Every Schoolboy's Dream Ch. 10

She stared at me. I'm not sure why I even stopped - I guess because I wanted some sort of acknowledgement - up to that point - that she understood. From there, we could move on to the rest of the sordid details.

However, we were at a stand-still.

"Mom?" I asked.

"Reggie, honey, can you step outside for a minute?"

Now, I was the one staring.

My former teacher leaned in and whispered, "Just do what she says. It'll be fine."

I got up and walked to the front door. I turned to look back at the three of them and Kasey shooed me out. I opened the door, stepped through, closed it, and headed for the garden bench.

I felt like a death-row inmate, waiting - with ten minutes to spare - for a call from the Governor. If that call didn't come soon, I was done-for.

It probably wasn't long - but it felt like hours - before Kasey opened the door and said, "You can come back in."

Her face didn't betray any of what had happened. Stunned, I walked through the door - leaving her to shut it - and returned to my place on the couch. She sat down beside me a few seconds later.

My mom said, "I'm sorry, Reggie. There are just some things that a mother cannot take her son's words on. As far as I can tell, neither of these women has been coerced or threatened - and they corroborated your story. They didn't tell me much else because they said that was yours to tell. At this point, all I know is that the three of you went to Nevada and had another ceremony and that they have both agreed to share you. It is some consolation to me that you have given each other vows but it's still a little too weird for me to imagine all of the implications. So, tell me your story but I may have questions."

I nodded.

"Pastor John's discussion, with us, was that we needed to make sure to keep things Rated G at church."

"He knows?"

"He suspects. He doesn't want to 'know' because then the church would have a problem."

"Okay. I think I understand."

"So... obviously... the three of us have been having sex."

"Really, son, I don't think I need..."

"... and... you're going to be a grandmother."

Stop! Hammer time!

... and we wait.

"What?!"

"Congratulations, mom! You're gonna be a granny," I said, smiling from ear to ear.

Kasey handed her the test. Why the hell do women pass around plastic wands that they've peed on? It's beyond me.

"Oh my goooooodnesssss!"

Kasey laughed.

"Oh, honey. I'm so happy..." she stood, angling towards Kasey - and realized my former girlfriend was pointing at her mom.

Mom froze again.

I grabbed her and plopped her down between Kelsey and me.

I'm not sure where the sound originated from but - for a moment - I thought we had an angry tea-kettle in the kitchen. I finally realized it was a squeal of joy - which turned into hugs, kisses, crying, more hugging, more kissing, more crying... and quite a bit of explaining.

Kelsey informed her that she'd been worried about waiting too long and - now that she felt more comfortable in her position at school - she didn't want to put it off any longer.

When I got mom's attention, I said, "For whatever reason, Pastor John asked Kelsey if she was trying to have a baby and - when she said yes - he asked if he and his wife could pray for her. He prayed for God to help her get pregnant. Calendar-wise, the deed should have already been done, at that point, we were just waiting for her to miss her period so we could take the test - but who knows."

Kelsey told mom, "Kasey's dad and I tried for years before we had her - and we never had another. I'm considering it to be a miracle."

Mom said, "How are you going to manage, with you all taking classes and working?"

"We'll find a way," I told her.

"I'll help too," my mother immediately offered.

Kelsey said, "No."

Mom said, "Yes. We have a new nutritionist starting at the zoo. She wants days. Reg's dad's not there most of the time - so it doesn't matter when I work. I'll switch to evenings and watch the baby while you all are in classes."

Kelsey and I looked at each other and shrugged.

Mom looked at Kasey and said, "So... when..."

Kasey laughed and said, "Reggie & I are waiting until after college. Mom was worried about how much longer she has - so we decided she should go first."

My mom said, "Very practical. It would be amazing for both of you to be pregnant with my son's babies at the same time (Oh! I can't believe I just said that!) - but - not very practical. I'm so excited."

She turned and wrapped me in her arms.

"Oh! Baby!" she cooed, "I'm such a proud momma."

"What will you tell dad?" I asked her.

"I don't think I'll need to say anything - and he'll just accept it quietly," Mom replied, "as will Grandma Mitchell - if she doesn't already know."

"She doesn't," I assured her.

Mom replied, "I wouldn't bet on that."

"Your parents?" I asked.

Mom thought about it for a minute before saying, "Pop will be proud of you. Mimi may have to adjust a little but I don't think she'll care. She may want to talk to the girls first, though. Oh! I'll call her and tell her you'll need another plane ticket! But I'll let you surprise them with your news when you arrive, over the break. Once my mother accepts the idea, I don't know how she wouldn't be just as excited as me. She'll want a little girl though.."

