A Brother's Duty
“So how was your weekend, Lucy?” Jessica was more curious than usual because Lucy had a bounce in her step and a dreamy smile on her face.
“It was good.” The dreamy smile got wider.
“How was the concert?” Jessica asked.
“Oh, I brought a CD for Alec.” Lucy rummaged through her backpack and came up with a jewel case. “The concert was awesome. They had to recruit a local jazz pianist to do the accompaniment because the scheduled harpsichordist was unavailable for some reason. The two of them were having so much fun playing off each other. I didn’t want it to end. I don’t think they did either.”
“And how about the rest of the weekend?” Jessica put the damp towel over the pastry to put in the fridge.
“It was very good. We went back to John’s sister’s farm for lunch on Monday. She wants me to recommend some things they can plant in the buffer zone next to the stream that runs through their farm near Athens. And John has a friend with a cottage on Big Rideau that has problems with too much runoff from the lawns, which got me thinking about maybe looking into some courses on landscape design. Maybe with an emphasis on conservation.”
“Might as well put all that schooling to work.”
“That’s what I thought. Irene asked me if I was a scientist and I almost said no but I think I still am. The time at the trailer is reminding me that I love doing that kind of work, even if I don’t love the process of getting the degree. Conservation landscaping seems like a good fit for me and I’ll get to keep up my research while I do it.”
Jessica looked at the clock. “Doors open soon.”
Lucy slipped off her sandals and put the ugly sensible shoes on. “I know.”
Jessica then asked, “And how is John?”
“He’s been a perfect gentleman all weekend.”
“And you wish he wasn’t?”
Lucy smiled and got another dreamy look. “No, actually I’m very happy that things are like they are. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I know I have to let him do things at his speed. And I have to be certain that he’s with me because of me and not his brother’s promise.”
Jessica looked like she wanted to ask more questions but the clock said 6:59. She rattled her keys and Alec gave her a thumbs up. ‘Let’s get this party started folks.”
Lucy gave a couple of whoops and shimmied forward while she broke into song.
Jessica barked a laugh as she walked toward the door and the waiting gang of regulars.
Mike was waiting at the church with Hafeez and Simon. The first batch of mortar for the last few courses of the garden wall was being mixed by the teenagers. The older volunteers, now down to three stalwarts, Phyllis, Archie and Dean, were busy working on removing the mortar from the rapidly narrowing wall under the roof peak.
“Sorry I’m late. I had to introduce Travis to the crew at the Burritt’s Rapids job.”
Mike nodded. “Archie said that both Travis and the other unemployed guy found jobs.”
“The other guy is another Mike and he’s a heavy truck mechanic. He got a job at a tire shop near the 401 next to one of the truck stops. I’d have offered him a job, too, but his heart wasn’t really in it, even if he did a good job. But Travis had the look, so I thought he’d be a good fit with the crew building the stone house. If he works out I’ll offer to take him on as my next apprentice after you get your papers.”
Mike crossed his fingers. “I’ll have my hours by the end of August, sooner if there’s overtime. Then all I have to do is pass the final.”
“You won’t have any problem. I’m really looking forward to having you replace George.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, John. It was pretty scary when I went back to class two years ago.”
“I’ve heard people talk about that. I’m lucky I don’t have to worry about it.”
Mike nodded. “There’s always work for a master craftsman.”
“And I love what I do, so I don’t think I’ll have to go back to retrain. Well, except for safety course refreshers and the like.”
Mike asked, in a teasing way, “And how is Lucy?”
John said, “She’s doing well. No unusual symptoms or problems other than a bladder the size of a walnut.”
Mike looked puzzled. “Lucy’s expecting?”
It was John’s turn to be puzzled. “Didn’t you notice?”
“Not really.” Mike turned. “Hey Hafeez! Did you know that Lucy was pregnant?”
Hafeez looked up from the bricks he was marking for Aaron to saw for him. “Of course I did, Mike. It was very hard to miss. Maternity dresses do have a certain look to them, you know. You should remember. No, wait, your youngest just turned ten and you have a bad memory.”
Mike wished he had something soft to throw at Hafeez. “Whatever you say…What was your name again?”
