Twenty-Nine
Anne Marie Roche
This was going to be difficult; Anne Marie could see it already. As Tim had repeatedly reminded her, she was the one who’d insisted on being present when Ellen met Vanessa. That was certainly true, but Anne Marie didn’t think meeting at the Mariners’ game for Stitch and Pitch night—meeting “accidentally on purpose”—was such a brilliant idea. She’d agreed to do it his way, although it went against her instincts.
That had been her first mistake. They’d arrived at the game as planned and were headed toward their seats when Tim had called out to them. He’d made a pretense of just noticing them.
The evening had gone downhill from there.
Vanessa had been openly hostile to Anne Marie. To Ellen she’d been patronizing and saccharine sweet. The worst part, as far as Anne Marie was concerned, was that Tim didn’t appear to perceive anything amiss with Vanessa’s behavior. To all outward appearances, he seemed to feel the meeting couldn’t have gone better.
In Anne Marie’s opinion, the whole experience had been a disaster. Now that they were home and Ellen was preparing for bed, she had a chance to mull over the events of the evening.
“Mom,” Ellen called from her bedroom. “I’m ready.”
Time for their nightly ritual. Ellen climbed into bed with Baxter cuddled next to her. Anne Marie knelt on the floor so Ellen could say her prayers.
“Did you enjoy the baseball game?” Anne Marie asked.
“It was all right.”
It wasn’t for Anne Marie, but she couldn’t tell Ellen that.
The girl looked guilelessly up at her. “I thought you were Tim’s girlfriend.”
Doing her best to sound calm and serene, Anne Marie smiled down at her daughter. “Tim and Vanessa are a couple.”
“Oh.” Ellen frowned. “But he took you out to dinner by yourself, remember?”
Anne Marie wasn’t likely to forget. “Vanessa was there,” she half-lied. Perhaps not in the physical sense but in every other way Tim’s girlfriend had been with them.
“You didn’t tell me about her.”
Anne Marie realized she didn’t actually know very much about the other woman. “I guess I should’ve told you earlier,” she said.
In a short time Ellen had grown close to Tim. She admired him and talked about him incessantly. Along with Brad, Mark and Hector he was a positive male figure, and Anne Marie wouldn’t say or do anything to jeopardize that special relationship.
“I know meeting Vanessa was a surprise.” Tim had wanted to be the one to introduce Vanessa to Ellen, and Anne Marie had agreed. In retrospect it would’ve been a hundred times better if she’d been able to lead up to the subject of this other woman. She wished now that she’d suggested it and regretted that she hadn’t.
“You like Tim, don’t you?” Ellen asked.
For fear her voice would give her away, Anne Marie nodded instead.
“And he likes you?”
“Yes,” she said, “just not in a girlfriend-boyfriend way.”
“Oh.” Clearly Ellen was disappointed as well as confused.
Who could blame her? “The person Tim really loves is you,” Anne Marie murmured.
“Me?” Ellen’s eyes flashed with delight. “I like him, too. He makes me laugh and takes us neat places.”
“Yes, he does. Besides, Tim knew your grandmother and your other mom.” Anne Marie didn’t believe it was her place to inform the child that she was Tim’s biological daughter. She’d leave that to him—at a mutually acceptable time and place. This evening had taught her a valuable lesson. She wasn’t about to let Tim blurt out the news without first laying the groundwork.
Ellen’s dark eyes widened. “He knew my Grandma Dolores? How come I never met him till now?”
Anne Marie wasn’t prepared to answer that question. She’d already stretched the truth about as far as it would go. “You’ll need to ask Tim the next time he stops by.”
“Will Vanessa be there?”
“Probably. You like her, don’t you?”
Ellen shrugged. “She’s okay, but she talks to me like I’m a baby.”
“She’ll learn,” Anne Marie assured her and prayed that was true. “Vanessa’s a very nice person.” She almost gritted her teeth as she said it.
Ellen seemed to consider that and then nodded. “She must be if Tim loves her.”
Good point. Anne Marie hadn’t thought of it in those terms. Out of the mouths of nine-year-olds...
