The next morning, Della walked downstairs and saw her husband asleep on the couch. He was still in his suit from the day before. She ignored him and went about making breakfast. Maureen, Vivian, and Maggie were the first ones down as they were in high school. The others followed shortly after. The kids talked to one another but no one said a word to Della. In fact, they left for school without saying a thing. Della knew the fight the night before had hurt them, but she didn't think they'd be hurting this much. She had just finished cleaning up when Perry walked in, rubbing his neck. "Is it alright if I shower and change?"
"Go ahead," she said. "There's some breakfast left over if you want any. It's just eggs and bacon."
"Thanks," he said. Perry started to walk towards the stairs, but stopped, "Della, I'm sorry about last night."
"What's gotten into you? You've never acted like this before."
"I don't know," he said.
"Perry, I'll forgive you, but one of these days, sorry won't be enough." Della walked past him and went to their room where she changed and left for the office.
Things went pretty well at the office. Della was taking the next day off to take the kids to the shelter to find a cat. She knew she didn't need the entire day, but she wanted the time off. It was a Friday that the kids had off from school. That Thursday night, dinner was quiet again. "Della, did you pick up my dry cleaning?"
"I didn't have time today."
Perry dropped his fork in frustration, "seriously?"
"I was with you at the office."
"You could have gone. There were moments when you had time."
"You know, you could pick it up yourself," Della suggested.
"Well, you're my secretary and my wife, both generally pick up the dry cleaning."
"Will you two stop?" Maureen said. "God, all you two do anymore is fight. We're sick of it."
Perry and Della looked at their children. They'd hardly touched their dinner and were looking down. Perry and Della stayed quiet for the rest of the meal.
Della walked into Perry's office the next day after lunch, "what are you doing here?" He asked, "I thought you took the day off."
"I did," she said, "I still am. Listen, I need to tell you something."
He could tell she was nervous, "okay."
"Well, I took the kids to the shelter and they found a cat."
"Oh, that's great," he said gently.
"Well, the cat had a friend at the shelter and the kids didn't want to separate them."
"Okay, so we have two cats."
"No, we have one cat."
Perry stared at his wife for a moment, "Della, please tell me that the cat's friend is a goldfish."
"It's a dog."
Perry slammed his hand on the desk, "dammit Della, we've talked about this. We can't have a dog."
"I know that we've talked about it, but I'm willing to take on the responsibility since I made the decision."
"It wasn't yours to make."
"Excuse me?"
"I said no dogs and that should have been enough. The dog goes back."
"Perry, I am not taking the dog back to the shelter to live in a cage when she's already home."
"Just go home," he said, "I can't deal with you right now."
Della stared at her husband in shock before leaving. When she walked into the house, the German Shepard ran to greet her. Della patted the dog before going to the living room. "Well?" Maureen asked.
"Is he mad?" Vivian asked.
"Um," Della was becoming emotional. "He, um, wasn't mad at you."
The younger ones sighed with relief, "wait," Maureen said, "was he mad at you?"
"Don't worry about it," Della said. She gave her best smile and got on the floor with the seven-month-old pup. "So, does she have a name?"
"Nova," Maggie said. "It's Latin for new and this is her new life. Her new beginning, her second chance."
"What about our feline friend?"
"Evie," Violet said, "means life."
Della sat with the kids and watched as they played with Nova and Evie. It put a smile on the woman's face. When it was almost time for Perry to be home, the kids took their pets upstairs. Once Perry was home, he and Della sat in the living room. They had a long and overdue conversation.
