Ch 7 Seeking Approval
When Lennie woke, he was still somewhat fragile emotionally and wanted to just hold Anita for a while. She was quite willing to oblige him. Eventually he was able to let her go, and begin preparing for the day, but he was quiet.
"Are you gonna be OK, honey?" Anita asked as they finished breakfast.
"Yeah, I think I'm getting past it. And hey it's Friday, this evening we'll be up in Albany with Julia and Brian and the boys," Lennie said sounding more upbeat.
"You sure you want to drive that tonight?" she asked as she started putting things away.
"Yeah, traffic's gonna be a killer no matter whether we go this evening or tomorrow morning, and I'd just as soon have the extra time with them," he answered. "What's a matter getting cold feet about going to see my family?" he asked in a teasing voice as he put his plate and silverware in the sink.
"Maybe I am," she answered as she started toward the sink with her plate and silverware.
"Well don't be, they're gonna love ya," he said as he pulled her into an embrace that knocked her off-balance as she tried to avoid putting her plate into either of their shirts.
"Lennie, behave! Otherwise we'll never get to work on time," she said through her laughter.
"Oh yeah, I mustn't be late. I mean, everyone knows my boss is a real bitch," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Ooh, you just watch your step mister or I'll show you bitch!" she teased back, glad to see his playful nature come back.
"OK, OK, I know when I'm beat, besides if we don't get out of here quick I'll be late to my email class," Lennie said sarcastically.
Lennie did indeed spend part of the morning in an email class. He managed to empty his mailbox of all the mail he'd never looked at over the years and had learned to compose a message and send attachments. He actually caught on so quickly that he spent part of the class time composing an email to his sweetheart that he thought was cryptic enough to send. He hoped she would read between the lines and be amused by his suggestions.
From: briscol@nypd.gov
To: vanburea@nypd.gov
Subject: Disciplinary action re: Det. L. Briscoe
Anita,
As I've almost finished all the squad's backed up paper work and will certainly have it finished by this pm, I think it's time to consider alternate actions. I realize I did do some things Saturday night that were out of line but I also thought there were a few things I did that were appreciated. Perhaps we could have a private conference to discuss options. I was thinking perhaps there was some special assignment I might help you with.
Yours,
Lennie
When Lennie arrived back in the squad room, Anita gave him an amused smirk that told him she had received his email and taken it as he intended.
"Detective Briscoe, I'd like to discuss the email I received from you, how about we do so over an early lunch?" she suggested.
"Yes, ma'am," Lennie said and grabbed his suit coat.
They grabbed a car from the pool so they could get a little farther from the precinct for lunch.
"Well, I guess I must have said something right in that email," Lennie quipped, as he maneuvered through traffic toward their agreed upon destination, a distant restaurant not likely to be frequented by their squad members.
"Well, actually I wanted to tell you about a conversation I had with Don regarding the divorce," Anita answered. "Although your email was cute and we may have time to discuss some of it," she added.
"OK, so what's up?" Lennie asked as he hunted for a likely parking spot.
"Well, we may have a timing problem," she answered.
"What do you mean?" he asked as he parked the car.
"Well, the attorney says that Don and I can get a legal separation and then after a year a conversion to a divorce, but that neither of us have grounds for a divorce at this time," she told Lennie.
"Huh?" Lennie said, confused.
As they walked into the restaurant, Anita gave Lennie a funny look. "I'd have thought a guy who was divorced twice would maybe know this stuff," she answered. They suspended their conversation while the hostess found them a booth.
"Well, Gloria and I were legally separated and then did the conversion thing and Lorna had me dead to rights on numerous affairs. So it was pretty easy for her to sue on the grounds of adultery," Lennie answered. "Couldn't either of you sue on grounds of adultery?" he suggested.
"No, for a couple of reasons, if Don sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery he'd have to name you as the correspondent and that would open up a whole can of worms," she said looking meaningfully at him, "besides because we're both guilty of having affairs the lawyer said that brings in something called recrimination and that voids adultery as the grounds for divorce," she answered.
"So do you know about other alternatives?" Lennie asked, knowing there was no way they could wait a year for a divorce if Anita was pregnant.
"Yes, I can get a fast divorce in the Dominican Republic," Anita answered. "As long as Don and I have everything agreed to between the two of us, I can fly down to Santo Domingo, appear before a judge for about 5 minutes and then have the final decree in 15 business days. I'll talk to Don when we get back from Albany," Anita answered.
"That sounds like the best way to go, especially if you are pregnant," Lennie said lowering his voice on the last phrase as he noticed their server approaching.
They ordered the special and a couple of diet sodas as neither of them had taken a glimpse at the menu.
"Hope the special is something remotely edible," Anita said, and then a moment later added, "For me that is, I'm sure you'll have no trouble with it," she joked.
"Hey, in the past having a cast iron stomach came in handy. I'm not a great cook and unlike you, neither of my exs would win any cooking prizes," he replied.
"Did you just say I'm a good cook?" Anita asked.
"I think I did, " Lennie said and smiled. He then reached out to take her hand but suddenly stopped as he looked past her to the entrance of the restaurant.
"Something wrong?" Anita asked.
"You'll never believe who just walked in" Lennie said.
Before Anita could ask whom, Rey Curtis's long strides ate up the distance from the restaurant's entrance to their booth.
"Hey Lennie, LT what are you doing here?" Rey asked.
"Same thing you are I suppose," Lennie answered, he then moved over to make room for Rey. They called their server over and added another special and an ice tea to their order.
Rey asked them about the undercover operation he'd heard about and they filled him in on the details. He interrupted to ask Lennie about his winnings for shooting pool, remembering the time Lennie had taken $500 off of John Munch. Lennie explained about the arrangements he'd made with Jack McCoy to make sure it was OK for him to keep the money, but said he'd rather not mention the amount he'd won in a public place, which made Rey assume it was quite a bit of money. Just as their lunches, 3 cups of clam chowder and baskets of fish and chips, arrived Lennie finished explaining the trouble he'd gotten into at the conclusion of the operation and his punishment for it.
"Oh, and you're so eaten up over the discipline she put on you that you figured if you took her out for a nice lunch she might let up on you," Rey teased. He found his detective senses were on full alert, he knew something was up, he just wasn't sure what.
"Well as much as I hate the extra paperwork, the computer classes haven't been that bad. I might surprise you and send you an email," Lennie retorted.
Rey gave him a look of disbelief as he bit into some of his lunch.
"He's not kidding. We're here because he sent me an email to let me know he's almost through all the backed up paperwork, so I have to come up with something else for him to do next week," Anita told Rey.
"Well, will wonders never cease?" Rey teased. "You know, it does seem like a shame that you're serving a punishment for getting on Michaels' case. I mean, I remember him from when I worked in OCCB. He was a walking, talking example of the Peter Principle if ever I saw one," Rey observed.
"What's the Peter Principle?" Anita asked, her curiousity peaked.
"That the higher up you go in an administration the more incompetent people you find," Rey answered.
"No that's not quite right, it's that they promote competent people up until they end up in a job they aren't competent for, and then they stay in that job because it's hard to demote people," Lennie corrected. When he felt Anita staring at him he looked at her and added, "I think I'll just shut up now and eat my lunch".
Anita and Rey laughed at him.
