76 - This Place is Not My Home

“I’m sorry, but you’ll need to power-down your electronics for a few minutes, until we get airborne,” flight attendant Rhonda advised her passengers in an exact repeat of the flight that had originated in New Jersey two days ago.  Unlike that flight, Jon and Sheridan weren’t bound for some luxurious tropical locale and a slice of peace and happiness.  They were going home to face the future – whatever that might entail.

“So what pregnancy horror are you reading about now?” Jon inquired dryly, easing his phone into his pocket as she turned off the iPad.  At the rate she was going, she would be a certified baby professional before she hit the second trimester.  During the course of this whirlwind trip, she had done nothing but read and sleep when her naked body wasn’t wrapped around him like clinging ivy. 

“The detriment of caffeine to the young fetus,” she answered with a wry grin, accepting the hand he offered.  When he folded his fingers around hers, Sheridan’s cheek found his shoulder as a resting place.  “I miss my coffee.”

“There is such a thing as decaf, Kitten.”

He felt the soft snort of revulsion blow under his chin as the plane lifted into the air.  “I don’t see you drinking it.”

“That’s because you’re a much better mother than I –“ His sarcastic retort was bitten off with a quiet ‘oof’ when she jabbed a finger into his stomach.  “Okay, okay!  I wouldn’t drink that shit either.  Happy now?”

“As happy as I can be without caffeine.”

Chuckling, he dusted her forehead with a quick kiss before settling down to business.  “We have two hours.  Time to talk game plan.”

“Give me a minute.”  She reached for her iPad and hit the power switch, flicking to a note taking app while he dug the phone from his pocket to do the same thing.  “Alright.  Talk.”

How could you not love a woman who took notes? 

Scrolling up and down the list that had slowly grown to intimidating proportions in the last couple of days, he chose to hit the highlights first.  “My immediate agenda revolves around the kids.  They have to be told before anybody else, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Agreed.  Will that be easier for you to do alone or do think it will go better if I’m there?”

“I don’t expect it to go badly either way, but I’m going to give Dr. Rennicke – the kids’ counselor – a call before making that decision.  God knows I don’t want to make this harder on them than it has to be.  They’ve been through enough of Dad’s relationship upheaval in the last year, especially the younger kids.”

She nodded once then appeared to hesitate before broaching, “What about Dorothea?”

“Eventually, yes.  Maybe I should fill her in before talking to Romey and Jake, though.”

“You probably should, but that brings up another question.  When we say ‘tell them’, what exactly are we telling?  Everything?”

He found no fear or insecurity when he looked from the digital screen to her eyes.  She hadn’t been kidding when she promised that he wouldn’t have to carry her.  It was easy to see that the question wasn’t borne of reluctance or shame; she just wanted to know which road they were traveling today.

“Everything,” Jon confirmed decisively.  “I’m not holding anything back out of some false sense of decorum.  You’re my wife and we’re having a baby.  Those are the facts and they’ll all have to know sooner or later, so I say we get it out of the way now.  The exception to that is the press blurb going out on Monday.  It will only mention our marriage.”

“Sounds good.  What else is on that list?  What do you need ME to do?  Obviously I’ll tell my family, but is there anything I can do beyond that?”

Respect. 

Watching her with quiet regard while she waited expectantly for her part of the project list, Jon would have told you he couldn’t have any more respect for this woman.  Yet, here she was, calmly asking what she could do to help navigate the unseen waters ahead.

Respect bloomed anew.

“Jon?”

“Uh, yeah.  About family.  I’m going to need to actually go visit my parents and they’re going to want to meet you.”

“Understandable.  When do you want to do that?” she asked, flipping over to a calendar app and pulling up the next week.  “Could we sync our appointment calendars so I know what your schedule looks like?”

And so it went…

He directed her to Jeri for calendar access, providing his assistant’s contact information.  They tentatively chose a date for dinner with his parents, while he opted to let his mother call his brothers.  Since Jon had already met her family, Sheridan was going to do her ‘announcements’ by phone. 

Opting to jump right into the fray, they both began dialing. 

He had completed his lengthy call to the good doctor and checked in with Jeri, only to find her still knee-deep in her first call.  Apparently her parents weren’t all that excited about the news.

“Mom….  I’m tired of discussing it, because there is no room for discussion.  We’re married and we’re having a baby.  I’m sorry it didn’t all happen according to your timetable, but it didn’t happen according to mine either.  This is where we are and I’m happy.  If that isn’t enough for you, then I don’t know what else to say.  It’s enough for me.”

He ran an open palm across her shoulders, fingers curling around her neck and kneading at the taut muscles there.  This was going to be a fun day, he could already tell.

“I know, Mom,” she sighed, flashing him a quick and grateful smile.  “It was a lot for me to take in at once, too.  How about you call me when it’s all had a chance to sink in, okay?......   I know......  I’ll talk to you later.  Bye.”