“You’re right.” Anne Marie reached for Ellen’s small hands and closed her eyes, prepared to listen while the child said her prayers. These sometimes went on for three or four minutes. She asked God to bless Anne Marie first, then listed all her friends from school and day camp, followed by her Blossom Street friends and finally Tim. She hesitated and added Vanessa to the list.
“Amen,” Ellen said, opening her eyes.
“Amen,” Anne Marie echoed and kissed Ellen’s cheek. She stroked Baxter’s silky fur, then left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Restless and unsure, Anne Marie folded her arms and paced the kitchen, mulling over the conversation with her daughter. The truth was, she’d been hostile toward Vanessa. Well, maybe not hostile, but certainly not hospitable. She resented the other woman, who’d ruined the perfect scenario she’d created for Ellen, Tim and her.
Anne Marie was shocked to discover how strong her feelings for Tim were. She hadn’t expected that in the beginning. But the transformation in her attitude had been gradual. He’d been so good, so natural, with Ellen. Anne Marie had watched him closely, initially unwilling to trust him, yet he’d earned her trust. Earned it to the point that she’d lowered her guard. She’d half convinced herself she was falling in love with him.
When he’d told her about Vanessa, she’d been angry and embarrassed, but in retrospect she understood that Tim had been in a difficult position. He’d already sprung the news that he was Ellen’s biological father. He’d tried to be fair, giving Anne Marie a chance to get used to that reality before he introduced Vanessa into their lives, as well. Whether it was the best way to handle the situation didn’t matter. What was done was done.
Unfortunately her relationship with Vanessa had started badly. They were both at fault, because both felt threatened. If it was ever going to be made right, Anne Marie would need to reach out to the other woman.
The next morning, she decided to get in touch with Vanessa as soon as possible. She’d have to ask Tim for her phone number; she’d call him later. After taking Ellen to day camp, she opened the bookstore. She was still counting cash into the till when she saw Tim standing at the door. He looked as if he hadn’t slept all night.
“Good morning,” she greeted him cheerfully.
He frowned.
“It isn’t a good morning?” she teased, smiling at him.
Slowly he smiled back. “It is now,” he said. “I didn’t expect you to be in such a happy mood.”
“Why not?”
He scratched his head. “Vanessa didn’t feel things went well last night.”
Anne Marie broke a roll of quarters and added them to the register drawer. “They didn’t, but I take responsibility for that.”
“You do?”
“I wasn’t as...friendly as I might’ve been to Vanessa. I owe her—and you—an apology.”
Tim just stared at her, as if he wasn’t sure he should believe what she’d said. “You?”
“I should’ve taken Vanessa’s feelings into account more. She felt I’d intruded on her territory, didn’t she?”
“Well...yes, something like that.”
This next part was the most difficult. “You were right—I’m afraid I read more into the situation between you and me than I should have. That probably caused a certain amount of animosity in our initial meeting.” She was embarrassed to admit this, but he already knew. It wasn’t as though she’d done a good job of hiding her feelings.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she said, eager to change the subject. “If you’ll give me Vanessa’s phone number, I’ll call her and see if I can make amends. I’m sure she feels as awkward about what happened at the game as I do.”
Tim stepped closer to the counter as he scribbled a number on the back of his business card. “Can you tell me exactly what did happen?”
Anne Marie shrugged. “It was nothing really. Just undercurrents between the two of us.” Basically they’d stared daggers at each other. It had been a juvenile display that Anne Marie regretted.
“What did Ellen think of Vanessa?” Tim asked.
Anne Marie didn’t answer immediately. “She told me that if you love Vanessa, she must be very special.” No need to mention the comment about Vanessa speaking to her as if she were a baby.
Some of the tension seemed to leave Tim’s shoulders. “She actually said that?”
“She did.”
“You don’t mind if I tell Vanessa, do you?”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you so much.”
He was almost at the door when she stopped him. “It’s time, you know.”
He turned around. “Time?”
“For you to tell Ellen that you’re her father. In her heart I think she already knows. The news isn’t going to upset her.”
Tim swallowed hard and nodded. “Would it be okay if I came by this evening?”
“That would be perfect. In the meantime, I’ll contact Vanessa.”
