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“We have a problem.” Dave walked out onto the veranda. It was a rainy Saturday night in Fairfax, Virginia but he was glad to be home.
“No, no,” Erin looked up from her laptop, rectangle shaped glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. “Marjorie, Karen Baker, and I drank that Cristal. I had them over when you were out of town. Marjorie has dragged me into the fair thing, the event she’s setting up for the children’s fund in August. I think she's trying to take my mind off things, or no one else was willing to help.
“It’s a good cause though. When an officer is killed or disabled in the line of duty, its front page news for a while. Donations come rolling in. And then it’s over. These families need all the help they can get. I consider them just as important as military families.”
“I wasn’t talking about the Cristal.” Dave sat next to her at the table. “That’s good to know though because I was wondering about that.”
“What's wrong?”
Erin was back on her laptop. She took a Marlboro Mild from the cigarette case next to her. Lighting it, Erin typed on her keyboard, putting the cigarette in the ashtray as she sipped her iced tea. Dave was always fascinated by her when she was in full work mode.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“I'm not entirely sure that’s the case.”
“What's the matter, David?” she stopped and looked at him.
“Noah and I had a conversation tonight before bedtime.” Dave said.
“Is he alright? I've been so wrapped up in all the things going on at Quantico; I haven’t been paying attention. I've been…”
“You’ve been right here like always.” He reached out and stroked her hand.
“Well what did you two talk about?”
“One of the kids at camp called Noah a bastard.”
“What!” Erin nearly knocked the chair over when she stood up. “Are you kidding me? Which one of those little miscreants called my son a bastard? I want to know right now.”
“You might want to calm down, Erin.”
“Calm down? Why would I calm down when someone called my son…were these kids raised by wolves? I mean seriously, David. We sent him to this camp because it’s supposedly the best. I'm going there on Monday morning and I'm giving the staff a piece of my mind. Then I'm going…”
“Baby, sit down. Sit down and we’re going to talk about this.”
Erin was fuming, Dave could see it. This wasn’t the first time he'd seen Erin Strauss angry. She could blow the glass out of windows if she really wanted to. Usually she kept it under wraps but tonight it spewed out of her like lava. He squeezed her hand, not sure it was going to work.
“What is there to talk about?”
“A lot, I think. Like how Noah feels about the word…or how his parents do.”
“We should go and talk to him.” She slowly sat back in the chair. Erin took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.
Reaching for the cigarette, she saw it was nearly out. She got another one, lighting it with the last. Erin slipped her hand out of Dave’s and ran it through her hair. It was supposed to be a quiet evening. Dave was back from a case in Berwyn, Illinois.
He was going to do the daddy thing so mommy could get the evening off. Erin had dinner with some friends, came home, and got right onto her computer. She gave Noah his bath before leaving him and Dave to play space aliens before bedtime. It was a normal evening, a wonderful evening, and now this. Erin began to wonder what the hell in the universe was conspiring against her.
“He's asleep.”
“I know that kids can be cruel. Actually they can be vicious and horrific, but Noah has such a sweet temperament. Why would he be targeted for such abuse?”
“I don’t think it was abuse. Not in the context it was said.”
“You're going to have to explain that one to me.”
“Noah said his friend Chris called him a bastard because his parents weren’t married.” Dave said.
“Seriously? Are you serious?” Erin asked as she punched him in the arm. “You're going there right now.” She hit him once more, and again for good measure.
“Stop hitting me please.” He said it in as a pleasant a tone as he could muster.
“You're that desperate, David. You're that desperate that you actually went there.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“No idea? Really?” Erin again stood from her chair. “I'm going to talk to my son.”
“Erin, he's asleep.”
She took one last puff of her cigarette, putting it out in the ashtray. Then she stalked into the house. Dave got up to follow her; he didn’t know where she was going. She was still angry but Dave didn’t know why.
The punches gave some indication that Erin was mad at him. He just had to figure out why. Erin was going up the stairs, Dave right behind her. She went into Noah’s bedroom.
He was sound asleep in bed. Mudgie was with him, as usual. The retriever looked up but didn’t bark when they walked toward the bed. Erin sat down on the side. Her hand was gentle on Noah’s shoulder.
“Sweetie, wake up. I'm sorry sweetie, wake up.”
Noah opened his eyes and looked at his mother. And then he smiled. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up in bed.
“Hi Mommy.” His voice was drowsy.
“Hey kiddo. I'm sorry to wake you, everything is fine. Daddy and I were just talking about your friend Chris and what happened at camp. Can you tell me what happened?”
She looked at Dave and he was looking right back at her. Usually when he told her full blown lies, which was rare but not unheard of, he couldn’t look her in the eye. He could look at her forehead, her chest, or the wall behind her. He could never look in her eyes.
“Chris said I was a bastard.” The seven year old replied. “I asked him what that was. He said when your mom and dad aren't married, you're a bastard.”
