Part 12 – Heading to Oregon
Four days before Mary's due date, Charlie and Colby pulled Nena out of school and the three of them, with extremely grudging permission from Nena's mother, got on a train to Oregon. Evie would follow them later by plane and stay at a friends until they needed her.
They rented a sleeper cabin and had fun sleeping and trying to take a shower in the bumping train. They frequented the diner car and the observation deck. They played card games and read books and tried to identify trees as they flashed by the window. By unspoken agreement, no one talked about the baby coming. This was their time, for just the three of them.
Arriving in Portland the next day, they were greeted by gloomy skies but were ready for quarters that weren't moving. They took a cab to a nice hotel where they'd reserved a small suite with two bedrooms and a big family area.
Waiting for them at the hotel was a huge package. It contained everything that Colby could think they might need to take a newborn on a plane – including a car seat/stroller. They stowed the box in the corner of their suite unopened. After the bedrooms had been claimed and the view oohed over, Charlie and Colby sat Nena down on the couch between them. There was one issue that they had put off addressing.
Colby started, "Honey, when the baby comes out of Mary's stomach, it's gonna hurt, a lot."
"More than getting shot?"
Colby chuckled. "Depends on where you get shot. But giving birth takes longer, though you get better again faster. Giving birth can take anywhere from a few minutes to a whole day."
"A whole day?"
"Yeah," Charlie said, sitting on her other side. "So Mary's really going to be uncomfortable and we don't want you to have to see that."
"But you will?"
"Mary needs somebody to hold her hand and be with her while she's in pain. You know how Will needed people to stay with him when he got shot?"
"I hate hospitals," Nena grumbled. "He got shot two times!"
Colby nodded. "So this is the plan – When Mary calls and says it's time for the baby to be born, Evie will come and stay here with you. As soon as the baby comes, we'll call you two here and you can both come to the birthing center and meet the baby. Okay?"
Nena frowned and looked at the floor for a moment. "It really hurts?"
"Yeah," Colby said. "There's lots of pain and blood and yucky stuff."
"You'll call me as soon as the baby is out of her stomach?"
"Yes, just as soon as it is. The baby is going to want to meet Big Sister!"
"Evie will stay with me the whole time?"
"As long as it takes."
Nena looked up at them. "Okay. But maybe Charlie should stay too, he doesn't like to see blood."
Charlie grimaced. "No, I don't, but Mary needs us both there. She's got two hands to hold, right?"
"Right …" Nena said. "Can Evie and me do room service?"
"Sure, honey," Colby smiled. Charlie nodded and squeezed Nena's shoulder.
Colby sighed with relief that they'd gotten that straightened out. "Now, how about we check in on Mary?"
Mary shifted on the chair, though she knew that this late in the pregnancy, there would be no comfortable position, no matter how plush the chair. The hotel room was nice, though. Colby and Charlie were determined that she would be comfortable in her last few days. At least I hope it will be just a few days. Or less.
Mary had moved in to the hotel today and was making herself at home. She missed her husband and little girls, but she didn't really want them to meet Charlie's family. It wasn't that she was ashamed of either side, but she thought that it was better to keep the worlds separate. That would make it easier – though never easy – to return home without the baby growing in her womb.
She stroked her straining belly. There were be stretch marks, she'd never been able to avoid them, regardless of how much lotion she used, but in a week, the stretch marks would be all she had remaining. This time was always the hardest. Throughout her pregnancy, she'd tried to think of the child as not hers, as she was just temporary residence for the child, but the connection she had with any baby she carried, no matter the baby's genes, was impervious to rational thought. She would mourn the loss, though she knew the baby would be going to the family he or she was meant to.
It was odd to be thinking of the baby as 'he or she' this late in the pregnancy, all the other intended parents had wanted to know gender, but Colby and Charlie hadn't wanted to know, so Mary had asked the doctors to keep it from her, too. Otherwise, she knew she'd let it slip. She understood why Colby and Charlie wanted to keep some mystery in a process that involved very little that wasn't measured, examined, and tracked, but it must have made decorating the baby's room difficult.
