A Brother's Duty

Chapter 24

  “Did you see Gillian’s latest blog post?” Zara asked.

  “I haven’t really paid much attention to be honest. Since Grandmother went home I’ve been busy working at the diner and getting ready for that informal evaluation at the university. I haven’t had much time for anything else.” Lucy put a coffee in front of her friend.

  “Other than being with your husband.”

  “Well, there is that.” Lucy’s face softened. “Not that you and Zack are much better. What about Gillian’s blog?”

  “Well, without mentioning names she’s accusing the university of bowing to climate change skeptics. She blames an unnamed student for ruining her reputation with the university by sabotaging her data.”

  Lucy laughed. “That sounds just like her. I’ll bet she lands on her feet with one of the European based lobby groups. There won’t be any offers from universities if they check her references.”

  Zara said, “Thank God for that. She was a barely adequate scientist even if she was popular. On the other hand, if you get the university good publicity they don’t care too much about your other qualities.”

  “I suppose not.”

  “Did your grandmother have a good time while she was here?”

  “We had a wonderful time touring the Gatineau Hills and some of the local gardens. Of course, once she knew she needed an invitation to see some of them she let the British High Commissioner know that the Countess of Exmouth and her granddaughter Lady MacLeish were interested in touring them. She actually got more invitations than we were expecting. John had to dress up for a couple of cocktail parties.”

  “That must have been fun.”

  “Grandmother is very sociable and charming but I think she enjoyed our country neighbours more. She’s my uncle’s agent for all of the business at the main estate near Dorchester. I think she’s more comfortable around farmers than at a diplomatic function.”

  Zara smiled. “She’s a neat old lady.”

  “And she’s very annoyed with my mother for keeping her away all these years. At one of the parties we attended someone tried to snub me because I looked different and she managed to turn it around on the couple.” Lucy felt a sense of pride and comfort at the memory. “So I felt like I was part of the family, even if she isn’t exactly the most demonstrative person.”

  “And Ginny?”

  “She and Tom had to be back in Texas the Friday after the wedding but she extracted a promise from us to visit them after the baby is born. Her mother went with them. Lady Sarah has a very quiet but wicked sense of humour. She’ll be staying until Christmas with them. Although, John is supposed to call her to let her know when the baby is born so I expect Aunt Ginny will be here to visit baby Nicole before I’m released from the hospital.” Lucy sighed. “I’m really surprised at how quickly the Wilkinsons took me in.”

  Zara got a wry grin. “I’m dreading the Winnipeg visit. Baba has been trying to marry me off to a good Ukrainian Orthodox man for years. I don’t know how she’ll react to Zack. She’s already upset that I won’t be home for Christmas because my post-doc starts the week before.”

  Lucy looked puzzled then remembered that the Orthodox Church still used the old style calendar. “So I guess it won’t really matter when you visit?”

  “Not really.” There was a pause while the women looked across the parking area to see John and Zack hoisting another piling onto the trailer behind the small tractor.

  Zara said, “I wouldn’t have picked Zack to be a handyman type.”

  Lucy smiled. “I think Zack will be a lot like my grandfather Eldritch. He liked to make wooden toys to have something concrete to do. Zack seems to be heading for some sort of highly abstract cosmology degree. It’s fine to sit and contemplate your navel but there’s a huge satisfaction in doing something that you can see and measure and point at and say ‘I did that.’ You like to cook…”

  “And you like to draw.” Zara paused again to admire the men loading the pilings and sighed. “I still can’t believe he bought you a new trailer for a wedding present.”

  “Actually, this one is rented. We’re going to go shopping for one we can both agree on.”

  “But this one is so nice.”

  “We may keep it for the rest of this season if we have to wait for the new one. I want one with living room windows that face the lane and the bird feeders. But I can wait for that. I’ve got something more important to do in the next couple of weeks.”

  Zara smiled with a mix of indulgence and envy on her face.

  Lucy asked, “Will you be starting a family right away?”

  Zara blushed. “Yes. I’m past thirty and I don’t want to wait too long. The university in Brisbane will allow me an unpaid extension while I take maternity leave.”