"If this one's a boy, we'll just have to try again", I replied, smiling from ear to ear.

~~~ Epilogue ~~~

Two weeks later, we met the buyers at the bank, closed on #24 Mulberry Street, and handed over the keys. We took the money and paid off the note for the Hobbit Hole. Grandma Mitchell and mom came over for the mortgage-burning party. I grilled burgers and my wives did the rest.

Grandma dropped a couple hints and my teacher-wife finally went and retrieved the pregnancy test. My grandmother gave me shit for thinking I could hide anything from her and then she hugged both my wives and got the entire story - from start to finish. Mom was still a little deer-in-the-headlight with a few of the revelations - but grandma spent most of her time nodding. We were, of course, immediately forced to set a date for our next Uno & meatloaf night.

Nine weeks after that, by mid-December, Kelsey's belly started to show and she fielded a few questions, at work, about who the father was. We flew to Florida and spent a day catching Pop & Mimi up on all the details. We had a grand time, early each morning during our stay there, beachcombing with my grandparents and, in the evenings, they spoiled us by showing us all of the fun things to do and the best places to eat. Pop caught me alone before we headed home and told me I was, "a lucky fucker". We promised to live-stream the gender-reveal - and they promised to fly home as soon as we called to tell them that my son or daughter had arrived.

Grandma Williams found the Hobbit Hole around the middle of October. Since she couldn't get through the fence, she had climbed onto the roof and tried to lean over the edge to peer in the windows. She'd lost her balance, tumbled to the ground, and landed on her hip, fracturing it. We found her the next morning. She was lucky it had been a warm evening. She was in a back-brace for weeks and in therapy for a month or two after that.

The next time we saw her was almost a year later. I was holding my infant son as Kasey and I shopped for groceries. When the old hag saw me, she asked if she could see the child. I told her the baby didn't have any of her blood and she had no reason or need to gawk at it.

She, of course, glanced from Kasey to me and said, "Kasey is my granddaughter..."

I replied, "Yes, but this isn't Kasey's baby - not that it's any of your fucking business."

"Whose child is it then?" she asked.

"Mine," I replied.

She stared back and forth between the two of us - as Kasey smiled but said nothing.

I told her that - if she hoped to see Kasey's baby - when that time came - she could start a college fund for this child and make monthly payments, mailing us copies of the receipts at the Hobbit Hole.

A month later, I regretted my words when she sent us the information for the fund and copies of the deposit receipts for the first two months.

She died before she ever even knew that Kasey was pregnant with our first child. By then, she had education funds created for both of my children with the daughter-in-law that she never recognized as legitimate. Two months after the funeral, her widower wrote us to say that he had placed amounts in each of the funds to round them out to $100,000 and that he was discontinuing the practice of making monthly payments. He never contacted us again.

When he passed, Kasey's boy & girl were in Elementary School. We met with the lawyer and my younger wife inherited everything the two of them had. By that point, the three of us were pretty set for retirement - so the money went into a trust to be split between all four of our children. As we wrapped up the work on the estate, I laughed at the fact that Kasey's grandmother had made the vandalism claim against her insurance - and yet none of the damaged cameras or motion-lights had ever been replaced. We left that task to the new owners. We never even went into the house. We had workers carry everything out to be identified for the auction. By the end of the day, it was all gone. Dust in the mother-fucking wind.

When the kids got old enough to need spaces of their own, we got a little creative with how the rooms in the Hobbit House were laid out. We ended up with an adults' room, a boys' room, and a girls' room.

Nick and Natalie were married shortly after my first child was born. Nick became the chief engineer when his uncle retired. They have a little girl who loves coming to visit her four cousins - and not just because we do our best to spoil her silly.

Surprisingly, Paul & Cindy still don't have kids - maybe because they're too busy running Benny's - which now boasts three locations. They still have the best burgers and chili dogs.

Dad finally quit truck driving. He and mom travel south during the winter but stop to see all of the "grands" as soon as they're home again. My mother got us through the infant and toddler years with all four of them. I tell her, often, that this was her greatest gift to me. Each of the kids had a moment or two where I had to remind them that this was the woman who bore me - and not an hourly-employee we paid to watch them. Once we got past that, we were all good again.

My children get Christmas at Thanksgiving in Florida at Pop & Mimi's. Mom & Dad drive down and meet us there. The seven of us usually fly. (The one time we drove, it did not go well.)

Christmas morning, my kiddos give Grandma Mitchell squeezes and she spoils them all with warm oatmeal cookies. After presents, we sit down to her mouthwatering meatloaf. (Now that she's gone, we still have meatloaf for Christmas.)

Old Man Jenkins never retired; he just never showed up for work one day. They buried him in his coveralls. The funeral home had to push back the funeral because they couldn't get the lines of people - showing up to pay their final respects - through in the time they had allotted. Of those who were able to attend the service, there was not a dry eye in the place once my administrator wife got done listing all of the nice things the man had done over his many years of service to the school and its children. The Board named the gymnasium after him.

Carol took Kasey's advice, caught Bryce on the rebound, bridled her tongue, and ended up with two cute kids who didn't turn out too damned bad. She also ended up with a husband who spoils her whenever he can - who loves her kids more than his own life.

~~~ Thanks for reading! ~~~