Saving Scotty (20 page)

Nick looked sad. “Yeah, it is. It really is. They were truly the only good things that came out of my relationship with Rielle. There was just so much bitterness between she and I that the children became casualties of our anger with one another. But I’m looking at getting a house in Connecticut very soon that I can use as a weekend retreat, and my hope is that April and Charlotte can come and visit at least once a month and spend the summers here. We’ll see about that.”

I just looked at him and smiled. I hadn’t entertained the thought of children, but I could see it with him. I could see a lot of things with him that I had never before dreamed to be possible. A solid relationship, stability, love, sex and family – all of these things were now within my reach, where they never were before.

Finally I said “I’d love to have children with you. I mean, it’s too soon now, but I definitely could see you as the father of my children. My future children.”

He longingly stroked my belly some more. It was as if he really didn’t want to wait, but knew that we should. Pragmatically, anyhow, it would be best to wait. We were together right then, and happy. But that could change at any moment. I really wanted to be married and rock-solid before I even thought about something like that.

“Well, you’re right, of course,” he finally said. “I mean, I could see forever with you, but I have to make you see that as well. And you need to finish school and get your career underway before even thinking about bringing a new child into the world.” And then he chuckled. “So funny. At one point, I was seriously thinking about getting a vasectomy. Thank god I didn’t, huh?”

“Why were you thinking about that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I was just so bitter at that time. I thought about a lot of things. The future didn’t look so good about a year or so ago. And now…well, let’s just say that the future looks considerably different than before. Much better.”

I stroked his arm and looked him in the eyes. There was just so much love and passion in those eyes, that I actually did start to see forever in him, just like he said that he saw in me. And I could see our family in the future. With Uncle Jack hopefully living nearby, of course. I think I would be lost without Jack in my life in some way.

Finally I said “I would like to have children with you, Nick. Not right now, but definitely in the near future. I think that you’d be a great daddy.”

He smiled big when I said those words, and then he whispered “Oh, you made my day,” as he thrust inside of me again.

Chapter 37

Nick

I had brought up the subject of children to Scotty, but I really didn’t mean to so soon. The words just came tumbling out of my mouth before I even had the chance to think. Which was like me, because I often spoke without thinking, but not like me at the same time.

It occurred to me that I had never before wanted to have children with a woman. Rielle didn’t really count, because our first
child together was a total accident. The condom broke and I wasn’t aware of the thing called “Plan B.” Which was how Rielle and I ended up married in the first place, because I wanted to do the right thing. But Charlotte totally changed my perspective and my life, so I didn’t regret it at all. If there was one thing that I knew, and that was that Rielle, no matter how I felt about her, was put into my life for a reason, and that was to bring my girls into the world.

But with Scotty – I really wanted to have children with her. It was crazy how much I wanted that. I was being totally selfish, and I knew that – Scotty had a long way to go before she could get to the point where raising a child would even be practical. She had to finish school, and she was crazily talented, so I hoped that her ambition would take her places, much like my ambition took me places. I mean, I would hire a nanny, of course, to help out, but Scotty’s life would be inextricably changed by having children, and I didn’t want to derail her career.

So, I had to hold off on that. I didn’t want to bring it up to her so soon, but, somehow, I did. The horse was out of the barn, so I only hoped that I wouldn’t scare her away by bringing up this subject so soon.

But, as usual, when you make plans, god laughs. And He did laugh again. Because the topic of having children with Scotty took a turn that I didn’t anticipate, and couldn’t anticipate. And neither could she.

∞

The first issue that cropped up and presented a possible roadblock of my making plans with Scotty to have a child was that there was something that she wasn’t telling me. Namely, that she quite possibly would be a mother sooner than she had hoped.

“Uh, Nick, there was something that I didn’t tell you that day when we, you know, talked about having children,” she said. We were having dinner together. Jack was out with his new Burberry Boy, which was how Scotty referred to Jack’s new fling, Lance, not wanting to call him by his name because then she “might get too attached, and, knowing Jack, he won’t be around long.”

