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family’s love.  I need Beth and Bailey and Jonatha—“
    “If little Jonathan had not come along, Thomas, then you would not have to face a bitter future alone.  See?  Now, you’re startin’ to see the truth!  Man hug!”  Triumphantly my demon gave me an icky embrace. 
    “Get off me,” I grimaced and recoiled.
    “He is a little bastard, isn’t he?” sniggered the Shadowed Soul behind me.  The impact of what I had thought in that unguarded moment tormented me.  I loved my son.  But, my sordid companion was back, with a vengeance, aiming to undermine all that was good.
    I slumped down and wept fat tears of lonely anguish.  Sobs racked the air around me.  I did not want to hate my son.  But with that one thought I could feel the malignant growth of resentment in my heart.
    “ Resentment works for me,” said the Shadowed Soul nonchalantly.
    As I cried, soft, insistent nudging against my knee drew me out of myself.  Opening my eyes I saw Bailey looking at me, concerned.  Licking my hands and face, Bailey sat down with me.  He raised a paw and looked at me reproachfully, waiting for me to shake.  Patiently, he held out.  Finally, I smiled, and shook his paw.
    “Oh, man, Bailey, I need to relax,” I said.  The shards in my fractured mind scattered as Bailey’s eyes encouraged me.  I felt it was all going to be fine, somehow it would work out.  “I wish I had the same confidence as you, Bailey.”
    “I love you, Tom, you know that, don’t you?” Bailey seemed to say as he cocked his head to the side, and his ears perked up. “You’re going to be a brilliant dad.  I know you are, I sense it, man, buck up.”
    “No, I’m not.  How can I be?”
    “Because you’ve been strong enough to keep that thing at bay for a while now.  He can’t take you, Tom, he’s not man enough.”
    “Thanks, Bailey, you’re a good dog.”
    “Yes, I am.” Bailey wagged in agreement.  He poked his chin between my knees as if to say, “You know what to do, Tom.”
    The next forty minutes were lost stroking the silky fur on his head.  He relished the affection, only shifting when he suspected it would get even better sitting down. 
    “Bailey, you’re the one person who never complicates my life,” I said gratefully, relaxing.  Much as I loved Beth, sometimes she set peace asunder, not deliberately, but still I resented her actions.  Bailey however main-lined love and attention to me without the drama.  This had caused a strong bond to grow between us, ever since Beth and I first began to date.
     
    On our third date, Beth, Bailey and I had been walking through the park.  As new loves, fallen deeply, we talked about everything and anything.  On this day I believe it was that my future had been consolidated with each morsel of joy that unfolded between us.  She had laughed when her ice-cream had fallen in front of Bailey who wolfed it down without breaking stride.  Discussing Star Wars , Beth had done a terrible and yet exceptionally endearing impression of Chewbacca’s reaction whenHan Solo is encased in carbonite.   She had taken my hand when we were gazing out across the pond, just talking about ducks.  When we sat down, I had been a gentleman and bought her another ice cream, even though I could hardly afford it.  And as we talked, Bailey fussed around us.
    “This is great, Beth.  I feel so relaxed,” I sighed.
    “It’s lovely, Thomas, you’re lovely.”  Beth turned her face to mine and as I turned to look at her, she placed the tip of her ice-cream on my nose leaving a blob on the tip. “And now you’re lovely with a hint of Chocolate Chip.”  We laughed.
    “Beth, I will never wash this off,” I said mock-earnestly.  “It shall remain on my nose until Christmas as a memory of this day.”
    “When you shower?”
    “It’s months till Christmas so that’s not an immediate problem and I’ll use the time wisely, I’ll devote myself to developing a small nose-sized shower