"So, if that's how it works, does that mean you're not competent to do detective work?" Anita teased.
"No, I explained that to you before, being a detective was just the first thing I discovered that I was good at, that I enjoyed doing, and that was also legal to accept money for doing," Lennie said with a smile, thinking back to their dinner at Tony's. Rey spluttered some of his ice tea.
"Lennie!" he scolded.
"What?" Lennie asked as though he had no idea what Rey was on about.
"I think Lennie is referring to his skill with a pool cue," Anita offered.
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that with Lennie," Rey replied.
"Well, now that you mention it," Lennie began.
"I didn't," Rey said. "Why does this remind me of Baltimore?"
"Hey, that was Munch's fault, not mine," Lennie reminded Rey.
Rey cast around for a way to change the subject and noticed that Anita's ring finger was bare.
"Hey LT where's your wedding ring? Did you forget it somewhere?" Rey asked.
"No, I haven't been wearing it for a while. Don and I are getting divorced so I don't see a reason to wear it" Anita answered.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Rey said sincerely.
"Well, don't be. Our marriage has been over for many years. We continued to live together for the sake of our boys until Stefan told us to stop being hypocrites," she responded.
Rey was beginning to add up clues, Van Buren was getting a divorce, she and Lennie were eating lunch together a long way from the 27th precinct and they'd recently had to pretend to be romantically involved on an undercover operation. He wondered if they were now involved for real. He wasn't sure he wanted to know for sure as he liked and respected them both. He was asking himself whether he'd respect them or like them less if he learned that they were involved, despite department policies and despite the fact that Anita had said she was getting divorced not that she was divorced, when he realized he'd miss a question from Lennie about something.
"Sorry man, what was that?" Rey asked.
"I asked how Deborah and the girls are doing?" Lennie asked again, somewhat amused and yet at the same time a little alarmed. He'd seen that sort of distraction from Rey before and it usually meant he was about to put some clues together.
"The girls are great, although when I tell them I saw Uncle Lennie today, they're probably going to start whining about how he never drops by anymore," Rey replied.
"You tell them Uncle Lennie is just waiting for an invite," Lennie replied.
"And what about Deborah?" Anita asked.
"Well, with her MS its always sort of two steps forward and three steps back but the doctors have her on some new medications that seem to be helping," he replied.
They continued to visit for a little while and as Lennie felt more and more like Rey was "on to them" he searched for a way to divert Rey's attention.
"So have you thought of what my punishment is going to be next week?" Lennie asked Anita.
"Well, since I still have to keep you on desk duty, I thought I could have you pull the cold case files and look through them to see if there've been any new developments," Anita suggested.
"Oh Anita," Lennie groaned, "and here I thought you liked me".
"I do," Anita said and ran her foot along Lennie's leg beneath the table, thoroughly shocking him.
Rey wasn't certain what was going on between the two of them and he realized he didn't have the time to stop and find out either, as his lunch break was nearly over.
"Well, folks this has been," Rey paused looking for an appropriate word, "entertaining, but I've got to get back to my little cubicle in Admin," he said as he uncurled his long frame and began fishing for his wallet.
"No, hey man, it's on me," Lennie said, stopping his former partner from paying.
"OK, but my treat next time and I'll call you soon to arrange for you to come see the girls and Deborah," Rey promised and Lennie nodded.
Anita waited while Lennie paid the check.
"Hey, what was that with playing footsie back there? You trying to give me a heart attack?" Lennie asked as they walked to the car.
"No, just fair warning that I can be playful too," she said as she got into the car.
"God, I can't wait until we get on the road this evening," Lennie said.
"Why's that?" Anita asked curiously.
"You'll see," he promised with a smirk.
Once they got back to the squad room, the afternoon crawled by, but Lennie did manage to finish the last of the backed up reports. They headed off to the subway and made their way back to Lennie's apartment together, neither of them really caring if anyone saw them leaving together.
"Lennie, what should I pack?" Anita asked almost plaintively.
"I don't know, just something casual. You're just going to meet my daughter and her husband and sons, it's nothing fancy," Lennie answered, amused that Anita seemed a bit unnerved.
Anita decided she'd just have to throw a little bit of everything in her suitcase; several blouses, a couple of pair of slacks and a skirt, bras and panties, a slip, a night gown and robe and several different pair of shoes, some jewelry, and make up. She wouldn't probably need it all but at least she'd be prepared for anything.
When she saw his suitcase and hers side by side she asked, "Is that all you're taking?"
"Yes baby, that's all I'm taking. Come on let's get started. Oh grab some CDs and a couple of drinks would you?" he asked just as the phone rang.
"Hello," he answered.
"Hey angel, we were just about to head out the door," he said.
"One room will be fine," he answered.
"OK, see you, probably about 9 or 9:30. We'll eat somewhere between here and there, so don't go to any trouble," he told her.
"Hey, I'm a cop I always drive safely," he said, crossing his fingers and grinning at Anita.
"Love you," he said just before he hung up the phone.
Lennie picked up Anita's suitcase and his smaller one, and then grabbed his leather jacket and car keys. Anita came out of the kitchen with a small cooler, and then headed for the audio storage rack to pull a few CDs out.
"You ready, baby?" he asked.
"As ready as I'm gonna get, I guess," she answered as she grabbed Julia's white shawl from the hall closet so she could return it.
"Then away we go," Lennie said doing his best Jackie Gleason impression.
Lennie left the radio on a station that gave frequent traffic updates until he was well out of the city, once he hit the I-87 toll way he asked Anita to put a CD on to listen to and they began a comfortable conversation. They talked about their lunch with Rey, each admitted to feeling wrong about leaving him in the dark about their relationship and yet knowing he was the one colleague/friend who might disapprove of them. Lennie felt they should try to talk to him after Anita was officially divorced. Finally, Anita felt it appropriate to ask Lennie some questions about his daughter and her family.
"So how long has Julia lived in Albany?" she asked.
"Since she and Brian married, about 3 years ago," he replied.
"Three years and they've already got two kids?" she asked.
"Uh no, Julia's youngest son is Brian's. Her older boy Jake, well," Lennie paused for a moment. "She had Jake back when she was a teenager. I guess just another one of those things you can chalk up to my being such a lousy Dad," he said with a sigh. Anita didn't respond but she hated how he never seemed to miss a chance to knock himself.
"She went through a rather rebellious phase in her teen years, always running away, doing the exact opposite of whatever Gloria wanted her to do," he added by way of explanation.
"Where did she run away to?" Anita asked.
"She always ended up at my place, until she got it through her head that I'd eventually have to take her back to her mother because of the custody agreement," Lennie answered.
"If she wanted to be with you, why didn't you try to get the custody agreement modified?" Anita asked.
"Her running away started about 12 years ago, when I was just getting my act together. I had a reputation as a skirt chasing drunk, what judge in his right mind was gonna give me custody of a teenage girl?" Lennie asked. "Besides I thought she was safer with her mother. Little did I know that some High School Casanova would get her pregnant," Lennie answered.
"So she had the baby and raised him herself?" Anita asked.
"Yeah, Gloria helped her until she was out of high school and so did I, at least financially. Before Julia finished high school she looked around for a college that had affordable housing that would accept single parents and that had excellent childcare. She graduated summa cum laude in Journalism while doing a great job with Jake. Then just after she finished college she met Brian," he answered.
