Instant Family (Silver Oak Medical Center Book 4)

by Aiden Bates

Maybe Allen was more wiped out by the day than Brantley had thought.

  Maybe Brantley needed to stop overthinking it. They were both adults. If Allen wanted to talk to him about it, he'd do so. In the meantime, Brantley would go to sleep and worry about everything in the morning.

  Allen wasn't there in the morning. He'd sent a text. It said a lot about how comfortable Brantley had gotten in just the past couple of weeks that he hadn't noticed Allen getting up early. Patient went into labor. I'm at work. Don't worry about Sadie.

  Brantley shuffled around the kitchen until he found his porridge and heated it up. They could talk later, or maybe just kiss again. In the meantime, he would fix dinner and try to have something nice waiting for Allen when he got home.

  His parents called when Brantley had just gotten home from the grocery store. International calls were expensive, so they didn't get a chance to talk all that often. He loved to hear his mother's voice, though. "Mama! How are you?"

  "I'm well, Brantley. I'm well. How are you?" His mother always sounded like she was on the verge of tears when she called. Twenty years apart had been hard for her. It had been hard on all of them—on Brantley, and on his father too, but on no one as much as his mother. "Are you sleeping well?"

  Brantley grinned. "I always do, Mama. Except when I worry about you. How's my father?"

  "He's well, he's well. He's off helping to raise a barn at Horton's. I could wish he wasn't, because that's not fit work for a man of his years, but you know him. Tell him not to do something or that he shouldn't do something and there he is, doing it."

  Brantley closed his eyes. If he tried, he could see his mother rolling her eyes to heaven and shaking her head in exasperation. "Well, he always was stubborn."

  "And what about you? You're a big, fancy doctor now. No barn raising for you."

  Brantley bit down on the inside of his cheek. He wasn't going to spill the beans about his worries with ICE. She'd worked too hard to send him to America to worry about him coming back. He could share parts of his story, though. "I'm seeing someone, Mama. We went to a thing yesterday. A fundraiser for the zoo."

  "In public?" she gasped. "Oh, Brantley, I know it's a different country, but it's not as though things are perfect there, either. I follow the news, you know. We have the Internet here. It's a small island, not a backward one. Please be safe. Be smart."

  Brantley swallowed. He couldn't argue with her. She was right, at least with the information she had. He couldn't explain to her the need that had come over him last night. "I know, Mama. We're being as safe as we can. And it is safer here, but that doesn't mean we have to be foolish either."

  "Good man. I love you, Brantley."

  "I love you too, Mama."

  They hung up. Brantley's heart was a lot heavier when he put the phone down than it had been when he picked it up.

  Chapter Eight

  Allen could have delegated the Saturday birth to someone else. The carrier wasn't an omega. They didn't need a midwife certified to deal with omegas. He could have just had someone else take care of it and stayed at home. If he'd done that, he could have woken up and had breakfast with Brantley. He could have gone grocery shopping with Brantley.

  He could have maybe kissed Brantley again.

  Or he could have not kissed Brantley again. He could have sat around the entire weekend and not kissed Brantley again. He could have spoken to Brantley about that incredible, perfect, glorious kiss, and told him how wonderful it had been, and told him how much he wanted to do it again, and Brantley could have told him it would have to wait until they were in public and around the ICE agents again.

  Allen couldn't handle that. That kiss had almost pulled the soul from his body. Even being in the same space as Brantley, for their charade, was going to be nigh impossible. To be reminded that kiss, too, had been a lie might well kill him.

  So he went in and delivered the baby himself. He spent extra time in the NICU with Alaina, who was more or less strong enough to go home now. They wanted to give her an extra few days of observation, just to make sure, but she would be able to come home soon. Allen couldn't wait. He was excited to bring her home just for the joy of bringing her home, because it was important, and he was excited because it would give him something to focus on at home other than Brantley.

  On his way home, he stopped off and picked up a few new things for Alaina. She didn't have all that much that she needed, because he'd been buying things the whole time, but that didn't mean he didn't want to get more. He picked up some more diapers, and a few more bottles. He grabbed some more onesies, too, because a baby could never have too many.

  He headed home and found his expectations met. Brantley had about as much interest in talking, or kissing, as he might in watching a documentary about shoe manufacturing. He barely spoke to Allen through the whole evening, and he seemed to be distracted by something. It was only at the end of the night, right before bed, that Allen could get a rise out of him, and even then, it wasn't in the way he wanted.

  "So I saw Alaina today," he began. "I should be able to bring her home sometime this week."

  Brantley had been staring at the wall. Now he turned his whole body to face Allen. He had to look away after a second, though. "Are you sure that's the best idea right now, Allen? I mean with everything that's going on right now—"

  Allen held up a hand. "I know you're not about to say that I should abandon that little girl."

  Brantley pulled back slightly. "Allen, look. She won't even remember it. And these are real stakes we're playing for here."

  Allen's whole body went cold. He couldn't tell which emotion had the upper hand. He wavered between disbelief, fury, and despair. "Are you trying to tell me the life of this infant doesn't qualify as 'real stakes,' Brantley?"

