Something About You – Part 50 by ShellyLynn

Republisher’s Note: We missed the Manny wedding earlier so we see it tonight.

Danny and Michelle sat in the hospital room waiting for the doctor to join them with Michelle’s test results. Neither of them were sure what to say or where they were supposed to go from here. They still had so much left to be decided. When they made the rash decision to get married, they had simply done it, without even taking the time to decide where they were going to live after all the mess was cleared up. All he knew at the time was that he wanted to make her his wife and without the knowledge that she was truly his in every way, he never would have been able to survive the past couple days while she went back to Bill and played the doting fiancee.

The remembrance of their wedding brought a smile to his face. No matter what happened for the rest of his life, despite the chaos surrounding them, that would always be one of the happiest moments of his life.

“Are you sure about this?” Danny’s cousin asked him on the phone. “You haven’t known her for that long. How does she feel about Mikey? You aren’t usually so quick about making decisions, is there something wrong?” he fired off the questions in rapid succession. He had always expected that someday his cousin would find someone to spend his life with, he just had no idea it would happen this quickly.

“She’s perfect and she adores Mikey. Of course I’m sure about her. She’s the one Ray; I have no doubt. So can you do it? Can you marry us?” Danny asked, growing impatient as he looked down at his watch. He promised Michelle that he would take care of all the details of their surprise wedding. He told her all she had to do was meet him at the park at 6.

“She must really be special for you to act this way. It’s been a long time since I’ve known you to be so excited… In fact, not since we were kids and you were sure that Trish Lawman was going to ask you out, of course we know how that turned out…” Ray commented, enjoying teasing his cousin.

“Ha,” Danny laughed sarcastically. “This is different and you know it. I love her Ray, more than I ever thought I could. I’ve never wanted anything as badly in my life as I want to make her my wife.”

“Wow,” Ray sighed, “You really are in love. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The two of them had been the closest of friends in their youth and both of them had taken it hard when Ray’s parents moved them to New York. Of course they had kept in touch, but over the years the talks had become less and less frequent, especially after he joined the priesthood. That was the main reason that when he had the chance to join a parish about an hour from his hometown, he jumped at it. He hadn’t seen his cousin since Pilar’s funeral up until he returned a couple months earlier and he knew how much his beloved cousin was trying to handle on his own. He, more than anyone, was aware that Danny needed friends, family, and guidance after all the things he had been through and he hoped to be of help in all three facets, especially after Danny took on the task of raising such a young child. Now, he was excited to hear that it seemed as though he was getting help from an unexpected source. He was just glad that finally, something seemed to be going right for his cousin. He deserved all the happiness life could bring him.

“I can’t wait to meet her,” he said aloud after he hung up the phone. “She must be a gift from God.”

Michelle rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, feeling the tense muscles there. She was still in shock from the news about her pregnancy. “A baby,” she whispered to herself as she looked at the baby pictures along the wall of the examination room, noticing their chubby cheeks and tiny hands. “No baby has ever been loved more than Danny and I will love this child. I couldn’t ask for a better father for my baby. He’s already so wonderful with Michael and now that we are married…”

She walked through Laurel Falls to the clearing where they had gone with Mikey not so long before. Immediately upon arriving, her eyes began to fill with tears as she saw the lengths her soon to be husband had gone to in ensuring that her wedding would be as perfect as possible. There were lights and flowers everywhere along with a small gathering of people. There was a handsome man dressed like a priest bent down next to Danny talking to Michael. She could only assume that this was his cousin Ray that he had mentioned to her a few times. To their left were her mother and father, along with her brother Rick and his wife Abby.

“How did you do this?” she asked, looking around at the beautiful flowers and her family gathered around them. “It’s perfect.”

“No,” he smiled, his eyes gazing lovingly at her, “You’re perfect. You look beautiful.”

She blushed slightly as she smoothed the material of her simple long white satin dress, “You look pretty good yourself.”

He straightened his tie as he grinned, “Well, you only get married once.”

“May I do the honor?” they heard a deep voice from behind them request, “I know that you haven’t really even known for that long that I’m your father and that you probably don’t…”

“I’d love for you to walk me down the aisle, Dad.”

“I’m so proud of you,” he told her, wiping the tears from her cheeks as Danny left to go stand in his position next to Ray. “You have grown into such an amazing, beautiful young woman. I only wish I hadn’t missed so much of your life.”

“That means a lot to me,” she said. “I’m really glad to know the truth and I couldn’t ask for a better man to be my father.”

Ross reached up and wiped away a tear from his eye as he looked across the clearing and made eye contact with Maureen who nodded approvingly, “We better get ready,” he smiled, giving her his arm. “Your groom awaits.”

*****

He rubbed his hands along the sides of his face, feeling the stubble formed from three days without shaving, and then up to his tired eyes that seemed like they wouldn’t stay open a minute longer. If he had thought that the nights spent alone without her were difficult before, he had been proven wrong because after their wedding, the nights alone were positively unbearable. Neither of them had been able to handle it very well and a slight smile crept onto his face as he remembered her falling asleep on the phone during one of their late night talks.

