"Are you coming with us, honey? Hanna called back to the house.
"Brad and I have got to move some stuff out of our room for the crib your Mom got. Her way of making our visits permanent,' her husband Kurt replied with a laugh. `So I'll catch the tour tomorrow, Is that OK?
"Sure" Mike called back. "You may have a different tour operator, but we're all experienced and insured," After the successful completion a several month long search, he could hardly contain his excitement and was anxious for Kurt, and everyone else he was close to, to see it.
Kurt laughed again and waved as Mike closed the front door and escorted his sister to the car.
"How's Jill doing, Mirek?" Hanna asked her brother as they backed out of the driveway.
He didn't answer at first, leading Hanna to suspect unhappy news.
"She struggling," he replied. "It's been real up-and-down with her. She's having some bad reactions to the chemo, and even then they're not sure how effective it's really been."
With her husband in medical research, she was somewhat familiar with the enigma of the human body, at least as expressed by those people who study it for a living. Kurt often spoke in awe at how complex, but at the same time how beautiful, were the mechanics of life. But that intellectual interest didn't provide much comfort when confronting the fate of a person you knew and loved.
"She really insisted on freezing those extra embryos, so I think she was mentally prepared for the worst." Mike added, "Right now, I really think it's one of the things keeping her going. But attitude can only do some much. These things just take their course."
"They do" Hanna said in a trailing sort of way, wanting to acknowledge her brother's comment but also wanting to get her brother's mind someplace else. "By the way, how is the surrogate doing? Any progress reports?"
"Oh, Nancy. Here name is Nancy Chambers. Well, for only being in the second trimester, she's definitely showing. But she's not like you yet." He said, nodding his head toward his sister's growing stomach as she adjusted herself in the seat.
"And Brad ?"
"You know my boy, he's always got a good game face. But I think everything going on with the his job, the baby, the house, and especially Aunt Jill, it's all affecting him a lot" he said, as Hanna noticed how tightly, almost desperately, he was gripping the steering wheel when he talked about Brad.
"He doesn't sleep very well, so I'm getting a little concerned with him there, too. He'll be OK, but he feels like there's a lot riding on us right now," He said as he loosened his grip and stretched out his fingers, one hand at a time. "He wishes so much that Jill could last long enough to see the baby. We both hope so, but...I just don't know."
"By the way, how are you feeling these days?" Mike asked after a long pause.
Reaching down for the bar that moves the seat back, she pushed it to provide maximum legroom. "Kind of hard to find a comfortable position, but I think we're doing OK. The doctor is really happy with how things look so far.," she said, suddenly jerking her face to dodge an attempted slurp from Reese in the back seat."
"He likes you", Mike said, not turning his head but hearing the commotion.
"I know he does, but he's expressing it in an unacceptable way."
"Dog hater!" Mike said with a mock accusatory tone.
"I just want accountability, like from my kids at school. Is that too much to ask?!" she said, as they both smiled.
"And Kurt?" Mike asked. They didn't get a lot of chances to talk face to face so he wanted to make sure that he covered as much as possible.
"Him?" she said with a smile as she then adjusted the seat back to a more reclined position. "I don't think he ever stops smiling. Especially after yesterday."
"Yesterday?" what happened yesterday?" Mike asked, assuming some minor milestone of some kind, maybe something with his search for a permanent research position.
"They did another the sonogram yesterday. We've been saying to them, `don't tell us! don't tell us! but we finally broke down and let them tell us. It's a girl"
Just at that moment Mike was pulling up to a stop sign, but in his excitement he accidentally jerked the car to a halt.
"Hey, watch it Mirek! I've got another passenger inside here too, you know!" she scolded him;
"Oops! Sorry, I got a little excited," he said "A girl! Oh wow. Congratulations!" he said, as he reached over and patted her tummy.
"I imagine that Kurt is happy with it?"
She reversed the reclined of the seat slightly and was now sitting a bit more upright in the never ending quest of the pregnant woman to find a comfortable position. "Mirek, I'm not sure the sex mattered to him, but on the other hand I think he did want a girl, probably for his Mom, I guess. He's just so...happy."
