Another Love, page 10
“I didn’t mention what kind of work I was doing,” Blake assured Greg. “Anyhow, I doubt Erin will say anything. Since I’ve been home, she’s spent most of her time resting. How long is it going to be, anyhow?”
“Before you’re a father? Any day. Do you want to see your baby being born?”
Blake hesitated. “I’d like to. But it’s going to feel damn strange, considering the circumstances. I doubt Erin will want me there.”
“She said she didn’t mind if you wanted to be in the delivery room. Before you ask, that’s a standard question I ask all my expectant moms.”
Her reaction surprised Blake. As uncomfortable as she seemed when they ran into each other in varying states of undress around the suite they shared, he’d assumed she’d hate the idea of him seeing her as intimately as he assumed he would when she gave birth.
“Then I want to be there.”
“Okay. Since you haven’t done the prenatal classes, I’ll bring a couple of tapes for you to watch so you’ll know what to expect. You said Si and Kay would meet us at your house at five?”
“That’s right. You’re welcome to stay and have dinner after we’re done with the meeting.”
Greg chuckled. “Will I feel like eating after the meeting?”
“I have no idea. But I’ll see you in another couple of hours.” Blake hoped that Greg would come alone. He wanted nothing to upset what he hoped would be a reasonable discussion about reducing Greg’s alimony burden.
When Greg arrived, still wearing wrinkled scrubs with an equally disheveled lab coat, Blake noted Sandy’s conspicuous absence.
“How’s my favorite patient?” Greg asked as he pulled up a patio chair and joined them.
“Getting anxious. Where’s Sandy?”
“At the office, working. It’s only four-thirty, and I’m an evil taskmaster.”
Blake stood abruptly. “Since this isn’t a social call, we’d better go inside. The other parties will be here shortly.”
He hardly had time to brief Greg before Mary came into the study and announced that Mr. Abrams and his client had arrived. “Send them in,” Blake said, and then he reminded Greg to keep his sometimes acerbic tongue in check.
“Si. Kay. Thank you for coming here instead of downtown.” Blake knew he hadn’t inconvenienced them at all, since Si’s office was less than two miles away.
Kay laughed, a brittle, tinkling sound that matched the brilliant red of her linen suit and pale, bright tone of her short curly hair. “I wouldn’t think of having you leave your brand-new bride so close to her delivery date.”
“You always were considerate, Kay,” Greg said silkily from his seat on the sofa in the corner, while Blake bit his tongue to keep from replying to Kay’s pointed dig.
Kay turned on Greg. “I see you’re dressed for work, as usual. Are you planning to deliver Blake’s baby here and now?”
The tension was building. Somebody needed to diffuse it, and it seemed that his colleague was content to sit back and watch the show. “Greg came straight here from the hospital when I told him you were willing to negotiate the alimony. He wants Si and me to help settle the matter, not referee a verbal war between you two. Let’s cut out the childish sniping and get down to business.”
“Right.” Si opened his briefcase and drew out a sheaf of papers. “Kay realizes you’re paying more than you can afford in alimony, Doctor Halpern. Are you aware that three weeks ago, I conveyed her offer to give up future payments in return for a lump sum settlement?”
“He’s aware, Si. Your offer was unacceptable. Kay, is it true that you plan to remarry shortly?” Blake asked.
Kay nodded, letting her bright blue gaze drop noticeably to the headlight of a diamond on her left ring finger. “That’s why I wanted us to get together. I won’t be getting alimony after this month, anyhow, but I thought I’d offer you a small present in celebration of my remarriage.”
“Let me,” Si said as Blake sat back, wondering what would be coming next and trying to plan his line of attack. “Kay is marrying a wealthy man. He dislikes the idea of his wife’s receiving what he considers an excessive amount in child support. We’ve all talked this over, and we feel a thousand dollars a month should be adequate to take care of Shana’s needs until she’s of age.”
Blake mentally reviewed the numbers Greg’s accountant had provided. Without the alimony he was paying Kay, Greg could easily afford the court-ordered monthly child support. “Greg hasn’t contested the child support, Si. Just the alimony. He wants to support his daughter.”
