“Well that he is. I can’t help but wonder what my baby would look like with you as the donor?”

“There’s no telling. You know my mother is bi-racial. My maternal grandmother is White with blond hair and hazel eyes much like Tina’s. My older brother has her coloring. Growing up everyone thought he and my mother were White and assumed I was adopted because I’m so much darker in skin tone like my father.”

“How did you handle that?”

“You know it could have scarred me, but it really didn’t faze me because my mother would set them straight. Once they got beyond the color of my skin and looked at my features there was no denying she was my birth mother.”

“Do you get people asking if Chris is your natural son?”

“Not very often. I’m not saying it never happens but I don’t think people even care, especially living in a city like New York where we have so many transracial, transcultural family units. If you come to one of my family gatherings it’s like the United Nations. I don’t think any of us ever notice the different heritages because we’re so blended. I was raised to love people regardless of the color of their skin, their beliefs, or their sexual orientation. If I don’t like someone it’s because of something personal that they’ve done to offend me. I don’t judge them by who their parents are. Whether I’m with Chris or we’re together with my ex all I portray is a man and his family. All that matters is that Chris is happy. Even though my wife and I are divorced our son knows that he’s loved and cherished by both his parents, grandparents, and all our relatives. He’s well adjusted. I don’t want it to ever enter his mind that he’s any different from any other kid. He’s brings me the greatest joy and validation of love in my life. Don’t miss out Bette. Keep the dream alive.”

Bette gave a lot of thought to what Marcus had said as the concentrated on eating. After they had consumed most of the food and wine, she brought up the reason for wanting to see him. “Listen I wanted to talk to you about something else.”