A Brother's Duty
Lucy came out of her nap with the recognition that Bruno was barking loud enough to wake the dead. She looked at the alarm clock on the small shelf on the opposite side of the bed. It was almost six p.m. but then she remembered it was Tuesday and John was hosting his Bible study tonight.
So who was Bruno barking at?
She dug into her wardrobe drawers and pulled out the first things that came to hand: a skimpy green halter top and a new-to-her pair of maternity shorts in a clashing dull pink. Quickly pulling them on, she walked to the front of the trailer and out the door to slip on a pair of garden shoes.
Bruno was sitting on guard beside the driver’s door of a late model Ford sedan. The man behind the wheel was in his mid-forties and had an official look to him. He rolled down the window to speak.
Lucy called, “Bruno. Come!” Bruno reluctantly left his post and, at a hand signal, sat beside Lucy.
The man asked, “Is it safe to come out?” The man’s eyes roamed over her as if assessing his chances for some action.
“Yes.” Lucy was curt.
The florid man in the rumpled suit got out of the car with a thick legal sized manila envelope in his hands. “Are you Lucinda Wilkinson formerly of 136th Street Northwest in Edmonton?”
She crossed her arms suspicion on her face. “I am.”
“Then this is yours. You’ve been very difficult to track down.” He held out the envelope. Seeing her reluctance to take it, he said, “It won’t make any difference to the court if you take it or not.”
She held out her hand and took the envelope.
“You might want to sign and date that you received it. It might help if you need an extension.” He extended a clipboard and pen. Lucy signed and dated the receipt.
The man in the rumpled suit gave her a copy of the signed delivery slip and said, “My card is stapled to the envelope but I’m just a skip tracer and process server. I’m sure all the information you need is in the envelope.” He climbed back into his car and hurriedly left.
Bruno gave several barks as he quivered with the desire to chase the car away. Then he nudged Lucy’s hand.
“Let me guess, you’re hungry.”
Bruno’s ears perked up and he gazed adoringly at his pack leader.
Lucy scratched his head and said, “So am I. Let’s go eat.”
She put the envelope on the dinette table, noting that the return address was from a law firm in Kelowna. Perhaps Nick changed his will after all. It could wait a few minutes.
She ate methodically while staring at the envelope trying not to speculate too much about the contents. Finally, after a cup of tea she felt that she was able to think properly again.
She opened the envelope and began to read.
The Bible study ended at nine with a round of prayers. Two of the older women helped him clear the dishes from the living room and put everything away. It had been a very good evening with some insights into the book of Philippians that John hadn’t considered.
They were still in the first chapter where Paul described the benefits of being imprisoned by the Praetorian Guard in Rome. Paul had taken what would have been a situation where most people would wallow in self-pity and turned it into an opportunity to spread the Gospel.
Then the group had talked about how God’s grace can sustain them through hardship and loss.
Lily Duncan had been the living example in their midst. At almost ninety, she was still spry and alert, but she had buried two husbands, all her siblings and all of her children. There were her church family and a horde of grandchildren and greats to help sustain her, but she admitted she missed her contemporaries. Instead of dwelling on her losses, though, she gave thanks each day for her blessings and volunteered to tell stories to kids at any of the local schools that wanted to know about growing up in the area during the Depression.
She told them, “If you dwell on the bad you get bitter, like my sister did. If you try to find the good you sleep better and you have a reason to get up in the morning. If Paul had decided to be bitter, no one would have batted an eye, but instead he decided to follow Jesus’ commandments and tried to make disciples while he was in prison. Much better use of his time and who knows, maybe some of the Praetorian Guard became evangelists themselves.”
Phyllis Plunkett turned on the dishwasher and began to take her leave when there was an insistent knocking on the back door.
Looking perplexed, John shrugged at the women’s unspoken question and went to open the back door. A tearful Lucy wrapped her arms around John and began to bawl. John guided her into the hallway so he could close the door then wrapped his arms around her for comfort as he looked helplessly at the older women’s unasked questions.
A few minutes later, Lucy calmed down enough to realize that they were not alone and began, “I’m terribly sorry.”
The two older women were taken aback at the sight of Lucy in tears but decided that her distress was far more important than finding out who she was and why John was comforting a pregnant woman who looked like she’d be more comfortable at a biker bar.
