All familiar characters belong to Janet. Mistakes and the rest are all me.
"Oh no. Coffee cake, cheese Danishes, and oatmeal cookie sandwiches with extra frosting filling them? Did I do something good and am being rewarded for it? Or did I do something really bad, and this is my last meal?" Valerie asked.
"That would be a question for your sister. I'm sorry, but you'll have to just pretend I'm not here today," I told my sister-in-law. "Stephanie wasn't feeling well this morning and I don't feel comfortable leaving her."
"Good luck with that order," my wife said, coming into the kitchen with Olivia. "Anyone with eyeballs can't forget any part of you once they lock eyes on you."
"Daddy sees me," Olivia said, spinning in a circle in front of me.
"I do. And that is a nice dress you picked out. Aren't you glad Mama was there to help you?"
"I had to be since you bail at the first hint of a unicorn/bunny debate," my wife replied, softening the complaint with a light kiss pressed to my mouth.
"Valerie was at the door. I had to let her in. It was not a retreat."
"If you say so. Hey, Val. Thanks for coming over. Sorry we were late. We dress to impress in this family. Well, except for me. I'm dressing strictly for comfort until he comes out," she said, rubbing a circle over her belly with her hand.
"You look good," Valerie said while I pulled out a chair so Stephanie could sit across from her sister. "But Ranger said you weren't feeling well …"
"I'm okay. Just put in too many long days. One problem with working from home is there's no turn everything off and go home set moment."
"Dinner and bath time could both count as times to wrap up work," I pointed out. "You decided to go back to it as soon as Olivia was settled."
"Because we're closing in on our bad guy. I'm not going to be able to rest until he's in our hands."
"What's going on?" Valerie asked Stephanie.
"I'll talk a little about my current case in a minute. I have something else on my mind."
"And that's why you told me to swing by when I have a few child-free moments."
"Yeah. And also to give you a few minutes to eat something you'll have time to chew."
Valerie laughed while putting a piece of coffee cake on plates for each of them. She paused and looked over at me. "Steph always complains that you don't eat cake, but it feels wrong not to ask if you'd like some."
"I'm fine. I'm just the pourer of coffee this morning."
I poured her a cup and got Stephanie a bottle of water and some of Ella's homemade ginger ale in hopes one will help her feel less off-balance, physically and emotionally.
"Thank you," Valerie said to me before turning towards her niece. "You do look very pretty, Olive."
"And she's smart to run through all her options before deciding what feels like her," my wife added. "Individuality takes a bit more time to establish."
No question, our daughters are as beautiful as Stephanie is. But I feel sorry for anyone who tries to judge them based solely on their exterior beauty.
Olivia stood in front of her aunt and pointed to the embroidered face on the bib part of her dress. "Bun hibidy."
"Almost, Olive," Steph told our baby. "Bunnies hop. Frogs ribbit. We haven't found an animal that does both yet."
My wife was wrong. Olivia took a step away from Valerie and did a dramatic two-foot hop towards Mo. "Biddy," she told our dog.
"Wow. Looks like she has every woman over sixty in my neighborhood pegged," Val told us. "Old biddies each and every one of them."
Although they are dogs, Gunny walked into the kitchen at the tail end of Valerie's comment. And I'd swear on my mother's Bible that he raised his eyebrows at me in a 'Isn't gossip beneath us?' look.
"It is," I assured him.
"Are you talking to us, our daughter, or our dogs?" Steph asked me.
"I'm speaking to Gunny. He doesn't approve of gossiping."
"We aren't doing that. Valerie was for the most part telling the truth. Which is sorta what I wanted to talk to you about, Val."
"Oh no. I knew this being a relaxing snack break was too good to be true. What have I done now?"
"It's more what you're doing," my wife responded. "As in continuing present tense."
"Should Olivia and I head out?" I asked the sisters.
Valerie waved a hand at me. "No. I'm used to everybody hearing everything I say. Besides, Stephanie's going to tell you everything we've discussed as soon as I leave. You might as well get my side of whatever we're talking about … which is what?" She asked my wife.
"Why Mom and Dad split up …"
"I hope you're not blaming yourself for that," Val said, as I collected a few toys for Olivia to play with in the sink. That way I can stay in the room, but my daughter will be distracted so she won't concentrate on the conversation happening around her. "Dad was with Mom for almost four decades. He would've stayed another four if he hadn't reached his limit. Their divorce was his decision."
