Charlie's POV:
After I made phone calls to all of my friends and apologized for my behavior the day before it was almost twelve o'clock. Its lucky for me that I have friends that are very forgiving. Especially after the way I acted at the beginning of the school year.
I headed into the kitchen to see if my Mom needed help with anything. She had been busy all morning getting things ready for tonight.
"Anything I can help with?" I asked her as I walked in. She was standing at the counter with all kinds of stuff spread out around her. I wasn't exactly sure what it was she was making at this particular time from where I was standing.
"Yes," she said. "You're just in time to help me decorate the gingerbread cookies."
I walked over to the counter. She had already cut all the cookies into the shape of gingerbread men and baked one tray. A couple of the cookies were already decorated . As I started decorating the cookies I thought about how my Mom and I use to always bake cookies together when I was little. I use to enjoy it a lot. When I got older though I told I didn't want to do it anymore. I thought that baking was for girls. I kind of missed spending that time with my mom.
We worked on decorating the cookies in silence for awhile. It was nice just being able to spend some time together. That was the one thing I had missed this past semester at Eden Hall, not being at home all the time, even though I had come home quite often.
The timer went off and she went to the oven to get another tray of cookies and put a third one in to bake. When she came back to the counter she just stopped and stared at the latest cookie I was decorating.
"Charlie, these are suppose to be Christmas cookies," she exclaimed!
"I know," I said, reaching out for a different color icing.
"Then why does that cookie look like a clown?"
"I think it looks kind of cool," I said continuing to make different color buttons down the front of the cookie. I had already put green curly hair and a big red nose on it.
My mom just shook her head and went back to decorating the cookies the like traditional gingerbread men. By the time we finished with the cookies I had a little army of gingerbread clowns.
As my mom started putting the cookies that had cooled in a bowl and I started cleaning up the mess. While we were doing that the doorbell rang. My mom went to answer it leaving me with the rest of the mess.
"Gordon," I heard her say surprised. I was surprised myself. We had been expecting him to call but not show up at our place today.
"Hi Casey. Angela and Anthony our over at my place with Adam so I figured I'd get out for a little while and Adam wanted me to drop this off for tonight," Gordon said holding a package. "It's the gift for the gift exchange tonight." By this time I was standing in the doorway between the living room and kitchen. I wanted to make sure they knew I was listening. "Hi Charlie," Gordon said seeing me there.
"Hi Coach," I said.
"Why don't you come in," my mom said as she took the gift from him and stepped to one side so that Gordon could come all the way into the apartment but he didn't.
"Actually, I was hoping that we could go for a walk and talk," he said. I got the impression he wanted to go someplace and talk without me around.
"Okay," my mom said. She sat the gift on the end table near the door. "Charlie can you finish cleaning up and put the rest of the cookies away when they cool, please."
"Yeah, sure," I told her as I watched her put on her coat. And then she and Gordon left the apartment together. I stood there and stared at the door for awhile . Then I went back into the kitchen to finish the cleaning.
Casey's POV:
When I opened the apartment door and found Gordon standing there I was surprised. I had expected him to call at some point but not show up at my front door. When he suggested that we go for a walk and talk I got nervous. Maybe I had been wrong. I already knew that he knew what had taken place at the pond yesterday afternoon. Maybe he wasn't going to be understanding about it.
I gave some instructions to Charlie and then got my coat on. Gordon and I walked downstairs and outside and then started walking toward the park. Neither of us said anything for awhile. I'm not sure either of us was really sure what to say. I decided to let Gordon start the conversation and I didn't have to wait much longer.
"Did Charlie tell you about what happened yesterday at the pond?" Gordon finally asked me.
"Yes, he did and he feels terrible about it. He's already called everyone else and apologized. I told him to wait to talk to Adam until we had found out from you how he was doing?"
"Adam is feeling a little bit better today than he was last night," Gordon said. "I heard about what happened from Anthony. I've yet to actually talk to Adam about it but Anthony said that Adam was really upset over the incident yesterday. Where did Charlie ever get the idea that Adam was trying to keep us apart?" Gordon asked me. He didn't sound like he was accusing Charlie of anything. He just sounded like he was trying to understand which kept me from getting defensive when I answered him.
"Charlie overheard part of our conversation yesterday. When you told me that you wanted to take things slower and give Adam a chance to adjust he took it to mean that you were backing out completely. He didn't listen to the rest of our conversation."
Gordon nodded silently. By this time we had reached the park. I waited for him to say something when he didn't I continued. "Gordon, Charlie adores you. I think lately he's been feeling threatened by Adam. Suddenly Adam is building the relationship with you that he's always wanted for himself. I think yesterday was inevitable. It was bound to happen at some point."
