Bad Luck or Fate?

Chapter 58

"Son of a BITCH!" I yelled as the cheers and party favors died down. Thomas was still screaming at the top of his lungs. "Young ears babe." Jimmy said as he reached up and loosened my grip on his biceps. I refused to let go. I just had the scare of a lifetime and I wasn't ready to face what was in front of us yet. "The boy is only two days old. He doesn't need to hear his mother say 'bitch' yet. I would save that for his Aunt." He said as he pointed over to Gloria as he led me and Thomas into the house. "Or that Aunt." He laughed as he pointed over towards Drew, who was standing next to Gloria by our dining room table. The girls looked at each other and laughed. "Shut up, bitch." Drew said as she walked over and gave me a hug. "He's not wrong, you know." Gloria chimed in as she walked up to Jimmy giving him a hug as well and staring into the carseat as Thomas continued to scream. I really wish we would have been warned about this surprise party but I guess that would ruin the surprise of it all. I just really wanted Thomas to get a good nap in while we were first home so Jimmy and I could get everything situated but that didn't look like that was going to happen. Gloria let go of Jimmy and came over and hugged me as well. I was still so scared and shocked that I couldn't say anything. She rubbed my back and grabbed our bags from the door and carried them to our room.  He cleared his throat and grabbed my hand.  

"Honey, I'm gonna need you to let go of me so I can take Thomas out of his car seat and soothe him. I need my arms for that, babe." I slowly let go as I felt the tears well in my eyes. Oh no. Why am I crying? Its only a surprise party. Thomas continued to unleash a blood curdling scream as Jimmy turned around and unlatched Thomas from the car seat, putting him to his shoulder and shushing him and bouncing up and down. Jimmy looked up and saw me crying. 

"You're crying too? Why are you crying?" Jimmy reached over and put me to his free shoulder and shushed me as well, rubbing my hair as I composed myself while snuggling into his shoulder. He slowly rocked me and Thomas back and forth. "Hey. It's okay. Thomas is okay, Brecks. He was just startled and he doesn't like to be awakened abruptly. It will be okay. Give it a minute or two and he will be back to a quiet and happy baby. I promise. The crying always stops, even if it doesn't seem like it will." He pulled back and put his hand on my cheek, wiping away a tear with his thumb, letting the right side of his mouth fade into a grin. "Where's that smile I fell in love with? Can you smile for me because if both of you are crying, I don't know if my heart can take it."

Just then, I heard little footsteps running towards us and I looked past Jimmy's shoulder just in time to see Winnie running towards us as fast as her tiny little legs could take her. She was moving too fast though and bumped into Jimmy's mother on the way, knocking her to the ground, scraping her knee. Winnie's bottom lip quivered and her face turned red. Soon she was crying her head off as well. Jimmy's eyes widened at the sound of Win crying and he instantly turned around. I saw his shoulders slump and he turned back towards me with his eyes closed, letting out a slow breath. "Oh, and there's the trifecta." He said giving me a look of confliction, like he didn't know where to go first. "I don't know who to go to first. You, Thomas, or Winnie. I only have two arms and I need to make Winnie feel better. If I had three, I would hold you too."  I wiped my tears and smiled at him. "I'm fine. I was just startled, touched, mad, and hormonal all at the very same time. I'm fine now though." Jimmy gave me a half smile and a questioning look as he took a step or two towards Winnie. "You.." I stopped him. "I'm sure. Go be Super Dad" I smiled as he turned as quickly as he could and bent down with Thomas to look at Winnie's knee.

 His mother walked up to him and held out her arms. "Here. I'll take Thomas and you can take care of your sweet little girl. Besides, I haven't gotten to hold my grandson yet." Jimmy stood up and carefully positioned Thomas into Gloria's arms. He held his hands under his neck while she walked around with him. "Careful with his neck, Ma. He's fragile." Gloria chuckled as she walked up to Jimmy's father with Thomas. "I've been holding babies since the 1970s. I took care of you and you turned out fine." Higgins let out a loud 'HA!' and everyone, including myself and Jimmy turned to look at him. Higgins turned a light shade of pink and cleared his throat. Jimmy turned towards him. "You're one to talk, man. I think you were dropped on your head as a kid." Everyone laughed as Higgins shrugged. "Once or twice." He replied. Jimmy quickly turned around and bent back down to Winnie. "Let me see that knee, gorgeous." He said she lifted her knee to him while sitting on the floor still sniffling.