A May-September Wedding (20 page)

Jeremy
snorted. "It gets worse every time I visit. I keep wondering if I'm
going to catch them necking."

Vivian looked
at Mark who was helping Jean spell something. "Mark's really not
very good at handling change. What he wants for your Dad is to find
Brenda and marry her again."

"I don't think
that would work for Dad now. He's gotten used to working with Phyl
and they're a more seamless partnership than Mom and Dad were. Mom
used to do things for Dad that he let her do because she liked
doing it more than he did, but he's not completely useless. But
there were a couple of things that neither of them did well but
Phyl is really great at. If it came to a choice between Phyl and
someone with the same strengths and weaknesses that Mom had, I
think Phyl would be a better choice for Dad this time around."

Vivian watched
them for a while longer. "It's so obvious that they are in love
with each other. I wonder what it will take for Dad to admit
it."

"The better
question is what will Phyl have to do to get him to do something
about it?"

"Erica,
sweetie. Did you have a good time meeting everyone?"

"Yes,
Grampa."

"Do you want
to come back for another visit some time?"

"Will my
Aunties be here?"

"Yes they will
be."

"Then I
suppose. But I have to go back home to help Nana. She's got
Parkington's and she needs me to help her around the house."

Cal saw the
serious look on Erica's face. "I'm sure you're a very good
help."

Erica nodded.
"Now I have to put all my stuff in my suitcase. Mrs. Schuyler is
going to take me and Tim and my Aunties to the Children's Museum
before my Daddy comes to get me."

Cal said, "I
know that, she asked me if I would like to come with you."

Erica said,
with really wide eyes, "She did?"

"Yes, she did.
Would that be okay?"

Erica bounced
around the kitchen table ending with a big hug for her Grampa. Cal
gave her a kiss on the top of her brown curls and said, "Now, go
upstairs and get your dolly."

Phyl rolled
her eyes at Erica as she pounded up the stairs to the spare room.
Cal looked at Phyl and asked, "Are you sure you want more?"

Phyl fixed
Cal's eye and said, "You bet. Even if they have that much
energy."

Cal didn't say
anything, but he smiled and took another sip of coffee.

David was
waiting for them at his office. "Hey, sweet pea. Are you ready to
go?"

Erica raced
across the lobby and jumped into his hug under the wondering eyes
of his long time receptionist. Erica said, in a very serious tone,
"It's been really nice visiting, but Nana needs me."

"Well, Erica,
we need you too. Maybe we can have you come visit more often."

Cal said,
"Maybe next time Nana would like to come with you."

Erica's got a
pensive look as she contemplated that. "I think she would like to
visit. She likes museums and y'all have a lot of museums here. And
flowers. She likes flowers, too."

Phyl
restrained her giggles and said, "Thank you for coming to visit,
Erica. It was a pleasure to meet you."

Erica said,
with her best manners, "Thank you, Mrs. Schuyler, for letting me
stay with y'all."

Cal crouched
down. "Do I get a goodbye hug, my little hurricane?"

Erica said, in
a mock scolding tone, "Grampa!" Then she ran into his arms and
squeezed his neck as hard as she could.

Cal showered
her with kisses and said, "Take care of your Nana, Miss Erica."

Erica hopped
back and said, "I will. Bye, Grampa," as David led her out to the
car.

The
receptionist said, "So she's the reason for all the trips to
Richmond. How's Judy taking it?"

Cal turned to
the older woman. "Not particularly well. She and the kids are
living at my place, but I expect she'll move home soon."

Phyl said,
"What a weekend. I hope we can get back to something resembling
normal."

Lydia said,
from the middle seat, "No such thing, Mum. And anyway, Beast and I
have to go to the Fury U-17 practice tonight instead of the U-16.
They were talking like we might be good enough to make the U-17
team as alternates."

Cal said,
"Pretty impressive. They don't ask many fourteen year olds to play
up two divisions."

Felicity said,
"I don't expect to play more than twenty minutes, even if we make
the team, but I'm a better dribbler than most of the older girls
and Monster here is just as tall as most of the sixteen year olds
and she's a better jumper."