“I really hate this,” she pouted, stifling a yawn as she rolled over in bed. “We’re married for goodness sakes. I can’t wait until I can go to sleep in your arms every night.”

“Me too,” he frowned, holding the phone against his shoulder with his chin as he stepped out of his jeans and into a pair of black shorts. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve grabbed my keys to come see you?”

She smiled at the thought of it, “I would have liked that.” Her smile suddenly turned as she finished her thought, “but it’s too risky. We have to play along for a couple more days.”

“We can do it,” he said, suddenly sounding like he was giving a pep talk. “What are a few more days when we have the rest of our lives?”

“I guess you’re right,” she sighed, going back to playing with the fringe on her blanket as she mustered up the patience to survive that time without him, yawning as her eyes fluttered shut, “just a few more…”

“And then we can make up for all the lost time…” he almost giggled.

“Michelle?” he said when she didn’t respond, “Sweetie, are you there?” When no response came, he smiled, glad that she was getting some much needed rest. “Sweet dreams, baby…” he whispered before joining her in slumber land.

He remembered just how difficult the previous week had been. After three nights apart they couldn’t stand it anymore.

*****

“Meet me at the lighthouse tomorrow night,” she told him before hanging up the phone and going to sleep. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“What about Bill? Are you sure you can get away?” he asked anxiously, “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll be fine, just be there,” she smiled, excited at the prospect of a stolen night with her husband. “I love you.”

He tried to stop thinking about what happened and come up with a plan for the next few days. Things were so much more important now. His senses were still reeling from the knowledge that he was going to be a father. He looked up at Michelle, his love shining in his eyes as he attempted to gauge her reaction to all of this. She had seemed happy about it back at the Lewis mansion, but she hadn’t breathed a word to either he or Ross since they climbed into the car. All she did was rest her head against his chest, curl up into a ball, and go to sleep. He wanted so badly to read her mind and find out how she was handling this sudden turn of events, but all her face showed was the tiredness she was experiencing from all that had taken place. She started to lean back and he was quickly at her side, helping her to move her coat and purse out of the way. “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly as a slight frown crossed her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine” she responded, closing her eyes as she adjusted her body. When she opened them to find his questioning eyes looking back at her, she gently reassured him, “Danny, sweetie, calm down. There’s nothing to be worried about. I’m just a little queasy. I guess I should be used to it by now,” she smiled hesitantly, debating whether or not the little piece of information she was about to let slip would help her in convincing him or make things worse. “I’ve been like this for a couple weeks.”

“What?” he asked harshly, quickly lowering his voice and reigning in his emotions. He knew that the last thing she needed was for him to be upset. “Why didn’t you tell me, baby?” he whispered, taking her hand in his and gently rubbing his thumb back and forth over the top of her hand.

“I didn’t want you too worry about me,” she admitted, “and I really thought it was just stress. It never even crossed my mind that I could be pregnant,” she said, her voice getting progressively softer. “Are you worried about the baby?” she asked, noticing the sadness in his eyes.

He noticed how every movement, every gesture she made seemed tired, strained. He could kick himself for allowing her to go through with this plan. If anything happened to either one of them, he would never forgive himself. Never. He couldn’t allow himself to even think about it. It was his turn to be happy, wasn’t it? Surely God wouldn’t be so cruel as to take everything away from him again.

“Of course I am,” he answered her carefully, “but I’m also worried about you. You haven’t been taking care of yourself and I love you so I can’t stand to see you so weak and upset. When we leave here, I’m going to take care of you like I should have all along. I never should have gone along with this plan. What if…”

“Don’t worry. We’re both going to be fine,” she said, knowing what he was thinking and doing her best to ease his mind. “We’re tough.”

They both paused, realizing that it was time for them to make some decisions. “What are we going to do?”

“Well,” he smiled, trying to take her advice. “The first thing we’re going to do is go home and take a long nap.”

“Be serious,” she scolded teasingly, “Where is home going to be? You’re apartment isn’t nearly big enough and mine…”

“Yours would be,” he reminded her.

“For now,” she smiled, her hand moving to her still flat stomach, “but when the baby comes it won’t be. Besides, Mikey would have to change schools because my side of town has a different elementary and I think he’s had enough change to deal with lately. This whole thing has been so confusing for him.”

“So I guess we go house hunting. We can stay at your place while we look,” he grinned, enjoying the idea of the two of them searching for the perfect place to raise a family, their family.

“A house?” she asked excitedly. When he responded by nodding his head yes she continued. “So this is really happening,” she sighed, leaning against his shoulder.

“You better believe it, now we just have to make sure that both of my girls are okay and then we can live happily ever after,” he agreed with her.

“Girls?” Michelle repeated, “What makes you believe this baby is going to be a girl?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “I guess I really hadn’t even thought about it much, first I was shocked and then worried about both of you…”

“So is that what you want?” she asked, biting on her lip. “ A girl. What about a boy, a Danny Jr?”

“That would be fine too,” he smiled, “I don’t care as long as our baby is healthy and looks like you.”

