Right Place, Right Time

When she reached over and touched his arm and said, "Oh, look! Isn't she the sweetest thing ever?" about a baby swaddled in pink, his thoughts about how much his opinion of her had changed were cut short.

He was on the verge of saying, "Yes, she is," when he heard his father's voice.

"There you are!" he called out.

"Dad. How's Ginger?"

Kristen stopped looking and also turned his way and asked the same thing.

"She's fine. She's in labor but doing real well. They said it could be several hours so..."

He looked at Kristen who took that to mean this was a family affair.

"Right. I...I should probably get going," she said with an uneasy smile.

"You gonna call a taxi or something?" Aaron quipped.

"Oh. I forgot," she said as she fished the keys to the Cadillac out of her purse.

"Thank you, Kristen," Marvin told her. "And my wife wanted me to thank you for her, as well. This was very kind of you."

Feeling less uneasy, she started to thank him when Aaron once again put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Dad? Kristen's going to be joining us for our family dinner this Sunday."

Her eyes opened wide, and her jaw dropped slightly as she looked up at Aaron when her father said, "That's wonderful! We might just have a new addition to the family at home with us by then."

He leaned a little closer then said, "I don't think your mother will need to make any extra pot roast, though."

Marvin laughed at his own lame attempt at humor then, feeling the need to clarify, said to Kristen, "For the baby."

Aaron looked at her then said to his dad, "Maybe Kristen doesn't eat roast beef. Or any meat."

"Oh, right," Marvin said as though vegans were everywhere. Then again, in Portland, they kind of were, and many of them were rather outspoken about it.

"I eat meat," she said almost a little defensively.

"You eat meat?" Aaron asked, dropping his arm and turning to face her. "No way!"

"Not...red meat," she replied, hoping Marvin wouldn't think she was a New Age weirdo or something worse before realizing she hadn't said she'd even be there.

Marvin chimed in before she could say anything and told them there was a new study out.

"Yep. They now say that white meat is no healthier than red meat. At least not in terms of cholesterol."

Kristen had heard that, too, but knew that red meat still posed a greater risk for colon cancer. She didn't mention that, she just smiled and said she'd take her chances.

"With white meat, right?" Aaron asked, one eye raised high.

"Yes, with white meat," she replied, as she raised her chin high like a snob.

"Well, la-dee-dah!" Aaron said causing her to laugh.

"Let's go see how your sister is doing," Kristen suggested as she laughed again.

The laughter stopped well before they got to the front desk of that department. Kristen didn't recognize the very pretty nurse behind the counter, but the younger woman recognized her as she said almost as tersely as the ER nurse, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Holmes. Only immediate family are allowed."

"Oh. Of course," she said. "I can wait out here."

Aaron put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'll be..."

She stopped in mid-sentence and stared right through him.

"Kris?" she heard a loud, confident, male voice say.

"Hello, Gavin," she replied as the doctor in the white coat came around to the front and hugged her like they were best friends.

"It's good to see you," he said with a big smile, as though nothing had ever happened, let alone that very day.

Kristen couldn't force herself to say, "You, too," but before she even could have, he turned to Aaron, stuck out his hand and spoke again.

"So. You must be Kris's...boyfriend?" he asked with a hearty smile.

Aaron also tried to reply before the doctor turned away then said to his ex-wife, "I'm really happy for you, Kris. Talk about stepping outside of your comfort zone."

Too stunned to speak, his ex-wife stood there as Dr. Holmes said to the pretty nurse, "She can come in, too, Emily."

He turned back to Aaron and Kristen then said, "I need to run, but it was great seeing you, Kris."

He tapped her with the folder in his hand as he walked by then said, "And I'm really glad to see you moving on."

Once he was gone, Aaron asked if she was okay.

"I knew there was a possibility he'd be here. I just never really expected to see him."

She looked up at Aaron then said, "Or that he'd just assume that you and I are, you know..."

"Together?"

"Well, yes. I mean, that's...absurd, right?"

Kristen's eyes were darting back and forth between his when she spoke. Aaron gently put his hands on her shoulders then, without answering her question, quietly said, "Let's go see how my big sister is doing, shall we?"

"Oh, my goodness. I got so caught up in seeing Gavin that I forgot why we're here," Kristen told him.

