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“You’ll take care of her, right?” Kent asks.
Our eyes lock. I’ve never noticed how similar his eyes are to Dana’s. A light ring of green on the perimeter of brown. I can’t help but think about my own child on the way. How will they take after me? After Dana? It’s a crazy, swirling feeling. “Of course, Kent.”
“She’s special.”
“I know that,” I say and clutch my heart. “Believe me, I know.”
His lips perk into a smile. “I know you know. I’ve always known you know that. After all, you’ve been following her around like a puppy dog for two years, so…”
I laugh. “You noticed too?”
“Of course I did! I might be oblivious to pregnancy announcements, but I’m not an imbecile.”
I flush, laughing some more. I take another piece of coffee cake and nibble on it.
“I just don’t want you to freak out since this is all moving too fast,” Kent says, resetting the conversation to a serious space. “You know, Dana was an accident in her own way. Aileen and I weren’t even married yet and we were still in college. And at the time, we were young and in love and it all seemed to make sense.” He stops. “I’ve had to do a lot of thinking on that time in my life. If I made mistakes. Surely, I did, but having Dana was never one.”
I remain quiet.
“I just want to know how serious you are about all of this. Because a baby is the most serious thing of all. And I’m no stranger to how backwards it all can be, but–”
“I’m a hundred percent serious about Dana.”
Kent nods slowly.
“We haven’t talked about marriage…”Christ, we haven’t even said we love each other yet. “But that’s obviously in the cards for me. As long as I have permission from you and your daughters.”
Kent leans back in his chair, eyeing me carefully. There’s a twinkle in his eye, the quintessential Kent Solace twinkle when he’s being just a little silly. “Well, you have mine,” he finally says.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Sir? God, I didn’t invite you here to be reminded of my own mortality, Drew.”
“Mortality? You’re still young yet. You’re, what, a fresh forty?”
Kent blushes. “You’re flattering me.”
“Not flattery. If I didn’t know you, I don’t think I’d be able to guess you have five grown daughters.”
“Again, the mortality thing, Drew…”
We both laugh and, as the dust settles, Kent relaxes in his chair. The confrontation part of the afternoon is over. “And how are you doing?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, the whole baby thing. Anxiety-inducing. I’m familiar. I did it five times, after all…”
“Surely it got better with each one.”
Kent concedes with a roll of his eyes. “Yes, better. But it doesn’t go away. Pregnancy is such a vulnerable time. And no one has really much control over the outcome. I was always jumpy when it came to Aileen’s health and the babies. Not to mention the living creatures in my home.Children…”
I can’t manage to laugh at that. My mind has been plunged into a dark pit of all the possible complications of pregnancy. Sure, Dana and I have talked some of them over. But in an effort to remain optimistic, I guess I’ve kept myself blind to the real horrors of what could go wrong in her changing body.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” Kent says.
Shit, is it obvious on my face?
“I just want to know how you’re doing with all of that.”
