The following morning Paul and Timmy met me for breakfast before leaving us on our own for a day at the zoo. The April weather was mild and I had a ball with this small package of energy as he instructed me on the animals he'd often visited with his father. I tried to feel him out on his thoughts about our marriage but he was either too young to truly understand. He felt the whole business was a cool idea. He was perfectly willing that I become his mother at once. I asked if he remembered his birth mother.
"She was the sick lady who stayed upstairs," he answered, expressing no sense of family or filial attraction. "You're not going to get sick, are you?" he asked. I assured him I was as healthy as a horse but felt sympathy for so limited a memory of the woman who bore him.
While Timmy admitted he wasn't sure what mothers did he liked me far better than Mrs. Doberchek who was convalescing with a relative. Nor did he like her replacement any better. We dined on popcorn and ice cream and his energy exhausted me. It was love at first sight and I knew this endearing little guy and I would be pals forever.
Sunday morning first required a stop for mass at the Catholic Church in Newton. All three members of the North family picked me up and we drove to the St. Bernard's Church together. I'd forgotten Karen told my mother she attended mass weekly. On other occasions a priest visited her house. I too was raised a Catholic but hadn't attended church since before my marriage. At Doug's insistence we married in a court house ceremony, much to the chagrin of my mother. Paul and I both agreed we would have a church wedding.
When we dropped off Timmy and Paul, after the service, Karen asked for time to change and she emerged wearing one of the outfits I'd purchased for her. Thus, began our day together.
"So, are we going to a movie?" Karen asked. There was no sign of the smiles now that her father was absent.
"Maybe later, but first I have a lot to say. Perhaps you have a lot on your mind as well."
"Don't worry. Dad thinks I worship you, and I won't be a jerk and tell him otherwise. You're going to marry my father. That's his business. I always knew he'd marry again, and if it wasn't you it would be someone else. Go ahead and do it. I won't give you a hard time. Just don't expect me to be all kissy-huggy like my brother."