My Wife had a Baby

"Whatever happened to the birth mother and her husband?"

"No idea. The adoption agency locks their files pretty tightly. They don't give the birth mother access to the adopted family's information, and vice versa."

Just then, Sarah came up and wanted to sit in Joanie's lap. She leaned her head against Joanie and was almost immediately asleep. After a few minutes, Joanie asked me to carry Sarah to her bedroom and put her to bed. It was the first time I had ever touched her and I felt very uncomfortable. I was happy to put her down.

Seven months later, Joanie moved in with me. A year after that we were married. We had a very happy year until the Army stepped in. We were told that we were being sent to Germany for a three-year tour. We had 60 days to get there.

One of the things the Government does well is move people and we were 'in country' with all of our belongings, including my car, well within the time given us.

Germany is a beautiful country and the Heidelberg area is spectacular. Joanie had never been out of the US, so enjoyed the adventure and the trips we took around Europe. One of the first things we did was buy her a new car. She was in seventh heaven, tooling around on the highways driving as fast as she wanted to in a car built to go at high speeds.

We made two trips back to the States, one when she and Dwight's father died. The other was for her class reunion. Both times, of course, we saw Dwight and Sammie. We saw Sarah at the funeral, but she was at camp when we went back for the reunion. I breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah and I never really got along. I suppose some internal mechanism told both of us that we weren't going to be friends. That suited me fine.

I understood that she had no say about being born or who her parents were, but in my mind, she was still the love child of my ex-wife and her lover.

Joanie and I tried to have kids, but it was never in the cards. We had also talked about adopting, but it never got very far.

Keith and I remained friend and talked occasionally. He was remarried and while Joanie and I were in Germany, he was stationed in Belgium and we visited each other. He and I had more than one discussion on the fantastic turns of events that brought us to where we were, and he blamed himself. Had he not gotten his brother to hack the adoption agency, we wouldn't have known who or where Hope was.

When our three years were up, we received orders for Fort Bragg, NC. I was going as a brand new LTC, assigned to the post headquarters as the Executive Officer to the Post Commander. It was normally a position for a Colonel, not a very junior Lieutenant Colonel, but I didn't object. In the world of the military, you didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Joanie and I had decided to live in Government Quarters while stationed there. Our house in Killeen was being rented out and we chose to keep doing that.

As part of my settling into my new job, the staff set up a series of briefings with the various departments that kept the post running. One of the briefings was to be given by the Post Engineer. The representatives from that office, plus the Post Engineer himself, were already in the conference room when I arrived. I sat at my appointed place at the table and watched as the blue-eyed civilian stood to start his speech. His hair a bit blonde, but had some grey mixed with it. He introduced himself as Kurt Weber. I just stared at him. He spoke for an hour and I didn't hear a word he said and my eyes didn't leave his face. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable with my staring at him. At the end of his presentation, he asked if I had any questions.

"Tell me, Mr. Weber. Have you ever been to Fort Hood?"

"Yes sir. I was in the engineering office there."

"Did you like it there?"

"Yes sir."

"Why did you leave."

"That's rather personal, sir."

"You're right. I withdraw the question. I just like to know about the people I'm working with. I seem to recall something of a scandal in the Fort Hood Engineer Office a few years ago. Do you know anything about that?"

"Uh. I vaguely recall something about one."

"It involved someone cheating if I remember correctly. Ah, well, just something I remembered. Thank you for your briefing. If you need anything from the Headquarters, don't hesitate to call on me. Just in case you've forgotten," I pointed to my name tag on my uniform, "my name is Sadler. S-a-d-l-e-r. Fred Sadler. I wouldn't want you to forget it."

I was still looking right in his eyes and I saw the light bulb go on and his eyes get huge. Kurt Weber turned several different colors, starting with red and ended with a pale-grey. I stood and left.

That afternoon I heard that Mr. Kurt Weber had requested a transfer. Unfortunately for him, that request had to go through me. When I received it the next day, I wrote DENIED in big letters and I added the handwritten note: 'I have plans that involve Mr. Weber's knowledge and experience. He will be key in carrying out those plans.'

The next day, to the surprise of almost everyone, Mr. Kurt Weber submitted a request for immediate resignation. I signed it.

