After she and Lee had called a truce on the baby issue, she walked down the hall to Phillip and Jamie's room to make sure they weren't dawdling on getting ready for school. "Hey, Fellas," she called through the open door. "Are you getting ready to go?"

As she stepped into the room, Jamie answered, "Phillip's already downstairs and I'm almost ready."

"Well, that's gotta' be a first, that he's ready for school before you are," Amanda chuckled.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Only because he's got some girl at school he wants to impress. He got up super early so he could beat me to the bathroom."

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you downstairs then," she said and started to leave the room, but was stopped by the questioning voice of her younger son.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a kind of personal question?"

"I suppose so. What's up?"

"It's not really any of my business, but when I was in the bathroom...I...um...well, you know how sound kind of echoes off the pipes from one bathroom to the other and I...um...I sort of heard some of what you and Lee were arguing about."

"Ohhh...you mean...?" She trailed off as she wondered how she could broach the subject with her more sensitive son.

"I wasn't trying to listen in, I swear," he began apologetically. "And I really didn't hear that much, but what I did hear...it...um...well, it sounded like you were talking about having a baby. I mean, it's cool with me if you are, but I...um...I just wanted to know. I wondered if that was why you stopped pretending you weren't married, you know, 'cause you're pregnant." Seeing the frown that crossed his mother's face, he quickly backpedaled, "Never mind. Forget I said anything. It's not really any of my business anyway."

She leaned in to meet his eyes. "Of course, it's your business, Sweetheart. If we did have a baby, that would affect you a lot. That baby would be your brother or sister. Not to mention, we'd have to move into a bigger house because the house we're in now is barely big enough for all of us as it is."

"I think that would be kinda' cool, actually."

"Which part? The baby or the house?"

"Well, both," he replied. "I've always wanted to be a big brother, but when you and Dad split up, I just figured it would never happen. And the house thing would be cool too, especially if I didn't have to share a room with Phillip anymore. So...are you?"

"Okay, yes, we are going to try to look for a bigger house because we need it anyway, but no, we're not having a baby."

"So, you just decided that already," Lee groused from the hallway. "I thought you said you were going to think about it." He'd only come down the hall to check on the boys and hearing his wife saying what she did to Jamie only made his anger flare again. He stormed down the hallway toward the stairs as fast as he could.

"Lee!" Amanda hurried after him and caught up with him in the kitchen where he'd paused to pour his morning coffee. "Lee, we need to talk about this."

He shrugged as he put the creamer back into the refrigerator and slammed it shut. "It doesn't seem to me that there's much left to talk about when you've already made your decision without telling me."

"Lee, you can't hear just a small piece of a conversation and think you know everything that's going on." She glanced nervously around the room at her older son and her mother, not wanting to rehash their argument in front of them. "Why don't we go into the other room and talk about this?"

"No need. I heard pretty clearly what was going on," he snorted.

"No, you didn't. You missed the part where Jamie asked me if I was pregnant."

"Are you?" Dotty asked and then gushed excitedly, "Oh, Amanda, that would be so wonderful!"

"Oh, no, not you too," she muttered under her breath. "No, Mother, I'm not pregnant. " She turned back to Lee, "And that's what I meant when I said to Jamie that we're not having a baby. I was just answering his question."

"It's true," Jamie added as he entered the room and made a beeline for the cereal box that sat on the counter. "I did ask and she answered."

"Why would you ask a bonehead question like that?" Phillip jeered at his brother. "If they wanna' have another kid, that's up to them, not us. Besides, it doesn't surprise me that Lee would want a kid of his own since he doesn't have any."

"You could try for the little girl you've always wanted," Dotty chimed in exuberantly.

"Okay, everybody, just stop." Amanda snapped. "We're not having a baby, okay?" At seeing Lee's jaw tense, she quickly added, "At least, not yet. It's just something we're talking about. If we come to a decision, we'll let you know. Right, Lee?"

"Right," he replied with an unconvincing nod, but the last he wanted was to continue their argument in front of the rest of the family. "I'm just gonna' go finish getting ready for work."

Amanda let out a sigh as he took the stairs two at a time to make a hasty escape. She attempted to shake off her agitation as she reached for the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

Once Jamie was settled at the table in the breakfast nook with his cereal bowl, Dotty sidled up to her daughter who stood at the counter sipping her coffee and queried in concern, "Is everything okay?"

"Fine, Mother. Why do you ask?"

