Author's Note: Here it is, Folks. The final chapter. Thanks to those who have read, reviewed and followed me from the opening curtain to the closing one. I may do a sequel in the future, but for now, as they say in the theater, that's curtain.

The Final Curtain

Late Sunday afternoon-Sunday evening

Just as they entered the back door, Lee suddenly grabbed Amanda's arm and said in a panic, "I don't think I can do this."

"What," Amanda said beginning to get panicked herself. "You're not changing your mind about getting married already, are you?"

"No, not that. I have no doubt in my mind that I want to marry you, but what if I can't hack this whole fatherhood thing. I've never been around kids and you saw what a disaster I was a couple of years ago with that Alexi kid. You had to bail me out on that one."

"And I'll be here to bail you out if you need me today," Amanda promised as she soothingly caressed his face.

"But what if they hate me?"

"They won't. Just be yourself and they'll love you just like I love you," she replied. "Now, come on." She began to start toward the kitchen again, but Lee's hand on her arm once again stopped her.

"It's not just that," Lee said. He peered nervously around the corner into the kitchen before adding, "What if you are pregnant? As much as I would love to be a father, what if I'm no good at it."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that anytime soon," Amanda said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "I'm not pregnant."

"You don't know that. We were reckless this weekend," he reminded her.

"I do know that," Amanda said with a sigh. "Remember, I was saying we needed to wait for Mother Nature to give us a sign?" Lee nodded. "Well, she gave us that sign when I went to the bathroom upstairs."

"Oh, you mean you..."

"Yeah," she said.

"I see," He said with downcast eyes.

"You sound awfully disappointed for a guy who was having a panic attack at the idea of fatherhood just ten seconds ago."

Lee ran a hand through his hair and said, "I know. I must sound like crazy person to you. Part of me is disappointed, but another part is relieved at the same time."

"I know what you mean. I feel the same way," Amanda said. "I was a little disappointed myself, but also a little relieved."

"Maybe we're both crazy then," Lee said with a soft chuckle.

"I don't think so," Amanda replied. "I feel conflicted too. I think that's just normal."

"You...uh...you don't feel conflicted about marrying me, do you?"

"Yes and no," Amanda confessed. "I want to marry you more than I can put into words and a big part of me wants to do it as soon as possible so that we can really start to live our life together after we waited so long."

"But..." Lee said.

"But there's this other part that says we should wait a little while to give the kids time to get used to the idea and to give you time to get to know them and feel comfortable with them so you don't have another panic attack."

"So, maybe Mother Nature's message to us was that we should wait a little while," Lee suggested.

"I think so," Amanda answered honestly.

"Well, like you said last night, we've waited this long. What's a few more months, but I am going to marry you, Amanda King, you can count on it."

"Good," She said with a smile as she snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a lingering kiss.

The moment was interrupted by Phillip's voice intruding. "See, Worm Brain, I told you he was Mom's new boyfriend," he said in a know-it-all tone as he punched his brother on the arm. Lee and Amanda abruptly pulled apart.

"Ow!," Jamie said as he gave Phillip a shove. "Don't call me Worm Brain, Meat Head!"

"Both of you stop the name calling," Amanda scolded.

"Yes, Ma'am," Phillip said while Jamie said nothing and just silently stared at Lee as if sizing him up.

"Something on your mind, Jamie?" Lee asked as he knelt to eye level with him.

"Is Phillip right? Are you really Mom's new boyfriend?"Jamie asked

Lee hesitated unsure of how to answer the ten-year-old. "I...um..."

Lee was quickly rescued by Amanda answering, "Lee is more than just my boyfriend. He's very special to me and I want him to be very special to you and your brother in the future. That's why he's here tonight. I want you guys to all get to know each other. Lee and I would both like very much to make him a permanent part of this family."

"That means you're getting married, doesn't it?"Jamie asked eyeing Lee warily.

"Yes, Jamie, it does," Lee answered finally finding his voice. "I know you don't know me, but I want you to know that I love your mom very much. I asked her to marry me yesterday and she made me very happy by saying yes. What do you think? Do I have your blessing?"

Jamie was quiet for a moment, glancing first as his mother taking in the happy smile on her face, then at Lee and the nervous smile on his and said, "Let me get back to you on that," then walked back into the den.

"Listen, I should go help Mother get dinner ready," Amanda said as she walked into the kitchen leaving Lee alone with Phillip. Lee gestured toward the den when Jamie had curled up in one of the armchairs with a book.

