Over the past couple weeks Dave and Shae had had several long, careful discussions on what the best way to break the news to the boys would be, how to answer their questions, and things of that nature. They'd talked it out from several angles, and had worked out what they felt was a pretty good strategy.

The effort was totally wasted.

Since back around Christmas, Dave and Shae had been able to spend the night in bed together based on the simple fact that Tyler and Cameron were hard starters and slow to warm up. On any normal day Dave had to get them going well before school so they could stumble around, have some breakfast and generally wake up before they headed off to class. That meant he had to get up earlier to get them moving; on the weekends when Shae was there all he had to do was set his alarm and both of them could be up and running well before the boys.

It had worked like a charm -- until this morning, when in his excitement to see Shae he somehow failed to pull the button on the alarm clock. Dave had a pretty good built-in alarm of his own, but he and Shae stayed awake much later than they'd planned, just alternating talking and making love. Besides, after a more eventful than normal week, it felt so good to just sleep in . . .

On top of that, the boys knew their Aunt Shae was coming -- and as soon as they began to stir right around their normal time, remembering she was supposed to be there got them going just about as soon as their eyes opened.

Thus, the first notice both Shae and Dave had that the boys were awake at all was when Shae was buried under the hugs of a couple of excited pajama-clad small boys. Fortunately, she was under the covers, because all she was wearing was her fingernail polish, which was more than Dave was wearing.

It was Cameron, the younger and usually shyer of the two, who figured things out and went right straight to the point: "Aunt Shae, are you going to be our mommy now?"

One of the great things about youth is at that age it's not easy to realize just how awkward that question could be when directed at an adult who had been in a sound sleep less than sixty seconds before. Fortunately, Shae caught it about as well as could be expected. While Dave was still struggling with the concept of what the Sam Hill to say, Shae just smiled, gathered both the boys in her arms, and said, "No, Cameron, Tyler. I'm never going to be your mommy, and you want to always remember that. I'm always going to be just your Aunt Shae, even though your daddy and I are going to get married sometime, and you're going to have a little brother or sister."

"Wow! Neat, Aunt Shae!" two excited voices replied as she cuddled the boys both close to her.

Dave just lay back and shook his head. He'd anticipated a long, reasoned session with the boys, but Shae did better in just a few words than anything he'd been able to think of in weeks.

He rolled onto one side, just to watch the tableau in front of him. Thanks to Cameron, the world had just taken on a different shape, and he knew it. The pieces were still coming together, but for the first time in months, it seemed like the world was closer to something resembling its proper form. True, Shae was not Julie and would never be, but she was going to be the best replacement for Julie he could imagine. For the first time, the four of them felt like a family. Lord knew, he missed Julie and probably always would, but now he felt like he was ready to move past the sorrow and the emptiness toward a new future.

Dave continued to lay there and watched the three of them until the boys wound down a little. "Hey, kids," he said finally, "Why don't you two go get dressed, and then we can all get together and have some breakfast?"

"Sure, Dad," Tyler, the normal leader said. "What are we going to have for breakfast?"

"I don't know," Dave shrugged. "How about pancakes and sausage?"

It was an easy one to get his attention; Dave knew it was his favorite, and he'd be able to hurry Cameron along. "I'd like that," Tyler smiled. "Are you going to make them or is Aunt Shae?"

"We'll both work on it," Dave grinned, seeing his tactic was going to work.

"OK, we'll go get dressed," Tyler replied, leading Cameron out the door.

Shae shook her head as they left. "That was sneaky, Dave," she smiled.

"I don't know," he said casually. "I figured it was best if we at least started to get dressed without their help. I'm not quite sure I wanted them to discover we're both lying here with no clothes on."

"Yeah, it probably wouldn't be the best idea just yet," Shae agreed. "I really don't have problems with them catching me in the nude, but I didn't know if you'd have any."

"I really wasn't expecting it to come up quite like that," Dave said, turning back the covers on his side of the bed and reaching for the underwear he kept in his bedside stand. "That's one of those things we ought to talk out sometime. It would never have happened with Julie -- she would have freaked out. But you're more of an exhibitionist than she was."

"I have to admit, it's a question I never thought about," she said, getting out of her own side of the bed and heading for her suitcase on the dresser. "I mean, when I was that age, I already had a pretty good idea of how boy bits were different from girl bits, and the reasons why."

Dave shook his head. "Not to take anything away from Mom, but I was a lot older before I figured it out, and there was a lot of misinformation along the way. I guess I always figured I wanted to do it a little different with my kids, but Julie, well, I knew she didn't see things the same way, so I never brought it up to her."

