Debri was an extremely pretty woman, with her shining mane of long dark hair, her large, warm brown eyes with impossibly thick, long eyelashes, a generous red mouth, and a dewy flawless complexion. She had a body to go with her face and an inborn instinct on how to present herself to advantage. The clothes shopping expedition had resulted in a wardrobe of snug clothes that showed off her figure.
Danny though Debri was wonderful. His long lost mother was a beautiful young woman who hung on his every word and thought he was perfect. This was a pleasant contrast to his beloved Carmen who was uncomfortable and cranky from her pregnancy. Danny seemed to be at fault with Carmen without really trying or with Sam who was forever correcting his table manners or cross-examining him about his homework.
Debri had immediately made her offer of raising the child directly to Danny. He thought it was a wonderful idea. When he shared it with Carmen, he met unexpected resistance. Danny was insulted but he couldn't explain why to Carmen who was puzzled by his devotion to a half-sister. It did come through clearly to Danny that Carmen didn't like Debri and this created more problems.
Two days after the hospital visit, they all sat around the breakfast nook table and settled what was happening with the baby. It didn't start out as a summit conference, just dinner, with Jack, Sara, and Danny all present. In the middle of desert, they were discussing college choices for Danny and Carmen. They were in the midst of the application process and having problems because Danny's poor grades made it impossible, despite his excellent ACTs and SATs, for him to get into the caliber of school that Carmen could. The two wanted to attend colleges in the same locality. The idea was if Danny could have an excellent record his freshman year, he could then transfer to her school.
"Daniel and I will take the baby," Sam said without preamble. There was complete silence following that announcement. Daniel's spoon slipped out of his fingers and clattered to his plate. "It's what you want," she said defensively in response to his dampened expression.
"Of course, it's what I want but I would have expected to hear it in a private conversation first," Daniel replied.
"Donna Sam, that is so wonderful," Carmen said, her face suffused with joy. "I have not allowed myself to think anything else would happen. I cannot bear the thought of our baby being unhappy or unloved. I would keep it myself before I would give it to strangers."
Danny looked at her surprised. Carmen and he had also not had the level of private conversation he would have expected. "Are you sure, Mom?" he asked. "I would be very happy for you and Dad to take the baby but we do have other options if it isn't what you want."
Debri smiled smugly to be referred to as an alternative. Sam's expression had become mulish. "If I said it, I meant it."
Debri said, her voice sweet but her message not. "Samantha, you are not a young woman. Would it not be fairer to the baby to have a mother young enough to take care of all the needs." She might have continued but for the look on Danny's face. Her negative characterization of the woman who had first place in his heart as his mother was not going over well.
Daniel swiftly said, "Sam is a marvel. She has always done whatever she puts her mind to. She will do just fine."
Danny chimed in immediately to say, "I didn't mean you couldn't do it, Mom, I just thought maybe it wasn't what you wanted. If you want our baby, it will be the luckiest baby with the best parents any baby could have." That effectively ended the conversation but it was apparent to Sam and Carmen, at least, that Debri would continue to insinuate that Sam's age was a problem whenever she got an opportunity.
One of the men at Cheyenne Mountain who had gotten to know Debri called a week after she moved in to ask if he could come by and see her. Two days later, a second man called with the same request. Sam wasn't really surprised. Debri had had a large number of the younger soldiers and not a few of the more seasoned inventing excuses to be around her. Debri quickly discouraged one of the two who was, bless his heart, blindingly average but the other soldier, Lt. Carl Byster, who was strikingly good looking and clearly going places, received a warm welcome whenever he appeared which seemed to be about twice a week.
As soon as the decision was made about the baby, Jack stepped in to energize Daniel about fixing up the nursery. This led to another trip to Home Depot. Sam was actually nervous about going and Daniel teased her for the superstition she had developed about the place. "I don't see why we ALL have to go," she protested as she stood leaning up against him with his arms around her.
