Chapter 48

Dinner finished, dishes washed, dried, and put away, the few remaining leftovers stored in the fridge, and a new loaf of bread in the bread machine for the morning, the family retired to sit around the fire. The couch was moved back, and chairs were pulled in place, and the whole arrangement was made without disturbing Wonka from his place in front of the fire. John and Macy came out of the kitchen with wine bottles and wine glasses.

“What is a chère belle-sœur?” asked Yi. “You and Andi call each other that.”

Macy handed Yi a wine glass. “It simply means ‘dear sister-in-law’. Belle-sœur is a much nicer sounding term for sisters by marriage than ‘sister-in-law’ don’t you think?”. She then handed Sandy and Madeline a pair of Disney Princess sippy cups. “And these would be petits chéris, little darlings.”

“Much nicer. What would you call me?”

Macy smiled, “Nae chingu.”

Yi looked defeated. Nae chingu is Korean for “my friend.” Yi sighed and said “Peulangseueoleul baeugo sip-eoss-eoyo.” (I was hoping to learn French)

“In French I would say ‘mon ami.’”

Yi smiled and sighed. “Mon ami sounds so much nicer than nae chingu.”

As John filled glasses with wine (for Paul, Andi, and Yi) and bubbling cider (for Sandy, Madeline, Macy, and himself) Paul asked, “What are we toasting?”

John stood behind Macy and placed his free hand on her shoulder. They looked at each other in the eye and finally John lifted his glass and said, “Macy and I are expecting.”

“Hear-Hear!” called Paul above the stifled gasp of “I knew it!” from Andi.

While Andi and Yi hugged Macy, Paul put his arm around his brother’s shoulders, and they stepped aside. “Think this time it will happen?”

“I don’t know,” sighed a visibly nervous John. “We’ve already lost 3,” he took a deep shuddering breath, “We shouldn’t have waited so long,” he groaned. “Macy is almost 40,” and he let it trail off from there.

“I’ve seen you guys at christenings, how you handle the babies, how you handle the youth groups, how you handle the teen church, how you have so much love for them all. You guys are going to be fantastic.”

“It’s not raising the kids,” said John, “it’s getting them. The emotional toll of losing these babies is too much...”

Paul looked over at Macy. She had the biggest smile he had ever seen on the woman. “She doesn’t look worried,” he said, “or maybe the worry isn’t on her side of the court.”

John looked at his big brother, who, as usual, saw right to the core of the issue. “No, she does so much better than I do with these losses. She cries it out, then she’s fine. Me? it is eating my soul. I keep thinking maybe God doesn’t want us to have children...”

“Maybe God wants you to relax, trust in Him, and let what happens happen. Or maybe he wants you to talk with Josh.”

“Josh?” asked John. Josh was their friend. He had a big plot of land across the street from them. The land used to be a scout camp of some sort, and there were several cabins on the land.

“Yeah, Josh’s boss and his boss’s wife run an adoption advocacy group. Maybe that’s the direction you should take. Either way, you need to trust Him.”

“That’s what I’m supposed to say, and I do say it,” fumed John, “to other people.” His shoulders visibly sagged.

“No, little brother, He doesn’t want you to say it, He wants you to Know It, Learn It, Live It.” That was a mantra of their fathers, and John said it along with Paul. “Maybe it’s testosterone related,” Paul said after a long pause.

John considered these words, then he looked Paul in the eye and said, “What are you talking about?”

Paul just shrugged. “I was a flight surgeon for many years. I dealt with bomber and fighter jocks, the most testosterone driven individuals on earth. Even the women were more macho than most men that you’ll ever meet. ANY failure on their part, for any reason, was always a slight on their manhood. I’ve had a few pilots whose wives couldn’t conceive, and I had to talk them down off the ledge and let them know that it wasn’t a lack of manhood on their part. Once they relaxed and just let life happen, life happened.”

“I’ll give it a try; you make it sound so easy,” sighed John.

The men just noticed that Sandy and Madeline were standing next to them, looking up at them while drinking from their sippy cups. “Are you talking about Aunt Macy’s thanksgiving baby?” asked Sandy.

John smiled and crouched down so he could speak on the same physical level with the girls. “Honey, this baby is going to be born in August, in the summer.”

Madeline shook her head insistently, her blond tresses flowing, “Un-uh. Thanksgiving. Same as Danny.” And with that, the two girls turned and walked away, heading over to the table where coloring projects awaited them, still slurping on their sippy cups.

John and Paul looked at each other in surprise, then joined the women. Andi and Yi were excited for Macy, but Macy was trying to calm them down. “Please relax. I rarely get far past this point. We’ve lost several already.”

“Hush you!” said Andi, “It’ll happen!”

“On thanksgiving,” said Madeline from across the room, but only John and Paul heard her.

Excusing himself, Paul led the twins upstairs and changed them into their pajamas, and told them about all the fun they were going to have in the snow the next day. He also tried to get them to talk more about their cousin “the Thanksgiving Baby” but they wouldn’t elaborate, and eventually they acted like they didn’t know what Paul was talking about. He finally got them dressed in what to him appeared to be nearly identical night gowns, despite the giggling and wrestling.

Finally, the twins got up off the bed and looked at each other, burst into tears, and then they raced down the stairs. Paul found them huddled on Andi’s lap, crying like their lives were over. Andi looked up and Paul and in a theatrical tone of voice said, “How could you do this to these innocent young girls?” and gave him a wink that the twins didn’t see.

“Forgive me, Milady, but I sought to clothe them in their nightclothes.”

“No!” the girls howled. “It’s all wrong!”

Andi mouthed the words “Just tired,” to Paul, who nodded, and prepared to sit down.

