Unexpected Dreams: Dream Series, Book 4

by Isabelle Peterson

  The elevator arrived at the garage and we exited the elevator, Tanner leading us to the Jeep, as I couldn’t remember where he’d parked. I started up the engine and pulled us to the garage exit. Tanner sat next to me, still stunned. I asked Siri to navigate me to Comers Children’s Hospital and in less than a minute, we were on our way; Siri telling me which way to go.

  “So, you were telling me about Sarah,” I reminded him.

  “Oh, right. She actually works at Comer’s. Actually, neither Ashley nor Sarah ever wanted kids until last year. Ash started freaking out that she was going to be forty, and she felt her maternal clock ticking. She asked…I was flattered. Scary request, but flattered. And legally, I don’t have any tie to the kid, but emotionally, I’ll be Uncle Tanner, but really his dad.”

  “His?” I asked glancing at him as Siri directed me onto I94-South.

  Tanner beamed. “Yeah. A boy. Oliver William Harper-Nelson.” Tanner let out a huge lungful of air. “My boy. But it’s too early!”

  “Hey, for what it’s worth, my baby girl, Phoebe, was born five weeks early. She’s now at NYU. And medicine is more advanced than it was nineteen years ago. Her birthday is coming up, too. September ninth. Wow. That’s less than two weeks,” I said more to myself than to Tanner. “And University of Chicago medical? And Oliver’s…” what do I call Sarah? Shit, this was weird. Exciting…but weird. I decided on what to call Sarah, and continued. “Other mother. Sarah. Oliver’s other mother is a doctor. Oliver couldn’t be in better hands.”

  Tanner nodded. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. This is fine. Wow. I’m going to be a dad…but not a dad…Tonight.” Tanner bent over and held his head in his hands.

  “You’re sure you’re okay?” I asked, more than a little worried. I’ve only ever seen Tanner so confident and assured.

  “Thank god you’re here,” he said landing a hand on my leg. The touch did wonders to me. I felt like I’d helped…taken care of Tanner. The thought warmed my heart…and saddened me at the same time. Why had I never been this way with Elizabeth? I shook the thought from my head and focused back on Tanner, who was now flipping through photos on his phone.

  “This is Ashley,” he said holding his phone so I wouldn’t really have to take my eyes off the road to glance quickly. Ashley was beautiful. Long super blonde hair, brilliant smile… wore makeup and didn’t look one bit a lesbian. “And this is Sarah,” he said, thumbing to the next photo. Sarah also beautiful and had long hair, but pulled up in a bun. She also wore makeup and didn’t look one bit gay.

  I’d always thought that gay women had short hair and refused to wear makeup on principal. I thought they were ‘mannish,’ and liked things like beer and hockey. Neither of these women looked like beer drinking, hockey fans. They seemed as girly as they came. The only lesbian women I knew were Suzie, Elizabeth’s older sister, and her partner, Cassie. And well…they both were…well… mannish. Suzie worked on cars, and had tattoos. She and Cassie wore clothing that hid their breasts. They were not thin “women,” which masked their hips. They both had short hair, and wore no makeup. Either one of them could be mistaken for a man just passing them on the street. I’d never told them that. Not like my opinion would have mattered. They hated men. But Ashley and Sarah looked like women. Hot women. Then again, I’d thought all gay men spoke in high-pitched, sing-song voices, wore pink, hated sports, extended their pinkies when they drank from tea cups, and were decorators or fashion models. Next, I’m going to learn that all male fashion models aren’t gay. Man—my world had been so rocked in the past couple of weeks that I couldn’t even begin to count the ways.

  Tanner’s phone beeped. Eagerly, he looked at the screen. “Okay, they have a room and things are going well. What’s our ETA?”

  “Siri says,” I glanced at my phone’s screen, “six minutes.” At that moment, Siri directed me off of I94 and to the hospital.

  About five minutes later, I was dropping Tanner at the entrance to the hospital then went to find a parking space. After I had parked, locked up, and alarmed Tanner’s Jeep, I was finding my way to the Labor and Delivery ward at the University of Chicago. Once inside, I followed the signs to the appropriate ward and took a seat in the waiting area.

