Dawn of the Unthinkable (3 page)

“Uh, hi. How are you? What did you think of
the speaker?” he asked, as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Oh, hi, Nick. He was good. I’m always glad
to get a little advice on how to run my program. Sometimes I feel
it’s like a boat without a rudder,” she said as she reached for a
creamer.

“Here, let me get that for you,” he said,
trying to be gallant.

Kathy Ross seemed amused by his little
display of chivalry, because she smiled and looked closer at him,
as if she were sizing him up.

He took that as an encouraging sign and
blurted out, “I don’t suppose you would want to go somewhere else
for coffee? This is not that good.” He winced at the institutional
Joe that they were drinking.

She appeared startled to be asked out, but
answered, “Oh, uh yeah, sure. Do you mean now?” She started doing
the mental gymnastics all single parents do when they go anywhere
to see if they have coverage.

Ryan was not expecting a yes so now it was
his turn to scramble. “Now is good, or some other time. Whatever
works for you.”

“Okay, well, I’m already out, so let me just
see if I can extend the sitter by a bit,” she said, as she looked
around for a pay phone.

“Okay, great,” Ryan said, a little shaken,
as he had now taken the first step towards moving on from Donna,
and he was thinking he had made a huge mistake.

Before he could undo anything, she was off
her call. “Yeah, I’m good for an hour, where do you want to go?”
she asked brightly, leaving the decision to him. He liked that. It
let him regain some measure of composure. She was hard to resist
and wanted to end her loneliness, too, he guessed. They arranged to
go to the local Dunkin’ Donuts and chatted easily about their kids
and the surprising amount of things they had in common. She worked
part-time and babysat some other kids to help make ends meet. As
they stirred their coffee, his black with cream and two sugars,
hers an iced vanilla, he learned that she had a great sense of
humor and an easy laugh that he liked. He struggled to find the
words to convey his interest in her and finally just confessed.

“Kathy, I’m not a very romantic guy. I
wasn’t good at it with Donna, and I’m afraid I’m going to make a
mess of it with you. I just hope you’ll hang in there with me for a
while and give me a chance. I’d like to see more of you. I mean,
not more of you in that way. I mean, oh Jesus....” he stammered,
blushing furiously. She was charmed and grabbed his hand.

“Hey, relax. I’m not looking for Prince
Charming. Joe the Lumberjack would do at this point. We’ll take it
easy and see where it goes.”

Reassured, he said, “Whew, that’s good. I’ll
try to do my best, but don’t be surprised by my less than stellar
behavior. I was raised in an Irish Catholic family with all boys,
so women were a bit of a foreign concept. But I’m a good learner,
so if I’m doing anything wrong, please tell me.”

She gave him a warm smile. “Don’t worry,
you’ll be fine. You’re lucky I actually have a thing for Irishmen.
They are some of the world’s greatest writers and poets.” They
ended their first encounter with an awkward handshake that
progressed to an even more awkward half hug, which made them both
laugh. It appeared to both of them that they had some
chemistry.

They started to date, and after a while,
their relationship flourished. A few months passed of them going to
restaurants and movies and taking walks on trails near his house.
Amidst their varied conversations, they talked about introducing
their kids to each other. They were walking under the trees in one
of the parks they both liked as it was quiet and not crazy busy
with bikers and runners. He was holding her hand, which thrilled
him to his core.

Kathy said, “Do you think we should do
something where Billy and Scott could meet? Something that would be
active, so they could concentrate on playing and not on each other.
Like maybe one of those miniature golf and batting cage
places.”

He thought about that. “Yeah, that’s a good
idea. Instead of just taking them out to eat, where they would
probably just play video games, having them play together would
hopefully ease the anxiety of meeting another kid with their
parents around. I know I never liked that as a kid. Good idea,
Kath, you’re as smart as you are pretty.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. Thank you.” She tilted
her head up for a kiss, which he eagerly supplied. They made
arrangements to go the entertainment center the next weekend, and
waited anxiously through the week to see how their plans would
go.

