Tennessee Vet

by Carolyn McSparren

  “Sorry if that upsets you, Daddy, but you’re not. You’re not an alcoholic. You don’t smoke or do drugs. Except for your leg, you’re healthy. You are a catch.”

  “Yes, he is,” Elaine said bitterly. “If you were to marry her, God forbid, she can quit work tomorrow. Who wouldn’t want to settle down to a life of leisure after doing what she does? All that blood and dirt.” Elaine actually shivered. “The chances are that you’ll die first, so she’ll inherit at least half of your estate, assuming you leave the trust funds you and Mother set up for us children in place.”

  “If you keep on like this, I will make the ASPCA the beneficiary of your trust funds. I am legally entitled to do that, aren’t I, Roger?”

  “You don’t mean that, Daddy,” Anne said.

  “What about any grandchildren you might have?” Elaine said. “Would you cut them off? You see, Daddy? This thing is driving a wedge between us. She’ll destroy us as a family.”

  “You’re the one who’s doing all the wedge-driving that I can see,” Stephen said. He was growing angry. What kind of greedy vipers had he reared? They didn’t care what happiness he and Barbara would gain. All that mattered to them was the portion of his estate they might lose if he took a wife, any wife. “You might remember that your mother was younger than I but did not outlive me.”

  “That’s another issue,” Anne said. Her eyes held tears that threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. “It’s a slap in the face to Mother. To go from one of the sweetest, gentlest and most elegant ladies to a veterinarian.”

  “I thought you loved veterinarians.”

  “I do. They’re marvelous people, but you don’t marry them. You employ them to look after your animals. How can you betray your marriage to Mother?”

  “Your mother wanted me to find someone else, Anne. I was the one who felt certain I’d never have another chance. Yes, Barbara and I have grown close, and, yes, she is very different from Nina except in ways that truly matter. What she and I have, and I hope will continue to have, is different from the feelings Nina and I shared. But it is just as valid and, I hope, just as long-lasting.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  BARBARA WOULD HAVE killed for a glass of iced tea. She had expected some flak. Kids did not like change in their parents’ lives no matter how grown-up they were. “Velma?” she called. Velma stuck her head out of the kitchen.

  “Could we have that table in the back room for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. Nobody’s here except y’all.”

  “Come on, gang,” she said. “Stephen, we’re moving to the table in the back where you can discuss things with a bit more privacy.” She cut her eyes at Stephen and caught his slight nod. This was deteriorating into a nasty scene. She and Stephen had not planned on this, but as things stood it was obviously better to separate the combatant groups. So far her children had pretty much kept their mouths shut, but she could tell Caitlyn was close to the boiling point.

  Five minutes later after the two families were settled at their separate tables Caitlyn asked her mother, “How can you even consider getting rid of any of Daddy’s things? You and Daddy worked together. What has this guy got to offer you except a lot more work? He doesn’t understand that you’re dedicated to your animals, not to waiting on him.”

  “Who says he’ll want to be waited on?” Barbara asked. “Maybe he wants to wait on me.”

  Caitlyn huffed. “A college professor? Trust me, he’s used to being waited on. He walks with a limp!”

  “Hey, not fair. He’s in great shape. Better than I am,” Mark said, glancing down at the beginning of a paunch below his belt. “Mom’s spent her life working, and a chunk of it alone. This guy’s solvent—he can take care of Mom. They can travel, take cruises, do that rehabilitator stuff Mom’s into.”

  “Mark, don’t you dare take her side!”

  “It’s not her side, sister dear, it’s her life. It is not yours or mine or even Stephen’s. It is Mom’s. She’s entitled to live it the way she wants.”

  Caitlyn wailed, “Everything will change. We’ll be stuck staring at these people across the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays. We’ll never be a family again with all these strangers in our lives every time we turn around. Making polite conversation.”

