Chapter 3: The Joys of Being a Single Mother...

A few days after Anderson is born, chaos has set in.  Tanya becomes exhausted as she hasn't seen much of Connor since she gave birth.  She invites him over for dinner to talk about things and somehow things get blown out of proportion on both sides.

Soon the two are yelling at each other in a full blown argument.  Tanya accuses Connor of not taking responsibility for his son and helping with raising him.  Connor on the other hand accuses Tanya of trying to use him for financial gains.  Both say things they really don't mean and end up breaking up, but try to remain good friends for Anderson's sake.

Time seems to fly by once Tanya gets into the swing of being a mother.  Before she knows it, Anderson is a toddler.  Tanya quickly decides to make her son the focus of her life.  She spends as much time as she can with him and Anderson starts to learn all kinds of exciting things about life.

Anderson is in a hurry to get out of diapers and the first major achievement for him is becoming potty trained, much to Tanya's relief.  Then he starts to take his first timid steps across the floor on his own.  Tanya can't believe her eyes when she sees this!    The babbling Anderson makes starts to slowly make sense as he learns more and more words.  It truly feels like the best days of Tanya's life.  She can't believe how incredibly lucky she is to have such a wonderful child.

Anderson quickly takes to music and Tanya encourages him to learn as much as possible from his xylophone.  She hopes he'll be able to play as beautifully as she did when she was a child.


Tanya would never trade this in for the life she dreamed of just a couple years ago though.  "Not in a million years," she thinks.  She does wish her parents could see Anderson, they'd love him almost as much as she does.  Too bad they are so far away, maybe someday soon they'll at least get to come for a visit.

And man is he a bookworm!  The kid always wants to read a story.  As soon as you finish the book he wants to read it again.  That must come from his dad's side of the family.  If it wasn't for the pictures and cutesy themes Tanya wouldn't be able to handle reading the same books to him over and over again.

She was so glad she spent so much at the bookstore that day.  At least there is a variety for him to read and look at.  From finger-painting books, math books, story books, and even travel books!  The kid loves them all and gets so excited when they curl up together on the floor to read.

Before long though, Tanya starts to miss being in love.  She craves some adult time and quickly forms a close relationship with Christopher Steele.  The two meet when he needs a shower upgraded and the shop calls and ask Tanya if she can do it.  She needs the extra cash so she jumps at the chance.

The two go from friends to more in a matter of days.  The whole romance is a blur for Tanya, she's just happy she's found someone who loves both her and her son.  Though as Anderson gets closer to school age, she feels a tingling in her womb, and soon all she can think about is having another baby, Christopher's baby....