Phyl said,
"Don't get your hopes up too high. But it will be good experience
that you can bring to Redeemer in the fall."

Cal said, "And
remember that the bigger girls tackle a lot harder, so keep your
head up."

Felicity
rolled her eyes. "Dad, I know way more about soccer than you
do."

"I'm sure you
do, but I know lots more about waiting in the hospital for the
doctor to set broken bones than you do," said Cal in a very neutral
tone.

Felicity
crossed her arms and pointedly looked out the window while Lydia
giggled and Tim smirked.

"David?"
Judy's voice sounded uncertain.

David leaned
back onto the hotel room bed and put his cell phone to his ear. "Hi
sweetheart. How are you?"

"I miss you
terribly."

"I miss you,
too."

"I saw Erica
at Elaine's. She seems like a sweet kid."

"She is."
David waited.

"She's not
mine, David."

"I know that,
Judy." He continued, uncertainty in his voice, "Do you think you
could forgive me?"

"I think I
have to try, David, I miss you too much and I want to be in my own
house. When are you back?"

"Wednesday
night. Um. Judy?"

"Yes,
love?"

"Can you ask
Dad to take the kids on Thursday? Or whatever day you can arrange
for us to see a counsellor?"

David could
hear Judy sniffling. "Sure, but I want you to call me tomorrow
night at home after the young ones are in bed and tell me the whole
story from the start up until today. I got pieces of it from Cal,
but I want to hear it from you. All of it."

David felt a
combined sense of shame, relief, longing and hope. "It's not a
really pretty story."

Judy's voice
firmed up. "But I need to be able to trust you. And David?"

"Yes,
love."

"You'll be
sleeping in the spare room for a while."

David replied,
"That's fine. Um, Judy?"

"Yes,
David?"

"I don't
deserve you."

David could
see Judy's smile in his mind as she gently replied, "Maybe not, but
you're mine."

"See you
Wednesday, Judy."

"Good luck
with your presentations. See you Wednesday."

Cal helped
Judy carry the suitcases and bags out to the car. "Don't worry if
you've forgotten something, one of us will bring it over, or you
can pick it up when you drop the kids off."

Judy gave Cal
an impulsive hug. "Thanks for everything. I'm sorry if we put you
out."

"It really
wasn't a problem. Brenda knew for years that there was something
wrong but she couldn't put her finger on it. I'm just glad I caught
it before everything was beyond repair."

"I hope the
counselling works." Judy was biting her lip with the nerves.

"As long as
you two are committed to each other and to working honestly through
things, the counselling will help. Eventually. Just don't expect a
quick fix. Mark and Vivian went for months before they finally
understood what the real problems were so they could fix them, but
their marriage is a lot more solid now. And Brenda and I went
through a couple of patches where we needed to get Father Paul to
referee our fights."

Judy didn't
seem encouraged by Cal's words so he continued, "I think you and
David can talk to each other better than Mark and Vivian did when
they started with the counsellor. And with the biggest secret out
in the open, I think David may be able to share a few more of the
things that have been bothering him for years."

The kids came
down the steps with the last bags and lined up for a Grampa hug
before climbing in the car. Cal took it as a measure of Jason's
anxiety that he wanted a hug rather than a handshake. Cal gave Judy
a last hug and said, "If you need anything, call me. And that's the
singular as in you Judy, not you the Richardson family. Brenda made
me promise to look after you, if you'll let me."

Judy gave Cal
another squeeze and said, "If I need anything, you'll be the first
person I call. Mother has been as supportive as she could be from
Kingston, but she hates conflict of any kind. Thanks for all your
patience over the past few weeks but I want to go home now."

Cal stepped
back and said, "See you soon."

Cal, Phyl and
Tim were sitting in the stands among the sparse crowd in
Scarborough. The Fury had dominated the first half, outscoring
their opponents 4-1. Felicity and Lydia, the youngest players on
either side, were sitting on the end of the bench chatting
excitedly but tracking the play while the assistant coach was
giving them pointers on the field placements and the tendencies of
some of the opponents.

