Instead of getting calzone, they ordered Chinese and Callan paid. “I don’t make much because I’m enlisted, but I get enough and it’s only polite that I asked you on a date so I should pay”, he said when she made the call for dinner.
“You’re even paying for Will’s food?” she asked skeptically.
“He’s here to protect you. That’s his job. He deserves a good meal for that.”
“You. I don’t know what to think of you”, Miranda said as she shook her head. “You’re something new. That’s for sure.”
“I’m a Marine and I know how to act like an adult. That boy that was escorted out of the theaters is exactly what I called him. He’s a child. He wouldn’t know how to act like an adult if it bit him on the ass and shook.”
She laughed. “I like that. I really do. You’re something different.”
“A new breed of animal?”
“Sounds like something my grandmother would say, but yeah. That’s what you are. You’re a new breed of animal, at least for me.”
“Not used to people treating you like a lady?”
“Not used to people outside my family- and that includes the extended family- treating me like a lady. That’s what’s so crazy.” She sighed and curled up on the futon with her blanket and as they waited on the food.
“You’re not used to it and I don’t know any other way. Isn’t that interesting?” He sat down on the couch next to her with a huge boyish grin on his face. “So, Miranda, since I started the confessions earlier why don’t you start us off and tell me about your family.”
She laughed. “I have a huge family. We’ve been called Mafia- like and it’s pretty much run that way. Grampa is the Don of our little Jewish Mafia. Uncle Jake is the Capo. Uncle Jeremiah is like his right hand man. The rest of my uncles and my Dad all act as enforcers, so do my brothers and cousins.”
“Wow. Can I share something with you?”
“Sure. We’re being honest here, aren’t we?”
He nodded. “True. What you just described to me doesn’t make me think Mafia.”
“Oh? What do it make you think?”
“COC; Chain of Command. Think about it this way. Your brothers and cousins are all like Corporals and Privates. They all follow orders and report to their superiors, being your Uncles or Dad. They report to Uncle Jeremiah, who reports to Uncle Jake. Uncle Jake reports to Grampa. Grampa is the General, right? That would make Jake his Colonel and Jeremiah would be a Captain. The other uncles would all be various ranks of NCO’s.”
She giggled. “Wow. I never thought of it that way.”
“Interesting way to think of things, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Now, my question is who all’s permission of I have to marry you should we become that serious?”
“You know? I don’t honestly know. I would assume that you have to have my Grampa’s permission because he’s at the top of the Chain of Command and my Dad’s because- Duh! He’s my Dad. I’m not sure if you’d need Uncle Jake’s permission or not. Uncle Jake will be taking over once Grampa’s passed.”
He nods. “So, this is one of those things where we’ll have to play it by ear.”
“Yeah. I get to be the one to set precedence in the family because I’m the oldest granddaughter.”
“Well, I can’t say I envy you.” He laughed. She liked his laughed. She liked the way is sounded and the way it made his face light up.
“I don’t envy me either”, she laughed and tucked a lock of her brown curls behind her ear. Her laugh was music to his ears. She was beautiful, but he wasn’t sure how to let her know that’s what he thought. All he wanted to do was take her into her room and do naughty things to her, but he was the one that asked that they don’t become intimate until they knew that they were going to go somewhere. She was gracious enough to agree so he had to be strong enough to deny the urge. He was almost positive that she felt what he was feeling- the electricity in the air between them, the awkwardness they were both feeling- but he didn’t want to take it anywhere that it didn’t need to go immediately.
They kept talking and she learned that he was raised in North Carolina and though he was a Mormon and held the “priesthood”, he was more spiritual. “I just don’t believe that any organization should be able to tell anyone that I can’t have tattoos or that I can’t do this or that. Or better yet, I have to go to church every Sunday to worship God. What if I’m in the middle of a freaking War Zone on Sunday? What am I supposed to do? Ask the people shooting at my to hold off for an hour or two so that I can go to church? Let’s be reasonable here.” He said as he tossed his Sweet and Sour Pork in its little carton.
