Joey woke alone in the dark, wondering for one brief second if it had all been a dream, and then, on the very edge of hearing, came the faint sound of singing, a song he almost knew. He climbed out of bed and followed the sound of soft singing to young Joe’s room, and smiled at what he saw. Luna was sitting on the love-seat, her legs tucked under her as she sat wrapped in a light, filmy robe, Joe cradled in her arms, his empty bottle on the stand. As she sang softly, swaying gently as she rocked the infant, Joey finally recognized the tune; it was ‘If I don’t have you’, by the Skyliners; it had been Karen’s favorite lullaby for Joe, and his eyes were already fluttering sleepily as her warm contralto lulled him.
Luna looked up and saw him in the doorway, flashing him a quick smile before once more turning her attention to the little boy in her arms, still singing softly to him. Joey watched, entranced, as Luna lulled his son, their son now, her eyes filled with nothing but tender compassion and concern for the motherless little boy she held as she sang him to sleep.
Finally, she leaned down and kissed Joe on the forehead, then looked up again at Joey.
“Go on back to bed, baby, I’ll be along in a minute; just let me get this little one settled in.” she breathed, her long legs unfolding gracefully as she stood up in a poem of elegant motion. She smiled at Joey and motioned with her head at the door, shoo’ing him away. Joey grinned to himself as he padded back to the bedroom. He’d only just climbed back into bed when Luna slipped into the room, pausing at the door to listen out, then nodded her head in satisfaction before doffing her robe and sliding into bed next to him, warm and delightfully naked.
Joey pulled her close, and Luna obliged, molding herself against him as they lay in the pre-dawn darkness, both of them thinking about how much their lives had changed in the last few days. Luna finally slipped her hand from around his waist and turned around, to lie spooned against him, his arm around her once more. Joey drifted, lost in the feel of her against him, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her body, and then something he’d meant to ask earlier prodded his mind.
“Luna? Baby?” he whispered, “Are you awake?”
“Yeah baby, still awake…” she murmured, “Is something wrong, honey?”
Joey brushed her hair away from her face,.
“Nothing, baby, I was just wondering… that song you were singing to Joe; how did you know it was… it was the one Karen always sang to him?”
Luna turned to face him, her fingers grazing his cheek.
“I didn’t, baby; Mom always liked that song, and it just seemed the right one to sing. Joe liked it, and it just felt right; it was like I could hear it all around him, but if you don’t want me to…”
Joey put his finger to her lips to silence her.
“No, it’s not that, I was just… curious, that’s all; that was the song his mommy always sang to him, so now you’re gonna be his mommy, at least I hope you will, you sing anything you want, anytime you want!”
Luna grinned impishly at him.
“Well how ’bout that? Most girls never get even one great guy, and now I done got me two! Land sakes, if you’d ‘a tole me sooner this was gonna happen…!” she smiled, her accent once more softening into that warm, unhurried, southern drawl she’d been surrounded by as a child. Joey grinned and hugged her closer, revelling in her closeness.
“It’s after three o’clock baby, get some rest,” he murmured, relaxing his hold on her so she could make herself more comfortable. Luna sighed softly as she relaxed, pulling his arm closer around her as they both slipped back asleep.
*
The scent of bacon and coffee finally woke Joey, and he smiled at the simple domesticity of it, before sliding on his shorts and faded 49’ers T-shirt. When he came into the dining room, he paused to take it all in; Luna sitting in the love-seat, dressed only in one of his long tee’s, her coppery hair tied back in a loose pony-tail, once more holding the sleeping boy against her neck while she sipped a mug of coffee. Her eyes twinkled as she saw him, his grin answering her.
“Well finally, sleepyhead!” she stage whispered, “We’ve been up and getting acquainted for hours now; I think I tired him out, so don’t you dare wake him!”
Joey kissed her as he took his son from her, looking at the sleeping infant, and seeing, as always, so much of Karen in him.
“He looks so much like her, doesn’t he?” whispered Luna at his shoulder, and even as he nodded agreement, he found time to wonder how she’d known what he was thinking.
