Dinner, Nightmares, and Baby Names

Dinner conversation began with Dotty asking, "Amanda, did you really ask Lee to marry you?"

"Yes I did, Mother, but I did it to prove a point. I have had so many people tell me that I am in some way not being a responsible adult by being pregnant and not married. I know how Lee feels about me but I also know that he isn't any more ready for marriage than I am. I thought if I at least got the question out of the way then everyone would just be quiet about it."

"Why ask him if you wanted him to say no, Mom?"

"Jamie, you might not understand this but I wanted him to say no because I never want Lee to feel he has to do anything he isn't ready for." Looking to Lee she said, "Jamie, would you want Lee to be around all the time as my husband and your step father if he wasn't ready for that?"

"No, I mean, I like having you around Lee, but only because you act like you want to be with us, not just mom."

"I do like being around all of you, but I want to get to know you guys and your grandmother better. Not to mention your mother and I are still trying to get this dating thing right. I mean it is never easy to date someone you work with, we have to separate our time out of work with when we are at work."

The rest of dinner consisted of Lee and the Colonel catching up. Amanda and Dotty refereeing the boys as Phillip tried to get Jamie to hurry up and finish eating so they could still have time to play. Once they were gone the Colonel turned his attention to Amanda.

"Mrs. King, I would like to apologize for my behavior earlier. I never meant any disrespect to you or my nephew in speaking of your lack of responsibilities to one another in this matter."

"Oh, Colonel, you aren't the first one to say that Lee and I were irresponsible. It didn't offend me in the least."

"Well, it sure as hell offended me. How are you so calm and at ease with all the things that have been said about you since this became public knowledge around work, the boys' school, your neighborhood?" Lee steamed.

"Lee, why should I get mad at what some people, that has no control over my life, say? Yes, I admit that I was hurt by the way Mother took the news, but she was just as shocked as we were, but she overcame it and is now very happy. I am a divorced woman, with two children, who was very attracted to a wonderful man, and as luck would have it was attracted to me as well. I am no way sorry that I am having his baby and if people want to have an opinion about my life than they can, it will be their faults not mine or yours. I am very proud to be having your baby."

"I love you, you know that right?" Lee said as he leaned in to kiss her.

"I do and I love you." Amanda said as she kissed him back.

Forty minutes later the boys showed up, loaded with tickets to turn in for prizes. Amanda and Lee went over to the counter with the boys to help them pick their prizes out.

"Your nephew is a very special man. I am glad Amanda and Lee found one another."

"Well, I just hope my nephew doesn't mess it up. Your daughter is a very nice lady." Robert stated flatly.

"Why do you think Lee would mess it up?" Dotty asked in confusion.

"His track record, for one, he really isn't known for sticking around. Although, I would have to say that I would like to see him prove me wrong with this one."

Taking his extended arm Dotty laughed and said, "Records were meant to be broken, Colonel, I think he just might prove you wrong."

Lee walked Amanda and the boys to the car opening the door for her. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"No, I'm off work for the next two days. Why don't you take this time and spend it with your uncle? I think the two of you need this time together. I don't have another doctor's appointment for a couple of weeks."

"Are you telling me to stay out of your life for two weeks? You know that isn't going to happen, right?"

"No, all I am saying is that your uncle is going to be in town for a while and you should spend some time with him."

Hugging her close he said, "Okay, I can do that. At least I got to feel her kick today." He said rubbing his hand over Amanda's abdomen. At his touch, the baby started to move again making Lee smile brightly.

"She knows me."

"Of course, every girl knows her daddy's touch. You think it is a girl?"

"I think it is a girl and will be extremely surprised if it is not. I have a ton of Karma just waiting to kick in and God I hear has a sense of humor."

Lee told the boys and Dotty goodnight then leaned in for a kiss from Amanda before shutting her door for her. He walked to his car and left the parking lot, heading toward back toward the city.

"You know you are going to be in town for a while, you could stay with me, and I have an extra room."

"That is okay, the hearings I am going to are close to my hotel. I would like to spend some time with you if you want while I am in town."

"That would be great. I would like that, Sir."

Three nights after the family dinner, Amanda tossed and turned as she once again had the nightmare where Lee was raising their daughter and her sons with another woman. The screams woke everyone in the house and had them running into her room to make sure she was okay.

"Amanda! Amanda, wake up." Dotty said as Amanda continued to toss and turn.

Hearing the fear in his mother's cries, Phillip picked up the phone and dialed Lee's number, not knowing who else to call. "Lee, Mom is having nightmares, she won't stop crying."

"I'll be right there." Lee sat down the file he was going over and put on his shoes while grabbing his keys. Ten minutes later Lee was walking in the door, taking the stairs two at a time until he reached the top. He heard Amanda telling the boys to go back to bed that she was fine.

"Amanda, what is going on? Phillip called me worried about you." Coming into the boy's room where she was covering Jamie up.

"Lee, I'm sorry. It was just a bad dream. I'm fine really. Haven't you ever had a nightmare before?" She walked over to Phillip and gave him a kiss before pulling his covers over him.

"Momma, you have nightmares a lot lately. I was scared, am I in trouble for calling Lee?" Phillip asked.

Smiling, Amanda stroked his hair and said, "No, but I wish you would have waited before calling. Lee could have been working."