She laughed. “I understand that, I guess. I’m totally agree. I was pretty much raised that way. We were all taught to respect and honor our heritage on all sides of the family but we were never, like, dragged to Temple on Friday nights. Though I have heard a story where my Grampa threatened to make all of his kids go one Hanukkah because they wouldn’t stop fighting. I my parents had just told everyone that Mom was pregnant with my twin and me.”
“That’s funny. I can’t imagine David Draiman threatening to make his kids go to Temple.”
“Well, the story my Dad always tells is that the band had come out, meaning Disturbed, and Gramma and Grampa had stepped out to go do some last minute Hanukkah shopping. Well two of the quads- my Uncles James and Jeremiah and my Aunts Meagan and Makayla- were fighting and Aunt Maddie was in on it, Uncle Jake was complaining about something. Great- Uncle Danny was trying to make sure that everyone was behaving. Well, Grampa got onto people and the day progressed. By that evening before sunset, Grampa had had enough and made all of his kids under that age of 18 go to their rooms to think about their behavior. Uncle Jake, Aunt Maddie and Aunt Jordan all had to write essays on what Hanukkah means in general and what it meant to them and that was the only way he was going to reconsider making them all go to Temple on Shabbat.”
“That’s messed up. Temple as a punishment.”
“Yeah. And here it is, nearly 30 years after the fact and we’re expecting my grandparents to leave the earth for good any time now. And the entire family may end up having to go to a Temple in Israel for their services.”
“Who’s older, your Grampa or Gramma?”
“Grampa by three years.”
“Cool.”
She smiled. “If you say so. They’re my grandparents. What I think is so awesome is that they’re still so in love in their 80’s. They’re more in love now than they were 15 years ago.”
“How do you know?”
“Other than hearing them say it?” He nodded. “Well, I’ve got a confession to make and I’ve never told another soul.” She looked over her shoulder to see where Will was. It seemed that he was making his routine check of the building to see if there were anyone that might want to harm her, so she leaned in and whispered to him. “When I was about 12 or 13, I was walking down the hall after taking my little cousin Miri to the bathroom and I walked past their room on the way back. The door was cracked and I was hearing my grandmother moaning and sighing so, being a nosy little Leo I peeked in the cracked door and saw them making love. There was such passion there. I moved so that if one of them looked to the door they wouldn’t see prying eyes and I put my back to the wall. At the time, I was playing Christine in Phantom of the Opera and there was some element of ‘Point of No Return’ that I couldn’t get my hands on. As I sat there in the hall and listened, I imagined the choreography to the piece and singing it with the guy who played the Phantom and I knew what I was missing. I was missing passion. The kind of passion that not only burns and consumes, but soothes and comforts. When I heard that they weren’t making any more noise, I went to the bathroom and cried until my Dad came looking for me.”
“Wow. So you know the meaning of passion from spying on your grandparents?” He was shocked. “I don’t know what to say about that other than suddenly I’m curious as to what it means to have that kind of passion in my arms.”
“Well, you’re the one that requested that we not be intimate and I don’t want you to think that just because I have rock star relatives that I’m easy. But, yeah, I’ve kept that to myself for 16 years.” All Callan Maguire could do was look at her in shock.
---------------
Callan and Miranda spent the night together. The tall slender majesty of Miranda Draiman awed Callan Maguire. What amazed him more was the fragility under the tough exterior. She was from one of most notable families in the nation. She had to learn to be tough out of the gate. But, she was more in touch with herself than any of the other girls he'd been with. He liked that about her.
They lay in her bed and he held her close to his chest. He was beginning to really fall for the woman against his chest. She was strong, beautiful, kind. She had a strong family background. She was everything he was looking for in a future wife.
Miranda had started having strange dreams about babies. She couldn't make sense of it. Unlike a select group of her family, she'd never had prophetic dreams. Her dreams had always been obscure and had little to no meaning to them. So, to be dreaming of babies was something new. She had to admit to herself that she'd been feeling off since she came back to New York from homestead in Colorado and she was a couple weeks late for her cycle. She still wasn't very worried about it. When she had the time she would take a pregnancy test.
