“I’m OK, just recovering from the surprise of everything that just happened. What I'm really thinking about is how damn happy I am.”
He let go of my shoulder, stepping over to the coffeemaker to refill our mugs.
“Yeah?”
I nodded, even more certain of my words. “Yeah. It’s... a little nuts how quickly this all happened. But the fact of the matter is that Maddie has two grandparents in her life now who obviously love her like crazy. Grandma Bets was only around for the first year or so of Maddie’s life. She loved her, but she didn’t really get a chance to see her start to grow up. Knowing Maddie’s got two more loving grandparents ready to dote on her and fill her life with love, how could I not be happy about that?”
Valentino smiled, leaving no doubt that he felt the same way. He set my steaming mug in front of me before sitting down.
“In addition to her not knowing they’re her grandparents, she doesn’t know I’m her dad, either.”
I traced the top of the mug with my fingertip, trying to figure out how to respond.
“We need to figure that out. I don’t like keeping this from her any more than you do.”
He nodded, wrapping his big hands around his mug and looking forward.
“I like to plan things out, to sit down, put some thought into what I'm going to do, then do it. Naturally, that’s what I'd had in mind with the Maddie situation. But we could spend all day and all week and all damn month trying to figure out the best way to handle this, how to tell her. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced we need to do it as soon as possible.”
“How soon are we talking?”
“Tonight. Today.As soon aspossible.”
“You’re right.”
“Don’t forget that there’s still the matter of figuring out all the details. We need to decide where Maddie’s going to be staying, on what days…”
A tinge of disappointment ran through me. “So... you’re thinking of some co-parenting type of situation?”
He opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he seemed to realize that he hadn’t thought through the matter that far.
“We need to talk about all of this. You and I, we need to sit down and figure out where to even begin.”
“And what we want.”
“Hm?” he turned toward me.
“That’s the first step, right? Right now, I don’t think we even know what it is that we, you and me, want. That’s what we need to sort out first. There’s more to this than just loving our kid and wanting her around.”
He sighed. “Once again, you’re right.”
Before the conversation had a chance to go on, the patio door opened, and Karen, John, and Maddie came back into the kitchen, Mick bringing up the rear. Valentino and I shared a look assuring me that we were thinking the same thing, that the conversation would have to be tabled for the time being.
“We’re going to the dog park!” Maddie shouted triumphantly.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Now, hold on, Maddie,” John said, raising his hand. “We still need to talk about this with your mom and Dr. V.”
“OK,” she said, wasting no time turning to Mick and lavishing him with more attention.
John and Karen walked over to where we were seated, expressions of concern on their faces.
“We saw you two talking from outside,” John said. “Looked like you two were in the middle of some serious and intense conversation.”
“We were,” I replied. “Lots to talk about.”
“Oh, I'm sure,” Karen said with a nod. “And the last thing we want is to cramp your style. So, Maddie mentioned the dog park near the house, and John and I were thinking that if you two needed a little time to talk things over, we could take her there for a half-hour or so.”
