Getting Some Of Her Own (33 page)

She brought the coffee, sat down and exhaled a long—and he thought labored—breath. “What brought you here, Mr. Hamilton?”

“Last night, I took Susan, her mother, Rudy and Nathan out to supper at one of my favorite restaurants, and we had a wonderful time—”

She interrupted him. “When I'm gone, Nathan's not even going to have what I could offer him, much less the comforts Susan can give him. I'm so happy for Rudy, but Nathan is grieving his heart out. He's an orphan. My daughter got with a bad crowd after Nathan's father went to Iraq. He was a good man, sent me money every month to help me take care of Nathan after Delia—my daughter—took off. He was killed over there and she took a hit in a drug bust. Until Nathan met Rudy, he stayed to himself, hardly talked to my other grandchildren, just sat in a corner and read or watched TV. He didn't even play. He loves Rudy more than anybody in the world, because she needed him, and he knew it.”

“Let's go back to the beginning. What did you mean, when you're gone?”

“I'm terminally ill with leukemia. My sister is coming for my three older grandchildren, but she can't take Nathan, because he'll just be seven next month and needs close supervision. She works. I'm hoping that Susan will decide that he shouldn't be separated from Rudy. Mr. Hamilton, I'm so sick, but I put up a front for the children's sake.”

“I didn't realize that you aren't well, and I'm terribly sorry about it. If I can help by arranging hospitalization or even home health care, I'll be glad to do it, and I have the means. So don't hesitate to let me know what you need.”

“All I need is a home for Nathan and a place where I can sleep away in comfort. I don't want the children to know this, because they'll refuse to go with my sister.”

“Do you have legal custody of Nathan?”

“Yes, and I have the papers.”

“Would you allow me to adopt him?”

She stared at Lucas. “Allow you to . . . Are you serious?”

“That's why I came here this morning.”

“The Lord answers prayers. I prayed all night for some guidance about what to do with that child. Yes. I'll sign the papers whenever you're ready. I don't want to wait, because . . . well, you never know. Just one thing. Will you make sure that he can see Rudy?”

“If I'm fortunate, they'll be living in the same house.”

“You mean . . . you and Susan?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I do declare. I think we'd better go to the courthouse right now. This is a blessing.”

He dialed his friend Mark on his cell phone and told him what he needed. “Wow! You don't have to tell me the rest; I can easily guess it. You're getting two for the price of one.”

“Correction. I'm getting three.” He drove Ann to the courthouse where they met Mark.

“This shouldn't take long, Mrs. Price,” Mark said. “You have the authority to do this.”

Lucas left the courthouse less than an hour later assuring himself that he was indeed a father. He took Ann home, and drove straight to his mother's house.

“It's so nice to see you, Son, but in the future, call before you come. Calvin's taking me to supper later, and I'd hate for you to come all the way out here for nothing.”

“I hope you and Dad manage to marry before you leave the country.”

She sat down, obviously surprised. “Has he been talking to you about our plans? I don't want to shock you, Son, but I'm only fifty-seven and . . . Oh, it was so wonderful being with him Sunday.”

“Let's get back to the subject. I was happy for both of you. You belong together, and if I was ever in doubt, that uncertainty was erased at Nana's house Sunday. Still, get married before you leave.”

“He wasn't supposed to talk about this.”

“No? I'm his son, and he behaved like it by telling me what's going on, even if my mother didn't. I have something to tell you. You're a grandmother.”

“
I'm a what?”

“I've just adopted a six-year-old boy, and if I'm lucky, I'll soon have a six-year-old daughter.”

“What's this? You can't have your own children?”

“I suppose I could, but I'm in love with a woman who can't, and this is the way we're solving it.”

“I see. Am I going to like this woman?”

“I hope so. She's a loving and giving person. I decided that I don't want to spend the best part of my life pining for her as Dad did for you, so I'm going with my heart. As soon as I get her to agree to marry me, we'll bring the children to see you.”

“As soon as you get her to—”

He hugged her. “I have to run. Willis called a meeting for this morning, and I'm about to miss it. I'll call you and remember: no shacking up with my father.” He laughed all the way to Hamilton Village. For the first time in his life, he felt whole. He had parents who loved him and each other, a woman who loved him, and he would soon have two children who adored him and who had their own special place in his heart.

 

 

Susan was feeling less sanguine, and especially in her dilemma over what to do about Nathan. After lunch with her mother and the children, she took them to Woodmore Department Store.

