Family of Steele

Part Five

As he entered Laura's room, Remington was relieved to discover that the flowers had been delivered as he had arranged. The room was filled with them. He approached the bed where Laura was sleeping, and bent to kiss her forehead. She smiled. "I hope my husband doesn't see you do that," she said. "He's very jealous."
"Then we'll just have to keep a sharp lookout for him, won't we?" Remington returned. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I wasn't sleeping," she said, opening her eyes to look into his. "Just resting. How are the babies?"
"Just beautiful. Perfect strangers are stopping by the nursery to look at them."
She smiled at his exaggeration. "Did you call Frances?"
"Yes. And I called Estelle Becker as well."
"You didn't tell Frances about- Daddy, did you?"
"No. Edward would prefer to wait a while longer before he sees your sister. She said that your mother had arrived in New York last evening, and said she would call her to give her the news about the babies."
"She's going to be furious that she wasn't here."
"Perhaps Edward's presence will divert some of that anger." He kissed her. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For Daniel and Megan." Laura returned his kiss.
"Where is everyone?"
"I told you. Entranced by our children, my love. They're all down the corridor. Edward, Mildred, Katherine, Robert, Jessica and Antony." He smiled. "Feel up to some company?"
"I think so. But I really want to see Daddy again first."
"Very well. I'll send him in."

Laura ran her fingers through her hair, hoping she didn't look too frightful, then laid back against the pillows. When Edward entered, Laura smiled at him. "Hello, cupcake," he said, coming over to take her hand. "How are you feeling?"
"Exhausted. But too excited to sleep. Mother will probably be back this evening, Daddy-"
"Laura, about your mother and me- don't count on our getting back together. Even if I hadn't been forced to leave the country, I don't think she and I would have stayed together much longer. We were too ill matched. Abigail wanted to control everyone and everything. She never understood that she couldn't control me. I planned to wait until you and Frances were older, settled somewhere, then ask for a divorce. But at least I would still have been around for you - and for Frances."
"I think I always knew that, Daddy. I could have accepted it if you and Mother had just divorced. But your leaving the way you did- never calling, it was as though you- didn't care about us anymore."
"Oh, I cared, Laura. More than you'll ever know."
"Are you going to stay around?"
"Do you want me to?"
She nodded. "Yes. Since Radikin's dead, you've no reason to keep running."
"You're right. But if Frances and your mother react badly to my return-"
"I don't think Frances will. IF we get to her before Mother has a chance to find out."
"Then we'll just have to do that, won't we?" Edward said with a smile. "I'm going to go and give someone else a chance to visit. I'll be back later."

Mildred, Jessica, Tony and Remington were in Laura's room later when a nurse brought the babies in to see their mother. With a baby in each arm, Laura glanced up at her husband. "Why don't you take Megan?" she suggested. "They look more like you than they do me," she commented. "That dark hair - "
"It could lighten," Remington told her, touching his daughter's cheek.
"Edward thinks they look like Mr. Steele too," she said. "And Mrs. Morgan said that Daniel looks just like his father when he was born."
Laura nodded, looking at the boy in her arms. "That's what she told me. She said that seeing him was like seeing Remington as an infant." He opened his eyes. "Hello, there." Something that Mildred had said brought her head up. Edward? Mildred had just used her father's given name. Even after all this time, she still called Abigail "Mrs. Holt." Mildred was standing with Remington, looking at the baby in his arms.
"Well, I'd better be getting home," she said. "It's pretty late-" She picked up her purse. "I'll see all of you tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Mildred."
Once she was gone, Jessica said, "Oh. I left a message for Mrs. Brierly," she told Remington and Laura. "She'll probably call tomorrow."
"It will be a few days before they release these two," Remington told her. "The doctor wants them to gain a bit of weight before they go home." He looked at his sister. "Would you like to hold her?"
"I'm not very good with babies," Jessica said hesitantly. "They tend to cry a lot -"
Laura smiled. "Sounds familiar. I always had the same problem, Jessica. But see? Daniel's not crying at all."
"Because you're his mother, and he knows that. If I take him-"
Remington put the infant into her arms. "Support her head. That's it." Megan remained asleep, her tiny face that of a cherub.
Tony watched Jessica hold the baby as she woke up and began to whimper. "I told you so," Jessica commented, panic in her voice.
"Here. Let me see her," Tony said, taking the baby. "Shh. It's alright, Megan." He realized that the others were watching him, surprised. "What can I say? I had four younger brothers."
It suddenly dawned on all of them that they knew very little about Tony's past before his time as an agent. "FOUR brothers, Antony?" Remington questioned.
"They all live back east," he said.
"And you were the oldest?" Jessica said.
"Yeah. She's asleep again," he told Remington, returning the baby to her father. He looked at Jessica. "Are you ready to go?"
"I think so," she said, still amazed by his revelation. She gave Remington and Laura each a kiss. "I'll be back tomorrow."
"Night," Tony said as the door closed behind them.
"Four brothers," Remington said, shaking his head. "That's a frightening thought." He put Megan into her arms and took Daniel. "I've asked Edward to stay at the house until he finds a place of his own. He and I are going to pay a visit to Donald tomorrow morning."
"If he's going to see Frances before Mother gets back, he needs to get it done. If Frances called Mother right after you called her, then Mother probably got the first flight back here."
"This is the way he wants to do it, Laura." The nurse came in to take the babies back to the nursery, and Remington went to sit on the edge of Laura's bed. "I want you to get some rest."
"What about you?"
"I'll go back to the house and do likewise. I have to find Mrs. Hobbs, too."
"I think her sister's number is on my desk at home."
"I'll find it." He gave her a long kiss. "I love you, Mrs. Steele."

