Marie didn't wake again until the sun was up, streaming in the windscreen as it flooded over the horizon, and directly into her face. "Ugh, what a wakeup call," she muttered, as she scrunched her eyes closed while she stretched and adjusted her position. Logan reached over and pulled down the sun visor, while she adjusted her seat, and at her new elevated position it managed to shield her eyes, just.
“So, are we there yet?" she asked again.
"Almost," Logan grunted in reply, he didn't look tired, even though he had been driving all night, but he was obviously tense.
"Good, because I need to pee," Marie said impishly.
"Can you hold it for half an hour or do I have to stop sooner?" Logan asked with a chuckle.
"I can hold it," Marie replied, after a moment’s consideration. "So long as Thing 1 and Thing 2 don’t decide to go base jumping first thing this morning," she added.
"We need to come up with better nicknames for those two or they're going to be permanently tarred," Logan replied, with a soft glance at the baby belly peeking out of the blanket that had fallen down to Marie's lap.
"I think it's cute, one day we can take them to Disneyland and get them little t-shirts with their nicknames on, of course then we would have to actually decide which one is 'one' and which one is 'two', or are you worried that might lead to sibling rivalry?" she asked with a wistful smile.
"Darlin, these kids are likely going to be feral, a bit of rivalry is normal in normal kids, for these two it's likely to be a lot more intense, just you wait until they get to teenagers, they're liable to end up at each other’s throats, literally, particularly if they get my healing, not wanting to scare you but it is something we're going to have to be prepared for and figure out how to manage pretty early on," Logan replied seriously.
"So, you're saying cutesy little nicknames aren't going to make any difference?" Marie concluded with a grin.
Logan turned and glared at her good naturedly. "How do you always do that! Fine, you win, Thing 1 and Thing 2 it is," he relented.
They chatted contentedly for the next twenty minutes until they hit the edge of town, and Logan noticed Marie getting progressively quieter, her brow scrunched in confusion as she observed the passing scenery.
"All right darlin, breakfast is your call, pick what looks good," Logan commented, as they hit the centre of town.
"Turn left," Marie said suddenly. As he pulled around the corner, she pointed to a little diner about a hundred meters down the road.
Logan didn't say anything as he pulled up out front and shut off the engine, he had a feeling Marie was catching on to what this place was. He walked around the truck and popped open the passenger door, as Marie stuffed pillows over into the backseat and tried to catch hold of her shoes. With a grin Logan snagged the shoes out of the foot well and put them on for her, before lifting her out of the truck, and they walked inside hand in hand. On entering the diner, Marie immediately turned to the booth in the furthest back corner, though she didn't make a move toward it.
"Come on, let's sit over here," Logan said, tugging her in the other direction.
They had just taken a seat when an older woman bustled out of the kitchen. "Oh my word! Logan, it's been far too long," she said, as she rushed over to their table.
"Mavis," Logan greeted her warmly, returning the women's hug. "This is Marie," Logan then said, directing the grandmotherly lady’s attention to his companion.
"Oh my dear it's so lovely to meet you, though indeed it seems this young man has been quite the bad influence on you," she said, turning her eyes to Marie's stomach. "Don't feel bad though, if I were fifty years younger," Mavis added with a wink at Marie, leaving the rest of her statement unsaid. Marie laughed out loud at the unexpected icebreaker, she could have sworn Logan blushed for a second as he choked back his own laugh.
"Don't let Frank hear you talking like that, the last thing I need is him and that shotgun he loves so much chasing me out of here," Logan commented, before adding, "How about some coffee, and a menu for Marie."
"Menu won't be necessary, we'll have two all-you-can-eat breakfasts, and can I have a glass of orange juice instead of coffee," Marie ordered for them both.
Mavis nodded, and added it would be right out, then rushed off to fetch their drinks. She returned a moment later with a small pitcher of orange juice and a glass, and a coffee pot and mug, setting down everything but the pot and telling Logan to holler when he needed a refill.
Logan waited for Mavis to move out of earshot before he opened his mouth to speak. Marie beat him to it.
"This is where you and Sarah used to live," she said softly, sipping on her orange juice as she gestured to the town out the window.
"You're not upset I brought you here for your holiday, are you?" Logan asked, it had been a risk bringing her here, especially not telling her that was where he was taking her but he hadn't been able to face the possibility that she might reject the idea before they had even left New York if he had.
"No, no of course not Logan, you thought I would be?" she asked. Taking from Logan's expression his response, she reached across the table and clasped his hand. “I'm not upset Logan, far from it, this was your life for a long time, thank you for sharing it with me."
Logan let out a relieved breath, almost a sigh, that was the first part of the trip reveal out of the way, Marie again stumbled into the second piece of news he had for her. "Do Sarah's parents still live in town? You should stop by and visit them while we're here," she said.
