Free Meeting Max by Richard Brumer Page A

I’m thinking about giving it up. It’s the only way. How do I visit my parents at Christmas? What if they want to visit me?”
    “If you make the decision to give up the baby, that will be your choice and I will support it. Take your time and think about it again over the next few days. Nothing is an emergency. We will figure it out.”
    “I did think about it. Giving the baby up for adoption is the only choice.”
    “Okay, I respect your decision. We have to find out where and how to do it, Julie. Maybe it’s better doing it out of state. We could always explain away the reasons why you can’t go home for the holidays. I doubt they’ll want to come here.”
    “Let me be the one to take care of the details. It will be painful enough, but I want to do it my way and by myself. I’ll find out what I have to do and where I have to go. Maybe it’s the mother in me speaking, but I feel strongly about making all the decisions about our baby. Still, you’re the father. Is that all right with you?”
    “Yes, of course. Do what you feel is right. I will be there for you. Only you know what it feels like having a baby inside you.”
    It was the saddest thing Rick could think of doing, giving up their love child. When the baby grew up, he or she would never know anything about them. He wondered what the child would look like many years into the future and hoped it would be a girl and look like Julie.
     
    ***
     
    Christmas was almost upon them. Julie telephoned her parents and told them she wouldn’t be home for the holidays because she still had some lingering pain from her broken ankle and the orthopedist wanted her to be close by so he could monitor her recovery for a few more weeks.
    It seemed like a lame excuse, but her parents bought it. Julie was picked up by a driver from an unwed mother’s home and taken to New Jersey to await the baby’s birth. The baby would be born at a nearby hospital toward the end of the Christmas holiday.
    Rick thought it strange that Julie wanted to make the arrangements on her own and not tell him where she was going, but he trusted her implicitly. She called him from where she was staying and told him she was all right and getting good care.
    Christmas passed and the baby arrived on New Year’s Eve, a birth date that could never be forgotten.
    Julie called. “Rick, it’s a boy, seven pounds three ounces, and we’re both doing fine.”
    “How do you feel? Can I come and see you? I love you.”
    “I love you more.” Her voice was weak. “They don’t allow visitors. I am feeling good, a little sore down there, and tired, but it was a short labor and he’s a healthy boy. I named him Eric John, after my father.”
    “Nice. Does he get to keep that name when he’s adopted?”
    “I’m not sure. I miss you so much.”
    “I miss you too. I can see you smiling.”
    “I am, I really am. I guess you can see me. I’m smiling for you, but there’s more to tell you.”
    “What?”
    “I’ll tell you when I get home. They said they would drive me back in three days and then I have to take it easy for a while.”
    “I know. I’ll spoil you like no girl has ever been spoiled.”
    “I’m not a girl anymore. I’m a woman now. I have to go to sleep. They’ll be bringing Eric in later, but I have to sleep for a while.”
    “Okay, love you.”
    “Love you too. Kiss.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
    Julie came home near the evening a few days later. Rick held her in his arms, kissed her, and glanced down to look at her smaller tummy. It still showed somewhat of a bulge.
    Julie was tired. She tumbled into bed and Rick soon followed. They kissed and cuddled for a while until Julie fell into a deep sleep.
    Morning came. Rick opened his eyes as the bright sunlight slipped through the slats of the wooden shutters. His arms were still around Julie’s swollen breasts. He looked at her as she slept, calm and peaceful like an angel, and watched her eyes flutter