On his way out of the hospital to meet Fred, Remington stopped again by the nursery. What would Daniel have thought about being a grandfather? he wondered. Somehow, Remington thought that he would have been pleased. Although, he couldn't imagine anyone ever calling Daniel Chalmers "grandpa", Remington thought with a smile.


Jessica watched Tony's face as they drove back toward her apartment. "Four brothers, Antony?"
"Dave's a doctor, Frank's an accountant, John's a lawyer, and Mike's a surgeon- or will be in another year."
"What about your parents?"
"Dad died a few years back," Tony told her, his voice grim, as if he preferred not to talk about that subject. "Mom lives with Dave and his wife and their four kids."
"Four- How many neices and nephews do you have?"
"Let's see. Dave's got four kids, Frank has three- John and his wife just had a baby last year. Mike's not married yet."
"I've never heard you speak of any of them."
"Haven't seen most of them in years," Tony told her. "Dad wasn't happy when I decided not to take his career advice and follow in his footsteps."
"Oh. And what was he?"
"He was a policeman." He turned the car into a parking space in front of her building, leaving the motor running.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"It's late. And I have to be at the office to meet a client, since Steele won't be there."
"Antony-"
He took her hand. "I'm not angry, Jess. I just think we need a little time. I'll call you tomorrow." He leaned over to kiss her before reaching across to open the door for her. "Good night." He waited until she was upstairs and he saw a light go on in her apartment before pulling the Rabbit back into traffic and heading for his own place.


Dr. Donald Piper, DDS, had an office not far from the hospital. He had just arrived and was getting ready for his first patient of the day when his receptionist buzzed him. "Dr. Piper, Mr. Steele is here to see you."
"Send him to my office," Donald said, surprised. Why was Remington here instead of at the hospital with Laura? When the door opened, Donald's smiled froze. Remington wasn't alone. "Mr.- Holt?"
"Hello, Donald."

After receiving an assurance from a still shaken Donald that Frances would be more likely to welcome than anything else, Edward and Remington started for the hospital.

"They're beautiful, Laura," Frances declared as she gave Megan a bottle of formula. "You can certainly tell they're Remington's children. All this lovely dark hair. And I'd bet anything that their eyes are going to be blue."
"Remington said you talked to Mother?"
"Early this morning."
"I guess she wasn't very happy that she wasn't here."
"That's putting it mildly. But I think she understands that there was nothing you could have done."
"When will she be home?"
"Around noon. I have to go to the airport-"
"I'll send Fred to pick her up," Laura told her sister. Daniel was asleep, so she put the bottle she'd been feeding him from down and brought the telephone reciever to her ear, holding it there with her shoulder as she dialed the mobile number. "What flight is she on?"
Frances gave her the information, then listened as Laura relayed it to the chauffer. As Laura hung up, Frances shook her head. "You're taking to this better than I thought you would, Laura. It took me a while longer to learn how to juggle a telephone and a baby."
"Working in an office does wonders, Frances," Laura told her, smiling.
"There's something different about you today," Frances said, examining Laura's face. "Something other than your having the babies."
The nurse came to take the babies, pleased that they had eaten as much as they had. "At this rate, the doctor will let them go when he lets you go tomorrow, Mrs. Steele."
"I hope so." She waited until the door closed behind the nurse before looking at Frances again. "You're right, Frances. Something happened last night- " The door opened, and Laura smiled nervously as Remington and Edward entered the room.
Frances turned to see who had come in, and felt herself go pale. "Daddy?"
"Hey there, Princess," Edward said, smiling at her.
"Fifteen years- "
"And I'm home. For good. I'd like to explain, Frances, why I left the way I did. If you're willing to listen."
Remington helped his sister in law into a chair before she collapsed. "I'm listening, Daddy," she said in a shaking voice.