  “You call this being polite?” Barbara asked. “I’d love to run out of space at the dining room table, and maybe having eventually to set up a children’s table like they used to have when I was growing up. We had a great time. I’ve always missed that for you two, since neither your father nor I had any close relatives. Nobody we kept in touch with, anyway. I’m trying to make you understand, Caitlyn. We didn’t bring you up here to ask your permission to see each other, but to let you know we’re seeing one another seriously and exclusively.”

  Barbara watched Caitlyn try to get her blood pressure down to a reasonable level.

  “Mother, you’ve known each other a few months. Much too short a time to make any sort of commitment.”

  “You’re betting our relationship won’t last.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Face it, you’re available, period. Sooner or later he’ll go home and pick up with his other lady friends.

  “We might make things permanent.” She realized as she said the words that they weren’t merely to annoy Caitlyn. She meant them.

  Caitlyn actually snorted. “Right. Like that’s going to happen. How’s this for a deal? If you don’t hate each other at the end of a year and should decide to get married, we could start planning a private, quiet wedding in the county courthouse with the mayor officiating.”

  Barbara rolled her eyes. “Actually, I’ve always thought that if by any chance I should get married again, it should be in St Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis with a dozen bridesmaids and a wedding dress with a humongous hoop skirt and a train.”

  “Mother!”

  Barbara caught Mark’s eyes, and they both dissolved in giggles. “I could, you know. John and I never had a fancy wedding, just a justice of the peace in Birmingham the day we graduated from vet school. I could have white roses and a veil and look very silly. But if I should ever consider remarrying—and I haven’t—it might be nice to marry in a church with a priest presiding.”

  “I cannot believe I am hearing this.” Caitlyn slumped down in her chair. “You can’t wear white unless you’re a virgin. Just promise me you won’t do anything final before talking about it with us.”

  “You’re the ones talking about marriage,” Barbara said. “Neither Stephen nor I has mentioned it to you.”

  “You don’t have this kind of gathering to announce you are ‘seeing each other,’” Caitlyn said. “I don’t even want to think what that means.”

  “Caitlyn,” Mark said, “knock it off.”

  “You’re trying to introduce the idea, so we’ll get used to it, then you’ll spring it on us.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Mark said. “Just shut up about it.”

  “Do not consider this insane thing. If you do, I won’t attend.”

  Barbara took a deep breath. “Then, dear, we would miss you.”

  Caitlyn gawked at her mother, pulled herself out of her chair and stalked off down the hall. A moment later the door to the ladies’ room slammed.

  “Hey, Mom, don’t cry.” Mark dropped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. “If you do marry Stephen, I’ll be there, I promise. I like Stephen. You two seem good together. I know you’ve been lonely out here all by yourself. Besides, I live in Nashville. I’m out of the firing line. Caitlyn and I do not run in the same circles. We seldom see one another.”

  Barbara snickered. Then both of them exploded into laughter. Barbara was still crying through her tears when Caitlyn slammed the door to the restroom and strode back to them. She picked up her coat from the chair where’d she’d left it when she arrived, and said, �
�I am driving home. Call me when you’ve come to your senses and dumped this guy.”

  She strode out and slammed the front door behind her. The glass rattled alarmingly but remained intact. A moment later a car revved its engine and peeled out.

  “I thought this discussion was hypothetical,” Mark said. “When did it go from don’t marry him to dump him? My sister can be a pain.”

  “I hope Stephen is having an easier time than this. This was supposed to be a pleasant family meet-and-greet, not a Wagnerian tragedy.”

  “In this family, Mom? We’re used to you being alone and available. Most of the time, anyway. Now instead of Mom, singular, unless you split up, we have to think in terms of Mom and Stephen.”

  “Is that the way you feel as well, Mark?”

  “Sure, but I know it’s a fantasy that parents will stay the same forever. So does Caitlyn. She just refuses to admit it, even to herself. Neither Caitlyn nor I had to endure having divorced parents like a bunch of our friends.”

  “Your father died.”