The next week would go in the same way. Miranda and Callan would walk to the theater together with Will accompanying them and they would walk back to Miranda's apartment to hang out for the night. Their last night together was tearful for Miranda. She wanted to go with him but she couldn't. "I want to go back to San Diego with you when you leave."
"I know. I want you to go, but I've gotten my orders already. I have to go to Venezuela from 29 Palms for four months. I'll come home after that. You have a play opening in two days. Your grandparents will be here as well as your parents. Stay here with them and let them see you shine. You're a marvelous actress. Let them see it."
She smiled sadly. "I know. I just don't want you to leave."
"But I have to." Be brushed his knuckles down her cheek. "Will it help to know that the entire time I'm away I'll be thinking of you?"
"If you're going to be in hostile territory, then no. I'll only distract you."
"Miranda, you could never distract me."
She smiled. "You sweet. I can't wait to tell my family about you."
"Doesn't your brother Isaiah already know?"
"Yeah. He seems to like you."
"Miranda, can I just say that the past week has been the most magical week I've ever had?"
She smiled shyly. "Really?"
"Yeah. The best week ever. I would love to make a habit of it."
"Me too. That would make me very happy."
"Well we can't do too much right now, baby. But, if you'll permit it, I would love to sit on the couch and hold you for a little while."
She smiled at him. "That sounds like a plan to me." She curled up next to him on the couch and laid her head on his shoulder as they watched TV. They say in silence until dinner arrived. Miranda paid this time around. It was the only night Callan let her pay. They ate and laughed as they shared stories about childhood. "There was one year that I was disappointed around Halloween. That was the year my Uncle Jake and Aunt Delilah got married. I didn't get to go trick or treating because their wedding was Halloween night. I was so pissed", Miranda said.
"I can imagine. How old we're you when Uncle Jake got married?"
"Well, they'll have been married for 23 years this Halloween, so I was like 7 I think."
"Wow. They've been together a long time."
"My grandparents have been together for over forty years."
"Wow. I wonder if we'll find anyone like that."
"I'd like to think so. If you ask me, I'd say I already found it."
"Really? What's his name so I can kick his ass?"
"His name's Callan Maguire. I don't know if you can kick his ass. He's a Marine", she giggled.
He looked at her. "Seriously? You think that highly of me?"
She nodded. "Something that my parents and grandparents taught me from the cradle was never to say things I don't mean."
"Well, if I may be so bold as to say how I feel, I believe the same thing."
She smiled. "Is there a way for us to stay in contact while you're in Venezuela on deployment?"
"I'll take your number along and call you from the sat phone and we'll have a comm station that we get a couple hours a week on to call home and video chat."
She smiled. "I'd like that. My phone has those capabilities."
"See? We can make it happen. Over the past few days, I think I've grown closer to you than I have any other woman I've ever been with. I really do care for you, Miranda."
"And I care for you, Callan."
They finished their dinner in silence and went back to cuddling on the couch. It felt so natural for them to sit like they were. It was second nature.
When she drifted off to sleep he gently scooped her up his arms and walked her to her bedroom, lying in the bed next to her. Once he was good and comfortable, he brushed her hair from her face and kissed her temple. “We’ve only been together for a short period of time, but I’m in love with you Miranda Draiman”, he whispered softly into the silence of the bedroom. “I don’t know what this spell is that you’ve cast on me, but I don’t want you to lift it. Eventually, I will make you my wife. I promise you that.”
---------------
Once Callan was gone, Miranda was back to sleeping in her big lonely bed all alone all over again. It was something that she was going to have to get used to if she was going to be a Marine Corps wife. She just got up and showered- upset that she had to wash his scent off of her skin- then got dressed to go to dress rehearsals. She and the rest of the cast were trying to get used to a new Mark in the mix. He was working out rather well.
