Chapter 18

I was greeted by laughter from four separate sources and a 5-year-old hitting me like a linebacker when I came inside my home that evening. Mark's shot to my knees almost caused me to dump 3 pizzas on top of his head.

"Hey, Champ," I said as I regained my balance. "You're getting a bit too big to launch yourself from across the room at me."

Mark looked up at me a grinned. There was no remorse in his eyes, only the warmness that I had come to love. Balancing pizzas and my briefcase, I leaned down and planted a kiss on top of his head.

"That is so sweet," I heard Elizabeth Drayton say in a hushed tone.

I gave a kiss on the cheek to Kelly and Kasey and Carrie a slight peck on the lips. Then, against all decorum, I gave Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek, too.

"I see you found the place with no trouble," I told her.

She rubbed the spot on her cheek lightly while she smiled up at me.

"I found it with no trouble at all, Mike," she said sweetly. "Your family is delightful — nothing at all like you've led me to believe."

I knew she was kidding and I was happy to realize that everyone else did, too.

"They're on their best behavior," I said. "Believe me, once the game starts all bets are off."

"Oh, no," Carrie chimed in. "All bets are on. Which by the way, you and I need to come to terms."

"No bets," I said. "If I lose I wind up eating Ramen noodles for a month. Any money I win would wind up going to Kelly anyway. So place your bets with her."

"Oh yeah, I heard about the buzzer at her house," Carrie joked. "It's a good system."

Carrie explained the joke to Kelly, who looked scandalized. Of course Kasey and Elizabeth were laughing uproariously so Kelly joined in too.

"You could just keep your winnings under the bed or something," Kelly said. "Since Pitt's going to win. If you take Carrie's money I won't come for it. Well, not all of it. I still get, let's say, 35 percent."

It was the most generous offered I'd heard from Kelly in years. As it was, I was paying almost 55 percent of my after-tax income in child support and spousal support.

"How about you Kasey?" I asked. "Who are you rooting for?"

She looked from me to Carrie. I could tell her allegiances were torn. Kelly was not a consideration.

"Can I tell you at halftime?" she asked. "Maybe I can root for Pitt to win the first half and Ohio State to win the second."

"Traitor," I hissed.

"We raised a turncoat," Kelly said sadly. "A complete turncoat. I had so much hope of her attending Pitt."

"Did you graduate from Pittsburgh, too?" Elizabeth asked Kelly.

"Well, no," she said sadly. "I wanted to but it wasn't possible."

"She was the breadwinner while I finished college," I said. "She went to Pitt for four semesters. Then I got a job in Virginia so she went to a small college there. Then maybe four others. Her actual undergraduate degree is from Cal-Berkeley. She got her master's from Stanford and her doctorate from the University of Indiana."

I couldn't keep pride out of my voice. Cal, Stanford and IU were top-flight schools. She had worked hard for her career — spread out over 15 years.

Kelly smiled sadly.

"I still wished I could have wound up at Pitt," she said. "Maybe I can teach there someday. I do plan to go with Kasey this spring when we visit. If she still wants to visit."

Kasey put her arm around her mom.

"Even if I don't go there, we'll visit," she assured her.

"Kasey has been accepted to Pitt, Ohio State, WVU and we're waiting to hear back from Cornell," I said — and the pride I had in Kelly's accomplishments was even more evident when I spoke of Kasey's.

"I've narrowed my choices down," Kasey said. "I've decided to stay as close as I can. Pitt or Ohio State is probably as far as I want to be away."

"What about here?" Elizabeth asked.

"I'm a little leery of attending classes where Mom teaches," Kasey answered. "But it would be nice to stay close by. I've been thinking of applying to a small school a little further south in West Virginia. I'm not sure. I know it's getting late but I'm really having a change of heart about how far I want to go."

"So, Carrie, you went to Ohio State?" Elizabeth asked. "My son graduated from there."

"I got my bachelor's in accounting from Ohio State," she said. "But my MBA is from Cincinnati."

I knew Elizabeth had far more education than what her job required — but I suspected I was the only one.

"So why would a SUNY graduate be an Ohio State fan?" I asked her. "Oh that's right, the New York college football teams are awful."

"Hey, watch that," Elizabeth said as she slapped my arm. "Syracuse won four games last year but Buffalo went to a bowl game. They're really getting better. We won't discuss Army, though."

Kelly picked up the theme.

"What's your degree in?" she asked.

"Nursing," Elizabeth answered.

"Wow, it seems like you would be able to get a job in that field pretty easily," Kasey chimed in.