  I thought about the freakin’ whirlwind of a day, week, month I’d had.

  I met a guy…a guy I was attracted to…I’d kissed him…and recently been, for the lack of a better word, pleasured by him…and I was about to return the ‘favor’ willingly and excitedly. I’d had an opportunity with a woman that failed miserably, and wasn’t seeing any woman I was attracted to. Boiled down, I was a little more than bi-curious anymore. Now he, the man I was ‘with’, was about to be a father to a pair of lesbian women. Does anyone’s life get stranger than mine?

  “You must be Greg,” a woman said interrupting my frantic mind’s thoughts. I looked up and saw a vaguely familiar face. “Tanner’s told us so much about you.” I’m sure the look on my face said it all, because she continued. “All good, I promise,” she smiled. “I’m Sarah Nelson, Ashley’s partner. And if the lawmakers can get their shit together, wife in 2014.” I noticed her hand was extended toward me. I carefully stood and shook her hand. She wasn’t a man hater? She looked as feminine as the picture that Tanner showed me.

  I nodded slowly taking it all in. “Nice to meet you, Sarah.”

  “So sorry to have interrupted your evening,” she said a little embarrassed.

  “It’s okay. Babies come when they decide to come, right?”

  “True. Spoken like a man who has one or two?”

  “Three,” I smiled.

  “So you do know,” she said with a wink. “Dr. Hartten is the best, and trying to stop the contractions for now. Well, I can’t stay, Tanner asked me to check to make sure you made it in okay. My little lady needs me, but I hope to see you soon. If you need anything, Sheri at the desk will be more than happy to help.” I looked over at the polite blond woman with a few computers in front of her like a NASA flight deck. Sarah gave my arm a squeeze, and was off down the hall.

  I sat down and, hoped that the meds would work to delay Ashley’s labor. Even though I’d done my best to assuage Tanner’s fears about “his” baby being born seven weeks early, I vividly remembered the complications that arose from Phoebe being born only five weeks early.

  In an effort to distract myself, I pulled out my cell phone and decided to see what emails had come in during the day. I sifted through the typical junk emails of unsolicited ads, accounting journal announcements, and client emails, one email popped out at me… Phoebe. She rarely emailed me. She preferred to text or call. Curious, I opened the email.

  To: Dad

  Cc:

  Subject: September Visit

  From: Phoebe Fairchild

  August 29, 2013 6:32pm

  Hi Dad,

  I hope you are doing well. Things in New York couldn’t be better. My internship has ended. It was a terrific experience. Classes start this coming Tuesday. I’m so excited!! Thank you for supporting my decision to change schools, and my college career path. I really think it was the best decision for me.

  I know it’s last minute, but do you think you might be able to make a trip out here soon? I have something I need to talk to you about, but would really rather do it face-to-face instead of on the phone or in email. My birthday is in two weeks, and I thought that would be as good a time as any for you to come and visit. Let me know what day you’re coming in so I can make dinner reservations.

  I miss you.

  Hugs,

  Phoebe

  I read the email a couple of times to see if I was missing something. Of course, I knew her birthday was coming up, but the reminder was appreciated. Usually her messages near her birthday were not-too-thinly veiled in hints of a birthday gift. I didn’t see any of that. The only request was blatant. She wanted me to visit. And…she wanted to talk. Had she met a boy? Elizabeth was her age when she’d met me. The thought had my blood run cold. She
was way too young to think about settling down. Maybe she had an update on Elizabeth that she wanted to warn me about. Maybe Elizabeth was marrying that guy…Jack. I thought about that for a moment, but couldn’t find any ill-will in that scenario. Jack clearly made Elizabeth happy. After this past couple of weeks, I started to understand why. Elizabeth and I didn’t have the right connection.

  No matter how you sliced it, Phoebe or Elizabeth, this trip was going to be a big one.

  I hit REPLY and sent her a quick message back:

  To: Phoebe

  Cc:

  Subject: re: September Visit

  From: Greg Fairchild, Fairchild & Dolan Financial Planning, LTD

  August 29, 2013 11:15pm

  Hi Princess,

  I cannot believe you are about to turn 20! Where has the time gone? I am thrilled that you want to see me for your birthday. I will make the travel arrangements tomorrow and forward you the details.

