*The very best casts a shadow on all that comes after*
(Ten Months Later)
Christmas was fast approaching when my doorbell rang. Debra, now my fiancΓ©e, told me to go get it because she was busy in the kitchen. I opened it up and on the door stoop was Tamara with a baby carrier.
"Hi," she said.
"Hey Tamara," I responded somewhat surprised. She hoisted the baby carrier to me.
"This is Christopher Leo Styles," she told me. I looked down at my Son then back to Tamara. She was close to tears. We didn't say anything for the longest time. "I've tried to take care of him -- us but I can't. I don't want him to end up like me ... so ..."
"Who is this?" Debra said in the same way she would tell me there was a stray dog in the yard. Tamara looked so bone-tired.
"I need to be going. I needed to ... you know," Tamara told me. I shook my head. I'd already made one mistake.
"This is Tamara Miller, my lover and mother of my son, Christopher Leo Styles," I said as I reached out a hand to Tamara.
"What?" squawked Debra. "Who is this whore?"
"She's a good woman, not a whore and I'd appreciate you keeping your opinions to yourself," I responded while never breaking my gaze on Tamara. She was not slipping away again.
"What ... you, get the hell out of here!" Debra screamed at both of us.
"Debra, this is my house. If you want to leave I won't stop you." I imagined Debra changed three shades of crimson. She was explosive that way. Debra screamed something unintelligible grabbed her coat and keys and shouldered past us.
"You'll pay for this," she shouted over her shoulder.
"I've finished paying for you Debra," I smiled. "Tamara, please come inside."
"I shouldn't. I've caused you enough trouble."
"Tamara, don't make me come out there and make you beat me up. Come inside. It's cold out here," I insisted. She reluctantly walked past me and came inside. I shut the door, took care with young Christopher and moves to the living room. Tamara looked around uncomfortably.
"Nice place," she commented lamely.
"She decorated it. I hate the look," I confessed. Tamara giggled. "I've missed you Tamara." Tamara looks down at her hands.
"I've missed you too." She looked up to me and added, "I've not been with another man since you; I swear it."
"He's my son, of that I have no doubt. He even looks like pictures of me when I was his age." She smiled at that visual and I could see a great weight lift from her shoulders.
"I can be gone in the morning," she told me.
"I was actually planning to marry you in the morning," I grinned. Tamara looked confused. "I can't be compelled to testify against you if you are my wife. That makes it safe for us to be together."
"You can't do that," she worried. "You have a life and stuff."
"I want you Tamara. You are part of my life. I can't be both Mother and Father. You have to stay." Tamara was clearly conflicted. "I've really missed you and I want you to stay with me as my wife. I can't make it any clearer than that."
"You can't want me, Leo. You are rich and educated and I'm trash ..." she began.
"NO!" I screamed at her in a way that brought her up short and made Christopher stir in his sleep. "Don't you dare sell yourself short to me ever again. I'll fight for you, but only if you fight for yourself and no Mother of my beautiful, wonderful Son is anything but beautiful and wonderful too."
"I ..."
"Tamara, see yourself as I see you. I love you and I let you go once before and I'm not going to repeat that mistake. Please don't make the mistake of trying to push me away." Tamara stood there for several seconds before running into my arms.
"I'm a mistake, ya know?" she sobbed into my shoulder.
"That's a mistake I'm willing to make again and again. Don't you ever leave, do you understand me?" I warned her. She nodded vigorously in response. "Now let us see what have for little Christopher to eat and then we can sit down to dinner ourselves."
(Next morning)
I put Tamara and Christopher in the guest room but I couldn't sleep, haunted by the thought that she would slip away in the night so I padded down to their room and slipped into bed with them. Christopher was between us. I shouldn't have worried because Tamara was totally exhausted and didn't stir until late in the morning.
I figured out how to change and feed a baby on my own, with a little help from on-line sites. I had coffee ready when Tamara staggered sleepy-eyed into the kitchen.
"Smells good," she murmured. I handed her a cup the way she liked it. She drank and smiled. "Thank you, Leo. How has Christopher been? I'm sorry I slept so long, but it has been more than a month since he's given me a good night sleep."
I hugged her in response.
"He was no problem, though he was stinky. Let's get everyone changed and head to the courthouse. I want you to make an honest man of me."
"I named you as his Father when he was born. He'll always be your Son."
"You'll always be his Mother and my Wife then," I declared. I could tell from her expression that she felt I was making a terribly mistake, but she seemed resigned to her fate. She kept that expression all the way downtown and as we waited in the short line. As we stood ready to take that last step,
"Don't do this," Tamara pleaded. "I don't want to ruin your life. Give Christopher a chance. He doesn't need someone like me as a mother."
"That proves he needs someone just like you as his Mother, and as a wife to me. You would give up your own happiness for us and what more can anyone expect as an act of Love?"
She had no answer to that. With tears in her eyes, she declared me to be her legal spouse. Something changed in her then. She leaned into me and I felt a great tension and fear lift from her soul. She could finally stop running. Tamara finally had a home. When we got my --our - house, I called my Mother and told her I had a huge surprise that couldn't wait. She could smell the baby the moment she stepped into my house. She looked to me then followed the smell into the living room.
Tamara stood there holding Christopher out like a shield with fear in her eyes. She had no parents of her own and clearly believed that my mother would hate her as the woman who had ruined her son.