Three Cheers

Busy’s birthday arrived without any trouble; she had a few friends over, cake, ice cream and presents. The house, though, was filled with my nieces and nephews; they all ran and buzzed around, while I was designated in the kitchen talking with the kids’ parents. Gerard was out of sight, which filled me with confusion; Busy, Thora and all the other kids were playing around in the living room, I had thought Gerard was there, but I was mistaken.

I had excused myself to go look for Gerard.

“G?” I called over the happy yelps of kids. “Gerard?”

The door to his office was shut, so I knocked before opening it. I found him leaning against his desk, smoking a cigarette and looking off. “G?”

He looked over at me, a bit startled, “October, what’s up?”

I smiled slyly at him, “Taking a smoke break?”

He shrugged, “A little. I’m thinkin’.”

I entered the room as he snubbed out his cigarette and blew the smoke away from me; “What about?”

“Nothing important…comic shit.”

I gave a small laugh, “Well, why don’t you come out now? Busy’ll be looking for you soon.”

Gerard nodded to himself, and leaned off his desk; he came over to me and, a surprise to me, wrapped his arms around me. I didn’t question it immediately, I returned the hug; he held me there for a moment; I could smell the cigarettes on him. He sighed deeply, “I have to leave tomorrow.”

I frowned, “Oh.”

“I’ll be back on the 14th.”

I pulled back and looked up at him, “Gerard, that’s more than a week.” I spat this out in a sharp tone.

“I’m sorry,” he said as my arms slipped from around him. “I didn’t know, they barely told me a few minutes ago.”

I sighed deeply, “So, what? Do I have to make sure our son doesn’t come sputtering out while you’re gone?”

Gerard coursed his hair back, “I’ll try and get home. They want us to meet with everyone, showcase what we got, talk with them, sign shit—“ he paused. “I’m really sorry.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, “It ain’t your fault.”

“I’ll try and cut it all short, I promise.” He hugged me again, “Don’t worry, alright? The baby won’t come until I’m here.”

“It’s easy for you to say.” I grumbled against his shoulder.

He pressed one hand against my protruding belly, between us, “He ain’t ripe yet.”

I rolled my eyes, “He’s plenty ripe. He’s just stubborn like you.”

Gerard smiled down at me, “Let’s keep it that way until I get back, okay?”

“I’m prayin’ so.”


The following morning, Thora was the one, as usual, to come and wake us up. She pounced onto Gerard and muttered for him to get up. “C’mon, daddy! You need breakfast ‘fore you leave!”

Gerard groaned and sat up; I only rolled over, watching them. “You woke me up too early, baby.” He told her.

“Extra early for pancakes!” she exclaimed, “And cake! There’s still cake, daddy!”

“No cake.” I told her.

She pouted, “But daddy’s leavin’, we should eat cake!”

Gerard looked at me, “Just a little?”

I groaned right back at him, “Fine, go ahead.”

Thora threw her hands up and cheered, and then hopped of the bed, shouting, “B, we get cake!”

Gerard gave an exhausted sigh, “I’m gonna get up…you need anything?”

I shook my head, “No, I’m going to get up too.”

I sat up, heftily, and propped up; it was 6 AM; Gerard wouldn’t be leaving until 9. I groaned again, “I’m so tired.”

“Sorry, Sugar.” Gerard said with a raspy laugh.

I moved to get out of bed while he went into the bathroom; I left the room to find Thora, to make sure she wasn’t eating the cake. Well, I caught her a little too soon; her hands were in the cake, in the fridge, putting a fistful into her mouth.

“Hey!” I snapped.

She jumped in place and spun around. Her face was smeared with white, pink and purple frosting. She smiled innocently at me, “You said.” Her voice was muffled by the cake.

“I know what I said,” I told her as I went over to her, “But, I didn’t say you could stuff it in your mouth.”

“Daddy would let me.” She whined with a swallow.

“Yeah, I know.” I muttered, “Come on, let me give you a bath.”

I put Thora in the bath while Busy brushed her teeth; afterward, I dressed her and let her go get Gerard. Busy came with me to the kitchen to help make pancakes; “Does daddy have to go?”

“Unfortunately.” I mumbled. “Don’t worry, it won’t be long.”

She gave a small sigh and sat at the table. I frowned too; I tried to reassure her that everything would be okay when he left, but she had no response. Gerard came in after carrying Thora; he went straight to the coffee maker and sat Thora on the counter. He turned to me, taking over the stove to make pancakes, “Go sit down, we got this.”

I knew not to protest him, and sat down with Busy; she frowned at me. “Do you want to color, B?”

She shrugged and then got up; I followed behind her. We sat on the couch and she grabbed her crayons and paper; “Maybe you can draw daddy a picture, yeah? So he can take it with him.”

Busy perked up a bit, “Okay.”

She and I colored until Gerard called us back into the kitchen to eat. Busy sat beside him and Thora settled in his lap. I watched them all fool around and laugh; but as time wound down, Gerard looked more and more reluctant to leave.

He had looked at me regrettably when the taxi arrived; Thora attached herself to his waist and whined, “No! Don’t go!”

He picked her up, “I’ll be back.”

“What if the baby comes?” she wondered; her hands cupped his cheeks, “You have to stay, daddy!”

He sighed, “I have to, for the band. You want daddy to make music, right?”

She nodded; I frowned sadly, hoping she understood. “Daddy will be back, baby.” I pet her hair back, “He promises.”

Thora huffed and began to cry, “Lemme come with you!”

Gerard hugged her and kissed her cheek, “Next time. Mommy’ll miss you if you come.”

She cried and whined; Gerard set her down on her feet and kissed her cheek again, “I love you.”

Thora wiped her face with her sleeve, “I love you, too.” She hugged him once more before Gerard said goodbye to Busy.

He kissed me quickly, “I’ll call you as soon as I land.”

“Alright, good luck.” I smiled at him sadly.

He picked up his bag and started out the door; Thora ran towards the window and watched him, Happy followed, waging his tail under the curtain. Busy looked up at me, “How long is he gonna be gone?”

“17 days.” I told her.

“Can we put it on the calendar?”

I nodded, “Yep, have Thora help.”

Thora cried out, “He left!”

Busy went behind the curtain, “It’s okay, Thora, daddy will be back in 17 days.”

“That’s a long time!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, I know.”

The two of them didn’t move until a minute or so later; Thora’s face was soaked and red. I kissed the top of her head, “Let’s go fix the calendar and I’ll show you when daddy’ll be back.”

She took my hand and followed Busy and I to Busy’s room.


The New Year came and passed, and I was suddenly on edge about the birth of my son. I counted the hours, the fear of Gerard’s absence. The girls talked to him in some sort of way since he had gone; the second week of his absence was easier on them.

We got to hang out with Fran and baby Anthony, all whining about missing Gerard and Frank. Fran was more so around to make sure I didn’t worry myself into early labor. I was grateful for her coming around, for the simple fact that the girls were busy and mused over Anthony.

As the days drug on, it came down to only 9 more left until he came home. I couldn’t wait any longer; after talking to him over the phone, I was more than excited to have Gerard back and to have our baby. Excitement was getting the better of me, I can’t deny I did little cheers when the days dwindled and the baby didn’t unexpectedly pop out.

I was a fool to get too excited…with only 4 days left, January 10th, my water broke.

I was in shock at first, because I didn’t feel anything. Thora was the one to say, “Mama! Did you pee your pants?”

I had paused and looked down; in the kitchen, the girls looked too. I shut my eyes, “Busy call Francis, please.”