Catch of the Day (Gideon's Cove #1)(69)
“We had to get married, you know,” my father tells me, interrupting my bemused thoughts.
“Excuse me?”
“Your mother was pregnant with you girls when we got married.” Dad, more composed now, takes a sip of his coffee.
“We’re love children?” I blurt. “Christy and I are love children?”
My father gives a half smile. “Ayuh. You never figured it out?”
“No! Dad! One bombshell at a time!”
Octavio sticks his head out the door. “You still need me, boss?”
“No, no, Tavy. Thanks.”
“I’m gonna run home before lunch, if that’s okay,” he says.
“Sure, sure. Fine.” A moment later, the back door closes, and Dad and I are completely alone. I look at my dad in a new light. “So. You knocked up that nice Lena Gray and had to marry her.”
“Yup. You and Christytwo for the price of one.”
“Did Mom want to get married?”
“Well, Maggie, that’s what you did back then. None of this unwed mother stuff that goes on nowadays. You got a girl pregnant, you married her, and fast.”
“So your anniversary is really…when?” Because my parents never really celebrated their special day (the reason now a little more clear), it was never a big event in our calendar year to begin with.
“We got married on March fifteenth. You and Christy came along six months later.”
“The ides of March? You got married on the ides of March, Dad?” I start laughing. “No wonder you’re getting divorced. ‘Beware the ides of March, Caesar,’” I quote. “Shakespeare knew what he was talking about.”
Dad graces me with a smile, but his eyes are sad. “Listen, sweetheart, your mother’s going to need a little sympathy. Don’t be too hard on her, all right?”
“Well, we’re not really speaking at the moment,” I tell him. “Not since I kicked her out of the diner the other day.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, it would be nice if you could patch things up.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah. Sure. She only insulted my beloved dog on the day he died.”
Dad sighs again. “I know, Maggie. But do it for me, won’t you, dear?”
Of course I will, and Dad knows it. “Have you told Christy and Jonah?”
“I told Joe last night. I’m headed for Christy’s now.”
“Do you want me to tell her, Dad? You must be worn out.”
His eyes shine with gratitude. “That would be great, honey. I’d appreciate that. You know you’re my best girl, now, don’t you?”
“Yes, and I know you say the same thing to Christy, you dog.” I slide around to sit next to my father, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love you, Dad.”
“Thanks, baby,” he whispers. “Sorry about all this.”
“Where are you staying? I can’t imagine you both in the same house, if Mom’s on a tear.”
“Well, my lawyer said not to leave home just yet” His lawyer! He’s already called a lawyer! “so I’m still there. In the cellar, as usual.”
He leaves a minute later. I watch him walk down the street, his shoulders slumped, eyes on the pavement. Poor Dad. He must feel completely desperate if he’s resorted to this. And yet not just desperateactually doing something about it.
I summon my sister to a late lunch at Joe’s Diner and break the news as she eats. Christy isn’t as stunned as I expect her to be. “I always wondered about that,” she muses. “If they had to get married. It makes sense.”
“You mean it explains why Mom’s been in a bad mood since the day we were born?” I say, far less sympathetic than my sister. She really deserves her title of “the good twin.”
“Well, yes, Maggie. I mean, in those days, there was a lot of shame over being pregnant before you were married. So suddenly she’s twenty-two years old, and her life is mapped out for her. No choice in the matter now. She’d just finished college, remember? She wanted to be an editor in New York City, and instead she’s pregnant and living in her hometown, knitting booties. For twins. The icing on the cake.”
“She wanted to be an editor? I never heard that,” I say. Christy breaks off a piece of grilled cheese and offers it to Violet, who opens her mouth as obediently as a baby bird.
“Yeah.” Christy turns away from her baby to look at me. “Imagine, Maggie. The first girl in our family ever to go to college. Granddad would have been so proud, the whole town would have talked about it, little Lena, a college girl, look at that. And then bam. She’s pregnant. Knocked up. No career, no New York, just mud season and black flies and two colicky babies.”
“It does put things in a new light. You’re right.”
“All done, Violet?” Christy asks. “Are you all done?”
“Bwee,” Violet says, squirming in the high chair. “Nahbo.”
I gird my loins for battle and call my mom that afternoon, but the gods are merciful and I get the machine. “Hey, Mom, it’s Maggie. I heard the news…um, sorry. Uh, I’ll call you later, okay? Hope you’re okay. Bye.” A feeble message, but a message nonetheless.
I drop in on Mrs. K. for a visit and a chat, leaving my parents’ situation out of it. Mrs. K.’s grand-niece is coming to get her for the weekend, and my tiny tenant is busy packing.