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Family…
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"Dave, where's mom?" Jessie asked.
"Not sure, she said something about going to the shoe department. What's up?"
"I was going to see if she would loan me the money for this sundress I fell in love with."
Taking out his wallet, he handed the young girl a credit card. "Here go buy the dress."
"Dave, you know how she feels about us taking money from you," Unsure if she should take the card or not.
"Jessie, go get the dress, let me deal with mom. We'll meet you at the truck." Jessica Strauss took the offered card, turned on her heels and headed to where her friend was waiting. Dave walked to the front of the store to find Erin waiting. "Didn't find any shoes?"
"Nothing that I thought would go with the dress. I'll look later. Where are Jessie and Amy?"
"They'll meet us at the suburban," Placing his hand on the small of her back, leading her out of the store, towards the car.
By the time Dave held the door for Erin and got in on his side, the girls were getting in the car. Jessie handed him back his card. "Thanks, Dave."
"You're welcome, kiddo!"
Turning in her seat, Erin looked at Dave then at her daughter, "Jessica, why do you have David's credit card?"
"I couldn't find you, so he bought me this sundress. "
"David…" Erin started.
"Erin, don't."
"We've had this conversation before." She wasn't really angry, annoyed was more like it.
Starting the SUV, pulling out of the parking lot, "Yes we have and we'll have it again, just not here, not now. We can discuss this at home when it's just you and I." Looking in the rearview mirror he saw the girls watching at him. Winking at his bonus daughter, letting her know it was going to be okay.
Once home, the teenagers went upstairs to change for the pool. Dave walked into the den, fully aware his wife was on his heels, closing the door behind her.
Before either one could say a word there was a knock on the door. "Come in."
"Dave, here's the money for the dress." Jessie said stepping up to her bonus father.
Shaking his head, "I don't want that. Keep it." Staring down Strauss who was giving him her famous glare.
The 17 year old wasn't sure what to do so she stood looking from one to the other. Finally Erin nodded for her to leave. "David, we've talked about this. You can't buy them everything they want. You can't buy their love."
"I'm not trying to buy their love; I'm not trying to buy anything, and I don't give them everything they want. It's a dress Erin, just a dress."
"A dress this time, who knows what it will be the next time, they need to learn to earn what they get." The more she talked the more she paced. How did she make him understand?
"Let me ask you something, if Jack had bought her the dress, would you be this upset?"
"It's not the same." She stopped pacing for a minute, before moving again.
Letting out a long sigh, Dave asked, "How is it not the same, Erin?"
"He's their father, you're not." She knew the moment the words were out of her mouth that was the wrong thing to say.
"No, I'm not their father…her father, I'm not anyone's father, and I never will be, thank you for reminding me."
She stopped and looked at him, really looked into his eyes. He didn't try to hide the hurt she had just caused, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean it."
"You don't say things you don't mean, Erin. We both know that." He turned to look out the window at the girls by the edge of the pool, he'd grown to love her three children as much as if they were his own. "I know I'm not their…her father, I'm not trying to be. I know you contribute to the finances, but I help keep a roof over her head, the lights on, food on the table. I'm the one that's trying my hardest to make US… you, me, Katie, Danny and Jessie a family. I'm the one who is trying to let them know that I'm here for them whenever they need me. I don't want to be the wicked step-father; I don't want them to feel about me the way they do Stacy. I like being the bonus dad, the kind of man they can come to with a problem, someone they can look up to. If I want to buy one of them a dress, a pair of shoes, or a sweatshirt, I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like I'm buying them a house, a car, or even a pony Erin." He turned to look, when he heard her chuckle. "What's so damn funny?"
"You're right, David. When I look at it from your point of view, there's nothing wrong with you buying little things for the kids. I'm just afraid that they'll become spoiled. They know you're wealthy; I don't want them to feel they can come to you and get everything they want. I don't want them to manipulate you and kids have a way of doing that." She said sitting on the couch.
"Baby…first repeat after me, David is not wealthy, we are wealthy." He told her stressing we still across the room. "How many times do I have to emphasis if it's mine it's yours."
Smiling, she stood and moved toward him, "David is not wealthy, Erin is." She gave him a full blown belly laugh that made him smile, she reached up, pulling his head down into a kiss that told him, she would surrender, in time he'd win this battle.
Breaking the kiss, "secondly, I'm a smart man, Erin. I know when smoke is being blown up my ass. I know when I'm being manipulated and I won't let them do that to me." Sighing, "What if we agree, I can buy the kids thing if it's a hundred dollars or less. If it's more than that, you and I will talk it over?"
"David…"
"Don't David me…you have to work with me on this Erin, if we're going to be a family; you have to give me some flexibility. You should know by now I don't throw money around or blow it. But I'm also not going to call my wife and make sure it's okay every time I want to buy the kids something if we're out together." Taking her hand and leading her to the couch, "I love you, Erin, I love you so much I can't breathe sometimes, and I love those kids, and if we are going to continue to be this family unit we've built you have to let me be me. This is who I am, the way I am. If the children see something they want and I can get it for them, I need to be able, I need to feel needed, Erin."
Leaning into him, "Okay, I know when I'm beat, a hundred dollars or less. Anything more we talk about it, promise?" She saw him nod.
They sat in comfortable silence arms around each other for a long while, content to have faced this difference of opinion and reached a solution they could both live with. Erin was about to say something when Jessie knocked on the door.
"Can I come in?" She asked.
"Sure, where's Amy?" Erin questioned looking up to see the other girl standing in the doorway. "You can come in too Amy."
Jessica Strauss looked at her mom then at Dave, both were smiling. "Is everything okay? I didn't mean to cause a fight."
Scooting over a little and pulling her down to sit between them, Dave kissed the top of her head. "Kiddo, you didn't cause a fight. We weren't fighting; we just needed to come to an agreement."
"Sweetheart, I need to let go of some of the control I want to retain and let David be who he is. If we are going to be a family, I need to let him be the man of the house."
"I thought we already were a family? I know Dad is our dad, but to us kids Dave is a very important member of the family as well. We like having two families, we don't really care for Stacy, but when we're here, this family unit is stellar. All my friends are jealous that our mom married a great guy who wants to be with us kids and wants to be a father figure. Most step parents don't want to have anything to do with the kids, they just put up with them to make the bio parent happy. Dave doesn't put up with us to make you happy mom. He does it because he truly cares about us, our friends can see it, that's why we like to call him our bonus dad."
Erin saw Amy nod from the chair across the room. "When did you get so wise?" She asked her daughter.
Shrugging, the younger Strauss smiled looking at her mom, "So can I keep the dress?"
"Yes, you can keep the dress. Why don't you go try it on and give us a fashion show?" Erin said. The girls got up and left the room. Turning to her husband, "David, I really am sorry when I said you weren't their father. I know that hurt you, especially the way it came out. I don't ever want to see the look in your eyes I saw when I said that. I don't ever want to hurt you again. I love you so much."
Kissing her, "it's okay, Miele, it's part of being married, we're going to say thing and do things that hurt the other, we just have to forgive and move forward. Isn't that what families do? I love you too, Erin."
He started to kiss her again when someone cleared their voice, looking up as the two younger girls entered the room. Jessica twirled so they could see the full dress. "It's beautiful and it looks great on you, kiddo."
"It does look pretty on, sweetheart." Erin said.
Dave stood, pulling Erin to her feet. "I think this calls for a night out, I'm taking you three beautiful ladies to dinner. Where would you like to go?"
"Let's just get in the car and see where it takes us." Jessie said.
Everyone agreed, they didn't really care as long as they went together…like a family.