After church was over, Eric is just finishing his good-bye duties when Mary and Wilson approach him.
"Ruthie said you wanted to see us?"
"Oh, yes I did," he answers Mary smiling. "You two stay right here. I'll be back in a second."
Mary stands next to Wilson and starts to shiver.
"Are you cold?" He asks her.
"A little bit."
Wilson puts his arm around her and pulls her closely into him. Mary rests her head on Wilson's chest, and listens to the sound of his heartbeat. She closes her eyes and nuzzles into Wilson. As he starts to rub her back, Mary hears a little boy's voice call her name. She turns in Wilson's arms, and sees Billy running toward her.
"Mary!" He shrieks, running over and wrapping his arms around her.
Mary was caught completely off guard. "Uh, Billy. What are you doing here?"
"My new Nanny and Poppy brought me."
"Oh," is all Mary can manage to get out. Billy squeezes her, and she snaps out of it. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"
Billy looks at her confused.
"Hi son." Wilson says.
"Oh, sorry Dad."
Mary looks over at Wilson. He has a strange look on his face, almost like he was afraid.
"Are you OK?" Mary asks him.
"I guess so, " he answers, pointing in the direction of Eric coming towards them with two other people.
"Is that…" Mary says.
"Brittany's parents"
"Brittany's parents?" Billy says confused. "That's just Nanny and Poppy. You know that, don't you Dad?"
"Yes Billy, I know." He answers as the three of them draw nearer.
"Mary, this is Mr. and Mrs. Gallo, and this is my daughter Mary." Eric introduces them. "And I'm sure you know Wilson."
Mrs. Gallo smiles at Wilson so fake that Mary wants to scream.
"So, um…" Eric says, not knowing where to begin. He sees Lucy walking by, and calls out to her. "Could you watch Billy for a little while?" Thankfully, Lucy accepts. "Good. Now we have a chance to talk. Why don't we go into my office?"
"Wait." Mrs. Gallo says. "Where is she taking little Will?"
"Will?" Wilson says so angry he could spit.
"She's going to stay on church property. And there is nothing to worry about, he will be fine. Lucy has known him since he was, what two?"
Mary nods.
They begin to walk back inside the church, but Mary stops Wilson. "We'll be there in one second." She tells the rest of them.
"Do you want me to listen to this? I would completely understand if you didn't. I could just go watch Billy, it would be perfectly fine."
"He's not Billy anymore, he's Will." Wilson snaps. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You're not the one I'm angry with. But yes, I want you to come with me. I need you to help me not to do anything stupid…because right now-" Wilson says, his facial features growing harsh and angry.
Mary takes his hand. "Ok, ok. Calm down. It will all be OK."
They walk into the church office, and join Eric and Mr. and Mrs. Gallo.
"So…" Reverend Camden has no idea where to begin with this one. "I, uh- I'll just cut right to the chase because I am sure we all have things to do. Why did you feel so compelled to see Billy all of the sudden?"
"You mean Will." Mr. Gallo corrects him.
"Billy." Wilson says firmly.
"Well," Mrs. Gallo says, "his mother was our daughter, as I am sure you already know. We never really got a chance to see the boy, and when we went to visit, Wilson refused indefinitely. I honestly don't know why he did that. We were being very nice to Wilson. But since we are his grandparents, we do have the right to see him, so now we can see him twenty four hours a day."
"You see, there is a flaw in that plan. Now that you have, uh, him, Wilson, his father, cannot see him at all, and he really misses Billy."
"But how could Wilson possibly provide for a six year old boy without a job?"
"For your information, I am once again employed."
"But for how long?" Mr. Gallo asks.
Wilson lets out a sigh of frustration.
"And why should Will live with someone who has no respect for his mother's memory?" Mrs. Gallo asks angry.
This was the last straw. "How can you say that?" Wilson says enraged.
"You can tell by looking at you. You're hanging all over this young lady."
Wilson takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, then does so again, and then once more. For the first time in her life, Mary was actually scared of Wilson. He looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown, one in which violence would be involved. After about a minute, Wilson doesn't say anything. He is still trying to calm down before he opens his mouth.
