“He's a fine boy, Oliver. You should be very proud of him. He was a man till the end. And it killed him to see that child go.”
“I know.” He had never expected him to love the baby so much, and it certainly complicated things, but in time, perhaps things would change, perhaps the attachment wouldn't be so great, or maybe one day Sandra would be willing to give up her rights and let Benjamin adopt him. Oliver had spoken to an attorney about it and he had assured him that unless she was willing to give the baby up, and she wasn't, there was no way to wrest the child from her. They had done the right thing in letting her take him, and the appropriate thing would be to let Benjamin visit the baby. “Thank you again for taking care of all of it, Margaret,” Oliver said. “I'm sorry to burden you with all that. I just didn't know who else to turn to.” He had thought of calling Daphne in New York. But she was too far away, and too busy with her work. Margaret had been a godsend in handling the problem, and he was deeply grateful to her. His father was right. She was a hell of a woman.
“Your father says he's a lot like you were. Strong and kind and stubborn.” It was odd to hear her say the words, Oliver had always thought Benjamin was more like his mother. “He'll get on the right track again now, don't worry about him, and I'll put him on the plane to you tomorrow or the next day.”
He thanked her again, and finally hung up, to call Sandra's mother in Bakersfield and make sure that Sandra and the baby had arrived safely. She said they had and wanted to know how quickly the first check was coming.
“I put it in the mail to you yesterday, Mrs. Carter,” Oliver said with disdain. “Is the baby all right?”
“He's a cute kid,” she said, more to please him than out of any real emotion she had for her grandchild. And then, finally, Oliver relaxed, as he stretched out on the couch next to Charlotte, who had been through most of it with him. The ordeal was finally almost over.
He turned to her with a tired smile, as she gently stroked his hair. “It's been a year of hell for that boy, Charlie. Thank God he's free now.” Though even Oliver felt a pang of sadness for little Alex. He would be more removed from their lives now.
“It must have been hard for him to call you like that. You have to give him credit for throwing in the towel while he still could.”
“I do. I have a lot of respect for him. I'm just sorry he had to go through it.” They had a quiet dinner alone that night, after Mel and Sam went upstairs. By then, Benjamin had called, and they all knew that their brother was arriving the next day, and Oliver had warned them he'd had a tough time, and Mel had promised to do whatever she could to make things easier for him. They all wondered what he was going to do about school, but no one knew yet.
Ollie drove Charlotte home late that night, and he only stayed for one quick drink. All they did was talk about Benjamin, and kiss for a few minutes in the kitchen. It was certainly a far cry from his wild, unbridled fling with Megan. And he smiled at her ruefully before he left, and apologized for all the confusion.
“I'm afraid you'll find, my love, that things never go quite the way you plan, with kids around. I guess I've gotten used to it over the years, but it can't be much fun for you. I haven't been very good company for the past few days.”
“You've been fine, and I wouldn't have expected you to be any different.” And then she had a thought, she loved being with him, and with his kids, and her heart had gone out to this boy she didn't even know yet. “Do you want me to come to the airport with you tomorrow night, or would you rather be alone with him?” She was always thoughtful about the time he needed with his kids, and he appreciated that too. There seemed to be nothing she didn't understand or wasn't willing to help with.
“There'll be plenty of time to talk after we get home. I'd like you to come with me, Charlie.” He smiled, and kissed her again, and left a few minutes later, exhausted himself. He could barely imagine how Benjamin must feel after all he'd been through. But he was in no way prepared for the gaunt, pale, anguished-looking boy he picked up at the airport the next night, and all he did was put his arms around him as the boy cried, while Charlotte stood at a discreet distance. He finally wiped his eyes, and looked at his father like a long-lost friend. And Charlotte turned away so they wouldn't see her tears, as they both walked slowly over so Benjamin could meet her.
“Charlotte, I'd like you to meet my son, Benjamin.”
Oliver spoke quietly, it was a somber night for them, and she understood it. But the boy made an effort to look less distraught than he was, and smiled as he shook her hand.
“My sister has told me a lot about you, and I've seen your show a lot of times. And Sam's told me about the guinea pig. You've made a big hit with my family, Miss Sampson.” She was flattered by the kind speech, and gently kissed his cheek, and Oliver noticed how much the two resembled each other. Almost anyone would have thought they were related, with their bright red hair, and creamy skin, and the thin dusting of freckles.
“I'm flattered, Benjamin. But I'd be even happier if you'd call me Charlie. How was the flight out?”
“Pretty good, I think. I slept most of the way.” He was still emotionally drained and totally exhausted. He had slept until noon that day, and Margaret had driven him to the airport, as she had promised his father. And then he talked quickly to his father in an undertone. “Did you talk to Sandra last night? Is the baby okay?”
“They're fine.” He led him toward the baggage claim, sad to see Benjamin so worried about them. Alex was still his first concern and it was painful to see how much he missed his baby. He said as much to Charlotte, when they were alone for a minute, putting Benjamin's bags in his bedroom.
“He's not just going to forget him, Ollie.”
“No, I know that. But it's time he thought of himself now.”
“He will. Give him time. He's still in shock. Don't forget all he's been through.”
They walked back downstairs to join the others then. All the children, including Benjamin, had stampeded into the kitchen. And when Oliver and Charlotte walked in, Benjamin was eating a club sandwich and a plate of brownies that Aggie had made him. Mel was talking excitedly to him and Sam kept shoving the guinea pig in his face, to show him how beautiful he was. And Benjamin smiled as he listened to them. It was good to be home, better than any one of them knew. He felt as though he had just spent a year on another planet.
“So how's school?” he asked Mel.
“It's great. You're gonna love it.” And then she wished she could have swallowed her tongue. Her father had warned her not to press him about school, but her brother read the look in her eyes and smiled.
“Don't worry, kiddo. I'm not that uptight. But I haven't figured out what I'm going to do yet. I want to go down to Bakersfield to check on Alex first, and then I'm going to look into taking a high school equivalency test. I think I might try to get into UCLA if I can swing it.” Gone the dream of Princeton and Yale and Harvard, but UCLA was a fine school, and he wanted to stay close to home for a while. Now that was all he wanted.
He told Oliver the same thing when the others had gone to bed, and Charlie told him she had gone there, too, and offered to write him a letter of recommendation, if it would help him.
“That would be great.” He thanked her, and tried not to look as though he was staring at her. But he had been impressed with her all night, with how nice she was, and how pretty, and how obviously crazy about his father. She insisted on driving home herself that night, she wanted the two men to have some time alone, and Benjamin had nothing but good things to say about her after she left, which pleased his father.