"Names?" asked Mike, curios to see their approach.
"Very easy. After the Grandmas. Elena Julia. Don't you think Mom will be thrilled!" she said. It was almost as if she had been planning the names for years. "By the way, there's no traffic. Get going, Mirek."
"oops sorry, distracted once more. Sorry – again!" he said with a chuckle as he speeded up the car.
"I knew you would be," she replied, looking away from him with a smirk.
"What about you guys? Names?"
"Well, as we all know, it's a boy. I guess name-wise, we're kind of like you all. We're going to name him after our Dad's. Robert Benedict Campagna Kovar."
"Hyphenated?"
"No, we thought about it a lot, but in the long run it seemed really complicated, especially when, and if, I should say, he gets married The names then just pile up. So he has two middle names. Maybe he'll just say his middle name is BC," he said with a laugh.
The pulled up to the house just as a group of neighborhood kids was bicycling past. A pair of large Oak trees in the front yard were just starting to get some buds and the ground smelled in that vital way that good soil smells after a long winter.
The house was along the Lake Road. It was one of the nicer parts of a the town, that, like a lot of Midwestern suburbs, was a little bit threadbare but was still comfortable and appealing. Though it was called `Lake' Road there were perpendicular streets branching off the north, between their house and the water, that actually had the real lake views.
Almost all the structures were large, 4 to 5 bedrooms, in all the diverse revival styles that were popular in the early part of the 20th century. The lots were wide, up to 75', with the houses taking up almost all of the width except for the single lane driveways that took cars to the garages at the back. The styles ranged from Tudor Revival with large areas of stucco and decorative beams to Colonial and Georgian ornamentation, with large pediments and sturdy wood columns. But with their consistent size and position to the street, all of the houses gave the appearance of solidity and strength.
Theirs was brick with an old but sturdy slate roof. Like the other houses in the neighborhood, it had a wide, formal front facing the street. Style-wise, it was one of those hybrid houses with a mix of historic details, from wide, bracketed eaves to an Arts and Crafts feel to 3' wide arched windows in the attic dormers and a large, welcoming bay window in the middle of the second story over the entry. Out back there was the typical two car wide garage, one side of which Mike had already claimed as a workshop.
Contributing significantly to the unique character were the huge trees on almost every property. Though neither Brad or Mike had seen their house during the summer, they both anticipated a cooling shade, not to mention the hordes of red autumn leaves, falling onto the house from their own big oaks.
It was everything they wanted in a neighborhood, as least as far as the physical appearance went. But because the prices were quite reasonable and the places were big, it looked like a few other younger families were there, too. Which would provide for playmates for the kid(s). Not to mention that neither of them wanted to feel like they were taking advantage of the Grandfather's generosity.
The found Niko in the front yard cleaning up branches, one of the tasks that they guys had hired him for as a money making opportunity. The one downside of the lush old trees was their propensity to drop a lot of debris around the site, though it was, of course, only a minor inconvenience when weighed against their beauty and nice shade. With his mom's enthusiastic consent, they had decided that he could be what they called their `Lawn Boy, mowing the grass and keeping up the flower beds, cleaning the sidewalk and anything else that needed to be done to keep the place in shape. It was something of a long bike ride - 25 minute or so, but he'd already done it a few times, and even in cold weather, and was looking forward seeing the guys and making some money.
His Mom was a big fan of the arrangement, as she knew he'd be well supervised while she could take on another job to support them. And give her son a future that she was not able to have herself, which in this case meant hopes for a private high school for the young boy who was blossoming both as a student and as an athlete
"Hi Uncle Mike!" he yelled out as the car pulled into the drive.
"Oh, Hi Aunt Hanna!" he added when he saw her struggling to rise up out of the passenger seat. He ran over and tried to give her a hand, not knowing exactly how to help but at least being there if needed.
"I'm OK Niko, but thanks," she answered, gently waving him off as she struggled onto the sidewalk adjacent to the driveway.
