Friends and Lovers
Chapter Six
Fran spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone with her attorney. When she emerged from the office, the color was drained from her face. "What is it, Sweetheart?" She shook her head and motioned toward the girls.
"Is it time for their lunch?" As if on cue, Niles appeared in the living room.
"Yes, Ma'am. Lunch is ready."
"Thanks, Niles. Girls, go with Aunt C.C., Mommy needs to talk to Daddy for one second, we'll be right there."
They watched the girls take her hands and head out of the room. "Let's go into the office, Max, I've got a fax coming in." They went into the office and closed the door behind them. The paper was just printing out as they approached the machine. "God, I never knew what he meant by this."
"What is this? It looks like a will."
"It's Tony's will." She pulled the page from the machine and handed it to Max. "Here, read the part that's circled. Keep in mind that I still had legal separation papers filed."
He looked over the page. "Full legal custody of all my issue, whether known or unknown, and control over the trust accounts for each of them." He handed it back to her. "So what does this mean?"
He was not going to like this one bit. "It means that, as Grace's legal father, he gave his custody of her to me upon his death. With Sarah dead..." She took a deep breath. "Grace is legally my child. The lawyer said that with no custody agreement in place between Sarah and Tony, this is the only legal document granting custody."
"So she's your daughter." Max's legs refused to support him. He dropped onto the sofa.
"No, Max, she's still YOUR daughter. I have a messenger on the way over with some papers for me to sign. I've already started the paperwork to change her name to Sheffield. I guess our lawyers need to get together and work out the details in changing the legal custody next."
"You're changing her name?"
"Max, she's been raised as a Sheffield. Once she starts school, and her birth certificate is needed, we want THAT to be the name she uses, right?"
"Of course, I'm sorry; I'm still a little stunned. So, what do we have to do?"
"I have to start adoption proceedings, to make you her father legally. We'll get Chandler to call my lawyer, and get that started."
"Let's hold off on that a little while. If we continue the way we're going, I'll want to adopt Irene and Anthony as well; we can do it all at once."
"If you're sure. But I want to at least do the name change."
"Have I told you how much I love you?"
She climbed onto his lap. "Not recently, wanna show me?" She put her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.
"I want to do more than that...just as soon as the girls are sleeping."
"Mr. Sheffield, you are a naughty boy."
"So send me to my room after lunch."
"Lunch! The girls are waiting for us!" She hopped off his lap and straightened her hair.
"You look beautiful, Darling." He took her by the hand and led her to the dining room, where the girls were almost done eating.
"I tried to get them to wait for you."
"It's all right, C.C., we had some legal matters to attend to."
"Legal matters? I know...later."
Max looked over at Fran, who was pushing food around her plate. "Not hungry, Sweetheart?"
"No, not really. I think I'll get these two upstairs for their naps."
"You really should try to eat something; you didn't eat much at breakfast."
"Here, Mommy!" Irene had a bite of roast on her fork and was heading for Fran's mouth. Fran opened her mouth and let the child feed her. "Good girl!" Fran couldn't help but smile.
"OK, Sweetie, I'll eat a few bites." She picked up a forkful of peas and stuffed them into her mouth. "Mmm." The girls sat and watched her as she ate about half of what was on her plate. "Is this enough, girls?"
"Yeah, Mommy. Wanna read." Reenie climbed out of her chair and grabbed her mother's hand. "C'MON, Mommy!" Fran wiped her mouth with her napkin and placed it on the table.
"I guess I'm going to go read." She ran her hand across Max's back as she left the dining room.
"I'll be right up, Fran." He watched her lead the girls from the room.
"O.K., Maxwell, they're gone. You have been completely distracted since yesterday afternoon. Now today, Fran's a basket case, you're on the phone with lawyers…What's going on?"
"Yesterday, Fran went through a box of her late husband's photographs, and found a sealed envelope with Sarah's and Grace's name on it. She called me to come over and open the envelope with her. From what we saw, it was obvious there was much more to Sarah and Tony's relationship than just friendship."
"Oh, Maxwell..."
"There's more. All Grace's pictures had the name Grace Bergman on them. Sarah's had the name "Princess Grace", so Fran called Tony's mother who confirmed our worst fears. Grace is not my biological child."
