For Our Son: A BWWM Parenting Romance For Adults (10 page)

"Mommy’s here, baby." Monica stepped up and took his hand.

"I want to go home." Matthew said groggily. There was a
sedative attached to his IV drip to prepare him for the anesthesia he would
receive in surgery.

"We will. Soon, son." Steve stood on the other side of Matthew’s
bed.

Grace looked over at Ryan and saw that he was uncomfortable. She also
felt a little out of place and she stepped back. Ryan followed her.

The doctor came into the room and started asking the Martin’s a lot of
questions. Ryan and Grace exited the room to give them some privacy.

Ryan took a seat in the hall. He sat in stunned silence.

"Ryan…are you okay?" Grace asked him quietly.

"He looks so much like you." Ryan finally said as if he were
in awe.

"I was going to say he looked like you." Grace smiled.
"He’s so beautiful."

"And he has no idea who we are."

Grace nodded. That was evident by the way he stared at them.

When Ryan and Grace had made the decision to give Matthew up for
adoption many years ago, she had never thought she’d care if he called another
woman ‘Mom’, but hearing it today, it tore at her heart in a way she never
expected. She wondered how Ryan felt about it. She was just about to ask him
when the door of Matthew’s hospital room opened.

"They’re wheeling him out now,” Monica announced.

Ryan and Grace stood up and watched as Matthew’s young body lay still
and scared on the adult sized bed.

"We’re going to go watch from the observation suite," Steve
added. "If you want to join us…"

"Actually, the observation suite is for immediate family
only." The nurse overheard.

Monica and Steve stared at Grace and Ryan, not quite sure of how to
explain their situation.

"We’ll wait in the lobby,” Ryan offered. Grace nodded.

The surgery was only supposed to take a couple of hours if there were no
complications. Ryan and Grace sat down in the scantly decorated lobby and tried
to bide the time as they waited for news on Matthew’s condition.

Ryan glanced over at Grace several times before he spoke.

"I forgot to bring something to do,” he said.

"I know. I was going to bring a book, but there’s no way I’d be
able to concentrate on it,” Grace admitted.

"What are you going to do when you go back home?" Ryan asked.
He thought it was a fairly neutral conversation topic.

"I’m going to tell my parents I’m moving in with Morgan. I don’t
want to live with my old roommates again next year." Grace sighed. "I
should probably call Morgan, actually."

"Morgan? You two are still friends?"

"Yeah. Do you ever see anyone from high school?"

"Nah. I saw Peter a couple of times, but that was right after we
graduated,” Ryan said of his high school best friend.

Grace nodded. The conversation fell flat. Grace thought of something to
revive it. "Thanks for coming,” she said quietly.

Ryan smiled at Grace. He knew they’d get around to discussing their
presence at the hospital. "No problem. I wouldn’t have been able to live
with myself if something happened and I wasn’t here."

"Don’t even talk like that, Ryan." Grace looked down at her
hands and bit her lower lip, a sign of nervousness.

"You’re telling me you haven’t thought about it?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, but…I don’t want to talk about it,” Grace whispered.

Suddenly Ryan’s cell phone started buzzing and ringing. Grace looked at
him and pointed to the sign that asked that all cell phones be turned off. Ryan
gave a wave of dismissal as he answered his phone.

"This is Ryan,” he answered, a habit that he’d gotten from his job.

"Ryan! Why haven’t you called me? I was worried sick! Did you make
it okay?" Sophia sounded frantic.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I've just been really busy here, and–”

"So you weren’t going to call me?" Sophia interrupted
incredulously.

"Yeah, I was. Eventually."

"Oh. Well how’s everything going?"

"Fine. He’s in surgery now. We’re just waiting."

Something about listening to Ryan share Matthew’s surgery with Sophia
got the better of Grace and she got up and walked out into the hall. When Ryan
found her she was leaning over the railing of an atrium watching the people
down below.

"I could really use a drink right about now." He sighed.

"Me too,” Grace agreed.

Ryan looked over at her in shock. "You drink? I thought ever since
your high school days you swore off the stuff."

Grace laughed. "Yeah, well, times change.”

"Well, in that case, let me buy you a beer when this is all over,” Ryan
offered with a sly smile.

"Make it a rum and coke and you’re on."

The surgery took much longer than anyone expected but soon the Martin’s
came to tell Ryan and Grace that all had gone well in the operating room but
they wouldn’t know for a while if it was going to work or not. Ryan and Grace
said goodbye for the evening with promises to return bright and early the next
morning before their flight left to take them back home.

"Are you up for dinner?" Ryan asked Grace as they left the hospital.

"Yeah, sounds good." Grace nodded.

