Chapter Nine: My Girl

True to her word, Sam was home at 8am. Tony had gotten showered and dressed and made coffee already. He was working on a picnic lunch when his daughter walked in.

"Hey Sam." He greeted her with a hug and a kiss. "Did you and Marci stay up late last night?"

"No, I actually fell asleep during Falcon Crest."

"Falcon Crest?! That's not a show for kids," he protested.

Mona walked in just then. "I suppose you prefer her to watch the soap opera happening in her own home?" she asked, putting a conspiratorial arm around the girl.

Samantha stifled a giggle. Tony glared at Mona while she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Angela walked in wearing a red satin robe tied high over her belly. "Good morning, sweetheart." Sam threw her arms around her waist and looked up at her with a smile. "Good morning, Mother," she said, as she stroked Sam's hair.

"No 'good morning' for Tony? Or have you already seen each other today?" Mona asked pointedly.

"Who wants breakfast?" Tony asked.

"I had French toast at Marci's."

"Just juice and coffee," Angela replied out of habit. "I mean juice and toast," she corrected herself.

"I actually made a brunch date, so I can't go up to camp," Mona said. "I stopped by around six-thirty last night to tell you, Angela, but nobody was around."

"Mona, are you sure? I talked to both of them on the phone at seven," Sam volunteered.

"Uh, we had just gotten home from the city when you called, Sam." Tony said.

"The jag was in the driveway when I came over," Mona added. "Funny that nobody seemed to be home."

"Enough," Tony said through clenched teeth. Sam was giggling again. "So juice and toast? Do you think you could eat a hard-boiled egg, Angela?"

"I'll try." Her morning sickness was mostly gone, but she just wasn't a breakfast person. Years of delaying her first daily meal until she was famished, then loading up on late night snacks, had rewired her brain when it came to hunger. Even at the motel, she hadn't been hungry in the morning, despite consuming only a couple hundred calories, and working them off, the night before.

Mona excused herself, and let the little family prepare to bring home their missing member.

The trio piled into the station wagon for another trip to camp. Tony drove, only stopping once for Angela to use the restroom. He let Sam get a ginger ale at the gas station, since she was feeling queasy from reading magazines in the back seat. When they reached camp, she bounded up to Jonathan's cabin while the adults walked hand in hand behind her. He answered her knock at the door. "Sam!"

"Jonathan, you have missed out on so much," she told him.

"Like what?" he asked.

"My dad and your mom have it bad for each other," she said, jumping up and down and clapping.

"Have what?" Jonathan asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Angela and Tony walked into the cabin. She dropped his hand and bent down to hug her son.

"You've got to feel the baby move, loser. Everyone else has," Sam taunted.

"Samantha! That wasn't very nice."

"Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Jonathan."

"Honey, you'll get a chance soon. The baby's only moving a little bit, usually just when there's music," Angela explained.

"Let's try," Tony suggested. He cleared his throat and began singing "I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May."

"It's not going to work, Tony," Angela insisted, though she couldn't suppress her smile.

He took her in his arms and started swaying and shuffling side to side. "I guess you'd say. What can make me feel this way? My girl, my girl, my girl."

"See?" Sam nudged Jonathan. Their parents were looking into each other's eyes. If they had been characters in a movie, they would have started kissing, Sam thought to herself. She was surprised she hadn't caught them with their lips together, considering all the little moments they had been sharing. They were clearly in love, as she had told Marci the night before, when she vacated the house to allow them some privacy before Jonathan came home.

"Oh! Come here, darling." She pressed Jonathan's hand to her belly.

"I don't feel anything!" he complained.

"Keep singing, Tony," she ordered.

"Talking 'bout my girl. My girl. I've got so much honey, the bees envy me."

Jonathan yanked his hand back at the sensation. "Eww, mom. That was weird."

"That's your little sister, Jonathan!" she cried out in hurt and aggravation.