"So, you guys met at work, right?" Phillip said as he flopped down onto the couch.

"Yeah, we did. We've been working together for a couple of years now," Lee said as he sat beside him. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Jamie wasn't as engrossed in his book as he appeared to be when he caught the boy peering at him over the top of it. Lee smile and Jamie quickly turned his attention back to his book.

"Good book there, Jamie," Lee teased trying to break the ice.

Jamie lowered the book giving up the pretense of reading and said, "So, if you're engaged, that means you must have been going out for a while, huh?"

"Yeah, your mom and I have been seeing each other for a few months now," Lee answered honestly.

"So, how come we never met you before? You had to know she had kids when you started going out with her. Didn't you want to meet us?"

"That's a good question," Phillip said as both boys looked at him expectantly.

"No, I did. I really wanted to meet you guys a long time ago. It's just..." he trailed off unsure of how to continue. He couldn't exactly tell them the whole truth since they didn't know what his mother really did for a living.

Amanda, hearing the conversation from the kitchen decided to rescue her fiancé' again. "I'm afraid that's my fault, Fellas," She answered while she and her mother continued to make dinner preparations. "You shouldn't hold that against Lee. I wanted to wait for you guys to meet him until I was sure that our relationship was serious. I didn't want it to be another situation like it was with Dean where he got to know you guys and then things didn't work out."

"But Dean asked you to marry him too," Jamie argued.

"That's true, Jamie," Amanda said. "But the difference is that I never said yes to Dean. I did say yes to Lee."

"'Cause you love Lee and you didn't love Dean?"

"Exactly," Amanda said.

"Listen, Jamie, your mom tells me you are a champion Monopoly player. You guys up for a game while we wait for your mom and grandma to get dinner ready?"

"Sure," Jamie said with a smile thinking if he was willing to spend time with them and not just their mom.

"I'll go get the game," Phillip said.

"Now, you guys may have to refresh my memory on the rules a little bit here. It's been a long time since I've played," Lee said.

Phillip returned with the game and said, "Don't worry. We'll help you out," Phillip said with a mischievous grin at his brother. "Right, Jamie."

"Oh, yeah," Jamie replied with an equally mischievous grin.

As they listened to the goings-on in the den, Dotty looked worriedly at her daughter and said, "I don't like the sound of that. You know how Phillip and Jamie are about making up new "house rules" as they go along."

"Just let it go, Mother," Amanda said. "Lee's a big boy. He can take care of himself. Let the boys have their fun. Besides it'll be good experience for Lee."

"I just hope the poor man knows what he's getting himself into."

An hour later, after playing along good-naturedly with the never-ending rule changes the boys were making, Lee was completely broke. He picked up the one lonely five he had left and said with a grin, "You know, I'm starting to think I've been hoodwinked. I think I need to take a look at that rulebook."

"What? Don't you trust us?"Phillip said.

"Yeah, if you're gonna' be our stepdad someday, then we have to build trust," Jamie said laying it on thick as he held the rulebook just out of Lee's reach.

Lee reached for the book just as Jamie jumped to his feet to keep it out of Lee's grasp. "Gimme' that," Lee said rising to his own feet. Jamie darted away from him, but not quickly enough, as Lee captured him around the waist causing him to shriek. "Oh, it looks like somebody's ticklish in the same spot his mom is," Lee teased.

"No, no, no," Jamie squealed as Lee tickled him and made him drop the rulebook.

"Ha ha," Lee said in triumph as he held up rulebook over his head.

Amanda watched all this from the doorway to the kitchen in amusement. She gestured just below her ribs and nodded to Jamie unseen by Lee and before her fiancé' could sit down with his prize, he was set upon by both boys who soon had him pinned to the floor and were tickling him mercilessly. Amanda watched for a few minutes more before clapping her hands to get their attention. "All right, Fellas,' that's enough, dinner's on the table. Go get washed up."

The boys rose from the floor and as they passed by her, Jamie said, "Thanks for the tip, Mom."

Amanda stepped into the den just as Lee was rising to his feet and began to pick up the remains of the game. "The tip?"Lee queried. "What tip was that?" Amanda just shrugged and gave him her best I-don't-know-what-on-earth-you're-talking-about look. "Uh-huh," he said disbelievingly.

"You wanna help me pick this up while we wait for them?" she asked sweetly.

