ALTERNATE ENDING 1, CHAPTER 20
Tuesday Stef was able to get off from work early so she headed home to shower and change. She had to meet Mike at the Children's Exchange Center in an hour. The kids were still out with Lena's parents so she took a little time to have some alone time with Lena. They made out on the sofa for a while after Stef finished her shower.
"So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Lena said when they pulled back to get some air.
"Well we have kids, or parents, or all of the above here all the time. I figured I'll grab what I can get when the getting's good."
"Then come here woman," Lena grabbed Stef's blouse and pulled her closer into her.
"Mmmm. I love it when you call me woman." Stef purred before letting herself be dragged back to Lena.
After a few more minutes, the door opened and the kids and Lena's parents returned with plenty of wild stories. Stef had been lying on the side of Lena and now she sat all the way up and straightened her hair and clothing. She pulled Lena back up after her into a lounging position.
"Hi Mommy, Hi Lena," Stef noted that he went to Lena first and hugged and kissed her. She smiled happy that the two of them were getting close. She looked over at Callie who was already trying to climb up her Mama. She still wished Callie would be so open with her but she knew they had plenty of time. And things were getting better. Callie was even now allowing her to care for her without putting up fights every time. She was now allowed to bathe, feed, and dress her which was more than she got last week.
"Hi Callie," Stef smiled at the little girl. When she got nothing back, she turned to Brandon, "Hey buddy, we have to get going here in a minute so you're going to need to run up and change into the clothes I put on your bed. Remember, we've got an appointment to go to."
Stef had to take Brandon with her to the intake at the Child Exchange Center. Lena's parents were staying with her and Callie while she was gone. One of the nurses was also present.
After Brandon changed, Stef took him and got into the car. She had already briefed him on some of what was coming up. "Okay buddy, remember we talked about the new center? This is where your Daddy will pick you up at and then Mommy will come back later and get you."
"Yay! I get to see Daddy! Mommy does he know that we moved? Is that why I haven't seen my Daddy?" Brandon asked frowning.
Brandon hadn't seen Mike since long before they moved but Stef decided to overlook that. "Yes, Daddy knows that we moved but, you're not going to visit with him today. It'll be set up for another day. Right now we're going to a meeting so we can see the place. And remember what we talked about?" When he looked puzzled , she continued, "We're going to keep where we moved a secret remember bud? You're not to tell Daddy the address."
"Why Mommy?" Brandon asked. Thankfully they pulled up to the entrance gates into the Exchange Center right at that moment and Brandon got distracted staring at the place. Once they drove up to the front of the center, Brandon got excited just looking at the play structures that were visible from the side.
Stef was also impressed. The place wasn't going to be intimidating as she had feared. She had been a little worried about the gates thinking that they might be overwhelming to a little boy. But, Lena's parents lived in a gated community so Brandon had gotten used to that aspect of security.
Stef had arrived at the Children's Exchange Center 20 minutes before Orientation time. This was explained to her as a part of the precautions that are taken to ensure safety for all parties. It was Mike's job to arrive 5 minutes later. Because this was a mutual decision, they would be allowed face to face time but, there was still a large part of the orientation that was individual.
They started with a tour for Brandon and Stef. There were 2 large outside playgrounds with picnic tables out back and to the side. There were 6 family rooms, an Art & Music room that Brandon was already in love with, a kitchen, Snack Shoppe, and a community room, with creative and fun themes. The family room themes included turtles, sports, sea, planet, teen games, and an infant and toddler place. There was a long Wizard of Oz hallway with a yellow brick road leading up to the Emerald City! Stef was pleased and impressed.
Stef had been a little worried about Brandon's experience to the center but he took to it quickly. The monitoring staff were experienced and he happily settled in one of the activity rooms while Stef went off to finish the orientation.
The orientation meeting took over an hour and a half. Stef was thrilled it was finally over. There had been tons of paperwork and Mike had of course arrived late. He tried to run roughshod over the meeting but the experience of the staff shined through again. He was quickly admonished and made to understand that this was his final warning before more drastic measures were taken.
Before Stef could leave, Mike stopped her. "What Mike?" Stef asked impatiently.
"Look, I just wanted to say I get it. I still think this is a little overboard but I'm okay with it."
"Great Mike, see ya later." Stef was irritated by his assumption that she needed his approval so she just turned and started to walk away again.
"Stef, wait."
