“What? She’s having a meltdown? What do you mean?” Mikayla asked. She put the phone on speaker, Justin now fully focused on the phone call.
“We had a great day, I felt like I was making headway. It was time for bed and Barb just didn’t want to go to bed. I told her she needed to go to sleep, it had been a long day, and she fought me. I didn’t yell, used a stern voice that she needed to go to sleep. Then all hell broke loose.”
“What happened?”
“She started screaming. ‘You’re not my dad, I don’t care what Mommy and Daddy say, you’re not my dad and I don’t have to listen to you.’ She wants you and Justin and she’s just screaming because you aren’t here. I brought Joshy into my room so he could sleep.”
“Keep me on the phone and hand your phone to her. Maybe put me on speaker,” Mikayla said.
It was quiet for a while, save for the sounds of Barb’s screaming getting louder as he approached her room.
“Barbara Renee Timberlake,” Mikayla said sternly. “What is going on?”
“He’s not my daddy! He’s just fun Uncle JC and not my daddy! I hate it here! I miss you Mommy, I only see you on school days…”
“Honey, I’m sorry. We’ll see what we can do about that. Right now Mommy and Daddy aren’t even home. You need to listen to JC. He told me you had a great day today…”
“We played games, and I played dress up, he made us burgers…”
“I thought you were having chicken nuggets?” Justin thought aloud.
“I forgot,” JC replied.
“I miss you, Mommy.”
“I miss you too, sweetheart. But you need to listen to JC, your dad. Just like you need to listen when we tell you it’s time for bed, or time to do something. It does sound like you had a pretty fun day.”
“Am I really getting a whole new family?” Barb asked.
“What?” Mikayla replied, confused.
“JC said he left his real mommy to be with a new mommy and daddy…”
“When he was little, but that is VERY different.”
“I told her she gets to have girl cousins now, another set of grandparents, more people to love her and Joshy,” JC added.
“I love the family I have,” Barb sniffled. “Joshy doesn’t care, he’s glad he gets a new family…”
“You’re not leaving our family to join them. They’ll live where they live and we’ll visit them or they’ll visit us. Your dad is right, it’s just more people to love you. I’ll find more time to be with you, but you’re not leaving me and Daddy. Sometimes you’ll stay with your dad so he can spend time with you.”
“So you’re not leaving me with JC while you and daddy have a new baby?”
“Well, you’ll need to stay with him while I’m in the hospital, but once I’m home, we’ll all be together. For now, Mommy needs you to listen and go to sleep. He had to move Joshy so you wouldn’t keep him up.”
“Can I sleep with Joshy?” Barb asked JC more than Mikayla.
“Let’s go to bed,” JC said softly. “Tell Mommy good night, that you love her.
“Night night Mommy, I love you. Tell Daddy, too.”
“I’m here, sweetheart. Be a good listener, ok?”
“Ok. Night night.”
“Good night, sweetheart. We love you,” Mikayla said.
JC took the phone off of speaker, holding it to his ear. “I’ll let you know if anything else happens. Thank you.”
“You handled it well, but that’s what this is all about, helping each other parent these amazing, sometimes difficult, kids. Night Josh. Love you,” Mikayla said, a pang of guilty saying it in front of Justin.
“Love you too. Good night Kay. Back to what you were doing.”
Mikayla blushed, having left her phone on speaker, Justin hearing the last of their conversation before hanging up.
“I’m sorry…”
“For what? You’re just saying how you feel. I think you both handled that really well, and this is going to go ok. I do think we should see a therapist, together, see what they suggest. The twins are only 4, so I’m not sure how much they can really articulate. They do a fairly good job with us, but we also have a shit ton of context. A therapist will have none of that going in.”
“Thank you for being so amazing with all of this. Like, ALL of it.”
“Just doing my part. You heard him, though..”
“What?”
“We should really get back to what we were doing…”
“I’m just glad he didn’t FaceTime.”
…
JC woke up the next morning, already feeling exhausted. He’d gone to bed when he took Barb in, needing to recharge his batteries after the long day. The twins didn’t nap, so he was running on empty the night before.