“525, 600 minutes. 525, 000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes, How do you measure, measure a year?” the cast sang together at the beginning of rehearsal. Miranda’s stomach was turning violently but she managed to keep it in control until she got off of the stage. She ran to the bathroom the moment she stepped off of the stage and hit her knees, vomiting up everything she had on her stomach- which was a steak, egg, and cheese biscuit she’d picked up at a bodega on the way as well as a cappuccino. Tasting the food and coffee again sucked. Once she was dry heaving she got her breathing under control, washed her face and went to get her purse so that she could brush her teeth. Something wasn’t right. Her period was still absent now she was puking. Top that off with the fact that she’d been feeling weird since she got back from her visit home to see her younger cousins graduate and she had a feeling she knew what was going on. She was going to have to take a test to be sure, but she knew her problem. But, how did she break it to her family? Better yet, how did she break it to Callan?
She went on with rehearsal as planned. She danced her tango, jumped over the moon in protest of Cyber Arts, and mourned the loss of Angel like she was supposed to. The day was going the way it was supposed to.
At lunch, she called her Aunt Kenna and asked her what she suggested for an upset stomach and vomiting, seeing as she was an OB nurse. “Saltines and Gatorade, Miranda. That’s my suggestion. Do you think your pregnant?”
“Yeah. I might be. I don’t know just yet.”
“You need to take a test, Miranda. If you are, do you know who the father is?”
“Yeah. That douche I brought out for family photos.”
“Ooh. You’re father’s not going to be happy about that.”
“No, Aunt Kenna, he’s not. Dad’s going to want to kick his ass. But I’m not worried about telling Dad as much as I am about telling my new boyfriend.”
“New boyfriend? Name?”
“His name is Callan and he’s a Marine.”
“Gramma will like him”, Kenna Draiman laughed. “You do know her late brother Matt was a Marine, right?”
“I’d heard.”
“Well, best of luck to you, Miranda. I suggest getting a pregnancy test as soon as you possibly can and eating things with salt.”
“Ok. Thanks Aunt Kenna.”
“Your Uncle is looking at me like I’m keeping nuclear secrets. What do I tell him if he asks me what the sudden call was all about?”
“Tell my nosy Uncle James that I was just calling for a little advice. Don’t tell him about what. I’ll tell him when I tell everyone else in the family if I’m going to be blessing Gramma and Grampa with their first great- grandchild or not.”
“Ok. I’ll tell him. Just take it easy, Miranda.”
“Yeah right. My play premieres in day after tomorrow. Mom and Dad will be there. Gramma and Grampa will be there. I can’t take it easy. I can’t be flat or sharp. I can’t miss a step or a cue. I have to be perfect because this is the first time Gramma and Grampa will see me perform professionally.”
Kenna laughed again. “Take it as easy as you can. I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy by any stretch. You’ll be fine, Miranda. Let us know what you find out.”
“I will Aunt Kenna. Give the twins and Gabe my love.”
“Will do, Miranda. Go finish your rehearsals for the day.” They hung up after saying goodbye, and Miranda snacked on the fruit and cheese at the catering table rather than eating something big and asked if Will could run to the bodega and get her a Gatorade. He did what she asked really quick. She’d pick up the test on the way home. She didn’t want to freak anyone in the cast out. The last thing she needed was to have her cast mates tripping over themselves to be careful of her if the test said what she was sure it would.
---------------
When she got home from the theater, she ordered dinner and she and will sat and watched movies all night. She hated television. There was never anything good on. The movies weren’t very original anymore either, so they were watching what he Uncle Marc would call Cult Classics. They were movies that had been out for many years that had made good money at the box office. If anyone would know, it would be Uncle Marc.
As they waited on dinner, she stepped into the bathroom and pulled a small plastic pregnancy test from her pocket. She was nervous. She didn’t need this right now. She needed not to be pregnant so that she could wear what she wanted to wear and dance in her 5 inch stiletto heels. There was a company of dancers that were auditioning and she wanted to put in her head shot and audition, but that wasn’t happening if she was pregnant.