"That's a shame," Shae sighed. "I guess my feeling is I don't mind being a little casual about it. What they see, they see. If they have questions, I'll answer them. That is, if you want me to play it that way."

"Well, if you don't mind," he nodded as he pulled on a T-shirt. "I wouldn't mind having a shower right now, but maybe I'd better press on ahead with getting some breakfast."

"Probably," she said, then hesitated a moment before continuing. "Dave, I know there are going to be some things about raising the boys where I'm just going to look at things different than Julie did. I get the feeling she was more conservative about some things than I'm likely to be."

"Oh, no doubt about it," Dave nodded. "There were a few places where I was easily more liberal than she was. Shae, it's pretty obvious things are going to be a lot different than they were, and we're just going to have to work them out as we go along. We got caught flatfooted this morning, but you pulled it out nicely. Let's just try to talk this stuff out, before we get caught out again. I don't know if we're going to get any more questions about being caught in bed together, but maybe not. I mean, to them it's sort of the normal thing for a mommy and a daddy to do, so no big deal. My question is, do we just let it be natural? Do we talk to them about it, tell them to say nothing? Do we try and avoid getting caught again? I don't know; I'm flying blind."

"Well, me too," she smiled as she fastened her bra in front of her, then twisted it around to put her arms through the shoulder straps. "You have the advantage of a few years of fatherhood. It's all new to me. I'm going to have to learn how to be a parent the hard way, but at least I'll have you to help me get a running start."

"Not that I'm any great expert," he sighed. "I'm learning this stuff as I go along and the tough questions are the ones I don't have an answer to. This is one of them."

"So what's your gut feeling?"

"I'd guess I'm just happy they're not old enough to know the difference. Plenty of people live together without the benefit of a preacher, and it's not really a big deal anymore. Hell, it happened enough when we were in school, and it wasn't a big deal then. Maybe I'm making it a bigger deal than it is."

"You're saying, just act natural about it, and not acknowledge we're a little out of line?"

"Something like that," he shrugged. "Maybe it's just the conservative Bradford kid in me that makes me want to cover it up."

"That's not how you sounded the last time we talked about telling the boys about us," she smirked.

"So, that was before we got caught this morning," he smiled ruefully as he buttoned up the flannel shirt he'd decided to wear. Julie would have split a gut if he'd planned to sit around the house on a Saturday in something as unfashionable as a flannel shirt, but that was then, and this was now -- and Bradford, at that. "Like I said, I'm learning this stuff as I go along."

The boys predictably were quicker getting dressed than Dave and Shae, but rather than coming back to pester the adults, they headed into the living room, and were deeply involved in Spongebob Squarepants when the adults made it to the kitchen and started in on breakfast. While Dave was about as big a fan of letting the TV babysit the kids as Shae, a limited amount of it was all right, in his opinion -- and this morning, it gave the two of them the chance to talk about adult things. "I was a little surprised last night when you said you'd pretty well made up your mind to move to Bradford to be with me," he observed as he started mixing pancake batter.

"Well, yeah," she said, trying to help in an unfamiliar kitchen, but trying to stay out of his way, as well. "There's a tough decision involved. I'm going to miss the hell out of being able to spend time with Eve and her kids. It really isn't a big deal to run down to the north side of Philly from Staten Island. Well, the traffic is a bitch if you catch it at the wrong time, but that's neither here nor there. We've been so close for so long that it's going to be tough going back to seeing her only a couple times a year."

"I wondered about that," he said. "The two of you have been such incredibly close friends; it's bound to leave you feeling a little lost."

"Yeah, and there's Eve's side of it, too," Shae nodded. "For a while, she pretty well had family right in there close, her folks, her sister, Cheryl and Chad, and me. Now, her folks are discovering they're no longer as thrilled with Bucks County and would rather spend more time in Florida. Her sister has transferred out, and Chad and Cheryl are in Chicago. I'm wondering if it might not feel a little lonely for her."

"I kind of got the feeling once, with Chad and Cheryl in Chicago, they might be coming this way a little more often than they have in the past, especially if you're here."

"Yeah, that's true," she conceded. "I guess we're just going to have to wait and see how it plays out."

"Did I just detect a hint of something you haven't said?"

"Yes. No. Hell, I don't know. She's never come out and said it in so many words, but I get the feeling that if the right offer were to come along, she'd be willing to walk out of Matthews, Barkley at the drop of a hat. She's just an employee, after all, and not a partner, and there are some disagreements on some fundamental issues as pertains to the clients she works with. On top of that, John is a sharp guy, and I get the feeling he's not very happy designing culverts, either. I know they're both a little envious of the way Cheryl and Chad got all that shit dumped on them and came out of it smelling like roses. So, your guess is as good as mine. I don't want to say they're looking, but at the same time, I wouldn't put it past them, either. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Let's not even talk about it and get my hopes up. Changing the subject on you, is there anyone we're going to have to tell about us now that we've come out of the closet with the boys?"