Dotty nudged Amanda through the dining room door where it would be harder for the boys to overhear them. "Because things don't look fine from where I stand. I don't want to pry into your marriage, but things between you and Lee seem a little...well...tense. And I thought things were going so well between you until you came home from work last night."

"They were," she agreed with a hint of sadness in her tone. "Until we started talking about kids."

"Oh no," Dotty exclaimed worriedly. "Don't tell me it's going to be like Joe all over again where you want more children and he doesn't?"

"No, it's not. Lee wants a baby and I'm just not sure that I do," Amanda answered honestly. "And I really wish everyone would stop bringing Joe into this subject. He has absolutely nothing to do with it."

"Of course he does," her mother argued. "I remember all too well the fights you had about it. You wanted to try one more time for a little girl and he didn't and then things...they didn't work out for you when he decided he wanted to take that job that required being gone all the time, so with your past being what it is, is it really any wonder that you're having trouble discussing such things with Lee? It's bound to be a sore subject for you, but I know you, Amanda, and I know how much you love being a mother. It's been the most important thing in your life for a long time."

"It was, Mother, and I still love being a mom, but it's different now. I have a full-time job that I didn't have when the boys were little and I love it."

"You and that blasted job," her mother grumbled. "I know you love your job and it's been great to see you getting out in the world again after your divorce, but really, even though you enjoy your job, is it really more important to you than your family? Or Lee?"

"Of course not. If it came down to a choice between the two, I'd choose our family any day, but that's what I don't get about Lee. We have a great family here as it is now and I don't understand why that's not enough for him; why he can't be happy with what we've got."

"Did he say that he couldn't be happy with just the boys?"

"Well...no. When I asked him that same question, he said he was happy, but he's definitely not happy that I said I needed some time to think about whether or not I want to have another baby. Mother, I don't know what to do. I don't want to screw things up with him when it's been so great since we finally moved in together and started acting like a normal married couple, but I just don't know if I want to go through all that again."

"But didn't the two of you discuss all of this before you made the decision to get married?"

"No, we didn't." She reflected for a moment on their conversation upstairs and Lee mentioning their discussion about wedding plans, houses and horses and reconsidered. "Or at least, I didn't think we had, but apparently when we were making our plans, he and I were talking about two different things."

"So, it is Joe all over again," Dotty sighed despondently. While she'd been hurt and disappointed at first to learn that her daughter had married Lee without telling her, those feelings had soon be replaced by the elation she felt at seeing Amanda so happy, but now she couldn't help worrying that she was headed down the same path that had made her miserable in her first marriage.

"I really wish you'd stop saying that. Lee is nothing like Joe and I'm a completely different person than I was then."

"Clearly, you are. You wanted another baby then and now you don't and that's the part that I don't understand. You've always wanted to try for a daughter. Now you have that opportunity and with a man who, like you said, is different from Joe and has proven more than once that he's around and going to stay around no matter what. I mean, just look at how much he was here for you after that horrible incident in California; the way he took care of you while you were recovering and helped me look after the boys. He even did the cooking a few times so I wouldn't have to do it all. He was a saint during all of that when I know Phillip and Jamie were driving him absolutely crazy, but he never complained once."

"Oh, he did," Amanda said with a laugh. "Just not where you or the boys could hear him, but it wasn't really so much complaining as it was worrying that he wasn't quite as ready as he thought he was to dive into family life."

"He's certainly shown since then that he can handle it, especially with the way Jamie treated him in the beginning. He took everything that child threw at him and still kept on trying to reach him."

"Yeah, he did." Amanda smiled as she thought of just how well he'd done. She was immensely proud of him for sticking with it despite Jamie behaving as if her new husband were Public Enemy Number One. "He's been incredible with both the boys."

"I'm sure he'd be just as incredible a father to his own children, so I don't really understand why you're dragging your feet here."

"It's just a big decision," Amanda replied with a shrug. She couldn't really tell her mother the whole truth without revealing the true nature of the work she and Lee did. "There's a lot to consider. First, the house isn't big enough, so we'd have to deal with that first. Second, I have the boys to think about and how this would affect them. Then there's my job to consider..."

"The job again," Dotty sighed.

"Yes, Mother, the job. It may not be as high on the list as other considerations, but it is important to think about too. I've worked really hard there for the past few years and that's not something I really want to give up. And another thing, if we did have a baby, we would definitely need a bigger house and most likely would need both our incomes to do so, so yes, my job is an important factor in this decision."

"Well, it's your decision, of course, but I just wouldn't want to see you ruin the good thing you've got with Lee over it."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Amanda replied softly.