Karen let out a deep sigh. “Mommy, when did you know Poppa Patrick was the one?
“Ah, it is serious. I think we need to discuss this over ice cream. You got any over there?”
Chuckling, Karen said, “I sure do.”
“Good. Get yourself a nice big bowl and I’m going to do the same.”
Each woman went to her fridge to prepare her treat as Donna talked.
“Well, that’s really hard to say because I gave that man a hard way to go. I did everything I knew to do to keep him away from me. The poor man would knock on my door with flowers, rake the leaves in my yard, offer to take me to dinner and I was so cold to him.”
“Aw, Mommy that’s such a shame,” Karen said, feeling sorry for Patrick.
Donna sucked her teeth. “Don’t go feeling sorry for your stepfather. The man had the tenacity of a bull dog.” Donna paused to take a spoon of ice cream before continuing. “I guess I knew he was the one for me because he never gave up on pursuing me. I really knew, I mean really knew he was the one when I laid out every aspect of my life to him. I told him about my failed marriage, how I attempted suicide, how I abandoned you girls and all but pushed you out of my life.”
By this point in the conversation Karen could hear her mom tearing up which caused her eyes to water, too. She knew this was difficult for her mother to bring up. Although she and Starr both assured their mother they understood why she had to take such drastic measures, it still haunted Donna.
“Mommy don’t do—”
“Shh, baby, don’t interrupt me. I need to get this out,” Donna gently chided. “I felt like the worse mother, worse person in the world. After listening to my story, Patrick still wanted me. He even talked me into talking to a counselor and reaching out to you and Starr. It just so happened that your fast behind sister beat me to the punch when she and Kevin showed up on my doorstep.”
Karen burst out laughing, Donna joining in with her. “Now tell me what’s going on with you.”
Swirling the spoon around in her ice cream, Karen began to tell her mother about Dom and his pursuit of her for months. “Mommy he’s so good with the kids and they adore him.” Donna couldn’t help but to laugh when Karen shared with her how the children put her on the spot by pleading with her to ask Dom over for their own special holiday.
“Well did you ask him?”
“I did.”
“And what did he say?”
The smile in Karen’s voice was clear as a church bell ringing on a sunny Sunday morning. “He agreed and said he wouldn’t want to be any other place but with me and the kids.”
“Hmm, Dom sounds like he wants a future with you and your children.”
“I know. But Mommy, I’m so scared. What if things don’t work out?”
Hearing the uncertainty in her daughter’s voice made Donna wish she was there to hold her. “Baby, do you feel in your heart Dom is a good man?”
“Yes.”
“Do you feel that he would do anything to intentionally hurt you or the children?”
“Of course not,” Karen all but snapped.
“Okay, I’m going to let that little outburst slide because you have some issues of the heart going on,” Donna teased.
Karen laughed. “Sorry Momma Bear.”
“Apology accepted. Now one last question, if Dom had turned the kids’ offer down to spend Christmas Eve with you guys as a family, would that have bothered you?”
Wow, what a loaded question. Yes, it would have bothered her something awful. A tiny part of her didn’t want to broach the offer with him because if he had said no, he was spending the holiday with someone else, she would have been crushed. She wanted to believe that it was her children who would have been hurt by the rejection. But in all honesty, she would have been just as hurt.
These last couple of weeks his presence in her home was something she looked forward to. If he wanted to spend every evening with her and the kids it wouldn’t be too much for her to take. She would take it and take it gladly. Whenever he was around, there was a sense of balance. It was as if the atmosphere somehow shifted and the four of them together became one.
“Yes, it would have bothered me.”
“Baby, I think you found the one.”
Chapter 14
Every five minutes Kyle and Ashley took turns peeping out the living room window. It was Christmas Eve afternoon and Dom hadn’t arrived yet. He was supposed to show up around twelve-thirty. It was going on two o’clock. Neither one of them wouldn’t dare speak the unthinkable. He had always kept his promise when it came to taking them out. So why hadn’t he come yet? Had something happened? Had they done something wrong?