  Love,

  Dad

  Just then, Tanner rounded the corner. I quickly put my phone in my pocket and got up to go to him.

  “How’s it going in there?” I asked. Tanner was white as a sheet.

  “Not very successfully…the contractions won’t stop. Ash is a trooper though. And I thank God she has Sarah.” He cleared his throat and then looked into my eyes. “They’re prepping her for a C-section.” His voice wavered as he got that out.

  “Hey, it’s okay. The baby is past thirty-two weeks. I remember that marker well. It’ll be fine. UC is one of the best medical hospitals, right? And you all have Sarah.”

  Tanner nodded, but still looked rattled. I couldn’t help what happened next. Even though there were several people in the space, I wrapped my arms around this man and hugged him tight. I felt his breathing slow a little and he nodded into my shoulder. “You’re right. I’m so glad you’re here.”

  We hugged for a moment or two more then I was struck with a thought and pulled back. “Do you need to scrub in?”

  Tanner shook his head. “I let Sarah have that honor. If it were a natural birth, I was going to be in the room, but with the surgery, they limit the number of people in the room. Besides, Sarah is better with the blood and stuff. It’s fine. Better this way. Now, I just have to wait.”

  “Well,” I said, walking us to the turquoise vinyl sofas and pulling us to sit, “I’ll wait with you.”

  Tanner took my hand and smiled. “Thank you,” he said warmly looking into my eyes before closing them and leaning back, still holding my hand tightly. I quickly looked around to see who was noticing two men in a waiting room holding hands, but no one seemed to care.

  This wasn’t the way I wanted Greg to find out about Ashley, Sarah, and Oliver. And I couldn’t believe how calm he was. He’s so strong. Things don’t seem to faze him. I love that about him.

  I couldn’t believe how this night had turned out. I didn’t expect Greg’s sharing of his recently ended marriage. I didn’t expect to learn that Greg had three grown kids. I didn’t expect to give Greg head. I didn’t expect that he would want to go further.

  But mostly, I didn’t expect the call from Sarah and Ashley. And to top it off, I didn’t expect Greg to be my strength. Most men probably would have left, not wanting to get involved in a messy situation like ours. However, Greg insisted on being here with me.

  Him sitting here next to me was the most comforting feeling in the world, despite the scary situation with Ashley and Oliver.

  CHAPTER 17

  Roughly an hour and ten minutes later, Sarah came into the waiting room. Tanner jumped up off the sofa, and bombarded her with questions. “How is she? Is she okay? And the baby? Is he okay? How big is he? Is he able to breathe? How’s his heart? Is he in the NICU? What took so long? When can I see them?”

  Sarah glanced at me and laughed, saying, “Good luck with this one,” then took Tanner’s hands and sat him down. “Ashley and Oliver are doing wonderfully. Oliver was born at eleven fifty-seven p.m. on August twenty-ninth, two thousand and thirteen,” she beamed. “Ashley is in recovery, Oliver is in the NICU. His Apgar scores are strong for thirty-three weeks. He’s in an incubator and is receiving oxygen to help with the breathing and body temp. His lungs aren’t fully developed, but everything else looks really, really good. He’s a fighter just like his Daddy. He’s probably going to be an athlete, too.”

  I watched Tanner as Sarah relayed all this information, but once she called Tanner Oliver’s ‘Daddy,’ pride was the only thing on Tanner’s face. She went on to say that Oliver would be in the hospital for at least two weeks, maybe as long as four, but Dr. Zewalski, the neonatal specialist called in, said he was optimistic. Sarah also reported that Dr. Zewalski was saying that Oliver more resembled a late pre-term baby, rather than a pre-mature baby. I wasn’t sure what the difference was, but if the doctors were making a distinction, that had to be a good thing, right?

  “Let me go see what strings I can pull so that you can visit Oliver, but you can go and see Ashley. Same room.”

  Tanner turned to me and was beaming. “Come on, I want you to meet Ashley,” he said grabbing my hand, then quickly turned to Sarah. “Is that okay?”

  “More than okay,” she said, glancing at our hands and smiling. “She was grilling me all about you, Greg. Just a warning,” she said leaning into me, “she’s very protective of Tanner.”