Mary smiled to herself, shifting again on the chair. She'd been sent many pictures of the baby's room as it progressed, as she had sent many pictures of her developing belly to them. She hadn't seen any of them in person since she'd gotten pregnant, but they'd exchanged phone calls and emails almost every day. She felt like she knew the baby's extended family – Grandpa, Uncles and cats – though she'd never meet them. The one person that she would meet, and was very much looking forward to meeting, was Nena. Mary heartily approved of Colby and Charlie bringing Nena up to Oregon for the birth. There was no way that Nena couldn't have felt pushed aside by the anticipation of a new baby, no matter how hard Colby and Charlie tried to include her. Nena's 'emotion painting' of 'Family' on the wall of the baby's room had choked Mary up, even if she didn't get it.
Over the last nine months, Mary had been amused and understanding of Colby's grilling about newborn needs, and amused though a little befuddled by the sort of questions that Charlie had asked her. Charlie had been calculating cell division since the day of fertilization and insisted, every conversation, on telling her just how many cells the baby had gotten to. She didn't need to know the numbers now to be able to say that the baby was big and ready. Or maybe it was just her that was ready. She hoped that the baby wouldn't decide to be fashionably late. The one late baby that she'd carried had been miserable.
There was a knock on the door and she looked up with an eager smile. "Come in! It's open!" She'd wedged it open the last time she'd waddled by to the bathroom.
Charlie pushed open the door and his eyes immediately went to Mary's belly. Mary was kind of used to that. "Hi," he said.
The door opened wider and admitted the big blond man she'd only met once. "Hi, our room is just one floor up," Colby said, herding Charlie into the room.
Behind Colby was one of the cutest little girls that Mary had ever seen, though of course not as cute as her two girls. Nena was blond and green-eyed like her birth father, though there was an extra hint of stubbornness around her mouth. She was obviously in the middle of a growth spurt, her purple Jelly Beans top just barely meeting the waistband of her jeans. Nena's eyes also went to Mary's stomach and Nena stepped closer to Colby.
"Mary, this is Nena," Colby said. "Say 'hi', honey," he said to Nena. "You've talked to Mary on the phone many times."
"Hi," Nena said shyly, not raising her eyes from Mary's round belly.
The baby jumped in Mary's womb, as if he or she had recognized that his or her family had arrived.
"Oh!" she said.
"What, what is it?" Charlie asked quickly. "A contraction?"
"No, no." Mary shook her head. "Just the baby kicking. Come feel!"
"You don't mind?" Colby asked, "I mean, you were complaining about people pawing at you."
Mary waved them closer. "That was random people in the grocery line, not the parents."
Charlie tentatively reached out. Mary took his hand and guided it to where the baby was doing a tap dance in her womb.
"Oh, oh," Charlie said, his eyes going impossibly wide. He sat down hard on the bed nearby. "Wow."
"Starting to feel real?" Mary smiled.
She helped Colby feel the baby and a huge grin broke out on Colby's face.
"Feel the baby, honey," Colby said, gently nudging Nena forward.
Nena carefully put her hand on Mary's stomach. Then her eyes went wide, in a repeat of Charlie's expression. "Oh! That's a big kick! Must be a girl."
Mary laughed.
Colby sat down on the bed next to Charlie and took Charlie's hand.
"I know we just talked yesterday," Colby said to Mary, "but how are you feeling?"
"Ready," Mary said with a smile. "One baby was a week early, one a week late, and the other two close to the due date. It's already past the week early mark, so—"
Charlie's eyes finally rose from her belly. "So, odds are – wait, what do you mean by 'close'? Were the others exactly seven days off? A.M. or P.M.?"
Chuckling, Mary shook her head. "I can hardly remember my name these days. All my brainpower is being sucked up by the baby."
"Wow," Charlie said. "Literally?"
"I don't know those big words you use," Mary teased.
Nena suddenly asked, "Daddy, can we give it to her now?"
"You want to?" Colby asked.
Nena nodded. Colby looked at Charlie, who nodded as well. Colby handed Nena a hotel room key. "Go get it then. It's—"
"Next to the bed, I know."
Colby smiled and Nena hurried off.
"She's going to be a heartbreaker," Mary said as Nena left.
"No, she's not," Colby said. "'Cause she's never going to date. When she hits puberty, I'm sending her to a nunnery."
"Get thee to a nunnery," Mary chuckled. "I can understand. But you'd miss out the fun parts of teenagehood, too."
"There are fun parts?"
"Oh, yeah, gathering blackmail material for adulthood."
Charlie and Colby laughed.
Charlie said, "We were planning on going off to lunch, pizza probably, afterwards. Would you like to join us?"
