Chapter 8
(Anastasia)
Back downstairs, I stood opposite Ross, the table between us.
Without looking at me, he asked, “How old is Leslie?”
It was time to come clean about it. With no delay, I answered, “She just turned three.”
Ross sat quietly for a moment, looked at me, and nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me, Anastasia?” The anger I had expected, was absent. Instead, he looked sadder than the saddest man on earth. The circles under his eyes were suddenly darker, his cheeks hollower, the set of his shoulders more dejected.
“How could I, Ross? You were married and had told me that you’d never give her a divorce. How was I to know you’d even care?”
“Because I did care! I do care! I still love you, Anastasia. All these years, I haven’t been able to keep you off my mind.” He made a mournful sound and rubbed his face. “I have a daughter?”
He looked to me for confirmation. I nodded tightly.
“I have a daughter.” His eyes brimmed with tears. “We have a daughter. A beautiful, intelligent, little daughter, Anastasia.”
“Yes, I suppose we do.” Tears slipped down my cheeks.
Still half-expecting him to become irate at some point, I was happy to learn that he was only upset that he had not told me of his true feelings sooner. He very much wanted to be in my and Leslie’s lives.
***
(Ross)
Finding out that I had a daughter…well, that changed the world for me. I was in love with Anastasia, but I loved her even more after learning that she had given birth to our child. There was no way I was going back to live in Massachusetts.
Visiting Anastasia and Leslie every chance I had over the next two months, I was the happiest I ever remember being in my life.
One evening, after a lovely homemade dinner with my two ladies, we were in the backyard drinking coffee as Leslie played with Sally-Jo. The sun was setting, casting amber hues all across the land. Anastasia had never looked more beautiful to me than she did sitting there with windblown hair and dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt.
“Anastasia?” I set my coffee aside.
“Yes?” Her voice held a dreamy tone as she watched the sunset.
“I want us to be together.”
She turned to me, smiling.
“Forever. I want us to be together forever. I love you. I love our daughter.” I moved closer and leaned in for a kiss.
“Forever is a very long time, Ross.” She kissed me.
“I know. I want it to be. I’m not going back to Massachusetts. I’ve already looked into buying property right here.”
“What? How can you not go back? That’s where you conduct all your business from.” Her shocked expression was nearly comical.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. There’s no law that says I have to run my businesses from the Massachusetts location. I can move my base of operations, my headquarters, if you will, right out here eventually. Until then, I can manage with the occasional trip out there, I believe.” Hoping she would have more to say about it than what she had, I waited.
Studying me for several long moments, she finally turned her attention back to the westering sun and our Leslie. It was an iconic picture forever burned into my mind’s eye. Leslie with her long black hair flying out behind her as she rode the stick-horse and laughed. The multi-colored sky with the sun riding low toward the horizon setting the whole landscape ablaze with hues of orange, red, and yellow.
Taking out my cell phone, I snapped a few quick pictures of the scene and then recorded a video. Without realizing it, I had just been introduced to the wonders and love of fatherhood. The need to snap pictures, capture precious moments had just been born in me and would never die.