Chapter 23

I was sitting down in the hospital waiting room. Someone just sat down next to me but my mind hardly registered it.

“It’s time to go son. I’ll take you and your little family back home or to the theater. Your choice.” said my dad.

I spaced out for a moment then turned to him and said, “Sorry, I’m still kind of out of it. I had been really worried. I rode here with Elena in the Ambulance while Maxine drove my car as closely as she could to us. Everything felt so hectic with Elena being in pain. With the wedding and all that has happened since My mind is still spinning especially after the doctors told us that our worries were all for nothing because it was just something as simple as false labor.” I wanted to scream. I finally turned to my dad, “Did this ever happen with you and mom?”

My Dad laughed, “More times than I’d care to admit. It scared me each time. I guess part of me wasn’t prepared to be a father. But I know you’ll be great parents. All three of you.”

I stood up after my dad patted my back and I asked, “What car did you bring?”

“The Beast.” Dad explained.

The Beast was a huge van that he and I had been working on off and on for a few years. It was the first vehicle I bought. It was used and it was definitely a fixer upper. Fixing up the engine and the interior was hard yet fun. It gave us a lot of time to visit. We had agreed on just about everything about the repairs except for one thing. We fought over how to paint the outside of the thing so many times. I wanted to paint it with The Legend of Zelda theme on it but my Dad wanted a Bruce Lee. So we compromised. We painted it with mainly Legend of Zelda characters but some of them were in poses from different Bruce Lee movies. And yes we had Bruce Lee hidden in there with all the characters from Hyrule. Some of our favorite parts were the monsters on the van. That and all the arguments about the paint are why we named the van The Beast. Mom thought it was kind of hideous.

I smiled at the memory and said, “Can you drive us all back? I’m don’t think I have it in me to drive anywhere. We can ask Elena and Maxine where they’d like to go. We’ll just leave my car here.”

“About that. I’ve already arranged for someone to take your car to wherever you decide to go. So if it’s decided you all want to go to the apartment in the theater you’ll have a vehicle to use in the morning or whenever you decide to leave the place. I also took the liberty to have the apartment stocked with fresh food just in case you decided to stay there. One more thing. I’m going to be going on a business trip in a few days and I want you, Elena, and Maxine to be at home with Zoe while I’m gone.” Dad told me.

“Sure. We’d all love that. But still I think we should discuss that as a family. I’m not going to make any decisions like that for my wives. For all I know they could really want to stay at the theater.” I said.

With a half smile Dad said, “That’s a good idea son. One more thing. If you and Zoe decide to have sex while I’m gone that would be good too. She is a real sex machine. If I’m gone too long the batteries in her vibrator will all be dead.”

That was information that I didn’t need to know. And from the reaction my Dad gave I think he knew how I felt.

When we got to the main entrance Maxine was holding on to Elena and Zoe was telling her not to hold on so tight. They all relaxed when they saw dad and I coming down the hall.

“How are you all doing ladies?” I asked.

Maxine stood up from sitting next to Elena, whom was sitting in a wheelchair at that moment, and ran to me. Maxine kissed me on the lips. I was so tired I almost fell down. It was now after two in the morning and I had been away since six the previous morning.

“That’s quite the greeting from your sister-in-law?” said a voice from behind us.

I turned around quickly and saw that Jessica Thomas was there.

“Jessica? This isn’t what it looks like.” I tried to explain.

“What are you doing here?” asked Maxine.

Now Jessica looked sad as she said, “Sam hasn’t been feeling well. So I brought him in for a check up.”

She just stood there but everyone could tell she was trying not to cry.

Zoe then walked over to Jessica and said, “Is there anything we can do for you?”

Still crying Jessica looked to me and said, “He’s going to need a blood transfusion. I don’t have his blood type. So his father may be his only option.”

Without hesitation I said, “Let’s go and get me tested to see if I’m a match. After all Carson and I do have different blood types.”

As I walked over to Elena I heard Zoe asking, “Why would Erik need to get his blood tested to see if he’s a match?”

My dad whispered in her ear.

“He what?” Zoe nearly shouted.

I knelt in front of Elena and she held onto my hands.

I was about to say something when Elena said, “Go ahead. Help Sam. We’ll be at the apartment waiting for you.”

We then kissed and mouthed the words, “Love you” to one another.

Some time later I finally walked into the little apartment above the theater that I had first made love to Maxine as her husband. I dropped myself onto the couch as both of my wives were fast asleep.

I was about to fall asleep myself when Maxine drowsily asked, “Is little Sam okay?”

I nodded and said, “Yes. He still has a way to get better but he’ll live.”

“So unless Carson showed up that means Sam is your son. Is he?” asked Maxine.

I took a deep breath, “Yes. He’s my son. She got pregnant with him when I was sixteen. Back then she had told me that she had slept with another guy and gotten pregnant by him. She ended our sexual relationship for the most part after that. I didn’t find out that he could possibly be my son until recently. I’m sorry Max. This isn’t the exact Honeymoon you had wished for.”

She sat next to me and took my hand and placed her head on my shoulder.

She said to me, “How often does a woman get to say that her husband saved the life of a young boy the night that they got married? Not many I’m sure. Besides I had already figured out that Sam could have been yours.” With the quizzical look I had on my face Maxine explained. “Back before you had showed up at home with my sister, and when I was a crazy little girl with the biggest crush on you when I had only ever seen pictures of you, I was also Sam’s babysitter. When I compared your picture to Sam I noticed the resemblance. One weekend when I was babysitting Sam, Jessica had fallen asleep in the living room. Let me tell you now that woman talks in her sleep. But then again you may already know that.” I actually did know that. “So once I put Sam to sleep I did something I shouldn’t have.” Maxine hesitated for a moment. “I knew that you were coming home to stay with us soon so I ordered a home Paternity test with her credit card. The day that you fell and hit your head in the jewelry store and were bleeding I took a sample of your blood and then I got a sample of Sam’s. I sent the test in. I’ve been holding on to the results since I got them in. I never had the courage to check the results.”