“It’s the only thing that makes sense.This place is huge, I have plenty of room.You’re living in somebody else’s house, and it’s not your permanent plan anyway.You’re trying to save up and move into your own place …”
“I’m not exactly strapped for cash.I’m saving up for a down payment.”
“I get that.But you can do that here.And while Marjorie is little, we’ll coparent in the same home.It just makes sense.Thething is, we’re not exes.Our parenting doesn’t have to be traditional in that sense.We don’t have to have two different households.We can actually give her a really stable upbringing.Hell, probably more stable than either of us had, if you think about it.”
It was true.He hadn’t been given a whole lot of a chance to think the situation through, but it was true.There was no reason the two of them couldn’t build something strong for this little girl.
“Ty and Melanie did the absolute best they could by her.And I know not everybody would understand that, but we both do.Because we know how it’s been for them.All this time.”
She nodded, swallowing hard.“I know.”
“And now we have a chance to honor their wishes.They weren’t selfish.They weren’t.Yeah, I know some people would say addiction is selfish, but you and I both know it makes their lives miserable.If they could just kick it, they would.”
He could see his little brother then.As he had been.Just himself.Grinning and causing mayhem, full of life, full of joy.
Drugs had taken his love of life from Ty.He was Clark’s little brother but he looked older than Clark now.
“I know what you’re saying, but it just seems like … We don’t know each other very well, and we’ve never particularly gotten along …”
“You’re talking about the time you yelled at me for being a goddamn Porter who broke up your family?”
She scrunched her face up.“Did I say that?”
“You did indeed.You were pretty angry.We were paying to get their car out of the impound.”
“Yeah.I know.I try not think about it.”
“It’s hard, and because your parents washed their hands of—”
“Yes, thank you,” she snapped.“I don’t actually need a reminder of what my parents did.”
“Hey, at least your parents have a right to be disappointed.Mine kind of created the problem.”
She made a face that he couldn’t quite decode.
“I don’t know that I agree with that.My parents caused some issues.It just wasn’t exactly the same.I mean, I know that you guys had it worse.Rougher than we did.”
“That’s almost an olive branch,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean I forgive your brother.Or that I’m not angry at him.I’m just saying I understand that you guys grew up in a house where there was a lot of addiction.”
“That we did,” Clark said.“But I’m certainly not going to defend him.Not at this point.”
They both looked at the little baby.“I do think giving her up was the best thing Melanie and Ty could’ve done,” Ellie said.
And the best thing she and Clark could do was to come together and try to raise the baby as a unit.
“When it comes to figuring out how to raise a kid, I assume your family’s a lot more functional than mine.”
She grimaced.“In my family, love is conditional.There’s a lot of pressure.From my mother.My dad works.He earns money, and I think in his mind that’s the sum of his obligation to the family.Whenever I go over, Dad is just sitting in his chair, watching sports, doing his own thing.When he’s not working, he’s watching the Bill Parks show.To compensate, I guess my mom was kind of a helicopter parent.But not in a super-loving way.In a way that we felt she was disappointed in us all the time.”
“Sounds like a sitcom,” he said.
“I guess it would.”
“It’s no secret that my parents have struggled.I mean, it’s basically in the local news every so often.”
“Not you,” she said, looking around at the house.“This is … It’s more than a little bit impressive.”