Everyone laughed, then John said, “Come on Mike, we have work to do.” John headed to the truck to begin unloading the granite capstones for the garden wall.
Mike followed along, still trying to puzzle it out. “You’re close to shocking me, John. I mean, if I was going to be guessing your type I’d have picked someone like Carrie Underwood not someone like Lucy. And she’s pregnant, too?”
“It’s not mine.”
Now Mike was shocked. “I never assumed that it was. You’d be married to her already if it was. Where is the father?”
“He was killed in action a few weeks before Rob. It was one of the guys he was serving with in Afghanistan.”
“So she’s a widow?”
“No they weren’t married, but it’s a long story and it’s hers to tell, not mine. Nick asked Rob to look out for her and Rob asked me to look out for her if he didn’t make it back. So, I am.”
Mike nodded. “Okay, I won’t pry. But she’s damned lucky to have you, John.”
John winced at the strong language but demurred. “I hope so, Mike.”
“So how did the other guys react to the picture?”
“Well, it doesn’t show much more than her head and shoulders so they don’t know about the baby.” He looked over at Hafeez and Simon. “Yet.” John rolled his eyes. “Their reaction was the same as yours although Travis told the guys in Burritt’s Rapids that she was one of the sexiest women he’d ever met in person. Ted said that I’d better not bring her to his jobsite unless I wanted a small riot then told me that she was an odd kind of pretty. I don’t know why everyone assumes that I would have a type and that the type is June Cleaver.”
Mike laughed. “Probably because you’re the most clean cut person they’ve ever met. When was the last time you swore?”
John looked insulted. “I never swear anymore.” He thought for a second. “Probably in Grade 11.”
Mike rolled his eyes as he carefully lifted one end of the heavy slab. “Exactly. You don’t even use the normal expletives. It isn’t normal to say drat when you drop a brick on the arch of your foot.”
John said, “I thought a lot of bad words when I broke my pinky last year.”
Mike laughed. “That’s what I’m talking about, John. So when Lucy showed up with all those earrings and at least two tattoos we could see and she was so protective of you…”
John interrupted. “Protective?”
“Oh, yeah. You didn’t get the full benefit of the glare she gave me and Mrs. Plunkett. Anyway, I’ve never seen you look at anyone else like that and she obviously thinks you’re something special.”
John got a goofy grin as they put the third capstone on the pallet and began to arrange the wooden spacers. “She is pretty special.”
Mike looked serious for a moment. “And what about the baby?”
John stopped to think before he responded. “What about the baby?”
Mike moved to grab another capstone. “I know you’re interested enough in her that you’re considering marriage. How does the baby fit in to those plans?”
John didn’t respond and they finished the first load in silence. What did he think abo
ut the baby? Irene was right. He was in love with Lucy. Even Mike and the guys were noticing. Could he love the baby? How could he not love her if she was part of Lucy? As Mike climbed into the forklift to bring the granite slabs to the wall John said, “Mike, it’s a package deal. I can’t be there for Lucy without being there for her daughter.”
Mike smiled broadly and said, “I’ll say it again, John. Lucy is one damn lucky woman.”
John said a prayer for Lucy and the baby as he walked over to help unload.
“So how did the lawyer’s visit go?” Jessica was relieved that Lucy came in early so they could chat while she made the pastry dough.
“The custody petition is a bit of a farce, according to the lawyer. My past behaviour might look bad, especially the way the report was written, but they have to prove that the lifestyle I’m living now is detrimental to the health of the baby. After she’s born they would have to prove that the baby is in real danger of me not providing the necessities of life and that I was deliberately shutting them out of her life. Seeing as I’m clean and sober and can provide for my daughter it’s more of a nuisance suit than anything.”
“And if they show up wanting to see their granddaughter?”
“The lawyer advised me to offer an olive branch so I sat down last night and wrote them a chatty letter on my good stationery. I told them I was disappointed that the first contact was through the lawyer but that they were welcome to make arrangements to visit any time. I made a copy of the latest ultrasound to put in the letter.” Lucy stroked her bulge gently. “She’s starting to move and it’s feeling more real every day.”
