The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

sorry, don’t go, please,” she begged. He turned around and walked over to her bed.
“That was very rude, you don’t greet someone like that, no matter how bad you feel,” he told her sternly. She nodded and tears filled her eyes.
“I know, I’m really sorry, it’s just that it hurts so much and I’ve been trapped in this bed all night and all day and I heard you all laughing in the next room and I’ve been stuck in this bed feeling miserable,” she explained. He sighed and lifted up the blankets and then the bandages to look at her scar. It was pretty gruesome. She made a face.
“You will be able to get rid of the scar won’t you, my body will be ruined with that thing,” she moaned. Harry nodded. He called for Fiona to take out the stitches and the catheter and when that was done, he drank the milk up and rubbed his hands together and then placed them on the wound. Dr. George came in the room to observe and they all watched with amazement as the wound vanished and Gloria sat up and stretched.
“My God, I feel marvelous, thank you, Harry,” she exclaimed and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissed him right on the lips. He laughed and pulled away from her.
“You’re very welcome, Gloria,” he said and she laughed and started pulling clothes from her case. Fiona came into the room carrying Emma and a bottle.
“Now that you’re healed; Gloria, would you like to feed Emma?” she asked cheerfully. Gloria made a face and shook her head.
“No, I don’t want to feed that brat, I want to take a shower and get beautiful for my David, he’s going to be here any minute and I smell and look dreadful, you’re the nurse, you feed it,” she snapped and Fiona and Harry were shocked by her use of the pronoun ‘it’ when referring to her beautiful daughter. Fiona sighed.
“I’ve got lots of paperwork and it would really help if you would feed her,” she said. Harry grinned.
“Let me help, I’ll feed her,” he offered and Fiona handed her over. Harry looked down at the beautiful little girl with the bright blue eyes and curly blonde hair and fell in love. “Aren’t you a pretty little girl,” he cooed as he walked from the room. “If you were my little girl, I’d want to hold you all the time, you’re such a darling.” Gloria watched him walk away with a gleam in her bright blue eyes as an idea popped into her head. She rushed into the shower.
“What have you got there, babe?” Jake asked when Harry walked into their room carrying Emma. Harry grinned.
“I’ve brought a playmate for Jackson, say hello to Emma,” he said and showed the babies to one another. Their tiny hands touched and they both made little sounds as if they liked each other. Both men laughed.
“I think they like each other,” Jake remarked and they both sat down to feed them. Harry grinned.
“Do you know that that bitch Gloria referred to this little darling as an ‘it’,” he told his husband who looked appalled.
“No, she didn’t,” he retorted. Harry nodded.
“Look at this darling, isn’t she the second most beautiful baby in the world?” he teased and they kissed. When the babies were fed, Dr. George came in with the scanner and Fiona took Emma away and they did a scan of Jackson and found his little uterine pouch and his extra lobe just like his Dad’s.
“Oh, yeah, he’s a Dolphin alright,” Dr. George remarked with much satisfaction. Both men beamed and kissed. Then they put the diaper back on and dressed him in the little blue sleeper they had picked out. It had a little lamb on it and was so precious they wanted to cry. They took pictures for their email announcement and waited for the paperwork so they could go home. They also needed their baby vitamins which would be in liquid form. Jake packed their bag and informed Harry that, of course, the car seat was secured properly in the back seat of the Jeep. They both kissed again and sat down to wait.
“You want to do what?” Dr. George looked at his daughter and her husband with shock. Gloria sighed and held hands with David.
“We want to give Emma to Harry and Jake,” she repeated and Dr. George wanted to kill them both.
“But why, honey, I thought you loved her,” he tried to reason with her. Gloria instead laughed in his face.
“Christ, Daddy, I didn’t even want to have her, how could I love her, I don’t want any children, I told you that when you forced me to have her and I didn’t want her then and I certainly don’t want her now,” she said firmly. David nodded.
“We don’t want any children, it interferes with our lifestyle,” he informed him smugly. Dr. George sighed.
“You don’t want to take her do you?” Gloria whined. He shook his head.
“No, Shelley would kill me if I brought her home, we’re going to have our hands full with the four we’re planning on having, we can’t raise your child for you, it’s about time you grew up and accepted some responsibility, young lady,” he told her sternly. Gloria laughed.
“But, Daddy I am, I’m finding a perfectly good home for her, Harry and Jake love children and he’s a healer, they’ll be great fathers for her,” she informed him. He sighed.
“She’s not a puppy for heaven’s sake, you just can’t give her away,” Dr. George said, his face red with anger. She sighed.
