Chapter 172
Lake:
The doctor let us be, and I settled back into the bench with Jojo. She sat close to me, and even if the doctor said Lucian was fine, I could see her continuously tap her right foot on the ground. I couldn’t blame her, she was his mother and no one could understand the might of a mother’s love, or a mother’s worry.Text © by N0ve/lDrama.Org.
A second doctor – this time a male one – arrived to cross examine the child, just to make sure that Lucian was ready to come home. Thirty minutes had passed before the door opened in front of us.
The doctor stepped out, two nurses followed him behind and one held our baby boy. Lucian’s eyes were wide open now, he was sucking on his right thumb, his face squeezed, as though he was trying to sneeze.
Jojo sprang up in a jiffy and rushed towards the nurse.
The lady smiled and handed Lucian to her.
“There you go big boy. Your mummy is here.”
Lucian sneezed first, before he made a tiny giggling noise. Jojo chuckled, she patted his back gently and placed a kiss on his small forehead. I could see the relief on her face, as evident as daylight. Her shoulders relaxed, and so did her face.
“He just caught a cold.” The doctor said.
“You’ll have to take care of him and make sure that he is always warm. Winter is coming, so… there’s that.” The man spoke to us, wearing a friendly smile.
Jojo and I exchanged looks, before we nodded. She thanked the doctor and watched as he walked away, then she turned to me.
“We can leave now, right? But the hospital… I mean, people know we’re here, so…” She started.
Yes, there was that. We did not know the swamp of journalist that waited for us at the entrance and at the exit.
I rose up from the bench and slid my hands into my pockets. If I could just find a way to…
“Lake! Jojo!”
Both our heads turned in the direction of the very familiar elderly voice. We found my mother walking towards us, a big tote bag hung over her left shoulder.
I narrowed my eyes on her, while Jojo seemed fairly confused, yet relieved to see her.
“Hey, son. Jojo, hi.” She finally spoke, when she stood in front of us.
“Is he okay?” She asked, running her hands down Lucian’s dark curls.
Jojo smiled and looked at our son. I could see the pride in her eyes.
My mother stretched her arms out, beckoning on Jojo to place the baby in her arms. Jojo listened, and my mother held Lucian tight, before calling me to the side by tilting her head to the right. I did not understand at first, but I caught hold of the meaning when she did it the second time.
“Take Jojo home, somewhere, I don’t know where. But I’ll take care of Lucian. You two need sometime to yourselves.” She said.
I stared at her wide-eyed. Was that the reason she came? I did not know if it was possible. Lucian had just given us a big scare, and if I was so reluctant to leave him with my mother, I was certain Jojo would be worse.
“Mother, I…”
“Shush. Do not argue. You’ll listen to me, and I’ll talk to Jojo too.”
“But mother…”
She turned away from me and focused her gaze on Jojo. She wore a bright smile on her face as she spoke.
“Jojo darling. Why don’t you and Lake go out? You know, have some fun, relax at least, huh? It’s good for the mind, you know?”
Jojo looked away from my mother and stared at me. Her eyes screamed, “was this your idea?” In my defense, I quickly shook my head as a sign for no. I had no hand in whatever plans my mother had.
She didn’t look very convinced, but she turned away from me.
“Listen, Jo. You do not need to worry, alright? The baby is in safe hands, you know that I can take care of him.”
By this time, Lucian’s head was flat against my mother’s shoulder. His eyes were closed and he sucked his lower lip in blissful sleep.
“But, Mrs Smith, you must have a lot of work to do, and…”
“Nonsense!” My mother laughed, waving down Jojo’s statement.
“I just finished working on the menu, I am very satisfied with this one. I can take the rest of the day off. I came with a valet, so I can go out the front while you two go through the parking lot, to avoid the reporters at the front.” My mother continued.
I studied Jojo’s face carefully. She wasn’t buying any of it. I knew how protective Jojo was of Lucian, I knew it would be hard convincing her to leave the baby alone for one minute, especially with all that had happened in the past few days.
But, my mother was able to do a good job, and after almost twenty minutes of going back and forth, Jojo finally smiled.
“Okay, fine. But just for today.”
My mother wore a wide spread grin.
“Of course, just for today.” She turned to me and snuck a wink towards my direction. I suppressed a chuckle.
My mother walked away with Lucian in her arms, and I could tell Jojo was going to miss him.
I could also see the goosebumps on her arms and neck, so I could tell she was cold. I took off the cap I had worn and placed it on her head. She threw me a glare and I laughed.
“You need it. I can see you freezing.”
She smiled at my statement, but she stayed silent. I took off the black muffler around my neck and placed it over hers. I was going to help her wrap it around herself, but she stopped me by doing it herself.
“You heard the doctor. Winter is coming.” I spoke, trying hard to make a joke. I do not know if it worked, but I was happy when I saw her chuckle.
It had been long since we were alone like this; without my mother, without Lucian, without anyone. I did not know why I felt nervous, but I did.
“Come on,” I started.
“Let’s find our way out of here.”
I wanted to stretch my hands so she would put hers in them, but I wasn’t very sure how she would react to that.
With the help of some of the nurses, we were able to leave the hospital through the staff’s exit door. He headed towards the parking lot and I made sure I was by Jojo’s side at all times. I did not know how much had gotten out in the news, but I knew that the press could be very violent sometimes.
We successfully got into the car without any problems – thank the gracious goddess, it wouldn’t have been easy throwing punches at anyone – and I saw Jojo relax into the leather seat.
I was going to start the engine, but I didn’t even know where to head to.
I turned to her. Her eyes were closed, and her lips parted. I heaved a sigh before I spoke.
“So, what do we do now?”
She tilted her head to look at me.
“Huh?”
I sighed.
“Where do we go? Okay, wait. Where is the one place you’ve always wanted to visit? What is the one thing you’ve always wanted to do? Like, all your life, and in Ten too.” I asked.
If she gave her reply, I was sure I could come up with something very nice for her.
“Uhmm, I don’t know.”
I fell back into my seat.
“I mean, I’ve always had fun with Valerie, Mel, Mrs Smith, my mom…”
“What about you?” I chipped in. Surely, there must have been something she’s always looked forward to.
She sighed, it was a tired one.
“I haven’t really thought about anything.”
I turned toward the steering wheel, flashed her a smile, and proceeded to start the engine. I guess it was up to me to create an option for her, a memory.
“Where are we going?” She asked. I could feel her stare burning the side of my neck.
“Oh, you’ll see, you’ll see.”