"Are you nervous?" Amy asked. She sat beside Will as he drove to the Colorado DMV.
"Not really. I'm more worried about someone finding out that my mother packed a pudding snack in case I get hungry during the test."
Amy chuckled softy. "Hey, It's not every day you get your driver's license. I thought pudding was appropriate for the occasion."
Will smiled, too, thankful that she wouldn't be allowed to accompany him into the testing room. How could he help it? His mother was obbsesive compulsive and she knew it.
"Do you have all the paperwork?" Amy glanced at the Driver's Ed. book on top of the gear shift between them. Crammed with paper'sstuck in betweenevery page, It was easy to see that Will had Ephram's sense of organization.
As the drive continued, the two chatted about nothing impecticular, but that didn't last long.
"Mom?" Amy turned her head towards her son, having just come out of a daydream."I was thinking last night, where'd the name "Kellner" come from?"
Oh no! Amy's mind raced, was this some type of game? What were the chances that now, of all times, Will would question his middle name's origin? Amy was surprised that Will even remembered his middle name, as the last time it had appeared on anything was his birth certificate.Then she rememberd the conversation she'd had with Ephrams two weeks prior; the paperwork. His middle name had to be put on the paperwork.
"It's..." Amy began, she had to think of something fast, but suddenly her mind was blank."an old surname, f-from my side of the family. I really don't remember whose, It was Grandpa Harold's idea, and you know how he is with traditions." Did that sound convincing? Amy wasn't sure; she waited for Will's response.
"Really?" Will said, slowing the car at a turn. "That's cool, I mean, It's too bad we don't know whose name it was."
"Yeah, It's too bad." Amysaid in monotone. Shestared back out the window letting her mind driftaway to a moment almost sixteen years ago.
"Have you decided what to name him yet?" Amy climbed into Ephram's car, both of them still a few months away from age eighteen.
Ephram Shook his head, placing it in his hands, with both elbows on the steering wheel. "I guess it hasn't hit me yet: getting custody of him means I'm his father. I'll have to take care of him, and, meanwhile, I'm having a hard time even giving him a name. I'm setting myself up for disaster."
"No, Ephram- your not. And, don't expect it to just make sense, because If you do your just gonna make it harder on yourself. Eventually, you'll figure it out, but, just take it one step at a time. Your going to be a great father, and your son's going to be better off with you than he could be with anyone."
"How do you know that? How do you stay here when anyone else would have left?" He turned to face her, their eyes locked.
"I know because I know you. You've stayed with me when I was alone, and I'm not giving you up. You having a son won't change that you're the most important person in my life, and I couldn't stand to be without you." Their eyes stayed locked, and under any other circumstances she would have kissed him, but she didn't. He didn't need physical affection, he only needed her.
"I can't promise you that my life's going to go how I planned it to a year ago, Amy. I can't even promise you that I'll wake up every day with the spirit to keep this going; but I'll love you, I can promise that." A silent understanding was between them, and now it was Ephram who brushed his lips against Amy's, niether of the wanting to let go of the other.
When the embrace finally ended, Ephram broke the scilence."I'm going to give him Madison's last name as a middle name."
Amy looked at him questioningly, after all that had happened, she didn't understand why Ephram would want his son to have any type of connection to Madison.
"If he ever needs to find her for some reason, If something ever happens and I'm not around, I want him to at least have a clue as to what her name is." After his explanation, Amy continued to look at him questioningly.
"Are you sure? Because, If he ever needs to find her, he could always ask me, or your Dad, or he could look at the files." Amy knew that it was Ephram's choice to make, but she couldn't help thinking that it was a little drastic.
"I can't do that to him. I can't do it because I don't want him to have to go through thousands of papers just to find out what his mother's name is. He's been through enough of that. And I can't depend on you, or my Dad, or on anyone for that matter;being his father means It'll be him and me, and I don't know where I'm gonna be in five years, I don't even know where I'll be in a month. I can't do that because, If he ever needs to know, I don't know who'll be here to tell him."
Amy sat back, pressing herself into the cushions of the seat, processing this. "I understand." They were both quiet again for another few seconds, but there was something more Amy needed to say. "Ephram, you can always depend on me. Know that.Whatever happens between us as a couple, you can still depend on me."
That was the last of the conversation, and Ephram pulled the old car out of the parking lot next to the court house.
Chapter two! Please review! Thanks, Tessie:)