"I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry, Maxwell. Wait, she's Fran's husband's child?"
"His mother says she has the original birth certificate and the results of the blood tests as proof, but Fran wants to test the girls to be sure. Tony's will stated that Fran was granted custody of all his children, known or unknown. She didn't know what that meant at the time, but her lawyer informs us that FRAN is Grace's legal guardian, based on Tony's will."
"So what does that mean? You're not going to just hand her over are you?"
"Oh, no, Fran doesn't want anything to change for Grace. She had her lawyer draw up name change documents, changing Grace's legal name from Bergman to Sheffield, and we have to go to the lawyer's office to draw up a joint custody agreement. I'm holding off on the adoption, because I want to adopt all of Fran's children at once. I just don't want to bring that up until after I've proposed."
"My God, you have to adopt your own child? How could Sarah have DONE this to you?"
"I'm more upset about what it cost Fran. If I had known about the affair, I would have divorced Sarah immediately. Fran would have gone through with her divorce; she never would have been subjected to Tony's abusive behavior. Her next child would have been MY child."
"I feel like this is partly my fault. She was my friend; I knew she was spending a lot of time with him when you were in London. I just thought it was two friends keeping each other company. She never said a word to me."
"I just wonder how long this thing went on BEFORE I left for London. Fran knew Tony was cheating; this was why she went away. You know, looking back, I should have known something was wrong. I didn't find out about Sarah's pregnancy until she started to show, and Niles told me. She said she didn't want me to worry about her, since I was busy with my show in London. When she found out she was expecting Maggie and Brighton, she told me right away."
"Yeah, I remember. What can I do?"
"Nothing right now, well, you can continue to be supportive of Fran. This has really thrown her. She's convinced that keeping Grace's paternity a secret was Tony's doing. She also knows that if Tony had survived that day, and only Sarah had died, he would have come for his daughter immediately. She's angry at his parents as well; they've kept this secret for him all this time."
"Would it have made any difference if you'd known?"
"I would have made a LOT of difference, C.C.. I've been avoiding Fran for two years, out of guilt over our relationship. I felt so guilty that I was involved with her while Sarah was carrying my child, that I lost 6 months with her before her death. Then when I saw Fran pregnant, I felt betrayed, which made me feel even worse about our relationship." He looked up as Fran came back into the dining room. "I'm sorry, Darling, are the girls sleeping already?"
"Yeah, they were exhausted." She looked over at C.C.. "You really wore them out this morning. Thanks so much for taking care of them."
"Any time, Fran, they're really sweet girls. Max told me a lot of what's been going on, I'm so sorry. If I can do anything for you, please let me know."
"Thanks, C.C.. I really appreciate that. One thing you don't know, is about Irene. Maxwell is the only one that knows what happened."
"Fran, you don't have to do this."
"I know, Max, but it's time people see what a total schmuck I was married to. I legally separated from him in December of 1986, then packed up my son and went to London. Tony showed up and took Anthony home. I knew right then I was going to have a fight on my hands. Max showed up in January, well, you know that story. He went home in July, and I flew home in August. I started working on the upstairs bedroom, planning to move to the fourth floor. I figured, the house was big enough for the two of us. Daddy kept trying to convince me to throw him out, but as long as he left me alone, I thought it would be good for our son to have both his parents under one roof. Then Grace was born. He started acting strangely right after that, kvetching about wanting me to have a baby. I was still completely in love with Max, there was no way I was having Tony's child. I'd held him off for a month, and then we went to B's birthday party. I wanted to hold little Grace, since I found myself hating her. She was the reason I lost Max. Once I held that sweet baby, there was no way I could hate her. I felt such a connection to her; I thought it was because she was Max's baby. Tony kept downing beers, and watching me with her."
"You looked so beautiful holding her."
"I know, you told me." She laughed and looked over at C.C. again. "He came up behind me and told me I looked beautiful carrying his child. I was so glad no one was around to hear that one! Once we got home, Tony went nuts. He started yelling at me, telling me I WAS going to have another child. This went on the rest of the evening, until after I put Anthony to bed for the night. I decided to sleep upstairs, which, looking back, was a mistake. If Anthony was in the adjoining room, maybe he wouldn't have..."
"Fran..."