“Nathan, you need some summer T-shirts, shorts and sneakers, and Rudy, I think you need the same, except that I want you to have a couple of skirts. Girls ought to wear dresses at least once in a while. Nathan, you need a jacket to match those navy blue pants.”

“For goodness sake,” Betty Lou said, “don't you realize that these children will quickly grow out of all this stuff you're buying? Four T-shirts and three dress shirts are all he needs for now. Next year, you'll give those things to the Goodwill Industries or another charity. The same goes for Rudy.”

“You're right, Mom. I'm going to have to give her winter clothes away.”

They finished shopping and, as promised, she drove by Ann Price's house. “We can't stay long, but we wanted to know how you're getting on,” Susan told her.

“I'm just fine. Have you spoken with Mr. Hamilton?”

“No,” Susan said. “I haven't seen him today.”

“Oh. Well, give him my regards,” she said.

That was strange. Ann hadn't mentioned Lucas to her since the tutoring session ended. “How do you feel, Mrs. Price?” Betty Lou asked.

“I'm not so good, but I'll rest after a while.”

“I don't like it,” Betty Lou said, after they left. “She needs care that she's not getting. I'm leaving day after tomorrow, so there isn't much I can do, but I'll do what I can.”

The children rushed into the house with their parcels, laughing and teasing, and Susan could only think how sad Rudy would be when Nathan had to go home. “I'll find a way,” she vowed. Lucas arrived immediately after Susan, her mother and the children returned home.

“Hi,” was all she said when she opened the door and saw him standing there.

“I need to talk with you, Susan.”

“Can it wait? I want to feed the children and establish some kind of routine for them. Can we talk after supper?”

He seemed to weigh the idea. “If I come for you at about nine, will you go home with me? It's important.”

“All right.”

After he left, she noted that the sun was still relatively high, went to the telephone in the breakfast room and phoned Cassie. Maybe she could encourage her friend to embrace the idea of motherhood. “We haven't seen much of each other lately,” she said after their greeting. “I want you to meet my daughter and her little friend.”

“Your daughter? You mean—”

“I've been trying for months to adopt her, and she's finally mine.”

“Bring her over to see her aunt Cassie. I was just sitting here trying to design some wallpaper. It isn't too close to supper to give the children ice cream, is it? I've missed you, Susan, but I haven't seen your car, so I knew you were busy.”

“We'll be over shortly, and you can give them one scoop. Okay?”

“I'll get supper started,” Betty Lou said, as Susan left with Rudy and Nathan. To Susan's astonishment, Cassie hovered over the children like a mother hen. “I'll teach you how to make animals out of paper,” she told them and quickly folded a single piece of paper into the shape of a giraffe. “It's called origami, and it was invented in Japan,” she said.

“Can you make any other animals?” Nathan asked her. She said she could and that she'd show them another time.

“I want to learn how to make birds,” Rudy said. “I love birds.”

“That does it for now,” Susan said. “Finish your ice cream, I want us to walk down to the lake.” She thanked Cassie and enjoyed the woman's warm embrace. “How's it going?” she whispered.

“Nothing showed last month, so I'm hoping and praying.”

“Go to the drugstore and get one of those tests. You'll know in a minute.”

“I know, but I'm scared of being disappointed.”

What a change! “I don't think you will be. Give Kix my regards. I hope I'll soon be congratulating him.”

She walked down to the lake and sat on the bench with the children on either side of her. “Miss Pettiford, can I come visit Rudy and stay sometimes?”

“Of course you can, Nathan. This will be your second home. I love Rudy. She's my daughter. But I love you, too.” She put an arm around him and hugged him. “We'd better go, Nana probably has supper ready.”

“I think you wish you could have both of them,” Betty Lou said as she and Susan cleaned the kitchen after supper.

“I do, and I have a mind to try. I don't want Nathan to go to a foster home. Well, we'll see.” She put her hand on her mother's wrist, tugging at it as she'd done when a child. “Mama, Lucas is coming for me at nine, and I'm going home with him.”

“Will you be back tonight?”

Susan frowned, taken aback at the question. “Of course.”

Betty Lou rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and threw up her hands. “You're one for the books. If it was me, you can bet I wouldn't be so sure.”