"Angela, I thought we weren't going to tell them yet," Tony hissed.

"Oops!" she said, covering her mouth.

"A girl? This is so exciting!" Sam gushed.

"There are already too many girls in this family!" Jonathan complained, storming out of the cabin.

Tony and Angela looked at each other. "Let me talk to him," he insisted, heading outside. "Jonathan?" he called. "Where are you?"

"Up here, Tony." Jonathan was sitting on a sturdy tree limb about six feet off the ground.

"I think you upset your mom, pal. She wants you to be happy about the baby."

"Who cares? She's going to forget all about me once it's born."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, genuinely not understanding.

"Mom loves Sam. Before you moved in, she just had me."

"Your mom does love Sam, but that doesn't mean she loves you any less."

"She's going to have a real daughter soon, and she won't need me or Sam anymore."

"Oh. Jonathan, that's not true. It doesn't work that way. Why don't you come down?"

"How does it work, then?" He scampered off the sturdy branch and into Tony's arms. Tony stayed in a crouch after setting the boy on the ground.

"Well, there's a saying that goes 'love doesn't divide, it multiplies' and that means when new people come into your life, your capacity for love grows." He paused to see if his words were sinking in. "You know, for a long time, it was just Sam and me, and then I met you. I don't love her any less because I love you, too. And I won't love either of you any less when the baby comes. Neither will your mom."

Jonathan considered Tony's explanation. "What about my dad? Mom stopped loving him when you moved in."

"No, she didn't. She just couldn't be married to him anymore. She's always going to love him for giving her the best gift ever."

"What's that?" Jonathan asked.

"You, buddy!" Tony exclaimed. "Now do you think we can go back in and see your mom?"

"OK." They went back to the cabin, where Angela was boring Sam to tears with a long-winded recollection from her childhood. "Hi Mom. I'm sorry for what I said before."

She embraced her little boy, "It's ok, sweetheart. I know this is an adjustment for you."

"Can we go home now? I miss Grandma and my snake," he said.

School started after Labor Day, and the kids returned easily to their routine. Sam was in junior high now and had gotten new clothes in a bid for popularity. She was also excited to be turning thirteen in a couple of weeks.

"When am I going to meet your new friends, Sam?" Tony asked, setting a glass of milk down in front of her on the kitchen table.

"Soon, Dad. I promise. It's just that they keep wanting me to come to their houses."

Jonathan came through the swinging door holding a football and asked, "Sam, will you play with me?"

"Sure, pipsqueak!"

"Finish your snacks first," Tony admonished, setting two plates of apple slices in front of the kids.

Mona came in through the back door. "Tony, can you run some flashcards with me? I have an exam coming up on implicit bias in my decision-making class."

"No problem, Mone."

"Sounds boring," Sam decided. "Let's go, Jonathan," she called before stuffing three apple slices into her mouth.

Jonathan attempted to do the same but ended up choking and spitting apple onto his plate. Tony patted him on the back. "Just go," he said, pointing to the back door. "I'll clean this up."

"Bulimic just like his mom," Mona muttered, sitting down and pulling a stack of index cards from her bag.

"What?" Tony snapped as he swept stray apple bits from the table.

"You didn't know?" Mona asked incredulously.

"No. I've been to her doctor's appointments and everything. She never mentioned it."

"Tony, how do you think she inhales entire pans of brownies and never gains a pound?" Mona inquired. "Pregnancy is the only time she really feels free to eat normally."

"Am I making things worse, baking for her?" he asked, dumping the contents of the plate and setting it in the sink.

"No, it's probably better that she can eat in front of you. With Michael, she would binge in secret and start fights to get him to leave so she could purge."

"Wow. I just had no idea."

"She doesn't want you to think less of her, Tony. I bet she'll confide in you when the issue comes up again. Just be kind when she does."

"Yeah, ok."

"Now drill me," she said, handing over the stack of cards.

