Not as Easy as it Seemed.
September proceeded to run along with speed, an almost hectic pace as ever. Seth would return to his work, picked up at his front door each and every day, and dropped off just feet from the room in which he now worked full time. He was just grateful that he still had a job, that the University felt so highly of them that they had made so many adjustments so that he could carry on with his role. The new room was bright and clear, and of similar dimensions to the old one he was used to; however, it lacked the charm and character of the professor's old room. The one benefit of that though was that if he did have to come to work at some point in the future in his chair, then he would be able to move around the room without the fear that he was going to demolish something…
He had been continuing his sessions with Artie, and now felt fairly confident on wheels. He had even braved the outside world in his chair one afternoon. Artie had arranged for them to head up to Central Park, so that he could get a chance to practice moving on sidewalks, paths, roadways and gentle slopes. He was not yet ready to manoeuvre on his own ramp at home though, not quite yet willing to let all of his friends see him confined in a chair. The visit to the park had brought home a few stark realities for him though, particularly the kind of areas that he would no longer be able to explore at will. Then there were the lengthy detours that he might have to make when a steep slope or flight of steps blocked his progress…
On the second last weekend of the month, he joined a small gathering of friends that would be heading to see the opening night of Young Frankenstein, marking the triumphant return of Sebastian to the Broadway stage. One person that would not be joining the little group was Roderick, who had declined his invitation; he had reading lists and a paper to complete. He had however agreed to babysit Wes and Evie, as he knew that neither of them would be any trouble, and he could get all of his work done easily in Nick's study. Flint and Elliott had both had to decline as well, as the former had been unable to obtain a babysitter, and had not wished to further burden Roderick, and the latter had an early shift at the Spotlight Diner the next day, plus all of the responsibility that he now shared with Dani given that Michelle was off on maternity leave at last… With his husband in absentia, Beats had instead managed to wrangle tickets for Dante and Lachlan, both of whom were now of an age when the show's content was suitable.
Thad had made the trip from Ohio for the night, and he accompanied Seth. They were all of them aware that this was a show that was not without controversy, and was laden with innuendo. They also knew that it would be a wonderful triumph with Sebastian at the helm, and in that they were proved to be correct in their judgement. He embraced his character wholeheartedly, and the way that he interacted with the wonderful supporting cast was all they needed for perfection. That there would be a standing ovation at the end of the show was assured, and the critics were guaranteed to depart to write reviews that would be described later as golden…
However, that final moment of triumph was not witnessed by one of the former Warblers that had come to see the show. At the interval they had checked their cellphone, having felt it buzz just a few minutes before, and on reading the message there, had promptly turned to their companion and announced they had to leave at once. They departed without a word to the others, which left them all intrigued. It also meant that at the end of the performance, it fell to Nick and Jeff to ensure that Seth got home safely; that done, they had to await Thad's return or a phone call, as he did not have a key for their front door, and would not be able to let himself back in…
His hasty departure was due to the message that he had received from his brother that Michelle had gone into labour, and although he was a trained professional member of the medical community who had seen dozens of women in that position before, it was an all together proposition when the woman in question was your wife. He had therefore begged for some fraternal support. Thad had had no hesitation in leaving the theater midway through the show and heading downtown in a cab, to join his brother in waiting for the moment that he would become a father.
Ollie and Michelle had decided that he did not need to be present at the actual birth; in fact, she had secretly preferred it that he was not there, as she had visions of him being critical of the way that doctor with her was behaving. For both of the Harwood men the whole thing was a brand new experience, and for Ollie, it was one that began to make him stressed. In fact, he was so bad that Thad was almost on the cusp of calling David to ask him for his own tips on how to stay sane as they waited for the birth when they both heard the noises coming from the delivery room intensify in volume, and then fall silent. Then there was the most wonderful noise in the world; the sound of a newborn baby crying…
For Thad, that sound suddenly brought a whole wealth of mixed emotions. On the one hand, he could see the immediate reaction of joy and happiness on his brother's face. He had looked so weary and worried, but now his smile was huge at that most human of sounds. After all, he was now something that he had once thought would be an impossibility for him - a father. In the room behind them a child had just been born to his wife, a child that he would forever regard as his own. They were blood; his own blood.