Lucas rang Susan's doorbell and waited. He didn't remember when his nerves had been in such disarray. The door opened, and she gazed up at him. “I'm ready,” she said, closed the door and walked past him out to his car. He wondered what was behind that unusual behavior, but decided not to mention it.

“How was your first day of motherhood?”

“I'd be happy if I didn't have to worry about Nathan. Ann's not well, and Mama said she needs care that she isn't getting.”

“I'm glad you told me. I'll take care of that tomorrow morning.” He didn't want to begin their evening by discussing problems, so he turned the radio dial to a classical music station and said to her, “Lean back, relax and think about pleasant things.” He parked in his garage, closed the garage door, took her hand and entered his home with her for the first time. It occurred to him that she'd been in his studio, which was adjacent to his home, but never inside his house, and he watched her closely for her reaction to his tastes.

“What a wonderful house, Lucas. It looks just like you.”

“Thanks, I like it, but I'm going to have to sell it and build another one. Or at least, that's what I hope.” He brought the wine and two stem glasses, took her hand and joined her on the sofa.

“Yesterday, you told me that you love me, and I believe it. I've loved you for a long while, Susan, and I can't see myself living without you.” She sat forward, poised to accept whatever came. “I don't want to suffer over half a lifetime as my parents suffered,” he went on. “By the way, they're planning to marry soon.”

“What? You're joking. That's the best news I've heard since . . . How'd it happen?”

“I'll tell you some other time, that's just a little of my news. When you said you loved me, you also said I deserved better than you, and from that, I finally understood why you've said there can be nothing between us. I love you more than I would love my own child, and I would love my child with my whole heart. Do you understand what I'm saying?” He knelt before her. “I need you, Susan and I will love you and care for you and our children as long as I live. Will you marry me?”

“You think that now, but—”

He covered her mouth with his own and had the pleasure of knowing that his touch sent tremors through her. “Rudy needs a father, and Nathan needs a mother.”

She stared at him. “Nathan? What do you mean?”

“He's my son now.” She gasped and clutched his left arm. “Mark and I went with Ann to the judge this morning, and I've adopted Nathan. He was an orphan and Ann was his legal guardian. She signed the papers. Nathan doesn't know it yet, because he's been with you all day. Tomorrow, I'll talk with him and bring him home.”

“Are you sure you won't be sorry?”

“I do nothing rashly. When the four of us were together two nights ago, I was so happy, and I knew it was the family that I could cherish forever. My love for Nathan is not contingent upon your marrying me. He's mine. “He let his palms skim her thighs. Will you marry me, Susan?”

She slid to the floor and wrapped him in her arms. “I love you so much, and I never dreamed that I could have a life with you. Yes, I'll marry you.”

“After two weeks with me, the judge wants to see Nathan, and he'll ask Nathan if he's happy in his new home. Then the judge will give me the boy's birth and health certificates.”

“Nathan will be out of his mind with happiness. He'll be delirious. The child has been so morose all day, that I had decided
I
would try to adopt him. Ann's so sick.”

He put a finger to her lips. “Beginning tomorrow, she'll get the best care there is. You know, we'll have to teach Nathan and Rudy how to be brother and sister, otherwise, they may grow up to be lovers, and we don't want that.”

“No, we don't,” she said in a voice filled with awe. “I suggest you have breakfast with us at my house tomorrow morning and we can tell our children then.”

He knew that his face shone with his happiness, a joy so great that he thought he would burst with it. “Right,” he said. “And after that, I'll round up my mom and dad, provided I can find them, and the children can meet their other grandparents.”

He stood, lifted her to her feet, poured each of them a glass of champagne and whispered in a voice that shook with emotion, “To the rest of our lives together.”

She drank the wine down without moving the glass from her lips. “Any more in that bottle? I feel so good that I could drink every drop of it.”

He laughed to express his happiness. “Would you care to see my etchings, madam?”

“I presume these etchings are upstairs in your bedroom.”

“That's the safest place for them,” he said, enjoying the fun.

“I thought you'd never ask.”

He took her hand and they raced up the stairs. An hour later, she crawled on top of him, demanded more, and with the freedom to have him as she wanted him, she loved him until their powerful releases exhausted them both.

“I know you didn't plan to spend the night,” he said the next morning when they awakened shortly after six o'clock, “but it was wonderful that you did. Think we can get to your house in an hour?”

She found her pocketbook, showed him her toothbrush and winked. “I also leave nothing to chance, to quote you.”