"Because," he whispered in her hair, "we're all going out to eat together afterwards and, besides, everyone but you wants in on the decisions about the color of the baby's nursery."
Sam's only comfort in the third uncomfortable Home Depot scene was that she was certainly in a position to say, "I told you so."
The whole gang was looking at paint chips when Kyle Jaworski and his mother rounded the aisle with their cart. Kyle was delighted to see Danny and the two greeted each other enthusiastically. Kyle, an extremely nice looking boy who had never lacked for confidence with the fairer sex, immediately noticed Debri with real interest.
"And who might THIS be?" he said smiling at her very warmly and moving closer.
Danny stopped himself just in time from yelling, "Keep your mitts off my mother," or words to that effect. Instead he said, "This is my half-sister, Debri."
Kathy read Danny's body language and given who these people were decided she needed to disengage her son. "Hey everyone," she said, acting as if she was just now noticing them for the first time when, in fact, her studious inspection of paint chips had fooled no one. "How nice. I had no idea you had two half-sisters," she added, looking at Carmen whose coloring was not that far off Debri's.
"Actually," Danny said, "this is my wife, Carmen. Carmen, this is Kyle Jaworski and his mom. You remember my dads and my mom," Danny continued, gesturing to Daniel, Jack, and Sam. Sam noticed that Jack was getting a charge out of the entire situation once again and thought she could see some of Jack in the way Danny was handling things.
Danny had forgotten Sara. Kathy was feeling her poor batting average and not ready to hazard a guess. Jack decided to throw fuel on the fire. "Kathy, I'd like to introduce you to Sara, Danny's ex-stepmother and future stepmother."
Kathy nodded, offered a weak smile, and said, "Kyle, your father is waiting for us at the checkout counter." Kyle seemed disposed to argue with her for a moment but read something in his mother's expression that caused him to leave meekly as she waved good bye.
The boy working checkout made a fool of himself over Debri and Sam found herself "not in the mood" on a consistent basis. Comparing herself daily to Debri's youth and effect on the male population made her feel old and repulsive. She really didn't want Daniel to see her naked. Before, the lack of a comparison readily at hand had downplayed her age in the face of Daniel's obvious interest. Carmen's pregnancy had prevented her from making Sam feel like an unattractive third wheel but Debri was a whole other story. Daniel's ego was suffering from her lack of interest and he couldn't help but appreciate Debri's attitude toward him.
Jack dropped by frequently, often with Sara, and he watched the entire show for a few days without making any comment. Debri treated him with exaggerated respect because Daniel had told her that he had been Daniel's chief but no sign of flirtation. She was also very polite and pleasant to Sara who struck an instant chord of sympathy with Debri as another mother who had lost her son. One evening Jack came by alone and asked Sam to go with him to help him pick out a present for Sara. Sam was delighted to get out of the house and away from the local incarnation of Erica Kane.
"Thanks Jack," she said, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. "I can hardly stand to be there for very long with that woman. It's like a bad soap opera. I mean a good soap opera would have come up with a better explanation for her than she's from Guatemala."
He pulled into a space at a coffee shop and as they got out, Sam said, "I think Sara's a tea drinker, isn't she? Are you sure they have anything here she'd want."
Jack didn't answer her question and said, "A large cappuccino okay with you?" He ordered her one and got himself a large cup of coffee. After they were seated in a table toward the back surrounded by empty tables, he said, "I just wanted to talk to you alone."
Sam was immediately concerned, "Is there a problem with Sara?"
Jack said, "No. And there isn't going to be one. I learned a lot from what went wrong in our marriage. I'm beginning to wonder if you did, though."
"Jack," Sam said and stopped. She didn't know what was going on.
"Sam, I'll be blunt because it's all I really know how to be. Either blunt or quiet and I can't be quiet any longer. You made it very clear to me what you thought I did to contribute to the end of our marriage. One of the things I remember having vividly described to me was the fact that I was letting my age make me insecure. Let's see if I can remember the exact words. I 'withdrew from you romantically' because of my own misplaced belief that my age had made my unattractive." He paused to look at her straight on. "Do I have it about right?"
