For Our Son: A BWWM Parenting Romance For Adults Read online

  For Our Son

  A BWWM

  Parent Romance

  For Adults

  By Nia Anderson

  Copyright 2016 Nia Anderson

  All Rights Reserved

  This novella is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, places, or events are strictly coincidental. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the expressed permission of the author.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter one

  Chapter two

  Chapter three

  Chapter four

  Chapter five

  Chapter six

  Chapter seven

  Chapter eight

  Chapter nine

  Chapter ten

  Chapter eleven

  Chapter twelve

  Chapter thirteen

  Chapter fourteen

  Chapter fifteen

  Chapter sixteen

  Chapter seventeen

  Chapter eighteen

  Epilogue

  Note From The Author

  Join Our Mailing List

  Bonus Book

  Chapter one

  The display window for the downtown Nordstrom’s was adorned in pinks, yellows, and flowers. It was a Mother’s Day shopping weekend and it appeared that Ryan Stewart wasn’t the only person who’d saved his shopping until the last minute.

  "Try our new scent," the salesgirl announced as she spritzed the air.

  Ryan coughed and moved out of her field of vision. His mother had very particular tastes. He had spent years trying to buy her the perfect present, but she always wanted the same old thing: a new necklace. Therefore, he was taking the easy way out this year.

  "Can I help you?" another salesclerk asked.

  "Yeah, where are your necklaces?" Ryan asked.

  "We have a wide selection of necklaces. They’re dispersed throughout the store, but most can be found in our jewelry section. Are you looking for something affordable, or a little higher end?"

  "Higher end?" Ryan frowned. Unless he was mistaken, he was at Nordstrom’s. Not Martin Katz.

  "Correct. We have pieces that fit every budget.”

  "Oh. I don’t know. I don’t know how expensive she usually goes. Actually, now that I think about it…I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen her wear a necklace..."

  "The salesclerk, whose name-tag read ‘Mary, laughed. "Then maybe you shouldn’t buy her a necklace," she suggested.

  "Oh no," Ryan held his hands up in protest, "I’m buying her a necklace. Trust me. It’s the only thing she wants. It was a long lesson to learn."

  Mary laughed. "Okay, so a necklace it is. Do you need anything for your mother, or…your wife?"

  "My wife?" Now it was Ryan’s turn to laugh. "I’m not married."

  "Girlfriend then?" Mary continued.

  "Nah. My girlfriend doesn’t have any kids." Ryan noticed the disappointed look on Mary’s face at the realization that he had a girlfriend and smiled to himself. He liked the fact that this girl who knew nothing about him was flirting with him. It happened more often since he’d cut his hair short. It also seemed that more girls were interested in him since he’d gotten a girlfriend. Go figure.

  Ryan hadn’t been dating Sophia very long, but things seemed to be going well. They’d met at a small production company where Ryan had interned over the summer after high school. They became friends right away, and after awhile, a romantic relationship seemed like the most logical next step.

  Thoughts of Sophia reminded Ryan that he was supposed to be meeting her for lunch that afternoon. He looked down at his watch and saw that if he ended this sales transaction quickly, he just might make it in time.

  "How about this one?" Ryan grabbed a gold plated necklace off of the closest display counter and held it up for Mary to see. “It's nice, right?”

  "That’s actually a display one…" Mary looked for a purchasable one on a nearby rack.

  "So it’s not for sale?" Ryan was impatient.

  "Well don’t you want a new one?"

  "It still has the tag on it,” Ryan observed.

  Mary looked the necklace over and made sure it had no major imperfections before ringing it up and giving it to Ryan. With little more than a ‘thank you’, Ryan was out of the store in a hurry and on his way to his mother’s. Before his feet hit the sidewalk, however, his cell phone started ringing. It was Sophia.

  "I know, I know. I’m late," Ryan answered.

  "Actually, I’m still at home. Derek’s really upset and I’m afraid to leave him alone,” Sophia explained.

  "Derek is always upset. I swear, for a gay guy, he doesn’t know how to be happy." Ryan rolled his eyes.

  "Ryan!” Sophia scolded. “I can’t believe you just said that. I thought you were more open-minded than that."

  "It was a joke. Get it? Gay as in happy?"

  "I get it. I just don’t think it’s funny."

  "Whatever." Ryan wasn’t in the mood to hear a speech on being politically correct. "So you’re canceling lunch?"

  "Yeah. I’m sorry. Do you think your mom will mind?"

  Ryan had completely forgotten that he was actually supposed to be taking his mother to lunch. His plan was to drop off the necklace and rush across town to meet Sophia, but he made an abrupt decision to take his mother out when it was actually mother’s day.

