When the Walls Come Crashing Down

Dinner that night was a solemn affair seeing as how no one knew what to talk about. Joe hadn’t returned downstairs until after Nick had left a few hours earlier. Once everything was cleared away, Joe watched as Faith brought Bryson upstairs to put him to bed. He followed her upstairs and slowly walked into the room behind her as she set Bryson in the bassinet. She turned to see him standing there, hands in his pockets, head down.

“Hi,” she whispered, turning the baby monitor on before walking over to Joe.

“Hi,” he said back, not looking up at her.

“Do you want to talk?” she asked. After a moments hesitation he nodded his head yes. Faith led the way to the hall and closed the door behind her. Joe walked into Lizzy’s room and sat down on the bed. Faith closed the door slightly before sitting down next to him.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet,” he said, finally glancing up at her, his eyes red from crying.

“It’s alright. I understand,” she said, putting her hand on his thigh.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It was dumb of me to act so childish. I just… it’s not at all how I thought it would be.”

“It wasn’t dumb. It was natural. I’m sure Nick would have acted the same way. You didn’t see his face when he held Bryson for the first time. It was like seeing a completely different person.”

“Well maybe you’ll get used to that person since he’s Bryson’s Dad,” Joe said, a hint of malice in his voice.

“Don’t say that,” she said pleadingly, pulling her legs up onto the bed and sitting Indian style as she faced Joe’s body.

“Why not? It’s the truth.”

“Hey, look at me,” she said softly. Joe turned his face to look at her and she reached out to grab his hands. She tugged slightly until he pulled his legs up and mirrored her. “You are going to be the best father to Bryson. It’s already been proven by how you’ve been the past ten days. It took Nick ten days to get here and actually hold Bryson for the first time.”

“Well yeah, but, now that it’s official I’m going to be pushed out of the picture.”

“That is not true and you know it.”

“Faith, I’m going to be gone for three months! I leave in four days. And you said months ago that if Nick’s the father, you want him to move in here so he won’t miss anything. Well guess what, Faith, I’m going to miss things,” he said jabbing his pointer finger into his chest, anger in his voice.

“Joe, calm down,” she said, moving to a kneeling position and placing her hands on his face and forcing him to look into her eyes. “I love you. We are going to get married and you can adopt Bryson as your son and he’ll grow up knowing two fathers. Nick won’t be here for forever. Just for a year or two, until Bryson is at the age to go into daycare and I can take him to work with me. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I have everything to worry about!” he said, his voice breaking.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, lowering herself back onto the bed Indian style.

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me. Never,” she said, grabbing his hands again. “What makes you think you’d lose me?”

“If Nick is still in love with you…”

“Oh please, not this again,” she said rolling her eyes and letting go of his hands as she scooted back on the bed.

“We haven’t talked about this before.”

“No but Lizzy brought it up this morning and I really don’t want to hear it again.”

“I don’t care if you want to hear it or not, Faith. This is something we need to talk about.”

“No we don’t because it’s completely asinine. Nick is not in love with me! He loves Charlotte.”

“Yes but Charlotte will be gone. She’ll be with me for three months leaving Nick here with you. He said it himself he never said he stopped loving you.”

“That was over six months ago!” Faith shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

“That doesn’t mean shit,” Joe said, shaking his head. “He may not have been the best husband while you were married but he sure as hell loved you. I had to listen to him tell me how much he loved you those years you dated before he proposed. I had to listen to it before the wedding, during the reception, when you got back. And all the while I was dying to tell him that I loved you more than that. But I couldn’t do it because I wanted him to be happy.”

“Okay but no matter how much he loved me it obviously wasn’t enough. Otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here with you right now.”

“No, but just because I was willing to keep my feelings hidden for the sake of my brother’s happiness doesn’t mean Nick will do the same. We’re completely different in that way and I honestly do not trust him to be here with you,” he said firmly.

“It’s not like we’re going to be here alone,” she said, running her hands over her face. “Lizzy is going to be here for a few more weeks and my mother is still going to be here all the time and don’t you open your mouth and say what you’re about to. Lizzy already said it. She’s going back to school, my mother is going to work at the nursery school for me while I’m home with Bryson but Nick still works too. It’s not always from the home. Trust me, I lived it. Eventually he’ll have to go to the studio.”

“I still don’t trust him. What is he supposed to do, sleep in the basement and when it’s his night to wake up and get Bryson climb up two flights of stairs to get to him when it could wake you up right there? He’ll have to sleep in there in order for him to help you,” Joe said, pointing toward their bedroom.

“We could switch off every week or something. One week I’ll be in the bedroom, the next in the basement and so on,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t know, Joe, things aren’t set in stone yet. But we’ll come up with a plan and we’ll make it work. Even if Nick does have thoughts of trying to get with me I won’t let it happen. I took a stand once and I’ll do it again if I have to. I’m not letting anything tear you and I apart.”

