As the holidays neared, I found myself getting nervous about things. We
were living in a renovated warehouse with no one other than actual business
warehouses around. Dee remained cheerful for the most time, but she would
often fall into a sighing depressed mood as she walked around the place.
She spent a few days a week with Chu Hua, exercising and discussing whatever
it was women who were or had been pregnant talked about. Lately she seemed
to be spending as much of her time over there as she could.
Without her knowledge, I began looking at houses. I looked at the ones inside
the city and would often take trips out of the city to look at some larger
ones in the surrounding areas. Many of them were nice and she would probably
love them, but I had to think of space for the tigers as well. There was
no way she was going to allow me to move her if she couldn't have the cats
with her. I would agree as I felt better when the creatures were around,
especially if I wasn't.
Finally I brought the issue up to her after dinner one night. We lay on
the couch eating ice cream. She was eating her own special blend of chocolate
brownie fudge with rice and cheddar cheese. Dee lay back in my arms, the
bowl on her belly as we watched a movie. I brushed her hair back from her
neck and kissed it softly.
"Kitten? I've been wanting to ask you something," I began as the movie was
coming to an end.
"Shh! This is one of the best parts!" she said, pointing at the screen.
"'What would ever happen if I dropped you?' 'I'd got right down the drain.'
'And?' 'I'd take you right down with me, shorty,'" she chanted along with
the last lines. Sniffing, she turned the television off. "He loves her so
much!"
I chuckled in her ear, kissing the soft lobe. "And I love you, shorty."
Pausing, I waited as she ate the last bite of her ice cream and placed the
empty bowl on the table. "Now, as I was saying, I need to ask you something."
"Go for it, Tiger," she said snuggling under the blanket and playing with
my fingers.
"It's about this place. If you want, I'll get you a house either here or
the countryside. I've been looking and I've found a few that you might like.
We'll have to do a little remodeling to make space for the tigers, but we
could do it."
"You want to move? But I love it here. The other warehouses are far enough
off that we don't get too much of the noise from them. We don't have any
nosy neighbors to deal with. And besides, this is home." She shook her head
and looked back at me. "We'll move if you want and if you think it's best,
but I love the city and I don't think I could take being too far away from
it."
"I only suggest moving because you seem so unhappy here lately. You spend
so much time at Chu's, I thought you might want a house so that the kid can
have a normal upbringing."
"Eddie, we're hardly normal parents. Look at you. You still wear your Riddler
stuff every single time we go to the Iceberg. No matter how long you go
without pulling a job, you're still the Riddler. And I'm still Query and
Xiaohu. I've only been spending a lot of time with Chu because I don't want
to keep you from your work. I'm not always with her though. Manchu lets
me help with teaching or cooking. They let me sit and help prepare the lunches
and I can swim in the bathing pool." Sighing, she kissed my fingers and
pressed my hand to her face. "I want to live here and I want to raise our
child here. We're not the house type anyway, so why should we move into
one and pretend to be?" She paused. "There is one thing that would make
this place perfect."
"What's that? Name it and we'll do it."
"A garden. I want a nice garden so that the child has someplace to play
and I have somewhere to relax when spring and summer come. We can have some
fruit trees, a bit of lawn..."
"I'll talk to Pam about it. You can tell her what you want and she can plan
it out. It'll be a good way for her to earn some legitimate money. Even
if she will use it for something else," I said. Knowing Pam, it would either
go to funding one of her crime sprees, or she'd give every penny of it to
a charity for the conservation and preservation of some forest or another.
"I'll hire someone to tear up the parking lot around the back and we'll
put the garden out there, ok?"
"Perfect." She grinned up at me. "Think it's a good idea to have Pam do
it though? She might slip in some of her, ahem, personal plants."
"She won't. And she would kill me if I went to someone else for this!"
~ ~ ~
I was amazed at how quickly Pam agreed to do the garden. She came over almost
immediately after I called her the next day and spent the next three hours
measuring the area I showed her. Once she had everything measured out, she
made a pot of tea for herself and Dee and sketched out the area. Pam attempted
to tell Dee what to put in and where. Dee had no intention of someone else
telling her what would be planted in her garden and gave Pam a list of trees
and plants she wanted.
By the end of the afternoon, Pam had the plans down and said she would get
working on it immediately. When I asked her about the price, she told me
to pay for whatever she would need, whatever help she would hire (Pam was
very particular about who was going to be planting things), and then I was
to give a hefty donation to Eco-Warriors. I agreed without too much arguing.