"I wasn't working. This latest film is at a standstill for the time being." Lee was checking on Jamie while Amanda continued to talk with Phillip. "You okay, Jamie?"

Whispering Jamie said, "Yeah, I'm fine. It just gets scary hearing her scream like that. It is happening a lot more often."

"How often does she have nightmares?" Lee asked in hushed tones so as not to be heard.

"At least three nights a week, worse the times you are on location."

"I know I was on location a lot before but I haven't been on location for weeks now. All my assignments have been local. Does she say what they are about?"

"No, she doesn't talk about it. She just tells us she is fine and sends us back to bed."

"Okay, I'll see if I can help. Get some sleep, Sport."

Lee checked on Phillip before heading down the hall to Amanda's room to wait as Amanda checked on her mother. She shut the door and turned the bedside lamp on. "I'm so sorry Phillip called you."

"Don't be, I wasn't sleeping. I had only been home about an hour anyway. This latest case is crazy."

"You look tired." She said as she sat on the bed facing Lee as he paced in front of her.

"I am, but I'm more worried about you. What was your nightmare about?" He asked as he looked toward her.

Shaking her head and looking downward she brushed off his question, "It was nothing. It was just a dream, they aren't real."

"No, they might not be real but they do represent something. Does this have anything to do with our jobs and what we do? Do you want to tell your family the truth about it?"

"No, no, I am not ready for them to know what we really do. The dream…" She began biting her nails.

"…nightmare." Lee interjected as he sat taking her hands in his own.

"The nightmare has nothing to do with work. It is silly really." Amanda leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Amanda, if it is so silly than just tell me about it. Maybe if you talk about it, you will stop having nightmares."

"It is only the same one, over and over." He could hear the frustration in her voice.

Seeing his face she knew he wouldn't give up, taking a deep breath she said, "Okay fine I'll tell you." Placing her hands over her abdomen she slowly started explaining to Lee. "It is like I am just observing, no one sees me. I am in a bedroom, watching this little girl color. You come in, talk to her, she gives you a hug and calls you Daddy. She drew a family picture and wants to show Mommy only it isn't me in the kitchen making dinner, it is someone else."

The tears begin to fall from her eyes as she continues, "She calls her Mommy and then you send her out to play with her brothers, Phillip and Jamie. They just have raked a big pile of leaves that she jumps in and they yell at her. It is what they yell that shocks me the most, they call her Amanda. It is like you named her that because I wasn't there for her."

Lee pulled her into his arms and held her as she cried. After a few minutes he said, "Hey, I can see where you might have had those fears in the beginning, with your history. Everything is going fine this time though. I know we have those tests next week, are you worried about the tests?"

"No, I understand why I have to have amniocenteses, because I took my birth control for so long after I became pregnant. I understand that is going to be uncomfortable. What if I have harmed our baby, Lee? What if I did something that will not let her or him have the life they should?"

"Well, we deal with it and make the necessary adjustments. If he or she needs extra care then we get it. We are going to love this child no matter if it is one hundred percent or not. I am more worried that you think you won't be here to see our child grow up."

"Why else would you name her Amanda if I wasn't here?" Amanda accused him.

Pulling her closer he said, "You are here and you are going to be here to see her or him grow and color pictures for you to cover the fridge, just like you do with Phillip and Jamie. Do you know we haven't even talked about names for the baby? We are going to have to name her something."

Lee adjusted his hold on her, slipping his shoes off to get more comfortable with her in his arms. He rubbed her arms and spoke softly making her laugh at some of the wild combinations of names he came up with.

"There is Josephine Marie, Emily Ann, Elizabeth Dorthea, Jacob Daniel, Lester William, oh, wait, I know, Franklin Wilkes." Amanda laughed harder the more names he put together.

She still laughed as she told him, "We could name her after Francine."

"Why would we name our daughter after Francine?" The thought of it made Lee raise his eyebrow at her.

"I don't know, she is a pretty good friend, even though she shows it in a rather odd way." Amanda defended.

"Do you really want your daughter to be named Francine Stetson?" Lee pointed out.

"Oh, I see your point, but the names you came up with have to be just to make me laugh. You can't be serious about those names are you? I was thinking that if we had a boy we could name him Matthew Hamilton, and if we had a girl we could name her Victoria Lee."

"Amanda, all those names has a meaning to me, what do they mean to you?"

"Well, I think if we had a son it would be nice to honor your parents by giving him their names. Since Jennifer isn't a very good name for a boy, I went with her maiden name. Your name is Lee and that is very special to me, but I always liked the name Victoria ever since I played her for that case."

"I remember that case, I almost lost you then."

"I'm still here as you keep reminding me."

"I love those names. I think that they work very nicely. So, we know what we are going to name our child." Lee began to yawn and settled closer to Amanda. Amanda snuggled closer into Lee as they continued to talk late into the night.

Amanda and Lee was awaken as Phillip and Jamie shook them asking, "Can one of you please come and make our lunch for school. Grandma isn't back from her walk yet and the bus will be here soon. She told us to let you two keep on sleeping, but she isn't back yet."

"Okay, I got it." They both said sleepily and in unison. Sitting up in bed they looked at the other and realized that Lee had spent the entire night in her bed.