“Ashley looks to be happy, for the first time in a long time. I know what happened to her, Judy keeps me fully up-to-date, and my concern for her was always that she’d never really addressed what happened to her, or found an outlet to express her feelings about it. I do see a difference in her now, so perhaps now she’s found that outlet in you, which is no bad thing.”
“That you’re half-siblings is always going to be a matter of concern, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, but that’s for the two of you to resolve. I see far more bizarre and outlandish goings-on in some of the more… rural areas of the state, believe me! Your relationship hardly raises a tick on the Weird-O-Meter compared to what I’ve seen out in the wilds of this great state. I guess what I’m really saying is that your affairs are yours, it’s not my place to judge, and I’m not going to.”
“I would however urge you to carefully consider what you’re doing if the subject of children raises its head. Close monitoring of any pregnancy will be a must, and early testing to ensure no genetic anomalies are being expressed is highly indicated. I would recommend you both come and talk to me before you do embark on a pregnancy, just so we all know where this could go, and if you do go ahead, I would definitely urge an amniocentesis and periodic MRI scans. The clinic where I work has advanced pre-natal care facilities and I can make them available to you if and when you need them. There is a good chance that your children will be unaffected, but there’s also a definite possibility that they could, it’s a coin-toss, so think carefully.”
“As you are currently under my care, any conversations I have with you, or confidences you ask me to keep are covered by privilege, so I can’t and won’t discuss this with anyone without your express consent. I hope I’ve opened your eyes to the possible consequences of your relationship with Ashley. Personally, I hope you and Ashley succeed; I like her a lot, and she needs the kind of stability a strong relationship can offer.”
He smiled and stood up.
“Now I think we’ve left Ashley alone too long out there with Judy, never a good idea! Shall we rejoin them?”
We left together, my mind at ease now. Judy’s dad was a regular human-type person when he wasn’t wearing his ‘Dr. Nixon’ hat. He’d given me some food for thought, while clearly stating his intention to stay out of our business, so I could put Ashley’s fears to bed too. There was no more reason to hide the truth from mother, but the rest of the community certainly didn’t need to know.
As I was climbing into the car a thought struck me, and I looked for Dr. Nixon again.
“Dr. Nixon, as I’m here, are you sure you don’t want to check me over again, or…”
He actually blushed. “Actually, Nick, I’m really quite busy, but I’ll be over this evening, if you could let your mother know I’ll be there about Seven o’clock or thereabouts…!”
I thanked him, watching him still blushing furiously, and told him I’d look forward to his visit, and with that we pulled away.
Judy was grinning like a chimp, so I asked her what had got her so happy.
“He’s so full of it, he’s not busy, he’s not working today, he’ll be in his study watching ‘Rocket Monkeys’ on Nickelodeon all afternoon! He just wants to make sure he has another chance to meet up with your mom!”
When we arrived back home, Ashley dragged Judy in with her, much against her will; mother had really put the wind up her, and she didn’t relish spending any time anywhere near her just now, but Ashley insisted; she wanted her oldest friend with her right now, and Judy gave in.
Lunch wasn’t strained or particularly atmospheric; mother was friendly and gracious, spooking Judy even further; she sat on the edge of her seat the whole time. I didn’t know what she thought, that mother was suddenly going to reach over and stab her with a fork, or gouge her eye out with a spoon or something, but she was visibly relieved when lunch was over and we cleared-up and returned to the living room. Judy noted where mother sat, then chose the furthest point from her; I had to hide a grin, poor Judy really was spooked bad!
Mother composed herself, obviously gathering her thoughts, and began.
“Nicky, Ashley, I’ve been thinking about what happened this morning, about the two of you, and I need you both to tell me where this is going, what you think the future holds. Ashley?”
Ashley glanced at me, and started.
“Mom, we didn’t mean for this to happen, and Nicky didn’t set out to seduce me, as you put it; if anything, I jumped him, and he gave me umpteen chances to back out and not have to be doing this someday. I saw him, and I saw my future, I can’t put it any other way. I love him, and I will marry him; he’s already asked me, and I’ve accepted. Oh, we’re not getting married tomorrow, Nick wants to get a job first, get settled-in, but eventually we will get married, have our own home, babies, everything.”