"Well, actually, they're kind of why we're here," Logan admitted, "... They're the closest thing I remember having to family, aside from you now, and I've kept in contact, I thought it would be nice to introduce you all... Helen's offered for us to stay with them but we don't have to if you're not comfortable with that, we can..."
"Logan," Marie interrupted him, squeezing his hand reassuringly, "That sounds like a great idea, I can't wait to meet them, and if they're half as great as you've made them sound, I'm sure I'll love staying with them."
Their breakfast arrived then, and though Mavis was obviously bursting to ask Logan more questions she left them to their meal in relative peace, only stopping by every now and then, to see if they wanted refills on coffee or food. Logan's plate had arrived with extra steak, Mavis, knowing him as she did, knew that would have been the first thing he wouldd have asked for, Marie however asked for a refill of pancakes and extra apple butter.
They ate slowly and savoured the amazing meal, Logan's memories, the few that had leaked out into her mind's eye when his recognition had kicked in as they entered town, had been one hundred percent accurate on that front. Marie would have been loath to leave except that Logan assured her, out of Mavis's hearing, that Helen's cooking was even better. In all, they spent two hours at the diner, eating and talking, they even had a long chat with Mavis answering all her questions about where Logan had been, how they had met, how long they were staying, and all the obligatory baby questions, before Logan eventually called for the cheque and they wandered back out to the truck.
Logan suggested they have a look around town first before heading to their final destination, their walk was cut short for a time when babies decided they didn't appreciate the motion, accompanied by their mothers’ full stomach, and attempted to get rid of one or the other. For a change Marie decided she would like to keep her breakfast where it was, so they stopped at a park for a while to give the boys time to get comfy again. By the time they got back on the road it was almost ten am.
It wasn't far to Helen and Peter's home. Logan barely looked when they had to drive right past the house he and Sarah had lived in for most of their time together, though he noted it had been repainted fairly recently. The blue Sarah had chosen, not long after they moved in, had been replaced with the 'boring and unimaginative' white that decorated the rest of the street.
As Logan cut the engine, when they were parked on the stone chip drive in front of the two story, old style, Victorian home, of the nearest people he had to parents, he felt his nerves ratchet up again. Marie gave him a glowing smile, and a loving kiss, as he helped her out of the truck again, and squeezed his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together, as she pushed him to lead them inside.
He knocked loudly on the backdoor before a woman’s voice called out, "Logan, you know better than that, you come right on in." With a grin Logan pulled the door open and walked into the mudroom, kicking his boots off as he went. Marie followed suit, and they walked through the next door directly into the kitchen, where a woman in her late fifties stood at the kitchen table, elbows deep in a large bowl of dough.
"You're finally here, I was starting to get worried," she told Logan reproachfully.
"Sorry, didn't mean to worry you, we just stopped for breakfast and to stretch our legs. Helen, this is the little lady I was telling you about, Marie, this is Sarah's mom," Logan introduced the two women, as Helen quickly cleaned her hands and dusted flour off her apron, before wrapping Marie in a hug and squeezing her gently but firmly.
"It's lovely to finally meet you dear, Logan has told me so much about you, though he did leave out one detail, and you can either call me Helen or mom, I had this one trained before Sarah passed but it looks like he needs to do some relearning," she replied, before she turned to Logan and hugged him tight too, saying while she still held him close, "You're just as much our family now as you were then Logan, I still expect you to call me mom."
Logan hugged the older woman before admitting, "I've missed you mom."
Logan and Marie were quickly made to feel at home as Helen chatted about this, that, and the other thing, she told them Peter was out running errands but would be back for lunch. Marie offered to help her with her lunch preparation, leaving Logan to his own devices as the two women bustled about the kitchen.
"My, you are lucky dear, when I was pregnant I couldn't stand the sight or smell of food for most of my pregnancy, poor Peter was left to fend for himself for months, once Sarah was born and settled he made me give him cooking lessons, so he didn't fare so badly the second time around," Helen commented, earning a laugh from Marie as she mixed up a pitcher of lemonade.
"While I do enjoy being able to eat a part of me is worried that this pregnancy has gone so well something's going to go badly wrong all of a sudden," Marie confided.
"Oh don't you worry about such nonsense," Helen replied, as she stuck the buns she had made in the oven to bake. "You're at the easy part now, you just sit back and get fat, and let Logan wait on you until you get to the little bundle of joy in your arms part, most importantly don’t worry yourself with maybes and what ifs, worrying is the worst thing you can do, stay positive and listen to your body, it will let you know what's going on," Helen assured her, adding, "And I was a midwife for thirty-five years so you can trust me on that."
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