Phyllis handed Lucy a tissue and said, “Come in dear and we’ll put on some tea.”
Lily found the kettle and put it on to heat then began searching the cupboards for a teapot and tea.
“What happened, Lucy?” Then he registered the presence of the older women. “Lucy, these are two of the stalwarts of our Bible study group, Phyllis Plunkett and Lily Duncan. Ladies, this is Lucy Wilkinson. She was Rob’s best friend’s girlfriend.”
Lucy wasn’t certain how to react to their presence but remembered her manners, thankful that John had glossed over her actual relationship to Nick. “Hello.”
Phyllis had noted Lucy’s pregnant form and went into the fridge to get a couple of leftover Danish pastries. She said, into the awkward silence, “I always found that food helped me calm down when I was expecting.”
At the reminder, tears started to threaten again. “I’m sorry, John, but I needed to talk to someone.”
Kindly he said, “And now you have three of us. What’s the matter?”
She took a bite of the Danish and said, “It’s Nick’s parents. They’ve decided, sight unseen, that I’ll be an unfit mother and they are asking the court to award custody of my daughter to them as soon as she is born.”
Phyllis looked appalled. “They can do that?”
“Well, they’ve filed a petition with the family court in Kelowna. I guess B.C. law allows them to do that.”
Lily said, “I know that I’m not very quick these days but I think we’re missing some facts here.”
Lucy looked at John and at the sympathetic looks on the two older women. “It’s not an entirely pretty story.”
Lily said, in a matter of fact tone, “Real life is messy. We don’t always make the right choices, even when we follow the rules God gave us. And there’s always that Devil character trying to convince us that the wrong choices are actually good for us.”
Lucy took a deep breath and looked around the table. As she opened her mouth, John said, “Before you start, we need to pray. Dear Lord, please help us tonight as we listen and help Lucy find the right words. Let us discern Your will as we make our plans for the future. And please watch over Lucy and the baby she is carrying that both will be healthy and safe.”
Phyllis closed with, “In Jesus name we pray. Amen.”
Lucy felt some of her emotional pressure release. “As I said it isn’t exactly pretty but here goes. After I was effectively fired from my doctoral program, I went to Edmonton, hoping that my mother would take me back. She let me stay in her house for a week but she resented my being there. I was shipped off to my grandfather at fourteen so she could pursue her career. I should have known better than to expect her sympathy or help.”
“The only job I could find was at a bar where they didn’t mind that the wait staff was also tattooed like their most of their customers. It paid pretty well with the tips but it wasn’t a healthy environment, really. I partied to
o much and …”
Lily patted her hand. “And you ended up with the wrong man for just the right amount of time.” She smiled sympathetically at Lucy. “Been happening since Eve bit into the apple, Lucy. Happened to one of my sisters back in ’47. All those handsome young soldiers with their back pay in their pockets…”
Lucy hadn’t expected this level of understanding. She continued, “My mother is an obstetrician so when I told her the news she offered to arrange an abortion for me.” There was a gasp and sad looks as Lucy continued. “While I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of being a single mother like she had been, there was no way I was going to abandon a child.”
A light went on for John and he thought, Like you were abandoned.
“She put so much pressure on me, quoting all the stats and the horror stories, but I decided to have the baby regardless. When she told me not to expect any support from her, I asked how that was different from the previous decade and I packed my stuff and came here. I wrote the father, Nick Osiecki, who was serving in Afghanistan with the army. He wrote back denying that he knew me.”
John picked up the story. “Nick was shot by a sniper and asked my brother Rob, just before he died of complications from his injuries, to take care of Cindi, if he could find her. He’d remembered who she was while he was on his death bed.”
Lucy shrugged as she said, “My so-called friends in Edmonton decided Cindi was a better nickname for Lucinda than Lucy. Anyway, today I got a copy of a petition that was filed with the family court in Kelowna by Nick’s parents. They attached a copy of a private investigator’s report about me to the petition, claiming that it would be best for the child if they were granted custody because it was obvious that I was an unfit parent.”
John asked, “Did the investigator find out what you’re doing now?”
Lucy hung her head. “No, his report only talks about my time in Edmonton, but the testimony from the people at the bar and my druggie roommate was pretty damning.”
