Fatherless: A Novel (13 page)

“Yes I’m
sure!” Julia used the most enthusiastic voice she could muster. Even so, Angie seemed reluctant. She and Kevin had not gone
on a proper date in months, but she felt guilty accepting Julia’s offer to watch the kids for the evening.

“Come on, Angie. How often do I get to be someone’s Aunt Julia?” Remembering her nephew, Julia added, “Jared doesn’t count.
He doesn’t think I’m cool anymore.”

It was all Angie needed. “Well, maybe we’ll grab a quick bite out and get back in time to put the kids to bed.”

“No deal,” Julia said. “Either you stay out until after they’re asleep or I withdraw the offer.”

Angie could no longer restrain her enthusiasm, a giant smile overtaking her adorable face. “Kevin will be so surprised!”

The accepted offer magically ended the awkward tennis match of stilted comments that had been masquerading as conversation.
They resumed their stroll through the crowded shopping mall in comfortable silence, reluctant combatants momentarily restored
to fast friends.

Noticing the mall directory, Julia slid her arm under Angie’s like a schoolgirl eager to share the latest gossip. “I’ve got
an idea.”

Julia accelerated her pace, dragging Angie toward the directory. She stopped to scan the list of stores with the tip of her
index finger.

“It has to be here somewhere.”

Angie seemed to enjoy the sudden mystery. “What are we looking for?”

Julia threw in the towel, deciding to ask the voice-activated directory for guidance. “Show me women’s lingerie stores.”

She turned to Angie with a sly smile as a list of lingerie shops appeared on the screen before them.

“I think you should really surprise Kevin.”

Angie blushed. Then she nodded.

“You should reserve tonight at the hotel,” Julia suggested. “I’m sure I can handle both bedtime and breakfast.”

Angie’s eyes brightened, then fell. “Oh, that would be wonderful.”

“But?”

“We have obligations at church in the morning.”

Julia felt her stomach tighten. “I see.”

“In fact—”

Here it comes
, Julia thought.

“—I was going to ask if you would be interested in joining us.”

The last time Julia had set foot in a church was for her cousin’s wedding five years earlier. It had been much longer since
she had attended an actual Sunday-morning service.

“I know you had a bad experience at Littleton Assembly.”

The comment refreshed Julia’s memory. Her last Sunday service had been a few years after graduating from college. She had
just returned to Littleton to share a house with Maria, who needed support with newborn Jared. Angie had been the culprit
then also.

“The church we attend here is different from my home church. You might like it.”

Unlikely.

“I’d love to,” Julia lied.

Angie appeared surprised, as if she had scripted a longer conversation suddenly cut short.

“Really? Great! It’s a bit of an ordeal getting the kids ready in the morning. We leave around ten to make it in time for
the ten thirty liturgy.”

Liturgy
? Julia had never heard Angie use that word in connection with her old church.

“I’ll tell you what,” Angie continued. “We’ll stay out until after you put the kids to bed and slip in unnoticed. Believe
me, Kevin will enjoy the surprise just as much at home as at a hotel.”

“Deal,” Julia agreed.

Angie slipped her arm under Julia’s as they headed toward the lingerie store.

Four hours later Julia felt the weight of two-year-old Joy’s body pressing against her own, an occasional quiver the last
remnants of the tantrum thrown when Kevin and Angie walked out the front door. Missing one’s mommy for twenty-four hours was
bad enough. But to see her leave with daddy after a brief reunion would push most toddlers toward traumatic stress syndrome.
Having survived the thirty-minute ordeal calming a hysterical child, Julia enjoyed the feel of Joy’s rapid sniffles, machine-gun
fires of recovery every fifteen to twenty seconds.

Julia remembered similar moments when Jared was little. It seemed like yesterday, and like a hundred years ago.

“Aunt Juwia.” The voice startled an exhausted Joy.

“Yes Tommy,” Julia whispered.

“Weah did it.”

“Leah did what?” She noticed Tommy pinching his own nose. “Oh. Does she need a new diaper?”

A vigorous nod.

“I’ll be right there.”

Tommy walked back to the kitchen table, where a stack of Legos awaited his return.

Julia started to lift Joy’s body in hopes of placing her on the sofa, where she might continue the drift toward slumber. It
didn’t work. The rising sounds of a tantrum sequel prompted Julia to pull Joy close again. Noticing the deposit of mucus and
drool on her left sleeve, she reached for the box of tissues. Empty.

