Surprise Visit
In the year that followed, Tracy sent countless pictures of Lucas. She marked each milestone with another photo. There was his first smile, his first bath, the day he rolled over, the day he began to crawl, and dozens of selfies showing her with the baby. They’d be squeezed into the picture nose to nose or his cheek squished next to hers. In one, his tiny hand was covering her mouth, and in another his foot was in front of her nose. In all that time there was just one of Dominic holding the baby, and in it, he stood ramrod straight as he flashed a chagrined smile. Lucas looked as if he’d been photoshopped into his daddy’s arms.
On Lucas’s first birthday, Meghan and Lila telephoned Tracy, and the three women talked for nearly an hour.
“We’d love it if you could come home for a visit,” Meghan suggested.
“I’d love it, too,” Tracy replied solemnly, but then she went on to explain that they had too much going on right now, and it wasn’t a good time for her to leave Dominic alone.
Lila’s arms ached to hold the baby, but she was determined not to nag Tracy. “Maybe you could all come for Thanksgiving,” she said wistfully.
“Yeah, maybe.” Tracy’s words were weighted with the sound of doubt.
A few months later, on an ordinary Monday morning when nothing of importance should have been happening, Meghan logged on to the Snip ’N’ Save e-mail and found a message from Tracy. She clicked on it and read the first line, which said in all caps,
DON’T SHOW THIS TO MAMA!
The next paragraph went on to say Dominic got fired from his job and let their health insurance lapse. Tracy wrote:
I’m having it reinstated with that COBRA plan, but in the meantime I’m really worried about Lucas. He’s fourteen months old and hasn’t said a single word. I call to him, and he doesn’t pay one bit of attention.
Margaret, the woman who works with me at Wawa, said she has a friend with a three-year-old son who is autistic, and that’s exactly how he acts. She said boy babies are more prone to autism. Dear God, I hope it’s not that!!!!
I want to have Lucas tested, but I’m afraid of what they might find. Dominic claims nothing’s wrong, but I’m not so sure.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Meghan fired off a response suggesting Tracy bring Lucas to Georgia, and she’d make certain he was tested.
“Don’t worry about the money,” she wrote. “Mama and I will cover it.”
Tracy’s response came minutes later.
I can’t leave Dom right now. Whatever is or isn’t wrong, we’ll have to work through it together. Please don’t worry. I’m okay. Just needed a sisterly shoulder to cry on.
It was fine to say don’t worry, but there was no way Meghan could hold back. In the hours that followed, she reread Tracy’s e-mails a dozen times, and before the day ended, she’d made her decision. She’d finish up the current issue of the Snip ’N’ Save and fly up to Philadelphia on Saturday. No matter how much it cost or what she had to do to make it happen, she was determined to have Lucas checked out by a doctor.
For the next two days, Meghan put in long hours at work. It was possible she’d be away for a week, maybe longer. Before leaving, she had to get the ads scheduled and roughs out to Sheldon. He could take it from there.
Late Wednesday night, she was in the Snip ’N’ Save office when she heard the doorbell chime. She glanced at the computer screen and saw it was 10:47. Baker Street was a family neighborhood, a place where people went to bed early, and no one went about ringing their neighbor’s doorbell at this time of night.
She moved cautiously through the hall. Then, before opening the door, she asked, “Who is it?”
“Me,” Tracy replied. “Open the door.”
Meghan yanked the door back and saw her sister standing there with Lucas in one arm and a diaper bag in the other.
“Good grief!” she gasped. “What happened?” Too anxious to wait for an answer, she continued asking if Tracy and Lucas were okay.
“We’re fine. Give me a minute, then I’ll tell you everything.” Tracy stuck her head through the doorway and looked around. “Is Mama still up?” she whispered.
“No, she’s in bed.” Meghan lifted Lucas into her arms and cuddled him to her chest. “So this is my adorable little nephew,” she cooed. “Why, you’re ten times cuter than those pictures your mama sent.”
Half-asleep, Lucas looked at her for a moment, then dropped his head onto her shoulder.
