Unexpected Encounters: ( A BBW Erotic Romance)

by Nora Stone

  He froze and stared at me. “Your parents? You want me to meet them?”

  “Well, yeah. Too soon?”

  “I’m not really good with parents, Susan. Can we wait until I know that I’ll be staying in Portland?”

  I was astounded. “William, that will take six months or more.”

  “So? Are they ill or something? What’s the rush?” He asked.

  “Um…no, they’re pretty healthy. Why don’t you want to meet them? What happened in the past?”

  “I do want to meet them. Nothing really happened. I’m just not comfortable…” I must have looked highly peeved because he trailed off with a shrug, and then added, “Um…yeah, can we just put this off for a bit?”

  To be truthful, I was really let down. If he cared about me, I didn’t see the issue with meeting my parents. He should want to, right?

  I was baffled. I mean, I could understand an issue with meeting his sister even though we’d never brought it up. After all, she was in England. But my parents lived in the next town. I let the subject go for the moment. Even though I tried to shove it out of my mind, his reluctance nagged at me. He was extra attentive after that. I knew that he felt the elephant in the room, so to speak.

  The next morning over coffee, our mood was back to normal again. I’d temporarily forgotten about it. When I arrived to work, I told Zoe about my plans and remembered William’s unwillingness to meet them.

  When I mentioned it Zoe, she shrugged, “You’ve only been seeing each other for a few months. And, you just got done having your first argument. I’d be a little shy, too.”

  “I think I’ll call my parents and tell them I’ll visit the weekend after next. Maybe if I tell them about him and get their opinion, William will see that it’s not a big deal.”

  Zoe arched an eyebrow and rolled her eyes as if to say I don’t know about that.

  “You think I’m asking for trouble, don’t you?” When she gave me a pointed look, I added, “What’s the worst that could happen? William is charming and very likable.”

  “I just wouldn’t rush it, Susan.”

  I couldn’t help it. Something was nagging me, especially after the fight we’d had. I couldn’t let it go to save my life.

  That night, I called and let my parents know that I wanted to bring someone special to meet them, but he wasn’t available that weekend. Could we reschedule?

  They were happy for me and eagerly agreed. I told them to let me check with him and get back with them on the date. Then, I talked to William again about it.

  He didn’t exactly appear willing, but he didn’t flatly refuse either. We made a tentative date for two weeks on. I tried not to be moody about his lack of enthusiasm. Maybe Zoe was right. Was I pushing him too quickly?

  William became even more attentive after that but, when I brought up my parents, he would become nervous. Since the holidays were right around the corner, dinner parties were being held.

  The client he worked for was throwing a Halloween party. He asked me to attend and, for the next few days, we shopped for appropriate costumes.

  I noticed that he shot down everything sexy that I looked at. Maybe he didn’t want other guys to see that much of me? I had no idea what was on his mind. He picked out costumes that covered every inch of me. When he came up with a plan to go as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I thought it was pretty creative. Unfortunately, the costumes were pretty involved. So was his plan to arrive.

  I would be Dr. Jekyll since I had a stethoscope and scrubs. I bound my breasts in order to look male and pasted on a fake mustache. We bought a wig to cover my red hair and some theatrical makeup to make me jawline stubbly. When I’d donned the entire garb, I had to admit that I actually looked like a crazed doctor.

  We arrived separately. He introduced me to his client and colleagues as Dr. Jekyll, or a friend. As far as I could tell, no one knew I was female. I had a blast fooling everyone by lowering my voice and keeping in the Dr. Jekyll character.

  I had brought along some of the mustache glue and a black eyeliner pencil as a precaution. At one point, he signaled for me to follow him. We wound up in the restroom.

  He pulled me into his arms and breathed, “I’d love to bed you over that counter right now.”

  “You’ll ruin the costume!”

  A frustrated groan escaped him. Instead, he gave me a deep kiss. Afterward, I had to use the glue and eyeliner to correct smudges and reposition the mustache.

  We went back to the party just as they were opening another bottle of champagne. I pretended to sip mine. By that time, I was determined not to let anyone find out that I was female. I had turned the party and my Jekyll disguise into a game of sorts.

  After we arrived back at my place, we giggled in bed over the entire event. Most of them had played their individual roles too. The only thing that put a damper on things was when I discovered that he would be out of town for work on the date set to visit my parents.

  The day after the costume party, I called to let them know and explained that he traveled for work. Of course, my father wanted to know every detail about him. I told them that we’d dated for a few months but it wasn’t at the serious phase.

  My mom thought it was much more serious than I was letting on. Since I was an only child, I was accustomed to her protective attitude, but assured her that I could take care of myself. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I should just put the meeting off until Thanksgiving. That seemed less threatening so I suggested it to William. He seemed a bit more enthused and even asked if he needed to bring anything.

