Drug Lord's Gifts

So? What did the church do in situations like this? Kick the offending priest and nun out, force them together into a shotgun marriage, or something like that? Glenn, my roomie, had never learned that part—or at least never shared it with me.

I gave Father O'Reilly my best 'understanding' expression and a nod.

"But Mister Worden, there's more to this than just a child, an unwed mother and a priest."

Oh?

"Wouldn't you know it? The doctors expect twin boys, identical." He slowly shook his head as if to say, 'Why me?'

So I shook my head just a little to let him know I'd heard and could understand his quandary.

"Of course, abortion is out, too late for that legally, anyway. And adopting twins out is such a tough situation. The authorities will muddle this far out of reason because they'll think the babies should be kept together. Placing both twins with one couple, no matter how much they want to adopt, is a real strain on them. More hassle for the church, and embarrassment, if you know what I mean. A third complication is the father is Latino, so the kids almost for sure will be somewhat dark skinned. That cuts out a lot of potential adoptive couples."

Yeah, I could see that! But why was I here? He swallowed again and I knew the 'rest of the story' was about to surface.

"You're a good man, Matthew," he said with a nod in my direction. "I see that in your girl's eyes every time they talk about you—or even just think about you."

SO?

"And Anna and Maria make no secret of it, that as much as anything in the world, they'd like to be the mothers of your children. And also they understand they can't because of what was done to them. They get real sad when they think about it."

Yeah, I knew. Anytime the 'baby sons for me' subject came up, I had to gently steer them toward the happier side of those facts. I also knew Father O'Reilly was waiting for the other dangling shoe to drop—or rather I should say, to drop the other shoe himself.

"Okay, Father O'Reilly, what's the rest of it?"

He leaned back, ever so slightly before saying, "I, along with the hospital people, can arrange the birth documentation so Anna and Maria show up as the mothers of record for those twin baby boys. No adoption or formality headaches and the likely expense for that. They will be the legal mothers, and you can just as easily be listed as the legal father."

Well, hit me on the head with a baseball bat! I think I lost consciousness for a moment. When I came to, my mouth was hanging open, which took a conscious effort on my part to close and hold it closed.

Father O'Reilly gave me a minute for this to sink in. Good thing he did, because a near one-eighty degree turnaround in my lifetime mind-set took that long. Well, for one thing—maybe two, if you look at it that way—Anna and Maria got something they seemed set on getting from life. And reality was, this was about as close as could ever happen in the real world.

At their prompting—and they had such wonderful ways of repeating some request they wanted without it becoming a case of nagging—I'd given long thought to becoming a father with them, either by adoption or by fertilized egg implant—and the cost and rigamarole of doing either. But if sons were yet in our future, it had as of yet been a distant future.

But now? What I thought Father O'Reilly was leading up to didn't sound that bad. Not really. My realization said I must have given this more consideration than I thought.

"Does that start of a smile say you'll give this some thought?" Father said.

I suppose I nodded.

"Good. Here's what I see as benefits:

"If your two women stick together with you while the boys are growing up, as I expect they will,

"Then the boys will grow up together, something the experts say is good for twins.

"Anna and Maria get to raise these boys as theirs, and they get to—in effect—give you sons.

"They can trade off nursery duty so one or the other can still help at the schools; good for the school, yet almost as good as if the boys' mothers were both at home as well.

"So then: Good for the schools, good for the twins, good for the mothers, and good for you as the boys' father.

"You seldom find a better situation than that." Here he looked at me with an odd expression that said he knew more than he'd admit about what Anna and Maria did with me in our bedroom.

"The babies get automatic, natural-born citizenship, they grow up with a father figure I'll bet far more on than most, Anna and Maria think they live with you in a rich man's mansion, so your finances must not be shaky, and the boy's and their mother's skin color will probably match pretty well so seldom should questions arise on that quarter. And you understand the need for education.

If you take this on, our schools will educate your boys, gratis. Sort of repayment for your ladies helping out so much at our schools."

By now I was numb again.

"I know Anna and Maria are still only working at earning their own citizenship, but the INS will never get past DSHS trying to kick out-of-country the mothers of two natural-born citizens who have done nothing to deserve it, one of which is married to a natural-born citizen. So that makes them more secure."

I think at this point I was still shaking my head.

He stopped, thank heaven. I don't think I could have withstood much more of this. He only kept his gaze on me, wondering, I think, if he'd overdone it.

After a minute or so, Father O'Reilly leaned back and looked up. I looked up, too, to see him trying to decipher what went on behind my eyes.

***

"Well, ladies," I said after we'd finished desert that evening. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing," they said almost in unison—and a little too quickly.

"Oh, no? So what happened at school today?"

"Nothing."

"Did the priests say something today? Everything still good at the schools?"

Both nodded, ever so slightly. Then both went shy, something that seldom happened these days—and then only when one prepared to model her latest, tiny new scrap of cloth that barely hid any of the model. Funny how that caused shyness, but being completely naked with me in bed had long since lost all shyness.

"Well, the reason I was a little late getting home tonight was a call from Father O'Reilly. He tells me they have a situation over at the hospital and asked if we would consider helping them solve it."

You should have seen my girl's eyes light up! It was like one of those early spring sunrises, those that light up a few wispy clouds on the horizon and bring full daylight a half hour early.