But at the same time, Thad knew in his own heart that he was now a father. He was the biological father of the child that had just been born in that room, but that fact was something that the child would never know; something that the whole world could never know. There was just the smallest part of him at that moment that was screaming out in pain, wishing that it could all be so very different. He wished that he was about to step into that room, with Wes standing at his side, their child about to be handed over to them…
He instantly reproached himself for having those thoughts, ones that he had not expected to have. He painted a smile of his own on his face, and turned to his brother. "Congratulations, daddy," he said, placing a fraternal arm around his older brother's shoulders.
Ollie looked at him, and with moist eyes whispered, "I am so grateful to you for all of this Thad. You will never know just how much, and I can never begin to repay the debt that I owe to you now…"
"As long as you raise him or her well, then you owe me nothing at all. Anyway, you gave up so much for me in taking my side over the family. I am just so pleased that I could give you something in return that you always wished to have in your life."
"Well, they are in both of our lives. You will be a hands on uncle, I can tell that much already. Between us, we have achieved something today; we have started a new branch of the Harwood family, one that will have the freedom to be who they are and what they wish to be. Michelle will ensure that is the case…"
Their conversation stopped as the door to the room opened and a nurse appeared. "You can come in now; mother and child are ready for you." Thad made no move to get up as his brother leapt to his feet, until the nurse looked pointedly at him and shook her head. "Now normally it is just the father that comes in, but Mrs Harwood was most insistent that she wanted both the father and the uncle of the child to come in…"
"Ollie, you need to step in first, as you are her husband and the father," said Thad getting slowly to his feet. "I will be in right behind you. Go on, you know the drill as a doctor…"
As his brother stepped in with the nurse, Thad let his smile drop, and took a deep breath…and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He knew at once who it was, before he even heard the voice in his ear. "Courage, my little one. I know that this is hard, but as husbands, we will face this challenge together. You have done the right thing in all of this; just like Elizabeth Hummel, you have given up on your own happiness to bring it to someone else. It is one of the many reasons why I love you so very much…"
"I love you too, Wessie…" whispered Thad, his hand straying to hold the ring that hung on the chain round his neck. Then he stepped forward, and allowed the nurse to put a gown over his street clothes, before taking a step into the room, ensuring that his smile was fixed back in place.
He would have struggled not to smile at the sight that confronted him in any case, as the scene of domestic harmony that was now right in front of him made his heart light. Michelle was propped up in the bed, smiling but tired, as by her side stood her husband, his entire focus on the child that he now cradled in his arms. As Thad walked over, Ollie looked up, and the moisture in his eyes was now full blown tears of delight. "Hey little brother, come and meet your nephew… A little boy, Thaddie. I have a son!"
"That's wonderful," Thad replied, ignoring the fact that his brother was talking nonsense. He carried on walking over, to take a closer look at his son…no, his nephew…
"Anyway, we decided on a name if we happened to have a son a long time ago; there was only one choice open to us really. We hope that you don't mind, but we both agreed that our son should be called Thad…"
Michelle's words made the Head Warbler pause for a moment in shock, and now he could feel moisture building in his own eyes. "Everyone is going to call him little Thaddie," was all he could think of to say, his eyes now focused on the newborn boy. As he looked, he could see elements of the face that looked back at him from the mirror, along with a good bit of his mother's heritage as well…
"There are a lot worse things that he could be called, like Junior," said Ollie, the last word spoken tersely as he thought of their elder brother, who pretended they no longer existed at their father's behest. "I think that I will settle for son… our boy, Michelle… our own little boy…"
An hour later and Thad had found himself a quiet corner of the hospital to sit and think in. He had sent a message out to everyone, with the permission of the new parents, to let them know that he was now an uncle to a little boy, that for some bizarre reason they had chosen to name after him. The likes came flooding in at once, several commenting as he had expected that now there was a little Thaddie as well as a little Wes. The fact that one of the likes came from Sebastian, who would have been busy with all the other stuff that went with an opening night, made him smile…
Then he felt an arm around his shoulder, and the fact that someone had just taken a seat by his side. He looked up to see his angelic husband sitting there, with a grin on his face. "First a little Wes, now a little Thad," he whispered. "We are quite obviously meant to be legends, my love…"
"I guess we are," replied Thad sadly, "but…"
"It isn't going to be quite as simple as you thought it would be, just being an uncle to that little boy back in that room?" replied Wes softly, and Thad nodded.