"I never even considered that," Gordon said. "Casey I love Charlie you know that. Just because Adam's living with me doesn't mean that Adam is going to take Charlie's place."
"I know that but I think maybe you should reassure Charlie of that. You're still the closest things he's ever had to a father. He never did get along with his stepfather. I think Charlie tolerated him for my sake."
There was silence again. But it seemed like a comfortable silence. I think both of us were trying to sort things out in our heads.
"Gordon, I told Charlie that we were still planning on getting married. I know we had decided to wait and tell him together but last night it just seemed like the right thing to do."
"He's your son," Gordon said accepting my decision.
"He'll soon be our son," I said quietly stopping and giving Gordon a hug. Gordon hugged me back. It felt so good to be held by someone who I knew really cared about me and really cared about Charlie. I always thought that Al just tolerated Charlie because he was my son. I told myself that with time that would go away but it never had. Marrying Al had probably been a mistake from the beginning.
"Do you still want to wait to tell Adam?" I asked him as we headed back toward my place.
"For now, yes. I want to wait until he's at least feeling better. I don't think we can put it off as long as we had originally planned though. After what Charlie told him about him keeping us apart once he's feeling better he's going to start wondering if Charlie is right, although I doubt he'd say anything to anyone. When I do talk to him though I'd like you there. I want him to be able to see that you're going to be there for him just like I am. That he is welcomed in our family."
"Of course. I'll tell Charlie not to say anything about what I told him to anyone for now."
"Actually, why don't I tell him. I'd like to talk to Charlie when we get back."
"Okay," I told him. Gordon put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close as we walked.
"Casey," he said after a little while. "I don't know what you and Charlie have planned for tomorrow but I was think that maybe since Adam and I can't come to your place that maybe you and Charlie could come over to my place tomorrow for dinner? Nothing fancy but the three of us could spend some time together."
I had been wanting to suggest that to Gordon. I knew Gordon was a pretty good cook but I figured since he had been planning to come over for Christmas dinner at my place and with Adam being sick that he wouldn't have much time to prepare anything and I didn't want to impose.
"I'd like that," I told him. "I already started preparing some things and the ham is bought so let me worry about preparing dinner. You don't have to do anything."
"It's a deal," he said smiling.
We reached my apartment building and headed upstairs to the apartment. As I walked into the living room I didn't see Charlie and things were quiet.
"Charlie," I called out as I hung up my coat and took Gordon's coat from him.
"Yeah, Mom," Charlie said sticking his head out of his bedroom.
"I was hoping we could talk Charlie," Gordon said taking the lead.
"Sure, Coach," Charlie said coming out of his room. He seemed a little nervous to me as I headed into the kitchen to see what else needed to be done for the night.
Gordon's POV:
As Casey disappeared into the kitchen Charlie and I sat down on the couch. Charlie seemed a little apprehensive to me but before I could say anything Charlie started talking.
"I'm sorry Coach," Charlie said in a rush. "I'm sorry for listening in to your conversation. That was wrong. I never should have done it. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and upsetting everyone."
"Apology excepted, Charlie," I said easily when he stopped for a breath. "Look I've done enough stupid things in the last four years to know that not everyone is perfect. I didn't want to talk to you to place blame on anyone I just want to make sure we're all on the same page."
"Charlie, this isn't going to be easy. Starting a family never is even when it just starts out with two people. When you have kids involved from the beginning its even harder. But both your mom and I don't care about that. We want to make this work - for everyone involved but its going to take time and as hard as it is for the three of us we all need to remember that this is going to be even harder on Adam but you and I should be able to empathize with him."
"I'm not sure I understand?" Charlie said softly looking at me questioningly.
"Charlie you grew up not knowing your father, which I know was hard on you, but try to imagine if you had known your father and then after fourteen years of him being there he suddenly wasn't around anymore. You know my father died when I was ten. I remember how hard it was for me to get use to him not being around but I still don't completely understand how Adam is feeling right now. His father didn't die. His father just doesn't want anything to do with him."
"Like my father decided years ago," Charlie said. "I think I'm starting to understand," he said quietly.
"Its not going to be easy for Adam to start trusting people again. To understand that it isn't being disloyal to start letting himself belong to another family. He needs time to adjust to things. He's just starting to adjust to being with me. I don't want to upset that adjustment right now. That's why I wanted to wait."
"And I guess I ruined that, now," Charlie said to me looking down at the floor.
"Well, you definitely changed the time table. Once he's feeling better Adam's going to be questioning what you said to him even if he doesn't bring it up. Your mother and I are going to talk to him once he's feeling better but until then I need to ask you not to tell anyone, and that means the rest of the Ducks, about us being engaged."
"Okay," Charlie said.
"This is going to work out," I told him as he gave me a hug. "I love you Charlie."
