Chapter Six:
Nora quickly got up from Bo’s lap and walked to where Matthew was standing in the doorway, looking between them. She kneeled down in front of him and wiped the tears that had fallen, “Bo and I need to talk to you, okay?”
“About…about what you said, about him”, looking over at Bo, his tears subsiding, “about Bo really being my dad?”
“Yeah, sweetie,” she takes his hand and walks out into the living room. He climbs up on the couch; Nora on one side and Bo on the other. She looked at Bo for a moment before looking down at their son, “Matthew, honey, remember when Bo and I tried to talk to you about him being your dad.”
“Yeah…I wanted him to come live with us and be my dad, but you said you weren’t getting married and I…” looking down at his lap, “I got mad and ran away”, looks up at his mother, “and then you got mad and I couldn’t watch TV for a whole two weeks.” He looks over at Bo, who just smiled a small smile at his son.
“That’s right that’s exactly what happened, but we’re going to forget all about that now and start all over again, okay?” Matthew nods and then looks down at his hand; which rests in his mother’s. “A long time ago Bo and I fell in love and we got married,” she pauses and looks up at Bo, the love and understanding she sees in his eyes gives her strength to go on. “We were married for a few years and then decided that we wanted to try and have a baby. Some bad stuff happened after we found out we were going to have a baby and we got a divorce…”
“Like Stevie’s mom and dad?”
“Yeah just like that.”
“Mom, what kind of bad stuff happened?”
“Well”, looking up at Bo, then back down at Matthew, “Well sweetie, lots of big people stuff happened and both of us make some really big mistakes, and one of those mistakes was that we thought Sam was your real dad, but he wasn’t. Bo’s your real dad,” looking back up at Bo.
“Do you understand what your mom’s saying, champ? What she means when she says that I’m your real dad?”
“Yeah, that means we’re related and that we share the same blood. Starr”, looking over at his mom knowing she was still a little upset about him running away to Starr’s, “Starr told me the difference between real dads and step dads.”
“It seems like you and Starr have been having a lot of talks about dads lately.”
“Yeah, she misses hers and I was missing Sam and…”
“And what, champ?”
“And I was really sad when I thought you couldn’t be my dad.”
“And how do you feel now that you know Bo really is your dad?”
“I’m really happy that you’re my dad, but…”
“But what, sweetie?”
“But is it okay if I still miss my…”, looking over at Bo and then at Nora, “If I still miss Sam sometimes?”
“Sure it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with missing Sam. He loved you very much, sweetie and you know what that makes you?”
“What?”
“That makes you one lucky little boy to have so many people who love and have loved you.”
“I can’t wait to tell Starr all about how I had wanted Bo to be my step-dad but now he’s my real dad, my real dad forever and ever, can I go call her in Savannah?”
Nora looks over at Bo and then back down at Mathew, “Hey, listen sweetie, why don’t we just hold off telling Starr all about this until she gets home. Besides there are a few other things that your, dad”, looking up at Bo, her smile mirroring his at the word dad, “and I need to talk to you about.”
“If you’re going to tell me that my dad’s not going to live with us because he lives in that house with Gabrielle it’s okay, I understand”, he says sadly. “I do.”
“Well actually that’s part of it…”
“I knew it”, he looks down at his hands.
Nora took his hand in hers and lifted his chin so he was looking up at her, “Your dad’s going to be moving in here with us.”
“You are?”, looking over at Bo.
“Yeah, champ I am. I’m going to be here with you every morning and tuck you in every night. We’re going to get to know each other and we’re going to…”
“Be a real family?”
“Yeah we’re going to be a family.”, bringing his hand up to her lips; placing a soft kiss on it.
“Are you and dad going to get married?”
“Umm…well, champ,” looking over at Nora, “you’re mom and I really haven’t talked about that yet. Why don’t we just see how things go, okay?”
“Okay,” looking between his parents, “Can I go play now?”
“In a minute okay, there’s one more thing your dad and I need to talk to you about.”
“What else?”
“Sweetie, umm…your dad and I…your dad and I are going to have a baby.”
“A baby, you mean I’m going to be a big brother?”
“Yep, what do you think about that?”
“I think that‘s way cool. Starr has a baby brother and she gets to boss him around all the time. Well Starr bosses everyone around but you know what I mean. I think it’ll be fun to have a little brother or sister to boss around,” throwing his arms around his mother’s neck. “Thank you mom, thank you for my dad and thank you for my new brother or sister,” moving over and throwing his arms around Bo’s neck, “I’m glad you’re my dad. Thank you for my brother or sister. I love you, dad.”
“I love you too, champ”, pulling him close, looking passed Matthew’s shoulder; his eyes lock with Nora’s, their tears mirroring each other’s as they fall to their cheeks, “I love you so much.”
Matthew pulls out of their embrace and looks between his parents, “Can I go play now?”
“Yeah, go ahead, but just in the back yard, okay. It’s almost time for dinner.”
“Okay, mom, bye dad.”
“Bye, champ.”
Bo and Nora watch Matthew run out the back door, both jumping slightly when the back door slams; leaving them alone in the living room. He takes her hand and pulls her towards him; wrapping his arms around her as she leans her head against his shoulder, “Happy, Red?”
“More than you’ll ever know.”
“Well it’s just the beginning. We have our family now, honey. We have everything we should’ve had five years ago. We’re going to make this work, Red. Whether we get married or not, we’re going to make this work.”
“I love you, Bo. I hope you know that.”
“I do, honey, and I love you, too.”
Bo pulls her into a passionate kiss neither of them thinking about tomorrow and the press conference she was going to be holding. Neither of them realizing just how much this quest to become DA was going to change their lives…