"I made a promise, and I have always kept every promise that I have ever made, but keeping this one is going to be so hard! How am I going to manage to cope when he grows older, and starts asking questions? Or what if he ends up at Dalton? How do I handle having to potentially teach my son, and not be able to say who I am? What if, God forbid, something happens to Ollie, and I have to comfort him as he cries for his dad?"
"You would just tell him that his dad was with the angels," said Wes firmly. "I think, all things considered, it would have been so much better if you hadn't been here tonight. Michelle going into labour on the same night as Sebastian's opening night was unfortunate in the extreme. Had you been in Ohio, your brother would just have had to cope. The fact that you were here, at the actual moment of birth, is what has brought on all of these feelings. Once you are back in Ohio, back at Dalton, and have all your work to keep you occupied, and all those boys in that dorm to look out for, you will find it much easier to be resolute and keep your promise."
"I know, it's just… It should have been you and me in that waiting room Wessie. A room ready and waiting in our marital home for our boy to come back to…" Thad blinked as he felt tears forming in his eyes. He looked up at Wes, and to his horror he saw that his eyes were filling up with tears too. "Oh, no, I've made you cry now! I'm sorry…"
"As an angel, trust me when I say our tears are not that uncommon, and if I see someone that I love is hurting…" replied Wes. "I am going to look at the rules about souls, and returning as children. You and I could go back, if I was sure that we would meet up again, and then we could have the life we wanted, as a loving couple with children of our own…"
"That would be nice, but until then, I will be content to be Uncle Thad, and have a dorm full of teenage boys to look after. As for you, you will watch over us all, as you already do, keeping us as safe as you can…"
"And Ollie and Michelle will love your little namesake and raise him to be a content and happy adult, who will be every bit as fearless, loving, loyal and honest as his uncle. If they can achieve that, then he will have had the best possible start in life. So, no more tears, little one. I will be by your side every step you take, and if you have a wobble, and are struggling to cope, then I will hold you up. That is what a husband does after all…"
Thad was glad that he had to return to Ohio the next day, but before that he had to take a deep breath, and finally cradled his 'nephew' in his arms, and allow the obligatory photograph to be taken and placed on Facebook for the world to see. Then he took his leave just as Michelle's parents arrived from Boston. The expression of delight on their faces made him realise that his selfless act had made more than two people very happy. Michelle was, after all, an only child, and so this was their first grandchild as well; the delight that he had arrived was palpable on their faces.
Their arrival did mean one thing, and that was a slight change in his name. The newborn's grandmother had held him for a while, and then told Michelle that she was giving him two middle names, to which her daughter at once agreed. The first of those was Zhu, which meant upright, and the second Ying, which meant intelligent. Ollie was a little surprised at first, as his wife had not mentioned this would happen, and she obviously had expected it; then he realised that it was part of the merger of the two different cultural backgrounds that his boy would straddle.
Thad had arrived back at Dalton by the time the official announcement of the name came, and though he had to admit that he thought Thaddeus Zhu Ying Harwood was a little bit of a mouthful, he liked it nonetheless. He smiled at the album of photos that his brother had emailed him already too, and thought back to what Ollie had said to him as he had left - "Anything you want, little brother, any time, you can have. You've made my life complete." He could deal with this, knowing that his brother was happy…
A few days after Sebastian's opening night, some of the same people headed to another theatre to see the first show in the Noel Coward season, in which Cooper was taking the lead. Present Laughter had the adults entertained again; the decision though to follow the lead of the 2019 West End Production, and gender bend the casting a little, which meant that Cooper had a liaison with a man, had them all raising their eyebrows a little, particularly when Cooper shared a very passionate kiss with him on stage. Some of them wondered if Kurt and Blaine had helped coach him with that one, as they had done with other things before.
As with Sebastian, the reviews for the show came back resoundingly positive, as did the reviews for the supporting cast. It would fall to the New York Times to write the review that he would cherish the most, and place in a frame on the wall at home. 'There were some amongst us who felt that when Mr Hummel-Warbler broke onto the Broadway scene that he would be a flash in the pan, a mere comic turn in musical theater. He has since proven us wrong; he can carry a serious role as a juror, and now he has shown us that he can handle a dramatic role in one of the classic plays. After this season is complete, I suggest that a prominent Shakespearean role would be all that was required to cement him firmly in his place as one of the outstanding theater actors of his generation.'
