NUMBER-ONE SON

"It's a boy!" the doctor announced, beaming, reaching out to shake Mike's hand as the new father leaped out of his hospital-waiting-room chair and half-ran toward him. "Strong and healthy, yowled like crazy when he came out—nice set of lungs on that little fella. Your wife's in good shape, sound asleep." He grinned. "Can't quite say the same for your boy. He's wide awake and charming the daylights out of the nurses."

Mike chuckled. "Practicing to be a heartthrob already, huh?" he kidded, following the doctor back to the elevator and leaning against one wall, very pleased with himself and with Sue.

The doctor grinned. "Picked out a name yet?"

"We decided on Gregory Joseph Brady, for her dad," Mike said. "Sue's hoping he looks like him, but it'll be a while before we find out about that. I'm just glad he's finally here."

"That's what your wife said when the little guy popped out," the doctor remarked cheerfully. The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, and Mike followed him out. "Just down this corridor here, about ten yards or so. You'll see your son in his crib."

"Can I see my wife?" Mike asked.

"Better that she has a good night's rest right now. She's been through quite an ordeal, and she'll be more rested tomorrow and might be up to visitors then. But your boy's greeting everybody he sees. Ask the nurse nicely, she might even let you hold him."

"Hold him!" Mike reared back suddenly, staring at the surprised doctor. "I've never held a baby in my life. What if I drop him?"

"The nurse'll show you how, Mr. Brady, don't worry. And babies don't break, contrary to popular opinion. Besides, he's a sturdy little fella, so don't be scared of him. Before you know it, you'll be doing it like a pro. Good luck." The doctor winked and strolled off down another corridor, and Mike continued on his way to the room where the newborns were ensconced in their cribs behind big plate-glass windows, most asleep, some awake. The crib second from the right in the front was labeled BABY BOY BRADY, and its occupant was feebly waving a pair of tiny fists and screaming for all he was worth. Mike stared at him in fascination. So this was their little Greg. He wondered why the doctor had said he'd had such a great pair of lungs; it was true he could hear baby Greg wailing from out here, but the sounds emerging from the infant's mouth were high-pitched and short in duration, as though half the effort Greg put into crying was taken up just by drawing breath.

Then Mike noticed how red he was, especially in the face, and frowned. A baby wasn't supposed to be allowed to go on bawling like that, was it? He looked around the room and saw a nurse just entering; she met his gaze, smiled and nodded once, and went right to Greg's crib, lifting the baby out and gently cradling him against her shoulder. She softly patted Greg's back, and Mike could see her making "shh" sounds, pursing her lips. He tapped on the window; she looked up, and he pointed at the baby on her shoulder, then at himself, and mouthed, "I'm his father."

The nurse brightened and nodded, then brought the baby out. Greg's energetic howling had died down to a few halfhearted, hiccuping bleats now and then, reassuring Mike greatly. "He's okay, right?" he asked a little anxiously.

"Oh, he's just fine," the nurse said cheerily. "He's only showing the world what a great singing voice he has." Mike had to laugh. "Would you like to hold him?"

"I don't know how," Mike confessed reluctantly.

"Oh, here, let me show you. Make a cradle out of your arms, like this." The nurse shifted Greg into a cradle carry so Mike could see what she meant. "Just hold him like this and make sure his head has good support. He'll be a little floppy till he's around three months old or so and his neck muscles get strong enough to support his head on their own."

Mike tried to imitate the nurse's position, and she transferred Greg into his arms. At her instructions, he lifted his left arm a bit so that Greg's head was higher than his feet. "There you go, Mr. Brady. That's perfect. Oh, my gosh, he's stopped crying!"

Mike stared at his son and realized she was right; Greg had quieted completely and was gazing right up at him with that funny blank look typical of newborns. To Mike, the expression on the infant's face was infinitely trusting, as if to say, Hi, Dad, nice to meet you, I'm glad you're gonna take such good care of me. In that moment Mike Brady lost his heart to his firstborn child.

