Vetted Again

by K'Anne Meinel

  “Sandra, I’m looking to buy a Suburban today. We can’t drive the kids around in my RV, and Allyssa’s Jeep is too small for three car seats. Do you think you can help me out here?”

  They discussed her finances. Fey lowered her voice when she spoke about the expected check from the cellular company and other monies, looking around to see if she was being overheard.

  “Read me the vin?” Sandra requested, and while Fey had her on the phone she told her how much it was worth.

  “This is the price we agreed on,” she told her.

  “Wow! How’d you get it that low?” she asked, amazed.

  “Allyssa told me to look up the blue book price and try to find the dealers original price, then negotiate from there,” she confessed, not taking credit for it.

  “That girl has a good head on her shoulders!” she marveled. “Yes, I think we can float you the loan. I’ll write up the papers and have them ready for you two to sign in the next few days. You are at the dealership now?”

  “Yes. Will I have to wait until the paperwork is signed to pick up the SUV? We sort of have a lot going on, and I don’t know when I can get back–”

  “Oh, no! Put me on hold, and I’ll talk to the dealer. You and Allyssa just come in and sign the loan papers when they’re ready and get some insurance right away.”

  “Oh, crap! I forgot about insurance. That is why I have Alyssa handle these things.”

  “Your current insurance will cover it until you call. They do that for rental cars too. Just come in here as soon as you can and sign the paperwork for me, so I’m covered at this end.”

  “Okay, here comes the salesman. His name is Mort. I’ll hand you off to him.”

  Fey handed the salesman her phone and then watched as he grabbed her paperwork and walked off to find his manager and share the phone with him. She laughed. They had her cell phone, and whatever Sandra Miller was telling them, they were nodding as they signed off on the paperwork.

  “What’s going on? This little guy is about done with me,” Renee confessed, coming up with Erin in the carrier.

  “I got a loan from the bank over the phone. They are working out the details now,” she said, standing up to take Erin from Renee.

  “You can do that?”

  Fey nodded as she started a little dance with Erin to keep him quiet. “Apparently, you can.”

  It took another ten minutes before Mort returned and handed her the phone, which was nearly dead from use. “Your bank manager took care of the financing, and we’re finishing up the title and registration, so you’ll be all set,” he told her.

  “Oh, good. Can we set up the car seat in the Suburban?”

  “They’re bringing it around now,” he told her, and they both looked to see the service guy driving it up to the doors.

  “Want some help with the car seats?” Renee asked, excited for Fey. Between Fey, who had to work one-handed, Renee, and Mort, the salesman, they got the three car seats secured in the back seat, and all were facing backwards as required by law. Fey made a note to buy the wide mirror she had envisioned as the manager hurried the paperwork for Fey’s signature. “Um, this is supposed to say Fiona or Allyssa Herriot, not and. If something happens to either of us, I want my wife to be able to trade or sell this vehicle,” she told the manager, pointing out the error.

  “Oh. Well, give me another ten minutes, and I’ll make up the new registration papers,” he said, flustered at her catching it. He had thought Allyssa was her sister or something. It never occurred to him she had a wife. How odd.

  Erin was the one that hated the wait the most, and Fey was on her last bottle. She also needed to pump soon; her breasts felt like they were about to burst. Erin nudging at her made her breasts think they were going to be expressed soon, and she could feel them leaking onto the pads in her maternity bra. As she fed him, she wondered if this day would ever be over. It had been a long one.

  “Here you go, Mrs. Herriot,” the manager said cheerfully as he came up once again. He was thankful to see she was feeding the infant with a bottle and trying to keep his expression neutral. He didn’t really like children, but he wanted this sale.

  “It’s Doctor Herriot,” she corrected him as she took the paperwork to scan through it before signing off. He handed her both sets of keys and wished her well, giving her the party line, which did not impress her. The salesman had basically said the same things to her as he had gone off to sell another car. “Well, let’s go. You’ll drive the Jeep home?”