  “Losing Dad so suddenly makes you mistrust life. If Dad, the patriarch, the fount of all strength and all wisdom could die—”

  “He was far from that.”

  “But he was to us, me and Caitlyn. If he could just up and die on us, then what in this life can we count on? Better to stay still and not take any more chances. Isn’t that what you’ve done, Mom, up to now? You could lose this guy the same way.”

  “I’ve come to realize that everybody loses people they love, Mark. I assume one day you’ll lose me. So, do you stop loving me in the meantime? Of course not. I should have spent more time with you...”

  “You were trying to keep a roof over our heads. You were always there when we really needed you.”

  “If John hadn’t set up those trust funds for your college, I would never have been able to send you. He left life insurance, too, but it’s never enough. I had to make a go of the clinic, You lived in a barn, Mark. You didn’t mind, but Caitlyn did. She loathed having dates pick her up in a barn. She went off to college and never really came home again.”

  “I come home whenever I run out of money.”

  “Which hasn’t been often. You always have some sort of job. I worried about you doing drugs.”

  “Never my thing. I don’t even smoke cigarettes. I saw too much of what drugs can do. When you’re working as closely as I do with electricity, drugs can get you fried.”

  “Are you always going to do the set-up thing?”

  “I’m not a full time roadie. I work for an audio-visual company, not a band. Next step, floor manager for television news if I’m lucky. May take a while, but I have some feelers out. When things are slow, I can get in some traveling. It’s all good.”

  “I’m so glad you didn’t go on trying to be a musician.”

  “The people that know say talent tells. My talent says I don’t have any.”

  Her cell phone rang. She cussed it but picked it up. “Dr. Carew.” She listened, said “uh-huh” a couple of times, then added, “Sure, be right out.” She hung up and turned to Mark. “Gotta go.”

  “Now?” He shook his head. “Why am I not surprised? I don’t think we’ve ever had a holiday dinner where you were around after dessert. What about this fancy new doc you hired?”

  “He’ll probably be on call next year.”

  “Do you really have to go? Can’t it wait?”

  “Sorry, baby. A mare’s having trouble foaling.”

  “So you gotta get there fast, right?” He shrugged and sighed. “Don’t speed too much, okay? See you at home later? I’m spending the night. That is, if you’re going to be alone...”

  “Yes, Mark. There are clean sheets on your bed. I’ll tell everybody where I’m going and say goodbye. With luck, Stephen will come with me. He’ll be happy to get away.”

  “I guess Caitlyn drove home like she said.”

  “Who knows? If she would rather drive home and pout, let her go.” Barbara pulled on her coat and gloves. As always, her work gear and her boots were in the back of her van. She and Stephen had come separately, not only to cover this sort of emergency, but also to avoid showing off their relationship. “You have your key to the apartment. If you get hungry later, there’s plenty to eat in the fridge, and Velma’s boxing up some leftovers. Please take them with you. I’ll say goodbye to the others and leave. See you later.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  When she apologized to the others and explained that she was going to a mare having trouble foaling, Stephen went to get his coat. “I’ll ride along with you.”

  “But, Daddy,” Elaine said. “We haven’t finished talking.”

  “We’ve talked too much. Now the rest of you talk. Come on, love, let’s go foal a mare.”

  As the café door closed behind them, Barbara said, “I feel like Adam and Eve being chased out of the Garden of Eden.”

  “They were naked. We’ve at least got our coats.”

  “It’s a toss up who I’d cast as the snake. Come on, leave them to it. It’s going to be all right.”

  “And if it’s not?”

  * * *

  “I THINK IF I hadn’t gotten the call about the mare I might have invented it,” Barbara said as she pulled into the parking lot in front of the barn where the mare was trying to have her baby. “The dinner started out freaky. Everybody was too polite. Best behavior and then some. But when you made your announcement?”

  “Once Seth and Emma and Laila left, we had everyone together, well fed and mellow. Theoretically.”