“Of course he does. But if he isn’t having to pay so much in support, he will have more to give her the little extras every girl wants.” Kay sounded so sweet, Blake knew there had to be a catch to her offer.
Greg spoke up. “Who do I have to kill to make this happen?”
Kay faced him, her features serene. “Why, no one, darling. All you have to do is take temporary custody of our daughter for six months or so while Abe and I take an extended honeymoon. That’s a trip, like the ones we never took while you buried yourself in the hospital caring for every woman in the world except me, and I got stuck vegetating in a tiny, cramped apartment I hated.”
“That’s all?” Greg sounded incredulous.
“That’s all, and I’ll even waive child support for the time Shana will be spending with you. Of course, you will have to buy a house and hire a housekeeper. I won’t have my child living in that tenement you call an apartment building.”
Blake studied the papers Si had handed him that spelled out Kay’s proposed agreement. “It seems to say exactly what Kay has told you,” he said as he worked his way through the last page.
“Then I’d be a fool to turn it down.”
Then Blake came to a clause that gave him second thoughts. “Could I speak to my client alone before he makes a decision?”
“You think Greg won’t like the clause that says he can’t carry on with women while Shana’s with him? Blake, my friend, you don’t know my former husband at all. He’d rather deliver babies than make them.” Kay shot him a dirty look. “Obviously unlike you.”
“Kay, let’s keep this businesslike.” Si laid a hand on Kay’s arm, as though to restrain her.
“Yeah, Kay, try to hold in those talons before they draw blood,” Greg drawled. “Go ahead, Blake, explain my lovely ex-wife’s terms right here. I’m sure she can withstand the embarrassment.”
It was Blake’s turn to be embarrassed. What, he wondered, had gone on between these people who’d seemed to be in love when they married fifteen years ago?
He reread the clause and handed the unsigned agreement to Greg. “What it says is, you’re not to expose Shana to any of your relationships with women.”
“What the hell? Kay has obviously exposed Shana to this guy she’s about to marry. Shana told me about him months ago. I don’t go having indiscriminate flings, and Kay damn well knows it. I am seeing one woman, and Shana already knows her.” Greg had stood during his diatribe and now was pacing restlessly around the room.
“All I want is to be assured you won’t be ‘seeing’ your little nymphet right under our daughter’s impressionable nose, Greg. Certainly you have adequate time to dally with her at your office.”
Blake saw Greg getting ready to explode. “Sit down and calm down,” he ordered quietly but firmly. “Si, we need to revise this clause. Like Kay, we want to ensure Shana’s safety, both physical and emotional; but we feel that contractually prohibiting Greg from seeing a woman friend while in his daughter’s company is absurd.”
Si leaned over and studied the offending words. He checked with Kay and made a counteroffer; Blake studied the new wording and consulted with Greg. Blake thought they would never reach agreement, but finally they did. Greg was to about be freed from one albatross. Now all Greg had to worry about was Rhea.
Blake got up and walked Si to the door while Kay and Greg indulged in one last shouting match. He was damn glad he didn’t deal in this kind of legal disputes every day.
When Kay stormed past him, Blake felt like throttling her for the snide comment she’d tossed his way. If he didn’t have the feeling it would only make things worse, he’d broadcast the aborted surrogate arrangement. But it would. What the hell could he do to keep his baby and Erin from being hurt by mean-spirited shrews like Greg’s former wife?
* * * * *
There wasn’t to be a whole lot of time to form a line of defense against what friends and acquaintances were going to think. When Blake and Greg walked into the garden room, Timmy was rolling toward them in his wheelchair, wide-eyed and obviously scared.
“My mommy’s sick,” the little boy said. “Doctor Halpern, please help her.”
Blake stayed and tried to calm his stepson while Greg went to examine Erin. It didn’t help much that he was as frightened as Timmy, if not more so. Still he managed to keep his hands from shaking and to explain a little discomfort was normal when a mommy was getting ready to have a baby.