“I’m hungwy!” Tommy summoned from the center of his own universe. “Can I have a banana?”

Leah’s voice came next, a slight sigh of relief mixed with a whimper of discomfort.

Three against one. Momentary paralysis. One sniff of the air, however, ended the indecision. With Joy still draped over her
shoulder, Julia approached Leah who was seated in her high chair beside Tommy’s burgeoning Lego cityscape.

Removing the tray and unlatching Leah’s high chair strap with one hand proved too difficult. Julia had no choice but to place
Joy on a seat beside Tommy, trying to move quickly to calm Leah’s escalating cry.

“Can I have a banana?” Tommy repeated, extended tongue held strategically in place by his pressed lips, apparently to help
him focus on a crucial step in the construction process.

Realizing she had been abandoned in favor of Leah, Joy morphed from comfort-starved toddler to revenge-driven tyrant. She stood up on the chair to scan Tommy’s miniature town in search
of the perfect weapon. Seconds later, a ten-inch-high skyscraper flew past Julia’s shoulder toward the wall, where it rebounded
to become fifteen scattered blocks on the floor.

From relative peace to three crying children in less than sixty seconds
! Julia thought.

After rescuing Joy from Tommy’s intended retaliation, she swept Leah from the scene and headed toward the nursery, where a
supply of fresh wipes, diapers, and pajamas could resolve one-third of the crisis. It was her first opportunity to focus on
the baby since the commotion of pushing Angie and Kevin out the door.

Something seemed wrong, or at least different. Leah was more quiet and sedate than Julia had expected. She tried to remember
Jared at the same age. Hadn’t he been squirmier? She recalled her nephew’s army crawl at seven months old. He had found and
broken one of Julia’s matching vases filled with fresh-cut flowers. At nearly eleven months Leah seemed far too passive to
attack innocent decorations.

“Leah,” Julia heard herself say in a gentle, melodic pitch while rubbing fresh powder onto the baby’s naked belly. “Are you
a happy girl? Huh? Are you a happy little girl?”

The answer came in the form of a tiny smile that forced her tongue farther forward and eye slits nearly closed.

“You did it wong!” Tommy the engineer turned Tommy the Leah-care critic.

“Did what wrong?” Julia asked.

“You’re supposed to use the wotion first.”

Julia noticed the unopened bottle of baby lotion sitting on the changing table. “Got it! How’s this?”

“That’s wight,” Tommy approved.

Two more little eyes peered around the corner as Joy joined the baby-admiration party.

Kevin was
still in a shock. In less than two hours he had been promoted from spit-up and peanut butter and jelly duty with the kids
to sitting in a five-star restaurant across from the most beautiful woman in the world.

“You look gorgeous.” Kevin raised a glass to his wife’s most flattering dress. “And I still can’t believe you pulled this
off.”

“Thank Julia,” she insisted.

Gently tapping their drink glasses, they took a sip before opening their menus.

“Are you feeling better today?” Kevin remembered Angie’s phone call dripping with self-doubt.

“A little. Julia and I had a much better time together today. I think I was just a bit tense last night. You know, seeing
her for the first time in nearly five years.”

“Has she changed?”

“Not really. That’s part of the problem. I’m a different person than I was when we were young. You know, the kids and all.
But she’s just the same.”

“You look better than ever,” Kevin said.

Angie paused long enough to offer an appreciative smile.

“Julia seems to view the whole world, including me, through different lenses. I get the feeling she pities me, like I’m a
senseless girl who’s made one wrong turn after another.”

“From what I remember of Julia I’m sure she considers us both bad drivers,” Kevin said. “She probably comes down on the other
side of nearly every issue we care about.”

Angie nodded. “And nearly every choice I’ve made. She’s always been left of left, even when we were in school. I don’t know
what I thought would happen. Maybe that time and maturity would magically bring her around. Kind of silly, I guess. Still,
I love her. She’s the oldest friend I’ve got.”

Kevin huffed, pretending to take offense.

“I said oldest friend, not best friend,” she said, placing her hand on his. “Anyway, she accepted my invitation to attend
church tomorrow. Didn’t even put up a fight. Who knows?”

Kevin waited a moment, allowing sufficient space in the conversation to change the subject. “Can we talk about Leah?”