Mary leaned back in her chair. "Naw, I'm going to put up my feet."
"You have to eat," Charlie urged. "Let me get you the room service menu."
"Okay," Mary said without much resistance.
Charlie got up and began rummaging through the pile of folders on the desk.
"They have 24 hour room service," Colby assured her. "One of the reasons why we picked this hotel. Order and eat as much as you want, any time."
"Thank you," Mary said. "Room service has always been a special little treat for me. Maybe it's the mini salt and pepper shakers or maybe the almost naughtiness of eating on your bed."
"Indulge, please," Colby said. He hadn't stopped smiling since he'd felt the baby's kicking.
Charlie pressed the room service menu into Mary's hands.
She opened it but said, "I think I'll just order a sandwich – not much room for my stomach to expand these days – and watch some TV. It's like a vacation from housework and taking care of my family."
"Order pay-per-view, if you want."
Mary smiled at him with understanding. If she asked for the moon right now, Charlie and Colby would do their best to bring it to her. She'd talked with many other surrogates, and knew that some of them really took advantage of the intended parents, but she was the one who had to live with herself afterwards. She'd felt a little odd about the hotel room, especially booking for a week, but it did make sense. Their birthing center was just a five-minute drive away, as well.
Nena returned, holding a small box. It looked like a jewelry box and Mary sat up curiously. Nena handed it to Colby, who handed it to Charlie, who handed it to Mary.
Cautiously, Mary opened the box. Inside was a gold and diamond pendant. A four-leaf clover? No, four hearts, with their bottom points meeting at the center.
"You, uh …" Nena took the box from Mary and clicked a little latch on the top of the pendant and the pendant opened out to four hearts in a row. She showed it to Mary. "See? It's the four of us, our family with the baby, all together."
"You're making our family complete," Charlie said simply.
Mary blinked back tears. "That's very sweet, thank you."
"Do you like it?" Nena asked. "I helped pick it out."
"Yes, honey," Mary said huskily. "I like it a lot."
"See," Nena pulled a necklace out from underneath her shirt. She leaned forward, so Mary could see a pendant made of three interlinked hearts. "This is, was, our family now, before the baby's born."
Mary's eyes got considerably more watery, and she wiped them. "I get so emotional right now," she said weakly.
"Maybe we should have waited to give—" Colby started.
"No, no, it's wonderful," Mary said, pulling the necklace from the box. "Nena, help me put it on?"
"You want it opened out or closed?" Nena asked.
"Open, for now," Mary said.
Nena helped fasten the necklace around her throat. It rested against her shirt, looking oddly appropriate with her T-shirt and sweat pants.
"Thank you," Mary said again.
"You're very welcome," Charlie said. "Though it hardly balances out what you're doing for us."
Mary gave a wave of her hand, attempting to incorporate in a gesture the happiness that making their family complete would give her. Wiping her eyes again, she cleared her throat. "Didn't you say something about going out for pizza?
"Yeah, then we were going to –" Charlie stopped himself then said, "We can come back here and, um, keep you company after lunch."
"No need," Mary assured him. "I'd like some quiet. And you need to take advantage of unfettered baby-free time while you have it. Go have some fun."
"We'll be close by, and you've got our cell phone numbers, right?" Charlie said.
Colby added, "The front desk knows to respond to any calls from this room as if they're from the President. If we can't get back here immediately, traffic or something, the manager will personally drive you to the birthing center. Or the hospital if something doesn't feel right."
"I'll be—" Mary started.
Colby continued, "Make sure that you have a phone within reach at all times, so you can call 911 if you need to."
Mary laughed and shook her head. "Colby, I'll be fine. Every day, babies are born without incident."
"Our baby isn't born every day!" Colby said stubbornly and Mary laughed again.
"I'll be fine," she said with as much confidence as she could put into her voice. "If you want, you can go by a bookstore and pick me up the latest J.D. Robb. Now, off with you."
Even with that admonition, it was twenty minutes before they left. They had to get her propped up in bed with every pillow in the room (and some from theirs), order room service so she wouldn't forget, get everything that she might possibly want within reach, and wedge the hotel door open so she wouldn't have to get up when the room service arrived. She shooed them out and sank back against the pillows.
Smiling tiredly, she put her hand on her belly. "Hurry up, baby. Your family is anxious to meet you."