Jessica grinned. “It’s a pretty awesome time. Of course, it would be better if you had a partner supporting you.”
Lucy tested the temperature of the cooling pies before moving two to the pie locker. “It’s not ideal but I’m making friends here. Real friends, I think. And I spent some time on the Internet after work yesterday. I think I have the right mind set to help out a few of the local landscapers get the balance right between conservation and comfortable outdoor spaces for cottages built under the new regulations. I’m hoping John will give me an introduction to some people.” She reached for another pair of pies. “And best of all, I’d be able to stay in the area.”
Alec paused before starting another package of sausages on the grill. “That’s wonderful, Lucy. You’ll have to stop by when you have time.”
Lucy waggled a finger at him. “I’m not leaving this job until the end of September at the earliest, Alec Samuels. Don’t try to get rid of me yet.”
Jessica said, “I hope you can hang on until the week after Thanksgiving. There’s a girl that wrote us from Australia for a job. She’ll be in Canada for a student work experience year. Her cousin worked for us over the winter three years ago. If Tammy is anything like Kylie was, she’ll liven things up like you do.”
Lucy said, “I hope I can work that long. I’m not having any real problems with my feet and the customers are pretty understanding.”
“This isn’t a highbrow town. They understand that people have to work and that pregnant ain’t sick. The Hot Stove guys are all excited about the baby. Most of them don’t see their grandkids often enough, so you’re a good substitute.”
“They are all pretty sweet, in their way.”
“Ah, they like to tease but none of those dogs have any teeth.”
Lucy took two pies to the display case in front. When she returned, Jessica asked, “Did you ask about the plagiarism case?”
“How did you know what the lawyer would concentrate on?”
“There’s been a couple of stories on the CBC news about a columnist in Toronto plagiarizing the work of a reporter in Ottawa. When I heard them talking about it, it reminded me of your situation.”
“We talked about unjust dismissal but I wasn’t an employee of the university, except incidentally for tutorials and the like. Gillian lying about me submitting my thesis can be proved fairly easily if I’m allowed to access the university email records. I have backups of my thesis with timestamps and the metadata on my copies show that it was written on my laptop. So the plagiarism charge is our best bet. But she can claim that I plagiarized her work unless I can provide solid proof that my work came first.”
“So what next?”
“I have to pray about it and then speak with John. If I can prove everything I can ask the university to reinstate me and have the courts order someone to pay my legal costs and maybe some punitive damages. But it will cost me a bunch of money up front for my lawyer and a forensic team to examine my laptop. John’s offered to buy a piece of land from me that backs onto one of the ponds on the property if I need the money.”
“Did she think you had a good case?”
“She won’t say until she actually sees the laptop and my backups but her body language said I had a really good case. I think she’s hoping I’ll find the money to hire her.”
“So when do you see John next?”
Lucy looked down shyly. “I’m having supper at his house tonight. He moved his Bible study to tonight because of the long weekend. There will be about eight of us for supper. One of the older widows takes over the kitchen, apparently, probably Phyllis Plunkett.”
“You’re welcome to take a day old pie or two if there are any left over.”
“If there aren’t I’ll buy fresh ones. Are you making apple pies today?”
Jessica put the wet towel over the pie dough and turned to Alec. “Were there any good apples at the fruit market this week?”
Alec kept up rotating the sausages while he held up a finger to ask for a delay. Then he turned and said, “There were some nice looking South American Macs on sale yesterday. I’ll phone at break to see if they still have any and get them to deliver us a bushel with the regular order.”
“Great. We have those tubs of commercial filling but this way I can teach you how to make real apple pie.” Jessica looked as eager to teach as Lucy was to learn.
Lucy looked up at the clock. “Almost time to let the ravening hordes in.”
Jessica wiped her hands and hung up her apron. “Ready, Alec?”
Alec dropped the last of the sausages into the holding pan. “Bring it on, sweetheart.”
Jessica pulled Alec away from the stove for a kiss then headed for the front door. Lucy banished her wave of envy and longing and followed with a bin full of cutlery wrapped in napkins.
Lucy flipped her Birkenstocks into the tray by the back door and walked into a welcoming hug from John under the watchful and approving eyes of Lily Duncan.