When Betty Lou wandered down into the kitchen at a quarter of eight, he'd set the table and Susan had breakfast nearly ready. “Who stayed where?” she asked, and since she looked at him, he answered, “We stayed together. Where, doesn't matter. I'm glad you're down here before the children. We have a lot to tell you.”

Betty Lou listened to their story and, at last, managed to close her mouth. “Well, I'll say. I didn't think I could be this happy again. Susan, I was hoping you would see Lucas for the man he is, and I'm so glad you came to your senses.”

At the sound of Rudy and Nathan running down the stairs, Susan said, “You tell them, Lucas.”

 

 

It didn't surprise her that he spoke to Nathan first. “Come around here, Son.” Nathan walked around to him and rested his forearms on Lucas's thigh. “Mrs. Price is ill, but don't worry, I plan to see that she gets good care. Your cousins have gone to Boston to live with Mrs. Price's sister.”

“What about me? Can I stay with Miss Pettiford?”

“No. You're going to stay with me. At my request, your grandmother signed the papers yesterday, and I am your father, just like Susan Pettiford is Rudy's mother. You are legally my son, and I will take care of you.”

Nathan stared at him. “You adopted me? Aunt Betty Lou explained to Rudy and me about adoption. That means you're going to be my dad?”

“I
am
your dad, now, Nathan, and that's what I want you to call me.”

Nathan climbed into Lucas's lap and put his head on Lucas's shoulder. “I didn't think anybody wanted me.”

“Now, you know better. I want both of you. Something else. Susan and I have decided to get married, and all four of us will be living together, so you're both getting a mother and a father, because I will also adopt Rudy and Susan will adopt you, Nathan. It will all come together after I build us a bigger house.”

Nathan jumped off Lucas's lap and ran to Rudy. “Now we can stay together.” He turned toward Lucas. “When are you going to build our house, Dad, and how long will it take? Can I start calling Miss Pettiford Mother now? Can I, Dad?”

“Unfortunately, you have to wait till we're married. Now, excuse me, I have to call my own dad, and I must make arrangements for Mrs. Price.”

It took him so long to come back to the breakfast room that she had begun to wonder if something had gone amiss.

“Betty Lou, I'd appreciate it if you'd go to Mrs. Price's home with me. She sounded as if she's practically out of it. I promised Dad, I'd take all of you to my Mother's house this evening around five. So Betty Lou, pack today, since we may be out rather late and you have an early flight.”

Only despondency would describe him when he returned to Susan's house later that day. “The poor woman is almost gone,” he told Susan. “I put her in a Woodmore General private room with private nurses. The rest is up to Providence.”

“She didn't even know we were there,” Betty Lou said. “But I've known some to snap back from that stage.” She shook her head. “I'm hoping for the best.”

That evening, Lucas packed his new family and his future mother-in-law into his town car and headed for his mother's house to introduce his new family to his parents.

“So I get what I wanted,” Calvin Jackson said to Susan. “I'm delighted to have you as my daughter-in-law.” He hunkered before Rudy and Nathan, who faced him holding hands. “I'm your grandfather, and I want you to call me Granddaddy.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“And you're to call me Nana,” Noreen said.

“But I call her Nana,” Rudy said, pointing to Betty Lou. “Can I have two nanas?”

“You certainly can,” Betty Lou said.

“I have an idea,” Calvin Jackson said, as he stood at the head of Noreen's supper table carving a roasted and stuffed fresh ham. “Let's have a double wedding complete with all the trimmings. What do you say to that, Susan?”

“I think it would be wonderful. I can't believe I have two beautiful, healthy children and this wonderful man. Six weeks ago, I thought it would never come to pass.”

Noreen got up, walked over to Calvin and nestled in his arms. “I had almost forty years of certainty that I could never walk the streets of Woodmore holding this man's hand. I didn't even pray for it. But today, we went into the ritziest store in town, and when we left, this diamond was on my finger.” She buried her face in Calvin's chest and allowed herself to enjoy the luxury of being in his arms in the presence of anyone who cared to watch.

“What's a double wedding?” Rudy asked.

“You take that one, Dad,” Lucas said. “My son just spilled something on his new jacket, and I have to clean it off. Come on, Son.”

“If this isn't the happiest day of my life, it's pretty close to it,” Betty Lou said. “I can't wait to get back here from Africa and enjoy my grandchildren.”