The Saturday arrived bright and shiny, and
both families arrived in the morning ready for fun. The boys met
shyly, shaking hands and grunting “Hi” while not looking at each
other. Billy, at eight, was two years older and a head taller, so
he was more self-assured, but still just a kid, and looking forward
to the challenge of putting and batting. The fact that there was a
younger kid there to impress only made it better.

They got their clubs and balls and made
their way around the course, hooting and hollering at each other’s
triumphs and tragedies. At the tenth hole, the parents said they
were going to let the boys finish out and they would just watch
from the benches. This gave the boys some time to really size each
other up. Their excited chatter showed that they were comfortable
with each other, but then something happened that really bonded
them together.

A group of bigger kids were playing behind
them. They were getting impatient with Scott’s lingering on a hole
batting the ball back and forth not getting it in the hole. One of
them shouted, “C’mon, let’s go! It’s our turn!”

Scott turned to them, startled to be yelled
at. He was afraid of getting in any trouble, so he quickly grabbed
his ball and said, “Okay, okay, I’m going,” and left the hole.

The kid apparently wasn’t through with him,
though. He yelled, “Yeah, sis, you better get out of here. You
know, you’ve got a big head, too!” Scott was now terrified and
humiliated and on the verge of crying.

Kathy, witnessing this whole scene, was
getting ready to move in and skin this kid alive, but Ryan held her
back and said, “Wait.”

Billy was not going to stand for his new
little friend getting harassed. Although he was afraid, too, his
father had taught him to defend himself and others who couldn’t. He
walked up to the kid and said, “Look, we’re off the hole, don’t
call him any more names, okay? He’s with me.” He said it in tone
that let the bully know there would be trouble if he kept it up. He
backed down as most bullies do when their bluff is called.

Scott stared at Billy with his mouth hanging
open. It was the single bravest thing he had ever seen, and it was
on
his
behalf! He could not believe what he had just
witnessed, and his respect and admiration for Billy grew tenfold.
He hoped they would see more of them, as he liked Kathy, too.

Kathy turned to Ryan, eyes wide. She said
quietly, “How did you know?”

Ryan said, “I didn’t, but I was hoping.”

“Jesus, the two of you are too much. You’re
both like knights in shining armor. Talk about sweeping a girl off
her feet! You know, I think I’m falling in love.” She excitedly
kissed him, which shocked the boys. It was the first time they
noticed that there was something going on between these two, that
they weren’t just friends. The day ended uneventfully and happily,
with a burger and fries meal to cap it off.

As they parted, Ryan pulled Kathy to him and
whispered to her, “I love you, too.”

They started to put their children together
more regularly to see if they got along on a daily basis, and they
did, very well. All the signs looked promising, but now they were
at the point where a good night kiss just was not enough.

Ryan was trying to think of some way to
bring the subject up, but she solved the problem for him. One of
their dates was at her house, and the boys were sleeping in front
of the TV after a full night of wrestling and watching movies. They
scooped up their respective kids, and Ryan was going to bundle
Billy into his car to go home when Kathy offered, “Why don’t you
just take him upstairs and lay him down with Scott? There’s
room.”

Nick thought for a second, but quickly
agreed. They got the kids upstairs and bedded down, and when Ryan
turned to go back downstairs, Kathy caught him and said, “Wait.”
This word had significance to them because of what had happened
before. She looked into his eyes and then kissed him slowly and
deeply. A vision of Donna flashed quickly through his mind, but he
knew he had to move on. She seemed to want him. She took his hand
and led him to her bedroom down the hall.

They fumbled with each other’s clothes once
inside, and found that while each was somewhat shy about their
bodies, they longed for the type of physical closeness that only
comes with someone you really care about. Her body was nice and
firm, and he responded with a throbbing erection that she quickly
secured in a magically appearing condom. He wanted to get in her
right away, but she took control, teasing him with kisses, squeezes
and tugs, which just about drove him mad. Finally, her passion rose
up to meet his, and she spread her legs and positioned him to enter
her. He was just about to thrust inside when they heard from
outside the door, “Mom?”