“What’s that, love?” I asked her, taking her plate to the kitchen. I had actually started to like cooking, to my total surprise, and it helped that I had such a willing guinea pig for my
culinary experiments. I still burned things from time to time, but I mastered the art better than I had ever hoped. Consequently, Scotty and I actually ate at home most nights, and I didn’t even rely on the pizza delivery guy as much as I used to.

Life was starting to get back to normal, and it felt great. Both Scotty and I felt that a 1,000 pound weight was lifted when Portia left. Scotty had gone back to work and school, and
I could tell that she felt so much more freedom at work and so much like a dark cloud was gone from there. The change in her mood was wonderful to see.

I had also hired a team of lawyers to ensure that Mr. Lucas was not legally related to Scotty anymore, so that what had happened at that hospital could never happen again. Turns out that it was a matter of paperwork not being filed that should have been, years ago. The paperwork was filed, and that was that. Mr. Lucas had no more legal claim to Scotty. The same team of lawyers was also gearing up to sue the living bejesus out of that damned hospital for negligence, as they clearly should never have let Scotty go with that predator, especially as she had clearly stated her wishes on the matter. So, these were two very positive developments.

Yet there was something wrong with her, I could see. I wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“Well, uh, right before I, uh, had my accident, I got an upsetting phone call about my brother, Aaron.”

“What phone call was that?”

“From child protective services. They, uh, wanted to talk to me.”

My heart started to sink. But, after a moment or so, I started to think that if Scotty got custody of Aaron that it wouldn’t be so bad. We’d have to hold off on having a child, but, let’s face it, we probably needed to hold off on that anyhow until we were married. Which I was becoming more and more positive was going to happen sometime in the near future.

“Go on,” I said. “What did they want?”

“Well, it turned out that they just wanted to talk to me. To prepare me for the possibility that my mother will, uh, lose Aaron sometime soon. She’s being monitored closely. I know that she’s trying. She has always tried, but she just can’t seem to kick the booze. I, I, I, don’t really know what to do about that. I mean – “

“If you have to take Aaron, temporarily or permanently, that won’t be a problem,” I said. “There is plenty of room here, and that will inspire me to get that house in Connecticut that much sooner.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I thought that you wouldn’t want to be with me if you knew that I, you know, might have to take care of my little brother. I mean, I’m not officially living here. I’m just staying here until my leg is fully healed. That was a major concern for me in taking care of Aaron, because I don’t have room where I live. But it means the world to me that you would be willing to help me out.”

I took her hand. “Scotty, whatever happens, I’m right here. Whatever you need. I want you to eventually move in here, you know. I didn’t want to push it, but if y
ou get Aaron, then that means that you will just have to move in that much quicker. Which I don’t really mind.”

Scotty shook her head. “I love you so much, Nick. But I can’t ask that. And I’m worried about Jack. He won’t be able to swing that place by himself.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “So, I buy Jack a place in this building. I’ll charge him whatever he can afford, and that solves that problem right there.”

Scotty’s eyes got wide. “Really, Nick? I, I, I don’t know what to say. You would do that?”

“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “Hey, it’s an investment, you know? With the way these lofts are always going up in price, it would be a shrewd thing to buy another unit in this building. So, Jack would be doing me a favor by looking after the place.” I really didn’t care about the fact that buying a loft for Jack would be an investment, although I knew that it would be. I really wanted to make sure that Scotty didn’t feel bad for leaving Jack high and dry, if she moved in with me, and I also wanted to make sure that she had him around. Jack made her happy, and I knew that having Jack close by, even if she moved in with me, was something that she would definitely want. Everybody would win in that situation.

Scotty looked dumbfounded. “I, you, uh…” And then she started to cry. “I can’t believe that I found somebody like you. I can’t believe that somebody like you even exists.”