"How did she meet him?" Anita asked.
"She was doing some reporting for a small trade magazine that focused on Architecture and Engineering. Brian was in New York to supervise the construction of a building his firm had designed. Brian is a structural engineer with a design and build company that is headquartered in Albany," Lennie replied.
"Are you getting hungry?" he asked her as he saw a roadside sign indicating there was a Travel Plaza a few miles a head.
"Yes, actually I am," she said rather strongly.
The Travel Plaza turned out to have a variety of fast foods. Anita was a bit surprised that Lennie steered them past the Nathan's hot dogs, and on to some marginally healthier choices including frozen yogurt from TCBY, until she realized he was thinking about the baby she might be carrying. The thought touched her and she got a bit misty eyed.
"Baby, you OK?" Lennie asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just love you a whole bunch," she said and hugged him tightly.
He kissed the top of her head and held her for a few moments and then said, "Come on let's go".
When they got back in the car he didn't immediately start the engine, but just turned the key enough to make the CD start up again, and then he turned to Anita and began kissing her. Anita had no objections to Lennie's amorous advances and realized this was probably what he had meant when he said he couldn't wait to get on the road. He'd been wanting to 'neck' with her in his car. Sometimes he was positively cute, not that she'd tell him that, guys usually didn't react too well to being told they were cute.
Just as Lennie was reaching his hands up under her blouse there was a rap on the window and a light shown into the car. Anita could not believe it, a New York State trooper was about to give them a lecture about their behavior. Lennie powered down the window so they could hear the trooper.
"Uh folks, don't you think you could find a better place for that sort of thing?" the trooper asked when he realized the couple in question wasn't teenaged.
"Uh yeah, just reliving our youth a bit trooper, sorry about that," Lennie said a bit embarrassed.
"OK, no problem," the trooper said with a laugh as he continued on into the travel plaza.
"I'm now officially embarrassed," Lennie announced.
"Well, in my opinion it was worth it," Anita said with a grin which he returned.
Lennie turned the car's engine over and headed back for the toll way. They listened to the CDs they'd brought along and talked more. About an hour later they paid the toll at the Albany exit and Lennie began the short journey out into an upscale residential area, eventually turning into the driveway of a large new craftsman inspired home. As Lennie and Anita got out of the car, a dark haired boy about 8 years old burst out of the home's front door and made a beeline for Lennie.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!" the boy yelled as he launched himself into Lennie's arms.
"There's my little chip! Oh, you're getting too big for this kind of a welcome," Lennie said as he peeled the boy's arms from around his neck and put the boy down on his own feet.
Anita saw a handsome auburn haired man who looked to be about 30 coming out of the house towards them. She assumed he was Lennie's son-in-law Brian. An attractive woman with dark blonde hair in her mid 20s stood in the doorway of the home, she just had to be Julia. The man reached out his hand for Lennie's.
"Hey Lennie, let me and Jake help with the bags," Brian said, as the two men and the young boy headed for the trunk of the car.
"Anita, please come on in. Let's let the guys deal with the luggage," Julia offered.
"Alright," Anita said as she handed Julia her shawl.
"Oh, thanks for bringing this back to me," Julia said as she took the shawl from Anita and placed it on a peg in the hallway.
Lennie let his son-in-law take Anita's bag and his grandson take his. He used his long legs to eat up the distance to the front door before the women could get very far inside the house.
"Hey angel, you got a hug for your old man?" Lennie asked his daughter.
"I sure do, Daddy," Julia said with a broad smile as she hugged her father tightly.
"Come on, let's go to the kitchen. I've got apple pie and ice cream. And before you ask Daddy, I didn't bake it. I got it at the bakery," she added quickly.
"OK, we're safe then," he teased.
Soon Brian and Jake joined them in the kitchen and every one enjoyed pie alamode as Lennie's family got to know Anita. Anita looked closely at Jake and realized why Lennie called the boy little chip. Jake had his grandfather's sleepy looking deep blue eyes under heavy eyebrows and he also had the same angular face and dark hair as his grandfather, Jake was indeed a chip off the old block.
Julia watched her father watch the striking woman he had brought with him, and she saw something that was usually quite rare; she saw his smile reach his eyes. Her father had a charming smile and an infectious laugh but it was rare that he was truly happy and when he was, you could see it in his eyes. The fact that this woman made him that happy was enough for Julia. Her father had not really had that much happiness in his life and she thought it was high time he did. Julia's musings were interrupted by a yawn from her son.
"Sounds like we're keeping someone up past his bedtime," Anita suggested.
"I'm not that tired, 'sides it's the weekend. I don't have to go to school tomorrow," Jake argued.
"No, but you do have a soccer game," Brian countered.
"That's not 'til 10, Dad," Jake said.
"Look Jake, I'll make you a deal you stop arguing the point like some lawyers I know and I'll come in and tell you a bedtime story," Lennie offered.
"One of Babka's stories?" Jake asked enthusiastically.
"Sure, now go on, I'll be in a few minutes," Lennie said and as Jake headed down the hallway he added, "And don't forget to brush your teeth".
"Babka?" Anita asked.
"That's what we called great grandma," Julie explained.
"Babka is Polish for grandmother," Lennie added.
"Your grandmother was Polish?" Anita asked.
"And my grandfather too," Lennie added.
"That makes you half Polish?" Anita asked.
"Yes, is that a problem?" Lennie asked with a grin.
"No, but I do understand why you've never mentioned it around the squad room," Anita replied with a grin of her own.
"Grandpa, aren't you gonna come tell me a story?" Jake called out.
"Be there in a second, Jake," Lennie answered. He then stood up and leaned over to kiss Anita. "Be back in a few minutes, baby," he said to her. "Don't tell her too many horror stories about me while I'm gone, OK?" he asked of Julie and Brian before he left the room.
"I'm gonna go check on Sean," Brian said as he too headed down the hallway towards the children's bedrooms.
"I think that was Brian's not so subtle way of leaving us alone," Julia told Anita,
"You think?" Anita said with a laugh as she started carrying dishes from the kitchen table to the sink.
"Hey, you're a guest your not suppose to do that," Julia said in an amused tone as she also brought dishes to the sink.
"Oh, force of habit I suppose. I'm sort of use to men folk that get up from the table as though they were at a diner," Anita explained.
"Well, hopefully Dad's not treating you that way, is he?" Julia asked.
"No, you're Dad is wonderful about helping me with anything and everything," Anita replied.
"Good, I'd expect him to treat you very well," Julia said very positively.
"Oh, why's that?" Anita asked truly curious.
"Because I can tell how happy you make him. Dad's no dummy, he knows when he's found something good and I hope he knows how to keep it," she answered.
"What makes you think I make him happy?" Anita asked.
"Daddy laughs and smiles a lot but it doesn't always reach his eyes. Tonight every smile, every laugh was there in his eyes too. And I squeezed his shoulder tonight and I couldn't believe how relaxed he was. Usually Daddy's shoulders are so tensed up it feels like he's got steel cables tied in knots instead of muscles," Julia explained. "And then of course there's the fact that he calls you Baby instead of Anita," she added.
"And that's significant because?" Anita asked.
