"You know...the family who laughs together stays together!" she yelled at me in her musical tone.

"Oh, that's clever, Deb...why don't you stitch it on a sampler!"

"Why don't you stitch it on your ass!"

The door slammed right in my face, and I whirled around on my heel, trodding down the hall to find a door to slam too.

"Daddy, why are you and Mommy yelling?"

I looked down to find I'd almost plowed straight into my only son, Luke. In my misery and half-anger, I was only inches away from stepping right on his little toes as he stood there in the hallway, perplexed beyond belief and staring up at me with perfect green eyes.

The expression on his face dug into me almost as deeply as Deb's words. I still couldn't believe he was my son. Hard to believe I was in charge of another life when mine seemed to be falling apart.

"Daddy?"

He reached up and tugged gently on my hand. His gaze began to melt the anger burning inside me. I slowly bent down to his level.

"Daddy, why are you and Mommy yelling?" he repeated almost anxiously, almost in a whimper.

"Mommy and I just had a little argument...that's all, Luke," I said, trying to keep fading anger from my voice.

"You aren't gonna break up...right?"

I glanced down at the maroon carpet and then back at my son. He was staring forlornly at me...as if his whole world depended on my answer. Hell, I was his world.

"No, Luke...no. Sometimes mommies and daddies fight."

"But why do you have to fight?"

Suddenly, I could see Debra reflected in my son...and why not...she was half of the process. Luke's intelligence and curiosity was just like Deb's. More than once, I'd been satisfied watching mother and son...Deb trying to explain something and Luke questioning her again and again. Deb had endless amounts of patience.

"Why, Daddy? Don't be like Timmy's daddy."

"What did Timmy's daddy do?" I asked, plopping onto the carpet and leaning back on my hands.

Luke crawled in between my legs and sat on one of them. "He said he was going to the store...and Timmy said he never came back. Why, Daddy....why do people who love each other fight?"

Poor Luke...how do you explain to a five-year-old about divorce?

Deb and I weren't divorcing....right?

"Baby, sometimes it just happens," I heard a voice from above me.

Luke and I both looked up to see Debra standing there behind me in the hall. She knelt down beside me.

"Sometimes when people get angry with one another, they say things they don't mean," Debra explained.

"You didn't mean what you said, right, Mommy?"

Debra looked at me. My eyes were shining with unfallen tears.

"No....no, Luke, I didn't mean what I said."

"See? Everything's all right now, Luke," I said.

"Not yet. Daddy, you have to kiss Mommy now!" Then Luke giggled and ran off down the hall.

I stood and held out my hand for Debra. She grabbed it and pulled herself up. Then she looked at me.

"Colin, I'm sorry...I'm just under a lot of stress, and I know that's no excuse to blow up at you."

"It's all right. Let's talk it out, okay?"

As Deb and I linked hands and continued off down the hall, I saw Luke's head peek around the door frame of his room at us. He gave me the cutest thumbs-up and giggled at me.