Eric goes to say something, but stops himself. He wants to let Wilson handle this one. It was his battle, not Eric's.
Mary takes Wilson's hand and squeezes it gently. He turns to face her, and she motions for him to respond.
"See, he doesn't have an answer for us. That's because we are right. He's forgotten all about Brittany, and moved on to the next pretty young thing that moves."
"Excuse me?" Mary says. Neither of the Gallos respond.
"I loved Brittany very much, and part of me still does." Wilson finally says. "Yet, it has been 7 years, and I was 15. You can't find the end-and-be-all love of your life when you are 15."
Mary looks at Wilson hurt. They met when she was only fourteen.
"For the purposes of this conversation, you can't meet them when you're 15." He corrects himself. "But how dare you say I have no respect for her memory?" He starts to tear up. "I still have the sweatshirt of mine that I gave her to wear when she was in the hospital giving birth. I bring it out every once and a while when I think of her. And I do think of her, often. How could I not? Billy's smile is her smile. His laugh is her laugh. He even has some of Britt's mannerisms." Wilson puts his head in his hands and starts to sob.
Mary looks to her father for guidance, and he motions for her to comfort Wilson. Mary puts her hand on Wilson's back but he moves his head in the opposite direction. She stands up and puts her hand out to Wilson, and he takes it. She then leads him out into the hall.
"I'm sorry." Wilson says leaning against the wall.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. You're doing great." She tells him, softly touching his face with her hand. "Just calm down a little. They don't deserve to have the satisfaction of seeing you this upset."
"How dare they say that about you? They've known you for, what, five minutes?"
"No, how dare they say that about you? You have plenty of respect for her!" Mary pauses for a second. "I just don't understand why anyone would go after such a nice guy like you."
Wilson wraps his arm around Mary and pulls her close to him. She rests her head on his chest, and hugs him tightly.
"Yeah…" Wilson mutters, "such a nice guy that I killed their only daughter."
Mary doesn't hear him say that. She holds him until she feels he has calmed down, at least enough to go back into the office, and then pulls away from him.
"Ok, now," she says, standing in front of him and holding his hand, "you're going to go back in there, and I'm going to go check on Billy. I doubt Lucy's too thrilled about having to watch him." Wilson goes to oppose that idea, but he decides not to. Instead he nods and kisses Mary lightly on the check.
Mary opens the front doors of the church to find Lucy sitting on the steps with Billy next to her playing with some toy cars.
"Hey Luce." Mary says, sitting down next to Lucy.
"Hi," she mumbles back.
"Look," Mary says to her, "all of this fighting is stupid. We have to band together in times like these- we're family. And you know, I take full responsibility for everything that happened. I was the one who triggered Wilson's impromptu visit to the garage apartment that night. So if you want to blame anyone, go ahead and blame me."
"I'm not blaming anyone, I'm just upset." Lucy says. "But you're right. Being angry with you won't fix anything. So, are we OK?"
"Yes."
The two of them hug sisterly.
"Mary, you haven't hugged me in a while." Billy says, standing upright.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Mary reaches for Billy, and pulls him in for a hug. Billy positions himself on Mary's lap, and stares at Mary.
"Where's Daddy?"
"He's inside with my daddy talking to your grandparents."
"Nanny and Poppy?"
Mary nods.
"Then why are you out here if they're still talking?"
"Because I came to check on you."
"They're yelling, aren't they?"
"No…" Mary says, not even able to convince Billy.
Billy sighs. "Why does everyone lie to be just because I'm seven?"
Lucy giggles.
"Billy, let me ask you something." Mary says. "Do you like your Nanny and Poppy?"
"Yeah, they're nice to me."
"But didn't you miss your Daddy?"
"Yeah."
Lucy is confused. "How did they get you to go with them?" she asks Billy.
"They told me I had to."
"Oh," Lucy says. She looks at Mary, still confused, and she responds with a look that says, "I'll explain later."
"Are you and Daddy going on dates again?" Billy asks her.
Mary smiles at Billy's phrasing- "going on dates". "Yes, we are." She answers him.
"So you're going to be with us again?"
"Yeah, I guess I am."
Both Billy and Mary smile.
"Mary, can I ask you another question?"