Lee laughed and said, "Yeah, sure." He couldn't resist her sweet smile and she knew it. He shook his head wondering just what Amanda King had done to him to wind him so tightly around her little finger.

They were just putting the game away when the boys came back down the stairs and barreled into the dining room. "You ready for this?"

"After what I just went through, this should be a snap," He said as he linked his hand with hers and they walked into the dining room together to find the boys already digging in. Lee helped Amanda to her seat before sitting himself, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by Dotty's keen eyes. She nodded and smiled appreciatively to Amanda.

"So, Lee, how is it that you and Mom know each other's ticklish spots," Jamie asked causing Lee to choke on the drink he'd just taken.

Before Lee could catch his breath, Phillip answered instead, "'Cause they're in love, Bonehead. That's the kind of junk people in love know about each other."

"Phillip, don't call your brother Bonehead," Amanda scolded.

"You know, Jamie asked a very good question, Lee," Dotty said with a grin. "How exactly do you know where my daughter's ticklish?" Amanda gave her mother a look of exasperation while Dotty just smiled knowingly as she sipped her wine."

"Well, Lee," Jamie asked.

Lee looked to Amanda for help who just shook her head silently. He then glanced at Dotty with a murderous look in his eyes who just continued to smile. He knew that she was aware that he'd spent the entire weekend with her daughter and a good portion of it in bed, but that wasn't a fast he was about to share with her young sons. Lee cleared his throat. "Well, while you guys were spending time with your dad this weekend, your mom and I hung out a little too. We were just kind of goofing off and we got into this big ticking fight."

Amanda looked at him very impressed with his improvisation. "Which he won, by the way," Amanda added.

"He did," Phillip said in surprise. "He didn't seem too tough when we had him down on the floor."

"Well, it's a whole lot different when it's two against one," Lee pointed out.

"That's probably true," Jamie said seemingly satisfied with Lee's explanation.

"So, Lee," Dotty said. "What is it that you do at IFF? Amanda hardly ever talks about what it is that the two of you actually do."

"Oh, you know, normal documentary film stuff, location scouting, filming and sometimes interviews if our subject involves people. Amanda and I are partners."

"Partners? I thought you were her boss," Dotty said in confusion.

"Mother, I never said that Lee was my boss. You just assumed that," Amanda said.

"Well, what else am I to assume when he's the one who's always calling you telling you that you're needed at work?"

"That's usually because our boss calls me first to tell us when we're needed at the office, probably because I've been there longer," Lee covered quickly. "Since we're partners, I'm usually the one who relays the message to her."

"Are you sure it's not just because you want to talk to her. I mean, it was quite obvious when I first met you Friday night that you're crazy about my daughter."

"Yeah," Lee said flushing slightly as he smiled at Amanda who smiled back warmly. "It could be a little of that, too."

Dinner proceeded without another awkward moment as the boys filled in Amanda on their weekend with their dad and Lee asked what they were currently studying in school.

After dinner was over, dishes washed and put away, and the boys' homework done, Amanda said to the boys. "All right, guys, it's time to get ready for bed. Both boys protested. "No arguments. You've got school in the morning."

"Yeah, and we've got to work in the morning," Lee added. "It's getting late. I should get going."

"I'll walk you out," Amanda said. "Fellas, I'm gonna' say good-night to Lee and be up to check on you in a bit and I expect to see you in your PJs by the time I come back."

The boys grudgingly agreed, but paused before getting to the stairs, conversed with each other in whispers, then Phillip said. "Lee, we've been talking about it off and on all night and we've decided..."

"Yes?" Lee said.

"...you have our blessing." Before another word could be said, both boys went tearing up the stairs.

"Well, how do you like that?"Lee said with a smile.

Lee and Amanda walked outside to Lee's car hand in hand both still smiling. "I'd say that tonight was a big hit," Amanda said as she leaned against the side of the 'Vette. "In fact, it seems all the critics are predicting a smash." She linked her arms behind his neck and pulled him in for a kiss.

Lee pulled back, looked into her eyes and said, "I just can't wait for the day when this show can stop be a traveling production and have a permanent stage." He kissed her softly one more time before getting into his car. He waited until she was safely back on the porch before pulling away from the curb.

Amanda pondered his last comment, gazed down at the diamond ring she wore for a brief moment, then watched him drive away until she could no longer see his taillights. "Soon, Sweetheart," she said softly. "Very soon."