"Oh, I suppose I could except for one problem," Elizabeth answered with a blush. "I found very early in my career that I hate arrogant doctors and whiny patients. I suppose I should have investigated that a little earlier. My second, no third, husband had business dealings here. So I moved here with him and took the job I have now. That was in 1979. I found I enjoyed what I'm doing so I stayed there — even after my next two husbands passed away."

"Wow, I was two years old when you started there!" Carrie said. "I honestly figure that you were about Mike's age."

"See, I told you, younger sister," I said with a wink.

"Do you realize that in the 30 years I've sat outside that office that this is the first time I've ever been to my boss' house?" Elizabeth said.

"No kidding?" I asked. "And since when did I become your boss? I thought it was the other way around."

"I have been invited before but I've never felt the urge to attend," she said. "But, well, you are much easier to get along with than the others who graced your office."

Kelly coughed and I saw beer come out her nose.

"Sorry, I was positive that I heard you say that Mike was easy to get along with," she said as she cleaned up the counter. "That couldn't possibly been right."

I shielded the fact that I gave Kelly the finger from our children.

"Well, I said he was easier to get along with," Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "I did not say he was easy to get along with. It's all relative."

"Yeah and the only reason you think I'm difficult to deal with is the fact that I used to be your relative," I said.

"What's my excuse?" Carrie asked.

"You're just a curmudgeon," I said. "You hate everyone. I just get caught in the crossfire."

Carrie stuck her tongue out at me.

I was cleaning up the kitchen — OK, I was throwing away the paper plates — when Carrie sidled up beside me.

"So, here's the bet," she said. "For 24 hours, the loser has to do whatever the winner says. I mean complete slave. If Ohio State wins, you will be my personal property for 24 hours. You will make no decisions on your own. You will go nowhere and do nothing without asking me first. If I want you to do anything, you will do it. If Pitt wins, the same is true for me — New Year's Day."

I considered it for a moment. I couldn't imagine Carrie making me do anything that I would find repulsive. I knew I wouldn't make her do anything like that. So I agreed.

"I hope it snows like a bastard on New Year's Day because you are going to be introduced pretty quickly to that snow shovel," I said. "And my garage is just begging for a thorough cleaning."

It looked like I had a good chance of winning the bet — right up to the opening kickoff. After that it was pretty apparent that Ohio State was in a far different class than my Panthers.

The final score was 38-10 and I can assure you the game wasn't nearly that close.

By midway through the third quarter the game was completely forgotten. Mark and Kasey had both gone to bed leaving just the four adults.

"So, how did you and Mike meet?" Carrie asked Kelly.

Kelly blushed — after all she had drank four beers in 2 hours.

"In a bar," she said. "It was pretty funny. You have to understand, Mike and his friend Scott practically owned this bar near the campus. I was just 18 and my roommate and I got a fake ID and worked up the courage to try it out. The only place to sit in this place was a table in the back — right by the dart board. A bunch of people told us that we were in Mike and Scott's seats. But since neither of us had ever heard of them, we didn't pay much attention.

"We were still trying to choke down our first beer when all the sudden the crowd parted like the Red Sea and two guys and maybe 7 or 8 girls came strolling toward our table. Mike just sort of lifted his eyebrow like Mr. Spock when he saw us sitting in his chair. He glanced at Scott and Scott just shrugged. Instead of kicking us out of their table he asked if they could join us. I mean, by that point there had been maybe a dozen people who had stopped by to tell us we were at Mike's table. It was like a shrine or something. Then he got the bartender to fix me a sloe gin fizz and the rest is history."

"It wasn't our table," I said.

"It was so your table," Kelly insisted. "Listen, Mike and Scott were like the Gods of intramural sports at Pitt. Their basketball team was probably good enough to beat a couple of Division I teams in the area. He is really a great athlete. Mike and Scott were like the two coolest guys in the school, at least among the bar crowd. Everyone knew them. Mike, get your photo album out. The intramural basketball championships were at the old Field House. A professional photographer took pictures. Mike was awesome. Anyway, I got drunk that night — for the first time ever — and Mike walked me back to my dorm. I have to confess that I was sorely disappointed when he didn't kiss me goodnight."

"I was a little worried that you would puke on me," I said.

"I might have," Kelly admitted. "I was not feeling well. I felt even worse the next morning until I realized I had Mike's number in my pocket. We started dating and well, then I got pregnant. The rest is history."

Carrie looked at me with a smirk.