“How was your day?” She asked as she reluctantly backed away from the kiss both of them wanted.
“I have a new contract in Perth but it won’t start until September if we can get the permits by then. There’s a restaurant that is expanding into the other half of the block they own. They want the front repointed and cleaned which is pretty routine but they want to put an updated kitchen in the new side and when that’s finished they want us to tear out the old one for expanded seating. It should be an interesting job with some custom stonework to connect the two halves of the block and it will keep two of my crews busy over the winter if they want the work.”
“If they want the work?” Lucy waved at Phyllis who was stirring a big pot on the stove and took a seat next to Lily.
“Except for my three apprentices and a couple of the casuals the crews are all self-employed contractors. I know that at least two of the journeymen will be working construction in the Carolinas over the winter. Certified bricklayers can get a green card very easily.” Phyllis looked up from the pot she was stirring to give John a hairy eyeball and looked significantly at the cutting board on the prep island. He gave Lucy another brief hug and with a long-suffering sigh said, “Coming, Phyllis.”
Lucy smirked as she watched appreciatively while John moved to the counter.
Lily spoke as Lucy sat down next to her. “I’m glad we didn’t scare you off on Sunday.” r />
Lucy replied, “It would take more than a couple of sour old women to scare me off. But Archie came to my defense and told them point blank that it was attitudes like theirs that was the reason the church almost closed its doors five years ago.”
Lily chuckled. “Archie is a dear but until Jack arrived four years ago everyone thought he was just an old grump.” She tittered. “Well, he is an old grump but he’s right most of the time.”
“Actually, I thought he was sweet.”
“You seem to bring out the best in our men, dear.” Lily looked pointedly at John, who was busy slicing mushrooms.
“It must be the baby. The Hot Stove gang at work are all giving me advice all the time. I just hope they don’t try to help me serve the customers. Old Dick Fogerty has Parkinson’s pretty bad.”
“Well, whatever it is, Lucy, you have it.” Lily paused, considering her face, “You’ve never had any problem attracting men, have you?”
“No, not really. Even when I had the extra jewellery in my face.”
“I didn’t think so. But you wouldn’t have very many women friends. They’d be too jealous of you.”
Lucy looked astonished. “Jealous? Of me?”
“Of course they would be. You’re very comfortable around men, curious enough to be truly interested in what they have to say and you seem to be very in touch with your feminine side. And you’re scary smart. If you wanted a man, at least temporarily, they’d find you very hard to resist. Most women don’t allow themselves that kind of freedom.”
“I didn’t always use it the right way, Lily.”
Lily shrugged. “We always have a choice and you seem to be making the right ones now. That’s what counts.” She pointed at John’s back. “Everyone thought he’d want the usual woman who was interested in the usual housewifely things because he has an image of being so conventional.”
“Conventional? He was a master craftsman at thirty. That takes so much drive and talent and ambition he puts most of the Ph.D. candidates I know to shame.”
“Actually I was going to say artistic. But you’re right about his drive, too. What he needs is someone who can understand his passion to create not someone who is going to take up his conversational time with reality TV shows and mundane gossip. Someone who isn’t going to resent that sometimes it will take over his life. That’s part of what I was trying to get at before. You don’t try to get the men interested in girly things even if you are a really pretty girl.”
Lucy demurred. “I’ve never really looked at myself that way.”
Lily reached over to pat her hand. “You should start.”
There was a knock on the back door. John called from the prep island. “Can you get that Lucy?”
“I sure can.” She went to the back door to see Anne and Jason MacDonald and a short intense man who looked like he could be Jason’s father.
Lucy opened the door. “Hi Anne, Jason.” She looked at the man following.
Anne said, “Donnie, I’d like you to meet Lucy Wilkinson.”
Don stepped forward and shook her hand, somewhat reluctantly. He said a terse, “Lucy.”
John called, “We’re only waiting for one more couple for supper. The rest will be here at seven-thirty.”
Don took a chair at the corner of the table on the far side from Lucy and began to study her, disapproval evident on his face. Lucy felt the weight of his gaze but instead of responding with a challenge, as she used to do, she decided to join in the conversation with Anne and Lily about the music at church.