“What would you name her?” she giggled, enjoying the talk of their future, “Danielle, a combination of our names?”

“Nah, what about Maureen?” he parried.

Michelle’s face instantly fell at the mention of her mother’s name. “You know, baby, I know that you are disappointed that she lied to you, but you need to forgive her, for both of your sakes. You didn’t even talk to her at the wedding…”

“I just don’t understand how she could look me in the eye and lie to me… for years. She was the only person I thought I could trust. Do you know how tough it has been for me, thinking that my mother didn’t remember me most of the time and that my father didn’t care enough about me to even celebrate my birthday?”

“Don’t you think it’s been hard on her too?” he asked, “What she did wasn’t right, I’m not saying that it was, but she thought it was best for you. You know exactly how she felt, because you did the same thing. You were willing to give up your own happiness for the happiness of a child you love. Don’t you see, she didn’t see any other way for you to have the kind of life you deserve…”

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Mrs. Santos,” the man smiled, looking up from his clipboard. “I’m Dr. Evans. I’ve gone over your tests and it seems as though everything is going as well as can be expected. You are underweight and slightly dehydrated, but if you start eating better and getting some rest things should improve drastically.”

“I’ll make sure she’s taken care of,” Danny smiled, relieved to have some good news. He had feared the worst, especially after Michelle’s fainting spells and all the stress she’d been under.

“Have you been having any morning sickness?” the doctor asked.

“Yeah, for a couple weeks now,” she frowned at the reminder of mornings spent lying in bed and over the toilet bowl.

“I’m going to give you a prescription for something to help with that and for prenatal vitamins. It is essential that you take them regularly. The first trimester is vital to your baby’s health.”

“I will,” she said, taking the paper from his outstretched hand.

“I’ll go see about getting these right now,” Danny said, taking them from her hand and heading toward the door. “I’ll be back in a minute. I want to tell Ross the good news. You know how worried he is.”

“Thanks,” she smiled gratefully as he shut the door behind him.

“Looks like everything is okay,” Danny informed his father in law as rose anxiously from his chair in the hall.

“You don’t seem all that happy about it,” Ross questioned, unsure of how to read the young man standing before him. “You don’t want the baby?”

“NO, that’s not it. I love this baby so much already. I guess I…” his voice dropped off. “You’re going to think I’m being ridiculous.”

“I think I already know what you’re going to say…” Ross replied, looking through the window at his daughter as she closed her eyes and rested her hands on her stomach. Sometimes, he couldn’t believe how much she reminded him of Maureen when she was younger. Both women shared that same spirit that made everyone around them feel loved.

“It’s just that I’ve already lost so many people that I love, I’m afraid to get too excited about this. We just found out about her and I already care about her so much. I don’t think I could handle losing this baby,” he sighed, running his hands through his disheveled hair. “I don’t know…”

“You don’t think that things this good can happen to you so you are trying to protect yourself from getting hurt,” Ross said, knowing the feelings all too well. “But if you don’t let yourself feel, you are going to lose so much anyway, no matter what happens. What you must always remember is, if God forbid something were to happen, you aren’t alone anymore. You two have each other to help you make it through.”

“Danny,” he heard a voice yelling his name.

“Mikey,” he grinned, wiping away the stray tear that had fallen from his eye and picking the boy up.

“What’s the matter with Ichelle? Is she okay?” he asked worriedly, his big brown eyes searching his uncles for an answer.

“She’s fine,” Danny smiled, looking over at his cousin, “Thanks for bringing him. I didn’t want to leave him with the sitter any longer and I thought Michelle might like to see him.”

“It’s no problem. How is she?” Ray responded.

“She’s doing well considering. Did you hear the good news? We’re going to have a baby,” he smiled, looking at Ross to let him know he got the message.

“That’s great news,” Ray replied, excited for his cousin. “I take it they’re both all right?”

“Yeah,” Danny smiled, “Did you hear that Mikey, you’re going to have a new cousin.”

“No,” Mikey said seriously, his little mind working furiously, “a brother.”

When Danny and Ray stared at him in curiosity, he continued, seemingly annoyed that they didn’t understand. “Mrs. Watson says that the people who take care of you and love you are your mommy and daddy so you and Ichelle are my parents. That means the baby will be my little brother.”

“Or sister,” Danny smiled, tears forming in his eyes at the young boy’s remarks, knowing his sister would be proud of the boy she had given birth to.

“Or sister,” Mikey conceded, smiling at Ray.

Danny turned to Ross, and noticed the longing look in the older man’s eyes. “Why don’t you go on in? I’m sure she would love to see you.”

“Are you sure?” Ross asked, “She’d love to see the boy…”

“Yeah, we need to go pick up some medicine down at the pharmacy anyway. It would really make me feel better knowing you were with her.”

“Thanks,” Ross mouthed as he turned the handle to her door and walked in.

“I want to see Mommy,” Mikey whined as they began to walk away from the room toward the elevator.

“In a little while, right now, she needs to see her daddy.”

Tags: Danny Santos, GL, Guiding Light, Michelle Bauer Santos, Ross Marler, Something About You