"I don't know why Daddy does it but when he really cares about someone, he usually calls them by a nickname. Cathy was pumpkin and I'm angel and Jake is little chip," Julia paused for a second and then laughed. "I remember after Brian and I had been married about 6 months, he came in excited one day and said 'your Dad called me kiddo, I think that means he likes me!'" she laughed.
"Funny, Ed Green, Lennie's partner, occasionally calls him by a nickname but Lennie doesn't like it," Anita said around a big grin.
"What's the nickname?" Julia asked.
"Old Spice," Anita answered.
"Well, see there's the problem right there, that Old part," Julia responded. Both women shared a laugh.
"I noticed he doesn't seem to object to you calling him honey," Julia observed.
"No, he doesn't seem to," Anita admitted shyly.
"So, this is about the place in such a conversation where I'd ask how did you and Dad meet, but given the circumstances that's not an appropriate question now is it?" before Anita could answer Brian returned.
"What's not an appropriate question?" Brian asked as he resumed his seat at he kitchen table.
"How Dad and Anita met, after all they've worked together for a long time," Julia answered.
"Well, then maybe a better question would be when did you fall for each other or maybe it's how or why?" Brian asked a bit uncertainly.
"Well, I can't speak for Lennie but I was attracted to him immediately, which was a bit of a problem for me as a married woman and his boss, but it didn't get bad until we were on a stakeout and he quoted Langston Hughes' poem Motto to me. From then on I had to fight the attraction and he never seemed to make that easy," Anita admitted.
"How long ago was that stakeout?" Julia asked.
Anita blushed. "About eight years ago," she answered.
"Wow, well you held him off a lot longer than any of the other women in his life have, maybe that's a good sign," Julia suggested.
"I hope so, " Anita said softly and Julia internal cursed herself, she shouldn't have mentioned the other women in her Dad's life. Obviously Anita was a bit insecure about her relationship with her Dad and she didn't need to be reminded of how many women had been in and out of his life.
"So what finally made you give in to your feelings?" Brian asked, a bit curious about how his father-in-law had finally landed this lovely lady.
Anita smiled as she remembered. "He kissed me," Anita answered.
"Wow, that's kind of forward of him," Brian observed.
"Well, not really," Lennie said in his own defense as he returned to the kitchen.
"Oh, and how does kissing your not-quite-yet divorced boss come under the heading of not really being forward?" Julia challenged her Dad.
"When it's a part of your cover in an undercover operation," Lennie countered.
Lennie and Anita took turns in explaining the undercover operation that had brought them together.
"So the first time you kissed, you had to do it in front of an audience, on videotape and pretend it wasn't the first time?" Julia asked her Dad and Anita incredulously. They both nodded.
"If she hadn't been trembling too, I don't know what I would have done," Lennie admitted as he gave Anita a tender look.
"Oh Dad," Julia said with a tiny laugh and then reached for his hand and Anita's. "That's so," she paused as she sought the right word, "romantic," she sighed.
Julia couldn't believe how embarrassed her Dad looked and she just knew he'd change the subject soon, but instead Brian rescued his father-in-law.
"How about we all turn in early and then maybe you and I can get up and go out and get in 9 holes of golf before Jake's soccer match," Brian suggested.
Lennie looked at his son-in-law with a mixture of relief and gratitude. "That's a great idea Brian. Let's do just that," Lennie said enthusiastically.
The two couples rose and said their goodnights, the men agreeing upon a time to leave for the golf course and then Lennie insisted on peeking in on his younger grandson.
"I like Julia and Brian," Anita said as she began to get undressed for bed.
"And I'm sure they like you too," Lennie assured her as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her from behind, then nuzzling her neck. As his kisses and caresses became more ardent, she pushed away from him and turned to look at him.
"Lennie, we can't, not here," she said.
"Why not?" Lennie asked.
"They'll hear us," she answered with a smile.
"First of all, this room is the furthest from theirs, second I think they'd understand if they did hear something and they'd do their best to ignore it, and finally, we'll just have to try to be quiet," he said with a small laugh.
"Huh? I thought you liked it when I was noisy. What was it you said? Something about my being noisy let you know you were doing things right?" she teased.
"Well, I'll just have to figure it out another way," Lennie said as he lowered her to the bed.
Lennie heard the light knocking on the door and groggily tried to place where he was and what he was supposed to do next. As his senses cleared, he felt the warmth and softness of the woman he loved lying next to him. Finally, it dawned on him that the knocking was his son-in-law come to wake him to go golfing. He tried to get up without waking Anita, a task he had tried a few times in their short relationship and was yet to accomplish.
"Brian?" he said as he approached the bedroom door.
"Yeah, you ready to go?" Brian asked.
"Uh, no. Give me 10 minutes?" Lennie asked.
"No problem, I'll make us some coffee," came the reply.
Lennie grabbed up some clothes and then crossed to the guest bathroom. He quickly showered and dressed and then returned to the bedroom to give Anita a kiss. He thought she was asleep, but as he leaned over to kiss her she reached up and pulled him down into a much more passionate kiss than he'd been contemplating.
"Mm, you always make it so hard for me to leave you early in the morning," Lennie told her as he kissed her a few more times.
"Go on, go have fun. I'm sure Julia and the boys and I can find something to keep us amused for a few hours while you guys go chase that little ball around the golf course," she said with a smile and then gave him another kiss.
Anita decided to try and get a little more sleep but a short while after she heard Lennie and Brian leave, she heard the unmistakable sounds of a happy, almost two-year-old boy as he woke up. She got up and quickly showered and dressed so she could go see this precious little boy.
"Good morning," Anita called as she came into the kitchen. Julia smiled at her as she went about getting Sean's breakfast out - orange juice and Cheerios.
"What would you like for breakfast?" she asked.
"Nothing fancy, in fact what Sean's having looks good to me," Anita said.
"OK, but I could make you some eggs or something. I'm really not as bad a cook as Dad and Brian would lead you to believe," she assured Anita.
"No, that's fine," Anita said distractedly. She and Sean were having a little let's be shy, no let's get to know each other session.
"Mama, pretty lady?" Sean asked. Julia interpreted her son's question as a request for Anita's name, though she supposed it could also be an opinion, which seemed to match her Dad's, about Anita's beauty.
"This is Anita. Anita came to visit with Grandpa," Julia informed her youngest son.
"Grampa?" Sean asked excitedly.
"Uh oh," Julia said as she gave Anita a look, "Grandpa is playing golf with Daddy, they'll be back in time to go to the soccer game," she informed Sean.
Sean looked a bit troubled but Anita distracted him with questions about his breakfast and his toys and anything else she could think of. Julia was amazed at Anita's ease with Sean.
Later, as Sean sat in the living room playing with his toys, Julia decided to comment on her rapport with her son.
"Wow, you're great with Sean. He doesn't usually take to new people but he seems to really like you," Julia said with a note of surprise in her voice.
"Well, I have two boys of my own, but it's been a long time since they were Sean's age. I'd forgotten how cute they are at this stage," Anita said wistfully.
"Yeah, cute until he gets in a defiant mood. That red hair he inherited from his Dad isn't just for show," Julia countered.
"You know it seems you got left out in your son's looks. I mean, Jake looks like Lennie and Sean looks like his Dad," Anita observed.