I smiled. “I do exist, Scotty, and I would do anything for you. Anything. Now, perhaps this is all premature. You might not get Aaron. But I do see us living together, and more, one day. In the near future. But, at the same time, I don’t want to rush into things. So, just monitor the situation and let me know. I’m good with anything.”

Her entire face lit up, and she hobbled her way over to me and sat on my lap. “I love you, Nick. I never thought that I could ever love somebody as much as I love you.”

“Just remember that, my love. And, for the record, I feel the exact same way about you.”

So, that was a potential roadblock in my having a family with Scotty.

But there was something that came up that was even more devastating. And quite possibly would affect our life plans even more than the Aaron situation.

Chapter 38

It happened about a month after Scotty had moved in. Her leg was almost healed, and Jack was still staying with us, and also was staying with Lance some of the time. Scotty didn’t tell me as much, but I had the feeling that she still wanted Jack to stay with us because she still wasn’t entirely over what had happened to her with Mr. Lucas, and she felt that she could tell Jack things that were hard for her to tell me.

For my part, I was happy to still have Jack around. He was a lot of fun, and I was back to work full-swing, along with my teaching. Scotty was also back at school and work, but she was without me in the loft sometimes, and I wanted to make sure that she had company. I worried about her, because she was still having a lot of nightmares. She would talk in h
er sleep, and wake up screaming sometimes. I tried to do as much as I could to ensure that she was recovering, and that included ensuring that she had the one person who had always been there for her, long before I came on the scene, to talk to when she needed it.

Also, Scotty was afraid to press charges against Mr. Lucas. At first, she wanted to, very badly. But, when I called the firm where the pervert worked, and he was back in the office, which meant that push was going to come to shove, Scotty didn’t want to do it. She was terrified.

So, Jack stayed in the loft because he and I were trying to gently coax her into pursuing charges against the man. I was much gentler than Jack was, though. It was good cop, bad cop – I tried to gently encourage her, while Jack was much more pushy and blunt. I needed Jack for that, as well, to try to push Scotty where she clearly didn’t want to go. So, all in all, Jack needed to stay, for all of those reasons, and stay was what he did.

And there was plenty of room in my loft, so Jack didn’t really get that much in the way.

Anyhow, I also tried to concentrate on my new side project, which was finding a woman for Fred. I didn’t really know where to start at first. After all, I knew a lot of women. But they weren’t women that I wanted Fred to know. They were my short-termers from before I met Scotty. Penelope and Amber, and other models who I ended up sleeping with, both in three-ways with Penelope and sometimes one on one. I hadn’t been in the city for long enough to know many quality women, aside from Ava. And, unfortunately, Ava was clearly out of the question. Nate told me that I devastated poor Ava, and she wasn’t in the market for anybody new.

Which was too bad. Ava might have been a good option for Fred.

But, then again, maybe not. After all, Ava fell in love with me. I was very different from Fred, so Fred probably wasn’t her type.

But Nate was probably a good person to ask about finding somebody who would be Fred’s type. After all, Nate had lived in the city since college, and he knew a ton of people – both men and women. Natali
e did too, and Nat was such a friendly and social person that she probably had an entire roster of women to choose from. So, I decided to start with them.

And, sure enough, Nate knew somebody who was a sister to his racquetball partner, who might be just the right person. Her name was Melissa, and she was an environmental lawyer who also played in a rock band. And, according to Nate, she was really into geeky men.

“And, Nick, she’s quite a stunner too. I mean, if you don’t mind tattoos. She keeps them covered up in her day job, of course, but when you see her perform, you see that she has more than a little bit of ink on her.”

I nodded my head. The entire thing actually made a bit of sense to me. Fred, the shy geek, with Melissa, the wild rock chick
who also has a respectable job? Respectable in the sense that Fred would feel less intimidated. I couldn’t see him with somebody who was a rocker full-time, but a part-time one who was an attorney by day? I somehow could see that he might be digging that. Hard.

