Surprise Delivery Page 4

  “Mom, I’m not stupid. Uncle Eric dates men, but that doesn’t mean he’s having orgies every night.”

  “Olivia Jean!”

  Eric chuckled at Olivia’s gumption, and Laura turned a scathing look his way.

  “This is not funny, Eric. This is my daughter, and her child, and—”

  “Her soul?” Eric asked, understanding Laura’s chief concern.

  “Yes! I worry about her soul as much as her body.”

  He nodded. “You have my word I won’t do anything to influence Olivia’s views on life and religion.”

  “Uncle Eric, you don’t have to appease her,” Olivia interrupted. “I’ve decided to file for emancipation, so there’s not much she can do. Unless they’re willing to let me live with them and raise my child, I’ll do everything I can to be declared independent to make my own choices.”

  “Olivia,” Laura said, sounding wrecked. Eric could see she loved her, despite her beliefs about his homosexuality or Olivia’s premarital sex.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, but I tried to make you guys understand. This is my child, and I’ll make the decisions for Peanut, just like you’ve always made decisions for me.”

  “You can’t actually want to stay here. Eric is practically a stranger to you.”

  “Yeah, and whose fault is that?”

  The conversation began to go in circles, and Eric finally convinced Laura to give everyone some time to take a breather and think about their course of action. In essence, he’d bought Olivia a little time, but he knew Laura wouldn’t let it rest. She’d be back.

  By the time Eric closed the door behind Laura, he was half-starved and ready to sleep even though it was only 8:30 p.m. and he had a stack of work he’d brought home to do before bed.

  “I’m so sorry I let her in,” Olivia said. “I know I broke the rules, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Eric waved a hand. “She’s your mother. Those rules didn’t apply to her. Don’t worry about it.” He paused. “But if your father turns up, don’t open the door, okay?”

  Bruce might try fists where Laura’s words had failed.

  “I won’t,” she said solemnly, and he could see in her expression she thought the same thing. “I put a plate of dinner in the fridge earlier.”

  “Thanks, hon. I don’t have the energy to cook, but I’m starving.”

  He headed into the kitchen and grabbed the plate holding a pork chop and peas. Olivia didn’t cook sophisticated meals, but they were better than take-out or frozen burritos.

  He popped the plate in the microwave to heat.

  Olivia sat down at the breakfast bar, gnawing on her lip.

  “What’s bothering you?” he asked. Stupid question. What wasn’t bothering the poor kid? She had too much on her plate to be dealing with all this family drama.

  “I don’t think like them. About you,” she said.

  He offered a strained smile. “I know. You never would have come here if you did.”

  She nodded her head. “If this is all too much, my parents and dredging up all the old pain, I can figure out something else to do. Maybe just give in and go stay with Aunt Polly to have the baby. If they let me keep it, I could make that concession. Maybe I could just get my GED and start college early.”

  “Ah, sweetie,” he said as he saw her eyes fill with tears. He rounded the bar and hugged her. “You don’t have to do that. I said you can stay here, and you can. I know I brought up a lot of old stuff tonight, but—”

  “It still hurts you.”

  The microwave dinged, and he turned away, eyes burning. Even after all this time, the wounds cut deeply, but he didn’t want Olivia to see. He took a deep breath before retrieving his dinner and sitting down across from her.

  With a better hold on his emotions, he tried to reassure her.

  “I’m always going to be hurt, but I dealt with the worst of it a long time ago. I shouldn’t have focused on it so much tonight. Laura was here because she cares about you. No matter what she says, she doesn’t want to lose you.”

  A tear slipped down Olivia’s cheek. “I feel like I’ve already lost her. The minute I told her I was pregnant, I was a disappointment to her. And you should have seen the look on my dad’s face, like his baby girl had been replaced with the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen.” She shook her head. “I don’t know that there’s any coming back from that.”

  Chapter Six

  Casper looked at the number on the message forwarded by his answering service and cringed. It didn’t belong to a patient. He also couldn’t ignore it, no matter how much he wanted. He always responded to his patients.

