“Do you regret it? Do you want to go back to the way things were?”
Ray looked down at his two little babies, both of them blissfully unaware of the world in which they had only recently arrived. Blissfully unaware of the complicated family situation they were now a small but central part of.
“No. No, I don’t. This is crazy, but I wouldn’t go back. I love you. I really do. But Kim is my special girl. She always has been.”
“I understand. Nothing is perfect, Ray. Life is never perfect. But we all love each other, to one degree or another, and we all want what’s best for our children.”
“And our grandchildren.”
“Yeah. Them too.” She paused, then looked up at him. “Are you happy, Ray?”
He smiled.
“Oh yes.”
“Then that’s enough. Now, I’ve gotta go. I’ve got a date.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“That’s not much of a list, my darling; as we’ve already ascertained, there are precious few things you wouldn’t do.” Annie said over her shoulder, as she disappeared out of the room.
She walked downstairs and as she reached the hallway, the front door opened and Greg burst through. As always, whenever she saw him, her heart soared and her face brightened.
“Gee, Mom, I’m sorry I’m late. Traffic was a bitch.”
“Don’t worry about it, baby. You’re right on time, as far as I’m concerned.”
She wrapped her arms round him and kissed him tenderly. He returned the kiss and the two of them just smooched in the open doorway for ten seconds or more. Fuck what the neighbours might think, Annie thought to herself.
Yes, things were very different now. Things were, to borrow Ray’s succinct phrase, kinda fucked up. The situation was by no means perfect, as the occasionally tense relationship between Annie and Kim was ample testimony to. That would take some work, and she knew it. But Annie was in love, she had the man of her dreams in her arms, and very soon she would be giving birth to his child. The same way she had given birth to him all those years earlier.
She was happy.
And that was enough.
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