“Donnie was certainly rude tonight.” Phyllis opined as she added more dirty dishes to the dishwasher.
John wondered what Phyllis meant. “How so?”
Lily said, “He spent most of the evening staring at Lucy like he was hoping she’d go away.”
Lucy shrugged. “I’ve had that reaction before. Last year I would have called him on it but I didn’t want to make a scene. I know I’m supposed to figure out how to do it out of love. But I don’t know him well enough to decide one way or the other. So I ignored him tonight.”
John felt his temper rising and blurted, “I…” Then he took a deep breath to calm down. “No. I won’t talk to him. If I know Anne she noticed and she’s calling him on it right now.”
Lily said, “That’s best for now. Donnie will have to learn to live with Lucy being around, won’t he John?”
“I expect so. None of my family was ever able to disapprove of my friends enough to make me drop them, and Donnie’s only a neighbour. It’s Anne and Jason that I deal with most of the time anyway.”
Phyllis started the dishwasher and grabbed her tea to sit at the kitchen table. “He’s probably scared that Jason will get a crush on Lucy.” She smiled as she said it.
Lily smirked and said, “He’s always been pretty hard on his girls. That’s why they don’t visit very often.”
John said, “That’s getting pretty close to gossip, Lily.”
Lily shrugged. “I suppose it is. But it is a fact that he gave his oldest girl an ultimatum when her now ex-husband picked her up for a date. Megan told me when they came to church to show off the baby. What was it? Oh, yes. Donnie apparently said, ‘If you leave with him, don’t come back.’ To which she said, ‘Fine’, and went upstairs to pack a suitcase. That was on a Saturday and they were married on the Tuesday. It’s a shame they couldn’t stay married but she wouldn’t live with him unless they married.”
Phyllis said, “And he still gives Bonnie grief about her tattoos and her short skirts. He’s not a very forgiving man. But Anne is content with him and he treats her like gold.”
Lily said, “Enough of that gossip.” She turned to Lucy. “Everyone else is gone and I’m dying to know what the lawyer said.”
Lucy told the story of her meeting but did not mention John’s offer to purchase the land or her limited funds.
Lucy finished with, “I’m going to pray about it. But I’m leaning toward filing the suit against Dr. Drake and the university. I’m very glad to be out of the academic rat race but it feels like I’m incomplete somehow. It’s not that I need the degree to validate my life but I feel like I earned it and I would like the recognition that goes with it.”
John nodded agreement. “I understand that. Part of the reason I wanted to get recognized as a master mason was that the projects I was most interested in working on were the ones that only masters get invited to bid on. In your case, though, a Ph.D. in ecology would give you some built in credibility as a conservationist or as a landscape architect specializing in sensitive biozones.”
Lucy nodded. “Grandfather found that it was useful to be Dr. Eldritch on occasion. People who knew his work either respected or dismissed him and it wouldn’t have mattered to those people how many degrees he had. But it does open some doors to people who don’t know you.”
Phyllis said, “I hope you do go ahead. This Dr. Drake sounds like a nasty piece of work. If she worked you over then she’ll do it to someone else, if she hasn’t already. A thief like her shouldn’t be deciding who our next generation of experts are. It will just encourage the people she trains to run roughshod over others.”
Lucy said, “I hadn’t considered it that way. Knowing what I went through? If I can stop her from ruining someone else’s career it would be worth it.” She tilted her head to one side. “But I think she did me a favour.”
Phyllis asked, “How so?”
Lucy beamed at the people around the table. “I think I finally found a community that I want to live in, work I want to do or at least the prospect of it, and people who care about me that I can care about in return.”
Lily beamed in return. “The Lord does provide for us, even when we hit bottom.” The she got a wry look. “Some of my biggest blessings didn’t feel like it at the time.” Seeing the question on everyone’s face she said, “I married my first husband when I was seventeen. He was not a good man. He didn’t join up in 1939 because he could be exempted as a farm worker. But
we got into a terrible fight one night in ’40 when he came home drunker than a skunk. Both kids were sick and he’d taken the money I’d put aside for the medicine. He packed a few clothes the next morning before I got up and walked into the recruiting office in Brockville. I never saw him again.”