"You noticed, huh? You know, I think when Jake was born, it finally put Daddy's doubts about my being his child to rest," Julia said almost absentmindedly.
"You knew your Dad had doubts about whether he was really your father?" Anita asked very surprised to hear Julia say something about that.
"Oh yeah, just one of the many things my Mom told me about my Dad to try and undermine our relationship," Julia stopped for a second, and then continued. "You know the stupidest thing is that Mom never seemed to realize that when she told me that, I was old enough to fill in the blanks and figure out that she'd cheated on Dad," she laughed but it wasn't a humorous kind of laugh.
"It doesn't sound like you have the best of relationships with your Mom," Anita observed.
"Don't get me wrong. I love both of my parents, but Mom made, no makes, it a lot harder to love her. All my life she's been trying to paint my Dad as the worst father in America and unfortunately Cathy bought her lies. I didn't, at least not most of the time," Julia said.
"You know I don't think Cathy's the only who bought the lies. Your Dad thinks - well," Anita stopped in mid sentence, thinking she couldn't say what she wanted to say without revealing that she might be pregnant.
"Something wrong Anita?" Julia asked.
"Well, there's something I'd like to tell you, but it means I'd have to tell you something that no one knows about except your Dad," Anita said feeling awkward.
"Hey, I'm good at keeping secrets," Julia said.
"Well," Anita hesitated then decided to just say it and get it over with, "I might be pregnant".
"Really?" Julia said animatedly.
"Well, it's too early to know for sure, but we neglected to have a very important discussion before we made love the first time, and then for a while each of us assumed there was no reason to have that discussion, but there was," Anita said feeling her cheeks warm with embarrassment.
"Hey, don't feel embarrassed. Remember I'm the one who had a baby in High School. I know a bit about forgetting to do the appropriate thing," Julia said in an attempt to ease Anita's discomfort. Anita heaved a big sigh and reached out to squeeze Julia's hand in thanks.
"So what does Dad think of the situation?" Julia asked intrigued.
"He's like me. He knows it's probably irresponsible of us to even think about having a baby at our ages, but like me, it's what he wants, deep down in his heart," Anita admitted. She was quiet for a while then continued, "But I worry too, because he said if we had a baby, he'd have another chance to get being a father right," Anita said.
"Like he thinks he did it wrong with me and Cathy?" Julia said obviously upset.
"Yeah, I guess so," Anita reluctantly replied.
"God damn my mother! She did this to him, to Cathy, to me!" Julia said becoming agitated.
"She was always telling us what a lousy father he was. Well, you know what?" Julia said, but she didn't pause long enough to let Anita say anything. "I know what lousy fathers are like. I had plenty of friends who had them. They had dads who disappeared after the divorce was final. Dads who never sent alimony checks or child support checks. My friends' dads didn't remember Birthdays," Julia said, ticking off ways her dad was different from the 'bad dads'.
"Yeah, I know my father drank," Julia said, admitting her father's greatest fault. "But I know what started him drinking, my Mom and her cheating. And he drank because she was always keeping us girls from him and sabotaging his time with us. He was as a good a Dad as she let him be. I had friends whose dads beat them and their mothers. I doubt any of my friends had a mother who beat up on their dad simply because he came to take his kids to his home for Christmas," Julia said in a choked voice caught between anger and sorrow.
Sean was picking up on his mother's distress. He didn't know why Mama was upset but he wanted to make it better, the two women were so wrapped up in the conversation that they didn't notice when he ran to his room and brought back his teddy bear, until he appeared at his Mama's side.
"Here Mama," Sean said as he offered her his most precious possession, his teddy bear.
"Oh Sean," Julia said as she picked up her boy and the teddy bear and hugged them both letting her tears fall freely.
Just then a groggy Jake came into the living room.
"Is something wrong? Is Sean hurt?" Jake asked Anita, obviously concerned.
"No, Jake your Mom was just telling me about something that sort of upset her and Sean wanted to make her feel better, so he offered her his teddy bear," Anita explained.
Jake scooted onto the couch between the two women and added his hug to his little brother's.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Jake finally asked.
Julia didn't know what to say, she tried not to ever lie to her children but she didn't really want to say something that would make Jake think badly of his grandmother either. That was something she'd learned from her dad. Her Dad might hate her Mom's guts, but she couldn't say that for sure because he never said anything derogatory about her in front of Julia, not when she was a kid, and not even after she was grown.
When Julia didn't answer right away Anita wondered if she should step in and try to explain more but finally Julia spoke up.
"Jake I was explaining to Anita that my Mom use to say hurtful things about my Dad and I resented that she did that. Remembering the things she used to say about him and some of the things she did to hurt him and to try and make me think he wasn't a good daddy made me very sad and angry too," Julia explained simply.
"Why would grandma do that?" Jake asked sounding bewildered.
"I don't know Jake. It's never made sense to me," she answered.
"Did Grandpa say bad things about Grandma?" Jake said as though searching for a reason for his grandmother's behavior.
"Not that I can ever remember," Julia replied.
"Someone should make her apologize," Jake said with the logic of a young boy.
"I wish it were that simple," Julia replied.
Anita knew that Julia needed to talk about this more, but that now wasn't the time, She took Jake out to the kitchen and made him breakfast to give Julia some time to calm down.
Meanwhile Lennie and Brian were having a pretty intense conversation as they played golf. Like Anita had with Julia, Lennie had confided in Brian about the possibility of Anita being pregnant. He did so because he really needed to talk about it, as Skoda had suggested, and Brian was both convenient and safe to talk to, though he did wish he were talking to an older more experienced man.
"So, what are you two gonna do if she is pregnant?" Brian asked.
"Well, thankfully we both agree that if she is pregnant we want the baby, but," Lennie stopped not sure exactly how to put all his fears and reservations into words.
"But what?" Brian prompted.
"It's sort of a battle between what we want emotionally and what we think makes sense," Lennie paused trying to order his thoughts. "There are a lot of reasons Anita and I shouldn't have a baby. The most obvious is our ages; if Anita has this baby, I'd be 75 by the time the kid gets out of High School. And a pregnancy would not be easy on Anita" Lennie added.
"How old is Anita?" Brian asked.
"She's 42 and a woman her age is more likely to have a baby that has problems or even have a miscarriage or stillbirth. God I don't think I could live through that again," Lennie replied.
"Sounds like your talking your self out of the idea," Brian observed, wondering what Lennie meant about 'not being able to live through that again'.
"Not really, in fact," Lennie heaved a big sigh, "I promised Anita that if she wasn't pregnant, I'd make sure she didn't get pregnant in the future by getting a vasectomy, but," Lennie trailed off.
"You don't want to keep that promise?" Brian asked, a little bit surprised.
"No, I don't," Lennie said shaking his head. "I've had a little more time to think about it and in some ways I hope she's not pregnant, because I think it's too soon in our relationship for us to have a child. But I still want us to try to have a baby a few months down the road," Lennie answered.
"Have you really thought the consequences out Lennie?" Brian asked.
"What consequences?" Lennie asked wondering whether his son-in-law had thought of pitfalls he hadn't.