"Well, he is a doctor, right?" Aaron replied with a smile, as though all women swooned over every doctor.

"Wait. Aaron, you have to understand that means nothing to me. Nothing at all. He could be Bill Gates and I wouldn't care, if he treated me the way Gavin did. Okay?"

"Okay," Aaron replied, amazed by her honesty and her need to make sure he understood that. "I didn't mean to imply you were...shallow or anything."

"No. I...I didn't take it that way," she told him with a weak smile. "I knew what you meant, and I'm guessing that cute nurse over there would be extremely impressed with the 'MD' behind his name."

Little did Kristen know that that very nurse had been impressed enough with her ex-husband to spend more than a few nights in bed with the OB-GYN who'd once been married to the woman standing just a few feet away from her. Nor could she know that two of them had been while he was still married.

That this young nurse was significantly more attractive than Gavin made no difference to her as his status was the thing that drew her to him. She also had no way of knowing the good doctor was juggling a half-dozen other younger women who passed through the revolving door of his bedroom while loving every minute of his newfound freedom eating 'other things'.

Aaron was staring at her, and after a few seconds, Kristen had to ask what was going on and why they weren't going inside.

"I just can't help but thinking you're like the pearl of great price."

"I should know what that means, but I can't come up with it at the moment," Kristen replied, as her brain searched for the reference.

"It's from the Bible only I'm sort of doing a 'cut and paste'. The parable of the pearl of great price is about a man who, when he found out such a thing existed, went and sold all that he had for it."

"Oh," Kristen said, now even more confused.

Aaron smiled at her then told her she hadn't let him finish.

"In this case, your husband had the pearl of great price and threw it away for, well, for a mess of pottage."

Kristen had heard about Esau who supposedly sold his birthright for something to eat, and as she pieced together his conflation of two or three different stories, she was so touched it caused her to tear up.

"Hey, that was a compliment," Aaron quietly told her as he gently wiped away her tears.

"I know. That's why I'm crying," she said just as quietly. "I'd have given anything to hear Gavin say something like to me."

"That he didn't speaks volumes," Aaron told her as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

It was an odd gesture to say the least, but it was also very nice, and Kristen smiled at him and thanked him for being so kind.

"You're welcome, and you deserve kindness and so much more," he said with another gentle smile. "Now this time, let's really go see my sister."

He looked down at her hand then held his out, and after looking at it for the briefest moment, she took it and followed him inside where Marvin and Sally were standing by their daughter's bedside. Her mother was holding her hand while her father was laying a cool compress on her forehead.

"Hey there you two!" Ginger said when she saw her brother.

"You doing okay?" he asked, letting go of Kristen's hand. Ginger noticed, but she was dealing with something slightly more important at the moment.

"Yeah. I'm just happy to be here and know the baby is okay. Doctor Holmes isn't my doctor, but he's just so nice, you know?"

Kristen looked away while Aaron ignored the comment and told his sister he was grateful she and the baby were okay.

When Kristen looked back at Ginger, she spoke to her.

"I feel terrible, but I can't remember your name."

"It's Kristen," she told her as she moved closer. "Kristen...Lee."

"Thank you for helping out. That was so nice of you," Ginger told her.

"My pleasure. I can't imagine doing anything else in that situation. In fact, is there anything else I can do?"

Ginger laughed then said, "Can you get this bowling ball out of my stomach?"

Kristen laughed, too, then told her that wasn't something she could do.

Just then, a labor pain hit and Ginger cried out in pain.

"Mom's here, honey," Sally said as she squeezed her daughter's hand.

When the contraction passed, Aaron said, "We uh, we should probably step out. "

"Kristen's car is still back at the park, so I'm gonna run her over there and be right back if that's okay."

"Oh, sure. The doctor said it could be several more hours anyway, so..."

Another contraction hit causing her mother to say, "Or maybe not."

"I don't need my car right now, Aaron, and I can take a cab when I do," Kristen quietly told him.

"Nonsense. There's no way I'm not taking you myself," he told her firmly but very nicely.

"Well, okay. If you're sure."

"I'm positive," he told her before asking her if he could talk to her alone for a minute.

"Oh. Of course," Kristen told him as the stepped just outside the room.

