her.
“I don’t know. Did he ask you for a date, Mom?” He looked vastly amused, but Megan didn’t.
“Sort of,” she admitted, and Megan looked outraged. “We’re going to the movies tomorrow.” There was no point hiding it from them, they’d see him pick her up anyway. And besides, she had nothing to hide. He was a nice guy, and Peter’s doctor. They were just friends, and she was sure he had nothing more lurid in mind than what he had proposed, pizza and a movie. “It’s no big deal. I just thought it might be fun,” she said apologetically, as Megan continued to glare at her.
“That’s disgusting. What about Daddy?”
“What about Daddy?” Peter pointedly asked his sister. “He’s gone. Mom isn’t. She can’t sit here taking care of us forever.”
“Why not?” Megan didn’t see his point, and what she did see of it, she didn’t like. In her opinion, her mother had no reason to be dating. “Mom doesn’t need to go out,” she said both to Peter and her mother. “She has us.”
“That is the point exactly. She needs more than that in her life. After all, she had Daddy,” Peter said, sounding firm.
“That’s different,” Megan said stubbornly.
“No, it isn’t,” Peter insisted, as their mother stayed out of it, but she was fascinated by the conflict of opinions. Megan was adamant that she shouldn’t be dating, and Peter was clear that she needed more in her life than just work and children, which was precisely why Bill Webster had invited her out. He had said much the same thing as Peter. But it was equally obvious that Megan felt threatened by the idea of a man in her mother’s life who wasn’t her father.
“What do you think Daddy would say about your going out, Mom?” she asked her mother directly.
“I think he’d say it’s about time,” Peter said simply. “It’s been nearly nine months, and she has a right. Hell, when Andy Martin’s mom died last year, his father got remarried in five months. Mom hasn’t even looked at another man since Dad died,” Peter said fairly, but Megan looked even more worried.
“Are you going to marry the doctor?”
“No, Megan,” Liz said quiedy, “I’m not going to marry anyone. I’m going to eat pizza and see a movie. It’s pretty harmless.” But it was interesting to her to realize the strong reaction her children had to it, both pro and con. It made her think about it herself as she walked slowly upstairs to her bedroom. Was it wrong? Was it a crazy thing to do, or inappropriate? Was it too soon to be “dating”? But she wasn’t dating Bill, they were just going out for movies and dinner, and she certainly didn’t want to marry anyone, as Megan had accused. She couldn’t imagine marrying anyone after Jack. He had been the perfect husband for her, and anyone else would fall short, she was sure. This was just an evening out, and Bill was just a friend. But Megan was still on the warpath when Bill came to pick her mother up the next evening promptly at seven. Megan glared at him, and stomped up the stairs as loudly as she dared after she let him in. She didn’t say a word to him, or introduce herself, and Liz apologized for her being so rude, but Jamie made up for it as he came downstairs with a broad smile to greet Bill. He was happy to see him. And Bill smiled and chatted with him before they left for dinner.
“Did you have fun at the party last night?” Bill stroked the silky dark hair as he asked him.
“It was fun.” Jamie nodded. “I ate too many hot dogs and got a stomachache. But it was fun before that.”
“I thought so too,” Bill agreed, and then pretended to look worried. “You’re not going to give me a shot, are you, Jamie?” The child laughed at the joke, and then Bill asked him if he’d ever flown a kite, and Jamie admitted that he hadn’t. “You’ll have to come fly mine with me sometime,” he said pleasantly. “I have a really great one. It’s an old-fashioned box kite I made myself, and it flies really well. We’ll take it out to the beach sometime and fly it.”
“I’d like that,” Jamie said with wide eyes and a look of interest.
Rachel and Annie came down to say hi to him then, but Megan never appeared again. She was sulking in her room, and furious with her mother. Peter was out, he’d been picked up by friends since he couldn’t drive, and Bill said to say hello to him as they left. Jamie promised to tell Peter when he got back.
“They’re great kids,” he said admiringly. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“Easy,” she smiled as she got into his comfortable Mercedes, “I just love them a lot.”
“You make it sound a lot easier than it is. I just can’t see myself doing that,” he said, as though contemplating a liver transplant, or open-heart surgery. He made it sound painful and difficult, and potentially fatal. Being a parent had always been something of a mystery to him.
“Can’t see yourself doing what?” she asked, as he started the car and backed down her driveway.
“Being married and having kids. You make it look so effortless, but I know damn well it isn’t. You have to be good at it. It’s an art form. It’s a lot tougher than practicing medicine, from all I know.”
“You learn it as you go along. They teach you.”
“It’s not as simple as that, Liz, and you know it. Most kids act like juvenile delinquents, and wind up on drugs, or something close to it. You’re damn lucky to have five kids like that,” and he included Jamie in the compliment just as she did. He was a terrific kid, and despite his challenges, he only took a little more care and attention than the others. She had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t accidentally hurt himself, or do something dangerous, or get lost.
“I think you’ve got some funny ideas about kids,” she said as they drove along. “They’re not all little hoodlums, you know.”
“No, but a lot of them are, and their mothers are worse,” he said matter-of-factly, and she laughed.
“Should I get out of the car now before you find out the truth about me, or will you trust me through dinner?”
“You know what I mean,” he insisted. “How many marriages do you know that work, really work?” he asked bluntly, sounding like a true cynic, and a confirmed bachelor.
“My marriage worked,” she said simply. “We were very happy for a very long time.”