"Cutie, isn't he?" the nurse murmured with a dreamy little smile.

"Not to brag or anything, but yeah, he sure is," Mike said proudly. He glanced at her and saw the look on her face. "Have any of your own yet?"

She blinked and looked up. "Well, not so far, but I'm engaged, and both of us definitely want kids. In the meantime, I get in my practice caring for the newborns here. What are you planning to name him?"

"Gregory Joseph," said Mike with a smile. "Sue wanted to name a boy for her father, and I thought that'd be a great tribute." He looked up again. "The doctor said she's asleep?"

The nurse nodded. "I think she's out for the night. Best thing for her is to sleep and rest up. After all, you're both going to have quite a few sleepless nights for the next six or eight months, so you should get all the sleep you can now, before you take Gregory Joseph Brady home with you."

Mike stood holding his firstborn son for several more minutes, marveling that he and Sue had produced this little scrap of life, a perfect combination of himself and her; then, grinning when Greg yawned widely enough to double the size of his head, he reluctantly handed the baby back to the nurse and thanked her. He knew what room Sue was in, so despite the doctor's words about waiting till later to see her, he sneaked a peek in at her anyway, poking his head in the door just long enough to see that she was sound asleep. He blew her a kiss and then left quietly so he could go home and call his parents and siblings.

The following morning, after his first two classes, Mike rushed to the hospital and dropped in on Sue. She had baby Greg with her this time, cradled in the crook of her arm and with the blanket spread aside so that she could see all of him. She was actually counting Greg's toes when Mike walked in, and the sight made him break into laughter.

Sue looked up and brightened. "Oh, Mike, hi! Did you see Greg last night?"

"Sure did, and he's quite a kid, all right. You sure he's got all the toes he needs?" Mike teased her, pulling a chair away from the wall and taking a seat beside her bed.

Sue stuck her tongue out at him and finished her counting. "Yes, he has all ten fingers and all ten toes. Oh, I hope he keeps those pretty blue eyes. They're just like yours, honey."

"If he doesn't, then his eyes will be just as beautiful as yours." The first time Mike had met Sue, he'd been immediately drawn to her big, soft brown eyes and her sweet smile, and they still had that same effect on him now. "Doc say when you can come home yet?"

"Probably the end of the week," Sue said. "To tell the truth, it'll be nice. I get to lie in bed and admire my new son, and see whose facial features he seems to have, and read all my cards and smell all the flowers. I've already had nine bouquets." Mike took a good look around and grinned; big vases of flowers in every color and several different varieties sat around Sue's half of the hospital room. Sue went on, "It makes a nice rest from work, and a little respite so I can catch my breath before we take Greg home and start having all those sleepless nights the nurses keep warning me about."

"He'll be worth it," Mike said with conviction. "Everybody was thrilled, honey. I called them all last night—Mom and Dad, Rick and Patricia, and Gene and Aunt Charlotte. Patricia's offered babysitting services for the indefinite future and says she can't wait to meet her new nephew, and Mom and Dad are delighted. Gene said congratulations, and Aunt Charlotte said, quote, 'Oh, I didn't know she was having the baby today', unquote." Sue rolled her eyes good-naturedly and he laughed. "And Rick says, better us than him. But that's my brother for you. It'll be a miracle if any girl ever tames him."

"She'll have to be a very special girl all right," Sue agreed, her attention already wandering back to Greg. "Oh, he's just beautiful, Mike. I wish my parents could have seen him." Sue's parents had died when she was a little girl—her mother of cancer before Sue had started school, and her father in a car wreck a couple of years later. Sue had been sent to live with her mother's much older sister, Charlotte, and her husband and son, Gene.