So, I actually made a date for Fred, Melissa, Scotty and me to meet at
Tao
, which was a hip Asian restaurant on Park Ave. I had been there before, and it was very open-air, with an enormous Buddha in the middle of the room. It was expensive, yet casual, and the food there was phenomenal, so I thought that it would be a good place to have Fred meet Melissa. I hoped and prayed that they would hit it off. Ever since Fred saved my bacon, I found that I was almost obsessed with finding him somebody to make him happy. It was my way of paying him back, but, also, I really just thought that a stand-up guy like him shouldn’t have to be alone in life.

That night, Scotty and I got dressed up a little to go and meet Fred and Melissa. Fred, for his part, was totally excited about meeting this mystery woman. I told him all about her – about her tattoos and her rock band, and her environmental causes. As I suspected, Fred was all about a woman like Melissa.

And I had also previously met with Melissa, to size her up a little bit. As Nate said, Melissa was quite the looker. She had black hair and hazel eyes, and was about 5’5” and very petite. She was outspoken and brash, and very talkative. But, she also was clear that she preferred guys like Fred.

“Now, let’s review,” she said. “This guy is an architect and he’s really shy? And socially awkward?”

“Well, uh, yeah,” I said. No use lying to her. She was going to meet the guy, and if I told her that he was some kind of loquacious stud, she probably would’ve gotten completely pissed. “He is. But he’s such a nice guy.”

“I believe you,” she said. “Count me in.”

I was surprised. “Really? That was easy.”

“Yeah. Listen, there is one thing I have learned over the years. And that’s that I don’t want somebody like myself. Two ballbreakers together can never work. That’s why my most successful relationships have been with guys who are more on the quiet side. And the geek part I really love, because intelligence means more to me than anything else. So, yeah, I’ll meet this guy.”

So, as Scotty and I made our way to the restaurant to meet these two, she was totally excited. “This is so cool,” she said. “I just love double dates. And I love that you went so out of your way to find a woman for Fred. You are just such a phenomenal person.”

I smiled. I was actually thinking that I was becoming a better person by the day. I didn’t know if it was because Scotty made me want to be a better man, or that, perhaps, I was just ready to become better. All that I knew was that I was a better person than I had ever been before. I was becoming the man that I had always imagined I would be. And that made me happy, and it really made Scotty happy as well.

We got to the restaurant and found that Fred and Melissa were already there. I looked at their body language from afar and was very encouraged. Fred was smiling, big, and Melissa was leaning into him. Melissa took off his glasses and put them on her face, and I saw her touching his arm a lot.

Things are going to go great tonight.
Scotty and I approached the two and sat down at the table.

“Hey, you,” I said to Fred. “Guess you guys got her
e a little bit early, didn’t ya?”

Fred’s face got red. “Yeah. Uh, I took the liberty to call Melissa yesterday and we kinda had it arranged to meet before you guys got here.”

“Yeah,” said Melissa. “You know, see if we like each other a little bit. Then, if we didn’t dig each other, we’d just cut out before the two of you even got here. Saves an awkward meeting.”

“Well then,” I said. “Guess it’s a good sign that you both are still here, huh?”

Fred smiled. “It’s a good sign indeed.”

Melissa was smiling too. “
Betcha didn’t know that Fred is into girl punk. He actually has everything that
Slant 6
has ever recorded
.
”

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “I guess I’m hopelessly square. Who is that?”

And then the two of them launched into exactly who this group was. I gathered that it was a girl punk band who was out of Washington DC, and was considered one of the paragons of the underground punk subculture.

I had to smile at that one. Not much surprised me, but this did somehow.

As the night wore on, I found that the two of them had even more in common than that. They had both been to Comic Con in San Diego for the past ten years, and they spent the evening talking about all the different things that went on there.

Scotty and I were feeling, more and more, like third and fourth wheels. But Scotty didn’t seem to mind. She was having fun listening to their conversation. She kept nudging me under the table, and she whispered a few times “you did good. How did you know that Fred would like this girl so much? Or that she would like him so much?”

I shrugged. “I just had a feeling. A good feeling.”