  Now, I looked forward to the holidays more than in previous years. Sometimes, it sucked being single over Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought about getting him a gift and started asking him about some of his favorite things that we hadn’t talked about before.

  For some unknown reason, he became reluctant to talk about himself. Before that, we’d talked about me quite a bit. It dawned on me that we’d never really talked about his life in England. I really didn’t know much about William other than his argument with his sister.

  Were his parents alive and well? When asked, he told me they were, but clammed up when I tried to get more information. An inquiry about any more siblings made him give me a clipped No. Hell, I didn’t even know his sister’s name. When I asked, he got irritated and told me he didn’t want to talk about his family anymore. That almost threw us into another argument.

  In way of an apology, he told me, “Our family has always had issues, love. It makes me sad to think of them now. Besides, they’re not really fond of Americans. I don’t think you’d like what I have to say about them.”

  After that, I didn’t ask him anything else. I couldn’t imagine not liking someone just because they were raised in a specific country. How was William so nice; yet, he claimed his family wasn’t?

  I shoved it out of my head, realizing that, if we had any kind of future, I’d deal with them then. As Thanksgiving approached, I asked, “So, is your client having any kind of get together?”

  “I have no idea. I thought we were visiting your parents?”

  “We are, but it’s customary to make rounds on Thanksgiving and eat with everyone. You know, spread your thankfulness around…so to speak.”

  He shrugged and said, “They’re probably eating with their families. Don’t worry about it.”

  True to his words, I didn’t think any more about it. As the weather grew colder, my grumbling made him amused. He was used to cold weather. I would put on gloves, earmuffs, scarf, boots, and a thick winter coat. He just wore a coat and grinned at my bundled-up state. As winter set in, I began to wonder even more about our future.

  One day, I reminded him of our previous conversation regarding his yearning to be a father. I asked him if he wanted a boy or a girl.

  “Either as long as they’re healthy and have your red hair.”

  We started thinking of names, just for the hell of it. It quickly became obvious that we had vastly different tastes
on what we thought of as acceptable names. His favorite was Oscar or Ezekiel. The only thing that came to mind for me when I thought of Oscar was…the grouch. And Ezekiel sounded downright ancient.

  For a girl’s name, he liked Clementine. Personally, I thought that sounded like a Victorian-era name. After a while, our endeavor turned into a game of who could think up the most ridiculous names.

  I brought up the subject of Zoe’s troubles, which made him moody. He wouldn’t tell me why, so I dropped the subject.

  Zoe was currently busy with adoption issues. They were still trying to figure out if they wanted to go with a surrogate or just adopt a baby. They’d even gone back and forth about possibly adopting from a different country. In the end, Zoe wasn’t comfortable with that plan. I felt for her, but couldn’t really relate on her level.

  As Thanksgiving grew closer, William was told he’d have to spend a week out of town. Thankfully, he’d be back a few days before our scheduled dinner with my parents.

  I grew more excited but, when I tried to talk to him about my parents, he became subdued. I could now understand his nervousness. I would be nervous if he asked me to meet his family, too.

  I missed him horribly when he left for the weeklong trip. This time, he took the train since his destination wasn’t that far away. I was bored out of my mind. We spoke frequently, telling each other how much we missed this or that about each other.

  I pondered the fact that we seemed closer than ever, but knew this dinner with my parents was a big turning point. If they liked him, I knew William and I would need to have a talk about what would happen when and if his contract was renewed. On the flip side, what if it wasn’t renewed? Would that be the end for us? Would he ask me to go back to England with him?

  I didn’t know if I was ready to move to another country. What if something happened to my parents? And, I didn’t know how I felt about a long distance affair.

  The day William was to return to Portland was hectic. One of our patients ended up in the ER when the doctor changed his meds. Our patient’s face was so bloated that he was unrecognizable. I was on the phone with his physician, directing my staff on how to handle the patient, and had the pharmacy on hold when someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I held a finger up for them to wait. After I’d hung up from the doctor, I turned to find Zoe quietly waiting. Her face was really pale.

  “Oh, no! He passed away, didn’t he?”

  “No, Susan. This isn’t about Mr. Young. I think you need to sit down.”

  “Is it my parents? You’re scaring the hell out of me, Zoe. Just tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s William, Susan. A cab driver at the train station hit him. He’s in the ER, but…”

  I was already running past her. I stabbed the button on the elevator as if my repeated beckoning would hurry the lift along. When my efforts failed, I ran for the stairs. Zoe was right behind me.

  “Susan, slow down. He’s unconscious. They’re taking him to do an MRI.” She panted out, “Damn it, listen to me. You won’t be able to see him. You have to prepare yourself.”

