Chapter 69: Big Changes

March 29, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

When I arrived home, I took a shower, and explained to my wives what had happened. Neither of them were surprised that she’d asked me to make love, but they were just as surprised as I was about her having been a virgin.

“You’re sure she’s OK?” Jessica asked.

“She’s fine. We had a good talk before we got dressed. She chose me because she wanted her first time to be perfect, and I fit the bill. I had almost messed it up for her by the way I acted, but my apology fixed it.”

“So what now?”

“We’re friends. She knows that it can’t be more than that.”

“Good. But you have another problem.”

“Abbie,” I sighed, getting out of the shower.

“What are you going to do?”

“What can I do? She told me she’s committed to Jason, which means I really can’t make love to her tonight.”

“She’s going to be distraught,” Kara said. “Could you make the exception you made for Stephie? This one time?”

“Do that to Jason AGAIN?” I sighed.

“You didn’t do it to Jason,” Kara said. “He didn’t think he and Stephie were a couple. If Abbie is telling you the truth, he doesn’t think he and Abbie are a couple. Do you trust her?”

“Implicitly.”

“Tiger, I think Kara is right. Abbie will be devastated if you refuse her a last chance to love you.”

“You’re probably right,” I said. “But I have to tell her beforehand and give her the choice.”

“Yes, you do. It’ll be nice to have you back on Sunday nights!”

“I didn’t realize it was a problem.”

“It’s not, Tiger. I’m just saying having you more is better!”

I dressed in comfortable clothes, kissed my wives, and headed down to Abbie’s room. I knocked softly and she called out for me to come in. She put down the book she was reading, and smiled. Rather than get into bed with her, I held out my hand and led her to the basement. I filled the whirlpool tub with warm water and we got in. I pressed the button for the jets and the water began swirling around us.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “You haven’t said a word.”

“You’re in love with Jason and you plan to be together, so I can’t do what you asked.”

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you,” she sighed. “Wait! Does that mean you won’t make love with me?”

“Tonight? I will. I forced you to say something you weren’t ready to say so I can’t really hold that against you.”

“But after tonight?”

“You’re in love with Jason. If you tell him, and I think you have to, then you need to be faithful to him. That is how this works. I know Jason well enough to know that would be his expectation. In fact, that’s why you wanted your last wild fling.”

“Yes,” she sighed.

“And I know what’s going to happen, too.”

“What?”

“At some point, you two will figure out how to be together permanently and you’ll marry him.”

She twisted a bit and looked at me, “It’s that obvious?”

“Yes. And, if you need to leave here, we’ll understand. Nobody is going to stand in the way of true love.”

“I can’t believe I’m feeling this way! It’s crazy!”

“No, crazy is when the two of you have a kid together,” I said.

She twisted around completely, and knelt between my legs, looking me deeply in my eyes.

“You’re crazy!” she whispered.

I shook my head, “No, I don’t think I am. Well, not about this, anyway. You are a very different person, Abbie Nolan. And that’s a good thing.”

She sagged against me and I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

“Of what? You do a great job with the kids. Until you slept with Jason at Christmas you’ve basically been monogamous for better than a year. You’ll be fine!”

“But me? A wife? A mom? That’s nuts!”

“Before? Yes. Now? No. In the last three years you’ve become a brand-new person. There have been quite a few big changes in your life! And all for the better.”

“Sometimes I wonder about that.”

“That’s normal, too. I have the same struggles. You know that.”

“I know,” she sighed.

We sat quietly in the tub for the next ten minutes or so, with the water sloshing around us.

“Will you take me to bed now?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She turned, and with a very serious look on her face, stared deeply into my eyes, “Don’t plan on sleeping.”

March 30, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“You really seem to be dragging this morning,” Gina said when we finished our run.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night. Abbie might be leaving us to be with Jason in the not-too-distant future.”

“I hear she’s an excellent nanny! That sucks!”

“It does, but she needs to be happy.”

“So what had you up all night?”

I smirked, “SHE had me up all night!”

“You’re incorrigible! How was Kara’s birthday celebration?”

“Fun. She got exactly what she wanted!” I said with a bigger smirk and a wink.

“You mean YOU got what YOU wanted!” Gina laughed.

“I’m sure Jessica has told you how much I like sex.”

“She has,” Gina said, shaking her head.

“Kara likes it more. Way more!”

“More male fantasy? The girl who looks like Miss Universe at age 28 is a nymphomaniac?”