  "No. She won’t mind." Ryan didn’t bother adding that his mother had no knowledge of their plans for lunch.

  Free of his afternoon engagements, Ryan didn’t bother to rush. He took his time as he drove through the streets of his hometown. When he finally made it to his mother’s house, she was outside on the porch.

  "Oh, I’m so glad you came by. I’ve been calling you all morning." Ryan’s mother seemed frantic.

  "Why? What’s going on?" Ryan’s forehead creased with concern.

  "A very official looking letter came for you this morning. I didn’t open it, because it’s addressed to you. It came certified."

  "I haven’t lived here for years, Mom. Why am I still getting mail here?"

  "I think it’s from the adoption agency."

  Upon hearing that, Ryan tensed up. What could they possibly want with him? He’d terminated his parental rights ages ago.

  Ms. Stewart handed her son the envelope and stood in front of him wringing her hands as she waited to find out what was in the letter.

  "Well?" she asked when Ryan finished reading and folded it up.

  "I have to go downtown. Something about a time sensitive matter,” Ryan offered.

  "About what?"

  "I guess I’ll find out on Monday."

  "Did they just contact you or did they contact Grace as well?"

  "I don’t know."

  Ryan hadn’t spoken to Grace, the mother of his now adopted child, since they’d graduated high school almost eight years ago. He’d tried to look her up once last year but had been unsuccessful. To his knowledge, she had never tried to contact him.

  One thing Ryan did know…it was a long while until Monday.

  Chapter two

  Grace’s apartment was finally showing signs of cleanliness as she separated her clothes from her roommate’s. Thank goodness for the weekends. Tyra, Grace’s roommate, always went home to see her boyfriend on the weekends, leaving Grace an entire two days to recuperate from her slovenly living habits.

  It had been such a busy week for Grace at work, thus, she’d neglected her own cleaning as well. She was just now getting to do her laundry, and only because a lack of clean bathroom towels reminded her that she hadn’t done it.

  "Hey, Grace, are you going out t
onight?" Grace’s second roommate, Fletcher, asked. He was quite a partier and Grace was glad to have made his acquaintance. He got her out on the town and mingling with her peers at least three times a month. That was a lot for her.

  "Not tonight. I’m so behind on everything. And that includes sleep,” Grace answered back.

  "You can sleep later."

  "This is later. Trust me."

  Sensing the finality of her tone, Fletcher didn’t try to coax her any more. Pushing past him, Grace made her way back into the living room and occupied herself with a book and a can of diet soda until her load of laundry was done. It was her hope that the caffeine would keep her awake long enough for her to complete the rest of her chores.

  Just when the details were getting juicy in her book, Grace heard someone enter her apartment behind Fletcher and looked up to see who it was.

  "Hey Grace."

  Grace stared into the smiling face of Marshall Campbell. It was a guy she’d gone out with once when she was feeling lonely. It was one of the biggest mistakes she’d made in a long time. Not only did they have nothing in common, but Marshall’s obsession with conspiracy theories and the occult terrified Grace.

  "Oh, hi, Marshall." Grace tried to quickly turn her attention back to her book, but Marshall took a seat next to her and proceeded to talk.

  "So what are you doing this weekend?" he asked.

  "Just catching up,” Grace answered without looking up.

  "On what?"

  "Life."

  Marshall laughed…at what Grace wasn’t sure.

  "Well would you maybe like some company while you do that?" he asked.

  It took Grace a moment to comprehend that Marshall was asking her out…again. Turning someone down gently was a skill she’d lost back in high school, but she tried her best.

  "Actually, being social is what got me into this mess in the first place, so I think I’d better go solo this time. Thanks anyway, though." Grace smiled.

  "There’s this badass Screamfest film festival going on down at the Civic Center until midnight. Wanna go to that?" Marshall continued.

  "I’m not free this weekend, Marshall. Sorry." Grace looked over at the laundry room as if willing the washing machine to miraculously wash and dry her clothes at the same time. No such luck. She was stuck with Marshall for the duration of the spin cycle and beyond.

  As Grace dragged herself away from Marshall and the living room, she stopped outside to check the mail. An official looking manila envelope caught her eye. It was from her parents. Grace sighed upon seeing the Thompson mailing label affixed to the upper right hand corner. She tossed the envelope on her desk in her bedroom. She was in no mood to deal with mama and papa Thompson.

  Grace’s relationship with her parents had been strained ever since she decided to go to a liberal arts graduate school instead of pursing law and taking the bar. It was so bad that her father had all but stopped talking to her. Her mother tried to play Switzerland, but even she was short and distant with her daughter.

  Grace’s parents kept telling her that she was destined to be poor and unaccomplished due to her career choice. Money and prestige. That’s all they cared about. What about living? It was something Grace felt she’d never done until now.