  “Have you set a date for the wedding?”

  Zara looked pained. “We haven’t told either family about our engagement yet. We won’t be able to get married in the Orthodox Church unless he converts and Baba won’t set foot in any other. So we think it will be a civil service in Winnipeg in December. Although, if his parents can’t make it, we’ll probably get married in Ottawa as soon as my parents can get here from Winnipeg. I haven’t told them that Zack’s moved in with me. They’d be much happier if we were married first.”

  Lucy pointed at the men heading their way. Zara escaped into the trailer to fetch a pitcher of ice tea and check on lunch.

  John and Zack joined their ladies on the porch. “Zack was telling me that you haven’t told your families about the engagement. It’s around suppertime in Gabon if you want to use the computer here to Skype them.”

  Zara looked at Zack with a question. He looked a bit nervous. Lucy said, “I’m sure when they see how you look at her it will be all right.”

  Zack poured himself some ice tea and asked, “How do I look at her?”

  “Like she’s the most precious treasure you could ever hope to find.”

  Zara took Zack’s hand and giggled. “You mean like the way you look at John?”

  Lucy felt herself starting to colour. “I’m sure there are similarities.” To change the subject she asked, “How is the boardwalk coming along?”

  John rolled the aches out of his shoulders. “Much faster with Zack’s help but we still have to set each piling carefully. The terrain changes from clay to gravel to limestone and back in the fifty meters from the ridge to the spot we picked for the gazebo. It’s a challenge but not too bad. We only have those last eight to put in then I can have Mike or Shay send one of the crews over to build the rest. One of Shay’s men is from Hong Kong and wants to show us how to build one of those high arch Chinese foot bridges. Mike and the other apprentices are almost finished making the stone footings for it.”

  “You didn’t trust Shay to put the pilings in right?”

  John looked sheepish. “You were very particular about not disturbing things too much. Shay could have done it right, but…”

  Lucy reached over to pat John on the arm. “I know. It’s just as much yours as mine now and you want to be able to take the blame if something goes wrong. How much longer?”

  “It should be finished by the weekend after next and then I can take the following two weeks to worry about when the baby is coming. We should be able to watch the geese as they head south. And I dragged that one big rock you’re always stubbing your toes on out of the swimming hole and filled the hole with gravel. The rock will make a nice bench after I shape it a bit.”

  Zara took a deep breath. “I think I’ll go check on lunch. And we should try to get your parents on Skype, Zack.”

  John said, “We’ll pray for you both while you’re calling. Perhaps that will help you find the right words.”

  Zack pulled Zara upright and gave her a kiss for support before heading inside to the computer. Lucy said, softly, “Dear Lord. You’ve given me courage and the right words so many times since I came to have faith in You. Help Zack and Zara so you can help them find the right words, t
oo.”

  John finished, “In Jesus’ name. Amen.” Then he said, “That’s the first time I’ve heard you pray. When did you decide to commit your life to Jesus again?”

  “It wasn’t really ‘again’ although I was dutifully baptised at sixteen in Smiths Falls.” She folded her hands over her belly. “There were two triggers, no three. The first was on the drive out here from Edmonton. I was reminded six or seven times that the world, the real physical world, is so grand and so beautiful – so completely integrated – that there has to be a creator behind it. The second trigger was the second Sunday at church with you. Jack’s sermon on forgiveness hit me hard. You’d asked me the night before if I had forgiven Mother and the sermon gave me some of the tools I needed to let Jesus help me handle that. Then the Sunday after the tornado I felt the baby kick. We were engaged, I had friends that were genuinely happy for me, everything was going far too well and the baby kicked me.”

  “John, I didn’t think that I deserved to be that happy so I prayed for help. But all I got was more and more miserable until I said that I was sorry for the things I’d gotten wrong and asked for help to figure out what I needed to change and what I needed to let go. Then a whole cascade of images started playing in my head – things that I needed to be sorry for that were the result of my rebellion and my bad decisions.”