She wiped a tear away. "I'm fine. Once I realized he wouldn't hit me if I didn't fight back, I just laid there and let it happen, hoping and praying I wouldn't conceive. By Thanksgiving, I was so sick I couldn't even cook dinner. My doctor's appointment was on December 15, first night of Chanukah. At least one of us was happy. We went to Max and Sarah's for Christmas Eve, and Tony broke the news I couldn't even look at Max for the longest time. When I finally gathered the courage, the hurt in his eyes was unbearable. I couldn't tell him what really happened; I knew he'd probably kill Tony."
"I would have."
"Tony knew I wasn't happy about the pregnancy. Every time he'd see me with the baby, he'd tell me that I never wanted her."
"What a bastard!"
"Yeah, he really was. I think he just wanted to get his hands on my money. My dad convinced me to keep most of my money away from him. Uncle Ira invested it and kept the bulk of it in my name only. I set up an account for him to draw on. As long as he had that money to burn, he wouldn't take good paying jobs, just let me support him. Then when he died, I felt like I'd caused it. If I'd just been strong enough to divorce him, maybe he'd still be alive. Maybe Sarah would still be alive."
"Fran, don't do this to yourself again. I wish to hell he WAS still alive, so I could strangle him myself." Max pounded his fist on the table, rattling the dishes. "Why don't you go upstairs and take a short nap before we start the interviews. It might do you some good."
"I need to run home for a bit, Maxwell, do you have things under control here?"
"Yes, C.C., the girls are sleeping, the nanny applicants aren't due for over an hour. Niles can take the phones. I think I might take a nap, as well."
"You never nap...oh, never mind, I don't think I want to know." She smiled as she got up. "I'll see you both in a couple of hours." She hugged Fran. "You call me if you need me."
"I will, thanks, Ceece." She watched her friend walk out the door. "You know, Max, I'm surprised she doesn't hate my guts."
"Why on earth would she do that?"
"Men are so dense sometimes. Maxwell, she's been in love with you for years."
"Oh, that's absurd."
"Is it? She TOLD me, Sweetie. Well, I had to drag it out of her, but she finally admitted it."
"That explains why she was so protective of me before I met Sarah, she never said anything."
"She's just been hoping you'd notice. This last two years, she was waiting for you to stop mourning Sarah, and then I showed up. She loves you enough to want you to be happy."
"I hope she knows that I AM happy with you, My Darling." He watched her fight back a yawn. "That's it, I'm taking you upstairs."
"It's about time."
He kissed her softly, then took her by the hand and led her to his bedroom.
An hour later, a soft knocking on the bedroom door awakened them. "Sir, the first of the nanny applicants are here."
Maxwell blinked sleepily as he watched Fran stretch herself awake. He got up, went to the door, and opened it just a crack. "Did you get her resume, Niles?"
"Yes, Sir, it's on your desk."
"We'll be right down." He closed the door and turned back to Fran. "Feeling better?"
"I think I could have slept all afternoon." She stretched and yawned again before slowly getting out of bed. "Oy, all my things are in the guest room, and I look a mess." She reached down to slip on her shoes.
"You look fine." He tossed her a brush. "Just run a brush through your hair, and you'll be perfect."
"You go on down, I'll be right there."
"Don't be long. I want to get these interviews over with."
"I won't. I just want to wash my face."
He kissed her forehead. "I'll meet you in the office. Why don't you use the back stairs, then we can greet the applicant at the same time."
"Just give me a couple of minutes." She watched him close the door behind him, then went into his bathroom and ran some water over a washcloth. She pressed it to her face, trying to wake herself up, and then ran the brush through her long curls. Satisfied she was presentable; she headed out of Max's room and down the back stairs. She slipped into his office and found him on his desk reading the resume. She hopped on the corner of his desk and watched him. "How's it look?"
"Not bad. I would like to wait until we interview all the applicants before we make a decision, if that's all right with you."
"I think that's actually a very good idea. It's a shame the girls aren't awake. I'd really like to see them interact with the children."
"You're right." He looked at his watch. "They should be awake soon, and depending on how long these interviews go, Maggie and the boys might be here for some of them." He handed the resume to Fran. "Do you want to look this over before she comes in?"
"I'll glance at it while you talk to her, go ahead and bring her in. Wait; turn on the intercom so we can hear the girls."
