The Foster Girls #3: Elizabeth

Chapter 20: Elizabeth

I knew long ago, when Fin would tell us her stories that transported us out of the group home and into a make-believe world of love and security, that words could be magical. Although Rig was no storyteller, his words were no less magical to me. For somebody who had never been chosen, not even by her parents, having someone tell you that he chooses you is like the sweetest refrain on repeat.

So I choose you, Elizabeth, and I will choose you day after day. It's no contest. Making you happy, making you feel secure in my love for you is my number one goal and I'll do whatever it takes.

I believed him. When a man says he's going to give up the most important thing in his life for you, he's making a statement you can't ignore. He'd been showing me since I'd returned that he'd changed, that he loved me and wanted me in his life, but I'd been too stubborn to admit it, too afraid to be hurt by him again. While he had said those three words to me many times, I had not said them back once. I withheld them out of fear, out of insecurity...out of anger.

But with this last action of his, telling me he was quitting hockey after the season ended, the last remnants of those feelings vanished. Poof. Gone.

When we'd heard Rig walking into the house, Samuel and Rick had both slipped me their business cards and told me they'd wait a couple of days before they moved on his contract termination. I was to call them if I needed anything. Since they were still downstairs talking with Rig, I knew that they probably wouldn't be expecting a call yet.

So I started planning. I'd wait for Natalie to come on for nightshift to pull her into my plans, but in the meantime, I called my doctor -- and was put through immediately (I could thank Rig for that happening) -- and talked with her about what I wanted to do.

"You're due in about two and a half weeks, Elizabeth, and although your blood pressure's been higher than I like, it's not to the point where I'd do anything other than monitor it while you're on bed rest. So as long as you have one of your nurses with you, and she checks you before and after, and you go back home right after and take it easy, I think you'll be fine. I was going to lift bed rest when I saw you next week, so I'm not worried about it."

I'd be damned before I let Rig give up hockey. He would be lost without the game, his teammates; he had told me once that he didn't know what he'd do if an injury took him out and it concerned him what his life would look like without hockey.

If he could give up his sense of security just to make me feel secure and make his point crystal clear, then I could do no less to make my point.

Later that night, when Rig was showering, I called Rick.

"I need your help."

The next afternoon, Rig came into my room before he left for that night's game and sat beside me on the bed. In anticipation for what was going down that night, I'd been taking it extra easy, sleeping in, taking both a morning nap and an afternoon one, so I was just waking up when he came in.

"Hey, nymph," he said pressing a sweet kiss to my lips, his hand automatically going to my belly. "How are you and Funfetti doing?"

My lips curved into a smile. "We're good. She just started kicking when you put your hand on me. And we're not naming her that!"

Rig grinned. "Make sure she watches the game tonight. I'm going to score a goal for each of my girls."

"So sure of yourself," I teased him.

"Hey, gotta go out big with my last season."

I looked in his eyes, and there wasn't the slightest shadow there. He was happy, relaxed, completely at ease with thinking he was going to walk away from this game he loved. Don't be too sure of that, Mr. Carson. I have plans for you.