  Lucy felt her eyes moisten. “Well, I started to cry. It was long enough and loud enough that Phyllis came to see if I was all right and I ended up crying even harder. But at the end of it I told God, with Phyllis as my witness, that I was committing myself to His service, if he’d have me. Since then I’ve felt… I don’t know how to explain it, really… centered, loved, purposeful…”

  John looked thoughtful. “Sunday evening after the tornado? I think that’s when I finally let Rob go.”

  Lucy blotted her eyes. “And your father?”

  John took her hand. “I think so. All three of us tried so hard not to be like Dad that we got really messed up. Rob followed Dad down the alcohol path. He barely managed to stop before he went too far. He spent a week in the military prison for doing something outstandingly stupid while he was drunk the week after I drove Chrissy home. He got the counselling he needed and a transfer away from the bad influences in Petawawa. I was determined not to be like Dad but I ended up just as controlling and judgmental and rigid. I don’t know exactly what happened with Irene but there were two summers when she didn’t come home. I know she played in a band for one of them but she used to have a vicious tongue and an awful temper and was always putting people down, like Dad did. Then she met and married Ernie and my sweet sister came back.”

  “In any case, I thought I’d finish packing up the last of Rob’s things that Sunday. In the back of the closet I found an album of family pictures with the five of us from when I was a newborn. In one of them, Dad is looking at Mom like she’s the most awesome person ever. In another he’s holding me and it’s obvious that he loves me to bits. I had forgotten that side of Dad because I saw it so rarely. After Mom started chemo when I was in Grade 7, he was a broken man and none of us had the strength or tools to support him. That was just after Rob had the big fight with him and left for the army.”

  John gave a bitter laugh. “But we all ended up with both good and bad from him. Rob had Dad’s wicked sense of humour. Irene got his work ethic and his love for the farm. I got his love of music and art along with a stubborn streak a mile wide.”

  “So, about the same time you were praying and crying, I was praying and crying. I expect you’ll start hearing some of the good and funny stories I have about my dad. I think God was trying to get me to clear things up before we became one in his eyes.” A memory of her hidden tattoos brought a smug smile and a blush to his face.

  In a sultry voice she murmured, “I know what you’re thinking, my love, but we have guests.” She gave him a knowing smirk.

  He sighed. “I know. But I can whisper things in your ear that might get you to kick Zara out sooner.”

  Lucy got up and sat on John’s lap. “Well, here’s a teaser, Mr. MacLeish.”

  “It’s you that’s the tease, Lady MacLeish.” She silenced him with a kiss.

  Lunch was very relaxed. Zack and Zara had managed to speak with his parents who were unsurprised that he’d found someone to marry but were somewhat surprised that it was Zara. The age difference was less troubling than they had expected but Zara’s Orthodox heritage gave his Evangelical Protestant parents pause. But there was genuine happiness too and his parents advised them not to wait until they could be there. It was easier for them to get to Australia via South Africa than to get to Canada so they arranged to visit Zack and Zara in Brisbane during the summer.

  Tentative plans were made for a civil wedding the following Friday, which Zara confirmed by calling Winnipeg and being very firm with her shocked and ecstatic mother. The four of them were cleaning and putting leftovers away when Bruno announced another visitor.

  Lucy looked at John. “Were you expecting anyone?”

  “No, but there’s a bunch of friends who would just drop by – Phyllis, Irene, Archie, Jack, Shay, Mike and his family…”

  “And us.” Zara smiled brightly. “We all know that Bruno will announce us early enough for you two to get decent.” She held up a hand to forestall Lucy’s indignant response. “Zack and I can finish up the dishes and get out the dessert while you see who it is.”

  John and Lucy went to stand on the porch. An older couple got out of their car and came toward the trailer.

  The older woman looked angry as she asked, “Are you Lucinda Wilkinson?”

  Lucy held her temper and said, “I was. I’m Lucy MacLeish now.”

  The man came forward. “I’m Nicolas Osiecki and this is my wife Eileen. I believe you are carrying my grandchild.”

  John put his hand on the small of Lucy’s back for reassurance. “I’m John MacLeish. Would you like to join us? We were just sitting down to dessert.”