"I just have two requests of you, Pam. One is no funny plants. I don't want
to go out there and find them attacking anyone. The second is this." Reaching
into my desk drawer, I pulled out a handful of smooth, brown seeds, each
similar in shape and size to a shelled hazelnut. I placed them on the desk
in front of her. "Loquat seeds. One of Dee's favorite fruits. I saw she
asked for cherry, peach, pomegranate, and persimmon trees, but not one of
these. Think you can get it to grow here?"
"Eddie, who do you think you're talking to? Of course I can get it to grow.
I could get it to bear fruit year-round, if I wanted. Just get the area cleared
and proper soil put down. I'll do the rest."
"Forgive me. I was just thinking of the winter. But I'm sure you'll engineer
it to survive. You always have been good with that." Writing her a check
for five thousand dollars, I handed it over. "I appreciate this, Pam."
"I'm sure you do. I won't let you down, Eddie."
By the end of the week the asphalt was coming up and a concrete block wall
going up to enclose the garden area. Once the wall was finished, the area
was marked out and pathways were laid down. Filler soil was trucked in and
spread around, along with an additive Pam had insisted on. I didn't ask,
I just paid. Dee was pleased with the progress, even if she did complain
about the noise sometimes when she was trying to nap.
"Everything is ready to go, Eddie. The plants will be ready to go in around
the end of February and the beginning of March. Do me a favor and keep those
animals of hers out of there until then, ok?"
I nodded as I walked her to her car. "The Christmas party is next week.
Dee and I decided we were going to go. Will you still be there?"
"Of course. Someone has to be there to make certain Oswald has only live
trees."
Again I nodded. "Just stay out of trouble until then, ok? I don't want Harley
being the only female Dee has to talk to. You know how Harley can get sometimes."
"That is if her and Joker don't go and do something to get themselves thrown
back in Arkham before then. I'll be there, Eddie. Just make certain you
buy her a nice dress and don't get yourself drunk. And do the girl another
favor, would you? Ask her to marry you, for Gaia's sake!" Without another
word, Pam revved the engine on her car and took off.
Marry? Out of everything I had thought about, that wasn't something I considered.
Wandering back inside I found Dee in the kitchen making dinner.
"Pam just suggested that I ask you to marry me," I blurted out. Oh! Nice
one, Eddie! That performance was a solid ten! Couldn't give the girl a ring
or flowers or anything like that, could you? What happened to you and asking
questions? Dumbass.
The dish she had just pulled out of the cabinet clattered to the countertop
from her hands. Hands held in the same position, she turned around and blinked.
She looked shocked as her mouth moved and she tried to speak. Lowering her
hands she looked at me and shook her head. "Why would I marry you?"
Her words were like a slap in the face. I visibly winced. The corners of
my mouth felt as if one-ton weights had been placed on them. Was I no longer
good enough for her?
As fast as she could move, she was next to me holding my face in her hands.
"Oh, Tiger! I didn't mean it like that! I meant more why would we need to
be married? We're happy the way we are, aren't we? If you're asking me,
I'll marry you. But if you were just bringing it up for discussion, I don't
see why we should! I thought we agreed, ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah."
"We did. It was for discussion. Pam said I needed to ask you to marry me.
I never saw the need. We said our vows to each other long ago. We are happy
the way we are. The main reason I never asked such a thing was because I
feel the paper would just complicate things."
"It's a meaningless bit of paper. Who says we're not just as attached without
the it?" she asked laying her head to my chest and rubbing my back. "Pam
needs to keep her nose out of our business. Especially when it comes to
something like this. You should have asked her why she hasn't gotten Harvey
to marry her." She nuzzled my shirtfront and looked up at me.
"That would have gotten me into a lot of trouble and you'd now be pulling
thorns out of my hide."
Folding her arms across the top of her belly, she scowled. Dee's incensed
grunt told exactly what was on her mind, but she still said, "Who is she
to go and get mad at that? I don't recall asking her for any advice about
our relationship! I should go claw up some of her plants to show her what
it's like when someone butts in where they're not wanted! Screw her!"
The anger she was radiating made me laugh. I pulled her back into my arms
and kissed the top of her head. "Oh, Kitten. I'm sorry I even brought the
subject up. I promise not to bring up idiotic things like that again, ok?"
"Ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah, right?" she said nuzzling her nose against
my chest, and taking a deep breath. Her hands lay flat on my shirtfront,
fingers flicking at the buttons. My shirt was already unbuttoned at the
throat, but now I felt her pop open the next two buttons and nibble on my
collarbone.
"Ooo-ee-sha-sha-coo-coo-yeah," I answered. Tilting her chin up, I added
in a serious tone, "But if you ever do feel that we should get married,
you let me know, ok?"
Her kiss answered my question.
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