"I just wanted to tell you that if you feel...if it seems like I...if I roped you into coming over to have dinner with us, I...then I apologize. The truth is, I rarely ever meet anyone I find so interesting and...attractive."

"I...I don't feel that way, at all," she told him as their eyes met again. "And the truth from my perspective is that I rarely hear anyone tell me the kinds of things you said today, Aaron."

He was about to say something, but before he could she added, "Especially not someone as interesting and..."

Her sentence was cutoff before she could finish it by another loud cry from Ginger. Marvin stepped out, excused himself, then went to tell a nurse they needed a doctor.

Less than a minute later, Gavin showed back up, and when he saw Kristen standing next to Aaron again, he smiled at his ex-wife and said as he put his face right next to hers, "Look at you dating a good-looking, younger guy."

He winked then stepped inside leaving Kristen slack-jawed and again too stunned to speak.

"We uh, we do make quite the couple," Aaron told her as he tilted his head her way a bit.

"I...I can't believe he just assumes that you and I are..."

"Dating?"

Kristen heard Aaron's reply, but she was so taken aback by the comment that it didn't register with her.

"I'd say he's projecting," Kristen replied as she tried to understand why Gavin's assumptions bothered her so much.

"How so?" Aaron asked.

This question caught her attention, so she turned and looked at him before replying.

"Oh, well, he's almost certainly dating younger women, so that was probably him assuming I must be doing something as ridiculous myself."

"Ridiculous, huh? Ouch!" Aaron said as he winced at her comment.

"No! Oh, my goodness. Aaron, that is not what I meant," she said, as she reached out and touched both of his hands.

"It's not all that ridiculous. Is it?" he asked as he then took both of hers.

"You...you can't be serious," she said as her eyes again flickered back and forth between his.

"I've been called gregarious more than a few times, and I'm almost always joking around and keeping things light."

He moved a few inches closer then looked right into Kristen's eyes and said, "But I can be as serious as anyone when the situation calls for it."

Kristen's heart rate increased sharply as she looked at his very handsome face, and for reasons she couldn't fully understand, that frightened her like nothing had in a very long time.

She slowly pulled her hands away while at the same time broke eye contact with Aaron.

"I was thinking I might want to go ahead and get my car now," she told him without looking at him.

"Okay. I'll give you a ride," Aaron said.

"No. That's okay. You stay here. Ginger needs you, and the baby is probably going to be here soon. You definitely don't want to be somewhere else when it comes, so...I'll um, I'll just call a taxi, okay?"

"Kristen? Did I say something wrong?" Aaron asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

"No. Not at all. Nothing like that. I just think it might be best if you and your family had some time alone here."

She finally looked at him, but only briefly as she said, "Without me."

Aaron had no idea what had just happened, but it was obvious he'd said or done something to offend her or possibly even hurt her. He felt terrible, but after she insisted nothing was wrong, he didn't feel like asking again.

"Okay. If that's what you really want to do," he told her.

"It's for the best," she replied, trying to sound cheerful and even managed a kind of half smile.

"Can I at least walk you downstairs?"

"You don't need to do that, Aaron. I'll uh, I'll be fine. Really. In fact, I can call right now, so that..."

Aaron reached for her phone, and Kristen gave him a 'what are you doing' look.

"May I?" he asked, his hand still outstretched.

Without a word she handed it to him. Within seconds he entered his name and number and handed it back.

"I don't know what just happened, but if it's my fault, I truly apologize," he told her with all the sincerity he could. "And I hope that if it wasn't something too serious, that you'll at least call me sometime."

She hadn't looked at him since taking the phone, so Aaron finished saying what was on his mind.

"I know we just met. But I also know I haven't met anyone like you before, Kristen. I just wanted you to know I really do think you're a very special person, and while you may not feel the same way about me, I'd like nothing more than to see you again."

The panic she'd been feeling was now mingled with several other emotions she couldn't even identify let alone untangle. Whatever was going on was by far the most confusing thing she'd ever experienced, and she knew she needed time to think and sort this all out.

"I hope everything goes well with the baby," she said before glancing at Aaron then turning to leave.

Now it was Aaron who was too stunned to say anything or even move as he watched her disappear from view just seconds later.

"What on earth just happened?" he quietly said out loud as he stood there staring at the last place she'd been before disappearing.