  “Why didn’t you trade it in?” Renee asked.

  “We can still use it, and I think Allyssa wanted to keep it for nostalgia or something. This will become the family vehicle,” she said, nodding to the Suburban as she put Erin on her shoulder and patted the burps out of him. She was carrying the diaper bag and had slipped the last bottle into it. Her breasts were killing her, and she wondered if they should stop somewhere with an outlet, so she could express them. She briefly wondered if there was some way to plug the pump into the cigarette lighter, but then she had a vision of her breast hanging out on the highway and quickly tried to bleach that thought from her mind. Gently, she strapped the wide-awake Erin into his car seat. “Could you drive home and tell the kids I’ll be there after I visit Allyssa and the twins?” she asked.

  “Sure thing, boss. See you tomorrow,” Renee agreed. She wondered if Fey realized she still had the bassinet in the Jeep but wouldn’t remind her. She’d just have the kids haul it up to the bedroom for her and set it up. She would leave the Jeep parked in its usual spot, and she wouldn’t tell them about the new SUV.

  Fey drove the Suburban south towards Sweetwater, then past the ranch exit and on towards the clinic. She was glad to get there, so she could plug in the pump. She was in so much pain, she was barely cordial to everyone as she walked in carrying the basket containing Erin.

  “Hi, there,” she said to her wife, pleased to see her feeding the son they hadn’t named yet. “Do you mind if I start pumping?” she said, almost in the same breath.

  “What happened?” Allyssa asked, cringing at the pain of breastfeeding. She knew her wife had experienced this same pain. She’d managed to breastfeed the twins several times now, so she knew what Fey had gone through.

  “They took too long at the dealership. I needed to express my milk, but we had to drive here first,” she said, putting the basket down and reaching for the pump in the baby’s diaper bag. She wasn’t delicate about it. She was anxious to get the milk out of her bursting breasts; her shirt was already soaked, and she was embarrassed by that.

  “Want to try breastfeeding again?” Allyssa teased, seeing her wife trying to get the pump plugged in.

  “Oh, hell no!” she said succinctly and then grinned at her wife, pleased to see she was in good spirits. After she had the cone around her now ample breast, she breathed a sigh of relief and watched it suck out the excess milk. “This is weird,” she stated, just as succinctly.

  “What is?” Allyssa looked up from where she had been watching her son suckle.

  “You’re feeding Erin’s brother from your breast, and I’m pumping, so he can eat whenever he’s hungry. I never, in a million years, would have imagined this scenario.”

  Allyssa thought for a moment and then said, “You’re right. This is weird.” She started to laugh, joggled the baby, who fussed about losing his grip on his dinner, and quickly helped him get the nipple back in his mouth. “So, did you get the blue Suburban?”

  “Yep, and the car seats are all ready and waiting for you and the twins,” she said with a smile, feeling the urge to sigh again as her breast was slowly being emptied by the pump. Her other breast still hurt, but she could bear that for a few more minutes.

  “Leslie said we have to name this little guy,” she said, indicating the handful in her arms. He was sucking lustfully at her breast. She glanced down at the other plastic bassinet and saw her daughter making clucking noises, as though she knew what her brother was doing and was trying t
o keep up from afar. She smiled.

  “What about naming him after your father?”

  “I just don’t think Robert is the right name for him,” she said, looking down at her offspring. “It’s a good, strong name, but Robert Herriot doesn’t do it for me.”

  “I think it’s a good name. Maybe with Keith for a middle name?” she suggested, tying their families together.

  “Robert Keith,” she mused, testing the feel and flavor of the name on her tongue. “Robert? Bob?” She wrinkled her nose at the nickname. “How about Rob? Rob Herriot?” She saw Fiona wrinkle her nose at that name.

  “I don’t like the name Rob. They might nickname him Robber; kids can be cruel.”

  “You don’t think they will be mean with Erin?”

  “Yeah, but they won’t know it isn’t spelled Aaron,” she countered.

