It Started At Christmas Pt. 07

"So sweetheart, let's talk about our baby," Alan smiled and said.

"Certainly," Victoria smiled in return. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, since we don't know yet what we're having is there one gender you prefer more than the other?" Alan asked.

Victoria smiled, "I'd be happy with either a boy or a girl, but I would like for our first born to be a son. I want to give you a son. I know you wanted sons and mom didn't want anymore kids after me. So, I want a son and I know his name already."

"Oh do you now?" Alan said as he chuckled. "Do I have a say?"

"No, actually you don't. But I don't think you'll mind the name I have chosen. If we have a son, his name will be Nathaniel Alan Spencer," she said as she smiled at Alan.

Alan laughed. "So you want to name him after his old man?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. But, you see I flip flopped the name. You are Alan Nathaniel Spencer and he would be Nathaniel Alan Spencer." Victoria thought her choice of names quite clever.

Alan shook his head. "So, if we have a little girl, do you have a name chosen for her?"

"No, not really," Victoria said. "I was of the mindset since I picked out a name for a little boy and gave you no say, so I think you should name her if we have a daughter."

Alan smiled. Could she do anything wrong he thought to himself. If she asked him for the moon right now, he'd figure out a way to get it. He looked again at her briefly. She was looking at him and her eyes were so full of love. She absolutely glowed. He could feel himself physically responding to her again and his urge to make love to her again started to dominate his thoughts.

"You don't know how bad I want to make love to you again sweetheart," Alan admitted to Victoria.

She smiled back at him. "We have plenty of time ahead of us for that Alan. If we stop now, we're never going to get home." She leaned over and kissed him softly on his cheek.

"Ah, if you say so," Alan said while putting on a pretend pouty face.

They made it back home around 6 p.m. Alan noticed that Allison's car wasn't in the drive. At least they wouldn't have to deal with anything immediately. He knew things would be tense once she did get home. Alan told Victoria to go ahead in to the house and he would unload her stuff. He had just brought in the last of her things and was coming back down to close the garage when Allison pulled up.

Alan felt himself tense up immediately. Allison got out of the car and glanced at Alan as she walked past him and into the house. After closing the garage he made his way into the house. Allison was standing in the kitchen perusing through some mail. Much more composed and far more civil than she'd been at graduation, Allison said, "So, I imagine you want to talk." She so took Alan by surprise by the civility in her tone that he was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Yes, I think that would be a good place to start," Alan said calmly as he gathered his thoughts about him.

"Is Victoria home?" Allison asked.

"Yes, she is upstairs in her room," Alan answered very guardedly.

"Well, we do need to talk, but I don't want to do it here. Why don't we go drive somewhere? Sit and have some coffee. We have a lot to talk about," Allison calmly said.

Not feeling exceptionally comfortable with the idea of leaving Victoria alone, Alan absentmindedly glanced in the direction of upstairs. Allison, taking note of the look in Alan's eyes looked at him and said, "She'll be alright Alan. She's a grown woman, if you haven't noticed."

Alan knew very well, more than Allison would ever know, how grown of a woman Victoria was and he delighted in the thought of the future he would get to share with her and their child. "Yes, I know," Alan said, "But let me go tell her where we're going just in case she should need us."

Alan made his way upstairs and knocked on Victoria's bedroom door. "Come in," he heard her say. He walked in and saw her sitting on her bed going through some of the baby things she'd purchased. His heart warmed just at the sight of her. Walking over to her bed, he sat down close by where she was sitting.

"Your mother and I are going to go for coffee and talk. We may be gone a while. I just wanted you to know in case you wondered where we were," Alan said with a resigned look on his face.

Victoria looked quickly at her bedroom door and then leaned over and kissed Alan very tenderly. His mouth opened instantly welcoming her tongue inside. Capturing each others heads in their hands their faces locked in a tender and intimate kiss. Breaking away from it, Alan whispered, "I'll be back as quickly as I'm able to be." Then he got up and went downstairs.

They got in Allison's car and drove to the local Starbucks. After each had ordered their coffees, they found a quiet table, in a corner, where they could talk. Alan started the conversation. "So, what Victoria said, at graduation, about you and Patricia, is it true? If so, how long has it been going on? No, not how long has it been going on, but how long have you known you felt this way?"

