Oh, Baby!
Page 24
“I don’t scare easily.”
“No, but you did ‘fire’ me if you recall.”
I thought of our time together—at Al and Bess’s restaurant, the St. Croix, even the Ax. “Why were you so nice to me outside the hospital when you felt so strongly about having me gone?”
“Because I liked you. Every time we were together I grew to like you even more. You have no idea what a challenge you posed for me. How could I run you off and yet keep you in my life?”
“How does this tie together with faith?”
“God is your jet fuel, Molly. He’s what you run on. He makes it possible for you to keep forgiving and going forward.” Clay pulled a chair close to me and picked up my hand and couched it gently in his own.
“You had Noah wrapped around your pinkie from the day you met. He kept pestering about the Noah-and-the-Ark business so I told him what I knew of it. Then he wanted more. It’s pretty hard to tell your son Bible stories when your own information is rusty, so I thought I’d read a little….”
“And God dragged you in through the back door?”
“You told me once that you couldn’t be unequally yoked with someone. I knew that if faith wasn’t palatable to me anymore, there would never be more between us. So I tested the waters.”
“And?” My heart was attempting to pound its way out of my chest and my ears were full of thrumming.
“I found them warm and soothing. When I lost my wife, I also relinquished my faith. I shouldn’t have. Now even if you tell me you aren’t interested in a relationship with me, I’ll still continue to dip into that particular pool.”
Pursue a relationship with me?
“I need to restart my life. Today’s party is a step. Until now I’ve never felt it was right to be happy on Noah’s birthday. That was unfair of me. I have a wonderful little boy to celebrate.”
My tongue went missing. When I found it again, I stammered, “There’s lots to celebrate these days. Hugh and Lissy are in love and planning to marry. And Tony’s found the girl of his dreams, a college professor.”
Clay looked at me with tenderness—and a twinkle in his eye. “Remember when you said Tony thought you might be susceptible to my ‘latent charm’?”
I nodded dumbly, not sure where he was going with this but eaten with curiosity.
The smile grew wider. “Are you still? Susceptible, I mean.”
“I could be, possibly, under the right circumstances,” I managed to say, already thoroughly hypnotized by that charm.
“Even if we don’t agree on something as important as our view of doulas?”
“You’re a smart man, Clay. You’ll see the light sometime. I’m a patient woman. The real question is, why would you want to get tangled up with me? I’m trouble. You say it yourself. My family is a nest of jokers and pranksters. I live with a pig and I paint pictures the size of Volkswagens.”
“Those are the reasons I want to get ‘tangled up’ with you. You’re full of life and forgiveness and pigheadedness and joy….”
For once, I thought, as Clay moved toward me and his lips met mine, I’d take pigheadedness as a compliment.
Geranium would be so proud.
Epilogue
Hugh and Lissy got married under the old elm tree in my parents’ backyard, right beneath the limb they’d been caught on just weeks earlier.
Tony brought his professor—Janna—to the wedding. She seems lovely. Even if Tony doesn’t get straight As at school, I think he’ll receive them in his personal life.
Clay and I are next to be married, as soon as we can completely settle on the place, attendants, food and honeymoon location. I’m campaigning for a traditional ceremony at my home church, the same food we serve at our family get-togethers and a month in Ireland. Oh, yes, and Lissy, Tony, Hildy and Geranium as bridesmaids. My sister Krissy, offered to make Geranium a bridesmaid’s dress. It’s hard to turn down an offer like that.
Noah can hardly wait for the ceremony because he feels it will then be official that Hildy is “his” dog as well as mine.
Clay, for some odd reason, thinks we should be married beneath the Ax at the mall. He’s promoting a formal dinner at some spendy restaurant and wants his only attendants to be Noah and his grandfather Everett. He’s good with the honeymoon in Ireland.
We’re getting better at negotiation and compromise every day. God’s fingerprints are all over our lives, that’s apparent. Tentatively we’ve agreed on my home church as the site for the wedding. It will be catered by Al and Bess with my aunt Siobhan’s input on family favorites. I’ve okayed Noah and Everett as groomsmen and Clay has said yes to Lissy and Tony. Hildy and Geranium will have to get over it.
We’ll live in Clay’s house because there’s room for a studio for my art. The pet door and fence for the yard are already installed. The first thing I did was go into his library and make the books on his shelves less tidy.
That’s another thing Clay will have to get used to. I love him more than words can say but his world needs a little shaking up.
I’m just the woman to do it.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Molly is a doula. Were you familiar with doulas before reading the book? Would you consider hiring a doula or encourage a friend to do so?
2. Emily is expecting her first child at forty-five. Another of Molly’s clients is still a teenager. What would you consider the ideal age to start a family? How old is “too old”?
3. The trend now is to have a lot of family around during labor. How do you feel about having family or friends present at this time? Do you like the idea or would you prefer the “old-fashioned” way—with only medical staff present?
4. Geranium is Molly’s pride and joy. Would you consider having a potbelly pig as a pet? Why or why not?
5. Sometimes doulas have to spend time managing the people around the laboring mother. Would you consider hiring a doula for your husband? Why or why not?
6. Molly has a boisterous, playful family. They take pleasure in meddling in one another’s business. Is your family like that? If not, would you enjoy that kind of relationship with your family? If not, why not?
7. Molly loves babies and the elderly. Do you have any elderly friends and relatives with whom you enjoy spending time? What kinds of things do you do together?
8. What is the best thing about having a friend who is much older than you?
9. Tony, Lissy and Molly have a conversation about “hope deferred.” Was there a time in your life when you wanted something desperately and even prayed for it and the answer was “no”? What did you learn from this experience? Do you agree with Molly that sometimes hope deferred can lead to bigger blessings?
10. Lissy and Hugh are afraid to show their affection for each other because they have both been hurt so many times. Do you ever hold back your emotions for that reason?
11. Do you know anyone like Tony—a person who is equally comfortable with men and women and can so easily make and keep friends? What are their secrets? Would you like to be more like that? If so, what is one step you could take to make this happen?
12. Clay is a conundrum. He wants to be with Molly anywhere but in the birthing room. Do you know anyone who is so determined to keep his or her personal and business life separate? What does this do for/to a relationship?
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OH, BABY!
Copyright © 2008 by Judy Duenow
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