“It was only because of the kindness of some of the older women at church that I was able to find a job and have someone look after the kids during the day. I won’t sugar coat it, I was young, poor, malnourished and very bitter, very angry. Someone told me to show the Army recruiter our marriage license and they started to send me a portion of Rick’s pay which was a godsend but three months later I got a letter from Rick ranting about me stealing his hard earned money.” Lily shook her head.
“When I got the ‘regret to inform’ letter in ‘44 and the application for the widow’s pension I was so relieved. Even if it wasn’t done in those days I just knew we were headed for a divorce when the war was over. But instead I was a widow, still overworked, still young and still far too bitter.”
“Then the war finished and the men started coming home. The feed mill kept me on for as long as they could but finally they had to give my bookkeeping job back to the man who held it before the war.”
“Tom Duncan came to visit me to apologize for taking my job but I didn’t give him time to open his mouth before I tore a strip off him up, down and sideways. When I wound down he decided that he wasn’t going to look for that better paying job in Ottawa, that I was an ungrateful, selfish harridan and good riddance. I slammed the door in his face and thought I was shut of him.”
“But after we both calmed down, we liked what we’d seen in the other. I liked his smile and the way he was slow to anger, even if I had managed to get to him. He liked my spunk and the fact that I was so focused on providing for my kids.”
“To make a long story short, we got married and had two kids together. So that, folks, is how the Lord put me in a pretty dark trial that lasted for six years with Rick and another four without him and how he sent me a good man when I was finally ready for one. So I know what you mean, Lucy, about being almost grateful for the trials of the past year. And even though I’ve been through more trials recently with all my daughters dying of cancer and my son killed in a collision, the help I’ve gotten from Phyllis and Jack and John here have reminded me that we aren’t promised an easy road but that we are promised help along the way, if we let ourselves ask for it.”
Lily looked at the clock. “Will you look at that? Two Bible study nights in a row that I’ve been out past ten. I’d better start working on a good description for husband number three.”
“I’ll help you come up with something, Lily.” Phyllis stood and began to gather the empty tea mugs.
“I don’t think I really want to spread stories like that. But it would be fun to tease that sour puss head nurse at the home.” Lily stood carefully propped against the kitchen table. “I do like your furniture, John. It’s solid, like you.”
John got up and offered his arm. “May I escort you to the car, Miz Lily?”
“You may, Mr. MacLeish.”
Phyllis hung back and said, “I hope things are going well between you and John.”
Lucy looked shy and said, “I think they are.”
Phyllis said, “Well, I’m praying for you both.”
They both went to the back door and put on their shoes. John met them halfway back to the house from Phyllis’ car. “Thanks for coming Phyllis.”
“My pleasure, John. See you tomorrow.”
“See you.” Then John turned to Lucy. “You aren’t staying?”
Lucy gave him a conflicted look. “I’d like to but I have to work tomorrow.”
John looked disappointed but forced a smile. “Well, it was lovely to see you come out. I hope you learned a few things. I did.”
“I’ll be digging out my Bible when I get back to the trailer. I know I have one somewhere. I think it’s time to dust it off again.” She moved closer. “Thanks for supper.”
John inched closer so that she had to tilt her head back to see his face. “You’re very welcome.”
They stood looking at each other as if contemplating a kiss. Then the headlights of Phyllis’ car swept over them and they both sighed. Lucy tiptoed up to give him a peck on the cheek. “Good night, John. Sleep well.”
He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “You, too, Lucy.” He turned and walked toward the porch. As she was about to climb into her seat he ran over to the car. “I almost forgot. I have a surprise for you. But you have to come for dinner tomorrow.”
“A surprise?” She looked like she wanted more details.
“I’m not saying anything more.” Then he surprised himself and Lucy by dragging her into his arms for a hug. After what seemed like a small slice of forever, he straightened up and said, “Now I’ll sleep well.” Then he kissed her cheek and said, “Good night, Lucy.”
Lucy drove home in a comfortable haze remembering the feel of John’s strong arms and work rough hands holding her close.
Chapter 16