  Now, she was living for herself. Not anyone else.

  Grace’s cell phone began to buzz and jolt as it rang. She picked it up. Her parent’s telephone number was displayed on the screen. She frowned and looked over at the envelop before she answered.

  "Grace? Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all afternoon." Her mother sounded anxious.

  The frantic sound of her mother’s voice kept Grace from reminding her that she no longer possessed the authority to question Grace’s whereabouts.

  "Is everything okay?" Grace asked.

  "I was going to ask you the same question. Did you get the letter we forwarded to you?"

  Grace looked over at the envelop on her desk. A forwarded letter?

  As if hearing Grace’s thoughts, her mother continued, "You got a letter here from the adoption agency. That’s what we sent to you."

  "I haven’t gotten a chance to open it yet."

  "Really?" Mrs. Thompson was skeptical. She knew Grace had a tendency to block out information she didn’t want to face.

  "Really, Mom. I’ve been really busy. I’ll go read it now." Grace waited. Her mother didn’t say anything but sat quietly on the other end of the phone line. "I’ll call you back if it’s important."

  "Call me back anyway,” her mother insisted.

  "Okay." Grace hung up before her mother could ask her to recite the letter to her over the phone.

  Though she had no idea what was in that envelope, she wanted to face it alone.

  Chapter three

  Ryan sat alone in the parking lot of the adoption agency. Sophia had wanted to accompany him but he had made up a reason why she couldn’t come. Something about confidentiality. It even sounded good to him. Now that he was alone with his thoughts, he allowed the real reason for lying to Sophia to present itself: Grace.

  Grace represented a part of Ryan’s life that he wanted to keep separate from everything else. Without Grace, Ryan could be anyone he wanted to be. He could paint any picture of his past and it would view perfectly. But not with Grace. In one person lay all his past successes and failures.

  Nowadays, Ryan was living in the present and focusing on his future. And in no uncertain terms did he want the past to meet the present – meaning Sophia and Grace. Ryan wasn’t even sure that he was ready to intersect with Grace after all this time.

  Ryan fidgeted with his car keys, passing time until he could get up the nerve to walk into the adoption center. He wished he knew what this was all about beforehand so that he could prepare himself. He glanced down at his watch and saw that he was late. He jumped out of the car and ran into the agency.

  As soon as Ryan identified himself, the staff behind the counter seemed to know exactly who he was.

  "If you have a seat, the counselor will be right with you." The administrator smiled.

  Ryan looked around the lobby. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that Grace wasn’t there. However, then his mind filled with a whole other set of questions. Why would I be contacted and not her? It’s an open adoption so why aren’t the adoptive parents contacting me directly? Is it possible…that I'm not the father after all? Is that what they’re calling me here to tell me?

  "Ryan Stewart?"

  Ryan snapped to attention when he heard his name. He stood up immediately to make his presence known.

  The counselor waited until she and Ryan were behind closed doors before she spoke to him again. Ryan half expected to see Grace already sitting in the small room. She was not.

  "Have a seat." The counselor offered. The name on the desk plate read Yvette Jones.

  Ryan sat down. He wrung his hands in his lap as he waited to find out what was going on. Ms. Jones noticed.

  "Are you nervous? Don’t be,” she reassured him.

  "Can I ask why I’m here?" Ryan finally blurted out.

  Ms. Jones opened a file on her desk and looked through it before she began speaking. "The family that adopted your son eight years ago has contacted us for help with a medical matter." Yvette let that information sink in before continuing. "Matthew has leukemia. He needs a bone marrow transplant and his parents are hoping that you are a possible donor."

  Matthew. Ryan rarely, if ever, used the name the adoptive parents had given his son. Leukemia.

  "They want me to donate bone marrow?" Ryan was trying to wrap his head around it all.

  "Well first they want to see if you’re a possible donor, to see if you’re a match. Matthew’s adoptive parent’s aren’t a match so we were hoping his biological parents would be."

  At the mention of biological parents, Ryan’s mind revisited Grace.

  "Well, if Grace is a match, do I still need to be a donor?" Ryan asked. His question, masked to sound as if he
didn’t want to participate, was really a smokescreen to find out if Grace had been contacted.

  "Well…no, but the family would like both you and Grace to see if you are possible matches as soon as possible. It would take a bit longer if you waited to see if she was a match before getting tested." Yvette’s tone of voice hardened at the thought of Ryan not wanting to help out.

  "Oh, I’m not saying I won’t do it. I was just wondering. I noticed Grace wasn’t here, so I thought maybe that was the way we were doing it,” Ryan added.

  "She was here earlier. We thought it would be better if we spoke with you each separately."