"Well even if there are no complications with the pregnancy you've still got issues to deal with, first of all, you sure won't be able to keep the relationship a secret if she's pregnant. I mean her superiors are gonna wonder who knocked her up, aren't they?" Brian said with a grin tossed at his father-in-law, which Lennie acknowledged with a nod and a grin of his own.
"Then there's the fact that not only will you be an older father, but you'll be the father of a biracial child. Are you going to be able to handle that?" Brian challenged Lennie.
Lennie blew out a breath. "You know the race issue keeps catching me by surprise. I just don't think in terms of 'I'm white, she's black'. I guess I've kind of grown up over the years, because there was a time that would have made a big difference to me, but now I seem to have become oblivious to it," Lennie replied.
"Yeah, well you better be careful with that attitude because there are people who still have big problems with interracial couples and their kids," Brian cautioned.
"Yeah, from both sides I guess," Lennie conceded.
"That's right, its not just the redneck white guy you need to worry about, is it?" Brian asked.
No, no it's not," Lennie acknowledged. "Man, why does my loving Anita have to be complicated? Why does anybody have to be in our business?" Lennie asked in frustration.
"Sounds like you're frustrated about more than the interracial issue," Brian observed.
'Well, yeah, I mean, all I want is to be able to be up front about my relationship with the woman I love, but I can't, because if I am, one or the other of us has to leave the 2-7. And who knows what sort of punishment the NYPD will dish out 'cause Anita got on their bad side a long time ago," Lennie explained heatedly.
"How'd she do that?" Brian asked curiously.
"They passed her over for a promotion, giving it to a white woman with less seniority, so Anita sued. It was bad for quite a while. They even took it out on the squad, but we all supported her. So anyway, she's not exactly a favorite person at One Police Plaza," Lennie replied.
"Well, in the best of all possible worlds you'd be able to be open about the relationship and still work together because people would realize you were both capable of doing your jobs without mixing your personal and professional lives. And in the best of all possible worlds, you could have a child when you felt the relationship was ready for it, and there'd be no race issues to deal with either. But you don't live in the best of all possible worlds you live in the real one and you've got to cope with what is and what will be," Brian said.
"That's a whole lot easier to say than it is to do," Lennie said feeling a bit annoyed at what he perceived to be his son-in-law's smugness.
"Hey, I didn't mean to say it like it was easy. I know it's not. I guess what I'm trying to do is sound you out, make sure you're aware of all the pros and cons 'cause well, if you got hurt it'd hurt Julia too and I just don't cope well with her being upset," Brian said.
"You know kiddo, somehow I really appreciate the fact that you twisted that around to make it seem like you're being self-serving, 'cause otherwise you'd probably be saying something mushy like you've grown 'fond' of me," Lennie said and grinned at Brian.
"Hey, I'm an engineer. We don't use words like 'fond'. Come on we better pick up the pace or we'll be late for Jake's match," Brian warned.
The guys showed up at the house at about 9:35 knowing they were cutting things very close. As Lennie started to head into the house Brian put out a hand to stop him. "Hey, unless you want to be on the wrong end of a homicide investigation, take your spikes off before you go in," he told Lennie with a grin.
"Oh, has my little angel demonstrated that she's inherited her mother's ability to tear a guy a new one?" Lennie asked as he untied his golf shoes and left them on the porch.
"I'll take the fifth on that one," Brian said as he opened the front door.
"So are you all ready?" Lennie asked as if he weren't late and standing in his socks.
"Ooh, you two get your shoes on and your butts in that SUV before we treat you like the truant little boys you're acting like," Julia scolded and looked to Anita for support. Jake giggled at the thought of his stepdad and grandfather being punished like they were boys.
"Yes ma'am," Brian and Lennie chorused and then smirked at each other.
"Move it!" Anita said. Lennie grabbed Brian's arm and started moving him towards the bedrooms.
"Julia's probably kidding but I'm not taking any chances that Anita is," Lennie said.
Lennie and Anita had a grand time at Jake's soccer match, cheering Jake and his buddies on, playing with Sean and chatting with the parents of the kids on the soccer teams. Jake then talked them into going to an indoor amusement park with the rest of the soccer families. Brian was wondering if a day of "playing grandparent" might change Lennie's mind about become a father again, but he noticed that his father-in-law and Anita both seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. He did think they looked as though they could use some time alone, so Brian maneuvered his wife and kids out of the way for a short time and gave a conspiratorial wink to Lennie as he did.
"That son-in-law of mine is a pretty good egg," Lennie observed as he maneuvered Anita around to a fairly quiet and secluded area of the Amusement park.
"Yeah, well that's a good thing because he's married to a real peach," Anita said.
"So you like my kid, do ya?" Lennie said with a smile.
"Yeah, we've had a couple of good talks, last night and this morning, although she did get pretty upset this morning," Anita told Lennie.
"What about?" he asked with concern.
"Well I said something about how Sean looks like his Dad and Jake looks like you, and then Julia said when Jake was born, she thought it finally put your doubts about her being your child to rest and-"
"What?" Lennie asked interrupting Anita.
"She said she thought that when Jake was born, it finally put your doubts about her being your child to rest," Anita repeated. Lennie looked shocked.
"You didn't know she knew about your doubts?" Anita asked Lennie and he shook his head.
"She said her mother told her in one of her many attempts to undermine your relationship with her," Anita explained and wondered if she'd ever get a chance to tell him what she really wanted to tell him, which was that she'd told Julia about the possibility that she was pregnant.
Lennie sadly shook her his head. "I knew Gloria despised me. I just didn't know how much," he said sadly.
"Julia told me that her mother was always trying to convince her and Cathy that you were a terrible father and although she didn't buy it, she thought Cathy did," Anita paused then plunged ahead, "I told her I thought you'd bought the lies too. I told her that, when I told you that I might be pregnant, you said our having a child would give you another chance to get being a father right," Anita quickly finished.
Lennie turned to Anita and she thought he looked like he was getting angry. "You told her you might be pregnant?" he asked and she simply nodded her head.
"Don't you think I might have liked some input into if and when we told MY daughter that?" Lennie asked a bit heatedly.
"I didn't know you wanted to keep it a secret from her, besides I told her because of what we were talking about," Anita countered.
"It's OK," Lennie said calming down very quickly as he realized he was being hypocritical to get upset with her when he'd done something similar. "Hell, I told Brian. I don't know why I got upset about you telling Julia," Lennie said apologetically.
"You told Brian?" Anita asked more shocked than upset.
"Yeah, well there were some things I wanted to talk out with a guy. Brian was available and he's safe to talk to about this 'cause he won't tell anyone who shouldn't know about us," Lennie explained, Anita took in what he'd said and simply nodded her head.
"Lennie, I think you should know how wrong Julia thinks you are about your assessment of your self as a father. She's thinks you were the best father her mother allowed you to be," Anita told him.
"That's my daughters, Cathy who blamed me for everything and Julia who blames me for nothing. I'm afraid the truth lies somewhere in the middle," he said with a sigh.
"Doesn't it always. Look I think you and Julia need a father daughter chat and soon," she said.
"Yeah and you and I need to have a talk too but not here, maybe tonight when we're alone," Lennie said. Anita became worried, she wondered if he was having second thoughts about the baby or their relationship, she hated that she felt so insecure. Lennie read the insecurity on Anita's face.
