Chapter 4
When breakfast was ready, they all sat down at the table. Gary couldn't remember a time where everything felt so right. He had waited his whole adult life for this, a family. Now here they were, right there in front of him. Having the love of this family was something he wanted to feel for the rest of his life.
"Girls, Gary and I wanted to talk to you about something." Kaitlyn said.
"What did you want to talk to us about?" Jessica asked.
"Well, we wanted to tell you that Gary is going to be spending a lot more time with us." Kaitlyn smiled.
"Just like before?" Casey asked.
"Only better." Gary smiled.
"Better how?" Jessica asked.
Gary looked at Kaitlyn and could see in her eyes that she was urging him to answer the girls' questions. Her smile was the only encouragement he needed.
"Your Mom and I," he hesitated, "well, if it's okay with you two your Mom and I are going to get married."
"Get married?" Jessica couldn't contain her excitement and a huge smile spread across her face.
"I guess it's okay with her." Kaitlyn said as she smiled at Gary. Then turning her attentions towards Casey asked, "What do you think about that sweetie?"
"What does that mean?" Casey asked.
"Well, it means that Gary is going to live here with us and he'll be a part of our family." Kaitlyn smiled.
"Does that mean that you're going to be our Daddy?" Casey asked looking at Gary.
Gary looked over at Kaitlyn. He could see the tears welling in her eyes. He reached over and took her hand.
"If you want me to be. I would like very much to be your Daddy." Gary smiled. "In fact Mommy and I are going to talk to a Judge to see if we can make that official. If it is okay with you and Jess."
Casey got out of her chair, crawled into Gary's lap, and put her arms around his neck. "I think I would like that too." Casey said and Jessica shook her head in agreement.
Gary kissed her on the nose. "You and I will have to have a standing pizza breakfast date." He said as he started to tickle her.
"What's wrong Mommy?" Jessica asked.
"Nothing sweetie, I'm just happy." Kaitlyn said as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "Hey, you guys want to give Gary his birthday presents?"
"Yeah, I'll go get it." Jessica screamed as she headed out of the kitchen.
"No, I'll get it." Casey yelled after her.
Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and laughed. "Are you sure this is how you want to spend your mornings?" She asked Gary.
"Definitely." He smiled reaching across the table to kiss her.
They were interrupted by Jessica's voice. "They're kissing again." She said.
"Get used to it." Gary said as he winked at Kaitlyn.
"Here open this one first. They go together." Jessica said as she handed him her package.
"Okay." Gary ripped the gift-wrap off. "A baseball bat."
"It's special." Jessica said. "Look." When she turned it over Gary noticed it had Sammy Sosa's name engraved into the wood. It also had his autograph on it.
"It's Sammy's bat. Uncle Greg helped us get it." Jessica said. Gary smiled.
"Open mine, open mine." Casey screamed and she handed Gary a smaller flat package.
When Gary opened the package, he couldn't believe what he was holding. It was a plaque, enclosed in glass were Sammy Sosa's rookie baseball card, and on a separate piece of paper his autograph. He looked at Kaitlyn in disbelief.
"How did you get this." He asked.
"Well believe it or not they were both pretty easy to come by." She smiled.
"That card had to cost you a small fortune." Gary said.
"Actually, all I had to do was barter with Greg to part with it. He's been collecting baseball cards since he was a kid, he actually had two." She smiled. "I figured you could hang them both up at the bar."
"Thank you." He said as he grabbed Casey in one arm and Jessica in the other and kissed them both on the cheek. "These are the best birthday presents I've ever gotten."
"Come on Jess. You have to get ready for school. Ben will be here soon to walk you to the bus stop." Kaitlyn instructed.
"I don't have school today. That means I get to spend the whole day with Gary." Casey smiled.
"That's not fair." Jessica groaned.
"Hey, I promise you later on tonight you and I will play catch." Gary said.
"Okay." Jessica said. She headed upstairs to get dressed. Casey followed close behind.
Kaitlyn got up out of her chair to start cleaning up the breakfast dishes. Gary grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap.
"Thank you for the birthday presents." Gary said as he kissed her lips.
"You're welcome. I promise next year you'll get them on your birthday." She smiled. "Hey, we should call your parents and tell them our news."
"Do we have too?" Gary groaned.
"Gary! You don't think they are going to be happy about it?" Kaitlyn asked concerned.
"Happy about it? Are you kidding? They're going to be thrilled. That's what I'm afraid of."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we haven't even talked about when we're going to get married. As soon as my mother finds out, she'll be headed for Chicago. It's anybody's guess as to how long she'll stay."
The ringing of the telephone interrupted them. Kaitlyn went to answer it.
"Hello." She said. "Hi. Yeah. What? We can't do that. I thought the decision was already made on this." She looked frustrated. "Okay, see if you can get a hold of Paul and give me a call back in about an hour and we can decide what we're going to do. In the meantime, schedule a conference call with Mr. McDonald for around 11:00. Okay, I'll talk to you in a little bit." She hung up the telephone.
"Something wrong?" Gary asked.
"Just some things I have to get straightened out, it's work." Kaitlyn sighed. "I'm going to see if my Mom can watch Casey this morning." She said as she reached for the telephone. Gary stopped her.
"I can watch Casey." He said.
"What about the paper?" Kaitlyn asked
"She can come with me." Gary said.
"Do you really think that is a good idea?" She asked.
"Why not? I think I can handle a four-year-old for a few hours. Besides, I have an errand of my own I have to run and she can come with me."
"Are you sure?" Kaitlyn asked. Gary could tell she was just trying to be cautious.
"Casey and I will be fine." Gary said. "I'm sure there are going to be plenty of times when this is going to happen. What was it that you said to me earlier? Marriage is a partnership, which means that we need to be there for each other." Gary smiled.
"You're using my own words against me." Kaitlyn said as she wrapped her arms around Gary's neck.
"Yep." Gary smiled and kissed her.
"What about your parents?" Kaitlyn asked.
"We'll call them later?" Gary whispered. "Besides, I don't want to talk about my parents right now." Gary smiled seductively as he wrapped his arms around Kaitlyn's waist and continued their kiss.