Tracy gave a sigh of relief. “I’m glad I won’t have to deal with Mama until tomorrow.”
Meghan was about to ask why, but as she pushed the door shut, she noticed Dominic’s car with its one blue fender parked in the driveway.
“You drove down from Philadelphia?”
Tracy nodded. “Yeah. I left Dom.”
At first she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. Two days earlier, Tracy had said she was trying to work things out. Now here she was, saying she’d left Dominic. Meghan could understand why her sister wasn’t ready to face Lila, but she couldn’t help but wonder what unforgivable thing had brought about such a change.
With a look of surprise still stuck to her face, she said, “You left him? And he let you take his car?”
“He didn’t know where I was going. He probably figured I’d go somewhere, get over being mad, and then come home.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” Tracy said wearily. “Let me grab Lucas’s crib out of the car. He’s tired, and I need to get him into bed.”
Moving as quietly as they had when they were youngsters making a midnight run on the cookie jar, they set up the crib in the room next to Meghan’s, the room that was now their mama’s sewing room. Tracy got Lucas settled, stashed her bag in the guest room, then tiptoed back downstairs to the kitchen.
“Is it too late for a cup of coffee?”
“Of course not.” Meghan filled the pot and turned it to brew. “It’s so good to have you back home.”
Tracy gave a half-hearted smile. “It’s good to be home.”
In an odd way, it seemed as if nothing had changed in the two and a half years she’d been gone. Meghan reached into the cupboard, pulled down two of the same yellow mugs they’d always used, and set them on the table.
“Got any cookies or cake?”
“With Mama, there’s always cake. She’s not happy unless she’s baking up a storm.”
Meghan pulled a chocolate Bundt cake from the refrigerator, carved off two pieces, and set the plates on the table. She poured the coffee, then slid onto the chair on the opposite side of the table.
“I guess you’re wondering what happened,” Tracy said.
“You told me you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Yeah, I know.” Tracy sat looking pensive for a few moments, then said, “You won’t believe what he did.”
Once she got started, the words came pouring out like a festered wound popped open. She told about how she’d come home from work unexpectedly and found Dominic in bed with Kristen, the girl who was supposed to be babysitting.
“Lucas was crawling around the living room floor, and they were in the bedroom with the door closed. Lucas could have fallen or pulled something over on himself, and they wouldn’t have heard a thing.”
Once the truth was laid bare on the table, Tracy continued.
“I’m a fool,” she said. “I could feel in my bones that he’s been cheating all along, but I kept trying to please him. I thought it was a fling and sooner or later he’d settle down so we could be a real family.”
She pulled a tissue from her pocket, wiped the tears back, then blew her nose.
“I figured I owed it to Lucas. A child needs both parents.”
Tracy blew her nose again, and by then, the tissue was in shreds. She stood, opened the cupboard door beneath the sink, and tossed the tissue in the garbage can, then reached over to the far end of the counter and grabbed a few more. It felt good to be home in a place where you could count on things staying the same.
She returned to her seat. “After Dom left Lucas alone in the living room, I knew he was never going to be a real parent. That’s when I realized I was just fooling myself in hoping he’d change.”
“I know it’s hard,” Meghan said, “but you did the right thing. Someone like Dominic is so self-centered, I doubt he’s capable of changing.”
They talked for a while longer. Then Meghan went back to the Snip ’N’ Save office and turned off her computer. Afterward she returned to the kitchen, and the two sisters sat at the table drinking coffee and talking until the first light of dawn glimmered on the horizon.
When they finally trudged up the stairs together, Meghan asked, “Are you back to stay?”
“I’m not sure. Right now I’m just trying to sort out my feelings.”
“Tomorrow we can start trying to find a doctor for Lucas.”
“Let’s wait a few days. Let me get settled and back on my feet.”
When they got to Meghan’s room, instead of moving on down the hallway to the guest room, Tracy just stood there. Meghan wrapped her arm around her sister, and it seemed as if they were six and seven years old again.
“Do you want to crawl in bed with me for a few hours?”
Tracy nodded and gave a sheepish grin.