After I made phone calls to all of my friends and apologized for my behavior the day before it was almost twelve o'clock. Its lucky for me that I have friends that are very forgiving. Especially after the way I acted at the beginning of the school year.
I headed into the kitchen to see if my Mom needed help with anything. She had been busy all morning getting things ready for tonight.
"Anything I can help with?" I asked her as I walked in. She was standing at the counter with all kinds of stuff spread out around her. I wasn't exactly sure what it was she was making at this particular time from where I was standing.
"Yes," she said. "You're just in time to help me decorate the gingerbread cookies."
I walked over to the counter. She had already cut all the cookies into the shape of gingerbread men and baked one tray. A couple of the cookies were already decorated . As I started decorating the cookies I thought about how my Mom and I use to always bake cookies together when I was little. I use to enjoy it a lot. When I got older though I told I didn't want to do it anymore. I thought that baking was for girls. I kind of missed spending that time with my mom.
We worked on decorating the cookies in silence for awhile. It was nice just being able to spend some time together. That was the one thing I had missed this past semester at Eden Hall, not being at home all the time, even though I had come home quite often.
The timer went off and she went to the oven to get another tray of cookies and put a third one in to bake. When she came back to the counter she just stopped and stared at the latest cookie I was decorating.
"Charlie, these are suppose to be Christmas cookies," she exclaimed!
"I know," I said, reaching out for a different color icing.
"Then why does that cookie look like a clown?"
"I think it looks kind of cool," I said continuing to make different color buttons down the front of the cookie. I had already put green curly hair and a big red nose on it.
My mom just shook her head and went back to decorating the cookies the like traditional gingerbread men. By the time we finished with the cookies I had a little army of gingerbread clowns.
As my mom started putting the cookies that had cooled in a bowl and I started cleaning up the mess. While we were doing that the doorbell rang. My mom went to answer it leaving me with the rest of the mess.
"Gordon," I heard her say surprised. I was surprised myself. We had been expecting him to call but not show up at our place today.
"Hi Casey. Angela and Anthony our over at my place with Adam so I figured I'd get out for a little while and Adam wanted me to drop this off for tonight," Gordon said holding a package. "It's the gift for the gift exchange tonight." By this time I was standing in the doorway between the living room and kitchen. I wanted to make sure they knew I was listening. "Hi Charlie," Gordon said seeing me there.
"Hi Coach," I said.
"Why don't you come in," my mom said as she took the gift from him and stepped to one side so that Gordon could come all the way into the apartment but he didn't.
"Actually, I was hoping that we could go for a walk and talk," he said. I got the impression he wanted to go someplace and talk without me around.
"Okay," my mom said. She sat the gift on the end table near the door. "Charlie can you finish cleaning up and put the rest of the cookies away when they cool, please."
"Yeah, sure," I told her as I watched her put on her coat. And then she and Gordon left the apartment together. I stood there and stared at the door for awhile . Then I went back into the kitchen to finish the cleaning.
Casey's POV:
When I opened the apartment door and found Gordon standing there I was surprised. I had expected him to call at some point but not show up at my front door. When he suggested that we go for a walk and talk I got nervous. Maybe I had been wrong. I already knew that he knew what had taken place at the pond yesterday afternoon. Maybe he wasn't going to be understanding about it.
I gave some instructions to Charlie and then got my coat on. Gordon and I walked downstairs and outside and then started walking toward the park. Neither of us said anything for awhile. I'm not sure either of us was really sure what to say. I decided to let Gordon start the conversation and I didn't have to wait much longer.
"Did Charlie tell you about what happened yesterday at the pond?" Gordon finally asked me.
"Yes, he did and he feels terrible about it. He's already called everyone else and apologized. I told him to wait to talk to Adam until we had found out from you how he was doing?"
"Adam is feeling a little bit better today than he was last night," Gordon said. "I heard about what happened from Anthony. I've yet to actually talk to Adam about it but Anthony said that Adam was really upset over the incident yesterday. Where did Charlie ever get the idea that Adam was trying to keep us apart?" Gordon asked me. He didn't sound like he was accusing Charlie of anything. He just sounded like he was trying to understand which kept me from getting defensive when I answered him.
"Charlie overheard part of our conversation yesterday. When you told me that you wanted to take things slower and give Adam a chance to adjust he took it to mean that you were backing out completely. He didn't listen to the rest of our conversation."
Gordon nodded silently. By this time we had reached the park. I waited for him to say something when he didn't I continued. "Gordon, Charlie adores you. I think lately he's been feeling threatened by Adam. Suddenly Adam is building the relationship with you that he's always wanted for himself. I think yesterday was inevitable. It was bound to happen at some point."
