Winning the Lottery - 24. Chapter 24 Puppies and the Deacon Trust

Thanksgiving weekend continued....

Cass and Khala were leasing a large ranch-style house on acreage, just to the west of the town of Davis. Hills could be seen in the distance, but otherwise the area was flat and given to agriculture. Cass had wasted no time getting his Golden Retriever breeding operation off the ground, although currently he had just the one female, Honey, who, in typical Retriever fashion, lumbered over to greet all the arriving guests.

With so many people arriving, it was a continuation of the earlier pandemonium, Khala’s parents were oohing and ahhing over the house, which I must admit was spacious, modern and beautifully decorated—all Khala’s doing, I suspected.

Dane, of course zeroed in on Honey, and she on him. She could probably smell Patsy on Dane, but she took to him like he was a long lost friend. Dane had remembered Cass’s warning about being gentle and was stroking her softly. Heavily pregnant, she flopped at his feet and ate up the attention.

Cass, bless his heart, said, “Oh, Dane, look at that, Honey really likes you! You must be special, because she doesn’t like just anybody.”

Dane beamed with pleasure.

Khala, always charming, welcomed everyone to their house, and took the time to give Jimmy another hug and tell him how happy she was that he could make it. Then she turned her attention to Winston, welcomed him warmly and told him to just make himself at home and to help himself to whatever he needed. Winston, a fairly outgoing person, seemed relaxed and glad to be part of the group. I did, however, notice that Jimmy, who was obviously less socially adept, held a death grip on Winston’s hand, like if he let go Winston might disappear in a puff of smoke.

The kitchen, which was in open plan with the great room, was laden with a delicious looking cold buffet supper. After we were all settled with beverages, Cass told us to help ourselves explaining that tonight’s supper would be simple so that we could ‘save up’ for the big turkey dinner tomorrow.

One by one, we helped ourselves to generous portions of cold cuts, salads and breads and balanced plates on our laps as we ate, chatted—the conversations seemed to flow in every which direction—and laughed. Dane was so smitten with Honey that we could hardly get him to eat.

Jimmy and Winston sat side by side on a loveseat, knees touching.

After we’d eaten, Cass, who was buried in first-year-vet-school work, took me into the bedroom he’d converted to his study and showed me his textbooks. We talked about the endless work required to memorize anatomy and pathology, and I empathized with what he was going through. But like me before him, he didn’t find the work onerous because it was all so interesting. He wanted, as well, to let me know that Honey was very near her due date and to ask me if he thought it would be appropriate for Dane to see the puppies being born if the big event took place while we were there. I said I’d check with Derrick, but as far as I was concerned I thought it would be a marvelous experience for Dane.

After dinner, everyone was tired after our long day, and we took our leave to go back to the inn where we were staying. We were all conscious too of the stress and strain that Cass and Khala were under in this first semester of school—they needed their rest as much as we travelers did.

Dane settled down to sleep pretty well, after he’d looked at multiple photos of Patsy and Honey on my phone. But it only took one chapter of the book we were reading to him before he nodded off to dreamland.

Derrick and I cuddled against the headboard as we watched a few minutes of television, but we were tired too, so we turned out the lights and cuddled under the covers. We had a good kiss fest but didn’t want to risk full blown (pardon the pun) sex with Dane only a few feet away. But we were satisfied with that bit of lovin’ and quickly fell asleep ourselves.

I was startled awake by a knock on the door. Checking the glowing bedside clock I saw that it was 6 am. Who the hell would be bothering us at 6 am? It was kind of frightening to be woken up that way to tell the truth. Luckily, Dane hadn’t been disturbed by the knock.

Derrick and I exchanged whispers about who the hell it could be, then the person on the other side knocked again and called our names, then spoke. We could just hear him through the barrier of the door. It was one of our security guys. “Dr. Nichol. Mr. Deacon. Your son asked me to give you a message.”

PANIC! Something must be wrong. I jumped out of bed, telling Derrick to stay there (we were both naked). I wrapped a towel around myself and went to the door. “What is it?” I asked.

“Um...Cass Deacon told me to tell you that his dog was just about to have pups and could you phone him.”

I opened the door, on the chain, just wide enough to say thank you to the security guy who’d delivered the message. I closed it, then turned to Derrick, who was looking puzzled. “I forgot to ask you,” I whispered, “But Cass asked if we wanted Dane to see the birth of the puppies, if that happened while we were here. It looks like it’s about to happen. What do you think?”