"Careful, there' Mike said. "someone did a bad concrete job, so it's all broken up right now from all the bad winters. We'll get it fixed in the next few years.'
Mike went on longer about the technical aspects of the sidewalk problems, but Hanna just smiled and tuned him out for a few moments. He could really get into the arcane technical details of this stuff, but her eventual lay person's reaction to him was, "uh-huh, yes Mirek. Enough now."
"Say this lawn looks pretty good considering the Winter that it's been through. What did you do to make this happen?" She asked Niko, who was now moving one of his rakes out of their way.
He gave her his own broad smile, turning slightly red at the compliment but still giving an honest answer. "I've just cleaned up all the twigs and stuff that fell, really not anything. I guess we'll have to see how things look later on, I mean, when stuff really starts growing again.
"Are you going to be a gardener, too?" She asked,
"Yup!" he replied, sticking his small shovel into the softening ground with one push. "Uncle Mike says he'll tell me how to do it."
"I'll show him how to do it when I figure it out myself!" Mike interject. "But once we do figure it out, he's the crew." Mike said as he placed his hand above Niko's head and pointed down at him, getting another smile for the about-to-be-middle-school boy.
She gave him a pat on the head then pulled him by the shoulder as they all moved toward the front door of the large white, two story house.
Niko ran ahead and, first wiping his feet, opened the door for everyone as they came up the short flight of stairs onto the foyer. Since she couldn't bend over very far, Niko knelt down and helped her remove her shoes as she stepped onto the small temporary mat at the door.
After removing his own shoes, Mike stood in front of her waving is hand toward the imposing entry staircase and foyer area. "This is my favorite part," he said, his pride obvious in his voice. "It needs some refinishing and repairs, but I think it's going to work great for us." As an Architect he couldn't overlook the small blemishes, as usual not realizing how non-professionals didn't notice even notice them.
"All of our pictures are going on these walls here, this will be our family Hall of Fame!"
"You mean like Mom and Dad's?"
"Yup, only more so," he said as he pointed out all of the places he planned on having the pictures. "I want to keep the rest of the house fairly simple, just have artwork on the walls. But when we first come in the front door, and guests come in, these pictures will be what everyone sees."
"Over there," he said motioning to the left, "is the dining room and beyond it the kitchen, mud room, etc., and over here" he said, reversing direction and pointing with his other hand, "is the living room and a kind of den or office in the back. I think that will be a TV room or something."
With a final motion of his hands the waved to the stairs. "and that will take you to the 5 bedrooms upstairs."
"I thought there were six bedrooms" she said, folding and unfolded her arms across her chest in an yet another effort to get comfortable.
"Oh yeah, that, the sixth bedroom is actually the old servants quarters. The stair for that is in the kitchen" he said.
"It's really cool!" Niko chimed in. "Like your own little place, a little hiding spot."
"Mom and Dad's place" Mike said.
"Who goes in the other 5 bedrooms?" She asked.
"Who do you think?"
"Well, none is really all that big, not like modern suburban houses with their mega-master suites. But Brad and I get one. We figure the we'll have maybe three kids. That leaves the other one for you guys when you visit."
"So where do the Metz kids go?" She asked in a way that demanded immediate satisfaction.
"They sleep with ours. They share. We're raising them together, after all, right?
"True, but what about boys and girls? What if you have all boys?"
"Then our boys double up and your girl or girls get a room, or whatever. I guess we've got time to figure that one out.
"Where do I stay Uncle Mike?"
"When you visit you get the middle bedroom in the front, buddy."
"The one that looks over the front lawn! With that curved window?" He said, with anticipation in his voice.
"Yup!"
"Cool!" Niko replied, with the kind of enthusiasm that Mike loved to see in kids. "I wouldn't mind that servants room, also. That's neat, too!"
Mike just laughed as he motioned the group into the next spaces.
They walked through the first floor of the house, with Mike reveling in the wide open spaces as he continued his animated tour. His parents had been great hosts the past few years, but the house was far too small for all of them and they were long overdue for a place to call their own.