"You were the king of campus, huh?" she asked.

"I was the king of freshman girls," I replied with a blush.

"I was a sophomore," Kelly said quickly. "And yes he was. When we started dating, well, there was more than one girl who gave me the evil eye. Some even thought I got pregnant on purpose."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did that happen?" Elizabeth asked. "I mean, there are ways to avoid pregnancy that are very effective."

I sighed and glanced at Kelly, who shrugged.

"Are you aware that certain antibiotics counteract birth control pills?" I asked with resignation.

Carrie's eyes got wide as had Elizabeth's.

"No," Elizabeth said.

"Well, yeah, neither were we," I said. "I mean, it's written on the drug interaction pamphlet you get but I would think that it would be in rather large flashing letters on the damned thing."

"Oh, shit," Carrie said — and she raced back to the bedroom.

My jaw dropped as I glanced at Kelly.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said.

Kelly burst out laughing — much to Elizabeth's consternation.

"It's not funny," Elizabeth said.

"No," Kelly agreed. "That fact is not funny. But Mike, do you remember what your first words were when I told you I was pregnant the first time?"

I shook my head.

"'You've got to be fucking kidding me, '" Kelly intoned. "And do you remember what you said when I told you I was pregnant with Mark?"

I lowered my head in shame.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Kelly repeated. "Honest to God, Elizabeth. Both times that is what he said. Now, in his defense, once he got over his shock he was much more supportive. But his initial reaction was identical to what you've seen. And my reaction was identical to his. When the stick turned blue I said the exact same thing."

Elizabeth glared at me for a moment before her look softened.

"Which exactly what I said when I found out my son was on his way," she admitted with a grin. "Now, Mike, don't you think you should check out how Carrie is doing?"

I sighed and walked down the hallway. Carrie was sitting on the bed studiously scanning the drug interaction message. She glanced up when I walked in.

"There is no interaction issue but we have another problem," she said as she shook her head sadly. "Damn it, Mike. I am so sorry. But, the next day — the day after Lemons grabbed me — I don't remember if I took my pill or not. I always take them first thing in the morning. I don't know if the hospital gave me one or if I asked for one or not. I slept until after noon and I just didn't pay attention to what I was given. I should have thought of this before now, don't you think."

"Hey, I was there, too," I replied. "It is as much my responsibility to consider this as it is yours. It didn't occur to me to ask if you were sure you were still on schedule. I had a pretty decent idea how traumatic it was for you and what that next day must have been like. Who am I kidding? I have no idea or frame of reference for what you went through. I should have been more diligent in ensuring this wouldn't happen. We'll deal with this when the time is right. There is no sense in worrying about it right now."

"You're not pissed off?" she asked. "I mean, you don't think I'm trying to trap you or something."

I laughed out loud.

"Believe me, I am trapped already," I said. "Besides, I should be the one trying to trap you. You're the catch, not me. So no, I'm not mad."

I leaned across and kissed her on the cheek.

"I hope you're not upset — if it happens or the reason behind it," I said.

"I don't think I am but well, let's talk about this when we're alone," she suggest.

I kissed her softly again and we headed down the hallway to the living room where all conversation had ceased.

Kelly looked up expectantly (no pun intended) when we sat down. I knew she wanted to know what was happening but I wasn't going to say anything unless Carrie wanted me to. I thought it was Carrie's place to start the discussion — not mine, Kelly's or Elizabeth's.

Carrie must have thought the same thing because her cheeks had barely hit the couch cushion before she spoke.

"There is no drug interaction with what I'm taking," she said with a slight blush. "But we have another question that I think Kelly might be able to help with."

Kelly's face had relaxed when Carrie talked about the antibiotic but tightened again as soon as Carrie asked for her help.

"The next morning — the morning in the hospital, I know you were there with me," Carrie said.

I saw Elizabeth's interest perk up at that statement.

"Yes," Kelly said. "The doctors had determined that you didn't need any professional care but everyone thought it might be better if you awoke to find someone in your room besides medical personnel."

Carrie smiled and the room lit up. At least it seemed that way to me.

"That was very nice of you and I did and do appreciate it," she said. "I was a bit startled when I first woke up and then I saw you sleeping in the chair beside me so I felt comfortable enough to take a moment to gather my bearings before I freaked out."

Kelly smiled but I could see she was embarrassed. It dawned on me that I had never considered how much Kelly had helped people with some of the things she had done. It has just assumed it was another form of self promotion. But in that one moment I realized that she did those things not for herself but for others.