Anne Marie waited until midmorning to call Tim’s friend. At first the conversation didn’t go well.
“What do you want?” Vanessa demanded the instant she answered her cell phone.
Anne Marie had to bite her tongue to keep from responding in kind. “It seems to me that you and I should try to be friends,” she said calmly.
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”
“It will if we both make the effort,” Anne Marie told her. “The thing is, I behaved badly last evening and I want to apologize.”
“Sure you do.”
Anne Marie ignored that. “For Tim and Ellen’s sake, I’d like to suggest we start over.”
The phone went silent and for a moment Anne Marie thought the other woman had hung up.
“Vanessa, are you there?”
“I’m here.”
Despite the inclination to give this up as useless, she tried again. “Would you be willing to accept my apology?”
Vanessa hesitated. In a lower voice, she answered, “All right.”
“I mean it, Vanessa. I’m not a threat to your relationship with Tim. For him and for Ellen, it would help if you and I could come to some agreement.”
“You agree to keep your hands off Tim, and we’ll get along fine.”
“No problem.”
“Good.”
Anne Marie smiled, relieved that she’d done what she needed to do. “Friends?” she asked.
After a short pause, Vanessa repeated the word, again with some hesitation. “Friends.”
“Thank you.”
“Stick to being Ellen’s mother, and everything will work out just fine.”
“I will,” she promised. “It was a pleasure talking to you,” she said. “Goodbye.”
“Anne Marie,” Vanessa said quickly. “This couldn’t have been an easy call to make. I want you to know I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I hope to see you soon.”
“And you.”
The truth was, Anne Marie would probably never be close friends with Vanessa but at least they understood each other now. Both were determined to make the best of an awkward situation.
The rest of the day, Anne Marie and Teresa were busy with customers. There was a run on the newest installment of a popular series, and Anne Marie found herself constantly occupied—for which she was grateful. About four-thirty, just before Ellen was due to return, Tim walked back into the store.
He looked, if anything, even worse than he had that morning. “Is Ellen here?” he asked.
“Not yet. I thought you were coming tonight.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think I can wait that long. Now that the decision’s been made, I want to get this over with.”
Anne Marie could understand. “I’d like to be in the room when you do,” she said. “Are you okay with that?”
He nodded, hands buried in his pants pockets.
A few minutes later, Ellen ran into the store with her backpack bobbing on her shoulders. “Mom, Mom!” She stopped abruptly when she saw Tim, glancing from him back to Anne Marie.
“Hello again,” Tim said in a deceptively casual voice.
“Hi. Vanessa’s not with you?”
“Not this time.”
“Tim has something he wants to tell you,” Anne Marie said, reminding Tim that his visit had a purpose. She turned to Teresa, who’d been taking a phone order. “I’m going to the apartment for a few minutes. Would you cover for me?”
“Sure thing.”
The three of them walked up the stairs, Ellen first, then Anne Marie and Tim. Having heard Ellen’s voice, Baxter waited on the landing, eager to go out for his afternoon walk. He scurried into the bedroom and returned with the leash in his mouth. Ellen was proud of teaching him that trick.
“In a few minutes,” Anne Marie told her Yorkie, bending to pick him up.
“Let’s sit down,” Tim said, motioning to the sofa.
Ellen did, and Anne Marie sat next to her with Baxter on her lap. She hooked her free arm around her daughter’s shoulders.
Tim looked ashen as if he didn’t know where to start or how.
Ellen sighed loudly enough for him to hear. He turned to her and opened his mouth but nothing came out.
“Are you my father?” she asked unexpectedly.
Tim nodded and sank to the carpet on his knees in front of her. His eyes were moist. “Yes, Ellen. I’m your father.”
“I thought so.” Smiling up at Anne Marie, she said, “I wanted to meet my father, remember? It was one of my wishes. Then you told me that Tim knew Grandma Dolores and my other mom and I knew God had sent me my daddy.”
With that she hurled her arms around Tim’s neck and hugged him fiercely. “I’m so glad it’s you.”
Anne Marie felt tears in her own eyes.
They’d make this work, all of them. For Ellen.