“You said he loved us!” cried Sandy to Andi.

“I want a new daddy,” Madeline whimpered.

Paul planned to go along with whatever was brewing, but that hurt. Andi saw the look of horror on Paul’s face. His mouth opened, but he remained silent, then his features softened, like the life had drained out of him. He looked gray, his complexion suddenly matched the salt in his salt and pepper beard. He looked broken and utterly defeated. Without a word, he turned on his heel and left.

“Madeline! How could you say such a mean thing to your poppa?” Andi was aghast. She has never heard either of her girls speak like that.

Sandy came to her sister’s defense. “He put the wrong nighties on us! He should know!” She pulled down on her nightie so Andi could clearly see the small Disney princess printed on her nightie. “See?”

“Poppa is brand new at this,” scolded Andi. “if he got it wrong, you should have told him, and you should have told him why.”

“But he should know!” whined Madeline. “I love unicorns!” she said, pointing to the colorful unicorn on her nightie. “He should know!”

“And I like Ella!” whined Sandy, whose nightie featured Ella.

“He doesn’t know. Poppa is new at being a poppa, and he’s new with little girls. He never had any sisters.”

“No sisters?” squealed Madeline, who couldn’t imagine a life without her sister.

“No, just his brother John. And boys don’t wear nighties and they don’t care about unicorns,” Andi added with a little poke at the unicorn on Madeline’s nightie. “Now you go and apologize to your father and tell him why you like to wear the nighties you wear so he will understand. Now go!”

Madeline started, “But...”

“No buts.” Andi looked angry. “What you said to Poppa was just the meanest thing a little girl could ever say.”

Sandy tried to stand up for her sister, “But...”

“No! If you want a new daddy, then poppa goes away, and it’s no more cabin, no more nice house, and no more mommy, because I’m going with him!” Andi glared at the twins, but they still didn’t look phased. “And no more Wonka!” That did it. The twins looked utterly shocked as the magnitude of their crime set in. They turned and looked at Wonka, who was snoozing by the fire, then back at their mother, tears filling their eyes.

“I’m sorry mommy,” they said in perfect unison.

“Don’t apologize to me, I’m not the person you hurt.” Andi pointed to the kitchen. “Poppa is in there, go!”

As if heading for their execution by firing squad, Sandy and Madeline slowly made their way to the kitchen in the new cabin while Andi, John, Macy, and Yi watched their slow, agonized progress. Finally, John had to ask Andi, “What was that all about?”

“Something that could only happen in my life,” Andi sighed. As she explained the issue with the nighties, the twins walked slowly into the kitchen. Paul was pouring hot milk into something they couldn’t see. The twins walked quietly up to Paul and stopped, but he continued doing whatever it was on the counter. Sandy elbowed Madeline, who cleared her throat, but Paul ignored the throat clearing.

“Poppa?” she said in a tiny voice.

Paul stopped what he was doing and looked down. “Yes?”

The twins were shocked to see that he was wearing glasses. When mommy wears glasses, she’s all business, and very stern. They learned that fact a long time ago (a long time, at least for a 5-year-old). Could this be the same for poppa? Finally, Madeline sputtered, “Poppa, I’m sorry I was mean, it’s just ... uhh, you put...”

Sandy burst out, “You put the wrong jammies on us!”

“I put the wrong jammies on you? Madeline, you like unicorns, so I put the unicorn jammies on you, Sandy, you like Frozen, so I put the Ella nightie on you.” Paul was confused.

“Yeah, but I can’t see the unicorn,” said Madeline, holding her nightie straight to show off the unicorn.

“And I can’t see Ella!” demanded Sandy with a stomp of her little foot.

That made no sense to Paul. When he and John were young, he was everything cowboy, and John loved Star Wars, and they dressed to match their passions. These girls dress to match each other’s passions? It made no sense, but if that’s what they want ... Now comes the hard part. He crouched down, so he was at eye level with the girls and took off his reading glasses. “If that’s what you want, I wish you had told me. I’m very, very sorry.”

Sandy nodded her head once. “Don’t let it happen again!”

“It won’t,” he rose and put his glasses back on. “I’ve got to pack and get out of here so you can find a new daddy.”

Both girls looked shocked. “No! You just...”

“Madeline said she doesn’t want me anymore, so Wonka and I have to go.”

“Poppa no!” shrieked Madeline. She threw herself at Paul and wrapped herself around his legs. “I’m sorry,” she wept, “I didn’t mean it. I was mad.”

Sandy joined in too, “Don’t go Poppa, she won’t say it anymore!”

“Please don’t go Poppa!” Their wails were breaking his heart, and Andi’s heart too as she listened just outside the door.

Paul crouched down and said, “Ok, tell you what, if I do something you don’t like again, you tell me and we will fix it, but only if you promise not to say something mean like that again.”

“We promise,” said the twins as Paul wiped their tears with a dish towel.

“Well, then, done deal! Let’s seal the deal,” and they sealed their promise with a three-way high five. “I was making a snack for Wonka and myself for the trip, but we’re not going now. Would you like a snack?” he said as he opened up the microwave.

Andi scrambled back to her spot on the couch, amazed at the way Paul could handle the girls. For someone who has never had a child in his life, he’s doing an amazing job, she thought. Shortly, the girls came out of the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate in one hand and a huge chocolate chip cookie in the other. As they headed back to the table to continue their coloring, Andi waved them over. “Did you apologize to Poppa?”

“Uh huh,” they nodded, their mouths full of warm cookie.

“What did Poppa say?”

Sandy swallowed her bite of cookie and wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “He was confused, but we straightened him out.”

“Oh, you did, did you?”