"Hey, what's all this here?" Hanna asked, gesturing with her hip toward some flowers, baskets and an unusual angular sculpture in front of the Living Room picture window.
"Housewarming gifts!" he responded, with some embarrassment. "A bit premature, or, I should say, we were actually supposed to be in already, and the gifts are actually right on time. But they're still great to have. They even make an empty room look good."
Pointing to different ones he continued, "Those flowers are from Clair and Josh, friends of ours from Yale. And those are from Jules and Roger. Oh, and the sculpture, that's from Chung, one of my grad school classmates. He took a welding class and is now doing metal sculpture, besides working full-time in our underpaid field."
"Kind of weird looking" Hanna said, with an inquisitive look on her face.
"Yea, Brad thinks so, too, but I know his stuff and it's typical Chung. I told him that non-architect types said it looked like it got damaged in transit and that I should collect on the insurance. He practically yelled into the phone "NO! that's what it's supposed to look like!"
"Wow, what about that one there. That looks like a cholesterol special," she said, pointing to a basket of sausages and cheeses."
Make smiled. "That's from Pete and Kate, friends of ours from college. Brad goes way back with both of them. Pete was his best friend in college, and Brad was even Best Man at their wedding."
"Don't they read the Surgeon General's reports?" She asked. "that stuff will kill ya!" She said.
"You're just diet conscious right now," he retorted. "Give it a month after the baby and you'll be back on those Czech sausages that Dad loves."
"Don't count on it!" she retorted. "I'm now a changed woman!" she said, to laughter from both.
Even though there was almost nothing in the house except for the gifts and a few pieces of furniture, it was somewhat of an obstacle course as there were ladders everywhere and drop-clothes covering most of the floors because of the painting. All in all, previous owners had put the house into very good condition. But there were still projects to be done before moving in, the new color scheme being one of the most important. Once that was done, they could have the floors refinished and start to move in some furniture.
"Kitchen looks like it's in pretty good shape." Hanna said as they moved from the dining area. She leaned against the countertop and paused, obviously feeling some discomfort as she moved.
"You OK?" Mike asked, halting by the stove.
"Yeah, I'm fine, let's keep going." She pulled herself away from the countertop and was now standing on her own.
"OK. Just let me know if you need to rest." He replied, then continued. "Anyway, someone did a pretty good job, they didn't gunk it up too much." Mike had seen a lot of houses with gaudy over-the-top remodelings and poor planning and was relieved that they didn't have to put a lot of time and effort into a kitchen remodel, always an expensive, difficult and time consuming task.'
"I think they probably combined the old pantry with the original kitchen, so now it's one big space. It was nice that they opened up the connection to the dining room also." Mike said, pointing to the countertop and seating area where, he told her, there was once probably a solid wall with a door. "We might eventually replace the countertops with granite, but other than that it doesn't really need much.
"Brad's already imagining putting some stools on the dining room side and serving breakfast to the kids there." He said smiling, and added, "and I guess I am, too," as he moved toward the mud room and basement stair entry.
"The basement is kind of musty,' Mike said. "you sure you want to go down there?"
She paused a moment by the door, peeked down the stairs, then stepped back. "hmmm, on second thought, maybe not. It's not the mustiness so much, as I'm getting pretty bad at stairs, plus I'm not feeling so good right now. I'll just save my one flight up and down to see the bedrooms."
"Are you still OK?" Mike asked.
She paused before answering, then finally said, "Yeah, sure. Just the usual late pregnancy grind. Let's keep going."
"OK," Mike said, putting his on Niko's head. "Lead the way, partner!"
He took off ahead of them, pausing only to make sure they saw him turn the corner of the kitchen to get back to the foyer.
The stair was perpendicular to the front door, with the landing at the top presenting a view over the back yard. Hanna took the stairs slowly one at a time, Niko having stopped his earlier rush to wait and escort her up.
"Can you make it there? Do you need a push? Niko asked, with a slight chuckle.
"Wait until you have a pregnant wife, guy. I'll remind her that you said that."
