Page 51 of Baby Blue
“Yeah. I think it would be okay to tell the kids, as long as they understand that until you have social services off your ass, they need to be quiet.”
“Agreed.” Striding toward the bedroom door, Blue looked back at the woman in his bed. “But this isn’t confined to the bedroom, angel. This is an all-over-the-house, down-the-street-and-across-the-court-square love, girl. I’m not going to keep it secret forever.”
Anne gave him a huge smile. “Neither am I.”
They only had about twenty minutes between the time Polly and Toady came home and Anne had to go to work. When the kids stepped into the house, Blue was there, Indigo in his lap. “Hey, Mr.Blue! What are you doing here?”
“You still haven’t found a new job, have you?” Toady asked. “You could be a bus driver! Ours is awful,” the little boy announced.
“We need to talk to you guys. Want to sit down?” Anne asked them, and both kids stared at her like she was about to tell them they weren’t having Christmas.
“What’s wrong, Mom?” Polly asked. “Something’s wrong. You look serious.”
“Thisisserious,” Anne told them. “There’s something we need to tell you.”
There was silence and Blue knew something was going on between the kids. “We know what this is,” Polly said, her eyes sad.
“Yeah. We know,” Toady said, staring at his lap.
“Oh, yeah?” Anne winked at Blue. “What’s going on?”
“Mr.Blue and Indigo are moving away, aren’t they?” Polly’s eyes met Blue’s and she started to cry. “Please don’t leave, Mr.Blue! We want you to stay here forever, don’t we Toady?”
The little boy nodded without looking up. “Uh-huh.” To Blue’s horror, he started to cry too.
“No, no, no! Nothing like that!” Blue had promised Anne she could do all the talking, but he couldn’t help it. He had to say something. “I’m not going anywhere!”
Polly rubbed her eyes and Toady sniffed hard. “Oh. Okay. If that’s not it, what is it?” Polly asked.
“Something has happened between Brent and me,” Anne said.
“Who’s Brent?” Toady chirped.
“That’s Mr.Blue’s real name, dummy,” Polly said with a snort.
“Don’t call me a dummy!” Toady yelled. “Mom!”
“Stop! Don’t you want to hear what I’m going to say?” she asked, grinning.
“I don’t know. Do we?” Polly asked.
“I think you do.” Anne sat up straight and took a deep breath, then blew it out. “Brent and I, well, we’re together.”
Blue watched and knew the kids had no idea what she was talking about, so he decided maybe he needed to jump in. “What your mom is trying to tell you is that I’m her boyfriend.”
Both children sat like they were shell-shocked before Polly finally asked, “Really? Are you serious?”
Anne nodded. “Yes, honey. We’re just getting the relationship started, but we belong together. We know that. I hope you guys will be happy for us.”
“Happy? Happy? This is like Christmas and my birthday and Valentine’s Day and the Fourth of July and… I’m so happy!” Polly squealed. “So you’re going to be our dad?”
Blue watched Anne’s hand go to her chest, fluttering as it went, and he smiled. “I hope eventually you’ll see me that way. There’s nothing that would make me happier.”
“See, Mom?” Toady said, grinning. “He’s not an asshole like you said.”
“Toady!” Anne barked, and Blue doubled over with laughter. “That’s, oh,” she told her son, then looked sheepishly at Blue, “I’m sorry. I did say that before.”
“I gave you plenty of reason to. Sorry about that,” Blue said, snickering.