"I think I was slightly more tactful but I said it and it was true," she said wishing she was somewhere else. "Not that you were unattractive but that you thought you were."
"What do you think you've been doing lately?" he asked.
"Please tell me Daniel isn't complaining about my performance in the bedroom?" she said aghast. "I glad you two have gotten close again but that's something a man doesn't talk about with his wife's ex-husband."
"He didn't say anything but watching the dynamic between the two of you makes it pretty obvious, if you know what to look for, and there's the way he can't help but notice his sexy ex-lover when she pulls stunts like leaning over him in a low cut top."
"She's utterly shameless," Sam fumed.
"Actually I don't think she's that bad," Jack said, further infuriating Sam, "but she's playing by a whole different set of rules. She's been raised to believe that a woman's value to a man is determined by the children she's born him and that this gives the woman certain rights. And Daniel, by her lights, should be able to have multiple wives. I think the kind of backbone and determination Danny has is reflected in his mother. She's going to go after what she thinks is hers and not give up."
"You seem to know a lot about what's going on in her head," Sam observed.
"I got Sara to talk to her. She really feels a bond with Sara because Sara lost a child," Jack explained. "Let's stay focused. You, Sam, are pushing Daniel into her arms just like I pushed you into Daniel's."
Sam went home full of good intentions, fired by Jack's little speech, and walked right into a compromising scene in the kitchen. Rain had started and a high wind, masking the sound of the car pulling up front or Sam entering through the garage door. Daniel was leaning up against the counter holding Debri in his arms. It was true that Debri was sobbing against his shoulder but it sounded the death knell for Sam's good intentions. "What's the matter," she asked sharply.
Daniel didn't push Debri away. He didn't feel guilty. He was just comforting an upset woman who was part of his family. "Debri's upset because of something Carmen said."
"Really," Sam said without an ounce of sympathy in her voice.
Daniel chided her wordlessly with a reproachful look from those beautiful blue eyes and said, "It was pretty mean, Sam. I think the pregnancy is making her uncomfortable and eroding her normal sweet disposition."
"You were a witness to this mean statement?" Sam asked, coming off like a district attorney.
"No, I wasn't. What's your point, Sam?" Daniel asked, falling into the role of hostile witness without evening trying.
Sam didn't answer. She brushed by Daniel and caught a slyly, triumphant little smirk on Debri's face out of the corner of her eye. She went looking for Carmen and found her in her room, her face tear streaked. "What's wrong, honey," she asked, sitting down next to her and smoothing her hair back.
"Oh, Donna Sam," Carmen wailed, breaking into tears again, and going into Sam's arms. "Danny was so awful to me. Debri told him some lie about something I supposedly said."
"So," Sam said, the aha huge in her voice, "you didn't say anything mean to her."
"I did say something but it wasn't that bad and it was only after she was so ugly to me. She twisted it when she told Danny."
Sam tried to comfort her and after almost 15 minutes, Carmen was calm again. Sam looked at her watch and saw that it was right before 7:00. She stood and said decisively, "You know what Carmen? I really need to get away from here and away from Daniel, Danny, and Debri. I think you do too. How about we go to the multiplex and find a chick flic? There's usually a lot of shows starting a little after 7:00."
Carmen beamed at her. "I would love that."
The two women left immediately, calling out their destination to Daniel who was in his office working on something, but not giving him any opportunity to question them or object. It was a good movie complete with a happy ending, part of the contract between the makers of chick flics and their audience. They left the theater in a much improved mood and headed home about 9:30. The rain had started up again and the road was slick. As Sam was going through an intersection, a car came barreling through on the cross street against the light and plowed into their car. They had perhaps 5 seconds before impact when it was obvious it was unavoidable and the last thing Sam heard before it all went black was Carmen saying, "Oh God, my baby."