He felt something across his stomach. He looked down, seeing Barb’s arm draped on him, Joshy’s leg up on the other side. JC carefully grabbed his phone and took a picture.
I’m tired as hell, but I can’t beat the view I woke up to this morning… love you
He was surprised when his phone vibrated shortly thereafter. Welcome to parenthood. You’re gonna love it. We’ll be there to pick them up mid afternoon. Maybe we can talk, the three of us, before we leave. Set some things up after last night. Love you too
JC sat up a little, looking at the faces on either side of him. They looked so peaceful, it was a surprisingly emotional moment. These were his children, ones he and Mikayla had tried so long for. Ones he knew he would love with everything he had in him, for the rest of his life.
…
“Mommy! Daddy!” Barb shrieked as they walked into JC’s home.
“Did you have a good time?” Mikayla asked.
“Yeah,” Barb admitted.
“She was a good helper today,” JC smiled.
“Are you gonna be ok with being here every now and then to spend time with your dad?” Mikayla asked.
“Yes, Mommy. He loves me and I’m sorry. I was just scared of losing you and Daddy.”
“That’s not gonna happen, sweetheart.”
“You were gone all last weekend, then this weekend, I only get you at dinner and bedtime. I want my Mommy time.”
“Why don’t you and Joshy play in your room while the grownups talk?” Mikayla suggested.
Barb went and grabbed her brother before going to their room. Mikayla, Justin, and JC walked into his bedroom.
“So, what are we gonna do?” JC asked.
“Let’s try just doing one night away, then Sunday being all together. Or we can try having me and the kids take turns being with each of you. Unfortunately, that means Justin won’t have the kids again next weekend, we’ll all be here.”
“How will this work once Silas is here?” Justin wondered. “I’m ok with that for now, but I’d rather not have my son every other weekend…”
“I’m willing to wait 2-3 months so you really get that critical time to bond with him. I’ll take the twins when you go into labor, keep them while you’re in the hospital and a few days after. They’ll visit the hospital and stuff, of course. Once she feels ready, we can revisit this arrangement. Maybe Justin can keep Silas on weeks where Kay and the twins are with me?”
“I’m willing to let you have that first time with her after having Silas. I know he’s our son, but I’ve already had that moment with her after she had the twins.”
“What exactly do we call this?” Mikayla wondered.
“It’s not exactly polyamory, since you’re the only one seeing more than one person. I guess an open marriage? I dunno, but hopefully we don’t have to explain it to anyone,” JC answered.
“I think we’ll have to at some point. Unless you’re happy just staying home every other weekend, you can’t go out and do things with the twins. You could probably stay under the radar, I don’t know for how long, though. They’re your kids, you have every right to take them to the zoo, to Disney World when you see your folks…” Justin said.
“And the sex?” Mikayla asked. Both men gave her a look.
“I think you know the answer to that,” JC smirked. “You want it, we’ll make the time.”
“I called and scheduled a group therapy appointment, at least one to see if Barb needs something, if the three of us need something…”
“Why would…?” JC started.
“You both want to spend the rest of your lives with me. Justin was the one to marry me, but Josh was the first to win my heart. I’m sure there’s emotions and things we hadn’t thought about that will come into play. Abandonment, betrayal, doubt, loss. Both of you have felt these within our relationships. Working through this can help keep it so you both get to spend the rest of your lives with me.”
“I think if we don’t do family therapy, we bring this up with the therapists we already have. I haven’t gotten there yet with mine, but it’s bound to come up as we move closer to the present,” JC said.
“I haven’t really needed to see one since we started trying again. We weren’t even trying when it happened before, so I can’t really compare those time periods, but I felt good about things once we started trying.”
“I started seeing mine more often,” Mikayla admitted. “It took Josh and I a while before the twins came along, I was worried it would take a while this time, or just not happen at all. Or if it did, if it would stick, or if it would be healthy. There became more to worry about. Can I even handle a baby with the twins?”
“You know we have Jackie, your family, my family… JC and his family,” Justin said softly. “We’ll do what’s best for each of us, including the twins.”
“We may be the definition of a dysfunctional family,” JC added, “but it’s ours.”
