A Father's Name(21)

“You’ll have to heat it up when you want it. And there’s enough to last a couple days, or it freezes well.”

She looked around the kitchen. It was old enough to be almost retro-chic. There were floor to ceiling cabinets, a giant country sink and old white enamel appliances. Again, it’s not the sort of kitchen she’d pictured Tyler having.

Tyler Martinez was an enigma.

“Seems like he’s calmed down,” she said.

“Yeah.” Tyler put Jace on the floor and the baby toddled over to Tucker. She knelt down and said, “How’re you doing, munchkin?”

Jace babbled some response, then walked toward the stove and said, very clearly, “No.”

Tucker smiled. “Good boy, that’s a no.”

“No, no, no, no.” Jace waggled his chubby finger at the stove, but didn’t get too close or touch it.

Tucker glanced up at Tyler and smiled. “See, I think you made your point.”

“But I made him cry.”

“There’s no reasoning with babies. Actually, he’s more of a toddler.” She remembered when she accepted Bart wasn’t a baby anymore. The feeling of nostalgia engulfed her. He was a high school graduate as of yesterday. Legally an adult.

She’d sat with Pops, Eli, her husband Zac and the guys from the shop. All of them had helped raise him. All of them reveled in the moment he took his diploma and moved the tassel of his cap from one side to the other.

Her son was a graduate.

She felt adrift for a moment. And at the end of the summer, he’d be gone. She’d spent her entire adult life as Bart’s mom. She was still his mom, but it wasn’t the same.

Jace walked his drunken-sailor walk over to some wood blocks and plopped onto the floor.

“Yeah,” Tyler agreed. “I guess toddling has to be the definition of toddler.”

They stood in companionable silence for a minute that went from comfortable to awkward for Tucker. Time to go. She’d done her duty and brought him lasagne. “So we’ll see you at the shop on Monday.”

“About that?” Tyler said.

“Yes?”

“Jace has a regular sitter in Erie, but she’s out of town, and I have to find someone closer anyway, but I haven’t had time to interview anyone. I—”

“Wait a minute.” The impact of what he was saying sank in. “You’re keeping the baby?”

He nodded. “I didn’t plan on it, but the Matthews are getting older and Mrs. Matthews had one hip replaced and they need to do the other one. They love him, love being his grandparents, but can’t play surrogate parents. Jason was an only child, so there’s not one else on that side, and Mellie didn’t have any immediate family. That leaves me. Jason named me Jace’s guardian in his will. I tried to convince his dad they could find someone better to raise him. He wouldn’t listen.”

“I’m glad he didn’t, because I don’t believe that they could have found anyone better,” Tucker said. She had to admit that on the surface an ex-con as a guardian for a young child seemed less than ideal. But watching Tyler with the baby, it was evident that he loved him and would do his best for him. A kid couldn’t ask for more than that.

“I didn’t plan on having kids…ever. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Rather than beating a hasty escape, Tucker sat down at one of the kitchen chairs and Tyler followed suit.

Jace occasionally looked up from his pile of blocks and no-noed the stove.

“Listen, Ty, I understand feeling overwhelmed and I understand that given your…past, this is especially hard. Well, my situation was especially hard, too. I didn’t plan on being a parent, especially not when I was still in high school, but there it was. I had a teacher in my corner. Eli found programs and opportunities in the community for me. Hell, she started the whole teen parenting program because she found the system was lacking when she tried to help me. Even after I graduated, she went from teacher to friend. And Pops was great, once he got over the initial shock, but mainly it was me and Bart.”

“What about Bart’s father?”

After all these years, Tucker rarely thought about Bart’s father. She didn’t blame him for walking away, but she did feel bad for him. He should have been sitting with them yesterday marveling in how amazing his son was. “He’s never had anything to do with Bart. What I’m saying is, I didn’t plan it. I had good people in my corner to help when I needed it, but so do you.” He looked confused.