Phyllis said, “That’s false witness. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
John said, “Rob mentioned that Nick was an only child and that his parents did not approve of his army career.”
Lucy said, “They could have acknowledged me and the baby. I’d have let them be part of her life. I was pretty angry at Nick when he sent that letter. But that’s not the worst. Along with a copy of the petition and that biased report, there was an offer ‘Without Prejudice’ to withdraw the petition if I would accept the attached cheque for fifty thousand dollars and permit the Osieckis to adopt the child privately.”
John took Lucy’s hand. “I promised Rob that I’d help you. I have a duty to him to try, even if you don’t agree. What do you want me to do?”
Phyllis said, “Well, the first step is obvious.”
Three pairs of eyes looked at her. “Oh?”
She rolled her eyes. “You get your own lawyer and let him or her review everything.”
John said, “If you don’t want a loan, I’ll buy some of the land near the road, like we discussed. Or it could be the parcel on the far side that backs onto the other lake, if you’re willing to allow me to build a cottage or two.”
Lucy considered. “I have enough saved to get a consultation. I’ll consider your offer, though, if it looks like it’s going to be too expensive.” She squeezed his hand. There was a brief silence as John got up to take the teapot from Lily who looked like she wanted to smack him for implying she was incapable of pouring.
“Well, that was more excitement than I’ve had in while.” Lily said. “I think there needs to be a lot of praying about this. While I think your mother is behaving like an idiot, she does have some good points. It’s a tough road being a single mother. My first husband joined up in 1940 after our first two were born. The women all rallied around each other, of course, but there weren’t many men around town. Then Rick got himself killed in Italy and it wasn’t until ’48 that I found another man to marry.” The old lady looked at Lucy directly. “It’s perfectly possible to raise a healthy well-adjusted child by yourself. And in many ways you are a widow, even if you never did marry that Nick character. But I’d like you to think about coming to church with us.”
Lucy looked down at her bare torso and all the tattoos. “But…,” she began to object.
“Bah, it’ll do some of them good. God doesn’t care much about what you used to be as long as you follow him now. Besides, other than the armband and the anklet everything else is covered up when you go to work or church, right? And there are a few of the young men and women at church that have similar tattoos.” Then Lily winked. “Although you might get some interesting looks if you come to the church picnic at the provincial park on Labour Day and decide to go in the water.”
Lucy smiled. Phyllis added. “I can’t guarantee that folks will welcome you with open arms. But Kemptville has almost doubled in size since my youngest graduated high school ten years ago. Most of the congregation is newcomers to the area.”
“And don’t forget that she’s John’s friend, Phyllis. That will count for something.”
Phyllis gave a knowing smile. “It won’t hurt.” She turned to Lucy. “So, are you going to come on Sunday? Service is at ten.”
Lucy wavered for a second and Phyllis said, into the silence, “Good. I’ll look forward to seeing you there.” She got up. “Come on, Lily, we should be off. No sense worrying the folks at the home.”
Lily peered at the clock. “My goodness, Phyllis, it’s almost ten. They’ll think I’ve got a boyfriend.”
John offered his arm. “If you were ten years younger, I’d be lining up, Miz Lily.”
Lily gave his arm a swat. Lucy smiled at his teasing and watched fondly as he escorted Lily to the car.
Phyllis hung back. “There is another way, Lucy.”
Lucy looked up, suddenly serious. “Oh?”
“You could try to convince our Mr. MacLeish to marry you,” she said as she headed for the back door.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Phyllis turned halfway and asked. “Is it really?”
John came back after seeing his guests out. “Are you better now?”
Lucy’s eyes filled with tears. “A bit.”
“Do you want to watch a movie and share a bowl of popcorn with me?”
Lucy thought of the big leather sofa in the basement and the home theatre setup. “A comedy, if you have one.”
He thought about it. “I have one you might like. I bought it for when the younger kids from church come over.”
He led her downstairs and put in the movie. It started with an animated book, and a sort of Scottish narrator saying, “There once was a princess who lived under an enchantment of a fearful sort…”
Lucy settled herself as best she could on the sofa but eventually ended up with her head in John’s lap snoring softly with Smudge curled up behind her knees. John let her sleep as long as he dared but eventually the grandmother clock in the corner chimed one loud bong and he woke her and sent her home with a gentle hug.
Chapter 11