  "It's not the same." Brantley's voice was calm, but his chin jutted out.

  "No. It is different. You're enough of a medical professional to know the difficulties facing a kid like her. She needs stability if she's going to thrive. But no, you want to just throw her back like some kind of catch and release program, because you think it's inconvenient." Allen stood up. "You know what? Talk to your lawyer. See if he thinks that our vastly differing values about this baby are enough to justify a split." He took off toward the stairs.

  Brantley sprang to his feet and chased after him. "Allen, think about this for a minute. What do you think happens to her if this turns out to be futile and they decide we've committed fraud?"

  "Then she goes to my sister and grows up in a stable, family environment, surrounded by love." Allen gritted his teeth. "She's a child. An innocent baby, with no one else to help her. We've bonded, and now you want to rip all of that away from her?"

  "I'm just saying this might not be the right time. You think it will be easy? You're going to be dealing with those people from ICE while trying to parent a baby with NAS. And you're single parenting, Allen. That's hard enough." Brantley put a hand on Allen's arm. "Do you think you can actually keep up a charade like this, between us, and try to raise a baby on your own at the same time?"

  Allen pulled away from Brantley. "Don't worry, Brantley. I won't expect you to have anything to do with her. Just stay the hell away from me unless we're out in public." He headed up the stairs.

  Brantley followed him. "Allen, be reasonable. We're living together. I'm not going to ignore you, for crying out loud."

  "Brantley." Allen pressed his lips together and tried to collect his thoughts. He had to force himself to remember that Brantley was a good man, just in an impossible situation. He didn't even know Alaina. He couldn't be expected to prioritize her. "Look. I have faith that we're going to get through this mess with ICE. Even if you decide to move out because of Alaina, who is on the path to becoming my daughter," he emphasized, "that's a perfectly natural reason for people to split up. The thing is, Brantley, none of this is permanent." He waved a hand between them. "None of this is long term. It's not even real. Once ICE goes away, you're going back to your ow
n house. Alaina, she's going to stay for the long haul. She'll be here for the next eighteen years.

  "I don't mind helping out. But I will be damned if I'm going to let you talk me into hurting that baby for a temporary solution, for someone who's just going to walk away when this is all over. You're a nice enough guy, Brantley. I do like you. But I'm not giving everything up for you."

  Brantley bowed his head, but he stepped back. "All right. I still think it needlessly complicates things, but she's your daughter. I'm not going to try to argue you out of it. And you're right." He looked up with a watery smile. "None of this is permanent, or real."

  Allen ran up the stairs and closed himself into his room, before he could do something foolish like cry.

  They didn't see much of each other the next day. Allen went in and out of the house quickly and quietly. He tried not to attract his housemate's attention, but spent as much time as he could outdoors with Sadie. He knew one of the ICE agents was following him. Maybe he was hurting their chances of saving Brantley with his resentment and his hurt, but maybe not. Real couples fought. Real couples had blowout fights.

  Real couples split up, too.

  He couldn't keep Sadie out all day, not on a hot Sunday in August. He headed back to the house with her and instead sat out on the back deck with her. If Brantley wanted to talk, he would have come out. Allen found himself left in peace to throw the ball and read about the Blizzard of '78.

  It wasn't as pleasant as he'd expected it to be.

  He was grateful when Monday rolled around. The neonatologist told him he'd be able to take Alaina home on Wednesday evening, so he warned Brantley by text and warned his boss in person. The department was more than happy to give him a few days off so he and Alaina could settle in at home, and he'd found a good purveyor of infant care to help out while he was at work during the day in the form of a pediatric nurse intern.

  Brantley was less comfortable with the temporary nanny helping out with Alaina than he was with Alaina. It meant more questions. It meant more faking it. Allen couldn't argue with that, although he didn't think Alicia was likely to be in the house to see them interact. "Its better than getting my dad to do it," he said, in what he thought was a reasonable tone. "My dad knows what I'm like when I'm in a real relationship. Alicia doesn't."

  Brantley stopped pushing back after that. Allen could see he didn't like it, but he stopped pushing back. Allen took the win.

  They took separate cars to the office on Wednesday, because Allen had a car seat in the back of his. Brantley didn't offer to ride in with Allen, and Allen didn't ask him to join in. He could have, he supposed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he had a little fantasy of Brantley being overcome with love as they drove home with Alaina in her car seat. Brantley would want to be a family, and they would all live happily ever after.

  It was kind of an absurd idea. He left it firmly in the realm of fantasy, and didn't mention it again.

  When Allen's shift was over, Carter and Luke accompanied him to the NICU. Allen gave Alaina a little bit of kangaroo care, because that was part of her routine now, and he fed her too. Then he dressed her in the cutest onesie he had, a pretty little gray mouse suit that even had a hood with ears, and put her in the bucket carrier.

  Alaina did not like the bucket carrier. She wasn't a big fan of the mouse suit, either. When Allen put his hand on her face, though, she quieted right down. "My God," Carter whispered. "She really does know you."

  "Damn straight she does." Allen couldn't hold back a little bit of pride when he spoke. "Come on, let's get this beautiful baby girl home where she belongs."