  Jabbing the digits he’d had memorized since third grade, he listened to it ring once.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Casper! I’m glad you called.”

  He snorted. She was glad he called. What else could he do? It was one thing not to answer his cell and then text a quick note later. But if he ignored a message to his answering service? She’d know he was purposely avoiding her calls.

  “You called my service,” he said. “I didn’t realize you were expecting another baby.”

  She tittered. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Casper.”

  Ridiculous. He was the ridiculous one in this scenario.

  “That number is for patients.”

  “And look how fast you called back! Honey, I know you get busy and work is your priority, but I shouldn’t have to try so hard to talk to you. I’m your mother.”

  The guilt hit. Hell, it might even be a record for how fast she’d gotten to him. She was right, of course.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t have a good relationship with his mother. He loved her, and she loved him. But ever since Kage died, Casper had found it difficult to go home. That his family knew Kage so well, knew how much he loved Kage, made it harder to deal with his loss. Either they wanted to talk about Kage — which brought all Casper’s grief and regret to the surface — or they were encouraging him to give love another go. It wasn’t like he’d decided to never love again. He wasn’t that dramatic. He just didn’t feel the urge to seek out romance. He’d gotten more than enough with Kage. They had been short on years as a couple, but they’d known each other their whole lives. Were friends long before they were lovers. And they’d lived and loved fully in that time.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been out of touch.”

  “It’s okay!” she said brightly. “I have amazing news! Rose is getting married, and they’re going to hold the ceremony here at home.”

  “Wow, that’s great,” he said, though he was startled. His baby sister and marriage in the same sentence seemed wrong. “Isn’t she young, though?”

  “Casper, she’s twenty-five! That’s hardly too young. I married your father when I was nineteen.”

  “True.”

  “And you fell for Kage even younger than that,” she said.

  Hard to argue that. He might not have married Kage, but he would have if they’d had more time. He had no doubts there.

  Despite getting married young, his parents were a team. Sometimes a mismatched, argumentative team, but they came together when it was important.

  “Tell her congratulations for me.”

  “No, you tell her.”

  There was an order in that tone, and Casper knew when to give ground. “I’ll call her.”

  “And you need to save the date so that you can come to the wedding at the end of September. Bring a plus one! It’s time you settled down now too, isn’t it? Kage would want you to be happy, dear.”

  He ignored the pushing. Nothing annoyed him more than people telling him what Kage would want. Maybe Kage was a selfish lover who’d want Casper to suffer eternally without him. How the hell did they know? He almost laughed at the thought. Kage would want him happy, but Casper was perfectly content to be single.

  “The wedding’s that soon?” He thought brides planned their weddings a full year or more in advance. “I don’t know if I can
take the time off.”

  “You would have known a lot sooner about her wedding if you ever returned our calls.” A hint of steel entered her tone. “This is your baby sister, so make the time.”

  He slumped in his chair. “Okay, I’ll check my calendar.”

  “We never see you anymore,” she added, heaping on the guilt. “You always go on these trips, cave diving or mountain climbing, but you can’t seem to make it home.”

  “I’ll come to the wedding,” he promised. Painful or not, he knew he couldn’t miss Rose’s big day. He knew his mother was right, too. He did need to go home more often, even if it made him painfully aware of Kage’s absence.

  “Good,” she said. “We miss you. I need to see that beautiful smile outside of a picture on Facebook. I’d love to meet the special someone in your life if you have one.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. Apparently, she wasn’t going to let that go. “If I have someone special by then, I’ll bring them. Okay?”

  “No, but that’s better than a no,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll let you get back to your busy life. Don’t forget to call your sister!”

  “Is it Gary?”

  “You know it’s Jory. They’ve been dating for over a year!”

  He actually didn’t know.

  “Jory, right. He’s a good guy?”

  “Yes,” she said impatiently. “You’d know that if you ever talked to Rose. Now go! Get on with things.”