  Tears blurred my eyes as I rounded the second floor. I tripped and almost fell. She grabbed my arm and stopped me. I almost fought her.

  “Susan! He has head injuries. You have to…”

  “NO. Shut up. Stop talking. I have to see him.”

  I ran down the remaining two flights as fast as I could. Zoe paused and yelled at me, “Who’s your next in charge?”

  “Benjamin,” I called back in a tear-clogged voice without stopping my headlong stumble down the last flight.

  I was panting as I rushed toward the ER. I assumed Zoe headed back upstairs to the diabetic ward to tell Benjamin to cover for me.

  I felt like demanding to see him right them, but I knew that was impossible. If they had him in the MRI unit, I would have to wait. I had to hold back from entering into the MRI area. I paced the floor and chewed on my fingernails between asking anyone that came near me if they knew a patient named William Balfour.

  I was desperate for any information. The waiting almost drove me insane. When they finally wheeled his gurney out, he was still unconscious and had numerous lacerations on his head and swollen face.

  His arm was in a cast. He looked so pale that I almost flung myself at him. Someone asked me if I was related to him. I turned to the doctor and shook my head, “He’s my boyfriend.”

  I’d seen the doctor in the cafeteria before and, as I stood there, recognition cut across his face. He nodded and pointed toward the ER.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Susan,” I told him and added, “Susan Knight. I work on the diabetic ward. Will he be okay? Does he have a brain bleed?”

  “I don’t know that yet, Susan. We’re waiting for the doc to come in and read the results. I know you’re worried. Try to stay calm. If he comes around…”

  My hand shot up. I knew what he was going to say. Any number of things could happen, especially if there was brain damage or swelling. He might not even recognize me.

  I was trying to keep it together. Tears along with a panic attack were threatening. The doctor patted me sympathetically on the shoulder and asked, “Is there someone that I can call to meet you here?”

  I shook my head. Zoe materialized beside me and said, “Thanks, Dave. Can you give us a minute?”

  The doctor nodded and headed deeper into the ER. Zoe put her arms around me and I burst into tears.

  “It’s going to be okay. We have a new doctor that just started. He’s one of the best, Susan. If William…”

  “Don’t say it!” I couldn’t bear the thought of William passing away. “We were just talking about what we’d name our children!”

  “Oh, honey, I know but it’ll be okay. You know you have to pull yourself together before you can see him. There’s no way they’ll let you back there if you get hysterical.” She patted my back and added, “I’m going to get you something for anxiety and…”

  “I’m not taking…”

  “Susan, listen to me. I’m the ER nurse here. I deal with this every day. Don’t make me go get Dave.”

  I knew Zoe would give me something of low-dosage so I swiped at a tear and tried to take a deep breath. Two doctors took off at the same time as a loud beeping started.

  I grabbed Zoe’s hand so hard that I thought I’d surely break it. She winced and said, “Stay right here, okay?”

  I nodded and hugged myself, already starting to shake violently from shock. I leaned against the wall so that I didn’t pass out and hit the floor. She was back within less than a couple of minutes.

  “D-Did something h-happen…?”

  “No, honey. William’s still the same. The cab driver had a heart attack. That was for him.”

  I took a tiny pill from her and swallowed it even though I hated taking medicine. Zoe wrapped her arms around me and helped me to a chair. When I’d calmed down enough, she walked down the hall with me to where William was being monitored.

  I knew he was going to be put in the ICU and also knew they were waiting on the Radiologist to show up.

  “What’s taking him so long?” I moaned as I pulled the chair near William’s bed.

  I took his hand and kissed it, but that tiny gesture almost threw me into another bout of tears. Zoe rubbed my back and said, “He’s on his way. He was at a party.”

  I silently begged William to be okay. The medicine was making me feel woozy, but I fought it and stood to smooth his hair out of his face. Tears ran down my cheeks, but I didn’t even notice them.

  Another nurse came in so I sat back down and watched her jot down several notations on his chart. When she was finished, I asked, “Has anyone heard from the Radiologist?”

  “Sweetie, he’s stuck in traffic. I’m sorry. You know how the holidays are. He should be here soon, though. Don’t you worry, we’re doing everything we can. I think this one is a fighter.”

  She gave me a smile and left the room. Zoe told me, “I have to get
back to work, Susan. If you need anything, just text me. I’m not supposed to have my phone on but I’ll keep it on vibrate, okay?”

  “Thanks, Zoe.”

  When she left, I lay my cheek on his hand and let the tears flow again. I had no idea that plenty more tears would be in my future. My world was about to be thrown into utter chaos!

  To be continued in Unexpected Encounters Book 2 coming soon! CLICK HERE to get an email reminder as soon as it's released.

  For more information on the series visit Nora Stone’s Facebook page.