"Not for us, but for Tusker and Tessa. They'll need to get back to the hotel."
"Oooh, yes, and get their presents, too. They'll need the car seat just to get there!", added my wife.
I got a few cards from Tom and told him that I'd give them to the proud parents. He could run over to the Sheraton on Sunday and get the presents from Joe and Harlan, and then bring them back, and then cart Tusker and his family as needed. If they couldn't finagle it into Big Bob's bill, send it to me.
Ten minutes later we were at the hospital. I told Tom we would try to keep it short, but we weren't sure what was happening. I held my new bride's hand as we went inside. Marilyn asked me, as we got inside, "You know, we've never talked about it. Do you want kids?"
I gave her a curious look. "Sure. I thought you knew that."
"I wasn't sure."
"Don't you remember that little bit about telling your grandchildren about my duel? You've got to have kids to have grandkids. It's in the rules!"
"You and that duel!", she laughed, giving me a hip bump as we walked.
"Maybe I should have lost!"
"You're awful!" The next question was, "Well, when did you want them?"
I shrugged. "Not right away."
"Two years? Five years? Ten years? How many?"
I knew where Marilyn was going with this. She loved kids, and definitely wanted a houseful.
"We are not having 13 kids! I'll have the damn thing cut off before that happens!", I protested.
That earned me a good laugh. "No way! How about three or four?"
"We'll see. Tell you what. Let's be newlyweds for a bit first. Wait until I either make captain or the Army wakes up and throws my ass out. How about that?"
"Deal!"
"Deal!" We sealed it with a quick kiss.
From the reception area, we were sent off to the delivery area, but I wasn't sure how far that would get us. If the baby was already born, we might get to see him or her through the glass, or not. I hoped to get word to Tusker about the limo for tomorrow. At worst, I could write a note for them and get one of the nurses to slip it to them later.
We looked through the glass wall, but didn't see any babies with a name tag, so we went up to the desk and asked. The nurse's face lit up when she saw us. "Oh, yes, Mister Tusk was wondering when you might come by. He was just asking about you."
"Really?! I wonder why?", I said, half to myself and half to Marilyn. My wife gave me an equally mystified shrug.
"Well, go on into 304."
"We can go in? You mean, they've already had the baby?!"
She laughed. "Just go on in."
Marilyn had already started up, so I followed her down the hall to the third door and pushed inside. Tessa was in bed, looking like she had been pulled through a knothole. Tusker was in a chair, not looking much better, and with a look of both wonder and terror on his face. And there on the bed with Tessa was a small wrapped up bundle with a powder blue skull cap on.
Marilyn scampered up to the bed. "Oh my God! You had the baby!"
"You came!", cried Tessa happily. Both Tusker and Tessa immediately tried to greet us, and with Marilyn they got into a three-way conversation that got increasingly loud, enough so that the baby woke up and let out a yell. We had been followed in by a nurse, who announced it was time to take the baby off to the nursery.
Marilyn immediately moved around and took a look at the baby. "He's gorgeous!"
I looked at the baby, who was bald and red faced and wrinkly, sort of like Winston Churchill on a bad day. I smiled. "You're right, he is good looking." I looked over at my friend. "Who's the father? This baby is way too good looking to be any son of yours!"
Both Tessa and Marilyn yelled at me, but Tusker just laughed. "Fuck you, Buckman!"
"Such language in front of your son!"
Another nurse came in and announced she had to examine Tessa. Tessa reached over and took Marilyn's hand, and then pointed towards the door for Tusker and me. We boogied out the door and the nurse closed it behind us. We wandered down the hallway towards the nursery. "How you doing, man?", I asked.
He gave me a loopy sort of grin. "I don't know. It's like it wasn't real before. Or isn't real now. Or something. You understand that?"
I laughed at him. "No."
"I mean, I thought I was ready, but now, I mean, I don't know ... What if I make a mistake or something? This is a human being?"
I maneuvered Tusker over to a chair and sat him down, and then sat down next to him. "Let me tell you something, Tusker. You're going to make a mistake. You're going to make a lot of mistakes. You ain't going to be perfect. Don't sweat it. You're not going to make all that many mistakes."
He stared at me for a second. "You're not helping, buddy.", he said, smiling.
I smiled back. "Listen, was your father a good father?"
Tusker shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."
"And you've known other guys who have been good fathers, right?" He nodded, and I continued, "And you know some fathers who have been lousy fathers, right?" Tusker gave me a sharp look at that. I suspected I knew who he was thinking about. "Just behave like the good fathers and not like the bad fathers. How hard can it be?"
He grinned at me. "You really aren't helping!"
"It sucks to be you. How's that for some good advice?"
Now he was laughing. "Asshole!"
The door to 304 opened again. "You ever going to marry the mother of your son?", I asked.
He just shook his head and gave me a rueful smile. "I've already offered. It's her old man, he doesn't want anything to do with me..."
"Who would?"
That earned me a middle finger. " ... and Tessa wants him to walk her down the aisle."
"Hang in there. Being a grandfather might just change his mind. Name him after her father. Suck up to him."
For some reason this made him laugh. "Too late for that."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll let Tessa tell you." He stood up and I followed him back to Tessa's room. "Did you tell her the baby's name yet?"
"I was waiting for you."
Tusker looked at both of us a touch nervously. "He said we should name him after your father, to bring him around."
"Too late for that."
"What'd you name him?", asked Marilyn.
"Buckman James, after these two.", said Tessa.
Marilyn smiled at me. I just stared at my friends. "You have got to be kidding me!" Marilyn giggled at my reaction.
"Hey, we couldn't have done this without you.", answered Tusker.
I rubbed my face. "I think my idea makes way more sense." I looked over at Marilyn. "We can call him Bucky!"
"Good Lord!", she muttered.
"Listen, we have to be going. We have a honeymoon to get to!" I needed to get out of there. Buckman James? We probably had a serial killer on our hands! I gave Tusker the card for the limo company, and explained that there were some baby gifts coming, and then kissed Tessa and Tusker good-bye. Well, Marilyn kissed Tusker, I just shook his hand.
We headed back out and found the limo driver napping in the limo. "Ready to go?", he asked.