Mark lay in bed thinking after he hung up, and wondering what he should do. For the moment, nothing, he decided. He was going to sit tight and see what happened. He rolled over in bed and tried to get to sleep again, but his head was pounding, and he was worried about them. It was six o'clock when he finally gave in to his own anxieties, and called their mother. She sounded nearly as unhappy as the children had earlier that morning.

“I'm glad you called,” she said, surprised to hear him. “The kids met Adam last night, and they were awful to him.”

“I'm not surprised. Are you? It's too soon for them to accept the idea that you're dating. And maybe they suspect you've known him for a while.”

“That's what Jessica accused me of. You didn't tell her, did you?” she asked, sounding panicked.

“No, but I think you should, eventually. Otherwise, one of you will slip sometime, and they'll figure it out. They already suspect it, from things he said.”

“How do you know?” She sounded startled, and he decided to be honest with her.

“They called me. They were pretty unhappy.”

“Jessie slammed into her room and locked the door halfway through dinner, and Jason wouldn't even talk to him, or me. Jessie says she hates me.” Mark could hear tears in Janet's voice.

“She doesn't hate you. She's hurt and angry, and she's suspicious of you. And she's right. We both know that.”

“That's none of her business,” Janet said hotly, feeling guilty.

“Maybe not, but she thinks it is. Maybe you should have waited to bring him around.” She didn't want to tell Mark that Adam had been putting pressure on her to introduce him to the children, and she had acceded to his wishes. She didn't think they were ready either, but he said he refused to stay hidden any longer. If she was serious about him, he wanted to meet them. And it had been a disaster. She and Adam had had a huge fight afterwards, and he had stormed off, slamming the door behind him. It had been a nightmarish evening.

“What am I going to do?” Janet asked, sounding worried and anxious.

“Wait. Go easy on them. Give them time.” She didn't want to tell him that Adam wanted to move in immediately, he didn't want to wait until they got married, and she wasn't sure she could stall him. She didn't want to lose him. Or her children. She felt pulled in all directions.

“This isn't as easy as you think, Mark,” she said in a plaintive tone that made her sound like the victim, and they both knew she wasn't.

“Just don't screw our kids up in the process,” he warned her. “I don't know how you can expect me to be sympathetic about this, or the kids for that matter. The truth is you did break up our marriage for him, and sooner or later, the kids are going to know that. That's a lot for them to swallow.” It had been a lot for him to swallow, except that he had loved her, and still did. “They have a right to be angry. At both of you.” It was the fairest thing he could say. He hated the fact that he was always the peacemaker, but he always seemed to be able to see all sides of a problem, not just his own. It was one of his great strengths, and failings, vis-à-vis her.

“Yeah. Maybe so. But I'm not sure he understands that. He doesn't have children, and he doesn't understand a lot about them.”

“Then maybe you should have found another guy. Like me, for instance.” She didn't answer, and he felt foolish for having said it. The wine and the port and the brandy weren't helping, nor was his headache. His hangover was already in full swing and he hadn't even gotten up yet. It had been a busy morning for him so far.

“I guess they'll calm down eventually,” Janet said hopefully, but Adam wasn't going to tolerate it if they didn't. He wanted them to like him, and he was insulted by the way they'd behaved, and threatened her about it.

“Stay in touch,” Mark said, and then hung up. He lay in bed for another two hours after that, unable to sleep, with his head pounding. It was nearly nine when he got up, and after ten when he got to the office. And the kids were back on the phone with him at lunchtime. They had just gotten home from school, and they were insistent that they wanted to come and live with him, but he told them he wasn't going to do anything hasty. He wanted them to calm down and at least try to be fair to their mother. But all Jessica could say was that she hated her, and she'd never speak to her again if she married Adam.

“We want to come and live with you, Dad,” Jessica insisted. She was relentless.

“And what if I go out with someone you don't like? You can't keep running away from things like this, Jessie.”

“Are you dating, Dad?” She sounded shocked. She hadn't even thought about that prospect, nor had Jason.

“No, but I will someday, presumably, and you might not like her either.”

“You didn't leave Mom for her. I think Mom left you for Adam.” He realized that if he hadn't known the truth himself, it would have been a brutal piece of information for him. Kids certainly didn't hesitate to throw bombs or information. But he did know. And Jessica's suspicions were accurate. He didn't want to tell her the truth, but he didn't want to lie to her either. “I'll run away if you make us live with her, Dad.”

“Don't threaten me, Jess. That's not fair. You're old enough to know better. And you're getting your brother worked up. We'll talk about all this when we go on vacation together. You may feel differently about it by then. You may decide you like him after all.”

“Never!” she said vehemently.

For the next two weeks, it was a constant battle. Tears, threats, calls in the middle of the night. Adam had actually been foolish enough to tell them he wanted to live with them and their mother. By the time Mark picked them up in New York, they were waging a full-scale war on their mother. And it was all they talked about during the vacation. And Janet had her hands full with Adam. He was telling her that if she didn't let him move in, he would feel that she was choosing her children over him. He said he had waited long enough for her. He wanted a life with her now, and her children. But her children didn't want him. And as a result, they didn't want Janet either. At the end of the vacation, Mark sat down with Janet, and told her he had no idea how to make them settle down and stay with her. Jessica was threatening to call a child advocacy lawyer, and ask the court to send her to her father. And she was old enough not only to do it, but to have the court listen, and so was Jason.

