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A month later, they were sitting outside of their therapist's office and Grace suddenly felt very confident about what she had to do. It was the only way that the three of them would ever find any happiness. She had to divorce Archer.
“What do you want to do about all of this, Grace?” Archer asked.
“I think we should get divorced,” she said. Archer smiled at her and she knew that they were on the same page.
“Even the playing field,” he said.
“Yep,” she agreed. “I think that might be the only way that Jon doesn’t feel like he’s the third wheel in our relationship anymore,” she said.
“You’re right, honey. I’ll gladly divorce you, Gracie. You’ll be my first ex-wife,” he teased.
Grace rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll be your only ex-wife, Archer,” she insisted. “Because you’ll never marry anyone else again.”
“Deal,” he agreed, kissing her. “Happily divorced and living with the two people I love most in this world. I can’t wait. Now, we just need to come up with a plan to get Jon on board.”
“Leave that to me,” Grace said. “I have a plan.”
“I never doubted you, Gracie,” Archer assured.
Two days later, Gracie showed up at Jon’s office, her suitcase in hand. Once his secretary showed her back to his office and left, she felt a bit unsure of her plan, with the way Jon was mean mugging her.
“What the hell are you doing here, Gracie?” he asked.
“I’m divorcing Archer,” she said, defiantly raising her chin at him.
“What? No, you can’t,” he almost shouted at her.
“It’s already a done deal. I’ve contacted my lawyer and he’s drawn up the papers. We both agreed that this was the best for everyone involved,” she insisted.
“It’s not the best for me,” he yelled. “You and Archer belong together, and I won’t be the person who tore you apart. What about the baby? He or she will need both parents.” Grace wanted to laugh at the irony of Jon insisting that they should stay together for the sake of the baby—his baby. He had already walked away from his own child and now, he was chastising Archer for doing the same.
“Archer needs to think about the baby and do what’s right,” he breathed.
Grace barked out her laugh. “You can’t be serious, Jon. You’re the biological father of our baby and you walked away from him or her. Did you give our baby even a second thought while you were clearing out your things from our home?” she asked.
“Of course I did. I left because I wanted for him or her to have the best life possible. Do you know how hard it will be for our kid to have two fathers and a mother? What will other families say about the three of us raising a child together? Hell, what will our parents say?”
Grace crossed his office and sat on the edge of his desk to be closer to him. She was careful not to touch Jon yet. She wanted to talk before they got to the part about her and Archer wanting him to come back home with them—this time as an equal partner. “Is that what you’re afraid of?” she asked. “What your parents will think.”
“Yes,” he breathed. “But it’s more than that. What will teachers think when he or she goes to school? Will he be invited to birthday parties by other families or shunned because of us? It’s just too much and I don’t want that kind of life for our baby.”
“Our baby will have more love than any other kids on the block. He or she will be lucky to have two wonderful fathers and a mom who adores them both. Do you know how many kids are lucky enough to have a family with just one stable parent? Our kid will have three—how lucky, right?”
“What about—” Jon started, and she held up her hand to stop him.
“Jon,” she breathed, “we can sit here for the rest of eternity and talk about ‘what ifs’ or we can live our lives and be happy.”
“That’s good advice, Gracie,” he said. “You and Archer should follow it. You two can’t be done, it’s just not possible.”
“Oh,” she said, sly smile in place, “I never said that we’re done. We’re just getting a divorce. That part is done.”
“I’m not following,” Jon admitted.
“Arch and I decided that the only way for the three of us to move forward on equal footing is for him and me to get a divorce. I know that you’ve struggled with feeling like a third wheel—you even admitted it to our therapist. We just decided to take that part of our relationship apart and reassemble it. We want you to feel like an equal partner in all of this, Jon. Divorcing Archer was the only way. I still love him, just as much as I still love you.” She chanced reaching for his hand and he took hers. It felt so right to have him touching her again.
“We’ve missed you,” she whispered. “Please come home.” She could see the indecision in his eyes, but she still had one more trick up her sleeve.