“If anything, and I mean anything, happens between the two of you, you’ll tell me, right? You won’t keep it in the dark?” he asked, holding her gaze to see if she’d tell the truth.

“Of course I would. Though there won’t be anything to tell because nothing is going to happen.”

“But if it does…”

“If it does. I will be sure to call you straight away,” she said, leaning over and kissing him. He held her there for a moment, letting his lips linger on hers before pulling away. He stood up from the bed and held his hand out, helping her up and leading her back downstairs to join Lizzy and Meg.

****

“I think we should ask Nick to move in before you and Charlotte leave,” Faith said at breakfast the next morning catching Joe off guard.

“Don’t you think that’s something you could do after we leave?” he asked, turning to look at her with pleading eyes.

“No,” she said, shaking her head and trying not to smile at the pathetic look on his face.
“Actually I think it’s something the four of us should talk about.”

“Four of us?” Joe asked, raising his eyebrows.

“You, me, Nick, and Charlotte,” she said, biting her lip.

“I don’t know, Faith,” he sighed, relaxing his shoulders knowing deep down that she was right. “Well before we tell them to come over don’t you think we should figure out where he should stay if he agrees with it?”

“Figure out where who should stay?” Lizzy asked, sitting down next to Faith and taking an apple from the bowl.

“Your sister thinks it will be a good idea to have Nick move in here while Charlotte and I are gone so he can help take care of Bryson,” Joe answered, looking up at Lizzy and rolling his eyes.

“You’re joking right?” Lizzy asked, turning to look at Faith as she bit into her apple.

“It’s not like it’s a secret,” Faith said, shrugging her shoulders. “I talked to Nick about this before Bryson was even born. I told him that if he’s the father he’s moving in no matter what because I’m not shuffling my baby between households every week or so. And that was back before he even really cared about Bryson and he wasn’t too keen on it but now…”

“So... obviously he can’t stay in the same room as you because that would just be… weird for everyone,” Lizzy said, taking another bite of her apple. “He could use my room,” she said, tiny bits of apple spraying out of her mouth as she chewed. Faith reached over with a napkin to clean it up and shook her head.

“Absolutely not, that’s your room.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Joe said, putting the scrambled eggs he made into a bowl and setting it on the island, taking a seat across from Faith and Lizzy.

“What’s a great idea?” Meg asked, walking into the room, kissing Bryson’s forehead before taking a seat next to Joe and helping herself next to some eggs.

“Well might as well fill them both in since we’re all here,” Joe said, squeezing some ketchup on top of his eggs.

“Since Joe is going to be gone for three months with Charlotte and Lizzy going to college in a month and you going to work for me, Mom, I think Nick should move in here to help take care of Bryson. He is his father after all and I already decided this months ago, the day our divorce was finalized,” Faith explained, hoping her mother would be on her side.

“I think that’s a very smart idea albeit probably not the most appealing for Nick or Charlotte,” Meg said, looking at her daughter.

“Or me,” Joe muttered, grabbing his glass and taking a sip of his orange juice. Faith glared at him and he shrugged his shoulders.

“The only problem is that if and when he were to move in there won’t be any rooms available since you and Lizzy are in the guest rooms so I was thinking he could sleep in the basement at least until Lizzy leaves.”

“And I think that wouldn’t be the brightest idea because if Bryson were to wake up in the middle of the night and it was Nick’s turn to take care of him he’d have to come up two flights of stairs. In that amount of time Faith could already be feeding Bryson or changing him,” Joe countered and Faith shook her head.

“So I suggested he take my room right away,” Lizzy said, nudging Joe’s arm and he passed her the plate of bacon. “Thanks.”

“And I said no,” Faith said.

“Sis it’s no big deal. So I’d have to sleep in your awesome, furnished basement for three weeks. Hello, have you been down there? It’s huge! I wouldn’t mind at all.”

“Plus her room is right next to ours so it will be easy for Nick to just go on in and handle Bryson. Or you could even move the bassinet in there when it’s his week or night or however you work this out, to wake up to Bryson so you can sleep through the whole night without baby cries waking you up,” Joe said, using a persuasive tone of voice.

“Alright. Alright. You’ve convinced me. Lizzy, after we talk to Nick, if he agrees, you can move into the basement and he can move into your room,” Faith said, raising her hands in the air.

“Sweet,” Lizzy said, giving Joe a high five. Just as they were all finally about to enjoy breakfast the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Joe said, pushing his stool away from the island and walking towards the foyer. His bare feet padded against the hardwood floor and echoed in the quiet hallway. He opened the door and his eyes widened when he saw Kevin and Danielle standing there.

“Hi Joe!” Dani said, walking in and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Uh hi Dani, Kev,” Joe said, closing the door behind them. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry we didn’t call,” Kevin said as Dani skipped into the kitchen. “We had our first OB appointment today and we have sonogram pictures and she wanted to share them.”