Max clicked on the intercom and punched the button for the girl's room, then invited the first applicant into the office. She had no sooner sat down, when they heard the soft giggles coming over the intercom. Fran lifted her eyes to the ceiling. "Guess who's up? I'll go up and get them. Excuse me one moment."
The woman looked at Max and smiled. "I was under the impression that you only had one small child, and two in school."
Max cleared his throat, and then smiled at the sound of Fran getting the girls up as it floated through the intercom. "The situation is somewhat complicated. At times, there will be five children. Will that be a problem for you?"
"Five? It shouldn't be, really. How old are the children?"
Who was interviewing whom, here? "Maggie is almost eleven, the boys are seven and a half, Grace is three and a half, and Irene is two and a half."
"You have twins. How sweet."
"No, the boys aren't twins. One is Fran's and one is mine. They're 12 days apart." He laughed. "Of course, they act like twins. I think they share the same brain at times. The youngest girl is also Fran's. The boys have been best friends for almost five years, and the little girls have been together most of the time for the last two years. They all get along very well, and Maggie is a very big help."
Fran appeared at the door with the girls, who both ran to greet Maxwell. "Hi, Daddy!" He picked them both up and placed them in his lap.
"This is Grace." He bounced his left knee. "And this is Irene, also known as Reenie." He bounced his right knee, causing the child to giggle uncontrollably.
"They're adorable!"
Fran crossed the office and sat in the chair next to Max's desk. "Do you have much experience with children this age?"
"Not a whole lot, the children at my last job were a bit older."
"How about discipline? How would you control the children if, say, the boys were both tormenting their older sister, Grace was screaming at the boys, and Irene is crying with her teeth? This has been going on for about an hour, and you're ready to scream. How do you get them to stop?"
"Wow, that's a bit extreme, it doesn't get that bad, does it? I guess I'd try to get the boys to watch a movie or something, and pick up the baby and cuddle her a bit."
"It's not usually that bad, but they have their days."
"There are also days that there are no children in the house. The children have frequent sleepovers at Fran's house. Those days would either be without pay, or Niles could assign you other household duties."
"I wouldn't have to go with them?"
"No, Fran takes them when she can donate all her time to them."
The interview went on for about thirty more minutes, with the girls getting down and attempting to trash the office in an effort to gain their parents' attention. Fran pulled the crayons and coloring books out of the desk drawer and sat the girls on the floor to create, then completed the interview. After Niles showed her out, Fran sat shaking her head.
"I wasn't very impressed. No experience with little ones, she found them cute, but made no effort to sit and play with them."
"I agree. She'd be no match for Brighton or Irene."
They interviewed another applicant, who was good with the little ones, but seemed intimidated a bit by Max's description of Brighton's antics. Maggie and the boys arrived home from school in the middle of the third interview. This applicant interacted with the children, inquiring about their day, wanted to know what they liked in school, was genuinely interested in the pageant, and had no problem sitting on the floor coloring with the girls. The fourth applicant was almost a joke. She was an aspiring actress, and she did a good job of hiding it with Maxwell, but Fran was able to see right through her flirting. The boys were amused by the way she tried to totally ignore Fran and focused all her answers toward Max. When the interview was over, Fran was fuming.
"Don't hire that one, Dad."
"Why not, Son? She seemed nice, and was very qualified."
"Geesh, Dad, are ya blind?"
"Yeah, Sweetie, are ya blind?" Fran stood glaring with her hands on her hips. "Maggie, could you take the girls upstairs and watch them for a bit? Boys, go up and get your homework done."
"Are you guys gonna fight? Because if you're gonna fight, I'm not moving."
"Anthony Michael James, you get your touchas upstairs. We are NOT going to fight. And if we were, it's none of your business, young man!"
"Yeah, it is my business. Every time you fought with HIM, you left."
Max put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "Son, we're not going to fight, I promise. Now, do as your mother says, get your touchas upstairs."
The boy hugged him tightly. "Yes, Sir." The boys disappeared out the office door and followed the girls upstairs.
"I'm sorry, Max; he's always had to protect me. Old habits die hard, I guess."
He put his arms around her waist. "He'll never have to protect you from me."
"I know." She kissed him softly. "But you hire that last person; he may need to protect you from ME!"
"What was wrong with her?"