“Um...sure. I mean, that’d be a great experience for him. You don’t think he’s too young do you?”

“No, not to young at all. I think it would be a marvelous experience for him. And a lot safer than climbing up on roofs.”

I grabbed my phone to call Cass and noticed that we’d missed several calls from him. But Derrick and I always turned off my phone’s ringer while we slept. (Later Cass showed us a way to allow designated people to bypass the silent feature. He laughed at us, teasing that I could name the parts of a human body, and Derrick could fly a complicated plane, but we didn’t know how to access features on our phones!)

We scrambled to get dressed, foregoing showers and just splashing some water on our faces and brushing out teeth. Then we grabbed some clothes for Dane but we didn’t dress him, we just wrapped him in a blanket and headed to our rental car, which had been left for us at the hotel the evening before.

Dane was naturally a little disoriented, but he soon woke up when we told him where we were going any why. “Really! I’m gonna get to see the puppies get borned? Really? I can hardly wait to tell Patsy!”

By the time we got there Honey had birthed two puppies. It was her first litter, but she instinctively knew what to do, so Cass and Khala were just letting her do her thing. The puppies were adorable. They were just tiny little mewing balls. I explained to Dane that when puppies were born their eyes were closed and it took about two weeks for them to open up.

We’d warned Dane to speak really softly and not to make any sudden moves, but his face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw the pups. We’d only been there a few minutes when another puppy began to slip out. Dane was spellbound. “See Dane,” I said, “You’re seeing a puppy being born. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Is that a puppy? Why is it slimy?” asked Dane.

Rather than respond to that I just said, “Watch what Honey does. She’ll lick the little baby to get the slime off. Which she proceeded to do, as well as bite through the umbilical cord. She licked the little thing quite aggressively, and the puppy tumbled around, but the baby didn’t mind. In just a few minutes the little boy or girl (hard to tell) was tottering around on its little legs.

“I’ll answer all your questions later,” I said to Dane. “But for now let’s just be quiet and watch the babies being born.”

After that, Honey delivered three more, for a total of six, and she lay exhausted. The tiny sightless puppies began instinctively making their way to her teats for a feed.

Cass reached out and stroked Honey’s head and told her what a good job she’d done, and she gave a week thump of her tail in reply. Then he asked Dane to do the same, so he reached out and gave her head a stroke and paid her the same compliment that Cass had. Honey licked his hand. Everyone’s eyes were brimming with unshed happy tears. I’d seen several human babies being born, and I always became emotional at the miracle of birth. I was so very happy, and grateful to Cass for allowing us—and especially Dane—to witness such a special event.

We made our way to the kitchen where Cass started the coffee brewing. Khala took a pan of cinnamon rolls out of the fridge and placed them in the oven to heat. Dane, released from the admonition to be quiet, talked a mile a minute about what he’d just witnessed. Naturally, he asked the question, “But daddy, how did the puppies get inside her?”

Cass, the smart ass, said, “Yeah, Dad, how did the puppies get inside her?”

“Oh look,” I said. “I think the cinnamon rolls might be ready to come out of the oven. And I could sure use another cup of coffee.” I gave Cass my best evil look which didn’t intimidate him in the least.

We went back to the hotel to shower and change. As we entered, we ran into Winston and Jimmy, who were glowing.

“Well, don’t you two look...um...satisfied,” I said chuckling.

Winston blushed to the roots of his hair, and Jimmy beamed. Winston said, “Thanks you guys, for um....you know....” (Nothing could be spelled out since Dane was listening intently.)

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Just glad that things worked out.”

It didn’t take long before we headed back to Cass and Khala’s place. Dane was nagging us to hurry up so he could get back to Honey and her puppies.

From the little I’d managed to see of downtown Davis, it looked like a charming little town. I was looking forward to exploring it in the next few days.

It was too much to expect Cass and Khala to plan and prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner, so at my urging most of the dinner was catered. The exception being the Hawaiian foods Khala’s mother brought along. There were eleven of us crowded around their dining room table (including the two security guards of the day) and the dinner went off without a hitch. Everyone was in a joyous mood, and there was a lot of reminiscing, teasing and laughter.

Cass and Khala paid extra attention to Dane, as well as Winston, Jimmy and the security guys (who were no doubt missing their own families) and made them all feel welcome and included. My special Thanksgiving prayer of thanks that day was that Cass had grown into such a warm and generous man, and that his life partner, Khala, was equally gracious. I was bursting with fatherly pride, as was Derrick.