As the month of September came to an end and the weather began to deteriorate, Ethan, Drew and Evie headed to the airport one weekend, to catch a flight to Ohio. It had been just a few weeks since the successful visit of Mrs Mackenzie to the city, when she had fallen just a little in love with Evie, and now it was time for the bigger challenge that was Stage 2 of getting parental approval for their plans. Ethan had to admit though that scheduling a weekend visit to see his father was a lot easier these days, now that his workload had decreased; however, ensuring that his mother would be there at the same time had been more of a logistical challenge, which was why they had moved on so swiftly.
As they boarded the plane, Ethan remained certain that his dad would have no idea that his wife was going to be home all weekend as well, or he might well have protested the idea. The flight was a short one, but still enough of a experience to excite Evie, although she did find coach class in a small plane a poor substitute for the comfort that she had enjoyed on the first flight she had ever taken. At the airport in Ohio, Ethan was not in the least surprised to see his mother's PA, Mrs Hargreaves, waiting for them in the arrivals area, having expected it would fall to her to drive them to the family home overlooking Lake Erie, as she had done on his return from Dalton so many times.
He greeted her warmly, the woman more familiar to him in many respects than his mother. She recalled Drew from his few visits to the family home, and greeted him with as much warmth. Then she turned her attention to Evie, who responded with the polite formality that Miss Frobisher had instilled in her back in London. She needed to use the restroom before they left, so Drew took her in that direction, leaving Ethan alone with Mrs Hargreaves. She almost immediately asked the question he had expected. "So I hear that you are thinking of adopting that little girl formally and being her co-parent? Good for you! I can honestly tell you that in all the years I have worked for her, I have never seen your mother look as happy as she did when she told me, in the strictest confidence of course. She has not spoken directly about her with your father, but she has told him that you were considering how you were going to provide yourself with an heir…"
"Has she now… What was his response?"
"As you probably expected, a lot of talk about vetting. The fact that her father is a Dalton boy will be a helpful tick…"
Ethan had his phone ready to capture the moment that Evie first caught sight of his family home as they turned the corner on the lengthy driveway and it came into view. Drew was waiting for that moment too, and her gasp at seeing the mansion, built in a style best called Scots Baronial, for the first time, made them both smile. "Is that your parents house, Uncle Ethan?" she asked in a tone little more than a whisper. He nodded in reply, and she continued, "But that is a castle! Are you really sure that you aren't a prince?"
"I'm definitely not, I just have parents that have enough money to afford to live in a castle," replied Ethan with a smile.
"And don't forget, back in Britain there are a lot of very poor people that live in mansions and castles they struggle to maintain," added Drew sagely.
"Well, I still think you must be a prince," said Evie, and everyone in the car could not help but smile.
As they pulled up at the front door, it opened, and Mrs Mackenzie hurried out to greet them. That startled all the adults in the car a little. "She never does that," said Ethan in a whisper. "I mean, I used to get home from Dalton, and it might be two or three days before I saw her."
"I am getting the feeling that if your father does say no, your mother will be extremely disappointed. I doubt that she will let that slide," said Mrs Hargreaves, as she put the car into park and unlocked the doors. "If I was her, then I wouldn't either. You make a charming and perfect little family, and I am rooting for you all…"
Mrs Mackenzie went straight for Evie the moment she stepped out of the car, which did not surprise her son in the slightest. It was abundantly clear to them all that the little girl was the young lady that she had quite possibly craved for years, and her maternal side had been brought to the fore. Ethan did not object to that in the least, as some might have done. He had wanted for nothing in childhood after all, and he had always known that he was loved. He might not have had the constant hugs and kisses that other children got, but neither had he been starved of affection as some children of the wealthy were. He had not been abandoned by his parents as Seth had been. He watched as his mother knelt down to give Evie a hug, and he was convinced that the barely audible words that Evie was saying would be to ask her if she was a queen again, as she lived in a castle…
"I can almost guarantee that she will ask your dad if he is a king when she meets him," said Drew as he took his case from the trunk of the car.
"Well, it won't be the first time that he has been described as such," admitted Ethan, "although before it was always the Wall Street Journal that said it, not a little girl. I just wish that I knew exactly how he is going to react to her…"
"Me too," replied Drew. "I can only hope that it is well, because I would hate for all of this to become an issue in your family… I still have my doubts about all of this; maybe it is a bad idea…"
"It isn't," said Ethan firmly. "I have made up my mind already; even if he disapproves, we are going ahead with the adoption. Her safety and future happiness is more important here than anything else. I will adopt her, even if it splits my family apart…"