Part 3: 1 - Tuesday’s Child
A joyful surprise that binds a family
Things That Can’t Be Broken is a novel presented as a live draft, one chapter every week.
Last week: Part 2: 12 - Tethered • 1989 - Lisa and Dani find themselves tied
Part 3 | A Storm Blowing from Paradise
1 - Tuesday’s Child
Maeve Allen
October 10, 1988
Edinburgh, Scotland
Grace’s first act upon seeing Maeve and Todd at Josephine’s door was to flip up her top to show them the paunch of her belly, five months pregnant. Her smug expression—and that belly—reminded Maeve of Merrylegs when he discovered how to get into the pantry. Seeing the shock on their faces, Grace’s eyes teared up with laughter. How she had kept her pregnancy secret from her twin brother, even over the phone, was a mystery.
“Och. A pure accident,” said Grace, “My own fault. I was wrecked, ye ken. But sure enough, it was the dreaded blue cross for me,” said Grace, shaking her fist like it held a pregnancy test stick, and still laughing. “I headed straight for the clinic. Aye. But I couldna’ follow through. I took a cab to Mam’s, instead.”
Josephine’s eyes lit with pride, “Aw, this lass, ye think she’s wild, but she’s a good Catholic after all.”
Grace took hold of Maeve’s arm at that, and said, “Och. Dona’ let her fool ye. Mam scudded me with her Catholic spells until I relented.”
Grace had almost immediately checked herself into the rehab for ninety days, ostensibly for the health of the baby, which she planned to give up, but also for the excuse to break away from her life. She did not wish for her fans, or the other musicians, to know about the pregnancy. In Grace’s words, it was “better to have ‘em ken me for an addict than a mother, eh?”
Maeve’s eyes welled with gratitude. Grace knew that she and Todd had been trying to conceive for years. The bond between the twins was fathomless. Grace had decided to carry the child to term, but not for Josephine and not for Catholicism. The pregnancy may have been accidental, but she was carrying this child for Todd.
No surprise to Grace, Maeve and Todd made the decision in a glance into each others watering eyes. They immediately requested to adopt the unborn child. It felt like the most obvious and natural thing in the world. They wanted a child and it was preposterous to imagine that anyone other than Todd and herself would raise Grace’s baby.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Todd had asked.
“Och. If you were to say ‘no’ . . .I couldna’ bear it,” Grace told him.
“Ye ken I couldna’ say ‘no’,” said Todd, shaking his head.
“Truth. I didna’ imagine ye could, but I wanted every advantage,” said Grace.
Completing the adoption meant they would have to stay in Scotland longer than they had planned. Maeve was fine with that. They would stay however long it took, even if it meant disappointing the students she had hoped to bring back for their final year. She insisted they go through an adoption agency to make sure everything was legal and correct before they brought the baby home. They didn’t want to risk anything going wrong that could cause the baby to go into foster care.
The adoption agent warned them that adoptions between family members could be tricky, especially with siblings who were so close as Todd and Grace. Maeve took the words to heart, but Todd didn’t see it as a problem. As Todd explained it, in the twins’ minds they were inseparable from each other, the ultimate in living vicariously. He said Grace would not feel the need to be a parent as long as Todd was playing that role. However they rationalized that, it was hard to imagine Grace choosing to be a parent, but she knew Todd would be an amazing father.
Grace did beautifully with the delivery. Caleb Joseph Allen was born perfect and healthy on March 14, 1989. He looked more than a little like Todd, with the wide mouth and dimpled chin both twins shared. Maeve and Todd took on the role of parents right away, bringing Caleb home to their tenement flat the very next day.
The beginning was strange for all of them. Maeve and Todd were suddenly first-time parents. There was nothing stranger. It was true what they said, there is no owners’ manual. Grace had taken to calling herself “Auntie Grace” long before Caleb was born, but it wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be to let go. She stayed on living with Josephine, visiting Maeve and Todd almost daily those first few weeks. It was uncomfortable for Maeve, but they neither discouraged nor encouraged her visiting. They treated her as a guest, but did not offer for her to hold Caleb. As time went by, her interest waned. A few months after Caleb’s birth, the band members started calling, and soon after, Grace merged back into her musical traveling-circus life—her fans apparently none the wiser.
The adoption remained pending. Grace had signed all the paperwork for her part, but tracking down Caleb’s biological father had proven more difficult. He had no permanent address. Yet his consent would be required before the paperwork could be filed and the adoption completed. With Grace out on her music circuit again, he was sure to show up eventually. Until then, Scotland would be home for the new family.
They made the best of it. Maeve gathered a few students for private riding lessons. Todd did handyman jobs and maintained the local kennel club facilities, while he put word out to Oatridge and Glenpark that he was available for a full time position. Getting back home was always on Maeve’s mind, but she had to admit there was joy in living this simple family life together in Edinburgh for the time being. It gave them the chance to learn the rhythms of parenthood without the demands of the horsemanship program.
March 24, 1990
Maeve let herself in with a bag full of groceries and a handful of mail. Sliding the security chain into place on the door behind her, she looked up the stairwell. Her heart stopped. The baby gate was unlatched and Little Caleb was waddling toward the top step, smiling down at her. “Mama!”
Todd gathered him up in his arms just in time. “No ye don’t, wee laddie.”
Maeve met them at the top and hugged them together. “My boys!”
“What did the doc have to say?” Todd asked.
Maeve sighed. “Fibroids. Long story short, it’s going to be very hard for me to conceive. We knew that, right? She won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s certainly not likely.”
Todd bent to reset the baby gate. She knew he always wanted a big family and she knew she probably would not be able to give him that. All the better they had Caleb now. Once they returned to California and restarted the horsemanship program, there would be plenty of kids around. It wasn’t the same, but maybe that was how it was meant to be for them.