"She doesn't want to work here because she loves kids; she wants to work for Maxwell Sheffield, Broadway Producer. She was SO flirting with you, even the boys noticed it!"
"Darling, this is me. You have no need to be jealous."
"I know, I'm sorry, Sweetie."
"All right, which one did YOU like?"
"The third one. We didn't even have to hint to her to talk to the kids. She got down on the floor with the girls, she was truly interested in the boys' pageant, she had book ideas for Maggie...and she has experience with toddlers. Max, you see how fast Irene is. That girl is sneaky, and Grace is her shadow. My second choice is number two. Even though we only saw her with the girls, she was good with them, and just took all their interruptions in stride."
"I agree. So we offer the job to number three, what was her name?"
"Denise." She looked at the resume again. "Denise Spencer."
Max picked up the phone and dialed the agency to inform them of their decision. "All right, they said they'd call her and have her here tomorrow morning around nine. Can you be here?"
"Sure, I'll come over right after I get Anthony off to school."
"Why don't we plan on Anthony riding the limo with Maggie and Brighton, then coming back here after school? That way you can spend the day here and go over things with Miss Spencer."
"Me? Max..."
"Fran, I need to get some work done. I've put everything on C.C.'s shoulders since Friday. Do you have plans tomorrow?"
"No, actually there's nothing I'd rather do than spend the day with the girls."
"Then tomorrow night, I can take their mother out for a nice dinner."
"Max, maybe we shouldn't go out on her first night here."
"Back in protective mode, I see. Sweetheart, Niles will be here."
"We also have to work on the pageant. We have to pick a song for C.C., and rehearse our song, and Anthony wants me to sing one by myself. I'm SO going to ground him after this thing is over."
"I can't wait to hear you sing."
"I am SO out of practice, Max."
"So sing to the girls. That should help you practice."
"You're funny. I'm going to go check on the kids. Maggie's watching the girls, and I want to make sure the boys are getting their homework done."
She squeezed his hand and headed upstairs. She stuck her head in the boys' room. "How's the homework coming?"
"Almost done. Are we gonna work on the pageant tonight? We need to get a list of performers to the headmistress."
"Sure, after dinner, all right?"
"Cool. What's for dinner?"
"Honey, I have no idea, I've been busy interviewing nannies since early afternoon."
"Did you pick one?"
"Mmm-hmm. Denise."
"She was cool. I'm glad you didn't pick the last one. You and Dad didn't have a fight did you?"
"No, we did NOT."
"But she was flirting with him."
"I would have only been upset with him if he flirted back. He only flirts with me. Now, if he had wanted to hire her, we might have had a problem, but he agreed with me that Denise was the best choice."
"I wonder if she sings or dances."
"Oy, Anthony. How many people do you have lined up so far?"
"A few. Um, a couple of them, I don't know if Dad's gonna be happy about it."
"Well, Honey, it's your show, why do you think he'll be upset?"
"Well, Tommy's sister and Casey's aunt volunteered to sing and dance."
"O.K., I know Tommy and Casey...what's the problem?"
"They're in Cats. I think they're gonna sing songs from the show."
"Oy."
"Dad's gonna freak, but we aren't supposed to turn anybody down."
"Well, then, we'll just get some of the actors from one of his shows to sing and dance. We've already got almost the whole family...Niles, C.C., Me, Max...I'm still not happy about getting up there and singing."
"Why, HE'S not around to stop you this time."
"Sweetie, finish your homework. Let me talk to Max and see if we can't get some songs from his show in your show, all right? I need to go check the little ones, they're way too quiet."
"O.K., Mom. We'll be down in a few minutes." She ran her hand through her son's curls, and then tousled Brighton's hair, before heading across the hall to the girls' room.
"Boy, you two are quiet." She sat down on the floor next to her daughters.
"Shhh. Maggie's doing homework."
Maggie looked up from her notebook. "I told them I'd give them a dollar if they played quietly so I could do my homework. Was that wrong?"
"Only if you don't pay up." She laughed. "I'll take them downstairs with me so you can finish."
"Do I get a dollar?"
"Yeah, Gracie, I'll bring it to you later."
"I'm gonna buy a pony."
"Oh, you are, are ya? Does your daddy know about that?"