Still, she pee’d on the little stick and waited the agonizing five minutes it took for the little lines to turn blue. Much to her mixture of horror and relief, that’s what happened. Two little blue lines. She was pregnant. Now, to break the news to everyone. Her parents and grandparents were first. They’d be there the following day. She was going to have dinner with them when they all got there. She’d even heard that Will’s father- the infamous Morbus- was coming out of retirement so that her grandparents weren’t left without protection. Will would be staying with her, Travis would have her parents, and Morbus would have her grandparents. It was a one night only occasion. It wasn’t often that people were able to get David and Brie Draiman out and about anymore because of their ages. All they wanted anymore, from what Miranda understood, was to live quietly and die surrounded by family. They knew that there would probably be a time when one would live briefly without the other but from what their own children speculated they would die together. Probably in each other’s arms. No one knew. She just hoped that they would be around long enough to greet their first great- grandchild. She wanted her child to feel the love that their great- grandparents.
When she walked out, she had a strange look on her face. “What’s wrong, Miranda?” Will asked as he set the pizza down on the table after tipping the delivery boy.
“Well, Will… I don’t know how I should take this news, but I just took a pregnancy test and I’m pregnant.”
“Whoa. Are you going to tell your parents and grandparents when they get here tomorrow?”
“I’ve kinda got no choice. They’ll be here tomorrow afternoon and we’re getting together for dinner after rehearsal.”
“Are you ready for this to be done?”
“The play, you mean?” she said as she sat in her chair and grabbed a slice of pizza. She was feeling a little better after throwing up earlier that day. She’d picked up crackers, cheese, and Gatorade on the way home from the theater. She had something to help quell the morning sickness until the play was over.
“Yeah. Are you ready for the play to finally end?”
“Oh yeah, I’m ready. Thankfully, we’re only doing a week so I don’t have to do too much worrying.”
“I’m almost willing to put money on the fact that your parents will want you to come home for the entirety of your pregnancy.”
“Oh, I’m sure they will too. I know my mother. She’ll want to be there every step like Gramma was there every step for a LOT of my Aunts and Uncle’s kids.”
“Didn’t your grandmother actually deliver a few of them?”
“Yeah. She aided in Ira, Abby, and Rina’s births, and delivered Ash and Matt.”
“I heard she helped with you and Isaiah too. She held your Mom’s feet when she was pushing you and Isaiah out.”
“I’ll have to ask about that.” She took a bite of her pizza. “How do you know so much?”
“My Dad was your grandfather’s bodyguard for years and I was raised around the family. I think you and Isaiah are only less than a year younger than I am. My siblings and I are all Irish twins. Well, I guess we’d be called Irish triplets. There’s a year between Travis and Melody and about a year and a half between me and Melody.”
“How is there so little time between all of you?”
“My Dad was in a hurry to have all of his kids, apparently. He only wanted 3 and that’s what he got.”
“Nice.”
“Back to the subject at hand. How are you going to break the news to your parents and grandparents?”
“I’m just going to tell them. What else can I do, Will? I can’t hide it. Gramma and Mom will notice that I’m picking at my food and not really eating. Grampa will notice that I’m ‘glowing’. He’s noticed it about each of my Aunts when they were pregnant. Dad will notice something; he always does. They’ll all ask me if there’s something I want to tell them. I have no choice Will.”
He nodded slowly. “What about that guy that’s been staying here? You gonna keep seeing him and if so when are you going to tell him that you’re pregnant with another man’s child?”
“I’m going to keep seeing him and I’ll tell him the next time I talk to him. He had to leave to report to 29 Palms this morning.”
“Oh yeah. He’s a Marine. That’s right. I totally forgot about that.”
“You’ve been pre- occupied trying to keep me safe from the moron that fathered my child.”
“So that Zack loser is the baby daddy?”
“Yeah. I’m not thrilled about it either. And I get to tell my family about it tomorrow evening at dinner after we meet them at the airport.”
“Oh shit. Not fun. When do you expect to hear from Mr. Marine again?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll get tons of emails from him, but I’d rather break the news to him face to face and I don’t know when I’ll get a video call from him.”
“You’re going to tell him that you’re pregnant over a video call?”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“Not the way I’d want to learn, but then again.”
“Will, much as I consider you family, I really am not asking for advice. I know what I have to do and I’ll do it the way I think is best.”
He nodded to her with a smile. “Good for you. Tell me to but out.”
“Butt out, Will. It’s my problem, not yours.”
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