Coming Home

“Cass,” Cassadee opened her arms wide and Caleb came crashing into it. He hugged her a little too tightly and Cassadee squeezed his shoulder blades heavily together. They were at the hospital again.

Albeit not her favourite place, but it was a happy occasion today.

“Dude,” Derrick had to pry Cassadee off Caleb before engulfing him in a gigantic hug. They were too old to be using that term, but Derrick used it anyway. He still looked young anyway.

“Mum and dad are already inside,” Caleb said, barely concealing his elation. Cassadee squirmed slightly at Sampson’s presence, but Derrick nudged her into the ward anyway. The sunlight brokered through the windows, and the ward they were in seemed to shift happily under good lighting.

Cassadee entered warily, her cuffed khaki pants and suede loafers looking incredibly hip in the good lighting. She saw Derrick’s mother, Jennifer, cooing at the cot that lay next to the bed. She hadn’t changed much- always the smiling lady, sheathed in pearls and chiffon. Sampson stood next to her, languid at first then tensing up as Derrick entered.

It was still awkward, even after so long. Cassadee had tried to make peace with him, but she secretly hoped he would stop being so uptight when he saw them before she bore his surname after being officially wedded to Derrick.

“Derrick, Cass! You’ve got to see her,” Jennifer looked up and cooed at them. She stopped midsentence and blinked awkwardly, reminding herself that she was talking to a couple of 25 year olds. Cassadee laughed and Derrick smiled before giving his mother a hug and his father a reassuring smile.

Cassadee always thought it was funny how the tables turned. The young forgiving the older generation and moving on with their lives. Sampson was still the chairperson of the NDP, but you could see the stress of running a nation democratically was bearing down on him. He could hardly go anywhere without looking proper and Cassadee thought it was weird that Derrick’s parents had regular supper breaks with her parents.

Surely her dad had seen Sampson in his pyjamas before.

“Where’s Ash?” Cassadee asked, and as if on cue a little ball of energy came tottering into the room at full toddler speed.

“Mimi!” he garbled before bulldozing straight into Cassadee’s arms. She giggled as she brought him up, propping Ash against her hip.

“She’s not your Mimi anymore, she’s going to be your Aunt soon!” laughed Angela, her voice still groggy from the delivery. Cassadee scrunched her nose up and Ash laughed in her face.

“When’s the big day?” Caleb asked and Derrick shrugged, giving Cassadee a side-ways glance. She looked beautiful as the day he saw her, and she had gained some weight with him over the years. She wasn’t painfully skinny anymore, and there were no more negative spaces for him to fill. Now they lived with each other, not on.

Derrick liked it better that way.

“We’re taking our time,” he shrugged just as Jared and Tobias strolled in casually, making a raucous, as fabulous couples do.

“Sorry, someone forgot the keys when we were closing up,” Tobias said carelessly, giving hugs to everyone around before booping Cassadee and Ash on their noses. Jared rolled his eyes.

They co-owned a small coffee-alcohol joint on the corner of a street.

Tobias had said he never knew he would be retiring into caffeine and vodka so soon, and Derrick remembered being there for their opening night. They had drank both coffees and alcohol until Cassadee had passed out in her chair and that was the first time he had seen her drunk. Then he had to carry her home just in time for a night of wild sex.

He didn't know where she got the energy from.

Caleb and Angela were already married, and after Ash came into their lives- their new baby girl seemed eager to pop in shortly after two years. Tobias and Jared were living together because it was still illegal for them to wed in the country. It was something that Sampson and the NDP would have to regulate, but they seemed pretty happy where they were now.

Derrick wondered if his father was homophobic. Jennifer, his mother, had seemed shock at the revelation that Tobias was in fact, gay. But she had accepted them because they were good family and work friends by the time Derrick stopped meddling with politics. His father, Derrick wasn’t so sure.

In their new lives, Sampson was the one who had fallen behind. But Derrick conceded that he was trying to catch up and make amends, and that was enough to make him satisfied.

~

“So what’s her name?” Cassadee finally asked Angela in a moment of privacy as all the men and Asher went out for a quick stroll. Angela still had that dewy glow on her face. Cassadee wondered how she would balance her fashion career with two kids. Maybe she could pull of Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada.

“Clary,” Angela replied and Cassadee looked at her friend in surprise.

“I hope you don’t mind. Caleb-“

“No, no, it’s perfect,” Cassadee said, looking down at the little girl nestled onto Angela’s body. She was feeding from Angela, and Cassadee felt her heart do a little flip of joy when she saw the tiny palm wrap around itself, escaping from her blankets.

“Just Clary?” Cassadee asked again, watching the life that was so new and fresh to the world gurgle. Angela nodded and Cassadee smiled before biting her lip.

“What’s wrong?” Angela asked, noticing her friend’s sudden silence. Cassadee looked at her feet before looking back at Angela.

“I sent the book for publishing.”

“No way!”

“I don’t know if he’ll like it, but it’s one of Derrick’s professors. And it’s really crazy, and I feel really scared all of a sudden.”

“Why?”

“It’s just. It’s like a part of myself, and our world is out there you know? It’s painful to look back on-“

“You have a pen name don’t you?”

When Cassadee nodded Angela sighed and leaned back against her pillow.

“It’s the anxiety that comes with it Cass, but you’ll do good, I can feel it.”

When Cassadee kept quiet, Angela filled the silence.

“Plus, we do know some big names. I’m sure we’ll help you do a little bit of advertising,” she said, winking and Cassadee laughed.

“Angie-“

“Hmm?”

“I’m really glad life turned out this way.”

“Don’t say that now. We’re only 25, and I plan to live till I’m a hundred.”

~

Derrick came home with a book in his hands and Cassadee yelped in fright.

“Is that-“

“Lies and Pies,” he said, grinning at her before wrapping his arms around her. His knee creaked as he jostled her onto the couch. His new knee was fine, it was the other one that still creaked- because it was still made of bone and not titanium alloy. He watched as she picked it up gently, like it was made of glass and stared at it.

“Holy shit, I didn’t know the title would make it sound so hipster-wannabe.”

“What are you so obsessed about? You’re not Donna Sanders are you?” Derrick asked and Cassadee smiled a little.

“I did go a little too far with the pen name,” she shrugged and he felt her laugh against him before he kissed her cheek tentatively. Looking longingly at the book, Cassadee suddenly chucked it onto the coffee table in front of them before turning in his lap and pecking him on the lips with her lips.

She still smelt like honey and flowers.

“Now that we’re done with the L and Ps-“she smiled against his lips, and her fingers traced the side of his neck that was not scarred. Derrick laughed a throaty laugh and Cassadee shimmied closer to him, brushing intently in the area where all men liked to be brushed.

“Can we wait for a few more weeks before planning the wedding? What if you end up as a New York Times Best-selling author?”

Cassadee clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and brushed her bottom downwards a little harder.

“I’m sure Donna has a lot more time on her hands, she doesn’t need sex as much as-“

“So you weren’t talking about the wedding?” Derrick asked humorously, he watched Cassadee roll her eyes before laughing again. He was glad he could spend his life with her.

“The wedding will wait, as long as I know you’re gonna stay right here,” she whispered before wrapping her palm around his neck and planting fluttery kisses against his cheekbones. He pressed his fingers into her sides, feeling the way her shirt crinkled around his hands and brought her closer.

“The last time I left, everything was a mess.”

“Glad you learnt your lesson big boy,” she said into his ears. And Derrick knew finally that everything right now, was going to be just fine.