“I see.” Erin nodded, trying but failing to hold back her sigh. She knew Chris’ parents and would be having a talk with them in the near future. If he was filling her son’s head with those kinds of things Erin didn’t want him and Noah to be friends.
“Dad said it’s a bad word.”
“It is.”
“Chris was wrong, wasn’t he Mommy?”
“He was absolutely, 150% wrong.” She kissed his forehead. “Go back to sleep; I love you.”
“Love you too.” Noah laid back down on his pillow.
Erin pulled the light blanket over him and kissed him again. As she stood up from the bed, she petted Mudgie’s head. The dog moved up on the bed closer to Noah. They cuddled together as he closed his eyes.
She walked out of the bedroom without saying anything. Dave followed her down the hall, the stairs, and back onto the veranda. It was raining harder now. With no words, Erin packed up her laptop and everything else before making her way into the den.
She sank onto the loveseat and sighed. Then she put her face in her hands. Dave was cautious when he sat down beside her. He wasn’t sure if he was facing tired Erin or angry Erin. Perhaps it could be a combination of both.
“Did you think I was lying?” he asked.
“No.” she shook her head. “Yes. I hate that Chris kid.”
“I was never fond of him. His eyes are too close together. That has to be a sign of something.”
“It’s a sign that you're mean.” Erin laughed a bit.
“Mean, possibly; truthful, yes.”
“Our son is not a bastard.” She said it in her no-nonsense tone.
“I don’t think you're going to get me to argue about that with you. Noah did show a bit of concerned about us not being married.”
“How does he even know we’re not married?” Erin looked at Dave. Her face looked frantic and totally gave away her trying to remain calm tone. She hadn’t had the tone since Dave mentioned the word.
“Kids are smart, Erin. On most days I'm sure he's smarter than the both of us. Maybe he goes to his little friends’ houses and there are wedding pictures up or something. Maybe he heard two adults, even us, talking about something we shouldn’t have been. I honestly have no idea how they know all that they do.”
“I'm not marrying you.” she shook her head.
“I would love it if you said that like I didn’t have cooties.”
“That’s not how I meant it.”
“I know, but perception baby.”
“I have my reasons, David.”
“So you’ve said. It’s not as if I don’t believe you. It might be something we need to talk about with our son.”
“Do you know what my plan for tonight was? I'm going to tell you what my plan was. I would work on a few things on my computer. I was going to get some of that leftover hot roast beef and make a ridiculous sandwich to go with a tall glass imported beer. Then I was going to curl in bed, eat, watch a few episodes of American Horror Story On Demand, fuck you, and take an Ambien. It was going to be fantastic. It was going to be the best night I've had in a couple of weeks.”
“Don’t let this ruin your plan.” Rossi said.
“I guess it would just be mean to ask why you told me if you didn’t want my plan ruined.”
“It would be.” He nodded.
“I'm thinking it though.” Erin looked at him.
“So noted. Your night sounds perfect.”
“It was going to be.”
“It can still be.” Dave took her hand. “Noah is out like a light and it’s barely 9:30. We can eat, watch the show, have earth-shattering sex, and still be asleep by one. They should give us seven hours if we’re lucky. It’s practically foolproof.”
“Murder House or Asylum?” Erin asked.
“I can't watch Asylum and eat at the same time.”
“And so we have our answer.” She smiled.
“I’ll make the sandwiches,” Dave kissed her hand. “You get the bed all nice and comfy. Maybe you can change into something relaxing.”
“I do have a little red nightie I've been saving for a rainy day.”
“What do you know, it just happens to be raining. Watching you eat ridiculously fatty foods in sexy lingerie turns me on.”
“That’s because you're a weirdo. I love you anyway.”
Dave laughed, leaning closer to give her a gentle kiss. He liked it so much he did it again and then a third time. Each lasted longer than the one before. Erin caressed his face, giving him Eskimo kisses.
“I love you too.” He whispered.
“You better.”
“We’ll separate on the count of three and let this evening end right.”
They stood from the couch, Dave wrapping his arms around Erin and pulling her into a hug. She exhaled and squeezed him. She’d been holding out on marriage for so long it was hard to remember why. There wasn’t a lot of glory in being someone’s fourth but if that was the only reason Erin might have to rethink the entire argument.
She loved Dave and neither one of them had any plans to abandon the relationship. Her family, he and all of her children, were her rock. Making it official wouldn’t mean any difference in the dynamics of everything but that wouldn’t make it any less of an adventure. If there was one thing in her life Erin always craved more if, it was adventure with Dave.
“Let’s get married.” She said.
“Now?” he looked at her. Dave wasn’t sure that he heard her right but wouldn’t ask her to repeat it. If Erin was going with her impulsive side, once was all he would get.
“I mean sometime after my perfect evening and my seven hours of sleep.”
“It’s a date.”
***