"Sure, shoot." Mary doesn't think of the words that are coming out of her mouth until they are said aloud. Mary and Lucy wince at the term.
"Grandparents are someone's Mommy's and Daddy's parents, right?"
"Yes."
"Then if my Grandma and Grandpa are Daddy's parents, then how do I have a Nanny and Poppy, too? I don't have a mommy."
"I, uh…" Mary doesn't know how to answer that. She tries to think of something that would be acceptable, but can't really come up with something,
"Do I have a mommy?"
Mary, again, doesn't know what to say. She doesn't want to confuse Billy or create any more work for Wilson. He looks so sweet, though, that Mary doesn't want to hurt him. Even if Wilson told her to do so, Mary wouldn't have the heart to tell little Billy that his mother died giving birth to him.
"Don't lie to me." Billy says, sternly.
"Yes, Billy. You have a mommy."
"Then where is she?"
Mary and Lucy are both equally touched by Billy's innocence, as well as by the fact that he had the guts to ask Mary these questions. Mary looks to Lucy for an answer, but Lucy just shrugs.
"That's something you're going to have to talk about with your daddy."
Billy looks upset. "He won't talk about it. He's never told me anything about her, except he told me once that she loves me."
"I'll talk to him- see what I can do about that."
"Tell him I really want to know." Billy tells her seriously.
"OK, I will."
Billy leans over and rests his little head on Mary's shoulder. "Church has been over for a long time. When are we leaving?"
"You bored?"
Billy nods.
"I'm sure it will be soon."
Billy rolls his eyes. "That's what Lucy said ten minutes ago."
Mary smiles, and with that, Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Gallo, and Rev. Camden walk out of the church. Mary immediately stands up, taking Billy off of her lap, and goes over to Wilson. He hugs her with his one arm, and whispers the good news into her ear: Billy was coming back to Wilson tomorrow.
"How did you do it?"
"Your dad helped me use their guilt against them."
Mary smiles, and moves closer to Wilson. "That's great."
"Yeah…" Wilson says, his voice trailing off.
Mary kisses Wilson's lips lightly, and then steps back to look him in the eyes. "What?" she says. He just stares back at her. "You're not telling me something, are you? What is it? Tell me."
"Maybe right here isn't the best place." Wilson says, making reference to being on the steps of the church.
"No, here is fine. I want to know now."
"Well, the only way I got them to give me Billy back early…"
"Yes?"
"Was to agree that Billy visits them at least once a month. Of course its nothing official, but I'm going to try to abide by that." he says.
"But if we're in Florida and they're in GlenOak- how are you going to do that?"
Wilson says nothing, giving Mary a second to process the information. Mary's eyes get teary, and Wilson pulls her in toward him. She buries her head in his chest and begins to sob.
"It will be OK." Wilson says to her soothingly. "We'll figure something out."
"But that's it? You're just leaving me?"
"Mare…" Wilson says, "please, don't make this any harder than it already is. We'll talk, OK?"
She nods and wipes her eyes. The two of them walk over to Billy. He looks at his father angrily, as Wilson stoops down to his level.
"So Billy, I'll come by tomorrow to get you, all right?" Wilson says to his son.
"No."
"What?"
"Why did you make Mary cry?" Billy says screaming at his father. "Now she won't come back with us and I'll never see her again- just like last time. I'll never have a mommy."
Billy runs away and into the parking lot of the church. He opens the door to his grandparents' car and quickly closes it, slamming it loudly. Wilson stand up, saddened by Billy's actions. He usually wasn't like this. Mary puts a hand on Wilson's shoulder.
"You have to talk to him. He asked me where his mommy is."
"What did you say to him?"
"I told him he should ask you." Wilson nods. "He said that he has asked you about her before, but you've never said anything about her to him."
"I never knew if he would understand."
"If he's asking about her," Mary says, "I think he'd understand enough."
A/N: I used this chapter, almost in it's entirety, for a school project last January. Just a little note to every fic author out there, don't show people in your real life your work. Just…don't. Anyway, I kind of like this chapter. The next one is better and more of what I am comfortable writing, so look forward to that (if you're a romantic that is).
Please review!