“Yes, but it also happens to be true!” I chuckled. “Fortunately, I’m UP to the task!”

“On that note, I’m going home for a shower! A COLD one!”

We both laughed, hugged, and then we each headed on our way. My daily routine would be different because Jessica didn’t start work until noon, so our walk to the hospital would be at lunchtime. And I’d have to walk or drive to get her at midnight. That would also mess up my sleep schedule for a month, though Gina and I had moved our runs an hour later to allow me to sleep until 6:30am instead of 5:30am. I hoped the blackout curtains in our room let me actually sleep until then, instead of waking up at or before first light.

“Have a nice run this morning?” Jessica asked when I came into the bedroom.

“I did, but I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’m really beat.”

Kara giggled, “I expected that. If she was going to have you for the last time, she was going to make it worth it!”

“And it’s not worth it otherwise?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Go shower, Snuggle Bear!” Kara ordered with a laugh.

“Did you eat breakfast?” I asked as I stripped off my running clothes.

“With the kids. I have to leave in about ten minutes for my 9:00am class. I think that’s more or less how it will work for the month of April. It’ll be tough finding time together, the three of us.”

I went into the bathroom and got into the shower, and the girls came in and leaned against the sink.

“We have to make sure we make time on Saturdays and Sundays,” I said. “I’m going to tell Michelle our one-on-ones have to wait until next month. She’ll totally understand. The only little glitch is Jennifer and Josie going to Ohio on vacation the last week of April.”

“What about Abbie?” Jessica asked.

“Until she talks to Jason, there’s no way to know for sure, but I still don’t see her following him around from race to race. And I don’t see him leaving Kulwicki’s team, especially now that they are serious contenders for the Winston Cup.”

“So what will they do?”

“The same as we did for your two years of medical school, Babe; figure it out.”

I got out of the shower and dried off. I pulled on some fresh briefs, then kissed Kara who had to leave for her Monday morning class. I finished dressing, then Jessica and I went down to breakfast. It was just the two of us because everyone else had eaten, though Albert and Birgit came to sit with us.

“Did you tell Mommy you wanted a bike?” I asked Albert.

“No. Only you!”

“Next weekend we’ll get him a tricycle and Michael a bike. I suppose we should see if the other kids want bikes or not. Birgit, do you want a bike?”

“I want ice skates!” she said. “Like the girls on TV!”

She’d watched the Olympic figure skating and been completely enthralled. I wasn’t surprised by the request.

“You want to play ice hockey?” I teased. “Like Jesse?”

“Yuck! Boys stink! Hockey clothes stink!”

“I can’t argue with that, Pumpkin! There isn’t much that smells worse than a hockey locker room!”

“Stinky boys!” she asserted again.

“I think we can get you some figure skates and some lessons. Do you know Daddy has a friend who skates like that? But she does ice dancing.”

“I watched!”

“My friend will come visit in five months. I bet she would skate with you!”

“Stephie?”

“She’s probably too little,” I said. “She’s not even two yet!”

“I’m almost four!” Birgit declared.

“Going on twenty-four,” Jessica said, sotto voce.

“You ready to go to work?” Elyse asked, coming into the kitchen.

“I thought you’d left already. I won’t be going in until 9:00am this month because of Jessica’s schedule. I’ll work until 6:45pm, then go to karate, then come home for dinner. Kara and I will eat together, but Abbie will make sure the kids eat at the normal time.”

“Bummer. Those family dinners are really nice.”

“I’m sorry,” Jessica said.

“It’s only a month,” I replied. “And we’ll have family dinners on Saturdays and Sundays.”

“I’ll wait for you today,” Elyse said, “but I suppose I’ll go in at the usual time starting tomorrow.”

Jessica and I finished our breakfast, I kissed her and the kids, and then Elyse and I headed to the office. It was a normal Monday morning with the leadership meeting and a status meeting with Julia, Dave, and Charlie, and one with Sam and Penny. That chewed up most of my time, and at 11:30am I walked quickly home to meet Jessica for the walk to the hospital.

“Won’t this mess up your lunch schedule?” she asked as we walked hand-in-hand south on Woodlawn.

“At least three days a week I eat at my desk, so it won’t be a big deal. Tomorrow, I’ll just stop at the diner on the way back from the hospital. I’ll only be maybe twenty minutes later than usual. Thursday isn’t a regularly scheduled thing at this point. Siobhán starts her project today, so the studio is closed until 1:30pm. That means we can have lunch after I walk you to work.”

