Chapter 17

Benjamin and I went for a walk when we arrived home. He sniffed and marked his territory as we walked around the yard, and I let him explore a little while. He'd been cooped up in an airplane, then the Lexus for hours, so a little running around was welcomed by both of us.

When he was satisfied outside, he did the exploring and sniffing thing all over again, in the house.

Slowly Benjamin and I walked through the entire house. He seemed to want to see in every room, and made a point of walking in, looking around, turning in a three-sixty, and walking back out, satisfied. Rebecca and Colleen followed us, just as intrigued as me. We smiled at each other as Benjamin took us on a tour of our home. When he nosed into my side of the master closet, I looked at my ladies and said, "Guess what I just thought about? Nothing in there is going to fit me."

Colleen gave me her best, 'I'm in Control, ' look and said, "Ohhhh, Rebecca. We HAVE to take this poor waif shopping. He needs EVERYTHING. Why It Might Take DAYS!"

She made a show of wiping her brow and exclaiming, "So much pressure. I don't know HOW I'm going to deal with all this pressure." Benjamin paused and watched her while she pretended to be a drama queen. From the look of things, he wasn't any more impressed with her acting skills than I was.

Rebecca couldn't help laughing gaily at Colleen's play-acting. "I don't know HOW you do it, Colleen. We'll just have to start at one end of the Springfield mall and work our way through every store, until we've completely re-outfitted him." Knowing how they loved to spend money, the next shopping expedition was likely to kill me.

When Benjamin finally finished his home inspection, Rebecca, Colleen, and I showered together, played like a bunch of teenagers, and wound up on the bed, entwined in the most intimate manner.

Our welcome home reunion lasted for several hours, and when I got up to get us a couple bottles of water, Benjamin gave me the universal K-9 sign. He walked to the back door and put his nose against it, wanting to go out.

Our trip was quick and painless. Benjamin liked the security of being inside. He seemed to crave a controlled environment without a lot of activity and strangers around. I'd get to know him better as the days go by, but I felt like I understood that much about him.

Since we were in the kitchen, I got out his dish and cut up the tiny bit of my dinner steak and about two bites of Mr. Bell's pork chop, mixed it with his Science Diet, for vitamins and minerals, and refreshed his water dish, adding a handful of ice cubes, to keep it cold longer.

My new buddy LOVED his dinner, and made short work of it. Fed, watered, walked, and loved, Benjamin led the way back to our bedroom, and took his place on the big pillow I'd bought in Sanford.

As I settled down between my two loves, I noticed Rebecca watching Benjamin get settled. She looked at me and said, "Someone is going to need a trip to the vet to be fixed."

That's when it hit me. I grabbed my head and moaned.

Colleen and Rebecca swarmed me, asking what was wrong, and if they needed to call an ambulance.

"Oh My," I said, over and over again. "I am so sorry. I am So Sorry. I AM SO SORRY."

They looked at me with so much love, devotion, and confusion, that I finally told them, "I am truly sorry. I didn't think before I acted."

It took me a minute to determine exactly how to say it.

"I'm Not Sterile, anymore."

Rebecca and Colleen were at first confused, and then Rebecca put her palm against her stomach and looked at Colleen, until she got it, too. It was Colleen's turn to stare at me in wonder, then she put her hand on Rebecca's stomach, and they shared a look of pure love.

Rebecca turned to me, and in the gentlest voice I've ever heard, said, "Did we make a baby?

"Colleen, did our family make a baby? Are we going to be mommy's together?"

Colleen shrieked, tackled Rebecca and began to kiss her furiously saying, "Are you ... Could you be ... Is it possible ... Really ... Do you think so????

"OH MY GOD, David. We're going to be parents?"

I was just thinking that they might be rushing it, when Rebecca said, "I thought my breasts were tender from all the uproar, and my cycle was all off, but it makes sense. I would be the most fertile at the time we were together, last week.

"We'll buy a test, and it's awful early but, I think you can safely assume you've knocked me up, David." Her smile lit up the entire room.

Colleen was crying, holding Rebecca as tenderly as if she was nine months pregnant, not nine days, and they clung to each other for dear life.

Rebecca said to me, "Colleen isn't able to have children, and we actually talked about me being her surrogate a couple of times but the timing was always all wrong, and then you came along, and everything has been in such an uproar that we haven't even thought about it in over a year.

"Colleen, we're going to be mommies together. Think about it. Your mother is going to fly to the moon when we tell her. I can't believe it ... I just can't believe it ... I really can't believe it.