charm? I began to tick off in my mind what I found so alluring
about her.
She was physically attractive, for sure. I enjoyed the way our
bodies fit together as she snuggled against me the previous night
and that morning when I hugged her. Her sense of humor was
another factor. But aside from all that, I think the thing that struck
me the most was the way I felt when we were together. Like she
was the missing part that I’d been searching for.
4
Pitifully Ugly
Chapter 14
Secrets revealed.
Mom was asleep in the waiting room of the cardiac ICU when
we arrived. Kalen and I left her to rest and sought out someone
who could fill us in. “He’s doing well,” a male nurse said. “He’s
scheduled to have a stent put in around an hour from now.” He
rattled off more about a blockage, using medical jargon that no
one outside of the medical field could understand. “I can tell you
more after the procedure,” he said, looking down at a chart. “He’s
awake right now. You can visit him for five minutes.”
I found it unnerving to see Dad hooked up to so many wires
and an IV when we walked in. We’d been blessed with healthy
aging parents, and this was the first time that we’d ever seen one
of them in the hospital for anything serious.
“Look, I’m bionic,” Dad said, gesturing to the EKG leads.
“They’re gonna make me stronger, faster, and better than I was
before.”
Kalen and I took turns planting kisses on his head.
“Is your mom sleeping?” he asked seriously.
“Yeah, she’s out in the waiting room. We didn’t want to
disturb her,” Kalen said.
“Make her go home and get some real rest. A woman her age
does not need to be hanging around a place like this.”
Kalen and I laughed. “She’ll go home when she’s ready, Dad.
There’s nothing we can say to tear her away from here,” I said.
Dad wasn’t often serious. It was usually one quip after another
with him, especially when he was nervous. He smoothed back his
Robin Alexander
thick gray hair. “Tell her there’s a sale at Macy’s, and there’ll be
nothing but a vapor trail.”
“I assume they’re going to put you on a special diet when you
get out of here,” Kalen said. “And you better follow it to the letter
because I need my dad.” Her voice quavered. “Especially now.”
Like our mother, Kalen was usually stoic. Not much rattled
her, so it surprised me when she got emotional. Dad and I
exchanged odd glances.
“I’m pregnant, Daddy.”
Dad and I expelled a shocked breath, and his heart rate sped
up a bit on the monitor.
Kalen wiped at her face. “Probably not the best time to tell
you, but if we aren’t reason enough to live, then think of the
grandbaby you have on the way.”
Dad was grinning from ear to ear. “I wonder if ol’ Todd put
the stem on the apple.”
“Well, we’re not going to know that until he or she gets
here because Todd and I agree we don’t want to know the sex
beforehand.” Kalen turned and looked at me. “Can you believe
it? After all this time and trying for years, we’d given up, and at
thirty-eight, I’m gonna be a momma.”
I was crying like a baby when I pulled Kalen into my arms.
We were standing there blubbering when Mom walked into the
room.
“Dear God, what is it?” she asked in alarm.
“Hot damn!” Dad slapped the bed. “Kalen’s got a bun in the
oven.”
This set off beeping sounds that brought two very concerned
nurses into the room. We were allowed to give Dad a kiss and
hug before we were all ejected into the hall. As we went, I could
hear him asking if he’d be allowed to smoke a cigar nine months
from now.
“How long have you known?” I asked as we went back to the
waiting room.
“Four months.” Kalen looked at us both sheepishly. “I wanted to
make sure I made it through the first trimester before I told anyone.
I’ve been hiding the weight gain under baggy winter clothes.”
Pitifully Ugly
Mom and I nodded in understanding, neither of us wanting to
mention the two miscarriages, as though it might jinx this one.
“I just can’t believe I have a grandbaby on the way.” Mom
sank down into a chair. “Good God, what a night…and now a
day. I’ve never been so scared and elated at the same time.”
Her words sobered us.
I took a seat next to Mom and patted her arm. “He’s gonna be
okay. It’s a smal blockage, and the stent thing is routine nowadays.”
Mom smiled and nodded. “Look at you,” she said, cupping
my cheek. “I just saw you at Christmas, and you don’t even look
like the same woman.”
“All of this,” Kalen said gesturing at me, “occurred in the two
weeks while I was gone. And she’s got two women interested in
her.”“You’re dating again?” Mom asked. “And two women at the
same time?” Mom was practically giddy. “I may have more than
one grandbaby to look forward to.”
“You don’t like my new look?” I asked, hoping to throw her
off the trail.
She made a face that said, cut the shit. “Love it.”
“Hey, don’t forget the bloated pregnant chick over here.”
Kalen jerked a thumb at her chest. “And somebody needs to feed
this baby before it starves me to death. It’s sucking me dry, and
it’s not even here yet.”
The topic turned to food after that, but I knew Mom would
eventually pull me aside and grill me about everything I’d done
since the holidays.
Dad’s stent procedure happened without incident. He would
be discharged after a day and night of observation. Mom finally
relented and agreed to go home with us. I doubt she would’ve
left his side if it hadn’t been for Kalen, who raided the vending
machines every half hour, then slept in a chair between snacks.
We picked up KFC on the way home for dinner since Mom would
undoubtedly have to endure Dad’s diet along with him. She’d
always been a healthy eater anyway, but every now and then, she
liked her fried chicken.
Robin Alexander
“I suppose that we’ll all be eating differently from now on,”
Mom said with a smile as we sat around the table on their screened
patio.
“True, but I’ll start that tomorrow,” Kalen said. She’d removed
all the skin from her chicken before she ate. And instead of fried
potato wedges, she opted for the mashed potatoes. She made up
for her healthy choices by topping her dinner with a Snickers bar
she had stashed in her purse. “I guess I should enjoy sleeping as
much as I can now because that’s all going to come to an end.”
“Trust me, it’ll all be worth it. It certainly was with you two,”
Mom said with a tired smile. “I had you a year apart. I don’t think
me or your dad really slept until you moved out of the house.”
I excused myself and went into the bathroom. I sent Hailey a
text and told her that Dad was doing fine. She sent one right back
and said she was relieved to hear from me and that everything