I was more in love with Joanie every day. I watched as she grew more beautiful and sexier. I looked in the mirror every morning and saw nothing but a middle-aged man getting older and wondered what she saw in me, but whatever it was, I was grateful she did.

We enjoyed our time together, and time, in the form of years, went by quickly. Much quicker than I wanted.

We were stationed in Alaska and took a trip to Killeen to visit Sammie and Dwight. Our first evening there they involved us in a decision they had made along with Sarah, who was now almost 18 years old. She knew from early on that she was adopted, but now she was interested in trying to find her birth parents. Both Dwight and Sammie supported her decision, but the Adoption agency wasn't giving them any help, claiming they were forced to abide by the laws. All we heard that first day was how archaic the laws were and that there was a need to reform them, especially in view of how important it could be for an adopted child to know about any health history the birth parents may have had.

What they decided to do was get on the website that dealt with DNA and ancestry, submit Sarah's DNA and see what happens.

Sarah thought it might be nice if her birth mother came to her high school graduation, but since it was only a couple of weeks away, that wasn't likely they decided.

Joanie and I were in bed later that night when she asked, "What are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"About Sarah."

"What about her?"

"Come on, Fred. Married couples have no secrets... or shouldn't have. I found your little folder six months after we were married. She can avoid having to do the DNA thing if you tell them what you know."

"Oh, shit," I said.

"Yeah, oh shit."

"Why haven't you said anything all these years?"

"I'm not sure. I guess I knew how sensitive you would be about it, and Dwight and Sammie didn't need to know, so I kept quiet."

"But now?"

"But now it has become important and you need to address it."

"Any suggestions as to how I go about doing that?"

"Just tell the story, I suppose."

"How do you think they'll take it?"

"Dwight is my brother and is like me so he'll take it okay. Sammie is the dark horse."

"Okay. Tomorrow, we'll get Sarah out of the house and tell them."

She leaned over and kissed me softly. "Do you ever get tired of me?" she asked.

"What a stupid question," I said. "Of course not. Why did you even ask?"

"Because you haven't touched me all day."

I grinned and reached for the buttons on her pajama top. "I can fix that right now."

The next morning was Sunday. Sarah's BFF picked her up and they headed for the mall.

I gathered the four of us around the table, took a deep breath, and started. I began by telling them that Joanie and I had packed our bags before coming downstairs so we were ready if they wanted to kick us out. They looked at us and Joanie shrugged her shoulders.

"Sarah doesn't have to submit her DNA on the chance that she might find her birth parents. I know who they are," I said. The looks I received from both of them told me I had better explain myself, so I told them the whole story.

When I was finished, I took a deep breath and looked around the table. Dwight was just staring at me and Sammie had tears in her eyes. After a couple of seconds, she got up, came to me, took my hands, pulled me up, and hugged me.

"Oh, you poor man. Living with that all these years and not being able to talk about it. Nobody deserves that." She hugged me again. "What do you think, Dwight?" she asked her husband.

"I'm trying to calculate the odds on how we all got together. I don't think there is a number large enough."

"So what do we do now?" Asked Sammie as she returned to her chair.

"I think Fred should get in touch with his ex-wife and invite her to the graduation, since Sarah wants her to be there," said Joanie.

"Me? Why me?" I protested.

"Because you started it." Dwight grinned. "But who's going to contact Weber?"

"Not me," I said, and I told them about the last time I had seen him.

"You never told me that," said Joanie.

"I didn't know you knew the whole story, now did I?"

She leaned oved and kissed me. I love this woman, I thought.

Later that day when Sarah got back, Dwight and Sammie told her. She was both nervous and excited and wanted us to go ahead.

The only way I knew to get in touch with Lydia was through her parents... if they were still alive... and if they still lived in Mechanicsburg... and if they still had a landline.

I waited until Monday morning and talked to a Private Investigator. I asked him to help locate both Lydia's parents and Kurt Weber. It took two hours for him to get a phone number for the parents. Weber was taking a bit longer.

I called Lydia's parents, reminded them who I was, and told them that I needed to speak to Lydia. I gave them my number to pass on to her.

Less than an hour later, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"This is Lydia Bowman. I was given this number... "

"Hello, Lydia."

"Fred?"