“I think you have a major problem on your hands here,” Mark told her honestly. “There's no way to de-escalate this right now. What about letting them come back to LA till the end of the school year? You can renegotiate with them then. But I think you're only going to make things worse now if you force them to stay here. They are not willing to listen, or compromise.”

She had handled the entire situation abominably, and she was paying the piper, and they both knew it. She felt torn in opposite directions, loyalty to Adam, and loyalty to her children. And the two factions were in direct conflict one hundred percent of the time.

“Will you send them back to me at the end of the school year?” she asked, looking panicked. She didn't want to lose her children. Or Adam. And he had not only told her he wanted to marry her as soon as the ink on the divorce was dry, but he wanted her to get pregnant. He wanted them to have a baby, maybe two. She couldn't even imagine selling that to her children. But she'd deal with that later. Right now they were threatening to move out and go back to their father.

“I don't know what I'd do,” Mark said honestly about the following school year. “It depends what they want.” She had created an incredible mess for herself, and Mark almost felt sorry for her. But he was torn by his own feelings too. She had damn near killed him when she left him, and the worst of it was that he still loved her, but he didn't tell her that. She was completely obsessed with Adam, enough so to jeopardize not only her marriage, but her relationship with her children. In Mark's eyes, she'd made a very bad bargain. He wouldn't have sacrificed anything for his children, and they knew it, which was why they wanted to come and live with him.

“Can you get them back into their old school?” Janet asked, dabbing at her eyes. She had never expected anything like this to happen, or she might not have left him. And now she had Adam on her hands, ready for a full-scale battle, to force her to allow him to move in with them.

“I don't know. Maybe. I'll try to get them into their old school,” Mark said, mulling it over.

“Is your place big enough?” She was almost resigned to the idea. She could see that she had no other choice, unless she stopped seeing Adam, or hid him from them, and she knew he wouldn't let her do that.

“It's perfect for them,” Mark reassured her. He described the grounds of The Cottage to her, and she cried as she listened. She knew she was going to be miserable without them, but maybe if they went to stay with Mark for a few months, they might ease into it when they got back. She hoped so. “I'll see what I can do when I go back, and I'll call you.” Both children pounced on him after he'd talked to Janet, and wanted to know what their parents had agreed on. “Nothing yet,” he said sternly to both of them, “we'll see what happens. I don't even know if I can get you back into school. And whatever happens, I want you to be nice to your mother in the meantime. This is hard for her too. She loves you.”

“If she loved us, she'd have stayed with you,” Jessica said bluntly with eyes full of anger. She was a pretty blonde teenager with a heart full of scars now. Mark just hoped he could minimize any future damage. He didn't want their divorce to destroy his children. That was the last thing he wanted.

“It doesn't always work that way, Jess,” he said sadly. “People change… lives change… you can't always have what you thought you would, or do what you said you would. Life throws curves at you.” But they didn't want to hear it. They were still furious with their mother, and her boyfriend.

He flew back to California that night, and spent the next week negotiating with their school to let them back in. They had been gone for less than three months, and they were in an excellent school in New York, so they hadn't lost any ground. And by the end of the week, their old school in Los Angeles had agreed to take them back. The rest was simple. All he had to do was hire a babysitter to keep an eye on them while he was at the office, and drive them to their after-school activities and sports. He didn't think that was going to be a problem, and he called Janet over the weekend.

“We're all set. They can start on Monday if they want, but I figured you'd want at least another week with them, to make your peace with them. It's up to you when you send them.”

“Thanks, Mark. Thanks for being so decent. I guess I don't deserve it. I'm going to miss them so much,” she said, and started to cry again. This whole chapter had been an agony in their lives, and now for their children.

“They'll miss you too. Once they stop being pissed off at you, they'll probably want to come back to school in New York after the summer.”

“I'm not so sure. They're pretty emphatic about Adam, and he has very definite ideas. It's hard for him to start parenting with teenagers, particularly since he's never had children.” From Mark's perspective, it sounded like a miserable situation, and he didn't envy Janet. He and the kids were calling the shots, and she was bouncing like a ball between them. She had never done well in stressful situations. He had always handled everything for her. Except her affair with Adam. She had managed that on her own, and screwed up everyone's life in the process.

She told the children on Sunday, and they didn't even have the grace to pretend they were sorry they were leaving. They both cheered, and Jessica started packing half an hour later. They would have gladly left the next day, but Janet insisted they spend another week with her. And she told them they would have to come home for the summer. She and Adam had already agreed to get married in July, when the divorce was final, but she didn't tell them that. She was afraid they'd never come back if she told them the news. She'd have to figure that out later.

It was an agonizing week for her, knowing they were leaving, and the following Saturday, she put them on a plane to California. Mark had decided not to hire a babysitter for them, he told her he had made an arrangement with his landlord's housekeeper. She was going to babysit for them. He was going to drive them to their activities himself, and shorten his workday if he had to. They were worth it.