  “True, but that isn’t getting this little one named,” she said as he stopped nudging her so hard, finally filling up on her life-giving milk. He was suckling much slower now.

  “Robert is a good name, but you don’t like Bob and I don’t like Rob. What about Bert?”

  “Bert Herriot?” she asked. “That sounds wrong on so many levels.”

  Fey chuckled. They’d been round this track quite a few times over the last few months.

  “What about Harris after your real family name?”

  “Harry Herriot? You want the kids to beat him up every day?”

  Allyssa chuckled. She had to agree that was a terrible idea.

  “You never had a favorite name as a kid?” Fey asked her as she noticed that the breast pump had almost filled one of the bottles. She had taken another bottle out of the bag to fill with her other breast but was surprised when the first breast filled the second bottle halfway. Her milk had really started to come in over the past two weeks. She looked for a third bottle because she was almost ready to switch to her other breast.

  “No, I didn’t play much with boys. It wasn’t seemly,” she confessed prissily, imitating something her mother must have said so long ago. “That’s probably why I preferred a woman when I went searching for a mate,” she teased, smiling at her wife.

  Fey returned the smile as she thought about their dilemma. “Well, if we are going to keep with my family names...there’s Timothy and his brothers Theodore and Thomas.”

  “I like those names, although I think Theodore would be shortened to Teddy and kids would make fun of that,” she pointed out. Fey agreed with her.

  “So, is it Thomas or Timothy?”

  “How about Thomas Robert? That should make my father happy, and it sounds like a strong name, one he could grow into.” She looked down at the small baby. He had only weighed five pounds at birth, compared to his much larger sister who weighed eight pounds. The disparity worried her, but Leslie had told her not to worry about it. She said he was healthy and he would grow. In fact, he would probably surpass his twin in no time.

  “I like that. Thomas Robert,” she said, repeating the name. Tom Herriot. That sounded great.

  “Then, that’s the name we will go with?” she asked, pleased that they seemed to have it settled.

  “Sounds good to me,” she agreed. She looked down at Erin, who was still sleeping in his basket, as she switched breasts.

  “Tell me about the Suburban?” Allyssa asked as Tom, or Tommy as they would call him when he was little, stopped feeding. She carefully put him up to her shoulder as she rubbed his back, encouraging the bubbles to work their way up.

  The women passed their time together cordially, and when Leslie walked in, she was delighted to find the three babies together, so she could compare them. Whoever the father was who donated the sperm, he had produced beautiful children. These two women were very lucky. Everything coming back from the lab showed the twins were healthy. They’d know in about two weeks if they were fraternal or identical twins, but for now, it didn’t matter.

  “Have you thought of a name for your son?” she asked Allyssa, seeing Fey finishing up with the pump.

  “Our son will be called Thomas Robert,” Allyssa gently corrected her.

  “That’s a fine name,” she said approvingly and flushed over her mistake. “I’ll make sure they bring in the paperwork for the names.” She made a hasty exit.

  The nurse came in a few minutes later with the paperwork for the twins’ birth certificates. Allyssa had already put Thomas back in his bassinet.

  “You know, if we name her Margaret, our postmistress will think we are naming her after her,” Fey pointed out with a grin.

  “She’ll love us forever,” Allyssa agreed as she wrote on the forms.

  “I can’t wait to have you all home,” Fey said as she finished emptying her second breast and covered it. She wished she had a pad to replace the old, soaked one. Shrugging, she supposed they would have to carry extras in the diaper bags in the future. She already knew they were down to the last diaper for Erin since they had been out all day.

  “How about going home tonight?” Leslie asked as she came in and heard what Fey had said.

  “Really?” Allyssa asked.

  “We were just waiting for you to name the children, and you are fine. You can rest just as easily at home, and I suspect you will get as much help with the children as you would here, and you wouldn’t need to pay an arm and a leg for it. If you want to stay an extra day, I can make it happen with your insurance, but it’s up to you.”

  Allyssa looked at Fey, who looked just as surprised. She smiled. “Yes, I’d like to go home,” she agreed.