"You know, if we got a bigger house, with a barn, we could all have horses."
"And where do you think we're going to find a barn in Manhattan, Mags?"
"Do we have to live in Manhattan? Kathy Lee works here and lives in Connecticut"
"That's something you'll have to discuss with your father, Sweetie. I don't live with you guys, remember?"
"You should. It's got to be a pain going back and forth all the time."
Fran smiled. Yeah, living here would be nice, but she wasn't going to live with Max unless they were married. She wasn't going to set a bad example for the children, any of them, no matter how much she wanted it. Movin' on.
"I'm going shopping tomorrow for your dad's birthday present. Any ideas what we should do?"
"We can have a party?"
"Sure, if you want. We can either have Niles fix something special, or we can go out."
"Chuck E. Cheese?"
"No, Sweetie, your dad isn't exactly the Chuck E. Cheese type. We can save that for your birthday, if you want."
Maggie smiled. "We haven't had birthday parties since..."
"Well, then, time to make some happy memories. How does that sound?"
"Cool. Can we do the party here? You can get Dad out of the house, can't you?"
"Yeah, but if we have the party at MY house, I can get everything together, and then have him come over."
"Better! So what are you going to get him?"
"I'm not sure. I'll take the girls shopping tomorrow and look around. I'm supposed to work with the new nanny tomorrow. Might as well break her in at the mall, right? Come on, My Darlings. Let Maggie finish her homework. Let's go downstairs and see if Sesame Street is on." She scooped up her youngest and took Grace by the hand. She took them downstairs, plopped them both on the sofa, and turned on PBS. "You two think you can sit there and behave for a few minutes?" The girls smiled and nodded, then became totally mesmerized by the action on the television. Fran walked back to the office and stuck her head in. "Sweetie, we need to get some pageant work done tonight, the boys have to submit a line up."
"How about right after dinner?"
She smiled. "Yeah, that's what I told the boys." She looked back into the living room, to make sure the girls were still on the sofa. "Max, the boys are concerned you're gonna be upset by a couple of the acts."
"Why, are they planning something inappropriate?"
She laughed. "Well, that depends on who you are. Oh, stop frowning. A couple of kids in his class have relatives that are performing in shows right now, and they've volunteered to perform a couple of show tunes."
"Really? That's wonderful."
"Sweetie, they're in Cats." She cringed as she said it. "The boys were told they couldn't turn down any volunteers, as long as the performances were appropriate for the target audience. I thought maybe we could get some performers from YOUR show. Then, since Niles, C.C., you and I are all performing, we can out do Mr. Webber. You won't see HIM up there singing. Well, his kids don't go to Lexington, either."
"Have you had any luck recruiting any of your friends? Maybe someone who can upstage the Cat people?"
"You mean besides Val?" She laughed. "Marla Maples is a definite yes, and I've got a surprise for the boys. I heard back from Christie, and she's just about got Billy convinced to do a number. The condition is that we don't publicize that he's coming."
"You've got Billy Joel? I can't even get him to return my calls."
"I didn't call him, I called his wife. I've worked with her a couple of times, nice person, very sweet."
"Great. If they show, convince him to talk to me about one of my shows."
She laughed again. "I'll see what I can do. I just want to get this done quickly tonight, so I can get home at a decent hour."
"You really have to go?" He walked over and slipped his arms around her waist, then began applying soft kisses to her neck.
"Mmm, yeah, I really do. The kids are starting to think we live here. They need to stay in their own rooms more often."
"What's wrong with you living here?"
"Aside from the fact that it's murder sleeping down the hall from you?"
"You're right, that is pretty tough. I have the worst time getting to sleep, knowing you're that close. It takes all my will power to keep from coming down and carrying you to my bed."
"Sir, dinner is ready." Niles stood in the office doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
"Thank you, Niles." He pulled back from Fran and started to put away the paperwork on his desk.
"Can you listen for the girls? They're watching Sesame Street in the living room; I'll go upstairs and get the other three."
"Of course. I'll get the girls and meet you in the dining room."
After dinner, Maggie and the girls watched television, while Fran and Max worked with the boys in the office. They made their cast list and the boys started assigning songs. It was obvious by their choices; they were still bent on pushing their parents together. During the meeting, Fran got a call from Billy Joel, confirming his participation in the pageant under a couple of conditions. First, he picks his own songs, and second, he wanted no advance publicity. After a quick discussion, the boys agreed to the terms, and the deal was struck.
