throat and I stood up straighter.
“Since there already seems to be a party here, you can continue that party at home.” The doctor said dryly.
“I can take Scott home?” I squeaked out, not quite believing it.
The doctor sighed. “Yes, Ms. Haefner, you can. Please follow me because you need to talk about billing.” I gulped, the dreaded topic of the day.

Jordan’s POV

“I’ll take care of that, so I just have to go.” I said standing. Olivia stood up right with me, her arm snaked around mine. I personally hated the fact that she always had to be attached to me, like she was claiming me.
“No, Ms. Haefner is his guardian, but if you will be assisting, you may come along too.” The doctor responded. “Go down the hallway and turn right and you’ll see the billing office. The sooner you take care of this, the sooner you can all leave.” The doctor said exasperated before leaving. I started walking towards the door and Olivia followed right along with me. “Olivia, this is just supposed to be about billing, so you shouldn’t come. Maybe you could go get coffee with my mom?” I suggested.
“No, I should stay with Scott.” Mom said quickly.
Olivia pouted, “Fine, I’ll just stay here then.” Marie started walking away without me, so I quickly followed her. “I don’t know why you’re coming.” Marie snapped.
“Since, you can barely afford to clothe him, I’m assuming that you can’t pay thousands of dollars of hospital bills.” I shot right back.
She rolled her eyes, “I would figure it out.”
I shrugged, “Well, now you don’t have to figure it out. You should be happy, not throwing a fucking hissy fit.”
“I am not throwing a hissy fit!” She defended. I couldn’t help but laugh, this was a true Marie hissy fit. Back when we were dating, I would put my arm around her and promise her everything would be okay. I shook my head, almost as if to shake away the thoughts clouding my head. I had Olivia now and I love her, well I love her most of the time. I wouldn’t have even ever seen Marie again if it weren’t for our child. We were completely and totally over. I just had to keep telling myself that. I followed her into the small office and we sat down next to each other in the cramped plastic chairs. It reminded me of the time when we were yelled at by the principal for PDA. A young woman smiled at us before putting down some papers. “I’m Charlene. Are you Ms. Haefner?” She asked Marie.
“That’s me.” Marie responded.
She peered at me curiously, “And you are?” She had a Carolina Hurricanes poster on her wall, she obviously recognized me as Eric’s brother. She just wanted to be nosy and figure out why I was here. “I’m the father.”
“Well, biologically at least.” Marie muttered. I resisted the urge to kick her leg from the chair.
“Ah, I see. Well, there’s many different ways we could do the billing. We could split it up monthly, you could take a lo-“ Charlene started listing. I pulled out my wallet out of my pocket and pulled out a credit card and put it on the desk. “Can you just charge it all on here?” Charlene’s mouth popped open in an O. She peered at the credit card before back up at me. “Do you know realize how much these bills are?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know the exact number, but I can imagine it’s high. I don’t really care.” Flustered now, she began pulling papers out of her desk, her motions jerky. She gave me a clipboard of papers and a pen. “I need you to sign here, here, and here. And write down your credit card number there.” Charlene said pointing out the different places to sign. I read over the paper quickly before obliging. She then took the clipboard and handed it to Marie. “Since your Scott’s guardian, I need your signature saying that you approve of this method of payment.” Marie bit her lip and sighed before holding her hand out for the pen. I handed it to her, and for a second, our hands brushed. I pulled back sharply, my hand feeling like it was on fire. Marie made it look she wasn’t phased, she just pushed her curly hair behind her ears and signed the paper. Then, she quickly passed it back to Charlene, like it was diseased or something.
Charlene smiled at both of us before putting the papers in her mailbox. “Mr. Staal, you’ll be getting a receipt in the mail soon. I hope everything works out for you two.” I nodded my head in a thank you before going back to the hallway.
“Nice way to act like a hot shot, Mr. Moneybags.” Marie muttered.
I shrugged, “It was the best way to handle it. Now everything is all okay.” I said before walking back into Scott’s room. Marie grabbed onto the back of my shirt and yanked me back outside. I stumbled backwards, not use to an aggressive girl like this. Olivia just yelled at me when we were fighting or she would just throw my stuff out the door.
“I’m not done talking to you.” Marie snapped. My dad looked at us curiously before laughing at my scared expression.
“You can’t just waltz here and expect to make everything okay. It’s not all okay!” Marie yelled.
“I’m just trying to make everything easier for you!” I defended myself.
“You’re the one that got me in the mess in the first place.” She said.
“Oh, I don’t exactly remember raping you. In fact, if I remember correctly, you were the one moaning my name and telling me to go faster.” I retorted. Marie turned red before smacking my shoulder.
I let out a loud laugh. “Was that seriously supposed to hurt? I don’t even think I’ll have a bruise.”
Marie glared at me. “Are you asking me to hit you harder, because trust me I’ll be happy to.” I couldn’t help but keep laughing, “Alright Mar, deep breaths.” I told her before dragging her back into the room by her elbow.
“What was that about?” Mom asked smiling.
I shrugged, “Oh, Marie was just thanking me and telling me I was a god. I argued with her that I’m not a god, just a hero.” I said with a straight-face.
Marie snorted. “Uh-huh. You’re just my personal god.”
“I know.” Jordan boasted. The nurse smiled at the both of us before handing me some discharge papers and a bottle of liquid. “You have to make sure you give him this every time you breast feed him for the first time in the morning.” She instructed me.
I nodded and tucked it into my purse. “Got it.”
“He’ll be able to go home this afternoon then!” The nurse said before hustling off.