  Lucy said a silent prayer for help finding the right words. “Please come in. I’d love to know more about my daughter’s father.”

  At the reminder of her son, the woman began to cry. Nicolas put his arm around her and said, “Are you okay, Eileen?”

  She wiped her eyes and said, “I will be, Nico.”

  Lucy descended the porch steps to stand close to the couple. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Osiecki. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose my only child.” John moved to join his wife.

  Nicolas gave Lucy the once over, noting the multitude of earrings, the visible tattoos, the conservative maternity dress and the warm smile. “You aren’t what I expected.”

  Lucy squeezed John’s hand in warning and said, “Your investigator’s report contained some serious errors and I’ve changed since I met John. I was very angry with your son for his treatment of me but before he died he asked his sergeant to make sure I was looked after.”

  John volunteered. “Nick’s sergeant was my brother Rob. Rob asked me to look after Lucy if he didn’t make it back. He was killed near Kandahar, too. So it fell to me to look after Lucy.” He gave Lucy a tender look. “I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with her.”

  “Nor I with him.” Lucy said. “Please join us. We have other friends visiting but you’re very welcome.” She looked a smirk at John and patted his middle. “And John will have to be okay with only one piece of lemon meringue pie for dessert.”

  Uncertainty played over the faces of the Osieckis. “If you’re sure.”

  John looked seriously at Eileen. “We are very sure. My parents passed away long ago and Lucy’s family are not close. We would love it if you would take an active role as our daughter’s grandparents.”

  Nicolas challenged John. “You are intending to be our granddaughter’s father?”

  “Every step of the way. I have one request, though.”

  “And that is?”

  “When the time comes that Lucy has our other children, you will t
ry to treat them the same as Nicole.”

  Eileen gasped a sob. “Nicole?”

  Lucy put her hand out and placed Eileen’s hand on her bulge. “Nicole Roberta. We’ve already decided she should be named for the two men who brought us together.”

  Nicolas got a look of wistful awe as he watched his wife gently pat Lucy’s bulge. His voice got husky as he said, “Nicole…”

  John sensed a pause and looked back to see the puzzled faces of Zara and Zack peering out the screen door. He waved and said, “Let’s set up at the picnic table. I’m sure Lucy would prefer to sit while we are talking.”

  Startled out of their reverie, the Osieckis nodded their acceptance and the whole group moved onto the porch.

  The dour faces of the three person challenge panel watched with varying degrees of professional hostility and boredom as they took it in turn to ask pointed questions to Lucy about her draft thesis. Interspersed with questions about her thesis were more general questions about ecology, biology, botany, zoology, meteorology and biochemistry.

  As a concession to her condition, they allowed her a break every hour and a short lunch period. After the end of the sixth session, they told Lucy to come back in an hour. She called John to vent and texted Zara to invite her and Zack for supper at the shawarma place.

  A large fruit smoothie had calmed her stomach and provided enough sugar that her temper was back on an even keel by the time she returned. A fluttering assistant invited her back into the conference room.

  Three more people had joined them: the vice-chancellor, the head of the biosciences department, and James Jamieson, an adjunct professor she had occasionally worked with on climate change research.

  The vice-chancellor spoke first in a nervous and mildly condescending tone. “Miss Wilkinson…”

  “It’s Lady MacLeish, actually. I married recently, as you may recall.” She remembered the superior tone her grandmother adopted when someone was being annoying and used it on the group.

  The vice-chancellor scanned her very pregnant form and worked to quell his curiosity. He cleared his throat and continued in a less condescending way. “Lady MacLeish. The university would like to offer you a formal apology for your treatment at the hands of Dr. Drake. Her actions discredited both the program and the university. She has been disciplined for it.”

  Lucy nodded her acknowledgement.

  “We are in receipt of the statement of claim from your lawyer. Our legal counsel has advised us, based on our investigator’s report, that your claims are entirely reasonable. My office will make the arrangements with your lawyer to settle the financial portion.”