"I know that, but I still hear the Burg gossip … that I break up marriages. Mine to Dickie, Dad and Mom's, Cathy Morelli and her d-bag ex's …"
"You only supported those you care about, Babe. How anyone else sees that isn't important or our business. We're only responsible for our own actions."
"I want to agree with Ranger," my sister-in-law said, "but I have a bad feeling this is leading somewhere I'm not going to be comfortable with."
"It's not necessarily bad, Val. It's just something I've been thinking about."
"Spit it out then. I'd rather hear what I did than guess at what it is."
"Alright. I was going to ease us into this, but I'll just go right for the nuts here. Did you marry Kloughn solely to give Angie and Mary Alice a father figure?"
"Wait … what? No! Why would you ask that? I mean, you were the first one to make gagging sounds when I called Albert my cuddle-umpkins."
"Giving your hubby a cutesy nickname doesn't mean you love ... or more importantly value him," my wife pointed out. "It could mean the exact opposite."
"Of course, I love Albert."
"But do you respect him or trust him as a husband and a father to the girls?" Steph pushed. "I love having my nieces visit, but I'd like knowing it's solely because they enjoy being here or you're giving me my requested aunt-time with them, not that you don't trust Albert to care for them when you're not home. Can you leave Albert in charge of his office and the house without questioning it or him?"
As Olivia caught sea creatures in the partially full sink instead of Frank's aquarium with a net in one hand and a mini fishing pole in the other, I noted how long it took Valerie to decide on an answer.
"Yes," she finally said. "The girls like him and his client list has doubled in the last month alone."
"That's nice to hear," Steph said. "But you didn't say anything about how you personally feel about him and how you see him as a father to your kids."
"He loves the girls …"
"He does," my wife agreed. "And that's what I mean. Did you settle for him because he falls into the cuddle-umpkins category? Because he was convenient? Or can you not see your life without him in it?"
"Ummm …"
"I'm not giving you a test you need to pass in order to graduate. I want you to be happy and feel one-hundred-percent content with your life like I do now. From what I've heard and seen, you treat Kloughn like another kid you're required to care for … and that's not healthy for either of you."
"What do you mean?"
"You said not long ago something like ... 'boys are overrated, and you should know because you're married to one'. I couldn't imagine saying anything like that about Ranger."
"Duh, because you're married to a guy like Ranger Manoso. Life is different for the rest of us."
"It shouldn't be," my wife insisted. "Albert is his own man. And if you love him … you should appreciate what makes him … him. If you can't, then you have a problem."
"I disagree."
"And you totally can, Val. I'm just asking that you start thinking through what you say to Kloughn and how he may be feeling hearing it."
"He hasn't complained …"
"Would he if he settled too? Or he's trying to stay the course like Dad had been doing with Mom for all those years?"
"You think I'm acting like Mom did?" My daughter and I couldn't stop our heads from swiveling in the direction of the table at the sudden rise in voice volume. "Ouch."
"No, not exactly. I would never have wasted my breath trying to get Mom to see something from my perspective or things from an outsider's point of view. You're different because I do think you love Albert. I just want you to see that silence or compliance doesn't equal happiness. Kloughn may not complain, but that could be because he doesn't think he can and keep the family together. It could be up to you to make him, and the girls, feel like they're a real family who love and can depend on each other."
"We are a family! He's Lisa's father for Christ's sake."
"But does he feel like he is? Remember what Dad said, that he let Mom do everything because he didn't think he deserved the life he had, that she could do it better so he just let her? When was the last time Albert spent a day just being a daddy to everyone? You could ask me that about Ranger about twenty-five times a day, and I'd have an updated answer every time. I know Olive is safe with him. I don't have to control the time they spend together … not that I'd do that or he'd let me get away with trying."
I could feel my wife's eyes on me, so I turned back to her and let her see how her words affected me. She sucked in a breath and only looked away from me when Olivia wanted to see what caught my attention and waved a motorized crab at her. Steph waved back and then returned to the conversation I know she wished she didn't need to have.
"Albert isn't like Ranger," Valerie began.
"I know. Albert is the guy who loves you, your kids, and the life he has with you. The five-million-dollar question is … do you feel the same about him? Or is he just a placeholder until someone better comes along to replace him?"
