d.: Well, Cal.E. is still asleep. I hope she is still alive! While I check on her, please enjoy chapter six of "The Inert Ingredient"
CHAPTER SIX: AND BABY MAKES THREE
For Jay Magruder, Alice Jones’ pinning ceremony was an interesting one. What she failed to mention to him was that her three classmates were at a stage of their pregnancies when they were beginning to show. Since measurements for the gowns for the pinning ceremony had been taken at the beginning of the semester, the “baby bumps'' on the three other young ladies were obvious. It did not take a detective to be able to tell which of Alice’s classmates were pregnant.
After the ceremony, Jay took Alice to the restaurant where they had their first real date. It was a nice restaurant, and the food was delicious. Lenny’s Tex-Mex had expanded into Houston, and Jay Magruder was one of the restaurant’s most loyal customers. Jay wanted to go to a nicer one to celebrate Alice’s graduation from nursing school, but the memories that this restaurant held for both would suit his plans better for the evening, Jay decided.
When the waiter brought the menus and asked the couple what they wanted to drink, Jay decided to forgo his usual beer and drink only water.
“You don’t have to do that, Jay. I am underage to drink, anyway. I wouldn’t be drinking even if I was NOT pregnant,” Alice said, sincerely.
“We are in this together,” Jay stated, convincingly. He wanted to be completely sober for what he had in mind for the evening.
“Water goes right through me,” Jay said, trying to seem genuine. He then excused himself under the pretense of going to the restroom.
While Alice wasn’t looking, Jay took a ring from his pocket and gave it to the waiter. After tipping the waiter generously, he asked that the ring be placed in Alice’s water glass when she asked for a refill. As the waiter refilled the glass, Jay returned to the table. Instead of reseating himself, he situated himself on one knee at Alice’s side. He wanted to make their engagement official. Alice looked inside the water glass and began to cry. Jay then began his proposal. “Alice Jones, even though I have known you for a very short period, I have fallen completely in love with you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Alice nodded her head and began to examine the ring. She seemed surprised that Jay was so well-prepared for this situation, given the short timeline. Noting Alice’s surprise, Jay felt that an explanation was in order.
“That is my grandmother’s ring, Alice. I am sure that it will need to be resized, but I wanted you to have it. It is the most important thing in the world to me,” Jay began, as Alice listened intently.
“It may not be the most exquisite ring you will ever see, but it is special to me. Unlike you and your sister with your dad, I did not have a good relationship with either of my parents. They were both addicts who did very little for my sister and me. We became close, in spite of our age difference. That was because we had to lean on each other to get through our childhood. Our saving grace, though, was our maternal grandmother, NaNa Dandridge.”
“She watched over us when we had no one else to do so, and we were too young to take care of ourselves. On her deathbed, she gave me this ring. It was her wedding ring that my grandfather gave her with the promise that he would always keep her safe. After he died, she still wore the ring until her dying day. She said that my grandfather had kept his promise, even though she died relatively young. She was in her early seventies when she died. Despite this fact, my grandmother said that, as long as she wore this ring, she always felt safe and protected.”
“I now keep this ring with me, because I believe that it protects me from harm, which is important in my line of work. I believe that my grandmother is still watching over me, and this ring symbolizes her vigilance. I wanted to give you this ring and make you the same promise, Alice. I will always do my best to keep you and our family as safe and secure as I possibly can.”
Alice began to tear up, then cry uncontrollably. She accepted the ring. One week later, the couple went to the courthouse and had a wedding ceremony with the Justice of the Peace. Alice’s teenage sister was the only witness. Six months later, a healthy, full-term baby girl was born.
“What do you want to name her?” Jay asked his wife.
“What do YOU want to name her, Jay? I just want to enjoy motherhood and not be bothered by the details of trivial things like names. Just do NOT name her George, or any other boy’s names.”
Jay feigned thinking about the question. He knew what he would name his first child if given the opportunity. “Well, I rather like the name, Alicia. That way, she is named after you, but it won’t be as confusing as the two of you having the same name.”
“I like it!” Alice began. “Hi, Alicia, do you want to go to your daddy now?” She smiled at the infant, who kept the same thoughtful expression on her cherubic face.
As Jay held his infant daughter, he thought he heard a suspicious sound outside of the tiny apartment’s front door. He hurriedly placed the child in her mother’s arms and procured his firearm from its hiding place. He quietly opened the front door and quickly looked around the perimeter. No evidence was found of anyone being within six feet of the door, so he holstered his pistol and went back into his apartment to spend time with mother and child.
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Outside of the apartment building, a small man hurriedly jumped over the six-foot board fence. He now knew the detective’s main weakness. The threat of losing one’s child is always the best way to get his or her attention.
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