Allison sat there quietly for a moment, and then she opened up to Alan. "I have felt this way for a long time Alan. Probably since Victoria was around 6 or 7. I tried to ignore it at first. I thought it might be just a phase of curiosity. But as time passed I realized it wasn't and didn't know what to do about it. Who was I to break up our family to follow what I was feeling? Looks like I've managed to do that anyway."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Alan questioned

"How was I supposed to?" Allison replied while taking a sip of her coffee. "It's not everyday you come to grips with the fact that you're a lesbian and you have to tell your heterosexual husband. I wanted to tell you. I didn't know how."

Alan sat there considering what Allison had just said. He tried to put his self in her position, difficult as it may be. He thought about him and Victoria. What if what had happened between the two of them just happened on its own with no prompting from Allison's actions. Would he have been able to tell Allison? Definitely not! It was something he still couldn't and had no intentions of telling her.

"I think I understand," he said.

Allison next moved on to the subject of Victoria. "So, did you know she was pregnant? Has she shared with you who the baby's father is?"

Alan almost burned his tongue on his coffee with the last question she asked. "No, I did not know she was pregnant. I was just as surprised as you. Yes, she has shared with me who the father is."

"Well?" Allison questioned?

"Well what?" Alan said feigning ignorance.

"Do we know the father?"

Alan found his cup of coffee very interesting at that moment. "Well, honestly Allison, Victoria shared it with me in confidence. I'm not at liberty to tell anyone, including you," he lied.

"I should have guessed," Allison said. "You've always had a better relationship with her than I have. She confides in you like a daughter should confide in her mother. I never fostered that relationship with her. I guess I'm reaping what I have sewn. So are you going to help her?"

Alan sat thinking momentarily as to what and how much he would or should share with Allison. "Yes, I plan on helping her. I plan on applying for a transfer to another university. I'm going to start putting the feelers out tomorrow. Once I find another job and I get moved, I'll move her and the baby in with me."

This wasn't quite what Allison expected him to say, at least about the job part. "So you plan on moving out of the house? I figured you'd want me to move out since it was the money your grandfather left you that paid the house off."

"No, you don't have to move out Allison. But if you chose to stay in the house I'd expect you to buy me out of it. If that's not something you're willing to do, then I believe we need to sell the house."

"Isn't this something lawyers should be talking about?" Allison said seriously.

"No, not really," Alan said. "I'd prefer we try to work things out as amicably as possible. What's done is done. There's no need for this to get any uglier than it already has been. No need to drag it out. Just figure out the details and tell the attorneys what we want simple as that."

They both sat there quietly, lost in their coffees wondering how 25 years of a life together was simply divided and discarded. They were young and both still in college when they married. He was 21 and she was 23. They had Victoria just about a year after they got married. They both doggedly pursued their educations. Allison went on to med school and Alan got his doctorate.

"So, we're going to be grandparents. How does it make you feel?" Allison smiled and asked.

Alan was happier about it than she would ever know. He wasn't about to be a grandfather, he was about to be a father and he was over the moon about it. "Well, I imagine I'm a lot happier about it than you appeared to be. No point in being angry about it. There's a beautiful baby coming and I love it already." It was evident from the light in Alan's eyes he was thrilled about it.

Allison reluctantly admitted that she too was excited about having a grandchild, even if her initial reaction didn't quite convey that.

Alan hadn't really given much thought to the fact that Allison would be he and Victoria's child's grandmother. New questions and concerns popped in his mind regarding how that would be handled. But Alan was good for compartmentalizing things in his mind and knew that he, no they, would cross that bridge when the time came.

He and Allison sat and talked for a couple more hours discussing division of assets, living arrangements until their divorce was finalized as well as relationships. Allison freely admitted that she had been in a relationship, with her nurse Patricia, for 3 years now. Alan admitted nothing. By the end of the conversation it had been decided that Allison would move out within the next few weeks. Once Alan had a solid lead on a new job he would put the house on the market.

They drove back to what once was their home in relative silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Allison's thoughts were varied. She was glad that her life wasn't this secret she had to keep anymore. She honestly regretted that she had been the one to break up her and Alan's marriage. But the thought that was most prevalent in her mind was how to make amends, if it was even possible, with her daughter. Would they be able to repair their relationship? Alan's thoughts were happier, although he didn't show it. He was thinking of the beautiful young woman, carrying his child, waiting for him at home. Yes, he was saying goodbye to 25 years of his life, but he was truly optimistic at what the future held.

To be continued.