"I think they can, somewhere," Mike said. His family wasn't overtly religious, but they did believe, and he had a conviction that Sue's parents knew everything that had happened in their daughter's life from some other plane. "I believe that's true, anyway. Hey, did I tell you? Mom and Dad told me not to worry about living expenses while I'm finishing school. They're paying all our bills till I graduate, so you can be home with Greg to take care of him and I can get my degree. I've got feelers out to architectural firms all over California and in three or four other states too, and I'm hoping we'll have good news soon."

Sue looked suddenly worried. "I hope we don't have to leave California. I don't really want to start all over again in some strange new place."

"I don't either, to tell the truth, but we can't really afford to be choosy, honey. And even if we do wind up in Arizona or Oregon, our families are only a day's drive away. Don't worry about it, okay? Right now, your first concern is our son. Once I graduate and get in with a good firm, and start proving myself, we can give Greg everything he should have to grow up healthy and happy, and I can buy us a house…"

"Maybe you can build us a house," Sue said, grinning.

Mike grinned back. "Grand dreams, huh? That's okay. We've got practically our whole lives ahead of us. We're gonna make it, honey, just wait and see. I've got you and Greg, and I can't go wrong with a fantastic wife and a terrific little son behind me." He leaned over and kissed her, then ever so gently tickled little Greg on the tummy. The baby squirmed and then yawned, and Mike and Sue laughed softly.

"Are you two up to visitors?" asked a voice, and they both looked around to see Thomas and Agnes Brady in the doorway, peering hopefully into the room. Thomas added, "We just couldn't wait to see our first grandson."

"Well, come on in," said Mike, rising from the chair to hug his mother and then his father, who clapped him on the back. "Take a look—here he is, all seven pounds and sixteen inches of him. Mom, Dad, meet Gregory Joseph Brady, Greg for short."

"Oh my goodness, Tom, he's simply adorable," Agnes cooed, leaning over the bedside to get a closeup of her grandson. "Just look at those pretty blue eyes. Hi, little Greg, I'm your grandma! That's right, sweetums!" She waggled her fingers at Greg, who blinked, still squirming and making involuntary faces. One of them at that moment happened to convey what appeared to be an are you kidding?? look, which made them all break into laughter, even Agnes.

"Guess you can forget the baby talk, Mom," Mike kidded.

Agnes snorted with good humor, "Oh, you men." She winked at Sue. "Don't be surprised, dear, if you happen to wander into little Greg's room one of these days and see Mike hanging over the crib, wiggling his fingers and talking nonsense to him when he thinks no one can hear him. Tom did that with all three of ours, and they grew up none the worse for the experience."

"Well, I don't know about Rick," Thomas said thoughtfully, with an exaggeratedly doubtful look, and they laughed again. Greg started to whimper and Sue folded the blanket back over him, then lifted him to her shoulder. Thomas went on, "He and Patricia wanted to come with us, but they both had classes this morning and I wouldn't hold with their skipping. College costs too much for that. So they'll be around this evening, I think."

"That's fine," said Sue. "I'm still pretty worn out from bringing this little guy into the world, and I'll appreciate the wait till they get here. They say Greg and I will probably go home the end of the week."

"That's about par for the course these days," Agnes said, nodding. "In that case, we'll head on out now. I'm glad we had a chance to meet little Greg. If you need anything, either one of you, you make sure to call us. We'll help in any way we can."

Sue watched them go. "Your parents are wonderful, Mike. They're most of the reason I hope we don't end up moving out of California. I can tell they're crazy about Greg already, and it'd be such a relief to have them to help out, instead of being someplace where we don't know anyone and I have to rely on myself."

"I told you not to worry about that," Mike reminded her with gentle sternness, sitting back down. "Like I said, your primary concern is Greg. Let me worry about the job and where we go. Keep a positive attitude, okay? Even if we do have to move, we'll be just fine."

Sue smiled. "I trust you, honey. I know you, and I know how you were raised. But I hope you don't mind if I keep my fingers crossed anyway." Mike laughed, and she giggled back and smoothed the sparse, downy hair on Greg's head while the baby dozed off on her shoulder.