"I haven't kept much back from Mom, but I asked her to keep it confidential," he replied thoughtfully. "That means Hazel probably knows, but maybe not. I think we at least need to let Mom know the cat is out of the bag with them. Really, we need to get hold of Emily and let her know about it. I figure she has probably put most of the pieces together, but I think we need to let her know we're not keeping it a secret anymore."

"You think your mom has had breakfast yet?"

"At this hour, hell yes," he snorted. "She's at least three loads into the laundry. I don't know if Hazel is there, but all I have to do is look out the front window to find out."

"Well, why don't you call her up and invite her over for a cup of coffee?" she suggested. "We can sort of casually let her know it's quasi-official now."

Not surprisingly, Hazel was already over at JoAnne's, and soon both of them were sitting in the kitchen with Dave, Shae, and the boys. While there was little new to her in the announcement, she still was curious about one thing: "Are you going to live here, or New York?"

"I think in the end we're going to wind up here," Dave said. "But the short term depends on Avalon."

"I'm hoping it won't be too long before we find out what's happening," Shae said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the decision was already made, but there are some people, especially in the network, who think it's to their advantage to keep the hired help in the dark until the last possible instant."

JoAnne shook her head. "You know I'm not real happy with the idea of the two of you going back to New York and taking the boys with you. Shae, your apartment is nice, but it doesn't strike me as a good place to raise a couple of active kids like Ty and Cam."

"I think you're right," Shae agreed. "But if it happens, it'll only be for a year or two at the most. I can't just walk away from the show, and I can't just walk away from Dave and the boys, either. Especially with what happens next fall."

"That's going to put a different spin on a lot of things for you," JoAnne smiled. "You have no idea how much things are going to change for you."

When Dave called Emily's house along about the middle of the morning, Kayla told him her parents had headed up to Borgess in Kalamazoo to visit with Lloyd, and Vicky had gone along. It sounded to Dave like Emily planned to talk business, at least a little. While Vicky had only been a business major in college, and not a lawyer or anything, he knew she had put together the business plan for MacRae Knives, and had worked out most of the details about the ownership and financing. It was unlikely anything was going to be decided with Lloyd still in the hospital, but it wouldn't keep things from getting kicked around pretty seriously.

The afternoon was getting well along when Emily called back and announced Kayla had told her Dave was looking for her. "Yeah," he replied. "Can we get together for a few minutes this afternoon or this evening?"

"I can pretty well run right over before I get involved in something here," she told him.

Sure enough, she was there within ten minutes, bringing Kayla with her. Of course, the boys managed to steal the surprise, telling Emily and Kayla their dad and their Aunt Shae were getting married -- not that it was necessarily news to Emily, but at least it was to Kayla, who offered her congratulations before taking the boys to the front room to play, while the adults sat down around the kitchen table to talk by themselves. "I brought Kayla along for that reason," Emily admitted. "I figured there might be some things to talk about where we didn't need the boys getting in our hair."

"Well, yeah," Dave grinned. "Since the boys made the main announcement, I guess all I need to say is they're right. You pretty well know the rest."

"Well, I'm happy for you," Emily grinned, with a heart full of joy at having fresh grist for her rumor mill. "Any idea how soon?"

"Not real soon," Shae said. "Maybe not till fall. There are a couple issues to be worked out first."

"Mostly with Julie's parents," Dave explained. "I'm not even real anxious to let them know about this now, although I suppose we'll have to tell them pretty soon." He'd pushed that reality back into the background, but it couldn't be kept there much longer -- the boys talked to their grandparents on the phone occasionally, and there was a good chance they could spill the beans. However, he wasn't about to tell Emily he wanted to talk to Aaron Tietelbaum about the half-million-dollar note before he confronted the Albrights about anything. It was, after all, half a million dollars that could be used as blackmail to keep them from flying too far off the handle.

Shae went on to explain the question of where they were going to live was also up in the air, and explained about Avalon.

"Well, congratulations, you two," Emily grinned. "You know, back when we were in school, there were a lot of kids who thought the two of you were a pretty good matchup. I'm just glad the two of you finally saw the light."

"It was the long way around, for sure," Dave said, and decided to change the subject. "So how's Lloyd? I presume you have a deal all worked out and ready to ink."