They decided to walk because driving in San Francisco was no small feat.
There were one way streets everywhere. Often a two-way street seemed to turn
into a one-way street with no warning. They had already had one near miss on
the way to the hospital that morning. That was enough for them.

With the stress of the surgery behind them, Grace and Ryan were able to
relax and really enjoy dinner and each other's company. They found that in the
years that they’d been apart, their lines of thinking and reasoning had
converged. They shared a lot of the same ideals and principles. Even their
politics were similar.

Ryan made a small joke and Grace laughed. He watched her while she
picked at the shrimp in her pasta. He had forgotten what it was like to have
this much fun with a person of the opposite sex.

Sophia was so rigid and terse. She hardly ever laughed. At first Ryan
had felt that she was a challenge. He had felt a sense of victory every time
he’d gotten her to laugh. But those times were few and far between anymore. And
each time, Ryan cared less and less that Sophia had found him humorous.

On the way back to the hotel, the good feeling between Ryan and Grace
remained. They sang along to a song on the radio before they dissected its
lyrics and made up some of their own. Feeling comfortable behind the wheel, Ryan
steered with one hand. He put his other hand on the console between the seats,
but Grace had her hand resting there. When Ryan’s hand touched hers, Grace moved
away, disguising it with a need to search the glove compartment of the car.

It was still early evening when Ryan and Grace arrived back at the
hotel. They were both too tired to brave anymore of San Francisco, even though
the city had a great nightlife. Grace clicked on the television and Ryan
rummaged around in the hotel drawers to see if there was anything of interest.
He found a board game.

"Hey Grace, look at this." Ryan held up the game.

Grace looked over to see a black box with the words ‘Sex Drive’ stamped
on it. "Ryan, put that down! You have no idea where that’s been." Grace
was disgusted.

"It’s never even been opened." Ryan pointed out the plastic
wrap. "Until now, that is." He opened the box.

Grace shook her head in disagreement, but she waited patiently for him
to tell her what the game was all about.

"This looks funny. It’s a sexual trivial pursuit game. You like
learning things, right?" Ryan asked as he held up the first question.

"Ryan, put that away,” Grace told him.

Instead of listening to her, Ryan pulled out a card and asked her a
question. "What is a person who fears marriage called?"

That question seemed innocent enough, so Grace answered. She got it
wrong. Her wrong answer made her more interested in the game. Pretty soon she and
Ryan were playing and laughing once again. The first categories they’d indulged
in were non-sexual and Grace felt at ease answering them. However, as the game
progressed, the questions got more sexual in nature.

"What are the five most common signs a woman uses when faking an
orgasm to convince her partner that she’s reached sexual climax?" Ryan
asked.

"I don’t know!" Grace blushed.

"What, you’ve never faked it?" Ryan asked.

"No." Grace sat up. She was getting embarrassed.

"Have you ever had one?" Ryan was unrelenting.

"Ryan!" Grace stalled. "That’s a little personal, don’t
you think?"

"No more personal than you asking me how far I can eject my
sperm." Ryan laughed.

"That was the question on the card! And I wasn’t asking you
personally. It was just how far in general men can…oh never mind!" Grace
got flustered.

"You’re cute when you get embarrassed,” Ryan told her.

"I’m not embarrassed,” Grace insisted.

"Fine. Then answer the question."

"What are the five most common signs a woman uses…"

"No, I meant, have you ever had an orgasm."

"Yes I have." Grace stuck out her chin in reassurance of her
answer.

"Did you have one when we…you know?"

Grace couldn’t believe Ryan had brought it up! There was no way she
would have ventured onto that topic. She laughed through her unease and got off
the bed on which she was sitting.

"I’m going to take a shower and then I’m going to bed,” she said
with a smile.

Ryan looked disappointed that the game had come to an end but he offered
no protest. He simply cleared the game off the bed. When Grace emerged from the
bathroom Ryan was in bed with the lights off. The television illuminated the
room.

"I called down for a wake-up call. They promised this time,” Ryan
informed Grace as she crawled under the covers.

"Okay,” Grace said quietly as she turned away from Ryan and laid
her head on the pillow.

It was important for Grace to hide her face from Ryan for fear that he
would see her feelings displayed on her face. She thought she would have been
able to come here with him and not have any latent feelings for him awaken. But
that game…those questions…
that
question.

"Hey, is the television bothering you?" Ryan touched Grace’s
back softly.

It felt as if lightening rocketed through her body at his touch.
"No, it’s fine,” Grace whispered. Despite her words, Ryan clicked off the
television.

Grace heard Ryan roll over as well. By his breathing she could tell that
he was facing her.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I saw that guy you debated senior year
on television last year. Did you see him?" Ryan piped up.