Scott had woken up from the noise that they
didn’t realize they were making, and now no doubt was confused and
scared by all the unexpected noise he had heard. Ryan leaped out of
the bed, trying to pull on underwear, pants, and a shirt all at
once, while having to manage a woody that was now fading
quickly.

Kathy was grabbing at her clothes as well,
yelling at Scott, “Hang on, honey, I’ll be right out!” She had to
laugh at Ryan, who was trying to stuff himself into his pants with
such
a look of disappointment on his face. She felt her love
for him swell up in her heart. She pulled herself together and went
out to get Scott back to bed. Fortunately, he was too sleepy to
notice that Ryan was in his mom’s bedroom, as they were not ready
to tell the kids about it. She came back from the room where the
boys were and said, “Wow, that was close. Almost caught us, huh?”
She looked up at him, apprehensive that he would be upset by the
coitus interuptus.
Instead, he grabbed at her hungrily,
pulling her robe open to grab at her full breasts. And while she
would have loved to accommodate him, she had lost the mood.
There will be time for that
, she decided, and she would make
sure the next time that the kids would be squared away.

They were soon looking for moments when they
could be alone together, and their pent-up passion thrilled them
both. It was amazing what a new relationship brought. Joy, sadness,
fear, and excitement chased around in their brains, often crashing
into each other as they all tried to surface at once. Even though
they
loved each other, there was no guarantee that the kids
would love this new person. That took time. The new people would
now be around much more often and taking some of their parent’s
attention away. Despite the difficulties, they decided to get
married. Ryan proposed to her in Love Park in the middle of
Philadelphia, while a gaggle of skateboarders ground their boards
nearby.

They settled into a domestic routine after
getting over the road bumps of combining two families. Their two
sons soon began to regard each other as real brothers and played,
fought, and tussled as if they had been together since birth. Ryan
learned to cope with being a stepfather, which meant getting over
the hesitation he felt over correcting someone else’s child, but as
Kathy’s ex-husband was notorious for not showing up for his turn to
pick up Scott, Ryan had to play Dad to him very often. After a
while, he got over his initial discomfort with this and grew to
love Scott as his own as did Kathy with Billy.

Their blended family was going well. Kathy
and Scott moved into Ryan’s house, and the boys could have each had
their own bedroom, but Billy wanted Scott with him, and even though
it was a little cramped and the furniture didn’t match, they became
roomies.

One night after the kids had been settled
in, they were sitting on the couch watching TV. Kathy was leaning
on his broad shoulder. She liked the
bigness
of him.
Although she was not petite, and had added a few pounds over the
years, he made her feel small and protected. She said to him,
“Remember when we were talking about whether we would ever have
more kids? Do you ever think about that? I mean now that things are
a little more settled down?” She looked at him, not knowing what he
would say.

“Yeah, sometimes I do, but I wasn’t really
certain how I felt about it. What do you think?”

She was quiet for a moment, and then said,
“I think we’re ready for it. We’ve all been married for over a year
now. The boys are getting along fine, and we have a room for her, I
mean, whoever,” catching herself too late.

He laughed. “You want a girl, too, huh?”

“Well, yeah, sure. It would be great, but
I’d take either. I just think it would be nice to have a child of
our own.”

“I agree. It would be nice. It might be a
little risky; though, we’re not getting any younger, and I hate to
say it, but things like this do not get easier with age.”

She said, “Oh come on, you’re only
thirty-nine. Lots of guys have kids in their forties. And at
thirty-two, my eggs haven’t reached their ‘sell by’ date yet. So we
should be okay.”

“Wow, okay. So we’re doing this? Man, I’m
going to have to step up my game. Once a day and twice on
Sundays?”

“Well, I don’t know about all that, it’s
more about timing than excessive quantity. But yes, you will have
to be a little more diligent. Do you think you’ll have a problem
keeping up?