“Then maybe they’ll change their mind. Lucky, right now I’ve got better things to worry about. Like you, our son, and the little boy or girl we’ll soon bring home from the hospital.”
“Has Charlotte mentioned anything more about childbirth classes?” They’d been attending sessions regularly for a while, but nothing lately.
“She said we’ve already tried all the local ones, and doesn’t think we’ll learn anything else useful.” Bo gave Lucky a rueful half-smile. “Besides, and I quote, ‘Babies been finding their own way out since the dawn of time. I doubt this one’ll get lost.’”
Sounded like Char.
Then again, maybe she didn’t want to parade her grouchy-assed brother and fucked-up family situation around the law-abiding, man-and-woman couples of Atlanta. No, not fair. She wouldn’t think like that. No, she’d stand toe-to-toe with anyone who tried to judge.
Lucky hated feeling helpless. About his and Bo’s job, Walter being shoved out of the SNB, his Camaro, the stalker…
Bo managed to negotiate with the community security gate, and parked the SUV behind Charlotte’s car. “I’ll go get the little guy. Looks like you’re busy thinking.”
Before Lucky could stop him, he ran into the house—and emerged a few moments later with a wrapped bundle that he proceeded to buckle into a car seat.
Lucky eyed the blankets, knit hat, puffy coat, and mittens. “Are you sure there’s a kid under there?”
“I don’t want him to be cold.”
“Bo, he went straight from the house to the warm truck, and will go from the truck to the doctor’s office. It’s not like he’s walking five miles to school in foot-deep snow.”
Bo shutting the car door paused the conversation while he rounded the vehicle and climbed behind the steering wheel. “We can’t be too safe.” Oh, dear God. He was fast becoming one ofthoseparents.
Lucky climbed into the back to occupy Andro on the way to the pediatrician’s office, and as a way to avoid thinking too much.
Andro told Lucky all about his day, how much he loved his stuffed bear—who he’d managed to extricate from the blankets—and world politics. Or rather, he might have been saying those things, for all Lucky knew. It sounded more like,“Ba, ba, ba!”
Lucky wiped drool from his son’s chin with a wet wipe. He was on his fourth wipe when they reached the doctor’s office.
Bo carried the baby inside and settled on a chair, while Lucky signed them in.
“Have a seat. The doctor will be with you in a moment.” The receptionist smiled. She always smiled. Unlike the two women sitting in a corner, who stopped talking to stare, though the kids sliding beads over wires in the corner paid them no mind.
Better get used to seeing same-sex couples, ladies. You’re in Atlanta, not some little po-dunk town with one red light.
A nurse opened the door to the examining rooms. “Alejandro Schollenberger?”
Lucky remained in the waiting room with blankets, a coat and hat, the stuffed bear, diaper bag, and mittens, while Bo took their son back. Add “pack mule” to Lucky’s job description. The exam rooms weren’t big enough for two parents, a doctor, a nurse, and the world’s most adorable kid.
Bo came back grinning. Andro made grabby hands until Lucky took him. “Yeah, you want your papa, don’t you?” Andro grabbed his bear off Lucky’s lap. So much for being favorite parent, if only for a moment.
Bo shifted Andro right and left while stuffing him back in his winter gear. “The doctor says at this rate, we won’t have to worry about heart surgery down the road. Even though he was a preemie, he’s caught up to where he needs to be at nine months.”
Lucky needed good news about now. What a relief, though he couldn’t quite reconcile the small, sickly infant Andro had been with the healthy as a horse baby who crawled all over the living room. He held his son relatively still, moving his arms and helping Bo hide him under layers of fabric.
“Isn’t that great news?” Bo beamed as they made their way to the parking lot. This time Lucky strapped Andro in, and sat beside him. The kid conked out before they’d gone two blocks.
They stopped by Avis to pick up Lucky’s rental car, and moved Andro into the backseat, allowing Bo to return to the office.
A white van pulled in behind the car a few minutes after he’d left the parking lot. Lucky’s heart began to pound. It followed him for several blocks, then turned off. A sign now visible on the side said, “Joe’s Plumbing.” Lucky whooshed out a relieved breath. Safe.
This time.