"Not quite," Emily grinned. "But the decision is up to him. I told him we were ready to buy him out if we can work out a reasonable figure. Alternatively, I'm willing to continue to manage the Courier for him. Once he's made up his mind, we can work out the details."

"Under the circumstances, you probably couldn't have done much more than that," Dave agreed.

"Not really," Emily nodded. "But on the way up there and back Vicky and I talked about how things could be organized. She leans toward a limited liability corporation with you and me as the main shareholders, maybe with Lloyd carrying a piece of it, depending on . . . well, depending. Then you and I can work out a separate buyout schedule if you're inclined to. And really, that's about all that can be said about it until Lloyd makes up his mind and we can get close on a price."

"Frankly, you know more about it than I do," Dave said. "That's one of the options my New York accountant mentioned, or at least something like it. Whatever we work out, I'll want to run it past him before we nail down the deal."

"You'd be foolish not to," Shae agreed. "Emily, I only met Aaron real briefly at the Dunlap and Fyre Christmas party, but he seems like a sharp little cookie." She grinned and added, "I emphasize the 'little', too."

"Shae, everybody is little to you," Emily laughed. "Even Dave, maybe. Anyway, Dave, the one thing we did work out is that we're going to be managing the place at least until Lloyd feels like coming back, if not permanently. So, Dave, we should have it a little easier on Monday, especially since we've now done it once and had a week to find our way around. And maybe, if we're lucky, this time we won't have another huge story surprise us."

"It would be nice," Dave nodded. "Emily, I need to make a point. I can fill in on an emergency basis and will do so as long as needed, but it can't be permanent. I shorted virtually everything else to be able to spend three days down there this week. I can't do it very often or for very long."

"I understand," Emily nodded. "At the same time, I don't want to think about hiring someone until we know for sure we're going to be running it permanently, or at least until I can get a go-ahead from Lloyd. Actually, I'm thinking Janine might be a real good candidate. I'm not sure how much longer the Spee-D-Mart will be open, but I'd be surprised if it's very long. I know the supermarket would like to get the tanks out as soon as possible so they can get going on the environmental assessment they need to do."

"You think Janine can do the job?"

"Probably," Emily shrugged. "At least she can be a useful set of hands while she's learning some of the ropes. She's a pretty good typist and not a bad writer. I mean, she doesn't write novels or anything like that, but she's done church news and stuff. She's also pretty good with the store books."

"Well, might be, then," he replied thoughtfully. "She's personable enough. It'd be nice to know how much longer Hazel is going to stay on."

"Right, that's why I thought of Janine in the first place. Well, that and we've worked together for so long I know she's a good worker."

"Emily, one thing," he said. "If we wind up buying the place, and I wind up financing you or whatever, it's going to have to be pretty much your baby, unless you need emergency help with something. I'm going to have to be pretty much the silent partner. I've got other things on my mind right now, including my real job, along with everything else."

No matter how it was approached, it was still a ten-hour drive back to New York. Shae had an early call on Monday and needed a fairly decent night's sleep, so it was just about imperative she head back eastbound not later than the middle of the morning on Sunday. "God, I hate this," she said as she packed her things. "I wish I could just stay here with you."

"Well, I wish you could stay," he agreed, sitting on the bed watching -- there wasn't much he could do to help, after all. "At least I'll be seeing you next weekend."

"It takes the sting out of it a little," she agreed. "It's going to put a strain on you, though. We can just sit around the apartment and snuggle up a bit more than we could manage this weekend."

"Maybe not," he said. "I've still got to talk to Stan and Deborah, and I'm not looking forward to it one bit, but after this weekend I don't think I can put it off much longer. That probably will turn into a Saturday deal."

"And it goes a long way toward blowing up the weekend," she sighed. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"I don't know," he said. "I mean, there's no doubt in my mind they'll give me hell about sullying Julie's memory or something, and I don't know that maybe they're right. But hell, it's my life too, and I've got to move on. On top of that, they're going to give me hell about taking the boys so far away from them, and to a degree they've got a legitimate complaint there. I mean, not a deal breaker, but they're not going to be happy about it."

"There's one good thing about the Avalon business not being settled yet," she noted. "You can tell them there's a good chance you're going to be moving back to New York. You don't have to tell them if it happens, it's temporary."

"True," he said thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought about that angle. It might take the sting out a little. But I'm just dead sure Stan will hit on me about moving to Hartford and joining in his business. I don't want to do that in any case. Last fall, I hinted to them it was an option, but it never was one in my mind. Anyway, with all the crap facing me, along with some Dunlap and Fyre issues, the only good thing about this trip will be seeing you."

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