"I never even considered that," Gordon said. "Casey I love Charlie you know that. Just because Adam's living with me doesn't mean that Adam is going to take Charlie's place."
"I know that but I think maybe you should reassure Charlie of that. You're still the closest things he's ever had to a father. He never did get along with his stepfather. I think Charlie tolerated him for my sake."
There was silence again. But it seemed like a comfortable silence. I think both of us were trying to sort things out in our heads.
"Gordon, I told Charlie that we were still planning on getting married. I know we had decided to wait and tell him together but last night it just seemed like the right thing to do."
"He's your son," Gordon said accepting my decision.
"He'll soon be our son," I said quietly stopping and giving Gordon a hug. Gordon hugged me back. It felt so good to be held by someone who I knew really cared about me and really cared about Charlie. I always thought that Al just tolerated Charlie because he was my son. I told myself that with time that would go away but it never had. Marrying Al had probably been a mistake from the beginning.
"Do you still want to wait to tell Adam?" I asked him as we headed back toward my place.
"For now, yes. I want to wait until he's at least feeling better. I don't think we can put it off as long as we had originally planned though. After what Charlie told him about him keeping us apart once he's feeling better he's going to start wondering if Charlie is right, although I doubt he'd say anything to anyone. When I do talk to him though I'd like you there. I want him to be able to see that you're going to be there for him just like I am. That he is welcomed in our family."
"Of course. I'll tell Charlie not to say anything about what I told him to anyone for now."
"Actually, why don't I tell him. I'd like to talk to Charlie when we get back."
"Okay," I told him. Gordon put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close as we walked.
"Casey," he said after a little while. "I don't know what you and Charlie have planned for tomorrow but I was think that maybe since Adam and I can't come to your place that maybe you and Charlie could come over to my place tomorrow for dinner? Nothing fancy but the three of us could spend some time together."
I had been wanting to suggest that to Gordon. I knew Gordon was a pretty good cook but I figured since he had been planning to come over for Christmas dinner at my place and with Adam being sick that he wouldn't have much time to prepare anything and I didn't want to impose.
"I'd like that," I told him. "I already started preparing some things and the ham is bought so let me worry about preparing dinner. You don't have to do anything."
"It's a deal," he said smiling.
We reached my apartment building and headed upstairs to the apartment. As I walked into the living room I didn't see Charlie and things were quiet.
"Charlie," I called out as I hung up my coat and took Gordon's coat from him.
"Yeah, Mom," Charlie said sticking his head out of his bedroom.
"I was hoping we could talk Charlie," Gordon said taking the lead.
"Sure, Coach," Charlie said coming out of his room. He seemed a little nervous to me as I headed into the kitchen to see what else needed to be done for the night.
Gordon's POV:
As Casey disappeared into the kitchen Charlie and I sat down on the couch. Charlie seemed a little apprehensive to me but before I could say anything Charlie started talking.
"I'm sorry Coach," Charlie said in a rush. "I'm sorry for listening in to your conversation. That was wrong. I never should have done it. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions and upsetting everyone."
"Apology excepted, Charlie," I said easily when he stopped for a breath. "Look I've done enough stupid things in the last four years to know that not everyone is perfect. I didn't want to talk to you to place blame on anyone I just want to make sure we're all on the same page."
"Charlie, this isn't going to be easy. Starting a family never is even when it just starts out with two people. When you have kids involved from the beginning its even harder. But both your mom and I don't care about that. We want to make this work - for everyone involved but its going to take time and as hard as it is for the three of us we all need to remember that this is going to be even harder on Adam but you and I should be able to empathize with him."
"I'm not sure I understand?" Charlie said softly looking at me questioningly.
"Charlie you grew up not knowing your father, which I know was hard on you, but try to imagine if you had known your father and then after fourteen years of him being there he suddenly wasn't around anymore. You know my father died when I was ten. I remember how hard it was for me to get use to him not being around but I still don't completely understand how Adam is feeling right now. His father didn't die. His father just doesn't want anything to do with him."
"Like my father decided years ago," Charlie said. "I think I'm starting to understand," he said quietly.
"Its not going to be easy for Adam to start trusting people again. To understand that it isn't being disloyal to start letting himself belong to another family. He needs time to adjust to things. He's just starting to adjust to being with me. I don't want to upset that adjustment right now. That's why I wanted to wait."
"And I guess I ruined that, now," Charlie said to me looking down at the floor.
"Well, you definitely changed the time table. Once he's feeling better Adam's going to be questioning what you said to him even if he doesn't bring it up. Your mother and I are going to talk to him once he's feeling better but until then I need to ask you not to tell anyone, and that means the rest of the Ducks, about us being engaged."
"Okay," Charlie said.
"This is going to work out," I told him as he gave me a hug. "I love you Charlie."