Chapter Eight:
He took her home right after the press conference; both needing some time to unwind. She went up to her room and laid down on the bed; quickly falling asleep. He walked into her office and made a few phone calls being interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. He quickly walked to the front door; glancing up the staircase, hoping the ringing of the doorbell hadn’t woken her up. He groaned when he saw who was at the door….
Opening the front door with a sigh, glancing down at his watch, “I was expecting you almost an hour ago, Pa. You’re losing your touch.”
“Don’t get smart with me boy, when were you going to tell me that I’m a Grandpa, twice?”
“Pa…”
“Don’t Pa, me boy. I asked you a question. When were you going to tell me that Matthew is my grandson and that Nora…that Nora is pregnant?”
“If you would just stop ranting for a moment I’ll answer your questions,” sitting on the couch with a sigh.
“Fine,” sitting down in one of the chairs, “Go ahead, explain, and start at the beginning.”
“Nora and I found out the truth back in April,” Asa goes to interrupt but thinks better of it when he sees Bo’s face, “We decided together, as Matthew’s parents, to wait and tell him. It was just too soon after Sam’s death and Matthew’s feelings were our number one priority. We attempted to tell him at one point but things didn’t work out quite like we had planned, so we shelved the discussion until yesterday. We were going to tell him as soon as Nora decided to run for DA but he ended up hearing us discussing it. We wanted him to have some time to adjust to me moving in here and to me being his dad and finding out that Sam wasn’t before we hit him with an onslaught of new family members. So please do us a favor and back off for a bit. Let us have this time to adjust to being a family.”
“Fine, but you’re not going to stop me from getting to know my grandson.”
“Nora and I would never do that, Pa. All we’re asking for is some time.”
“Speaking of Nora, how is the mother to be, and exactly how did that happen, son. Last time I heard you were with that conniving ex-wife of mine.”
“The answer to your first question is she’s fine; she’s upstairs sleeping right now. As for the answer to your other question, my answer is…none of your business.”
“Fine…”, letting it go and moving on. “So are you going to do the honorable thing and make that girl your wife again?”
“We’re taking it one day at a time, Pa.”
“But you’re living here.”
“In the guest room down the hall. Right now I’m here to support Nora through the pregnancy and get to know my son.”
“I give it a month and you two will be back in, well let’s just say the swing of things.”
“That’s between Nora and I and we’ve decided to take things slow and see where it leads us.”
“Where else could it lead you but back to where you were five years ago. Bo, can you honestly tell me that you don’t love that woman?”
“No, I can’t do that because I do love her and I know she loves me. We’ve discussed it, we’ve talked about our feelings but there is so much that has happened in our past and now we have two children to think of. We’ve got to make sure it’s forever this time.”
Asa stands up and walks towards the door, Bo following him. He turns before he walks out the door, “It’ll be forever this time, son. I just don’t know why it took the two of you five years to figure this out,” smiling as he walked out; not waiting for an answer.
Bo closed the door and walked back into the living room, thinking about what his father had said. He looked up and saw her standing at the bottom of the stairs, “Well welcome back sleepyhead,” his eyes sparkling at the sight of her.
“Who was here?”
He walks over and takes her hand leading her over to the couch, “My father…”
Sitting down on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Let me guess…how dare you not tell me that I had a grandson, when the hell were you going to tell me that Nora was pregnant, and how the hell did that happen,” he looks at her with a mischievous grin, she slaps him, “Well I’m sure he knows how.” So how close am I?”
“You know my father too well, Red,” kissing the side of her head, “So are you hungry?” She looks at him with a ‘what do you think’ look on her face, “Alright pizza or Chinese?”
“Both.”
He laughs as he reaches for the phone to order their dinner. Just as he was hanging up the phone Matthew came running in the house; immediately getting ready to run outside, “Hi mom, Hi dad, I’m going to go outside and play.”
“Whoa, there buster, you need to turn around and go pick up your stuff and take it upstairs.”
“Awww, Mom…I want to…”, he stops when he sees his father’s look. “Fine, then can I go outside?”
“Until dinner and then it’s right up stairs to finish your homework.”
“Alright,” he mumbles as he drags his backpack upstairs.
Nora turns and looks at Bo, who is still holding her on his lap, “So Buchanan, you up for this parenting gig?”
Smiling as he hugs her tight, “Bring it on, Red…Bring it on.”
Across town…
She walks up to the bar and slides into the seat, “White wine please.”
The man behind the bar pours her drink and leans in close, “Everything’s set.”
“When?”
“You give me the word and they’ll be ready to move.”
“We’ll wait until after the election.”
“They’re demanding half up front and then the rest once it’s done.”
“Not a problem,” pulling an envelope out of her purse. “Here’s half the payment.”
He takes the envelope from her and slips it into his pocket, “I still don’t understand why you want to do this to them. I mean don’t get me wrong neither one of them are my favorite people, but…”
“They ruined my life; they need to suffer...and this is the perfect way to do it.”