“Well, Timmy. Before long you’re going to be a big brother,” Greg said when he came back a few minutes later. Then he turned to Blake. “It’s time, my friend.”
“Should I call an ambulance?”
“Not necessary. We’ve got plenty of time. Mrs. Malone is helping Erin get dressed. When she’s ready, you can drive her to the hospital. I’ll meet you there.”
Blake watched, dumbstruck, while Greg walked away. “Wait. Don’t leave her.”
“Calm down. Your baby’s big, and Erin’s barely started to dilate. We’re going to have a long night. And I need to call Sandy.” With that, Greg left, punching numbers on his cell phone as he walked out the door.
“I’m scared.” Timmy clutched Blake’s arm with his thin hand.
Blake ruffled his hair. “Your mom’s going to be just fine, sport. I’m going to take her to the hospital so we can get our baby.”
“But she was sick,” the boy repeated stubbornly.
“Trust me, I won’t let anything bad happen to your mom. Go on, get Mary to fix you a hot fudge sundae, and tell her I said it’s okay for you to stay up and watch a movie on the big TV. Then you get a good night’s sleep, so you can go to the hospital with me tomorrow to meet your new brother or sister.”
Blake was petrified when he remembered Greg saying Erin wasn’t dilated and the baby was big. He’d also assured Blake that Erin was healthy and able to have this child without complications, but Blake wasn’t placing a lot of credence in that prediction at the moment.
He was trembling when he helped her into the car, and her soft moans did nothing to reassure him. “Go ahead, scream,” he told her between clenched teeth as he gunned the Mercedes into the center lane of the interstate and sped toward the hospital where he hoped to hell Greg was waiting.
Erin let out, not a scream, but certainly at least a yelp, and clutched both hands to her heaving abdomen.
“Jesus, I’m sorry,” Blake muttered, sweating now. How much farther was the damn exit?
Erin’s voice sounded strained. “It’s not your fault.”
Yes, by God it was, and he didn’t even give her a lover’s pleasure to make it happen. “Like hell.”
“I’ll be fine,” Erin managed between groaning and writhing pitifully on the front seat.
Blake wished he believed that.
“Stay with me,” she said, clutching his hand.
“I will.” Blake swerved into the exit lane and moments later pulled into the hospital’s emergency entrance. Tossing the keys to a security guard and ordering the man to take the car and park it, he scooped Erin into his arms and bolted through the double doors.
A nurse accosted them. “You’ll have to go to Admitting,” she told Blake as she tried to get him to set Erin into a wheelchair. All Blake could think of was that he had promised not to leave her. And that he suddenly was scared to death of losing her, too.
“Send a clerk upstairs. We’re supposed to meet Doctor Halpern in the labor room.”
“I’ll take your wife to him. You have to stay down here and take care of admitting her. Then, you can go upstairs.” The nurse assumed what she apparently thought was an uncompromising pose.
“I promised not to leave her. So you can damn well send an admitting clerk upstairs or do without the formalities. Where is the labor room?”
“Third floor,” the nurse said sullenly as Blake headed with Erin for the elevators.
Blake did have to leave Erin, but only for as long as it took for him to take off his slacks and shirt and don a set of shapeless blue scrubs. Then he joined her in a labor room painted in cheerful tones of blue and yellow.
She was writhing on the narrow bed, turning from side to side as pains wracked her body. “Is there anything I can do?” Jesus, he’d never felt so helpless in his life. Or so damnably responsible for someone else.
“You can sit down over there and hold her hand while Jessica starts an epidural,” Greg said as he came into the small room with a plain but pleasant-looking woman Blake assumed must be the anesthesiologist. “Here now, Erin, you’ll be feeling better soon.”
“You’re going to put her to sleep?”
The anesthesiologist smiled. “No, this will keep your wife comfortable during labor. I will place this tiny catheter into the epidural space so that medication can be administered as needed. Is that all right?”
“Yes.” The last thing Blake wanted was for Erin to suffer unnecessarily.