“You don’t have to do this, Tiger.”

“No, I don’t have to. I want to. I told you that when we discussed this before. I think this is important. So unless it annoys you, or feels suffocating, or something like that, I want to keep doing it.”

“I like it, Tiger, but it takes so much time from your day.”

“And if I can’t take time for you, Kara, and the kids, then my priorities are totally wrong. This will be a crazy month and we’ll have to work hard at that. This is one little thing I can do to show you how much I love you.”

“You have a BIG thing to show me how much you love me,” she giggled.

“There’s another thing we’ll have to prioritize on the weekends!” I said with a grin.

March 31, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

On Tuesday, after walking Jessica to work, I headed for the diner. I wasn’t sure exactly how Crystal was going to act, or how she wanted the friendship to play out, so all I could do was wait and follow her lead. I walked in but my usual spot was occupied because I’d arrived later than I had in the past. I ended up at the counter, because I didn’t want to wait for a booth to become free.

“Hi!” Crystal said when she saw me.

“Good afternoon!”

“You’re late! I was starting to wonder.”

“Sorry. I forgot to tell you that this month I have to walk Jess to work around noon. I’ll be in about this time for the next four weeks or so.”

“The usual?”

“Yes.”

She put in the order and less than ten minutes later brought it to me, along with an envelope. She smiled and when I picked it up and used my eyes to ask whether I should open it here, she nodded. I slid my finger under the flap and slipped it from its tucked-in position. I extracted a card that had a large red heart on the front. I opened it and read the neat, obviously female, handwriting.

“Sunday was your birthday?” I asked quietly.

“My nineteenth!”

“Why didn’t you say anything? We could have celebrated!”

“We did,” she said softly, putting her hand on mine. “And I can’t think of anything I’d rather have done.”

“Next year?” I asked.

“If I don’t have a steady boyfriend, I thought you might want to take me out for my twentieth birthday and celebrate again!”

I chuckled, “And until then?”

“Be my friend! I remember everything you said.”

“I can do that,” I said with a smile.

She smiled and left me to eat and read my magazine. I’d been a little worried when I saw the heart on the front of the card, and next to her name, but her words, both handwritten and spoken, alleviated those fears. I’d have to find some time to spend with her, but that would have to wait at least until May. Until then, every spare moment needed to be spent with my wives or my kids. Even my dates with Gina would be at the house, hanging out with the kids. She’d objected, but as I’d pointed out, she had six other nights free.

When I finished my lunch, I stood up and put the tip on the counter, and started to walk to the register. Crystal stopped me, gave me a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, then let me go. Angie was at the register.

“I see you two have fixed things,” she said, taking the offered $10 bill and counting out my change.

“Once I stopped acting like a jerk, yes.”

“I haven’t seen her this happy since she started working here in August. Whatever you did, you must have done it exactly right.”

I smiled, accepted my change, and left the diner. I certainly seemed to have done it right. And not just the lovemaking.

April 2, 1992, Chicago, Illinois

“Steve, do you have one second?” Jeri asked late on Thursday morning.

“Just. I need to get home to meet Jessica for our walk.”

“Maybe we can talk when you come back from lunch. I assume you saw the Foundation schedule?”

“Yes, and I need to talk to you about that. The fundraiser is on the 20th, the day after Easter. Jess will be working.”

“You need to be there, one way or the other.”

“I know,” I sighed. “I’ll just have to come stag. Bringing Kara probably wouldn’t be the best idea.”

“Let me think about it. Word is going to get out anyway.”

“OK. I assume I can’t refer to the group as ‘People Eating Tasty Animals’? Or order a cheeseburger?”

“It’s a completely vegetarian meal. And don’t wear fur!”

“God forbid!” I laughed. “I need to run. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

I quickly walked home to find Jessica waiting for me on the porch swing. She got up and came down the steps to meet me on the sidewalk. We kissed and hugged, and then began our walk hand-in-hand.

“The next Foundation event is on the 20th.”

“I saw the calendar you stuck on the cork board in the kitchen. Do I need to try to find someone to cover for me?”

“I don’t think so. I can go stag, and Jeri thought I might be able to bring Kara. I’m not sure about that, though.”

“Please don’t be upset, but I don’t think you should take Kara. Why make a bold statement like that? It’s just asking for attention. The Press was there and more or less ignored you. They won’t if you show up with a different woman, who also happens to be drop-dead gorgeous.”

“Babe, in that gown you had on? You were the best-looking woman in the room, bar none!”