Mrs. Staal smiled. “That’s perfect! Eric and Tanya were planning on coming over, so we can all take him home together!”
I grimaced at the though of every one seeing the house. “Yeah, perfect.”
“Mom, wait.” Jordan interjected before looking at me. “Maybe you, dad, and Jared could stay at a hotel and Olivia and I could stay with Marie. Instead of going back, we could meet you for dinner?” Jordan suggested.
“But I don’t want to stay there.” Olivia whined.
Jordan smiled at her. “Don’t worry Liv, it’s fine.”
Mrs. Staal rolled her eyes at Olivia. “That sounds perfect Jordy.”
“Wait, can I stay with you guys?” Jared asked.
I laughed. “Uh, sure, but why?”
“Because it’ll be like a giant sleep over!” Jared exclaimed.
I smirked. “Aren’t we just a little old for sleepovers?”
“You’re never to old for sleepovers!” Jared responded back. I swear, all of the Staal’s have ADHD.
We were all cooped up in the room for few hours until Tanya and Eric came. Tanya was very friendly and even though she barely knew me, gave me a hug. Eric was trailing her with a gift basket. “For Scott.” He said setting it down.
“You didn’t have to..” I trailed off.
Tanya waved her hand. “I love making gift baskets for people!” She gushed. I put it on my lap and went through it. It was filled with mainly baby clothes and booties. I picked up the Hurricanes Staal jersey and laughed.
“Now it’ll be the second best dressed baby in the whole place.” Eric boasted.
Jordan snorted. “No, he’ll be the best dressed baby in my Penguins jersey. He’s not going to wear any Hurricane crap, just the best player on a championship team.
I rolled my eyes. “He won’t be wearing either of your pathetic jerseys. He’ll be wearing the best, an Aberle jersey.” I told both of them.
“He is hot.” Tanya agreed.
“Tanya!” Eric exclaimed, annoyed.
Tanya shrugged before kissing him on the cheek. “Of course, not hotter than you.” Eric truly was a little boy in a man’s body. The nurse came back and checked Scott’s charts. “Alright, Scott has finished all of his medicines. You can take him home now.” She told me while unhooking him from the last of his wires. She handed him to me and I held him close against my chest and put my hand on the back of his head. I stood there for a few seconds, just relishing him. Then, I lied him down on the changing table. I ruffled through his bag before choosing a pair of black sweatpants. I looked at Eric before rolling my eyes and taking out the Staal jersey. I put the hideous, bright red thing on him.
“Icky, right?” I asked him. Scott just flashed me a smile and clapped his hands together.
I laughed. “That wasn’t exactly the response I was going for.” He reached his arms in the air, motioning for me to hold him. “Okay, okay. You’re going to break my arms.” I teased him, but picked him up anyway. I suddenly felt stupid for talking to my six month year old son in front of every one.
Jordan wrinkled his nose. “Only my baby can make a Hurricanes jersey look good.”
“Not as good as me when I wear your jersey, right?” Olivia giggled into Jordan’s ear.
“Uh-huh.” Mrs. Staal took Scott from my arms and bounced him up on down. “Now we’re going to have to get you Uncle Marc’s jersey.”
I held my hands up. “That’s where I draw the line. Absolutely no Rangers jersey. I don’t need him to like a bunch of assholes. Minus Marc.”
Jared snorted. “Not minus Marc.”
“Be nice to your brother.” Mrs. Staal instructed Jared before handing Scott to Jordan. Mr. Staal linked hands with her. “Well, I guess we’ll be going to find a hotel.”
“No, stay with us.” Tanya insisted.
“You’re right, I didn’t even think about that. If you’re sure…?” Mrs. Staal asked.
Eric waved his arm. “You know I don’t care. Plus, it gives Tanya some help with Parker.”
“The rent-a-car is in the parking lot.” Jordan said.
“What about a car seat?” I asked.
Eric laughed. “Tanya truly does think of everything.” He went into the hallway and brought out a car seat. “Some one sent us one for Parker, but we already had one.” Jordan handed Scott to me and took the car seat. “Let’s roll then.”
“Can you pick me up at the entrance? It’s cold.” Olivia whined.
“Yeah, sure. Marie, why don’t you wait with her?” Jordan replied.
I shook my head. “I would rather walk.”
Jordan sighed. “Why?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“I’m tired of fighting over everything with you.” Jordan said frusturated.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re the one fighting with me! You don’t control me, so I don’t need you second guessing all of my decisions.”
Jared pushed me gently towards the doors. I held onto Scott tighter, “Hello, baby here.” Jordan, Jared, and I headed towards the car. Jordan put the seat in the backseat and I made sure he was securely buckled in before kissing him on the forehead. I got into the passengers seat and Jared got into the drivers seat. Jordan grumbled, but climbed into the backseat. Jared pulled out of the space and speeded towards the exit.
“Hey, don’t forget about Olivia!” Jordan protested.
“I figured we could just leave her there.” Jared said. I laughed loudly and tried to cover it by coughing.
“I swear if you don’t turn the damn car around I will fucking shoot you.” Jordan snapped. Jared turned around and went to pick up Olivia. She was standing in front of the entrance with her arms across her chest. She opened the door and climbed into next to Jordan.
“Took you long enough.” Olivia huffed.
“Well, Jordan was driving and he forgot about you, so I took over the wheel and got you back.” Jared lied.
“You did not!” Olivia shrieked. Jordan covered Scott’s eyes with one hand and then gave Jared the finger with his other hand. He put his arm around Olivia’s shoulders. “Of course I didn’t!” I laughed and reclined my seat, not caring it was digging into Jordan’s knees. This was going to be a fun ride.