Finally, with
twenty-eight minutes left in the game and Ottawa up 6-2, the coach
put up the substitution board and Lydia took her place at centre
attacking midfield. The sub board went up again and Felicity
trotted out to left striker.

A minute later
the right midfielder sent a pass over the defenders onto Felicity's
boot but the line judge put up the flag for the offside. Cal
thought she was in the clear but he wasn't the man with the flag in
his hand.

Scarborough
pressed and Ottawa collapsed back in front of the net. A strike was
attempted that just sailed over the net.

Play went back
and forth for another twelve minutes when Lydia made a good tackle
of the opposing midfielder and pushed the ball to her right wing.
Felicity received a perfect pass and bent the ball in to the goal,
only to have the keeper push it just over the crossbar for a
corner.

Phyl and Cal
clasped hands as they set up the corner kick. Felicity positioned
the ball in the quarter circle and waited for everyone to get into
position. She smiled as she saw Lydia let the defender think that
she was covered and took a deep breath before sending the ball in a
perfect arc toward the goal.

Lydia, who had
scored almost sixty goals off Felicity's uncannily accurate corner
kicks raced in to jump right where they had practised. She got just
above the defender and headed the ball down and back toward
Felicity. The keeper guessed wrong and the ball bounced on the goal
line and into the net.

Cal and Phyl
jumped and shouted like mad fools to celebrate the goal. Felicity
and Lydia did a quick high five and trotted back to the centre dot
with ear to ear grins. The coach looked up at Cal and Phyl with a
quick thumbs up gesture and turned his attention back to the game
at the ref's whistle.

To
Scarborough's credit they continued to press and scored two more
goals but an errant pass in injury time was intercepted by Lydia
who made another great pass to a streaking Felicity. When two
larger defenders bore down on her, Felicity took a quick peek to
see if the other striker was in position to take a pass. Not seeing
a teammate close, Felicity made a sudden leftward dribble past one
defender and bent a strike around the second defender that the
keeper misplayed. The ball bounced off the inside of the far
upright and in for a goal.

The referee
checked her watch and blew the whistle for full time, making the
final score 8-4. Cal hugged Phyl as part of the victory celebration
but made the mistake of looking into her eyes as his arms went
around her.

Phyl stared
into his eyes and the world got smaller. She issued an invitation
with her eyes as her arms wound around his neck.

Cal muttered,
"I'm sorry, Phyl. I can't."

When Phyl
realized where they were, and that they were attracting some
attention, she said, "Fine, but for the record, I don't agree with
your decision." She gave him a lingering peck on the cheek, then
turned to gather their cooler while Cal packed the bag with the
cushions and hats.

She turned
back to him and ran a finger down his spine to get his attention.
"And I don't think you're too old. I think you're perfect."

Cal thought
about that for a good long time.

"I'm surprised
you wanted to come back to family camp after last year's couples
retreat theme." Phyl commented as they unloaded the van.

Cal grinned.
"Tim and the girls would have whined all week. I wasn't prepared to
put up with that. And it wasn't that bad last year."

Phyl snorted.
She looked around for the kids. "Where have they gone?"

Cal looked and
saw Lydia's head bobbing as she headed for the gym. "I think
they're off to see if there's a pickup basketball game they can get
in on." He pointed. "At least I think all of them are there. I can
only see the top of Lydia's head. I keep forgetting they're
teenagers now and us parents are chopped liver." Lydia's jaunty
ponytail disappeared as they watched.

"They
certainly are growing fast. I'm sure we'll see them at supper."
Phyl's hand met with Cal's as they both reach for the same duffel.
They paused and looked up into each others' eyes. Neither moved
their hand and Phyl had the sense that Cal was about to kiss her.
Then Cal shook his head and gently moved his hand to another
handle, deliberately letting the moment pass.

Phyl let her
breathing calm down before she lifted Lydia's duffel from the car.
A strong sense of disappointment washed over her. She wanted to
scream at him that she didn't care how old he was. She was old
enough to make up her mind and she wanted him. And he wanted her
too, even if he was too stubborn to admit it.