“There’s coffee on, tell me when you’re ready and I’ll make you some breakfast,” she murmured, stretching up to kiss him lightly and leave him to have time with his sleeping son.
Joey nodded again, engrossed in his little son’s features, seeing him, really seeing him, for the first time in months. Now that he could see him properly, without family clustering around and distracting him, he felt a small stab inside as he saw how much the little boy’s features had changed in just the few months he’d been away. Joe was growing with a vengeance. He was already walking now, still tentative and unsteady, to be sure, but soon he’d be running, and always, overlaying that, was that heart-piercing resemblance to his mother, and a deeper sorrow that she’d never be there to share any more milestones in their son’s life with him. Joey sighed, and gently smoothed the hair back off Joe’s forehead, before sitting on the couch, his son in the crook of his arm. Luna sat beside him, her head on his shoulder as she too gazed at the sleeping child.
“I promise you, Joey Anderson, I’ll be the best mom I can be; this little guy deserves that, at the very least,” she murmured. She smiled as Joey passed the little boy over to her, settling herself more comfortably with Joe cradled between them. They sat in silence for a while, each busy with their own thoughts, before Luna stirred.
“So Joey, when am I going to meet the rest of the family?” she smiled.
Joey grinned as he collected his thoughts.
“Robbie told me Aunt Kat’s taken the twins on a tour of all the colleges they got accepted to in Oregon and Washington State; Uncle Frank couldn’t get the time away from his job, so she took them instead. They’ll be graduating soon, and the Dangerous Duo both want to study for an MBA, but not too close to home; I guess they want to get some distance from their folks. I hear Uncle Frank’s not too happy about that, but he has to go with the flow, I guess. Anyway, they’ve been gone a week or so, and they’ll be back in a few days, and then you’ll get to meet all the family at the same time; Aunt Kat thought it was better that way. You’ll like them, I promise. The girls are great kids, and Uncle Frank and Aunt Kat are way cool. Didn’t you say your mom was Aunt Kat’s friend in High School?”
Luna nodded, her eyes far away.
“She and Mom were pretty good friends, and Mom used to talk about her a lot; they were about the same age, and she was always kind of sad she never got to say goodbye. She never knew why your aunt did her disappearing act. So your aunt Caitlin came out here; I wish Mom was alive, she’d have wanted to know. I think she missed her a lot; she told me once she used to talk with Kate Moran about all the stuff she couldn’t tell her sister.”
Joey put his arm around her as she leaned back against him, careful to not jar the baby.
“What was your Mom like, Luna? I remember seeing her when I was a kid. She lived up the road from our house, up on Lewis, but I don’t remember seeing you there…”
Luna sighed.
“Mom was… funny; she liked to laugh and kid around; she didn’t take after the Terrible Trio and she was nothing like that tramp Laurie, thank the Lord for that! Mom liked a good joke, to have some fun, to do things on the spur of the moment; she was a lot of things, but she was never boring! I think she only had a few friends, real friends; your aunt was one of them, and Myra Donnelly, Natty Hennessey, a couple others around town, all family, when you think about it, and a few in the place I grew up, Holden’s Crossing; that’s a wide place in the road ’bout eighty miles south of Springfield, over the state line. That was where I was born; when Mom found out she was pregnant, she left Springfield, and went to live with grandpa Hollister’s second-cousin, Stella Mason, down to Holden’s Crossing. Her momma was a Hennessey, so I guess she’s Miss Sarah’s cousin too”
Her eyes glittered, that faraway look softening as she smiled sadly.
“When I was about six, Mom came back to Springfield to find a job. I think Jonah, and maybe Jerry and Jethro too, used to send her money, but she never felt right about takin’ it, so she decided to find somethin’ to support us both. Stella had a hairdressing salon, but Mom was allergic or somethin’ to the stuff they used, so she couldn’t work there. There were no real jobs in Holden’s Crossing anyway, so she went back to Springfield and got a job with the maintenance crew on the campus in Monte Vista; Jonah had taught her how to fix leaks and snake-out pipes and such, and even how to dry-wall and tile; she used to do all that stuff back to home, when Aunt Stella needed it done.”
She smiled wistfully, her voice soft, with a hint of sadness.