  “With respect to the rest of your claim, the examining panel was very impressed with the breadth of your knowledge and the logical presentation of your draft thesis. Therefore, we are reinstating you as a doctoral candidate effective immediately. Further, based on today’s examination, it is abundantly clear that you meet all but two requirements for your degree and will not need to make a more formal defense of your dissertation. We are appointing Dr. Jamieson, who I believe you know, as your thesis advisor and editor. He will assist you with the minor technical adjustments needed to prepare it for publication but he will also need to examine the original notebooks to confirm your observational data. In light of the recent events, the university will waive all the customary fees needed to obtain your degree.” He cleared his throat again. “Is this acceptable to you, Lady MacLeish?”

  Lucy hid her almost total surprise by asking, “Will the grant be reinstated as well?”

  “That was part of the claim.”

  “Then I wish to waive that stipulation. I will not need the grant to be able to finish my work. It would be better used to support another deserving candidate. I will advise my lawyer of my decision.”

  The head of the biosciences department got an acquisitive gleam in her eye that diminished when she saw the quelling look on the face of the vice-chancellor. The vice-chancellor spoke again. “That is very generous, Lady MacLeish.”

  Dr. Jamieson wore a very broad smile. “Welcome back, Luce.”

  “It’s good to be back, James.”

  “Braxton-Hicks. I feel dumb.” Lucy was sitting in the antique nursing rocker in the upstairs sitting room not quite watching the news with John.

  “It’s okay to feel dumb when you’re doing something for the first time. Try apprenticing to a European master. They all seem to have this look that can make you feel about a millimeter tall when you make any kind of mistake.”

  Lucy brightened. “Like the one you use on Hafeez when he gets too full of himself?”

  John snickered. “Or the one he’s been using on me this week?”

  Lucy laughed. “How is your training going?”

  “I think I’ll be competent for simple mosaics but I’m going to recommend Hafeez when my clients need an expert. It’s given me a much better appreciation of the time and effort needed to do it well.”

  “Then training with him is time well spent.”

  “Mike said that the boardwalk and gazebo are completed. Victor Huang’s bridge still needs a few more coats of varnish but Shay and Mike both say it’s very pretty. And they built the gazebo roof in a classic Chinese style to match the bridge.”

  “I wish we could go see it.”

  “The doctor said not to worry. It’s your first baby so you’ll be at least four hours in labour and probably more. We can get from the farm to the Civic in under two if I need to push it.” Then he gave her a fond look. “But for number two we might want to consider changing hospitals.”

  Lucy returned his look. “Or you could learn about home delivery. Just in case.” Then she looked hopefully at John. “I’d rather be doing something other than monitoring my twinges. I can’t seem to get comfortable.”

  They dropped in at Jessie’s to update everyone. Sally Munroe was exchanging barbs with the gang and Tammy was fitting in nicely with her pointed sense of humour and light flirting.

  Jessica and Sally both looked at her with some concern. Jessica said, “The baby’s dropped. Are you sure you should be this far from Ottawa?”

  Sally replied, “Don’t listen to her, Lucy. It’s your first so you’ll probably have a very long labour.”

  “Don’t sound so smug, Sally. The last thing Lucy needs is another horror story.”

  “Bah. She’s young and healthy and the last I heard there were no problems. It’s just a long slog. They don’t call it labour because it’s easy. They call it labour because it’s hard work.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “But I’m sure it will be worth it.”

  John said, “I’ll bring pictures as soon as I can. The gang of grampas over there will want to see them.”

  “Me, too,” called Alec from the kitchen.

  They continued on to the farm in good spirits. “Thank you for taking all of this time off.”

  “I have Mike and Shay to cover for me now. I’ll be incorporating soon and bringing them into the company. Mike has the admin experience we need and Shay is a better estimator and purchaser than I am.”

  “Are you really okay with that?”

  “I think the reason I took Rob’s death so hard was that I had this dream of MacLeish and MacLeish. Now that I’ve been doing more praying about it I don’t know if it would have worked except for the first few years when Rob was transitioning back to civilian life. I’m sure his dreams would have changed and I would have taken it badly. Speaking of dreams, did you and James get everything settled?”