For what seemed like days even though he knew it was only a few tension-filled hours, Blake sat with Erin, rubbing her back and shoulders, wiping the sweat from her forehead with a cool, damp cloth, and simply being there in case she needed him. He felt he should be talking to her, but damned if he knew what to say. He wanted to tell her he cared for her…that he couldn’t wait to see their baby. But guilt kept him silent. Guilt for feeling at all when he’d buried his emotions with Glenna.
“It’s time for the big event,” Greg said jovially as he straightened up and adjusted the sheet over Erin’s lower body for at least the tenth time since they’d been here. “Come on, Blake. Erin, sweetheart, let these pretty ladies get you ready, and we’ll meet you in the delivery room.”
Like a zombie, Blake followed Greg out of the labor room as two nurses prepared to move Erin to this other room where their baby was to be born.
“Do you need the neonatologist to stand by?” the nurse asked.
Greg grinned. “Not tonight, unless Bernie’s got nothing better to do. Do you have some caps, masks and shoe covers for us?”
“Delivery room three is ready for Mrs. Tanner,” another nurse called out.
Another doctor came in and began to scrub up while Greg and Blake were soaping their hands and forearms. “Want a consult, Greg?” the older man asked jovially.
“Sure, after I finish here. Sam, this is Blake Tanner, who’s about to become a daddy for the first time. Blake, Sam Reed.”
Reed greeted Blake with a sympathetic smile. “If anyone can get a problem baby here safely, this young man can. Good luck, son.”
Blake swallowed hard. Had Greg not told him something he should know? “Damn it, Greg—”
“Not to worry. Erin’s fine.” Greg turned to his colleague. “Blake and I were roommates in college. Tonight we’re anticipating an uncomplicated delivery. What’s the consult about?”
“A thirty-eight-year-old brittle diabetic. Her seven-month fetus died in utero. I’m going in now to take it.”
Greg let out a low whistle. “Doesn’t sound good. Any other kids?”
“A daughter, sixteen.” Reed shook his head sadly. “She remarried a couple of years ago, and she’s damn near obsessed to have his baby.”
“You want me to see her today?”
“Not her. Her records. See if you can offer any hope for them. If you can’t, maybe you can help me persuade her husband they mustn’t try again.”
A feminine voice broke Blake’s morbid fascination. “Mrs. Tanner’s ready,” she said from the entry to the scrub room.
“I’m here.” He stood beside Erin, grasping her cold hand and trying not to shiver in the room that was damn near freezing cold despite hot, blinding lights that focused on Erin from all directions.
He watched a nurse adjust a large, round mirror above Erin’s head. “Here, now you can see,” she said before moving to a small stainless steel table where she arranged some evil looking instruments on a towel-draped tray.
Greg sat on a stool at the foot of the table and murmured his approval. “You’re doing great, sweetheart.” Blake hoped to hell Greg’s confidence wasn’t misplaced. “Come on now, give this baby a little push. Look, can you see? He’s got lots of dark hair.”
Blake listened to his friend coax and cajole. “Hey, little one, you’ve got a mommy and daddy just waiting to spoil you rotten. I bet you’ve already got more toys than lots of kids see in a lifetime. Again now, Erin, push!”
Blake was listening to Greg when he heard an indignant howl. His baby was born! He took two long steps to stand beside Greg and watch firsthand while the wet, wriggling mass of humanity emerged from its mother’s body.
“What is it?” Erin asked excitedly.
“A baby. A furious, squalling little baby,” Blake exclaimed, enthralled as he watched Greg gently turn the baby’s shoulder so he could work its body free.
“It’s a boy. Congratulations, Blake, Erin.” Greg held the red-faced, squalling baby, gently suctioning mucus from his nose and mouth. Then he turned to Blake. “Here, take him over and get him weighed, and show him to his mom while I finish up down here.” He handed Blake his naked, screaming son and turned his attention back to Erin.
Blake had never felt such pure, heady adoration as came over him when he held his baby. He hated relinquishing the squalling little guy long enough for a nurse to weigh and measure him. When she handed the baby back, wrapped snugly in a blue receiving blanket, he examined the infant’s features with wonder and love. Then he took Erin their son.
