Jackson

We were hidden in the shade on the terrace of Blue Moon Burgers, a restaurant with the best fries and beach view in the city. Despite it being summer there were not so many patrons, since it was a workday after lunch hour. Low murmurs of other people mixed with high pitched whining calls of seagulls in the distance created a relaxing background sound to Harriet's animated story about her friend at pre-school.

As always April was an active listener where our daughter was concerned. She smiled, nodded, interjected with words of encouragement or interest and was generally more relaxed and happy than I've seen her lately.

Being with both of them here, having a normal family outing and seeing the similar smiles on their faces threw me off-kilter. I couldn't remember the last time we had a meal all three of us together, if ever. Since Matthew came along even the holidays' dinners were strictly separate, with me getting Thanksgiving, April getting Easter, and us both sharing two days of Christmas.

But now...everything was so right. Like it was always supposed to be me and her and our children. It was so easy to forget about Matthew even existing, let alone being married to April. But I was reminded of him every time her shoulders tensed, or her gaze turned sad and lost, or her lips were pressed into a thin line.

I could only guess the tension between them because of her project and the Foundation's involvement in it. It killed me a little to leave April to her own devices during these last two weeks, but I couldn't intervene in her settling in process, not when she'd been one foot out of the door as it was. I didn't question April's devotion to the project, it's her leadership role in it she was still unsure about. Seeing me involved in her work as her supervisor would play into her insecurities and give Matthew more of leg to stand on.

Harriet was mesmerized by a corgi that was with a patron near our table and after a hilarious flirting session with the dog she went to pet the animal. The owner, a lady in her sixties, gave us a small smile and started to tell Harriet more about her dog.

"Can you believe she's already four?" April said with a hint of wistfulness, eyes glued to our daughter.

"Seems like a moment ago," I said, eyeing her carefully.

"Seems like a lifetime ago," she responded with a sad smile and looked me straight in the eyes. She appeared so fragile and lost in that moment, I wanted to hold her and never let her go. How different was she now from her usual sunny, cheerful disposition. Did she change so much without me even knowing? Or was it only a recent development, caused by all the stress from actions of the asshole she called her husband? It was a scary thought, realizing your favorite person in the whole world had a side to her you never knew existed, a life you were not privy to.

"Some things are forever," I replied, still trapped in her deep gaze.

"Mommy, Daddy, let's go to the beach!" Harriet ran to us and tried to crawl up on April's lap.

"Okay, sweetie, we'll go now. Daddy just has to pay the bill first," I said to her and tickled under her chin, which made her erupt in a fit of giggles.

"Oh, let's split the bill!" April reached for her purse and fished out her wallet.

"Don't even think about it!" I gave her a stern look and went to look for our waitress.

She gave me the check and looked at our table, where April tried to put the bucket hat back on a very reluctant Hattie. The waitress smiled politely and said "You have a beautiful family!"

I couldn't help the grin that spread my face. "That I do."

The compliment earned her a ridiculously generous tip.

"You should've seen your face, when you walked into that meeting!" April threw her head back and chuckled.

"Hey, it's not my fault that neither you nor my mother had the decency to give me a heads-up!"

"No, but it's your fault you don't always read meeting's agenda. Come on, my name was on the document!" April stated proudly, showcasing her inner nerd.

"In fine print. And you would also skip reading the agenda, if you had as many boring meetings to attend to as me!" I held up my hands defensively, but she still managed to hit me in the arm.

"Boring, hm? As I recall, you called me sensational!" she threw her hair over her shoulder and proudly held her head high.

I couldn't argue there, so I simply nodded and tried to hide my embarrassment by changing the subject. "So how did you come up with this idea for the homeless center?"

April chuckled at Harriets attempts to build a sandcastle and replied slowly, "It was actually thanks to your mother that I came up with it."

I glanced at her, then did a double take. "Come again? My mother?"

"Yeah, she approached me once and wanted to know everything about my new job." April shrugged and smiled at Hattie. "Next thing I know, we're in a coffeeshop and she's telling me about the grant. I was so hesitant at first, but she convinced me in the value of my work. I mean, you know how compelling she can be."

"Yeah, that or pushy," I whispered under my breath. Something else bothered me. "When was that exactly?"

"A month or so, why?" Now she was intrigued, but I only shook my head.

A month or so. Just after she reconciled with Richard. Suddenly it hit me.

"I know exactly what you are trying to do!" I threw at her accusingly after slamming the door shut behind me.

Catherine looked up at me, slowly took off her glasses and gave me an enigmatic smile. The more calm and collected she was, the more aggressive and pissed off I became.

"Please, come on in. Would you like to sit down? I'm trying to do some paperwork, as you so dramatically pointed out just now, but maybe you could learn a thing or two from your Momma."

"Don't try to talk your way out of it! I know that you gave April the push to create a project for the Foundation."

"So? The medical community would only benefit from her brilliance," my mother waved me off, but didn't turn her penetrating gaze away from me.

"That's not my point!" I argued.

"Well, baby, what it your point exactly?"

"I won't allow you to play your games and meddle into April's life!"

"You don't have to shout to bring your point across," she added with a smile. "And I don't see how it's any of your business anyway. As we'd previously discussed, April has nothing to do with you."

"She has everything to do with me!" I couldn't keep myself from shouting.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?" she threw her question at me aggressively.

"Because she's the mother of my children!"

"That's irrelevant and you know it!"

"Because I said so!"

"Baby, now you just sound delusional," was her no-nonsense response.

"Because she's mine!" I growled and froze the next second.

My mother shot me a triumphant look. "Then. Act. Like. It."

There was no mistaking the magnanimity in her tone. She rose from the table and walked towards me. Without breaking eye contact, she threw my own word back at me. "Get over your stubborn ego, your stubborn pride and claim the woman you love. Otherwise you'll never get over it."

I winced as if she'd slapped me. It was painful to see my words used against me. It was like she held a mirror to me and shown all my mistakes and all my painful regrets. I cleared my throat and said defeated: "So I guess he told you, hm?"

"He did. Imagine my surprise, when I found out that my son, who insisted on getting a divorce and after being in several failed relationships was still hopelessly in love with his ex-wife."

"You make me sound pathetic."

"No, baby. Only human."

There, under her sympathetic gaze I felt all my uncertainty rush back. "Mom, I don't know what to do..."

"There's only one thing to do. You get her back!"