“Not go so well?”

She pinned a resolute smile in place even as she retreated into his still-massaging fingers.  “As well as can be expected, but I’m a little drained now.  Riley, Cole and Suzanne are going to have to wait until we get home.”

“Speaking of home... How quick can you have your apartment packed up?  Jeri will schedule people to move it to my place.  All we have to do is pick a day.”

Pack her apartment up?  Sheridan’s breath hitched and her stomach muscles involuntarily seized.  Why, in all the conversation about marriage and babies, had living arrangements never crossed her mind?

Of course he would assume that she would be the one to move.   His penthouse was bigger than her condo and he had four other children that would be visiting regularly.  Sensibility dictated that they live in his home.

The only problem for Sheridan was that it was his home.  

She’d already given up her body to their baby.   That was still a struggle in progress, but she was coming to terms with it because that’s what had to be done.  This was the hand she’d been dealt and she would play it to the best of her ability.

She’d also given up both her name and her independence to be his wife.  Neither of those things carried any negativity with them, as they were the very nature of marriage, but the fact remained the same.  They were changes for her.

And now she would have to give up her home.  The one place that had been truly hers.  The one place that felt like a safe haven. 

Was it immature for tears to be lurking at the edges of her eyes?  Yes, undoubtedly, but she was going to blame it on the pregnancy hormones that were fucking with her coffee fix. 

Deep breath, Sheridan.  It was just yesterday that you vowed to make your lives tranquil.  Do it.

Pushing the childishness away, she made herself look at the situation from a purely logical standpoint.  Yes, her place was too small, but technically so was his.  Five bedrooms were enough to accommodate them all for the moment, but the extra bedroom was upstairs.  There was no way that would work for a nursery, and it was the smallest of the bedrooms – too small for the younger boys to share.   

And Stephanie might not be visiting as often, but Sheridan knew that Jon would want her there as often as she wanted to be there.  That meant she kept her own room.  Jacob and Romeo would eventually want their own rooms, too, and that just meant there wasn’t enough room at the inn. 

“Hello?”  Jon tapped a gentle finger on the side of her neck.  “Does it take you that long to figure out how many boxes you need?”

“No.”  She eased out from under his hand and angled her body toward his.  “I can be honest here, or I can be rational.  Both have the same outcome, so do you have a preference as to which you get?”

“Oh, God,” he sighed, hand dropping back into his lap.  “This isn’t going to be a simple answer, like ‘Tuesday’.  Is it?”

“You’ve been married.  You know there are no simple answers,” she reminded him with a sympathetic pat to his knee.  “Here’s the thing.  Of mine and yours, there’s no doubt that your apartment is the one with more square footage.  If those are our only two options, it’s clearly the better choice of the two… but it’s really not suitable for our needs.”

“So you want us to get a new apartment.”  While he didn’t look thrilled by the prospect, he didn’t appear to be dead-set against it.

To be completely honest, Sheridan wasn’t thrilled by the prospect either.  Did she want to raise her child in the city with all its hustle and bustle and exhaust fumes?  Shouldn’t the baby have a yard to play ball or plant flowers?  Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to go?

‘Supposed to’ or not, it’s the way she wanted it to go.  And shouldn’t she get to make some kind of decision here?

“No.  I’d rather we get a house.”

“A house.”  His expression was completely impassive.  “You want a house.”

“I do.  Here comes the honest part…  My life has been completely absorbed into yours this week.   I’m not complaining or unhappy about it, that’s just the way it is.  But…  I don’t want your home to be something else that I get absorbed by.  I’d like to have something that’s truly ours. 

“You realize that baby is truly ours, right?”

The dry delivery of his observation coupled with his haughtily lifted brow had the corners of her mouth twitching.  “I realize that, yes.”

“Just checkin’.”  Frowning, he scratched at the back of his head and let his hand fall back into his lap with a heavy thud.   “A house where?  ‘Cause if we’re moving out of the city, there’s no place I’d rather be than Jersey.”

A warm fuzzy feeling coursed through her veins and Sheridan grinned at him.  No argument.  No heated discussion.  He considered it and subsequently accepted it without fuss.  He might really love her.  “Jersey would be fine.”

“Alright.  I’ll have Jeri get in touch with a realtor.”

Leaning in, she pressed a gentle kiss to his jaw.  “I can’t believe it was that easy.”

“Why?  I’m not an unreasonable guy and what you said makes sense.”

“I don’t know.”  She shrugged away his curious look.  “We were arguing so much for a while that I guess I just got used to it.”

His arm looped around her waist and he pulled her as close as their seats would allow before placing a domineering kiss against her lips.  “Well get UN-used to it.  From now on the only fighting we’re gonna be doing is back-to-back when we’re takin’ on the rest of the world.”