Niko didn't quite understand, but still kept this smile as he watched her take each step, with Mike right behind her on the slow trek up.
There was a tiny window seat at the top where they all rested and took in the view through the big window of the back yard below.
"This is a pretty deep back yard, isn't it Mirek?"
"Yeah, it is," he said as raised the lower half of the double-hung window. A cool breeze immediately came in.
"Wow, that feels good." Hanna said, responding to the rush of wind.
Mike just shook his head in agreement. "This will be a great place to watch the kids play. Since the yard is wider than it is long, it think we'll put the goals on the left and the right."
Hanna laughed as she heard her brother was mentally laying out the soccer field. `Do you mean..."
Suddenly, she stopped talking and grabbed at her stomach. Something was happening `down there.'
Are you all right?' he asked, moving next to her.
"Um...I don't know' she said, `I need to go lie down'
Her brother paused for a moment. `Let's go in the middle front bedroom, OK? There's a window seat there, it's about the only place to sit down. Can you make it?'
`Yea, I think so. Let's go. I'm not sure what's happening, but whatever it is...it's happening fast.'
By the time they had reached the room Mike practically had to carry her over to what was really a long bench below the bow window in `Niko's room'.
`How do you feel? Is it the baby?'
`Yea...it's not due for another 3 weeks...they told be prepared...but.''
`Just sit down, OK?'
Leaning against the wall at the edge, Mike could see her clutching her stomach, looking scared. He wanted to do whatever he could to calm her, but really knew he needed to get help.
`Call..' She started saying. But before she could get the words our of her mouth, Mike was already on his phone to Kurt.
She could here them talk, but it was all getting to be a blur. Then she heard him call for an ambulance.
`Mirek, put me on the floor, OK?' I really need to lie down.
`Niko, you take her other side, I'll take this side.'
"yes, OK, got her' he said, with a calm remarkable for someone his age.
It seemed like it was only a few moments later, and she was now on the floor below the window, her breathing now labored.
"I don't know if I can wait for the ambulance...or Kurt!"
`Do whatever you have to do, Hanka. We're here, OK? We'll take care of you. Mike actually had no idea what to do, but just figured that it was a natural thing that people have done since the beginning of time. So with that thought he just tried to stay calm. "But they should be here real soon.'
Much to his relief, the ambulance did in fact get there within minutes, with Kurt arriving all the way from her parent's house only a few moments later. Mike thought the he must have been driving at least 80 miles per hour on the city streets, a cardinal sin for someone as disciplined as him. The ambulance had carefully backed into the driveway, but Kurt was a screech of brakes and a loud bump as he hit the curb in front of the house.
The two attendants, a man and a women, waved Mike away as they got on either side of her and started asking questions, with Kurt right behind.
"I'm the Dad!" he said as he crouched next to them, taking her hand.
"Good, good.' One of the attendants, a young woman who was obviously taking charge, said to him.
"We're not going to be able to get her to the hospital, she's about to `blow!' she said with obvious urgency as she began to give orders to her coworker and the others.
In the tumult, Kurt held her hand, looking into her eyes and stroking here hair. `Ready?' he asked. She just nodded her head in agreement and squeezed his hand harder then he'd ever felt before.
Within two weeks, the interior of the house had been completely painted, floors refinished and small repairs complotted. The house glowed. Their own baby was due within weeks, but seeing how that schedule could get unpredictably compressed, they had put themselves and a small work crew into high-gear to get everything ready. Even Niko was there, at least on Saturdays, helping out where he could. .
The last piece of furniture was the crib. Over the last 7 months, ever since they had conceived the baby and `put the bun in the oven' with the surrogate, constructing a crib had been his special project. Mike had looked commercial cribs and various home-made crib plans and put together what he thought were the best features of both. The only concession that Brad (and Mike's parent's, not to mention Hanna) attributed to the over-anxiousness of the first-time parent was that he didn't put any finish at all on the wood, afraid that any commercial paint could be toxic.
After they finally positioned it, Brad sat down in a seat by the window, looking outside at the back yard. Even though so much good was happening, their lives were never that simple.
