The Malones

Chapter 8

The Fight

December 1999

Margaret brought the twins to the bar at 3:15-ish and they hung out with the regulars, eating beer nuts and Cheetos and drinking orange pop. They watched Tom and Jerry cartoons along with Scooby Do, having a great time with Woody, Carla, Norm, and Cliff.

Sam brought them home from the bar at around 5 pm. Diane was home getting dinner ready and setting the table. The kids ran to her, hugged her, and started off to play. Diane asked them if they had fun and they happily shared their afternoon with her. They told her all about watching Scooby Do and Tom and Jerry and the great snacks they had. Diane rolled her eyes at Sam but smiled. She had gotten used to him spoiling the children this way. She secretly approved of it but would never tell Sam as much.

Diane stopped Maura and reminded her that she had some "French class" homework to do before her class the next day. Joey had completed his the day before. Maura balked as she usually did but Diane insisted that she do it and told her she'd help. As Diane turned toward her desk to get the work, along with crayons and pencils, Maura stuck her tongue out and made mocking faces at her mother while Diane's back was turned. Sam spotted his precious daughter being disrespectful to her mother and took action. He walked over to her, gave her two swats on the butt and told her to sit for five minutes on the time-out chair for being so disrespectful.

Diane spun around and glared at Sam.

"Sam, you know how I abhor corporal punishment. Why did you do that? Telling me she doesn't want to do her work is NOT disrespectful, she's just a child".

"Diane, I swatted her because…", but Diane cut him off.

"Sam Malone, I will never allow you to hurt one of MY children like you hurt me…" and she stopped, regretting her words immediately.

Sam was shocked- he was shocked, hurt, and angry. He would never hurt one of his children but a fatherly swat on the bottom was hardly child abuse. He realized in an instant that Diane was referring to the time he slapped her early in their relationship. She doesn't trust me yet he thought. She thinks I might be capable of doing that again- slapping her or hurting the kids. Sam seethed with anger (and remorse) and he knew he had to remove himself before he blew up at Diane.

Sam's jaw muscles were clenching as he said, "Diane, I have to go back to work tonight. I told Woody I'd relieve him at the bar. With the snowstorm approaching, Woody wants to get home to Kelly and the new baby".

Diane knew this wasn't true but simply said, "Fine. Go".

Sam walked over to the children and gave them each a big hug and told them he'd see them in the morning. He wanted them reassured.

After Sam walked out the door Diane turned to look at Maura. Joey had come into the room when he heard shouting and both children were standing together ready to burst into tears. She walked over, knelt down, and held them in her arms. They started crying. Truth was that Diane and Sam had never argued in front of their children before and this argument scared them.

Through tears Maura said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I stuck my tongue out and made those funny faces at you. Is that why daddy left?"

"No Maura, daddy left because I said some mean things to him. I'm sorry I did that too".

Diane realized that she had just hurt her children far more than Sam's simple swat had hurt Maura. She was deeply ashamed.

Diane tried to make dinner time as light as possible to lessen Maura and Joey's fears about the argument they had just witnessed. Margaret was planning to come to dinner with her friend Charlie, a man she'd been seeing for about three years. Charlie was a widowed, retired firefighter and had become an integral part of the Malone family along with Margaret. They were surrogate grandparents to the children and surrogate parents to Sam and Diane. Margaret sensed Diane's tension but asked no questions. It wasn't until she overheard Joey tell Charlie that his mom "yelled at his dad"- then his dad left.

As they were cleaning up in the kitchen, Margaret said to Diane; "Do you want me to stay tonight while you go to the bar and see Sam"? Diane sat down on a chair and started crying. She told Margaret about the fight, the reason why it started, and the terrible thing she said to Sam. Margaret held Diane's face in her hands and said, "Honey, I'm staying here tonight. The roads are bad and I don't want to drive home". Diane smiled and said, "You only live three blocks away". She understood Margaret's attempt though.

Diane got the children bathed and in pajamas. Charlie told Joey stories about pirates and superheroes while Diane rocked and sang to Maura. Part of Maura's daily ritual, from the time she was born, was to sit in a rocking chair with Diane and have Diane sing to her. Whenever Maura was tired, sad, scared, or stressed in any way she sought out her mother. If Diane and Sam were going out for an evening, Diane made sure she rocked her before leaving the house. Joey wanted nothing to do with rocking and singing, he wanted rough housing, usually with his dad, occasionally with Charlie or Diane. Diane always smiled at the differences between her children or perhaps the differences between the sexes.

The children settled, Margaret and Diane shared wine together and Charlie had a beer before he headed home. Diane planned to go to Cheers later, closer to closing time. The snowstorm was getting heavier and Diane thought Sam might close the bar early anyhow. She called the cab company to order a cab then went to bathe and put something sexier on.

Norm was the only other person at the bar with Sam. Sam told Norm that he was closing up early because the roads were getting bad. He didn't anticipate many customers so he thought he'd head home. He was somewhat calmed down now, at least he didn't want to punch a wall. He wanted to talk to Diane anyhow, now that he was calm.

As he was cleaning up, a beautiful woman walked into the bar and sat on a stool. Sam told her he was about to close and she asked him if she couldn't have just one glass of white wine. He started talking to her and asked her what she was doing out on a night like this.

She said to him," I had a fight with my husband tonight and thought I might find him here".

"What makes you think he'd be here?" Sam asked.

"He usually comes here when we have a fight".

"What was the fight about?" asked Sam.

"Oh, I overreacted to something he did, like I usually do, and said some pretty cruel things to him. I just wanted to apologize".

"I'm sure he's cooled off now and is probably home waiting for you. Do you have children?"

"Yes, yes I do. They're with a babysitter who is spending the night tonight", said the woman.

Sam walked around the bar to the front door, turned the sign from "Open" to "Closed", locked the door and turned off the front light.

He walked over to the woman and stood looking at her and said, "I love you".

The woman jumped off the stool and threw her arms around Sam. "Oh Sam, I'm so sorry about today. I never should have said what I said to you. Please forgive me".

They walked into the office. Diane got out sheets, pillows, and blankets as Sam opened the sleeper sofa. Sam slowly and gently made love to Diane and she made love to him. As she nestled into the crook of his arm and as he wrapped his arms around her waist she said, "Thank you, Sam". Diane knew he forgave her and she knew he would never hurt her. And so they slept.