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“Good. Because I need a witness.”
A smile is my reward. “It was a miracle, Ben.”
“I thought so, too.” Dragging a hand through my hair I pace twice, stopping to let it sink in that, “I’m getting custody of Jonny.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Stunned.” I admit, adding a quick and earnest, “Thrilled!” I start laughing, a release needed for months. “No more fighting! No battles in court! I can’t believe it!”
Willow rises. “You got through.”
“Past all the layers of bullshit to what was really going on. I knew it! But that she’d admit it… I never thought that would happen.”
“There was something about the way you said it,” Willow nods. “It was without judgement. Matter of fact. She heard you from a real place.”
“Right,” I whisper. “I guess that’s what it was. Before I was just accusing but this time…”
“You said it plainly? I’m not sure. But whatever it was, you got through.”
“I got through!”
Willow walks to me and hugs me with the best hug I’ve ever known. It’s soft, loving, sweet. A friend. A lover? Love? “What do you need right now?” she asks.
“I need to talk to my mom and dad.”
“Call them.”
A phone call and a few moments later and we’re walking over to their place — Jonny in bed, them waking up to hear what I’ve got to say in person. We walk swiftly, and I take Willow’s hand about a quarter of the way there, my mind and body fidgety with everything that happened. Fights can really fuck with your equilibrium, but resolving them in such a profound way, I can barely get a hold of my feelings. Too many of them. It’s been like that for months. I’m tired, if I’m honest. But the electricity of what just happened, and that I have Willow at my side through it, is keeping me on a good path.
When Mom opens the door, her voice is quiet. “Come in, we’re making coffee. It’s almost done.”
“We’ll stay on the porch then. Let’s have it out here.”
“Good idea. Be out in a moment. Your father is in the bathroom.”
She closes the door and I guide Willow to the coffee-cup stained, wood table and chairs. “These have been out here since before I was born. They were going to get a new set but Mom said she loved the marks left by a lifetime of memories. She didn’t want to let those go.”
Willow breathes, “Aw!” taking a seat. I stand until she’s seated and then get comfortable next to her. Comfortable as I can.
“This is where I told Dad I wanted out of the marriage, too. So it’s fitting that…”
I trail off and Willow says with understanding, “Yes. It’s perfect.” After a moment of silence my racing thoughts fill, she asks, “Should I go back to Sunflower so you all can?—”
“No! I want you here.”
She takes my offered hand. “Okay Ben.”
Mom and Dad walk outside, Dad getting the door with two cups in one hand, their handles wrapped tight in his big right hand. Mom carries the other two in each of her hands, wedding ring glinting in the porch light as she passes directly underneath it. “Beautiful night,” she smiles, handing us our cups. “Especially if there’s good news?”
I wait until they sit down. “Shelby is giving me custody of Jonny.”
They freeze, Dad half standing, half sitting. He lands on the chair slowly, shocked. “What?!”
Mom says, “When? How? How did this happen?”
I tell them the story, coffee ignored during every edge-of-their-seats minute of my crazy tale. They ask questions I answer until it’s all out on the proverbial, and real, table. The air is charged with happiness and shock and several silences as we all take it in.
Mom finally says, “This is not what we thought you were going to say.”