“Was Caleb good for you while I was gone?” She asked.
“Aye. He’s been nothing but smiles for his da, especially after a whopper of a dookie. Thank God for disposable wipes and nappies!”
Maeve laughed. “I always knew you would be good at this, but you are ten times the dad I expected.” She set down the groceries on the counter. “I picked up the mail on my way in. Genny sent this with her letter.” Maeve showed him a postcard. “They tried to deliver it to the ranch. Genny found it in the box when she went by there.”
“Och. What is it?”
She handed it to him and stood by, offering Caleb a cracker with jelly.
Todd said, “A bridge dedication. . . Ahh. For Dani Cartwright. And they are inviting us?”
“This is public. I think we should consider it. There’s a nice note here from Lisa Cartwright. You should read that, too.”
Todd’s expression grew dark for a moment. “Aye, I’ll get to it. Ye dona’ see this as a cruel reminder?”
“Well, it is a memorial dedication, but I’m sure cruelty isn’t what they had in mind. It could be a good way for us to show up in the community again, don’t you think?”
“Och. A shame we canna’ go,” Todd sounded relieved. He pointed to the baby trying to grab the mail from Maeve’s hand.
“Hold on,” said Maeve. “I mean, it’s nearly five months away. I’m sure we will be able to get Caleb’s adoption paperwork signed by then.” She wiped Caleb’s face with a damp cloth and set him on the floor.
Caleb went to Todd with a big grin on his chubby face and a handful of crinkled ads in one fist. “Aye,” Todd sighed, taking the paper from his son. “Ye ken me well. I suppose if the adoption is final before then, we’ll go to the dedication.”
“I’m sure it will be. . . Grace is . . .”
Ka-thunk!
“Bloody hell!”
Ding-dong.
“Speak of the devil!” Said Todd.
“Grace? Let me get the door chain!” Maeve unlatched the gate and tromped down the stairwell to the door.
Grace was dressed for a performance, hair teased, full eyeliner, tassled leather jacket and boots. A guitar case was slung over her shoulder.
“Sister!” Said Grace, giving Maeve a strong embrace.
“So good to see you, Grace,” said Maeve.
“Ah, there’s the wee bairn, with my munter brother!” She kissed Todd on the cheek and glanced quickly at Caleb, who looked up at her wide-eyed. “Oh, this is for Caleb.” Grace casually unwound herself from the guitar strap and set it next to the couch. “A late birthday present from his Auntie Grace.”
“That’s very kind, Sis,” Todd said. “If a wee bit big for the lad.”
She flicked a hand up at him. “Och. He’ll grow.”
“You’ll stay for lunch?” Todd said, opening the case and muttering, “This is a nice instrument.”
“We have some good bread,” said Maeve, “I can make you a sandwich.”
“No, do na’ fash. I won’t keep ye,” said Grace. “I’m after the adoption paperwork. I might see the lad’s bio da before the show tonight.”
“Oh,” said Maeve, glancing at Todd. “That’s great news. Uh, you don’t have to do that though. If we can get a current address or a phone number from him for the agency. . . They’ll take care of it.”
“Och, no! Kerry will sign,” said Grace, “I’ll talk to him. I just need the papers.”
“Are ye certain?” said Todd.
“He’s dumb, but he’s not a blinkin’ idiot. He has nothing. And he’d be less a father then I would a mother. He’ll sign tonight and the two of ye will be his official mam and da, like ye already are.”
Todd gave Maeve a tentative nod. She went to the office to pull out the file and find a copy of the Statement of Understanding and relinquishment documents. Her heart quickened with a wave of both anticipation and unease as she inserted the papers into a large envelope. If the biological father signed the paperwork tonight the adoption could be completed in weeks. They would be free to take him home to California at last.
Grace took the envelope and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. Then she looked up at their faces. “Och, right. Patch that,” she put them back in her pocket. “I’ll be on my way, then.”
Already, they had been away for a year longer than expected. It would be so nice to get back, to pick up the horsemanship program again and get on with life. Maeve smiled to herself, watching Todd introduce their son to the new guitar.
Their dreams were all coming back together, only better. She could see future Caleb as a boy learning to play the guitar and so many other things. Her mind flooded with imaginings: Caleb running through sprinklers in front of the house at Allen Haven, playing baseball at the Dehesa school field, and the three of them riding the trails together on Sundays.
Soon.
Next
Part 3 | A Storm Blowing from Paradise
2 - Dedication
Behind-the-Scenes Extra
I was going to tell you about the struggle to write this chapter, but you know what? It got written, it just took some extra walking. As long as the neighborhood hawks don’t gang up and snatch me into the sky and drop me on a rock somewhere to pull out my entrails, I’m going to get you a chapter every week.
I’ve made some small updates to the paid subscription, nothing new in practice, but I thought everyone should know. Paid subscribers are getting the updated eBook version in their email after I complete each part, so that they can read outside of Substack and catch up if they are behind. There will be other benefits for paid subscribers, but this is the current perk.
This takes nothing away from the free subscription, which will still include everything on the site for now. Once I complete this novel, free subscribers will have a month to catch up. After that, I do plan to archive the novel draft, so that I can concentrate on editing the final version and not worry that it is not exactly the same as this draft you are reading.
I’m also toying with the idea of including another section that you readers could choose to opt out of. This extra section would house geeky writer interviews and possibly book reviews and reviews of other Substack fiction. I think about these things when the chapter writing is going smoothly, but I am wary to bite off more than I can chew. I also don’t want you to see too many emails from me that are not new chapters. That said, this is on the drawing board only for now.
As always, thank you so much for reading!
Don’t forget the ‘likes’, ‘shares’, and ‘comments’ —they make me smile!
A guitar strap is such a sweet gift. I can see that being simply precious!