Dempsey carefully led Tatum and Oakley into the apartment. He helped Tatum to the couch. He got Oakley out of the carrier. He said, "Welcome home, Oak. We are so glad you are here."
Tatum told him, "I need to feed our boy. Can you get me a bottle of water and text my mom to tell her that we are home, please?"
"Of course."
"I'm sorry. I'm so bossy."
Dempsey laid Oakley in her arms, "You are not bossy. I want to help all that I can. Let me know how I can make things easier for you."
Tatum gave him a kiss. "Thank you. I love you."
"I love you too, Tate."
"I know the last few months have been hard, but I am so thankful to have you."
"I'm thankful to have you and Oak. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you that I love you. I should have months ago. I can't wait to hold you in my arms tonight. I missed it last night."
"I missed it, too. Can you burp him please? We need to move his bassinet to our room. Then I think we'll be ready for tonight."
"I'll do that. You rest. I've got you, babe."
"You are the best."
Dempsey burped Oakley. He handed Oakley back to her. "I'm going to move the bassinet and bring the swing in. Then we are going to watch a movie."
"That sounds great!"
Dempsey kissed her head and went to get things done.
There was a knock on their door. Tatum stood up with Oakley in her arms before Dempsey could get to it. She opened the door to see Dempsey's mother. She said, "Umm... Hello Mrs. Larson."
"Hello."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes. I wanted to come check on you both and the baby."
"You did?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. Joe and I didn't want to deal with how things went."
"Dempsey is your son. He has a baby. How was it fair to him for you to just drop out of his life when he needed you most?"
Before she could reply Dempsey came out and said, "Mother?"
"Hello D. I'm sorry I just stopped by. I wanted to come check on you and the baby."
"What? Why now?"
"I'm sorry. I went too far. Your father went even farther. That isn't fair."
"Why say this now?"
"I hated how things happened for your father and I. Your grandparents forced us to get married. I had only known your father a few months when we got pregnant."
"How did that work out for you? You and dad hate each other. Neither of you like me either. Now I know why. Then you decided to force me to get married, too."
"I'm sorry. D, we love you. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel any different. That isn't fair to you. I hope you can forgive me. I never should have encouraged the two of you to get married."
"I was 17 years old. Too young to think about marriage."
Tatum couldn't listen to any more. She said, "Excuse me. I'm going to lay him down for a little bit and lay down myself for a while. It was...nice seeing you Mrs. Larson."
Dempsey knew that Tatum was upset. He couldn't blame her. He kissed her head and said, "I'll be in soon."
After she walked away, Dempsey told his mother, "I never thought I would get married at 17, but it was the push that I needed. If you will excuse me I need to check on my wife and baby."
His mother sighed, "I'm sorry." Then she left.
Dempsey walked into the bedroom. He found Tatum curled up on the bed in tears. She laid her head in his lap. She asked, "Do you want to get a divorce? I can go back to my bedroom. I can get out of your hair."
"No! Of course not."
"Are you sure? I'm not going to let the two of us turn you into your parents. Your happiness means more than anything to me. We can co-parent/. You can marry someone you really love. I won't stand in your way."
Dempsey played with her hair, "I love you. You are the one. I don't want you second guessing that. Don't let anything that my mother said change your mind about me, please."
"I don't want you to regret us. It would kill me if you looked at Oak and us like we are in your way."
"Never. You and Oakley are pushing me to meet my dreams and goals. I want to make the two of you proud."
"Please tell me if things change."
"They are not going to change. I love you. I liked you before, but Oakley was the push that I needed. I'm sorry it took all of this, but we did get the cutest baby out of it all."
"You are something else. Oak is going to want to be just like you. You are already a great dad."
"You are the best mom already."
"Thank you. I know I'm not though."
"Yes you are. I'm sorry that my mom came over like that. She had no right to do that."
"D, she is your mom."
"She has a terrible way of showing it. She didn't even ask what his name was."
"But she showed up. That is more than your dad did. I know they suck, but they are your parents."
"My family doesn't matter. Your family has been amazing. I can't thank them enough for the support and not killing me."
"I wouldn't have let them kill you. If you had left me to do this alone I would have killed you myself. They wouldn't have had to."
"I don't doubt it and I would have encouraged it if I was dumb enough to do that."
Oakley started to stir. Dempsey jumped up and got him. He brought him back over to Tatum. "You feed him and I'll burp and change him. I'm going to get you a drink. I'll be right back."
Tatum told Oakley, "We are so lucky to have your daddy around. We have a lot of learning to do, but I can't promise you one thing. No one could ever love you more than we do, baby boy."
Tatum and Dempsey spent the rest of the night falling into their new routines. It was a long night, but they were managing together.