Chapter 25
The main thing Mary Louise was thinking about right now was Carla and the baby. It was amazing how fast and furious the thoughts whizzed through her brain between the time the word “baby” was out of Carla’s mouth, and “Oh” came out of her own mouth.
It was easy when Adam announced that his wife Blair was pregnant. There was no room in the first few minutes for anything but joy. They had been trying for over two years and Mary Louise had gotten used to the new parent policy of not telling anyone the news until after the first trimester, not even the impending grandmother. Having gotten this far along in the pregnancy, the odds were ever in Blair’s favor. There would be time for worry later, especially after the announcement that she was having twins. Everything had been fine, and Blair had given birth to a set of healthy twin boys.
With Carla it was different. After making it through the teen years with no unexpected pregnancies, Mary Louise hadn’t thought about the possibility of Carla being pregnant in over a decade. Whether she was married or not, Mary Louise at least expected a long term relationship before such an announcement was made so surprise was her first reaction, like someone showing up at her door on August 1st bearing an armload of gifts and saying, “Merry Christmas!” Not necessarily a bad thing, but extremely unexpected.
Then the questions. Was it Spencer’s baby? Did Spencer know? Was Carla happy or sad? What would her life be like as a single mother? Would she stay in Texas? Would it be a little girl? A girl would be nice since Adam and Blair said they had all they could handle with two twin boys.
Mary Louise had hesitated, unsure of the reaction Carla was expecting from her. The look on Carla’s face was a mix of guilt, trepidation and extreme pride. Mary Louise decided the best thing right now would be a hug rather than words. She squeezed her daughter tightly for a couple of minutes and then said, safely, “My baby’s having a baby.”
Carla finally pulled away and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but it’s not something I wanted to tell you over the phone. I also didn’t plan on just blurting it out like I did.”
Mary Louise took her daughter’s face in her hands and said, “My sweet girl, it doesn’t matter. I know now and I’m happy for you. Are you happy?”
“Yes! I mean no. I mean, I love this baby so much already but I didn’t want it to happen like this.”
“One thing you can always count on - life is full of surprises.”
Carla grimaced. Mary Louise fell back on her cure for many of life’s curve balls. “Let’s have some dinner.”
Mary Louise filled two plates with the shrimp and pasta and retrieved a tossed salad from the refrigerator.
They sat down at the table and Carla dug in.
“So you’re feeling okay so far?” asked Mary Louise.
“For the most part. I’m just really tired.”
“That’s normal. No morning sickness?”
“None yet.”
Mary Louise had no wish for her daughter to go through morning sickness, but it was the first clue she might be having a boy. It seemed everyone she knew experienced more morning sickness with girls.
“Do you have a due date? Did you see a doctor in Seattle?”
“End of September. And yes, I saw a doctor.”
There was anger in her voice, and Mary Louise knew it was not directed at her.
“I take it Spencer was not happy.”
“Yeah, you could definitely say that,” said Carla and shoved a large, perfectly spun ball of pasta into her mouth.
“Deal breaker, huh?”
Carla almost choked, controlling herself long enough to finish chewing the mouthful of food and swallowing before laughing.
“Definitely a deal breaker for him,” Carla said.
When Carla was a teenager and not yet driving, she and her friends played a game called “Deal Breaker” in the back seat as Mary Louise carted them around to their various activities. One of the girls would begin by saying, “Perfect 10. Handsome. Rich. Smart. Everything you want in a guy. Except…” That is when the deal breaker scenario would happen. “Perfect 10. Handsome. Rich. Smart. Everything you want in a guy except whenever he takes you out to dinner, he insists on using a hand puppet to order his dinner. Deal breaker?”
Scenarios ranged from a guy who bites his toenails to a guy who still calls his mother “Mommy.” Would her life have turned out differently if she’d had friends who played Deal Breaker with her? “Perfect 10. Handsome. Rich. Smart. Everything you want in a guy except he can’t keep his pants on.” But then she wouldn’t have had her son and grandsons. She wouldn’t be sitting across from her beautiful daughter.
“He wants a paternity test after the baby is born, and even after I prove to him it’s his baby he said he doesn’t want anything to do with it. He said it was my mistake and I should have taken care of it.”
Taken care of it. Mary Louise didn’t need an explanation. Carla could have gotten an abortion when she lived in Washington state. In Texas she’d be breaking the law. But it was a moot point. It was clear Carla was keeping this baby. Mary Louise was just sad that Carla wouldn’t have a partner beside her to help her along and share in the joy.
Dottie was the one who had told her not to give up on Carla. As weeks would go by with no phone call from her daughter, Mary Louise would beat herself up. What had she done wrong? Dottie assured her that even when parents do everything right, they can’t control the actions of their adult children. On the rare occasions that Carla did answer the phone, Mary Louise definitely felt it was out of a sense of guilt or duty.
Now Carla was sitting across from her, talking away as if there had never been any sort of riff or chasm in their relationship. Carla was here and would definitely be here for awhile, at least through the pregnancy and birth of the baby. That should be plenty of time to get to the bottom of any lingering issues.
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