  “I’ll have to go over the galley proofs before December tenth but it looks like I’ll be able to graduate at the winter convocation in January. Then we can head for Texas with the baby and Aruba after that before heading to England to visit Grandmother and the rest of the family.”

  “So we have to delay our honeymoon?”

  “We’re on our honeymoon, dearest. And I hope it continues for the next fifty years, at least.”

  John squeezed Lucy’s hand and said, “M
e, too, my love.”

  They took a walk over the elegant arched red and gold bridge to the gazebo with its tiled pagoda roof and sat for a while listening to the geese and ducks murmuring while they fed. “Shay’s crew did a beautiful job,” Lucy commented.

  “They like you. Me, I’m not so sure.”

  “They like you fine. too. I think I’ll make some sketches of their work. I’d like to have them framed as gifts for them.”

  “They will appreciate that, I’m sure. It’s difficult to show off some of our better work to the family without trespassing on private property.”

  “Ow!” Lucy rubbed her belly and John noted the time.

  “Another contraction?” John asked, trying to stay calm.

  “Yes. It felt stronger than this morning’s.”

  “We should probably head home.”

  “That would be good.”

  They got back to the porch when there was another stronger contraction. Lucy felt a warm wet rush down her leg. “I think my water broke, John.”

  “Okay. Let’s get you into the trailer to clean up and change then we’ll head for the hospital.”

  “Is everything in the car?”

  “Has been for the last two weeks.”

  They rushed through a shower and another contraction. Lucy put on fresh clothes and they hurried to the car. John pushed the speed limit but there were only five more contractions twenty minutes apart by the time they reached Ottawa.

  After an exam the midwife confirmed that Lucy was in active labour but advised that it was going to be a while until she was ready to deliver the baby.

  For the next eight hours John and Lucy paced the halls as the contractions became more frequent. Around midnight the nurse advised Lucy to try to sleep if she could but the best she managed was a fitful doze in between increasingly frequent contractions.

  Finally, shortly before dawn, Lucy delivered a healthy baby girl with a few wisps of white-blonde hair. There was a flurry of activity to clean everyone up and Nicole was handed to her mother for a first feeding. Then Lucy was moved to a recovery room and was encouraged to sleep.

  A few hours later, John came back after catching a nap and contacting everyone with the news. “Thank you for everything, sweetheart.” Lucy looked up at John then back at her nursing daughter.

  “No, my love. Thank you.” John scooted his chair closer. “She’s beautiful. You do good work, Lady MacLeish. Ginny and the Osieckis will be arriving tomorrow to lend their support.” John looked fondly at his ladies with a contented satisfaction.

  Lucy examined his face for any signs of uncertainty. “Any qualms?”

  “About this being Nick’s girl and not only mine?” John took Lucy’s free hand. “Other than a mild envy that he got there before me, none. We have plenty of time to add to the family whenever you’re ready. Besides, I have a duty as a Christian to help widows and orphans.”

  “You didn’t have to marry me to do that.”

  “Au contraire, my dear wife, I had to do exactly that. I wasn’t about to let you go after I fell in love with you even if there were parts of me telling me to run.”

  Lucy raised an eyebrow. “When was that?”

  “When I brought you that supper from Pizza Delight and we held hands. The connection was so strong that I was able to see past that fence of metal in your face. But I was too scared to do anything about it right then.”

  “That soon?” John nodded and Lucy continued, “For me it was when you surprised me at the swimming hole in my yellow bikini and you let me lean on you. I felt loved for the first time since Grandfather died. And I felt safe for the first time ever.”

  “But I pulled away from you.” John remembered the incident clearly.

  “But I knew it was because you wanted to kiss me even if you were disturbed by my tattoos.”

  Nicole made a mewling squawk as she released the nipple. “Would like to try to coax a burp from our daughter?”

  John reached over to pick up Nicole. Lucy settled back on the pillows to watch her besotted husband cuddling their newborn daughter, giving thanks as all of the pieces of her world fell into their proper place.

  The End