“You alright?” Joe asked, clapping a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “You seem a little out of it.”

“I’m just… taking it all in I suppose,” Kevin said, shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t get me wrong I’m excited. We’ve been waiting for it so long but it’s… kind of frightening.”

“I don’t blame you. Though your situation is slightly simpler than mine because you actually know that you’re the father. Unless Dani decided to have an illicit affair with the mailman,” Joe joked and Kevin punched him lightly in his side.

“Not funny,” Kevin said, letting out a small laugh.

“Got you to lighten up didn’t it?” Joe asked, nudging his older brother. “Want some coffee?”

“Yes please,” Kevin said, stopping behind Dani and wrapping his arms around her as she showed Faith, Lizzy, and Meg the sonogram.

“Wait a second,” Faith said, taking the picture out of Dani’s hand and holding it closer to her face. “Oh my God!”

“What is it?” Joe asked, handing Kevin his coffee.

“You’re having twins?!” Faith exclaimed, shoving away from the island and jumping up.

“We’re having twins!!!” Dani shouted, hugging Faith tightly as they jumped up and down in circles.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was twins?” Joe asked, smacking Kevin’s chest with the back of his hand as Kevin was taking a sip of his coffee. The sudden hit caused Kevin to flinch and spill coffee down his shirt.

“Ow!” Kevin shrieked, quickly pulling his shirt over his head.

“Sorry bro,” Joe said, taking the shirt and tossing it in the sink, running cold water over it. “Come on you can borrow one of mine.”

“Don’t mind me, just may have second degree burns all over my chest, no big deal,” Kevin said as he maneuvered his way around Danielle and Faith as they continued to celebrate over twins. Joe followed him out of the kitchen and upstairs.

“Congratulations man! Why didn’t you tell me back there?” Joe asked, pointing over his shoulder down the stairs to the foyer.

“Like I said, it’s a lot to take in,” Kevin said, jogging over to the bathroom as soon as they got upstairs. He grabbed a washcloth from the linen closet and ran it under cold water, tossing it onto his chest as fast as he could, sighing at the cool relief.

“Well yeah but, twins is a big deal Kev,” Joe said, leaning against the doorway of the bathroom as Kevin ran the washcloth under more cold water. “That’s awesome though.”

“I know,” Kevin said, smiling widely. “We haven’t told Mom yet. She’s going to flip.”

“Yeah she is,” Joe said, laughing at the thought of his mother jumping up and down with excitement.

“I hope we didn’t interrupt anything when we stopped over by the way,” Kevin said, reaching back into the linen closet for a towel to dry his chest off with.

“Not really. We had actually just finished discussing something. Having to do with Nick…”

“Oh,” Kevin said, letting out a whistle. “What about?”

“Faith wants him to move in here to help out with Bryson while Charlotte and I are away. Plus there’s just the general fact that she wants him to move in anyway since he’s Bryson’s father.”

“And you said it’s okay?”

“I was hesitant at first,” Joe said, walking towards his and Faith’s bedroom, Kevin next to him. “I mean, I had no idea where he’d sleep. There was no way in hell I would even let him sleep in here with Faith.”

“Of course not,” Kevin said, taking the shirt Joe handed him and putting it on.

“And the basement is out of the question because it’s just too far from Bryson.”

“Right,” Kevin said, nodding his head and sitting on the bed as Joe leaned up against Bryson’s changing table and crossed his arms.

“So Lizzy said that Nick could take her room since it’s right next to here and she’d move in the basement. That way Bryson’s bassinet could be moved mere feet when it’s Nick’s turn to wake up at night and Faith can sleep peacefully,” Joe explained and Kevin nodded his head.

“Makes sense.”

“Yeah so now we just have to talk to Nick and Charlotte and make sure it’s alright with them.”

“Ouch,” Kevin said, taking in a breath.

“Faith said it should be fine because apparently she already told Nick that he’d move in if he was the father a few months ago. The day their divorce was finalized actually. She said he wasn’t too keen on it but that was before he actually cared that she was pregnant.”

“Are you nervous about it?” Kevin asked and Joe hesitated. He couldn’t lie to Kevin.

“Well yeah,” Joe said, shrugging his shoulders. “Especially after what happened at William’s funeral when he said he had never stopped loving her.”

“But that was over six months ago.”

“As Faith has so kindly reminded me over and over,” Joe said, nodding his head. “I know, I know but I can still worry can’t I? To think that he’ll be living here for three months in my house with my girlfriend and my…”

“Joe,” Kevin said sympathetically knowing that Joe was about to say baby.

“No, Faith’s right. Bryson is Nick’s son, not mine. He should be here to help take care of him. I just can’t let it bother me. I won’t let it bother me,” he said defiantly, nodding his head. Kevin looked up at him, a bit of doubt in his eyes but Joe knew he could handle it. At least… he hoped he’d be able to handle it.