“People do it all the time, its called adoption,” Gloria said firmly. “Now call them in here so we can ask,” she instructed and he sighed and walked over to Harry’s room and informed them that Gloria and David had something important to discuss with them. They walked into the room with Jake holding his son. Fiona brought chairs for everyone to sit on and stood just outside the door to listen so she could tell everyone what was said.
“Emma wasn’t a planned pregnancy,” Gloria began by saying. Harry lifted an eyebrow. “I tried to have an abortion but Daddy refused saying that another abortion would probably kill me and since you were pregnant you couldn’t heal me, something about you not healing people because of possible damage to your baby.” She and David exchanged a disbelieving look. Harry grinned. Gloria continued.
“Now that’s she’s here, we find that we still don’t want her, we don’t like children and there’s no place for a child in our lives,” she informed them. David nodded.
“Children will interfere with our lifestyle,” he told them eagerly. Harry glanced at Jake and they both wondered what the hell that meant.
“We tried to get Daddy to take her but he doesn’t want her either,” Gloria glared at her father like this was his fault. Dr. George sighed.
“I told you, pumpkin, Shelley and I have discussed this and we can’t raise your child for you, its time for you to grow up and learn responsibility,” he told her gently. She sighed.
“Well, I don’t want it in my house,” she snapped. “Babies are disgusting. All they do is eat and sleep and shit their diapers and scream all the time. They demand all your attention and you can’t do anything at all but watch them. They’re annoying.” David nodded.
“I don’t see why you couldn’t just do the hysterectomy and we wouldn’t have to worry about children at all,” he commented. Harry was shocked. He looked at Jake.
“What do you think, honey, are you up for twins?” he asked him. Jake nodded.
“Will this interfere at all with our plans?” he asked him. Harry shook his head.
“Not in the slightest,” he replied. Jake smiled and they kissed. Then Harry turned to the two detestable people.
“We want adoption papers giving us Emma completely,” he stated and they both nodded. “And once this is done, I don’t care if you change your minds five or ten or fifteen years from now and you say you want her back. We’re not giving her back. Once she’s a part of our family, she’s ours forever.” Gloria grinned.
“Oh, don’t worry, we don’t want it back, we never wanted it to begin with,” she declared. Harry sighed.
“She’s not an ‘it’ Gloria, she’s a precious baby girl,” he reminded her. She just shrugged.
“Whatever,” she said and waved her hand. Emma began to cry and she made a face.
“Aren’t you going to pick her up?” she asked. Harry shook his head.
“I’ll pick her up when she’s mine,” he said firmly. He looked at David. “And I want her name on the adoption papers to say Emma Rose, none of this Emma Jean crap; I don’t like Emma Jean; that sounds like she belongs in a trailer park.” Gloria gasped.
“But I like Emma Jean,” she protested. Harry shrugged.
“But she’s not going to be your daughter, she’s going to be ours and we like Emma Rose, don’t we, honey?” he asked Jake who nodded. Dr. George grinned. David stood up.
“Emma Rose it is,” he declared and rushed from the room before anyone could change their minds. Harry and Jake got up and left the room.
“You’re going to have to go home and get another car seat and bring a pink sleeper to put on her and a blanket, I know that they probably haven’t brought anything for her,” Harry instructed and Jake nodded. They kissed and Jake handed over their son. Harry grabbed his arm.
“Drive carefully, honey,” he said and Jake grinned and kissed him hard.
“Don’t worry, babe, I’ll be really carefully,” he said. Harry sat down on the bed and looked down at his son.
“Do you hear that, Jackson, you’re going to get a sister,” he cooed and Jackson looked up at him. He kissed his adorable little face and wondered how anyone could refer to a precious baby as an ‘it’ and shuddered.
Jake drove home as fast as he could as be as safe as he knew Harry would want him to be. When he pulled into the garage the dogs and Fran rushed out. She looked disappointed to see him alone.
“Where’s Harry, where’s Jackson?” she demanded. Jake grinned and rushed to the extra room where the extra baby stuff was stacked, she followed him.
“We’re having twins, Fran,” he yelled as he found the car seat quickly and then opened boxes looking for sleepers and blankets. Luckily Harry in his anal retentiveness had everything marked and he found the right boxes easily and pulled out a pretty pink sleeper with a little kitten on it and a thick pink blanket.
“What do you mean twins, how can he have twins, that doesn’t make any sense,” Fran yelled at him. Jake grinned.
“Gloria and David don’t want Emma so they’re giving her to us, we’re adopting her,” he informed her and then he picked up the car seat and rushed to the garage to attach it to the back seat of the Jeep while she watched in disbelief. He didn’t have time to discuss it with her so he just got into the car