Finally, it was time to get the check, and Melissa suggested to Fred that they get together the following evening for dinner at her place and maybe check out some live music in the Village. Fred readily agreed to that.

We all got into our respective vehicles, and gave hugs all around.

Fred took me aside. “Thank you,” he said. “I don’t know how to thank you, but thank you.”

“Sure,” I said. “Anytime.” I had to laugh inwardly. Turns out that Fred was so much less socially awkward in the right environment. With the right person. A lid for every pot, so they say. Who knew that Fred’s lid would be so different from what I imagined him to be? But I was thrilled to be helping him out. And I predicted that he would come out of his shell at work, as well. I was counting on it.

On the ride home, Scotty held my hand. “You really did good. I’m just amazed sometimes. You just seem to have a read on people.”

“Nah,” I said. “I just got lucky with this one. I figured that I’d go with somebody who would be off the beaten path, somebody who I wouldn’t necessarily imagine would go for him, and see where it goes. I had no clue that they would hit it off, to be honest, so I’m as surprised as you are, really.”

Scotty laughed. “Well, that was a fun night. That food was so amazing, too. I’m so full. Of course, it was Asian food, so,
you know what they say. We’ll probably end up getting McDonald’s on the way home.”

True that, I thought. True that.

So, it was a good night, overall. I did my good deed in repaying Fred for his courage in helping me to oust Portia, so I was happy about that. Scotty and I were in a great place, overall, even though she was still having night terrors and sometimes had trouble sleeping. But I was supporting her, and making sure that she was getting through all of that.

But I couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen next.

Scotty went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. For my part, I plopped down on the bed and proceeded to do some light reading before I hit the sack.

But I was roused out of my smug little world when I suddenly heard Scotty screaming.

I rushed into the bathroom. “What’s going on?” I asked her. She was lying on the floor, and tears were streaming down her face.

“Wha-wha-what’s happening to me?” she asked. And then I looked at the toilet, and I knew what she was talking about. It was filled with blood, and there was pink fluid that was running down her leg. More blood was coming out of her orifice, and then I saw that there were large clots on the floor next to her.

Don’t panic, Nick.
Inside, my mind was racing. I had no idea what was causing this, and I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t something life-threatening.

Scotty also appeared to be in severe pain. She was holding her abdomen, and wincing.

“Honey, do you need me to call you an ambulance, or do you think that you can manage if I just take you into the hospital right now?” I didn’t want to call an ambulance if that wasn’t absolutely necessary, because that might scare her more than ever.

She shook her head, her tears streaming down her face. “No, Nick, please just take me in. I hate hospitals, but I’m really scared right now.”

“Okay, then. Can I clean you up before you go?”

She nodded her head. “Please do. I’m really embarrassed to go anywhere with all of this blood on me.”

I gently picked her up, and put her into the shower. I got out a sponge and made sure that all of the blood on her legs was washed off, and then I carried her out and started to dress her. “Honey, do you have any pads? I don’t think that you use them, but I need to ask anyhow.” It was then that I cursed myself for not having a First Aid kit at the house. That was something that I was going to have to invest in for the future, so that I wasn’t caught unawares in situations like this.

She shook her head. “No, Nick. I, what am I going to do?”

There was a convenience store on my block which was open all night, but I didn’t want to leave Scotty to go to it. She looked terrified. She was shaking and crying and holding her stomach in pain. So, I called Charlie to bring me some pads from the store.

“Yes, Mr. O’Hara,” Charlie said.

“I’m so sorry to wake you. But I need something quick. Could you bring me some maxi-pads from that convenience store that is open all night? It’s right on my block. And I need that ASAP.”

“Of course, I will be there in about ten minutes,” he said.

“Thanks.” Good ol’ Charlie – it was 1 AM, but he didn’t blink when I needed something from him. Of course, it helped that I paid him a six-figure salary for being my driver and for being at my beck and call whenever I needed him. So there was that. Bringing maxi pads to me in the middle of the night was just part of his job description.