My Wildest Dreams

Chapter Four

Dawson's POV:

Just as Dr. Smolenyak had suspected dad had suffered a heat stroke that was brought on by the heat and humidity, although dads dislike for anything that wasn't a Pepsi or Maxwell House Coffee was a contributing factor. By his logic, there was enough water in the carbonated drink and in his morning coffee to sustain his hydration; Something that Mama was in the middle of blessing him out over, threatening to never buy another Pepsi or another container of coffee ever again if the old man didn't promise to drink at least a gallon of water a day –more when it was particularly hot outside.

"Before mama has the urge to start in on me, I'm going to head on out." I whispered as I leaned close to Caleb as he longed in the chair beside me. If there was one thing I had learned in my 34 years on this planet, if Mama was on the warpath, it was best to stay clear or else you would be another casualty of her temper. And lord knows Mama had one. Hell, most southern mamas did; They just liked to pretend that they were mild mannered as a church mouse when in all actuality they were some of the most hot-headed people I had ever met.

"You just wanna head over to Harper's. '' he whispered back with a knowing smile as his eyebrows began to waggle. The action made me want to knock the shit out of him but I couldn't deny that he was wrong. I did want to get to her place... but not entirely for the reasons that my shit-head little brother was hinting at.

"Need me to run you home?" I said, choosing to ignore his little eyebrow waggle. I knew he was just doing the brotherly thing and trying to nitpick.

"Nah, I'll get Steph or Alex or Ella to come get me."

"You really need to stop leading those girls on. Someone is going to end up hurt and I don't think that it's going to be either one of them."

"Yeah, yeah. We all don't fall head over heels with one chick and swear off all other women. Some of us like to sample what's out there and weigh our options."

"Whatever dude. Don't say I didn't warn you." I said as I stood from the chair. I made my way over to the hospital bed and stood waiting for mama to take a breath. When she finally did, I cut in. "Since you're going to be alright, I'm going to head on out. I want to get an early start in the morning since it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow than today." Mama glared at me for a split second because of my intrusion but then a smile came to her face.

"Tell Harper thanks for coming." she said with a smirk, clearly knowing where I was headed in that way that all mamas did. I'd asked her once how she knew what Caleb and I had been about to do before we really even knew and she said that I would understand when I had kids. I wasn't too sure about all of that. All I knew was that that shit was down right spooky if you asked me.

Deciding to forego the questions that I knew she would have -at least for now- I clapped daddy on the shoulder before pulling mama into a hug and hissing the top of her head. "If you need anything or anything changes, just call me and I'll be right here."

"I will." she said, palming my cheek. "Now go get your girl. And while you're at it, maybe even start on making me a grandma before I'm too old and feeble to enjoy them." Leave it to mama to put me on the spot.

But as I walked down the hallway that led to the parking lot, I couldn't help but wonder what a child with half my DNA and with half Harper's would look like.I'd like to say that it was the first time that I had thought about it but I would be lying because I'd thought about it more than I would like to even admit, starting back in high school when we had that little scare just before we broke up. Just thinking about that day now and the mixture of relief and sadness I'd felt upon seeing that test show a negative result, hurt. But made my feet move a little faster –only one destination in mind.