After dinner, most of us pitched in to help with the cleanup then sat down to watch football. I’ve never been a fan of American football (I’m not really a big sports fan in general—I’m admittedly a nerd), but it was fun to observe the passion that everyone in the room (except for me, apparently) had for the sport. Even Dane left his vigil of Honey and the puppies to join in the celebrations and sat on the couch cuddled next to Cass.

The next few days passed in a blur. Dane wanted to keep vigil over Honey and her brood, so we left him in care of one of the security guys and spent some time exploring the charming town of Davis and the University of California, Davis campus.

Sunday morning we reunited with the crew for our trip home. It was hard to say goodbye to Cass and Khala, and even worse for Dane to say goodbye to Honey and the puppies. Not surprisingly, he was moody and uncooperative for most of the trip, but he eventually settled down realizing that Patsy was waiting eagerly to see him again.

Winston was, of course ‘working’ the flight so he—reluctantly it seemed—kept a professional distance from Jimmy. If I didn’t vividly remember the longing of the early days of Derrick and my romance I might have thought the meaningful glances and ‘accidental’ touches were funny, but I found their behavior sweet and romantic.

I conferred with Derrick, and we extended an invitation to the happy couple to our home for dinner the following Saturday. Besides looking forward to their warm and humorous company I wanted a follow up on their relationship. This was the first real match-making I’d done and I was keen to see how things were progressing.

As soon as we got home, Dane called Alfy, who came running over with Koa. Jordan and Kelly followed soon after, and we enjoyed an informal poolside barbeque, which included Mom and Dad (veggie burgers for them).

Dane was happily telling the ensemble about seeing Honey’s puppies being born, then he turned to me and repeated his unanswered questions. “But, Daddy, how did the puppies get inside Honey?”

“I know how!” piped up Alfy. “I can tell you, Dane.”

“No!” came a chorus from Jordan, Kelly, Derrick and me.

“Dane, I’ll tell you later. We’ll make it a bedtime story, okay.” I needed the interval to figure out how to explain the birds and bees to a six year old. But what the hell was I going to say without explaining the mechanics of copulation? Included in that talk had to be an explanation of why Patsy wouldn’t be able to have puppies (she was spayed), because that question was bound to come up sooner or later. Then, as only females had offspring, I had to somehow tell him that without denigrating gay relationships. And should I come up with a simple, understandable way to talk about eggs and sperm? And whatever I said, Alfy no doubt had his own take on the process, which he was bound to tell Dane no matter what we said. And what kind of misinformation would that be? Alfy, after all was only 8 years old.

Derrick whispered, “I can see you’re over thinking this. Don’t worry, we’ll tell him together. We’ll keep it simple. It will be fine. You’ll see.”

By the time Dane’s bedtime rolled around I had wound myself up pretty good. Derrick just said, “Relax, Gabe. Let me handle it, at least to start. You can jump in any time if you like.”

“Dane,” he began. “Most animals in the world have babies. They usually come from the tummies of their mothers. The baby puppies were inside Honey because they grew in there. They started out as little tiny dots, the size of a grain of sand, and grew until they reached the size you saw. Then, of course, once they’re born they continue to grow until they’re all grown up. The reason they start out inside their mommy’s tummy is because they are just too tiny to take care of themselves. So the mommy keeps them inside, where it’s safe and warm, until they’re big enough and strong enough to live in the outside world. Does that answer your question?”

“Um..yeah....”

“Well, that’s good. How about I read you Click, Clack, Moo. You like that book, yes?”

***

James called to tell me he and Monique had visited our mother at the clinic in Zurich. He said she was looking much better. In fact, she’d met a gentleman at the clinic and they had become ‘close.’ Apparently, the guy had some sort of Scottish title, but James wasn’t quite sure what that was. His regular name was Alistair Grey. We agreed that we should have him checked out.

“Gabe, she’s really changed,” added James. “Honestly, you wouldn’t recognize her; the counselling she’s getting is doing her a world of good. Now she’s free of Dad she’s a different person. I think she wants to make amends, Gabe. Would you be open to that?”

Reconcile with my mother? Up until that point I thought that Hell would freeze over before I’d even consider it. But perhaps James was correct. My father was like this big black hole sucking the life out of all of us. Freed from his gravitational pull we flourished.

“Let me think about it,” I said.

