When they had the babies she never even thought about the custody thing. There was no possibility that they would ever separate so why worry? And indeed they had been a perfectly happy family for close to twenty years. True that Jenkins at sixteen was as surly and unlovable as a human could be, but that was really quite natural. The two moms and no dad thing was causing him problems. Not at school but within himself. Their beautiful daughter Rose was a constant source of joy with her silly sense of humor and straight As.
She loved them absolutely and the thought of continuing life without them - without Claudette - just made her feel endlessly weary. In a case like this it seemed the birth mother always got full custody. She was out of the picture. She read that scientists were working on a way of taking all the genetic material out of a sperm cell and replacing it with a woman's genes so that two women could be the true parents of a child, but still the one who carried the baby would be considered the prime parent - wouldn't she? They could have each had a child but the whole thing seemed silly because this wasn't going to happen to them. They were forever.
Now Claudette was gone with both kids and she was alone in the house that had been so filled with shouts and laughter. It was to be her house, true. She was paying off Claudette's equity, but she'd rather have the kids and live in a brown paper bag by the side of the road.
She was grey and stout and now friendless. Her life had revolved around the family now gone. All she had was her work.
She gutted the house - rented a drop box and tossed everything Claudette had left. Her horrible house plants and disgusting trellis work. Her vapid paintings and bizarre body oils. The hideous hydrangeas she had insisted on planting. She repainted the kitchen and did away with the nasty sponge work Claudette had done all over practically everything. It almost felt good.
Six months later she was on a ladder clearing gutters when she saw Jenkins walking down the tree shaded street, a stuffed pillow case on his back...He stood by the ladder looking up.
``I can do that,'' he said.