"Hey, don't worry. I haven't changed my mind about us or wanting you to have my baby, OK?" he said and pulled her to him for a gentle kiss, which was interrupted by Lennie's grandsons.
"Grandpa, Anita, come on!" Jake said and the two boys led their "grandparents" off to the bumper car ride. Lennie placed Sean in a car with him and then he and Jake spent the entire ride harassing Anita. Lennie wondered where Brian and Julia were and then spied them having an intense conversation in a nearby snack area.
The boys wanted to stay all afternoon but of course Sean was getting very tired and very cranky. Lennie managed to convince the boys that their old grandpa needed to go home and take a nap, so they family clambered back into the SUV and headed back to Brian and Julia's.
With Sean down for a nap and Brian playing with a buddy next door, the adults had a chance for some conversation. After a while Brian took Anita outside to see the garden and Lennie and Julia finally had a chance for that little father daughter chat Anita had suggested.
"Anita said you and she had a conversation this morning that upset you a bit?" Lennie said by way of initiating the conversation.
"Yeah," Julia replied with a nod. "She said you thought you needed a chance to get being a father right and of course that upset me," she said almost defiantly.
"Angel, I wasn't a very good Dad to you and Cathy," Lennie told her gently.
"How could you be when Mom kept you away from us and bombarded us with lies about you?" Julia asked.
"Angel, you don't understand," he paused, "and you can't because we left you in the dark about some things," Lennie told her, still reluctant to reveal a long buried pain.
"Like what?" she asked
"Did you ever think the gap in age between you and Cathy seemed kinda large?" he asked and she nodded and then Lennie swallowed hard and finally let Julia in on the family secret.
"We had a baby boy between you and Cathy," he told her in a quiet voice.
"What happened to him?" she asked simply.
"He was stillborn, he looked perfect but," Lennie trailed off, and then hung his head remembering how devastating it was to go from the joy of anticipating the birth of a child to facing the death of that child.
"Why was he stillborn? What was wrong with him?" Julia asked.
"I don't know. Your Mom's family wouldn't hear of an autopsy for religious reasons and I didn't really have it in me to fight with them over it at the time. So we never found out what went wrong," Lennie answered still sounding bitter after all these years.
"It must have been devastating to the two of you," Julia said gently.
"In more ways than you would realize," Lennie answered with a sigh. "When a couple suffers the loss of a child, especially when they have no clear-cut reason for it, they blame each other. Even if they know rationally there's no reason to do so, they still do," he continued. Julia wondered at her father's choice of phrases. It seemed as though he was trying to distance himself by saying 'a couple', and 'they' rather than we.
"At first your Mom was so depressed that I was practically a single parent, and I wasn't even functioning well enough myself to think to ask for help. Eventually, our families began to realize what was happening and helped out. Your Mom's parents had her go to a shrink and he put her on something that seemed to help, but," Lennie trailed off again.
"But what, dad?" Julia gently urged him to continue.
"After the doctor gave her that medicine she seemed to change. Suddenly she was obsessed with my getting ahead and making more money. She became convinced that if we had been more affluent, lived in a better part of town, gone to a different hospital that the baby wouldn't have died. And as strange as that may sound to you, I wasn't much better because I kept thinking that she'd done something that caused him to be stillborn, and I irrationally believed her family had opposed the autopsy because they knew it would reveal that. I guess we were both pretty close to crazy," he confessed, shaking his head.
"I can't tell you why now, but I got real stubborn about certain things. I wouldn't give up being a detective no matter what your Mom wanted. So in order to make her happy about money, I took to hustling pool, until my captain said if I didn't stop gambling I'd lose my shield. When I quit hustling, your Mom -I guess she'd given up on me or something, she started cheating on me," Lennie's voice had gotten very quiet as he revealed the last bit of information.
"Is that when you started drinking?" Julia asked wanting to confirm what she'd been told by family members.
"Yeah, but I was a real amateur back then, I only drank on my days off," Lennie joked.
"After a while I decided I had to make an effort to win your mom back, so I sobered up and went back to hustling again, but this time I took my act on the road," he said. At Julia's puzzled look he added, "I went to New Jersey, figuring my captain wouldn't get wind of what I was doing. Unfortunately, after a few successful hustles, I chose the wrong mark, a real sore loser. He and his buddies beat me up pretty good," Lennie recalled.
"Oh, Daddy!" Julia exclaimed.
"Well, it turned out to be a good thing. Gloria felt so bad about my getting beat up trying to make extra money because she'd been pushing me about it, that she seemed to go back to being her old self. We were happy again for a little while, but it didn't last," Lennie said sadly.
"Because I was born?" Julia asked.
"No, Julia don't take it that way," Lennie implored his daughter.
"But it's true isn't it? You and Mom broke up because you didn't think I was your child?" she pressed.
"No, that wasn't it. I didn't care who your biological father was because as soon as they put you in my arms, I fell in love with you and wanted to be your Dad," Lennie reached out and stroked her face and she smiled at him.
"Your Mom and I broke up because I didn't trust her anymore and she was tired of trying and failing to make me into somebody I didn't want to be. Our break up was about us, it wasn't about you or Cathy. It was about two people who had grown apart and were continually hurting each other," he explained.
"Look the reason I wanted to talk to you about this is, I wanted you to have a better understanding of how things were, so you'd maybe see things clearer now. I wasn't a good father to you and Cathy and that wasn't entirely your mother's fault, as you seem to believe," Lennie told her.
"But Daddy, I remember how she treated you, the awful things she said about you. How she was always trying to keep us away from you and when she did let us go be with you she always made it so hard on you. She'd send us to you with nothing but the clothes on our backs," Julia countered.
Lennie sighed remembering the many times he'd had to take his daughters directly to a department store to get clothes and shoes because Gloria had just dumped them off in a huff after he'd threatened to charge her with custodial interference.
"I'm sorry you and Cathy got caught in the crossfire between your Mom and me, but you have to understand a couple of things. I hurt your Mom more than I realized with my distrust and there were times when she honestly thought she was doing the right thing by keeping you two away from me. As a child you probably didn't realize how dangerous a drunken parent could be, but think about it now as an adult. If Brian were drinking would you really want him to take care of Sean?" Lennie asked.
"No," Julia answered softly.
"I remember sometimes when Mom wouldn't let us be with you, when we were suppose to be, that you'd come over to the house and sometimes you'd be drunk, that was pretty scary," she admitted. "But Daddy I don't ever remember you drinking while Cathy and I were with you," she countered.
"I always tried not to, but I didn't always succeed, and considering that I managed to hide my drinking from my bosses and partners for years, it really isn't too surprising that I could hide it from a little girl. Cathy knew though, she could always see right through me," Lennie said with a small shake of his head.
"Daddy, after you joined AA and I wanted to come live with you, why didn't you let me?" Julia asked. It was one thing she'd always been upset about so she thought she might as well ask.
"Well, it wouldn't have been a matter of my letting you. I would have had to go to court to get custody changed. I didn't think any judge would take custody away from your mother and give it to me, a cop with a reputation as a skirt chasing drunk," Lennie replied truthfully. "Besides I really truly thought you were better off with your mother and I wasn't sure just how good my grip on sobriety was at that time," he added.
"Well, I'm glad you told me all this, but I still think you did an OK job being my Dad," Julia said with an emotion choked voice and tears in her eyes.