“Mom, I know you think this is wrong, but it feels right to me, Nicky makes me feel happy all the way through, I believe in him, and I believe he’s sincere when he tells me he loves me.”
Mother nodded all through this, then cocked an eyebrow at me.
“And you, Nicky, what do you have to say?”
I swallowed, and took-up where Ashley left off.
“I love Ashley, mum, I think I loved her from the first time I actually saw at her, and when I did, it was like something clicked-on in my head, and I knew she was the one. I don’t want to break up this family, and we don’t have to; like you said, we can’t be your kids in here and a couple out there, so we’ll be one thing all the time, just Ashley and Nick, a couple, but you’ll always be my mum, and we’re still going to be your children, that will never change.”
“I want to marry Ashley, I know from deep down inside that she’s the one I want, and I promise I’ll always make her day end with a smile; I won’t promise we won’t fight, I can’t do that, but I do promise we’ll never end the day in anger. That’s one thing I learned from Barbara; even when I made her mad enough to send me to my room, she still came and wished me goodnight and told me she still loved me, and I would tell her I was sorry.”
“Life’s too short, mum, and you may not ever get the chance to say sorry, so I always say it first. I’m sorry, mum, for not telling you sooner, and I apologise for hurting you, but I love Ashley, and I want her to be my wife; I know it seems too short a time, but it isn’t, not for me; I knew from the moment I saw her, and nothing’s going to change that. I will always love her, and I will never make her cry, I swear to you.”
Mother looked at me, and back to Ashley, then down at her hands folded in her lap.
“This is not what I dreamed for you Ashley. I had so much planned for you. I know that things happened to take all that away, and I learned to live with what I could salvage, but I never thought I’d be giving you away to my son, but…”
“But mom, you said….!” burst out Ashley, but mother held her hand up to silence her.
“No, baby, let me finish. What I was going to say was, I’m glad for you, because you’re happy, at last. Your happiness is the only thing I’ve ever wanted. All I wanted was for us to be a strong, close-knit family, but I didn’t want it at any price, including breaking your heart or driving you away because of what I thought was right or wrong. You love Nicky, and I can see that he loves you. He’s an honest, compassionate, loving young man; he’ll be a strong arm for you to lean on.”
“My children need to be happy; too much has happened to them already in their short lives for me to take that away from them, and either I fight against this because of what people say is wrong, and lose them, or I accept it because it’s right for my children. I have to accept that you both are together, that you love each other, and that you want to make a life together. If you’re both happy together, I don’t dare come between you and risk losing both of you. I lost my little boy for so long, I can’t lose him again just when I’ve got him back.”
“So this is what we’ll have to do. You’ll both live here, my daughter and her fiance, we’ll turn Nicky’s room into your room, we’ll move some things around to give you a bit more room in there. What I said earlier, about being… together, in front of me, forget that; if you can’t be together and be in love in your own home, why bother living there? And Nicky, please, just keep calling me mum; as far as the world knows or cares, you’re my son-in-law to-be, so it’ll seem normal. In due course, you may decide to get a place of your own, get married and have a family, I’ll be there for you both then as well. Did I miss anything?”
I looked on in open-mouthed astonishment. Mother had just given me the biggest, most desired gift of all, Ashley, without batting an eyelid. Ashley was in a similar state; we’d expected hostility, some backtracking and negotiation, but this, this was just… incredible. Ashley was the first to move, hugging her mom tightly, tears on her cheeks while mother smiled indulgently, even though I could see in her eyes what this decision was really costing her. I hung back until Ashley let me near mother, but I gave up waiting and squeezed them both, mother again grinning as I bear-hugged my family.
“Nick… Nick… can’t breathe”! laughed mother, and I released them, un-squashing Ashley in the process, who grinned and jabbed me with her elbow as payback for nearly flattening her.