  He hung up, shaking his head. First, she couldn’t wait to talk, and in the next moment, she was shooing him off the phone. With an eye roll at his mother’s antics, he scribbled a reminder to call Rose and schedule in the wedding trip before checking his schedule of appointments.

  When he saw Olivia Isaacson in the 1 p.m. slot, he forgot all about his mother’s guilt trip. He remembered his flirty banter with Eric at the hospital, and his stomach fluttered.

  He’d made a fool of himself, inviting the man skinny dipping like they were teenagers. But there was something about Eric Holtz, so starched up and reserved, that drove Casper to challenge him to break out of that shell.

  He’d always love Kage, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have a little fun. Or a lot, he thought, as he imagined messing up Eric’s hair with his hands and stripping him out of that conservative business attire.

  ***

  Eric and Olivia went in for their next doctor’s appointment, each thrumming with more excitement than before. For Eric, the excitement stemmed from an inappropriate attraction to Dr. Rollins. For Olivia, he suspected she’d finally moved on from grieving over her mistake to looking forward to a new chapter in her life.

  They went through the usual weigh-in and blood pressure check with the nurse, and Olivia answered a few questions that Eric was certain had been asked before.

  Then, finally, Casper stepped into the room.

  He was different in the doctor’s office than he’d been that evening the week before at the hospital. That night, he’d seemed almost giddy. Before he put Eric in his place about his working hours, anyway.

  That he was right made it worse. Eric needed to get his head examined. How was he going to raise a baby? He’d never expected to be a parent, not even ten years into his relationship with Perry. Good thing too, considering it all went to shit in the end.

  Today, though, Casper exuded confidence and professionalism.

  “How’s mom and baby?” Casper asked. “Everyone feeling good?”

  “Yep!”

  “Think you might want to hear the heartbeat?”

  “Ohmygodyes!” Livvie squealed.

  Casper laughed good-naturedly and gestured to the table. “Hop up and raise your shirt a bit, just enough so I can slather your tummy.”

  Olivia followed directions, and Casper applied ultrasound gel, then placed the wand-shaped probe of the fetal doppler against her stomach. He adjusted the settings, and a moment later, a fast whooshing sounded from the speakers of the machine.

  “Oh my God,” Olivia said again, sounding more like an astounded mother than a teen at a pep rally this time. She grabbed Eric’s hand and squeezed. “Do you hear it, Uncle Eric?”

  “I hear it,” he murmured.

  “It’s amazing,” she said, blinking back tears.

  To Eric’s surprise, his eyes burned. He was a doctor, for Christ’s sake. He’d performed emergency deliveries and saved lives from the brink of death, as dramatic as it might sound. And here he was getting emotional over Livvie’s teen pregnancy.

  Casper held out a box of tissues, and Eric flushed with embarrassment.

  “I’m being silly,” he said as he handed a tissue to Olivia and then swiped at his own eyes.

  Casper smiled at him warmly, and God, that expression was better at warming him than hot chocolate on a cold winter day.

  “It’s not silly. This is your child,” Casper said, reaffirming for Eric that he’d have a hand in raising this baby. Eric and Olivia had talked further about how they might share the responsibility, with Eric taking the lead on child care in the evenings, so Olivia would be able to do her homework and keep up with school. He had no idea how he’d make it work yet; his job often had him at the office well past 6 p.m., but he would figure it out.

  “Hearing the heartbeat always has an emotional effect,” Casper added. “It makes the baby a lot more real, doesn’t it?”

  Eric nodded, feeling sheepish. It was still surreal, but hearing that heartbeat brought home the reality of what he’d agreed to do. He was going to be a father, of a sort. Olivia looked stunned, too.

  “The beat is so fast,” she murmured.

  “That’s normal,” Casper assured her. He pointed to a monitor showing lines spiking in time with the sound of the heartbeat. “This shows the heart rate is around 150 beats per minute. It’s normal for a baby at this stage to be anywhere from 120 to 180, so your baby is in the right range. Everything sounds good.”