"I'm not running a rent-a-dad business, Steph. Steve left me. I didn't have much say in how that ended, but I'm with Albert because I want to be. I'm not looking to replace him with anyone else."
My wife nodded. "That's what I thought. You are a bit of a perfectionist, but I haven't seen you as relaxed as you are with him. Do me a favor though …"
"What?" Valerie asked with a lot of suspicion tucked into that one syllable.
"When you go home and talk to Albert, keep half your mind on what you'd do if you heard Angie or Mary Alice say the same things to him that you're saying."
"That's not …" Valerie started, but her voice trailed off as she replayed what must've been an example of an interaction between her and Kloughn that she'd have a different take on if her voice had been put in someone else's mouth. "Shit!"
"Pit," Olivia tried to repeat, picking up on the fact that it was a word said with a lot of feeling behind it.
"That's right, Olive-Pit," Steph emphasized. "Your Uncles call you that all the time."
"Sorry," Val said to us. "That slipped out."
"I'm glad it did," Steph said, "because it means you get what I'm trying real hard not to say out loud. I don't want to cause trouble; I just want you to have a life you enjoy. If Albert makes you happy … great. But please make that obvious to the rest of us. If he doesn't, it's not right to keep him and your family in a kind of limbo … waiting for something that's not gonna happen, or for him to turn into someone he isn't. That isn't fair to any of you."
"You can't tell how I feel about him?"
"Not consistently. I think you love him, but I also worry that you see him as a child you're temporarily in charge of. I believe marriage should be a partnership, so that's why I wanted to talk to you about what I see in case it helps."
"We can't all have perfect lives, Steph."
"I get that because I don't think 'perfect' exists. But I do think there's a way to find what works perfectly for each of us. I just want to be sure that's Albert for you."
"It is."
"Okay. That's all I needed to know and wanted you to decide."
"So, this is your thing now? Playing marriage counselor when you can't do apprehensions?"
"I can still do captures. I choose not to so I can keep my baby as safe as it's possible to. And I do lots of other stuff while pregnant … not just try to save people's relationships. I said I'd tell you about my current case and I'll give you a brief rundown of it now. My client and her husband divorced fairly amicably, but despite playing by the rules for a time … he just kidnapped their little girl and fled to the country where his parents were born."
"Oh my God! That's awful. Did you find him?"
"Yes," my wife stated, downplaying the pride she feels in giving our guys an address to head to the second their plane touches down. "I managed to get eyes on her daughter, and she appears fine, but he won't be in a few hours."
"I can't imagine having to go through that. I'd die if my babies were taken from me."
"That's kinda my point, Val," Steph said. "Steve acted like the ball-less wonder he is, but Albert would cut off his before he hurt you. I'd even hazard a guess that the thought of stealing your kids would never even occur to him."
"I get it. Albert's a good guy. I think so too. I guess I need to get busy showing him how much I appreciate everything he does."
"I'm sure he'd love that, but I'm not saying you should stay with him because he's the lesser of a lot of evils. I want you to choose him because you love him and are proud to be his wife."
"I do ... I am. And I'm going home in a few minutes to show him just how much."
"Jeez, Val. I was starting to feel better, and you just made me nauseous again."
"Hey, you wanted me to love him, but you don't want to hear how I do?"
"Yes. Exactly. I don't need the gory details … just a few words on the happy outcome."
"I'll pass that onto you as soon as it's complete. But while I'm here, do we get to eat now that my hot seat is cooling off?"
"Yeah, dig in. Olive, are you hungry?"
"I catted fishies and saled da boats," she informed her Mama, holding up a plastic sailboat she'd tried to sink moments ago.
"I see that. Maybe your captains need a break for an early lunch?"
"I get dem da snak."
"Good girl. They'll need really good food if they want to sail in larger bodies of water than our kitchen sink … like the bathtub tonight."
"Which means no cookies or anything else currently on the table," I reminded my wife.
"There's eggs, cheese, and oven-roasted turkey breast in the fridge if you'd like to recreate a breakfast recipe ... or maybe fried rice?" Steph suggested.
"I've got it covered," I told her, lifting Olivia up and out of the counter step stool and putting her feet back on the kitchen floor.
"See, Val?" My wife said. "It's really handy to have a hubby who can do things you can't and be able to admit that."
"I see that. If Albert's not busy when I get home, I'm going to see just what he can do … and thank him properly for it."