  “I’ll get your discharge paperwork going. Now, don’t forget to come in next week for a checkup.” She turned to Fey and said, “you too. Neither one of you are to do very much. I know that’s asking a lot of you,” she directed that at Fey. “But seriously, if you do too much too soon, you are going to set yourselves back, and the babies need you too much for any hijinks. Take it easy and let your friends and family help.” She knew that Fey’s brother and sister were living with them now and it couldn’t be easy, but no matter what their family dynamics, they needed to recover from childbirth. “If you don’t insert any toys or anything, you can have sex when you feel like it again,” she said, looking down at her paperwork, so she wouldn’t meet either patients’ eyes. “Especially you, Allyssa with those stitches.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and finish imaginary paperwork. Also,” she looked up to take in both new moms, “I know I said this before but really, follow my advice and do not get pregnant again for two or maybe three years.”

  Fey and Allyssa had both blushed at the idea of sex. Neither felt like it yet but that was good to know.

  “Are you done with that?” she asked, seeing the paperwork the clinic needed to file for the birth certificates.

  “Yep, just. I have to have Fey’s signature,” she said, handing the clip board across to her wife.

  “It’s weird seeing my name shown as the father,” she murmured.

  “Well, I signed as the father for Erin’s birth certificate,” Allyssa pointed out.

  “True.”

  They handed the clipboard to the waiting doctor. “You can get dressed, and I’ll have my nurse come in with your discharge papers and a wheelchair. Don’t be brave. You are going to need that chair with two bundles to carry. Your wife has her own hands full and you will also have your suitcase.”

  Fey helped Allyssa get dressed in her maternity clothes. Then, she began stuffing her things, including the supplies the hospital gave them for newborns, into her suitcase. Naturally, Allyssa received twice as much as Fey had for Erin. Fey carried the suitcase and the diaper bag out to the Suburban first, surprised they were using it this soon. While Fey was out of the room, Allyssa took several pictures of the twins and Erin. She wanted to put them all together on the bed but didn’t wish to wake any of them. She knew this peace would not last, and she was scared and excited at the same time.

  Leslie came in once more to instruct her about the dissolvable stitches she h
ad received while giving birth, explain about the care, give her an ointment for the site, and to caution her against bathing for a while; showers only. Leslie left her, smiling at all three babies as she left the room.

  The staff came to escort her from the room with a wheelchair after about a half hour wait. They handed Fey a small folder of paperwork, which included instructions on how to obtain the final birth certificates for the babies. She was familiar with this since they had done the same when she had gone home two weeks ago. Had it really been only two weeks ago? She felt like a month had passed since that day. She looked down at Erin and then smiled at Allyssa, who was seated in the wheelchair with a baby tucked firmly in each arm.

  “Wait! I need to take a picture,” she said as she snapped a shot of Allyssa.

  “Would you like one of the whole family?” the nurse offered. They accepted gladly. Fey picked up Erin and held him, standing behind Allyssa and the twins. The mothers smiled happily, but the babies couldn’t make a credible smile between them. Still, they were all visible and that was all that mattered as Allyssa looked at the picture on the small screen of her phone. “Do you need another picture?” the nurse worried.

  “No, this is perfect,” Allyssa sniffed, becoming emotional as she sent herself the pictures in an email and pocketed the phone in her breast pocket.

  It was a slow process getting three infants tucked safely into the back of the Suburban, but the nurse was an expert at car seats. With the help of an orderly, they also got the sore and tired Allyssa into the front seat. Fey promised herself to get that mirror as quickly as possible, knowing she and Allyssa both needed to be able to see the children’s faces while driving.

  “This is perfect, babe,” Allyssa complimented Fey, admiring the newness of the used but certainly well-maintained vehicle. “It feels positively luxurious.”

  Fey was proud of her purchase and happier than ever with her wife’s approval. “We have to stop by the bank in the next couple days and sign the loan documents. They were pretty generous with us.”