Part Twenty-Six

"Mom?"

"Yes, Jack?" After an afternoon napping and relaxing at the hotel, Sydney feels calm and rested; they are on their way to meet Kerri and Ben. She keeps one hand on Michael's leg as they drive, feeling, as always, somehow safer when she has physical contact with him.

"Where are we going again?" Jack asks.

"We told you, sweetheart," Sydney reminds him gently. "To see Kerri, Nick, Matt, and Alex," she names Kerri's sons. "And Ben Strand, the man Kerri is going to marry."

"Oh." A pause; Sydney glances at her son in the rearview mirror and can practically see him trying to wrap his mind around something. "How come she isn't married to Eric anymore, again?"

Michael takes one hand from the steering wheel to squeeze Sydney's encouragingly. "We told you about that, sweetie," Sydney says softly. "They got divorced."

"Oh." Another pause. Sydney knows that Jack knows what divorced means, that some of the kids in his class at school have divorced parents, but that the concept is relatively foreign to him. "Why?"

Sydney and Michael exchange a glance. "They had some problems they couldn't work through, buddy," Michael says finally.

"Like what?"

Like Eric not being able to keep his dick in his pants, Sydney thinks, but luckily, she is able to keep that one to herself.

"Private things, Jack," Michael tells him. "Things only they know about. Don't ask Kerri about it, okay? It'll make her sad."

"Will they have toys for me to play with?" Emily pipes up, and Sydney breathes a sigh of relief. "A-cause Will and Frannie didn't have any toys, and it wasn't very fun."

"You had fun playing with Jack, didn't you, sweetheart?" Sydney asks. "And anyway, Nick, Matt, and Alex have toys. I'm sure they'll share."

"They're boys," Emily says poutily. "They'll have boy toys."

"You brought two Barbies, Emily, you'll be fine." Part of Sydney is afraid that Emily is going to be difficult and pouty all night; on the other hand, her attitude might prove a welcome distraction from the Kerri and Ben show.

They pull up to the house, and Michael squeezes Sydney's hand. "You ready for this?" he asks, his voice low.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she responds. They kiss quickly before climbing out of the car and going about the business of gathering up the children and their things.

They ring the doorbell of the familiar house, the house Kerri once lived in with Eric. Kerri is at the door within seconds. "Sydney!" she cries. "Oh, and Michael, and Jack, and Emily, and Grace, it's so good to see you!"

In that moment, Sydney is genuinely glad they decided to come; Kerri just looks so thrilled and relieved. Hugs and hellos are a rather complicated process, as Jack and Emily try to shove past their parents into the house, Sydney tries to simultaneously hold Grace's carrier and offer Kerri a bottle of wine, and Michael struggles with the playpen, Grace's baby bag, and Sydney's purse.

"Hey, Jack!" says Nick, Kerri and Eric's eight-year-old son as he appears in the entryway. "My dad bought me this new video game, wanna play?"

"Yeah!" Jack exclaims, following him out of the room.

"I wanna play, too!" Emily cries, racing after them.

"Like a whirlwind around here," Kerri says, rolling her eyes. Within the next few minutes, she manages to get them situated and their stuff put where it needs to be. "Let's go in the kitchen," she says, her eyes sparkling. "There's someone I want you to meet."

And they go to the kitchen to find an attractive blond man who looks to be about the same age as Kerri and Michael standing over the stove, stirring an incredible smelling sauce.

"Honey, Sydney and Michael are here."

The man turns and offers them a friendly smile.

"Hi. I'm Ben Strand."