Lennie didn't say anything to contradict his daughter but instead just took her in his arms, shushing her tears. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "An angel deserves better than an OK Dad," he told her, still unwilling to relent in his negative self-assessment.
Brian and Anita came back in the house in time to see Lennie still holding Julia.
"Now there's a scene I wish I had a picture of," Brian said.
Julia flashed him a smile. "Well, don't just stand there, get the camera!" she said.
They spent some time taking pictures, and then when Sean woke up they took more, and when Jake came back from his friends they took even more. Anita was surprised to find that Lennie had packed a camera and several rolls of films. He informed her it was just a part of being a grandparent. Anita volunteered to help Julia make dinner while Brian and Lennie looked through some photo albums. Lennie was putting aside some of the albums to show to Anita later.
Anita considered the dinner she helped Julia fix pretty ordinary - chicken, rice and fresh vegetables, but everyone thought it was wonderful, which was perhaps what caused Jake to ask, "Anita, when you marry Grandpa can I call you Grandma?" All the adults at the table were startled and not a little concerned about how Lennie would react to Jake's question.
"Uh, well Jake, I-," Anita started to answer, but didn't know quite what to say; fortunately, Lennie stepped in.
"Chip, you're putting Anita in a tough spot here, 'cause I haven't asked her to marry me yet and well you know," Lennie looked over at Anita, then back at Jake "she might be thinking of turning me down," he said.
"Would you?" Jake asked Anita in disbelief.
"Well no, but then I've never been sure your grandfather was going to ask me," Anita replied.
Everyone looked at Lennie expectantly. "Hey, I'm slow OK, but I'm not stupid. I was going to get around to it," he said defensively.
"Well Lennie, you know what they say, third time's the charm," Brian teased his father-in-law. The family spent the rest of the dinner teasing Lennie and Anita about getting married.
After dinner they played with the boys until Sean's bedtime and then looked through the photo albums. When it was time for Jake to go to bed, he asked if Anita knew any bedtime stories. She said she did and so she was the one to tuck him into bed. When she came back Lennie joked that he'd have to ask her to marry him pretty soon or Jake might beat him to the punch.
Lennie and Anita and Brian and Julia sat up talking until after midnight, when first Brian and then Lennie had stifled yawns within a few minutes of each other, their ladies decided it was time to take them to bed.
"Lennie, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Anita asked, as they got undressed for bed.
"Oh baby, it's too late to start a conversation now," Lennie replied.
"But I'll never sleep, wondering what it is you need to talk to me about," she said.
"Why is it women always want to talk at bedtime?" Lennie asked resignedly.
"I don't know. Why do guys always want sex in the morning?" she retorted.
"OK I give up. Come here, lie down with me and we'll talk," Lennie said giving in.
Anita snuggled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.
"When I was talking with Brian today, I realized that I made a promise to you that I don't want to keep, and I figured I better tell you now rather than later," he told her.
"What promise?" Anita asked, feeling insecure.
"I told you that if you weren't pregnant I'd get a vasectomy so there'd be no chance of your getting pregnant in the future. I don't want to do that," Lennie answered.
"Why not?" Anita wondered if he was simply getting cold feet about the procedure or if there was something more.
"Because I want you to have my child. I know we talked about all the reasons why our becoming parents isn't rational. But I realized when I was talking to Brian that having a baby isn't about being rational; it's about love. I love you and I think we have a lot of love to give a child," Lennie explained and then nervously waited for Anita to have her say.
Anita sighed heavily and then said, "Alright, but no extraordinary efforts to get pregnant. I mean it either happens naturally or it doesn't," she agreed.
"OK, that works for me," Lennie said, very pleased that she was giving in so easily.
"And we try for no more than a year, if I'm not pregnant by this time next year then you get the vasectomy," Anita continued negotiating.
"Alright, whatever you say, baby," Lennie agreed, yawned and then kissed her pulling her closer to his side.
Lennie expected to sleep in a bit Sunday morning, but he awakened to the smell of breakfast - coffee, pancakes and bacon it smelled like to him. He decided, after he'd been up a short while, that Brian was playing an old trick from his boyhood on him. His Mom would cook a wonderful Sunday breakfast that would get him out of bed at a decent hour and then she'd insist he go to Mass with her. Sure enough Brian was intent on dragging the whole family to Mass. On the way to church Lennie found himself wondering about several things; like whether Gloria and her very Jewish family had ever gotten over Julia's marrying a Catholic, and whether Anita had ever been to a Catholic service, and if he and Anita did have a child in what church would they raise the child?
After mass they returned home and Lennie starting talking about their needing to get on the road in the early afternoon, naturally that brought protests, but they countered them with an invitation for Brian and Julia and the boys to come down to the city soon. Anita promised to check it out with her sons and see if they couldn't get both families together in her house.
Brian and Lennie managed to set up the grill relieving their ladies of the cooking chores for lunch. Shortly after lunch Lennie and Anita started packing up. Just as Anita and Lennie were about to leave, a large town car pulled into the driveway. As soon as Julia saw the car she said, "Oh no, it's Mom!"
A good looking man, who looked to be about 55, got out of the car and went around to the front passenger door and opened it. A beautiful blonde, who could have been anywhere from her mid thirties to her early fifties, got out. She was dressed in what Anita would call 'elegant casual' clothes that showed off her shapely figure.
Brian and Julia greeted Gloria and her husband Stanley, but Jake hung back and kept Sean with him. Jake was angry with his grandmother and wasn't going to say hi to her until she apologized to Grandpa. Of course he didn't tell her or anyone else that and so she was simply mystified by the boy's behavior.
Lennie found that the conversation he'd had with Julia the other day was very helpful in reminding him to be civil to Gloria because he could now vividly remember that although she'd often treated him shabbily, he probably deserved some of what he got.
"Hello Gloria and Stanley is it?" Lennie said not sure he remembered his ex-wife's new husband's name. Stanley nodded and reached out to shake Lennie's hand.
"Hello Lennie and who is this lovely lady you have with you?" Gloria asked in what seemed an almost friendly manner.
"Gloria this is Anita van Buren. Anita this is Julia's mother Gloria Feinstein and her husband Stanley," Lennie said pulling the new husband's last name out of his memory at the last second.
Gloria and her husband and Anita exchanged greetings, and then Gloria just couldn't resist getting a dig in at Lennie.
"A word of warning darling, he was only ever good at three things, being a cop, shooting pool and," Gloria paused for effect, "well knowing Lennie I suppose you probably already know the other thing, that is unless age has robbed him of it. Oh, and for your sake darling, I certainly hope not, heaven knows he was always much more entertaining horizontally than vertically," she concluded.
Gloria's new husband looked mortified and Lennie didn't know whether to be embarrassed, angry or amused, but before anyone could think of anything to say Anita rose to the occasion.
"Well if not for his pool playing skills and his abilities as a cop I might not have survived my most recent undercover assignment, oh yes Lennie didn't tell you, I'm also a cop. And as to those other abilities of his, well he's still very entertaining horizontally, now if you'll excuse us, we need to get back to the city," Anita left Gloria standing rather dumb-founded as she and Lennie said another goodbye and gathered lots of hugs and kisses before driving off.