"Since Jill doesn't want any more treatment, I'm not sure what to do. I think it's all been too much for her. She can't do it anymore." He spoke in a monotone, almost like he wasn't there.
"Do you think..."
"The hospice? Yea, she and Grandpa had talked about it." He paused, then just sighed and said, "Oh god."
"She really likes this place, you know," Brad said, trying to bring up something positive.
"Yup, I know. She really believes in us, Brad. Believes in you."
Brad didn't move, just continued to look out through the window.
"I know. I just wish we had more time..." He clenched his fists, then released them. "More time."
Mike could see him swallow. There was no more to say. He just turned and looked back at Mike, continuing in a voice that was only slightly more audible.
You know,' he mused, most places I'd been in especially in college, well, it seemed to take a long time to get them to feel like home," he said.
`When we first met, your apartment felt pretty homey, at least to me. I mean, you didn't have a lot, but you had a well-used kitchen that felt like you had been there a while.' Mike answered.
`I think it eventually did, especially when we were there together, when I was trying to seduce you with food,' he said with a chuckle, returning his head back to stare outside again. "But it took a long time. I guess something had to happen there to really make it feel like it was mine, some event, something important. I joke about it, but it only really began to feel like home when you were there. That kind of did it for me."
Mike took a seat on edge the bed right next to him, resting his feet on floor and propping himself up with his hands on either side of him. He didn't say anything, only gave a small smile.
But with Hanna having Elena right in our fricken' house, wow, that just shortened it by 90%!' he said with a laugh. Now with this furniture and everything else, it just completes it. Even though there's some bad things happening now...I do feel like I'm home.'
Just as they were actually starting to relax, Mike's phone rang. Brad turned around as he pulled the ringing phone out of his pocket. Looking over at Brad, he gave him a nod. Status report on they baby.
"How is she doing today, Phil?" Mike said, slightly confused, thinking it would be the surrogate herself, but was instead her husband "Just a couple weeks for her to go, huh?"
Brad saw Mike press the phone hard against his head as he listened to the other end. All he could hear was Mike acknowledging with repeated `uh-hush' but could tell exactly what was going on until Mike snapped the phone shut.
"She in labor, their on their way to the hospital right now.'
Brad's eyes bulged. "Really?" he asked, almost not able to believe it.
`Could it really be true? Finally?' he asked himself. He rocketed off of the couch and was about grab the luggage and the car seat and the supplies bag and the...until Mike caught his arms, reeling him back into the room.
He put both his hand on Brad's shoulders, rubbing, stroking trying calm him down . As Mike dragged his hands softly across the long-sleeve shirt, he saw how Brad rolled his back and forth, in his own effort to relax himself.
"How are you doing now?' Mike asked, still stroking but not giving Brad any sign of releasing him from the grip.
Brad stopped moving his head and looked straight back at Mike. "OK, I'm OK, but I think we need to go!"
"I know Babe, but we need to go slow and calm down. She's in good hands. She's probably even at the hospital already,' he said.
`And our boy doesn't need his dad to get in an accident because he's too excited, OK?
Brad paused and took a deep breath, as he again rolled his head back and around. "I know...Sorry, pup, I'm just getting carried away.'
Mike pulled him into a tight hug, about as firm as Brad had ever felt from him. `I know, I know, I feel the same way. Gosh, I want to fly out that door. But we've got to be really careful know, too. We got to be safe and all."
After a few moments, and without a sound, he finally pushed Brad away but still held onto him, looking right into his eyes. "Are you ready now?'
Brad smiled back at him. "I'm really not sure, I guess," he said with a laugh, "But here we are and I'm about as ready as I'm ever going to be. Lets go!"
This is the end of part one. I hope that you all have enjoyed this story! I'm going to recharge the batteries and come back to the story some years later to see the lives of them and their kids, specifically the youngest, their gay son. I'll be starting a new email list also, so let me know if you'd like me to notify you when I start up again.
Let me know your thoughts on the story, and thanks for reading!