Free For Our Son: A BWWM Parenting Romance For Adults by Nia Anderson Page A

Matthew’s
bed.
     
    Grace looked over at Ryan and saw that he was uncomfortable. She also
felt a little out of place and she stepped back. Ryan followed her.
     
    The doctor came into the room and started asking the Martin’s a lot of
questions. Ryan and Grace exited the room to give them some privacy.
     
    Ryan took a seat in the hall. He sat in stunned silence.
     
    "Ryan…are you okay?" Grace asked him quietly.
     
    "He looks so much like you." Ryan finally said as if he were
in awe.
     
    "I was going to say he looked like you." Grace smiled.
"He’s so beautiful."
     
    "And he has no idea who we are."
     
    Grace nodded. That was evident by the way he stared at them.
     
    When Ryan and Grace had made the decision to give Matthew up for
adoption many years ago, she had never thought she’d care if he called another
woman ‘Mom’, but hearing it today, it tore at her heart in a way she never
expected. She wondered how Ryan felt about it. She was just about to ask him
when the door of Matthew’s hospital room opened.
     
    "They’re wheeling him out now,” Monica announced.
     
    Ryan and Grace stood up and watched as Matthew’s young body lay still
and scared on the adult sized bed.
     
    "We’re going to go watch from the observation suite," Steve
added. "If you want to join us…"
     
    "Actually, the observation suite is for immediate family
only." The nurse overheard.
     
    Monica and Steve stared at Grace and Ryan, not quite sure of how to
explain their situation.
     
    "We’ll wait in the lobby,” Ryan offered. Grace nodded.
     
    The surgery was only supposed to take a couple of hours if there were no
complications. Ryan and Grace sat down in the scantly decorated lobby and tried
to bide the time as they waited for news on Matthew’s condition.
     
    Ryan glanced over at Grace several times before he spoke.
     
    "I forgot to bring something to do,” he said.
     
    "I know. I was going to bring a book, but there’s no way I’d be
able to concentrate on it,” Grace admitted.
     
    "What are you going to do when you go back home?" Ryan asked.
He thought it was a fairly neutral conversation topic.
     
    "I’m going to tell my parents I’m moving in with Morgan. I don’t
want to live with my old roommates again next year." Grace sighed. "I
should probably call Morgan, actually."
     
    "Morgan? You two are still friends?"
     
    "Yeah. Do you ever see anyone from high school?"
     
    "Nah. I saw Peter a couple of times, but that was right after we
graduated,” Ryan said of his high school best friend.
     
    Grace nodded. The conversation fell flat. Grace thought of something to
revive it. "Thanks for coming,” she said quietly.
     
    Ryan smiled at Grace. He knew they’d get around to discussing their
presence at the hospital. "No problem. I wouldn’t have been able to live
with myself if something happened and I wasn’t here."
     
    "Don’t even talk like that, Ryan." Grace looked down at her
hands and bit her lower lip, a sign of nervousness.
     
    "You’re telling me you haven’t thought about it?" Ryan asked.
     
    "Yeah, but…I don’t want to talk about it,” Grace whispered.
     
    Suddenly Ryan’s cell phone started buzzing and ringing. Grace looked at
him and pointed to the sign that asked that all cell phones be turned off. Ryan
gave a wave of dismissal as he answered his phone.
     
    "This is Ryan,” he answered, a habit that he’d gotten from his job.
     
    "Ryan! Why haven’t you called me? I was worried sick! Did you make
it okay?" Sophia sounded frantic.
     
    "Yeah, sorry about that. I've just been really busy here, and–”
     
    "So you weren’t going to call me?" Sophia interrupted
incredulously.
     
    "Yeah, I was. Eventually."
     
    "Oh. Well how’s everything going?"
     
    "Fine. He’s in surgery now. We’re just waiting."
     
    Something about listening to Ryan share Matthew’s surgery with Sophia
got the better of Grace and she got up and walked out into the hall. When Ryan
found her she