"What?!" Her irritation was on the verge of rising to anger.
Mike shifted nervously from foot to foot. "I really need to talk to you. Can you just give me a few minutes? "
"Spit it out Mike!" Stef was already irritated.
"I just wanted to give you this. And to say thank you." He handed her a thick envelope of cash. "It's not everything but, it's all I have for now."
"Thanks," Stef got up to leave. But, again he stopped her.
Mike hung his head and took a deep breath. "I'm moving. I don't really need the big apartment since you and Brandon aren't coming home." Stef avoided eye contact with him and he continued, "I sold my car too. I won't be needing one in prison for the next 10 years. I'm leaving the apartment at the end of this month. I was going to have a garage sale and get rid of as much as possible this weekend. I was thinking Friday would be a good day for you to come by and pick up whatever you wanted to keep."
Stef felt bad for Mike but knew that it was out of her hands. She took a deep breath, "Yeah, I guess I can stop by after work and see what's left." They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes more. When it looked like there was nothing more coming, Stef said her goodbyes, "Take care of yourself Mike."
After picking up Brandon and getting into her car, Stef counted through the bills. Mike had managed to come up with $10000. That would at least cover the cost of an engagement ring.
When they got into the car, Stef decided some Mommy and me time was in order for her and Brandon. She let him choose a place to eat. After they ordered their meals they talked about the Exchange Center. Brandon told her about all the fun things he had done and Stef listened with joy. She was glad that Brandon wasn't going to have to experience anymore upheaval. He, like Callie had had a lot of upset in his young life lately and Stef was glad he was adjusting well. She made a mental note to thank Lena for the idea of the Exchange Center. It was going to work out better than Stef had thought.
As they were leaving, Stef got an idea. "Hey, B, do you think you can keep a secret for Mommy?"
"Yeah Mommy. I'm the best secret keeper in the world. I didn't even tell when me and Callie don't really go right to bed like you tell us to. Sometimes we wait until your door closes and get out of bed and play. Or when Callie doesn't want to finish her food and so she hides it under the table, or when me and Callie made videos with the movie camera. Or the time that Callie broke Lena's makeup and then threw it behind the sofa. I'm so good at secrets. I never tell any of our secrets."
Stef didn't bother telling him that they were aware of Callie throwing her food under the table because they had to sweep after eating. She and Lena could also hear the kids giggling and playing after they had just put them to bed. Lena had also told Stef about Callie's hiding places underneath the mattress and behind the sofa. They had to routinely be cleaned out. The video camera was a new one though. She figured she'd check it out when she got home.
Stef was beginning to rethink bothering to let him in on this one but figured even if he did spill the beans, it would still work out. "Well, this one is like a family secret. I'm going to ask Lena to marry me. I thought, if you wanted to, you could help me pick out a ring for her. How does that sound?"
She took his beaming as a yes and headed off to a jewelry store she knew was open late. They finally came across the perfect 2 karat diamond for Lena. She also found some gorgeous wedding rings for the two of them. They were of a simple elegant white gold design. They were classic and regal just like Lena. They were perfect.
They got home and Brandon couldn't stop giggling. Finally Lena asked him what was so funny and Stef had to drag him off to his bath to get him to calm down. She had to redirect him to telling what he had done with his Grandparents earlier so that she could get Callie bathed and ready for bed. She put them both to bed shortly thereafter.
On the way back down to Lena, she grabbed the video camera and brought it downstairs with her.
"What's that for?" Lena asked while she hooked it up to the TV.
Stef looked over in her direction and answered her while laughing, "Brandon couldn't wait to tell me how well he keeps secrets like where Callie's hiding places are or about the two of them playing instead of going to bed. He mentioned that he and Callie had been making videos and I thought we could check them out."
Stef sat behind Lena and pulled her close to her so that she was resting against her. She and Lena laughed and enjoyed the videos the kids had made. There were some of them with sunglasses on and music playing in the background doing off-beat dancing that looked more like bouncing around. There were some of Brandon banging on his keyboard with Callie on her guitar singing off key. There were also some really weird out of focus ones of the kids arguing and shushing one another while telling each other they were going to tell on the other. They burned the videos to disk and made copies to give as gifts to the Grandparents. They figured this secret was one they could blackmail them with years later when they were older.
Stef and Lena went to bed shortly thereafter. Stef turned Lena so that she could spoon her. They both fell asleep pretty quickly.