Chapter Fifty

"Happy birthday, Mikey!" Fran strolled into our small back yard with a big smile on her face. On her arm was her boyfriend, Henry. He was a truck driver, a friendly sort with a big smile. He was away a lot on the road but that suited Fran well as a lover of her own space.

"Thank you, Grandma Fran!" Mikey excitedly took his present from her and Fran rolled her eyes skyward.

"All these years I was careful not to have babies and end up a Grandma. Hell, I became one anyway!"

I smiled and gave Fran and Henry a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Henry, hey Fran! You guys want a beer?" Gordie called from over the near barbecue. He and Mr Lachance were cooking up burgers and hot dogs while Mrs Lachance and Sarah, Gordie's girlfriend, were delivering plates to people.

"Beer for me!" yelled Eyeball from where he lay in the sunshine. He and Charlie had been freed from jail just four months ago but it was like either of them had never been away.

"You can get your own, Chambers," Gordie shouted back.

Eyeball muttered an obscenity while he got to his feet.

"Hey, Uncle Richie, you wanna play?" Mikey had just unwrapped Fran's gift, a new football and Eyeball grinned affably.

"Sure, kid. Let me just grab a beer."

"You are not tossing a football while drinking a beer with him!" Mrs Chambers protested loudly. "Drink the beer after. It's his birthday."

Despite grumbling, Eyeball did as he was asked.

"Hey Charlie, you wanna play with us?" Mikey asked Charlie Hogan, who was sitting on a stool by the back step.

"Why not?" Charlie stood up. "Come on, Vince. Get your ass up."

I stood with my can of pepsi watching the once Cobra's toss a football with my son. And I realised it wouldn't really have mattered who Mikey's Dad was. The Cobra's would have been here anyway. He was Ace's son or Eyeball's nephew. The Lachances hadn't been big fans of Ace but they loved Mikey regardless. And me these days. Same as Fran and Gordie did.

The only person I had really worried for was Mrs Chambers. She had lost her son and her husband in less than a month. I was terrified she was going to take it badly if Mikey wasn't Chris'.

I had knocked on her door nervously with the letter from the lab clutched in my sweaty palm, waiting for her to appear. The house smelled of baking and Gordie had tidied up the front garden for her. The little house felt homely.

"It came." I told her. "I know who the father is."

It felt only right to hand her the letter. Besides I couldn't say the words out loud.

Mrs Chambers looked down at the envelope before she hesitated.

"Did I force you into this, Nina? If I did, I'm sorry."

Granted she had been the driving force of my decision but she hadn't made me get Mikey tested. The truth was we all needed to know.

"No, M'am."

"Well, I just want to tell you something. No matter what it says, I have grown to love that little boy in the last few weeks. And I was fond of Ace- you know he didn't have a mother around. So if Mikey isn't Chris'…well if you'd allow me I'd still like to be his grandma."

Her words melted me and I gave her a huge hug before she pulled the sheet of paper out of the envelope.

"Ohh!" Her hands went to mouth and her eyes filled up with tears.

I watched the same emotions cross her face that had crossed mine. Guilt, loss, disappointment for Mikey who only knew Ace as a father. And that bitter sweet truth that although really Mikey was a Chambers, Chris would never know it.

"So how's the house hunting going?" Fran asked Gordie and Sarah.

"Okay," Gordie acknowledged. "Well, it would be, if Sarah would go ahead and choose somewhere already."

"It's got to be right!" Sarah protested.

"Perfect is what you mean," Gordie muttered.

"Perfect and within walking distance of here." She rolled her eyes.

"Walking distance, huh?" I raised an eyebrow. "You gonna miss me or something, Lachance?"

Gordie snorted and took a swig of his beer.

"I'll miss Mikey."

But he was grinning, and so was I. I would miss him living with us but it was time for me to stand on my own two feet. Gordie had given up enough of his life for us.

"Hey, little Chambers, go long!" Charlie yelled at Mikey.

Eyeball elbowed him. "It's Merrill-Chambers, dumb ass! You're getting him all confused."

"Oh, I'm getting him confused? Nothing to do with the game of musical daddies?"

Thankfully Eyeball punched Charlie before I could. Charlie rubbed the offended spot and glared over at me.

"So what are you calling yourself these days, Nina? You back to Willis?"

"Nope, im sticking with Mikey's name. Meriil-Chambers."

Charlie shook his head almost disgustedly.

"You got a problem with that?" Gordie called loudly across the lawn. He was sitting with Teddy and Vern who had presented Mikey with a water pistol and a catapult that had been quickly confiscated.

I notice the glares that passed between Chris' friends and Charlie but Charlie looked away first.

I wandered over to the barbecue to cool off some.

"I could put extra chilli sauce on his hot dog," Gordie offered.

"I could stick his fucking head in the grill," Teddy said from behind us.

"Teddy!" Mrs Lachance reprimanded but when Mr Lachance laughed, she couldn't hide her smile.

"I dont care what he says," I said. "You guys are here, Fran is here, Ace's friends are here and the Chambers are here. Mikey gets an amazing family no matter who he really belongs to."

"Mikey belongs to all of us," Mrs Lachance said.

I gave her a big hug and watched my son throw his football between the guys. Gordie , Teddy and Vern wandered over to join in and I wondered if we would have had such a reunion if either Chris or Ace were alive. The Chambers sure wouldn't be here, Ace wouldn't have allowed it. And Chris and the Cobra's weren't exactly on friendly terms either. It seemed with both Chris and Ace gone there was no feud anymore- no tug of war. Sure, Teddy Vern and Gordie would never be Cobra enthusiasts but everybody was here for my son,

"Mama," Mikey tugged at my dress and he looked up at me with sad blue eyes. "I miss my daddy. Both of em."

I bent down to eye level with him.

"I know, baby. But look, your daddies sent their friends over from where they are in heaven. Just for you. Look how lucky you are."

Mikey grinned at me and gave me a sticky hug.

"Hey Mikey," Eyeball yelled. "Are you playing or are you winking at the ladies?"

"Both." Mikey grinned in a way that reminded me of Ace. "Go long, Eyeball, or you'll be running to the state line."

Everybody roared with laughter at the line that Mikey had picked up from Gordie.

"Oh! Trash talk, huh?" Eyeball called.

The Cobras laughed as Mikey hauled the ball at him.

I sat down on the back step, watching the sun begin to set in the distance.

"You think they'd be happy for us, Gordie?"

"I know they are," Gordie said."I think Chris and Ace would be equally delighted at seeing Eyeball beaten the shit out of by a six year old."

We laughed the laugh of old friends and I leaned my head against his shoulder. Gordie wrapped his arm around me as we watched Mikey run the length of the yard with the guys pretending to lunge for him and miss.

"He's happy right?"

"Super happy," Gordie agreed. "Everybody is."

"What about you?"

"I'm just glad you're finally happy. You deserved a happy ending."

"It's not how I planned it."

"No, but its what you created. Without Ace, or Chris or anybody. You stood and you dealt. I'm proud of you, Willis. And you'll always be Willis to me."

"Thanks, Gordo."

And drinking my bottle of pepsi on that warm spring day I suddenly felt vindicated. Not because anything had changed or because people's attitudes about me had. I saw the looks I got from the neighbours. Everybody knew that I'd married one man but been in love with another. But I had built Mikey's safe little world piece by piece, day by day. I'd learned to ignore whatever the outside world thought of me. All that mattered was my little boy's happiness.

And for that, both Chris Chambers and Ace Merrill would have been proud of me.

888

THE END.

A.N: Thank you so much to everybody who read and reviewed!