Until Forever

“Daniel” Eddie called out “get me the wine glasses from the storage room please” he shoved his hands into the cotton gloves and bent down to open the oven “Dad, they are like four or five sets of wine glasses there, which of them do you want?” Daniel walked into the kitchen “bring the finest of them all, I want this to be the best dinner Anne has ever had” he opened the oven and brought out the already prepared turkey “oh my God, Dad that smells so good can I have some?” Daniel stared at the hot pepper sauced turkey “no way, not until your mum gets here, she’s the reason for all this” Eddie carefully placed it down “oh really, I never knew you had a soft spot, I thought you were a tough guy” Daniel laughed “oh you think its funny huh? Just wait till your mum comes home and I tell her where you were on Saturday night” he reached for the aluminum foil at the top of the kitchen cabinet “yo!! Fine I’ll shut up, I’ll go get the glasses real quick”. Eddie and Anne had been married for 18 years, they had given birth to Daniel exactly a year after they were married and Eddie decided not to have more children, Anne agreed to his decision even though she wasn’t completely pleased with it.

“Here are your dump wine glasses” Daniel dropped them on the dinning table and turned to leave “not so fast young man, help me light up the candles then you can leave” Eddie smiled at him, knowing very well he wasn’t going to return the smile “just this last favor, I don’t want to be too nice” he turned “by the way, I’m going out with my friends tonight, we going to the cinema to watch a newly released anime” he picked up the match box and pulled a match out “your friends? Like the gay dudes?” Eddie asked “What the… how did you know they are gay?” Daniel looked up in shock “I’m a pretty good judge of character, it’s kind of too obvious to try hiding it and besides I kind of saw them doing some unspeakable stuffs in your room the last time they were here, I can never unsee that” Eddie laughed as he met Daniel’s shocked gaze “look son, I don’t mind you hanging around with them, I do not judge people by their sexuality, I personally admire the fact that they found love regardless their gender, all that matters is mutual feelings and understanding” heaving a sigh of relief, Daniel continued with what he was doing.

 DING DONG!! The door bell rang. “Shit!! That must be your mum, quick, get out of here” Eddie wiped his hands on the apron and took them off “hey Danny” he called and threw the apron at him “what do you wa_” the apron fell on him before he could turn “really dad?” he took it off and made a “not so funny” face “come on just help me put it in the laundry, you can take my car when going out tonight” Eddie smiled and headed straight to the door. Looking through the see-through hole, he could see Anne’s strawberry blond hair “here goes nothing” he sighed deeply and flung the door open “Hey Anne” he tried to avoid being too formal but he’s efforts were wasted, he sounded like a high school principal and he just stood there staring at her. Eddie and Anne had gotten into a fight a month back then Anne left the house without saying a word and had refused to go back, but all of a sudden, she was willing to.

“Are you going to invite me in or...?” she asked “oh I’m so sorry about that, come on in” he gave way for her to go through and locked the door behind her “where is my baby boy? Daniel? Mummy’s home” she yelled “he’ll be down soon, he’s probably getting ready to leave, come have a sit” he pulled out a chair “wait what? I was gone for just a month and now my son goes out at night?” She raised her voice “calm down baby, come on, he’s 17, it’s better we let him go out rather than him sneaking out, there is a lot of peer pressure out there and I know we cant give him everything but the much we can, I will advise that we give it to him, I don’t want him being depressed or maybe worse, come, sit down” he waited for her to sit then he turned around and sat opposite her “you are a good father Eddie, why don’t you want more kids?” Anne asked “I don’t care about the number of kids we have anymore Anne as long as you are there to raise them up with me, please come home, Daniel and I miss you, we need you here” he stared at her and didn’t want to take his eyes off her ever again “there’s someone else who needs you beside me” tears filled her eyes “You’re going to be the father to a second child Eddie, I’m pregnant” She looked up to meet his gaze. After they had a fight, Anne found out she was pregnant and she took advantage of the fact they weren’t in good terms and left because Eddie had severally reminded her back then that he didn’t want more children.

“You’re what?” Daniel stood still “Daniel” Anne smiled and wiped off her tears “hey mum” he went to her and gave her a big hug “this is great news mum, we have to celebrate, but not until I get back though that would be totally unfair, I won’t be out for too long” he glanced at Eddie “I got your keys” he threw them up, but instead of catching them, they fell on the floor “curse you gravity” he picked them up and headed out “Eddie are those not your car keys?” Anne asked, Eddie on the other hand knew what was coming next so he started unwrapping the turkey “you let him drive? He’s not even 18 yet, do you know how dangerous that is? Do you? You want him to get arrested or something? I can’t believe this Eddie” He handed her the plate he had cut some turkey into “here have some turkey and calm down” immediately she grabbed it “oh my God it smells so good, pepper sauced turkey just how I like it” she smiled and took up her cutleries “I just want you to know that I love you and our unborn children so much and I could never love you less” he popped the wine open and pored it into their wine glasses “a toast to a bigger and better family” he smiled and looked at a certain direction, forcing Anne to look as well “it still feels like yesterday” she smiled. Eddie stood up and brought down their framed wedding picture “forever is the deal” he smiled back at her and returned his gaze to the frame.