A New Understanding, chapter 3
Lee and Jamie shared a comfortable and far ranging conversation during dinner and the drive to Arlington but as they approached Maplewood Drive their conversation faltered. They were privately contemplating how Amanda would react to their respective actions and the expressions on their faces reflected those concerns. Lee pulled the car up to the curb in front of the house that he hoped would soon be his home and reached to turn off the ignition.
"Lee, you don't have to come into the house with me if you don't want to. There is no sense in having Mom get angry at you too; and she will if you try to stand up for me. It means a lot to me that you offered to do it but-"
"No buts about it," Lee interrupted, "we're in this together." They got out of the car and ran through the rain to the front door which Amanda opened before Jamie could use his key.
"Lee, thanks for bringing Jamie home, I'll see you at the office in the morning," Amanda said in a dismissive tone. "Jamie, go upstairs and change out of your wet clothes and then come back down, we have a lot to talk about." Lee and Jamie shared a quick glance before he slipped past his mother; leaving Lee standing on the doorstep. "Good night, Lee," Amanda said as she moved to close the door.
"Amanda, we need to talk," Lee said as he used his hand to keep her from closing the door.
"Not tonight…I need to have a family talk with the boys."
"Am I or am I not a part of this family," Lee asked in a hurt voice.
"You know you are but now isn't the time to discuss that; the boys-"
"The boys are both concerned about where I fit into your lives; that's why Jamie came to me. You can send me away now but that won't resolve anything." Lee looked at his feet and then back up at Amanda, "Jamie really needs to talk to you; please hear him out. I love you and I don't want to cause any more problems so I'll leave." Phillip came up behind Amanda as she watched Lee trudge slowly back to his car.
"Where's Lee going? I thought that I could talk to him now since he wasn't here for dinner. I guess he didn't want to come in after he got stuck spending the evening with Wormbrain," Phillip complained.
"Phillip you know that you aren't supposed to call your brother names. Why would you say that Lee was stuck spending the evening with Jamie; Lee likes spending time with both of you."
"Lee tolerates Jamie; if he hadn't treated Lee badly for so long you two would be married by now. I told Jamie that he is ruining all of our lives-"
"I am not," Jamie yelled as he came down the steps, "Lee said that isn't the reason why he and Mom aren't married yet. He also said that it isn't my fault that Dad left." A momentarily shocked Amanda stood by silently absorbing what she'd just heard.
"It is too," Phillip argued.
"It is most certainly not true," Amanda interjected and then turned to her younger son. "Jamie, is that why you went to talk to Lee?"
"Yes, I know I broke a lot of rules today but I really want us all to be a family. Phillip said that I messed everything up and I believed him. You always tell us that if we do something bad, even if we didn't mean to, we should try to make things right," Jamie concluded looking away from Amanda much as Lee had done a few minutes earlier.
"Jamie, look at me," Amanda implored as she knelt in front of him. "I'm proud of you for wanting to fix things with Lee but you should have come to me about this. I thought that we could talk about anything."
"I couldn't talk to you about this because even it was my fault you wouldn't have admitted it; you're my mom so you'd try to protect me. Besides I'm getting older and there are some things I'd rather talk to a guy about. Lee and I have more in common than I thought; it'll be great when he can live with us," Jamie enthused.
"Did Lee tell you that he is going to move in with us," Amanda asked as her irritation with her husband flared again.
"Of course not; he'd have to propose and you'd have to accept his proposal first. Lee did tell me he loves us all and he's been waiting a long time to be part of a family again…Don't you love Lee; don't you want to marry him," a confused and concerned Jamie asked.
"Yes is the answer to both of your questions," Amanda responded as she ruffled Jamie's hair. Lee, whenever I think that I couldn't love you any more than I already do you say or do something to surprise me. "Fellas, we have a lot to talk about but I don't want to have this conversation without Lee being here. I need to go call him; do you two think you can manage to get along with each other for a little while?"
"Yes, Mom," they chorused. Amanda chose not to call Lee's car phone because she didn't want to distract him while he was driving on rain slicked roads. She went up to her bedroom and waited until enough time lapsed for him to have driven home. Amanda nervously dialed his number and was disappointed when the answering machine kicked in.
"Lee, it's me, I love you and I'm sorry-" Amanda's apology was interrupted when Lee picked up the receiver at his end.
"What do you have to be sorry about? I'm the one that engaged in a very serious conversation with your son without consulting you about what I was going to say," Lee said contritely.
"You spoke from your heart and from what I gather you said all the right things. We didn't consider all the ramifications of this mystery marriage…we reacted out of fear. The trouble that Joe got into in Estoccia put the boys at more risk than our careers ever have. I'm not sure that the boys are old enough to be told about the Agency yet but they are more than ready to have you be their stepfather. Mother checks my hand for an engagement ring every time that I walk in the door; now the boys are going to be doing it too."
Amanda and Lee shared a laugh as they resolved that their family wouldn't have to wait very long for their dreams to be realized.