(As it turned out, Mom’s ‘boyfriend,’ Alistair , was the 9^th Baron of Hunterscroft, and he owned a large estate in the eastern part of Scotland. Apparently, the estate produced its own label of Scotch Whiskey, which is how Lord Alistair started on the path to the Zurich clinic.)

***

After Thanksgiving, Derrick and I reversed our roles with Dane. Derrick began to spend more time at home with him, and I spent more time at work. Derrick made a point of keeping Dane active and outdoors. Almost every day Derrick planned some sort of after school activity. Dane (and Patsy) loved hiking and there were many interesting places on the Island where they could explore.

He enrolled Dane in Hawaiian dance and music, and it turned out Dane had some talent for the Ukulele. And I must admit that the cuteness factor of that was off the charts. Afly had been part of that group for over a year and keeping up to Alfy really motivated Dane.

As promised, he was taken to an indoor climbing gym, which he loved.

Derrick introduced him to surfing on the gentle waves of Waikiki.

As a result of the activity and attention, Dane settled right down in school. In fact, his teacher phoned to tell us how well he was doing.

Kelly, who worked such an early shift at the radio station, was always there for Alfy in the afternoons as well, so the four “guys” often went on outings together.

We spent so much time with Jordan and Kelly I joked about us having a ménage à quatre. But in many ways that was true. We had great affection for our friends and loved them like brothers and more.

***

Gramps, as head of the family and therefore spokesman, asked us to meet with him regarding succession planning and inheritance rights for Dane. Obviously, any child coming into the family was going to rearrange the share structure of the Dea-Con Corporation. I’d never really bothered trying to understand the trust Derrick’s ancestor had set up. I’d assumed that an adopted child would have the same rights and privileges under the trust, but that wasn’t the case.

The trust specified ‘progeny by blood’ (male or female) which left adopted children in the cold. I suppose it made sense. There’d been many a case of older adoptees ripping families off; not to mention gold-digging spouses. But still, it hurt. As a spouse I wasn’t entitled to Dea-Con shares, and I could understand that, but for Dane, I was hurt, as was Derrick. Our first reaction was to suggest a legal challenge to the provisions of the trust, but Gramps said he’d had the lawyers looking into it, and breaking the original trust was near impossible. The only ones who would benefit from a court battle would be the lawyers. Derrick said he’d have an independent lawyer look at the trust documents, and Gramps encouraged him to do so.

But the Deacons are nothing if not fair. Before Gramps even broached the subject to us he had approached all the ‘blood’ Deacons with a suggestion. Not a perfect solution by any means, but one that would take the sting out of Dane being ‘left out.’ Each of the shareholders—Derrick included—would contribute freely and generously to a separate trust for Dane. When Dane was older and understood the situation he would see that everyone in the family supported him. As I said, not a perfect solution, but one that would demonstrate the family’s love and support. With 7 contributors (Gramps, Uncle Darius, Darius Jr, Don, Dad, Derrick and Cass) the initial trust would be valued at just over one billion dollars. With income and additions Dane would have a personal worth of several billion dollars once he reached adulthood.

Dane, an innocent child, was much too young to be bothered with any of this, but Gramps, Derrick and I all agreed that when Dane turned twelve we’d talk to him. There was also the issue of his surname. For now we’d left it as Nikolov, wanting to honor his heritage. But once he was more mature we’d give him the option to keep the name or change it to one of ours.

Derrick felt terrible about Dane’s exclusion from the family trust. He kept apologising and expressing his frustration at the unfairness. Once again I was struck with Derrick’s kindness and generosity, but I assured him that I took no offence; that actions taken by his ancestor had no bearing him or his current relatives. They were all fair and generous. I pointed out that even Uncle Darius, the family snob, ponied up.

If anything, I loved Derrick more than ever, and when we made love that night, it was tender and special—as if I couldn’t give enough of myself to him.

But day-to-day life continued. For now, Dane’s focus was Christmas. He was dropping hints left, right and centre about potential Santa gifts. Dane didn’t think Santa was real, but he wasn’t quite ready to declare that sentiment, just in case.... Even Alfy, who was wise and knowing, didn’t dissuade Dane from believing in Santa. Instead, the two of them began to brainstorm how they might word a letter to the old guy at the North Pole. Dane was worried his roof adventure might be construed as naughty. I assured him that Santa weighed all the facts, and that overall Dane had been very nice, and that would work in his favor.