"Can I see that one?" Tony asked the salesperson. He had already chosen a locket for Sam's thirteenth birthday and had moved on to engagement rings.

"Twenty-three hundred dollars, sir," she said, handing him the diamond solitaire.

"Do you have anything cheaper?" he asked, handing the beautiful ring back.

"Would you consider another style? These eternity bands start at two-hundred eighty-nine dollars."

The rings were sparkly and simple. Elegant in a way he found fitting for Angela. "Do you have a payment plan?" he asked.

"We can break it into four installments," she offered. They weren't supposed to finance purchases under a thousand dollars, but she could force the sale through the system and deal with the reprimand from her manager later.

"That I can do!" he said with relief. Eternity sounded right to his ears. It wouldn't be traditional like a solitaire, but there was nothing traditional about their relationship to begin with.

Angela started training VPs to take over her work during maternity leave. Everyone except Jim Peterson was eager to help with stretch assignments. Rosie would be coordinating all the tasks to ensure nothing fell through the cracks. She had been remarkably discreet about the increasing number of calls her boss got from her housekeeper.

"Rosie, I have to thank you for all the extra work you've been doing to help me prepare for maternity leave."

"No problem, boss!" Rosie replied cheerfully.

"Look, I know there are a lot of rumors going around…."

"Your personal life is not relevant to anyone at this company. That's what I tell anyone I catch gossiping."

"I appreciate that. But I want you to know…."

"It's none of my business."

"Tony is not the father of my baby. My ex-husband Michael is."

"I understand. But just so you know, I'm aware your husband wasn't around much, and I wouldn't have blamed you. Tony is a cutie and a real nice guy," Rosie explained. "And boy oh boy does he love you. Did you know he calls almost every afternoon just to make sure you've eaten lunch? Doesn't want to bother you because he says he knows you're busy and important."

"Really?"

"I saw him kiss you in your car. Don't worry, I was alone. I'm sure nobody else knows."

"We didn't start seeing each other until after my divorce was final."

"I believe you! Anyone who thinks there was anything shady going on doesn't know you."

Angela made a note to get Rosie an extra-special gift out of her own pocket in addition to a Christmas bonus from the company.

Wendy called Angela one evening to make sure she was planning to attend the first PTA meeting of the year. She took the call upstairs and asked if Tony could come along to the meeting. "Yes, of course. How could I turn down the chance to see that fine tush in one of our crappy folding chairs?"

"About 'that fine tush,' there's something I need to tell you," Angela began.

"Oh my god. Did you grab it?" Wendy interrogated. "Tell me you grabbed it!"

"Well, as a matter of fact…."

"Angela! You little devil! When?"

"On my birthday, just like you told me to," Angela said, deflecting responsibility for her actions.

"That was months ago! What happened? He's still there, so he must not have been too upset."

"Well, we…kind of…fooled around."

"Just that once?" Wendy pressed.

"You should be a cop, Wendy. No, it's happened more than once. In fact, we're kind of seeing each other now." Angela couldn't help but smile while she delivered the good news.

Wendy screamed. Fortunately, she was holding the receiver away from her mouth. "This is fabulous! I'm so happy for you!"

"There's something else. I've been avoiding Joanne Parker like the plague, but she's going to know the minute she sees me, and then everyone in town is going to know," Angela rambled.

"Did you get a boob job? I heard you got a boob job."

"Ha! Not quite, but I am five months pregnant."

"Oh, wow." Wendy did the math in her head. "Is it Michael's?" she asked.

"Yep. I'm afraid I'm about to be issued a scarlet letter," Angela sighed.

"Getting pregnant by your husband and then seeing someone after your divorce does not make you the town whore. That job is already filled by Diane Wilmington."

"Thanks, Wendy. We'll see you at the meeting," Angela wrapped up. "Oh, and if you talk to Isabel, just tell her everything. I don't have it in me to explain again."