Read First Class Farewell for Free Online Page B

the
joyous news that they would be adding baby number three to their growing
family, they were both resigned to the fact that the next few months would be a
challenge.
    Alex was now sixteen and growing into a fine young man. Ben
loved him beyond words and they had bonded immediately over baseball. But that
bond, once a small strand, was now a thick and indestructible rope of love,
trust, loyalty and respect. While Alex saw his biological father regularly, it
was Ben whom he considered his father. It was Ben in whom he confided.
    Alex loved his two younger siblings, too. Charles, or
Charlie as he was called, had just turned four, and Lisa was now two...a
terrible two, according to her mother. With the family expecting another baby
in just five months, Alex had told Ben many times that he couldn’t be happier
with their growing family. Neither could Ben.
    Walking through to the bathroom, the sight of his beautiful
wife grabbing her hair, and her head all but in the bowl of the white toilet,
Ben felt helpless. He crouched down next to Sophia and held her hair back as
she finished throwing up. With his other hand, he reached for a washcloth and
managed to twist the faucet on, soaking the cloth in cold water.
    “Here, babe,” he whispered, as she took it from him and
wiped her forehead and mouth.
    Ben fell backwards into a sitting position and spread his
legs wide, pulling Sophia back into his arms. “I wish there was something I
could do,” he sighed as he kissed her hair.
    “Me, too,” she chuckled. “It would make it so much easier if
I carried the babies but you had the morning sickness.”
    “I would,” he said seriously.
    “I know,” she smiled and twisted around to face him. “I love
you.”
    “Love you, too. Go back to bed and I’ll make sure Alex gets
off before I go to work.”
    Sophia nodded, grateful to be going back to bed. Ben helped
her from the grey marble floor and tucked her into bed before going back into
the bathroom to have a shower.
    *****
    “How’s Mom?” Alex asked when Ben padded barefoot into the
kitchen.
    “In bed. I’m wondering if maybe your grandparents would
watch the kids for a couple of hours this morning.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    Ben frowned and nodded.
    “You know, if you didn’t keep knocking her up she wouldn’t
be sick,” Alex teased with a chuckle.
    “Ha ha,” Ben replied. He poured himself a glass of orange
juice and slid onto the stool next to his stepson. He’d always been sure he
would never get married and certainly never have a family. Yet here he
was…married with three children and one more on the way. And according to
Sophia, they weren’t done. She wanted a dozen children with him. She’d said it
hundreds of times. She was even prepared to be sick for nine months to get each
baby here.
    Ben wasn’t sure about a dozen kids, but he loved the
three they had with all his heart, and was already falling in love with baby
number four. Sophia would grab his hand and place it over her belly every time
she felt it move. It was still too small for him to feel it yet, though. As he
chugged his juice, he recalled watching Charlie’s foot press against the confines
of the womb and Ben would push back, only to have his son kick back at him.
When he turned three, they enrolled him in soccer.
    Lisa was a little princess. She was the most beautiful girl
Ben had ever seen. She looked just like the pictures of Sophia as a baby. But
when she’d turned two, it was as if a switch had been flicked and she turned
into a beautiful little monster. Ben was counting down ‘til her third birthday.
Maybe the switch would flick back and his sweet little Lisa would return.
    “Do you want me to call Grandma?” Alex asked, interrupting
Ben’s thought.
    “No, it’s okay. Thanks. Do you need money?”
    Alex shook his head. “I’m good. I have jazz band practice
after school and I have money for a cab to get home.”
    “Home for dinner though, right?”
    Alex grinned. “Yep.”