"I guess we've upstaged the Cat people NOW, huh, Sweetie?" She smiled as she hung up the phone. This pageant was going to be perfect. "Well, I think we've done enough for tonight, Anthony. Let's go see if we can pry your sister away from Gracie for the night."
"We really have to go, Ma?"
"Yes, Sweetie, we really do. You'll see B. in the morning. Why don't you two pick up the pageant stuff and take it upstairs. We'll work here again tomorrow."
"Cool!" The boys scooped up their papers and ran for the stairs.
"I wish you were staying, too." Max moved over next to her and pulled her close to him.
"I wish I COULD stay, but I told you, staying in the guest room is pure torture! Now, help me get Ree ready to go, please? For some reason, she won't even listen to me when you're around."
"That bothers you?" He stroked her arm gently.
"No, not really. She adores you, Max."
"All the more reason for you to stay more often."
"Well, I was actually thinking, maybe tomorrow I'll stay and help Denise put the girls to bed, then take Anthony home with me. That is, if you don't mind Ree staying the night."
"Of course I don't mind."
"Before you say yes, remember that if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she's only going to want you."
"If she wakes up, I'll be sure to be the one to take care of her. Stop worrying so much."
"You're sure you don't mind?"
"Fran, she's practically my child, too. I love having her here." He opened the door and looked into the living room. The three girls were snuggled together on the sofa, completely engrossed in the television. "Look at them." He smiled. "Our girls."
"Yeah, they really are, aren't they?" She walked into the living room. "Reenie, it's time to go home, Honey."
"No, want Daddy."
Fran looked over at Max.
"Irene, you need to go with your mother, Sweetheart." The toddler climbed off the sofa and threw herself against Max's legs.
"No, Daddy. Love you." She began to cry loudly.
Fran rolled her eyes and turned her back, sure she was about to cry herself. "And you expect her to answer to a nanny? You are SO going to have your hands full with that one, Mister."
"Well, right now, she's going to be a big girl for Daddy, and put on her coat and hat and let Daddy carry her out to her car seat, aren't you, Reenie?" The child clung to him and screamed louder. Max carried her over to the closet and pulled out her coat. She fought him, but he finally got the coat on and buttoned. As he was attempting to keep her hat on her head, the boys came down the stairs.
"Geesh, Ree, you're so loud, Bubby Sylvia can probably hear ya in Queens!"
"Queens? More like Grandmother Sheffield can hear her in London!" The boys laughed and gave each other high fives.
"Anthony, you're not helping at all. Get your coat on, Son."
"Yes, Sir." He pulled his coat from the closet and slowly put it on. "I'll see ya in the morning, B."
"Night, A.B." Brighton playfully punched his friend in the arm and ran back upstairs to his room. Fran pulled on her coat and stroked her still screaming daughter's head.
"You're not gonna do this all the way home, are ya, Ree?" The little girl answered by screaming louder. "Oy, I guess you are."
Max took the keys from her and opened the doors to the Rover, then carefully strapped the toddler into the car seat. "I love you, Sweetheart, I'll see you tomorrow. Can you give me a hug and kiss?"
She nodded and reached out and gave him a wet, teary kiss and hug. "Love you, Daddy. 'Morrow!" Max reached over and wiped the tears from her face, then turned to her mother.
"I'll see you for breakfast?"
"I thought the limo was picking up Anthony."
"It can, or you can come here a bit earlier, we can all eat together, and the children can all leave at the same time."
"You don't want to meet with Denise alone, do you?"
"After the last mess I made of the nanny situation, no not really. I'd like to show us as committed couple right from the start."
She leaned out the window and kissed him softly. "I'll see you about seven fifteen. You know, I hate being up and dressed that early."
"Who said you have to dress?"
"Oh, right. You want me to get up, toss on my robe, and come right over?"
"I guess that wouldn't be a good idea."
"Gee, ya THINK?" She laughed. "Let me get these two home and into bed, before Ree realizes that you aren't coming with us."
"I love you. Drive carefully."
"I love you too…and I always do." He kissed her lightly and watched her until she made the left turn onto Fifth Avenue.