  I nodded and sheepishly smiled, my blood suddenly running a little cold. Tanner was holding my hand in public, introducing me to important people in his life. What had he already said about me? Why was Ashley grilling Sarah for details about me? “Dually noted,” I managed. “Thank you.”

  Tanner pulled me down the hall and gently knocked on a door that had the name “A. Harper” scrawled on the white board.

  A soft voice came from inside, “Come in.”

  We carefully stepped inside the room that had soft lighting and didn’t look like any hospital room that Elizabeth had been in for our children. I focused on the woman in the bed and immediately recognized her as Ashley. She was as beautiful as the photo that Tanner had shown me.

  “Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling?” Tanner asked carefully, drawing us to her bedside.

  “Tired. Sore. But good. I hear Ollie is as strong as you are,” she said, smiling weakly. She reached out and took a hold of Tanner’s free hand; his other hand was still tightly grabbing mine. “Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes filled with love and tears.

  She glanced in my direction then said, “You must be Greg. It’s nice to meet you.” She let go of Tanner’s hand and extended it toward me.

  “Guilty as charged,” I replied. “And congratulations.”

  “Thank you,” she beamed again. “They said I can go down and see him in a couple of hours, but Tanner,” she said, focusing on him again, “he’s simply gorgeous. Looks like he’ll have my blond hair, but your features are definitely present.”

  I glanced at Tanner’s profile and was again struck by his strong features. I tried to imagine his perfect nose and angular, stubble covered jaw on a baby, and just figured that Ashley saw Tanner differently. I looked at Tanner and saw nothing by sexy—well, nowadays anyway.

  “And Tanner,” she whispered, not so secretively, “you’re right. Greg is sexy as fuck.”

  I’m sure my eyes were as wide as saucers with that comment and I felt myself blush. Had he really told his best friend that I was ‘sexy as fuck’?

  “Hey now,” Tanner laughed back, as he brushed his thumb over my knuckles. “For starters, you’d better start watching that mouth. You don’t want Ollie walking around talkin’ like a sailor. And secondly, you’re going to get me into trouble.”

  “Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em. And don’t let Sarah hear you call him Ollie. She insists it’s Oliver,” she quietly laughed. “And, Greg, all kidding aside, thank you for sticking around with Tanner. I’m sure he would have been climbing the walls and pestering all the doctors on the floor if you weren’t here.”

  “It w
as my pleasure,” I said truthfully. I had enjoyed sitting here and supporting Tanner during this exciting, albeit stressful, time. Tanner looked at me, and I felt my heart swell. This was getting really deep. I wondered how I would feel when I got back to California.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to miss the Austin game,” she said looking at Tanner, “but they won’t be letting me out until the day after. Sarah promised to bring in her laptop so we can watch the game from here.” I looked around and noticed the absence of a TV. Ashley then turned to me. “You’re gonna have to cheer extra loudly for me and Sarah, okay?” I smiled and nodded.

  There was a soft knock on the door and Sarah came in. She wrapped her arms around Tanner and me, poking her head between us, and said, “Okay. Ashley needs her rest. Besides, you want to go meet Oliver William Harper-Nelson, right?”

  Tanner whipped his head to face her. “Are you serious? Yes!”

  She smiled then walked around us and sweetly gave Ashley a kiss. The two looked at each other so tenderly, my heart ached. Love was love no matter how you sliced it.

  “Get some sleep, honey. You’re going to need it. Oliver is already charming the pants off the nurses up there. The lactation consultant will be in first thing in the morning and get you situated with the pumping. And, Tanner? Thank you again, for helping us complete our family.”

  The three of them shared a hug, as best as they could with a freshly operated on patient.

  Sarah turned to us and led us quietly out of the room. But just before she left the room, she turned back. “I love you, Ash.”

  “I love you, too, Sar,” Ashley said.

  Once in the hallway, Sarah said, “That woman amazes me more and more with each passing day.” As we followed Sarah through the halls, I tried remembering how I had behaved in the hospital after Bradley, Carter, and Phoebe were born. I don’t think I was anything like Sarah had been. Man I really was a first class jerk, I scolded myself, and made a note to properly thank Elizabeth.