  “Stephen, I can’t face fracturing two families.”

  “We’ve worried the problem enough tonight. We have a mare to foal.”

  Since she was dressed for the party, Barbara pulled on overalls over her slacks and changed her dress shoes for her Wellies.

  “Come on,” Stephen said, “let’s go see if you can help.”

  The mare was miserable; even Stephen could tell that. She paced around her stall in small circles and kicked at her belly every fourth or fifth step. Stephen had seen his own two children born—not his choice to be there, but Nina had insisted. He had not found it the rich, emotional experience his colleagues had told him about. He would have preferred the old-fashioned custom of walking the floor in the waiting room. He’d hated seeing Nina in pain. Later, when she’d been so sick, watching her suffer had been worse than the pain he’d felt after his accident.

  At least he had no vested interest in the birth of the foal, but he did feel concern. Barbara had explained on their way that mares foaled quickly as a rule. If they didn’t, then both foal and mare could die. “This is very late in the year to have a mare foaling. Especially a racehorse. You want a racehorse born as soon after New Year’s Day as you can manage. They turn one year old on New Year’s. This baby will be six or eight months younger than her contemporaries. Hey, Ben. Still no foal?”

  The owner of the mare and his wife leaned against the stall door outside of the stall where the mare paced. “It’s been too long,” he said. “I can’t feel but one foot.”

  Barbara pulled on her shoulder-length obstetrical gloves and squeezed gel on them. “Grab her halter, Ben. I need to see what’s going on inside.” She reached in, said, “Ugh, here’s the problem,” and shoved against the mare’s hindquarters. A moment later the mare sank onto her chest in the hay, and it seemed to Stephen no more than another second until two hooves slid out, followed quickly by a nose and then the rest of the foal. It was already fighting to get the birth membrane off its face.

  “Doc, you’re a miracle worker,” said Ben.

  “Your filly—that’s what she is, a filly—was trying to be born with one foot back under her. I just popped it loose. Now, let’s do some cleanup, and we can all go home to bed.”

  * * *

  TWENTY MINUTES LATER Stephen dr
ove Barbara’s van out of the farmer’s paddock. As he had done on their way to the fair, Barbara slept in the other seat. She made soft snuffling noises. He prayed there would be no more emergencies and wished that Vince was here to take them. He vowed that next year Vince would be on call instead of her. The way their families were behaving, he and Barbara might fly to the Seychelles for Thanksgiving. Or lock them out of the house. Better to be alone than with a house full of bad vibes.

  Time to get this marriage thing under way. He needed to persuade her to go ahead and marry him. He longed to show her off as his very own wife.

  He began to make mental notes of the logistics involved in marrying her.

  Once it was a done deal, the children would come around.

  Uh-oh. He was trying to push what he wanted onto Barbara again. He ought to have learned by now he simply annoyed her and put her back up when he tried.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “YOU’VE HARDLY EATEN anything, Emma,” Barbara said. “At least have a bite of apple crumble. The fruit’ll be good for you. Granny Smith apples—can’t beat that.”

  “I’m not hungry, really, although I love your homemade vegetable soup. Thank you so much for inviting Seth and me to Sunday night dinner.”

  “I’m sorry Seth is too late to join us. The new vet, Vince Peterson, hoped to come, too, but he called to say he won’t be back in town until very late because of the ice. I saved Seth a plate.” Barbara blew out a breath. “Actually, I wanted to rehash that debacle at Thanksgiving dinner with you. What are we going to do with our children?”

  “Let ’em stew,” Stephen said. “They are acting like knotheads—all except for Mark. Give them a chance to come to terms with the change in the status quo.”

  “That’s why we only announced we were seeing one another seriously,” Stephen said.

  Emma kept checking the front window for the lights on Seth’s SUV. “I wish Seth would come. We need to get home before the roads glaze over any more than they have already.”

  “I brought you. I’ll take you home,” Stephen said.