He stood there for a full minute before Ginger's cries brought him back to reality. He stepped back into the room just as the doctor said, "You're at four centimeters, so we're going to move you to a delivery room now, okay?"

"Okay!" Ginger nearly screamed as the contraction hit with full force.

"I've called your doctor and she should be here within 20 minutes, so no worries there," Gavin told her.

Marvin and Sally thanked him then noticed their son and filled him in on what he'd missed which was nothing he hadn't just heard.

Two hours later, Ginger was holding her son, a beautiful baby boy who was 7 pounds, 4 ounces and in perfect health. When Aaron was allowed to go in, she smiled and said, "There's your Uncle Aaron, my baby brother and the nicest guy on earth."

"I'm not sure everyone feels that way," he replied almost under his breath.

"What? Why would you say that?" Ginger asked, a look of deep concern on her face.

"Oh. It's nothing. Nothing at all," he told her before asking if he could hold his nephew.

As he took the new life in his hands, Aaron came close to tearing up as the thought of him having a son—or a daughter—of his own one day hit him.

"Isn't he the most beautiful baby ever?" Aaron's mom said as she coochie-cooed his little lip.

"Yeah. He sure is," her son replied as he looked at the helpless newborn who was as quiet as could be.

He carefully handed the baby boy back to his mother who was too tired and yet too excited to read the look on her brother's face as he asked his sister what she was going to name him.

"Aaron," she told her brother.

"Seriously?" the other Aaron replied.

"Yes. If that's okay."

"Well, yeah. If that's what you want."

"You and Dad are the only two men who've ever been there for me."

She smiled at her father then said, "No offense, Dad. But I can't imagine naming my son Marvin in 2019."

Her father chuckled and told her, "Had I been asked, I'd have begged my parents not to name me that, either, so...no offense taken."

As everyone laughed, Aaron momentarily forgot about the very confusing incident with Kristen, but moments later he wondered if he'd ever even hear from her again let alone see her. Based on the way she'd been in such a hurry to leave, he felt pretty sure he never would.

And while he was well aware they'd just met, he couldn't shake the feeling there was something special about this older woman he found so amazing. He'd dated many girls and women more attractive than Kristen, but he couldn't think of one he'd ever felt more attracted to, and that only added to his mental misery.

The moment Kristen reached the main lobby she got her phone out and hit '1' on her speed dial.

"Bonnie? Hey, it's me. Can you give me a ride?"

Fifteen minutes later, her friend pulled up and Kristen got in.

"Okay. What in the world is going on?" Bonnie asked as she pulled back into traffic.

"Am I gullible?" Kristen replied.

"Wait. What?"

"Me. Am I naive?"

"No...and now may I ask why you posed that particular question to me?" Bonnie asked.

"I feel like such a fool."

"Well, you're two for two so far."

"What?" Kristen asked as she looked over at her friend.

"Okay. I've asked you two question, and you haven't answered either one yet. I did, however, answer yours that you are not naive. So???"

"I'm sorry. What was the question?"

"You called me to come get you, right? And you just happened to be at the same hospital where your ex-husband is on staff, correct? And I can tell something is wrong. So, again, would you mind telling me what's going on?"

"Oh. Sorry. I'm just so confused I can't think straight," Kristen explained.

"Let's start with why you were at the hospital then explain to me why you didn't have your car there with you and we'll go from there."

In a hit-or-miss stream of consciousness, Kristen started talking. Five minutes later she was still talking, or more accurately, rambling, about the events of the day starting from the time she arrived at the park.

"Okay, that was actually helpful," Bonnie replied in a softer tone and with a smile. "Now why would you feel foolish or think you're gullible?"

Kristen turned as much as the seat belt would allow and faced her friend.

"Were you not even listening?"

"Um...I only heard every word," her friend replied, still smiling and trying to be supportive.

"Then how can you not understand? I just met this guy..."

"Aaron," Bonnie added to prove she'd been listening.

"Yes. Aaron. And the next thing I know I'm driving his father's car to the hospital and agreeing to have dinner with his family. I mean, is that even rational?"

"Gee, good point," Bonnie replied very seriously. "Yeah, helping out a pregnant woman who's water just broke is pretty...kooky."

Kristen made a kind of 'harumpf' noise, and Bonnie kept going.