She smiled as if she had hoped he would raise the subject.

“I did some research this week,” he said.

“On what?”

“Treatment options.” Kevin tried to decipher Angie’s body language.

“You heard the doctor, Kevin. Fragile X syndrome can’t be cured.”

“I wasn’t looking for a cure, just something that might give her a moderately normal life.”

Angie waited without saying a word, her eyes suggesting a rising indignation.

“I know what you’re thinking, babe,” he said in a hurry. “But hear me out.”

“I’m thinking you want to fix her,” Angie said severely, halting his advance. “I know you, Kevin Tolbert. One of the things
I love is your ability to make things happen. Get things done. But Leah isn’t a failing business that needs a turnaround strategy.
You can’t fix this.”

“I know I can’t fix it. But I can’t sit back and do nothing, either. I’m her father, for God’s sake.”

His voice broke, prompting an instinctive touch from Angie. Kevin took a sip of water to regain his composure.

“Is it wrong for me to try whatever I can?”

“No. It’s not wrong,” Angie said, squeezing her husband’s hand. “Nothing could be more right. But she’s not broken. She’s
just…different.”

“Let me at least tell you what I’ve learned,” he insisted. “Then we can decide together whether we want to look into it further.”

He took her silence as consent.

“Troy knows a guy who works with the director of epigenetic research at a leading research laboratory near Richmond.” Kevin
pulled a tablet out of his jacket to read the details Troy had included in his daily briefing. “Here it is. Dr. Wayne Galliger.
Anyway, they’ve been accepting applications for an experimental treatment for those with mental disabilities like—”

“Can I tell you about what I learned this week?”

The interruption told him Angie had no interest in experimental treatments, as he’d feared. He slid the device back into his
pocket and assumed a listening posture.

“Go ahead.”

“Normal doesn’t mean good,” Angie began.

A look of confusion on Kevin’s face. “What does that mean?”

“It’s something Pastor Seth said during our meeting this week.”

“When did you meet with Pastor?”

“Thursday. I needed someone to talk to. His wife Talia joined us for a chat. A sweet lady.”

“Is she from Uganda too?” He forced a competitive grin in an effort to lighten the mood.

“He’s not from Uganda,” Angie said with an air of triumph.

“Don’t tell me he’s from Ethiopia.”

“No,” she confessed. “He’s from Egypt. His family moved here when he was seven to flee persecution. But Talia was born in
Chicago.”

“What did he mean when he said normal isn’t good?”

“Normal isn’t
always
good,” she corrected. “Most people would consider us abnormal for the choices we’ve made. Julia certainly does. But sometimes
abnormal is good.”

How could anyone call Leah’s problem good
? Kevin wondered.

“Talia said that in a world where human beings are treated like a commodity, people who raise disabled kids are heroic.”

“Come on, Angie!” Passive acceptance had never been part of Kevin’s DNA. “Of course we’ll love and care for Leah. But that
doesn’t mean we should ignore opportunities to help her overcome her disabilities. We both had laser eye surgery so we can
see normally. Did that make us unheroic?”

Angie pursed her lips, as if reluctantly absorbing Kevin’s question.

“I’m sorry, babe,” he said. “But I think we would be wrong to ignore any options for Leah. That doesn’t mean I’m trying to
fix a broken child…” His voice cracked again. “It might just mean helping her see more clearly.”

The waiter arrived with the soup of the day, reminding the couple they were on a date.

“What do you say we give ourselves a few more days to absorb the news about Leah before discussing options?” Kevin asked.

“Maybe we could meet with Pastor Seth together?” she asked.

“I’d like that. But for now, I’d like to celebrate.”

Anticipation crossed Angie’s face, exposing the single dimple Kevin had always found irresistible. “Celebrate? Celebrate what?”

He lifted a spoonful of hot clam chowder, inviting Angie to join him in a toast. She quickly scooped from her own bowl and
met his spoon mid-table. A slight spill from both spoons prompted a playful laugh.

“To our three children. Gifts from above,” he offered.

“To a break from their incessant demands,” Angie countered with a sigh.

“To the prettiest wife on planet Earth,” Kevin added.

“And to the handsome congressman from Colorado who’s going to change the world!”

Each tasted the soup while Angie rubbed her shoeless toes up her husband’s thigh.