  Once they’d gotten their fill of the magic, Casper wiped off the jelly with a few paper towels and helped Olivia sit up. Now that fun time was over, he launched into a series of questions to ensure she and the baby were healthy. He asked about her vitamin intake (good), morning sickness (none yet), and a few other follow-up questions and warnings before telling them they were free to leave for another two weeks.

  Olivia gazed at Casper as if he hung the moon. The man could tell her to burn a candle and pray to the moon goddess, and she would probably do it. But Eric was relieved that Olivia trusted her doctor, and he had no doubt she was in good hands.

  Great hands. Hands Eric wouldn’t mind being in himself.

  “Now then,” Casper said, “I wanted to talk to you both about a class at the hospital for expecting parents. I send all my patients up there. Part of the sessions focus on what to expect from pregnancy and labor, but the other sessions later on will help prepare you for caring for a newborn and reassessing your work-life balance to accommodate a baby.”

  “Is this for Olivia or me?” Eric joked.

  “Oh, it’s for both of you. You’ve got a big adjustment ahead. I just want to help you make that transition however I can.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Rollins,” Olivia said earnestly. “We’ll go. Won’t we, Uncle Eric?”

  He smiled half-heartedly. “We sure will. I look forward to it.”

  When Casper said his goodbyes, Eric asked Olivia to meet him in the lobby so that he could catch Casper for a quick chat alone.

  “Dr. Rollins,” he called, and Casper turned. “I just wanted a brief word with you.”

  Casper seemed taken aback that Eric would approach him in this way. “How can I help you, Dr. Holtz?”

  “Thank you for telling me about the class,” Eric said. “I’ll go. I don’t want you to take my words the other night the wrong way. I was tired and stressed and overworked, but I plan to raise this baby, whatever it takes.”

  Casper visibly relaxed. “You don’t need my approval. But I’m glad you’re taking your role seriously a
nd you’re willing to prepare for this major change in your life.”

  “I am a bit of a workaholic.” Major understatement there. “I’m not sure how to change that.”

  Casper grinned, a twinkle in his eye. “I’m sure I could think of a way to help with that too… In a less professional role perhaps?”

  Eric stared. Was Casper flirting with him? It couldn’t be. Dr. Rollins was far too gorgeous, and a good bit younger than him, too.

  “Why would you want to do that?” Eric asked in confusion.

  Casper laughed. “I’ve never been able to turn away from a challenge and you, Dr. Holtz, are a challenge. But I’m confident I can get you out of that office for a few lessons in how to have fun,” he said playfully.

  Eric rolled his eyes. “So, I’m a project.”

  “Yes, but a very appealing one.” Casper smiled before turning his attention to the next exam room. “I really have to get on with my appointments.”

  “Of course.”

  “Call my cell. It’s on the card I gave Olivia. We’ll get started on detoxing you from admin hell.”

  Chapter Seven

  Eric was thoroughly immersed in reading Dr. Paul Johnston’s preliminary budget requests for emergency room operations. It wasn’t reading for the faint of heart. The ER was stressed from the closure of the urgent care facility, and the new one across town wasn’t much help with its limited hours and services.

  Even so, Paul’s requests were larger than he’d expected. Significantly larger than the previous year’s allocations. And Eric knew, just looking at them, there was no way he could incorporate them into his budget proposal for the hospital’s CEO. Paul knew it too. This spoke of desperation, and Paul was generally too steady a doctor to be rattled by the constraints of a department. Was the ER really in such dire straits? Eric jotted down a note to ask Paul when they next met for coffee, a weekly tradition that had sprung up shortly after Paul’s divorce.

  A tap on his door drew his attention, and he felt a flare of irritation. He’d spent the week in meetings with department heads, all clamoring for his attention and approval of their budgetary needs. He had a solid two months before the budget had to be finalized, but it was a process.