"Yes. How are you?" I asked, trying to think of something intelligent to say, but failing.

"Actually, I'm great. How are you?"

"Really good. Uh, Lydia, there is something very important I need to talk with you about."

"Okay, go ahead."

"Not over the phone. Tell me where we can meet and we'll talk in person."

"Let me get this straight. We haven't talked in years and suddenly out of the blue, you have something so important to talk about that it has to be done in person?"

"That's about it."

"Sorry, Fred. I'm not buying it."

"Okay, but just remember I gave you the chance."

"Chance at what? Come on, Fred, what is it?"

"Only in person, Lydia. Call me if you change your mind."

"Wait. Wait. All right, dammit. We live in Vegas."

"That's better. I'll fly out there tomorrow and call you when I land. You can decide where you want to meet."

The next afternoon we met in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel. I guess she wanted lots of witnesses. "Hello, Lydia."

"Hello, Fred. This is my husband, Roland. Roland Bowman."

"Hello, Roland." I turned my attention to Lydia. "I need to see you in private for like 10 seconds."

"Anything you have to say you can say in front of Roland."

"If you say so, but it's about the HOPE you had." She went pale. "Is it still okay to talk?"

"Yes. He knows about her."

"Good. Let's sit." We found as quiet a corner as we could, given where we were. "I recommend we get something to drink. Is wine okay?" We agreed on red and I ordered it. "Let's wait until we have some in our glasses." I paid for the wine and we all took a sip. "Her name is Sarah and she graduates from High School in two weeks and would like for you to be there."

Both Roland and I watched as she passed out with her wine glass in her hand and she didn't spill a drop. Roland took her glass, set it down and patted her cheeks until she came to.

"What did you say?"

I repeated it. Then I took out the picture I had of Sarah and showed it to Lydia. She started to bawl as she touched the photo as gently as she could.

"She's beautiful. Where did you get this?"

"I took it yesterday in her living room."

"You took it? How? Why?" I told her the whole story from start to finish. I even told her that we were trying to find Kurt Weber to invite him, but he seemed to have disappeared. She didn't know that I knew his name, so she was shocked a second time.

She was overwhelmed at first, but then she got mad. Really mad. "Why didn't you ever tell me? Why did you keep her from me all these years?"

Her voice was getting very loud. Roland jumped in. "Settle down. Settle down. You gave up all rights to her. Fred is breaking the law doing what he's doing now, so cool it." She settled down.

"When can I see her?"

"At her Graduation if you want to come."

"Of course I'll come. Can't I see her sooner?"

"You both need some time to get used to this. Don't rush it. How about getting there the day before?"

She smiled. "That would be wonderful."

"Now, how about I take a picture of you so she can see what you look like?"

"Okay." We found a place outside for her to pose. When I started to leave, she leaped at me, hugged me, and started kissing all over my face and head."

"Not a bit demonstrative, is she?" Asked Roland, laughing. I decided I could like him.

I flew back that afternoon to prepare Sarah. I showed her Lydia's photo.

"She's beautiful," Sarah said. She was very nervous, but excited, as well. For the first time since I had known her, she hugged me. "Thank you Uncle Fred."

"Now we know where you get your beauty." Sammie said, holding tightly to Sarah.

"Do you know what my birth father looks like?" Sarah asked timidly. The other three adults looked at me with wide eyes on edge about what I was going to say.

I thought for just a second before speaking. "Let me just say that you get your blonde hair and blue eyes from him."

The three adults breathed sighs of relief.

We had only taken a week's leave so I had to get back to Alaska, but Joanie stayed to help everybody get ready for the big day. I flew back to Alaska, promising to be back two days before graduation.

The day before I was to go back to Killeen, the PI called me. The most he could find out about Weber was that after he resigned from Civil Service, he took a job as a consultant for the Government of one of the mid-east countries. Like a couple of other American Consultants, he disappeared shortly after arriving 'in country,' and nobody had seen him since.

I met Lydia and Roland at the airport and took them straight to Sarah's house. She was standing in the middle of the living room when we walked in. I let Lydia go first.

They just looked at each other for a long time then Lydia spoke. "I brought you this," she said as she pulled out the pacifier, "it belongs to you and I thought you might like it back."