Pulled(92)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Daniel and I didn’t sleep that night; we had simply sat by Andrew’s crib and watched our precious child as he slept, unable to remove ourselves from his pull. It was forever strong and bonded me to him in a way that I never imagined possible.

That April, on what would have been Daniel’s and my anniversary, I was given the wedding I’d always wanted, a simple one in which Daniel and I stood hand-in-hand in Patrick and Julia’s backyard and professed that we would love each other forever.

The very next day, I signed a petition to adopt Andrew, seeking that he not only be my son in spirit but legally as well. It didn’t take Wil iam Bailey long to track down Vanessa, and while I could never understand her reasoning behind it, she relinquished her rights to Andrew that day. Two months later, I officially became the mother of Andrew Daniel Montgomery. No longer did I have to live in fear that someday he would be taken away from me. He was mine.

“Andrew, sweetheart, Daddy’s going to be home from work soon.” I stood, dusted the traces of wet dirt and grass from my pants, and extended my hand to him. “We should head in and start dinner.”

His sweet face brightened at the mention of his father, and he barreled over to me, throwing his arms in the air for me to pick him up. I swept him off the ground and into my arms.

“Here, let’s get your hands washed.” I walked to the kitchen sink and leaned over it, running his hands under the warm water and washing the residue from his afternoon of play down the drain.

I kissed his forehead and set him on his feet.

Andrew went straight for his little table standing in the corner of the kitchen. He settled into the smal chair, picking a dark blue crayon, his favorite color. He set to work, drawing a picture for his dad, something he did most every day while I cooked dinner.

I looked around the kitchen I loved, warmed by its comfort.

“What would you like for dinner, Andrew?” I glanced down at my son, so intent on the picture he was drawing, his smal hand flying across the page as he scribbled his wonderful, indecipherable thoughts for his father.

“Macaroni,” he said, tapping his finger against his chin as if he needed to think about it.

Grinning at his expected response, I went across the kitchen to the large, walk-in pantry, and grabbed a box of his favorite macaroni and cheese. “Macaroni it is, then.” I pulled some chicken br**sts and broccoli from the fridge to add to our meal.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I reached for a towel, patting down my hands before digging the phone out to see the name on the screen. I grinned and answered it, propping it between my ear and shoulder. “Hey, Katie.

How are you?”

Katie and I were still very close, though we didn’t get to spend as much time together as we would have liked. The last few years had been rough on Shane and Katie.

Nicholas had been sentenced to only three months in jail for his assault on me and ordered to undergo anger management classes. To me, the penalty had seemed much too lenient, but in the end, it had cost him his company. During the months he was away, their clients steadily dropped off, and no new contracts came in. People seemed unwil ing to do business with a company that had Nicholas’s name attached to it. Nicholas had always been about image, and he was forced to leave Chicago where people knew him for who he truly was. He’d sold his portion of the company to Shane and left town without a trace. Not that I’d looked.

Shane had changed the company name, and

Katie went to work for him. Unfortunately, their first year was incredibly trying as they tried to salvage what was left of Shane’s years of hard work. He’d used all his profits from Daniel’s building to buy Nicholas out, and Katie and he had struggled to stay afloat. Not surprisingly, though, considering Shane’s work ethic and skil , it all paid off, and Shane was able to rebuild his company into what he’d always dreamed it could be. By the time Katie gave birth to their son, Jordan, little more than a year ago, the business was flourishing, and she was able to turn her duties over to a new office manager so she could stay home to raise their son.

“I’m great, babe, how are—” She was cut off by the shril cry of Jordan, obviously coming through a baby monitor. Her voice was somewhat muffled but still loud as she pulled the phone away from her mouth, yel ing, “Shane, I’m on the phone. Get Jordan.” I was unable to restrain my giggle. Their house was screaming chaos every time I spoke with her, but it was a happy, loving chaos in which they all seemed to thrive.

“Sorry,” she laughed under her breath. “Every time I pick up the phone, one of my boys suddenly needs me for something.”

Even though she laughed, she was not joking. I couldn’t remember a single conversation we’d had in the last year that hadn’t been interrupted by one of the two of them, not that either of us minded. “No problem. Everything is good here, just making dinner.”

“Good. So, Shane and I are taking Jordan to the zoo on Saturday and wanted to see if you guys might want to meet us?”

“I’m sure Andrew would love that. What time?”

“Noonish? Thought we could just get lunch there.

Why don’t you see if Erin wants to tag along?” Erin had settled in a house just ten minutes from us, and we saw her at least a couple of times a week. She’d always show up unannounced, saying she needed to practice with my son for the children she hoped to have in the near future.

“Sure. I’ll give her a—”

The sound of something crashing in the

background interrupted us. Shane yel ed for help, and Katie snapped, her voice no longer directed at me, “Seriously, Shane?” She grunted her mild annoyance into the phone,

“I’ve gotta go, Melanie, Shane just made a huge mess. See you on Saturday?”

“Yep, we’ll be there.”

“Okay, bye.”

I clicked off my phone and poured the macaroni into the boiling water. “So guess what, Andrew,” I said, drawing his attention from the paper in front of him that was now nearly black from all of the different colors he’d mixed together.

He looked up, excited by the tone in my voice.

“What?”

“That was Katie, and she asked if you wanted to go to the zoo with Jordan on Saturday. Does that sound like fun?”

He nodded his head, emphasizing the movement.

“Yes, I love the zoo, Momma.”

I ruffled my hand through his curls and placed a kiss against it. “Good, because I love the zoo, too.” With the sound of the garage door opening, Andrew jumped to his feet, squealing, “Daddy!” He grabbed the picture he’d colored and raced down the hallto meet his father at the door.