  The guys came home with him and helped him get Alaina settled in. He brought her into the house and smiled when Sadie, tail wagging, bounded up to greet him. Sadie recognized Luke, of course, since she'd lived at his rescue facility. She decided she was happy enough to see Carter, too.

  Alaina started to cry as she woke up from the car ride, and Sadie didn't like that. She sniffed at her new little sister, which made Allen freeze. He had no idea how Sadie would react to a baby. He could keep them apart, of course, but this was the big test.

  Sadie whimpered a few times as Alaina kept howling. Then she trotted off to her basket under the entryway table and dug around for a moment. When she came back, she brought back a blob-shaped, brightly colored toy wrapped in old fire hose fabric with loose, trailing ends. It was her Wubba, a toy for playing fetch on land or in the water, and it was her favorite.

  All three of the adults watched as Sadie placed the toy, with all of the solemnity and gentleness of someone presenting a queen with a new piece of tribute, into Alaina's carrier.

  Carter pressed his hand over his mouth, eyes round with horror. "Oh my God, that toy is disgusting."

  Luke just laughed and scratched Sadie's head. "Who's a good girl, sharing her toys with her new baby sister?" He kept scratching Sadie's head with one hand as he carefully fished the toy out of Alaina's carrier with the other. "You're such a good girl, Sadie. What a good girl."

  Allen relaxed and brought the carrier over to the couch. He knew Brantley was at home. Why wouldn't he want to come out and at least see the baby?

  He decided not to worry about it and pulled Alaina out of her carrier. "Isn't she perfect?" he breathed, as she settled into his arms.

  Carter moved the carrier out of the way and his friends sat down beside him. Sadie lay down on the floor with a grumpy sounding grunt. "Look at those eyes," Carter said, leaning over to get a closer look. "We havn’t had a chance to see her up close yet."

  "Well, here she is. Eyes open and everything." Allen smiled down at his daughter. The full adoption wouldn't come through for a while yet, but as far as Allen was concerned, Alaina was his daughter until someone could show up and prove otherwise. "Look at all that hair."

  "You don't see the hairy babies with red hair very often." Luke chuckled. "She must be quite the firebrand."

  "Oh, you bet." Allen dropped a kiss onto his little girl's forehead. She reached up and touched his face. "She really is just the sweetest thing." Tears welled up in his eyes, and he wouldn't have stopped them even if he could have. This was a beautiful moment for him. This was his daughter, come to stay. And to think, Brantley had wanted to deny him this moment!

  He stroked Alaina's tiny cheek with one finger. "You're home now, baby girl. You're with your daddy now, and I'm going to love you forever and ever."

  Carter slung an arm around his shoulders, and Luke did the same from the other side. "And you've got a big, wide family of people who love you too," Luke whispered to her. "You've got nothing to be afraid of, for the rest of your life. You're safe now."

  Footsteps broke the moment. Allen looked up to see Brantley, in casual dress, coming down the stairs. He carried a professional-looking camera in his hands. "I thought I heard a baby in the house." He smiled, and it only looked a little strained.

  Carter gave Allen a smug look. Luke's narrow eyes were directed toward Brantley. Allen's stomach twisted, and he had to force himself to smile. "Meet Alaina Frye." He shifted her position so he could see Alaina's tiny face.

  Alaina stared at Brantley for a moment. Brantley stared back. "Well she isn't impressed by much, is she?" Brantley shook his head. "You've met me before, doll. Anyway, I thought it might be nice for you to have some pictures from today. She might want to have them too, when she's older and wants to know where she came from. It will be good for her to know just how much she was loved, from day one."

  Now Allen's heart twisted deep in his chest. How could someone be so perfect, so wrong, and so out of reach, all at the same time? "That would be perfect." He smiled and positioned Alaina for the pictures.

  Brantley snapped a few, some with Carter and Luke and some without. Then he stepped back. "I'll let you have your baby bonding time. I'll talk to you later, Allen." He disappeared back upstairs.

  Carter watched him go, eyebrows drawn together. "You were right," he said in a quiet voice. "He is weird."


  ***

  Brantley took a look through the pictures he'd snapped of Allen, his friends, and the baby. No, not the baby. Allen’s daughter, Alaina. The one who would still be there, long after this nightmare with ICE was over.

  They looked perfect. He was going to make one of them, the one with just Alaina and Allen, his desktop background until he could get prints made. The picture made Brantley's heart swell. This was the dream, wasn't it? A handsome man, a baby to love and raise. People had this. Ordinary people, of all genders and pairings, had this.

  Why did Brantley have to be cut off from it?

  Even Allen would have this, someday. A guy like Allen, who was so clearly cut out for family life, he wouldn't stay single for long. He would soon find someone who would give him what he needed. Lord, Allen wouldn't even remember Brantley. Maybe they'd nod to one another in passing in the hallways, but that would be it.

  Brantley hadn't thought much about starting a family before this ICE thing. Before he got together with Allen. He might as well call it what it was. Allen had changed him somehow, altered his priorities. He'd opened Brantley's eyes to the possibilities, but had that been kind or cruel?