Chapter 18 – Starting Over.
As soon as Grace was cleared of serious illness, Steffi and Phil took her home. Within four years, Grace had learned to fade, levitate, and, to both parents' surprise, glamour. Steffi told Phil her whole story, from alcoholic, chain smoking hooker to sensible, sexy working mom. It's in the aftermath of these revelations that we join them now…
"…So that's why I filed for divorce," explained Phil calmly. "We're too different these days, and I think it's better for both of us if we split."
"What does your wife… Carmella Gregory think of this?" The lawyer asked.
"She agrees with me. She doesn't want our daughter being brought up in such a toxic environment as our house is becoming. It's like a war zone some nights, and Carmella doesn't want Grace to think this is what every relationship is like. We're either yelling at each other or sleeping with each other," he said, going a little pink. "I love Cammy with all my heart, but I can't be with her anymore; it's going to tear me apart."
"I see. And what about custody of your daughter… Grace, isn't it? Are you going to try and get custody, or are you happy for Miss Marcello to keep her?"
"Uh, it's Miss Miller now, and I'm perfectly happy for Gracie to stay with her, so long as I reach a sensible agreement for when I can see her."
"Miss Miller? But according to the marriage certificate, you married Carmella Anita Marcello…"
"That's one of the reasons we're getting a divorce," muttered Phil.
Steffi was also talking to her lawyer about the divorce.
"So you're happy for Mr Gregory to see Grace if and when he wants to?"
"Not exactly. He's welcome to come and see her, but he can't just drop by and expect us to be there – I've got a job and a life outside of his wants and petty demands. That goes for my new baby too." She started to file her nails, and her lawyer looked her up and down, impressed. Steffi looked up at him, and smiled when he turned away hastily.
"Congratulations. And are you staying here in New York when the divorce is over?"
"Of course not! I'm twenty-five! I've managed to find myself a job back in San Francisco, and I have relatives in Chicago and Europe, so if San Francisco doesn't go to plan then I have back ups."
"You've lived in San Francisco before?"
"There are very few places I haven't lived, honey." She blew a speck of dust off her nail and resumed filing. "New Orleans, London, Paris, Berlin, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Los Angeles… you name it I've probably spent time there. My brothers moved around a lot, and my parents skipped out on us when we were little. It was just our way of moving on."
"When do you plan on leaving New York? Because I'd like to take you to dinner to uh, discuss some of the finer points of the settlement." Steffi smiled at him again, and he felt his hands start to tremble.
"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely Mr Kline," she said as she passed a card across the table. "Ring that number, and we can arrange a date, time and place."
When Steffi got back to the apartment, Phil was there already with Grace. She smiled at them both before going to the kitchen to make some coffee.
"You want anything from the kitchen honey?" Phil swallowed hard, knowing that soon he wouldn't hear her call him like that again.
"I'd love a cup of coffee or something, if that's alright with you."
"I wouldn't ask if you weren't going to receive," she replied. "Grace honey, fade in here with Mommy so you can pick what you want to go with your dinner." With that, the beautiful blonde child in Phil's arms disappeared, and could be heard making decisions for what she was going to have. He sighed, and moved some of his daughter's toys off of the coffee table in front of him. When he looked up again, Steffi was stood in front of him with a mug of hot coffee.
"You look troubled honey," she said softly, setting the coffee down in front of him and curling up next to him on the sofa. "What's on your mind?"
"That… you calling me 'honey', even though I'm paying someone to get you away from me. Hell, I'm even paying you to get Grace away from me."
"Oh, Phil," Steffi said, and she put a hand on his thigh. "You know as well as I do that's not how it is! I kept too much from you, and I couldn't expect you to understand any of it just like that. I shouldn't have expected you to, but I did, and I'm sorry for that." There was silence as Phil digested what she'd just said.
"If I said that I still loved you, and that I don't want a divorce, would it change anything?"
"That's a good question," Steffi said thoughtfully. "For me, it makes a lot of difference, but it also makes me wonder if it's you trying to understand me or you trying to get back in bed with me. But for what it's worth, I do still love you, and if we could take this damn divorce off the table then I would. I don't want Grace to grow up without a permanent father figure; I want pictures of you and her playing, and one of you and I at her graduation smiling and looking as in love as we do in our wedding pictures."
"You didn't love me at our wedding though."
"I loved you, and still do love you, more than you know."
"Mommee! Mommee!" A cry came from the kitchen. "S'getty! S'getty!"
"Are you gonna say that properly, sweetheart?" Steffi said as she got off the couch. "I don't know what 's'getty' is."
"Spaghetti," Grace said after a moment's struggle with the syllables. "Can I please have spaghetti?" Steffi looked down at her daughter adoringly and picked her up.
"Of course you may, darling! Would you like spaghetti hoops, or pasta, or long thin spaghetti?"
"Hoops, please!" Steffi kissed her daughter on the forehead, and set her back down on the ground.
"Hoops it is, then. Go and ask Daddy if he has time to eat before going to work." Grace ran off and Steffi pulled a can of spaghetti hoops out of the cupboard, tipping them into a saucepan and putting them on the hob. She looked at the saucepan for a moment, and thought how ironic it all was. Here she was, supposedly in the middle of a bitter divorce, cooking spaghetti hoops for her four year old daughter whilst she asked her father if he had time to eat before work. Grace came running back in with a big smile on her face.
"Daddy said he can stay for hoops! It's gonna be Mommy, Daddy, Gracie and hoops!" Steffi laughed.
"Okay, okay, enough with the hoops, munchkin! Don't forget you've got Mommy's special sausage and mash hedgehogs too! Go and set the table for me please hon." As Grace sped off again, Phil came into the kitchen.
"Don't run in the house, Grace! Look, Cam, what you said just now; did you mean it?"
"Of course I did! I love you so much, and this divorce is tearing me apart, but it's what you want so I have to accept that. And you know if I leave you now, it doesn't mean that I love you any less."
"Well, if you meant what you said then maybe a divorce isn't necessary. I still love you, whether I want to or not, and this idea of breaking up is killing me."
"S-so what do we do?" Steffi began to stir the hoops frantically, scared of his answer. Phil put a hand on her arm, stopping her, and smiled.
"I'm going to ring my lawyer first thing tomorrow and tell him that I'm no longer divorcing you. What are you going to tell yours?"
"That I'm not going to be available for that date he asked me out on; I'll be at home with my husband and two children."
"Two? Have you got double vision or something?" Steffi shook her head and moved his hand down to her stomach, grinning.
"I'm pregnant again… I found out earlier!"
A/N and Disclaimer: The only characters I own the rights to are Steffi, Phil and Grace.
Aww so they go from divorce to marital bliss and another child. Thank God these people aren't real; they would need some serious help.