The Dentist

Neither set of parents was overly excited, but at least they agreed to accept the situation. Neither set was in the least interested in meeting the other.

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Eugenie was indeed just a little over two months along. We back dated and sure enough the afternoon wedding reception was pretty close to being on target.

The first three months we spent together was interesting to say the least. She had her 'bloods', and I had a couple little sweeties too. An informal arrangement was worked out. All calls from partners came only over our cell phones. My land line was reserved for telemarketers, official business, and for parents.

I'd been dating a tall blond named Melanie. She had no interest in marriage, and her discovery of my 'arrangement' didn't bother her in the least. Even better, since I went to her house Eugenie never had to meet her.

On the other hand Eugenie had been dating two black guys; one was a Kenyan named Ken, go figure, and the other was an African-American, a tall fellow, no I'll say gigantic fellow named Muhammad El. Ken was a nice guy, and as soon as we started talking I knew I wouldn't mind sharing my 'business associate' with him. Muhammad El was a different story. The first time he showed up at my, now our, apartment I made the mistake of just calling him Muhammad. He threw a fit; he went on and on about his stolen African identity and a lot of other shit I neither cared about nor understood. Hell, I was ethnically Scottish; what'd I do? My guess was he was trying to 'put me in my place'. Well whatever.

Things were crusty around the apartment for a while. I was ceaselessly reprimanded about things like skid marks, leaving the toilet seat up, leaving lights on, not putting my toothbrush away, leaving dishes around the place, and other senseless nonsense. I got on her a little about the morning puking, and the inconvenient medical and Lamaze appointments. I guess I was a little cruel. I did go with her when she needed to see a doctor.

I couldn't say exactly when things started to change, but change they did. Maybe it was the first time I heard the baby's heartbeat? Damn, we'd done the amniotic fluid. That was my baby in there! We both saw the baby for the first time together when they did some kind of sonogram. I was beside her when they did it. Eugenie took and held my hand while she watched the screen. I remember how her hand felt soft and small. I recall covering her hand with mine. She had tiny little hands. Actually she was a very small person; certainly a woman, but small in stature like a child.

Sleeping arrangements had been a little ponderous. I'd rented a two bedroom apartment so, though we shared a bathroom, we each had some privacy. Those first months were celibate. I mean I had Melanie, and Eugenie had Ken and Muhammad El, so we kept clear of each other. That changed.

The first evening after that sonogram and after dinner Eugenie started to behave differently. Her 'matter of fact' tonality changed. She became sweeter, her voice softened. I noticed the flannel shirts disappeared, and different things, feminine things, started appearing late in the evenings. She was still working all day, but after the sonogram she started helping me grade papers. She did the general math class.

Then it happened. One night, I suppose it was about two weeks after the sonogram just before she retreated into her bedroom she stopped and, while I was watching something stupid on TV, she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I could smell her perfume; it had a soft kind of subtle aroma.

I didn't know what I was doing. She was leaning over me with this cute little baby doll nightie on. I mean it was all ribbons and lace with these short sleeves, little capped shoulders, white buttons up the front, and it was made of this snow white translucent cotton. Her hair was pulled up and she had ribbons in it. She was so pretty. I'd been told pregnant women had a glow about them. She was glowing that night. She had a tummy, but she wasn't fat.

I did a stupid thing. I pulled her down on my lap. We kissed. It was the first real kiss we'd shared since that afternoon back in June at the reception. Her lips were soft and dry. Her whole body felt warm. The next thing I knew I was carrying her into my bedroom. She had her hands around the back of my neck. She was looking all doe eyed, vulnerable, and just beautiful. It was a Wednesday night.

We lay in my bed, side by side. We kissed and touched, and well...we both called in sick from work the next morning.

That next morning we stayed in bed until late. I bet I plowed that field a half dozen times, and when I finished she slid down, rested her head on my thigh and started fiddling with me until she got me up again. That last time she made me lie still while she first kissed and then took me in her mouth. She had the softest lips.

I watched her. She never looked up at me, but the expression on her face was like she'd found a pot of gold. She was like how I remembered my sister when she was a little girl with her teddy bear; my Johnson was Eugenie's teddy bear. We spent the whole day just relaxing and kind of languidly lying around. Neither of us said much.

Friday we both went to work like normal, but Friday night I got some more surprises. Eugenie told me she'd turned in her notice. Starting Monday she'd be home all day. That wasn't the big thing though.

After Eugenie told me she'd taken off till after the baby came she added a little more, "Chase I called Ken and Muhammad El today."

I was surprised since we seldom talked about our outside interests, "Really," I said.

"Yes, I broke things off. I want to stay home and be with you."

I was sort of stunned, "Gosh, OK."

She asked, "You going to keep seeing that Melanie?"

I was done for. All my big plans, all the prenuptial stuff, the business deal, the imminent separation and divorce was about to go right out the window. I answered, "We have a date for tomorrow night. I'll see her and break things off then."

That's when Eugenie finished me off, "Chase I think I've fallen in love with you."

I sighed, "Yeah, I guess that goes both ways."

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The reception had been the first Saturday in June. Eugenie and I had worked out our arrangement and done the courthouse right after Labor Day. The night I carried her into my bedroom had been the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. We talked it over, and decided to bring our parents up to date on the day before Christmas Eve. We set it up to have dinner at our apartment. They all came; my parents, her parents, my brother and sister. They'd all known this marriage wasn't intended to last; we told them our plans had changed. I don't think anyone believed us. They should have.

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We were going to make a go of it. Little Maia Aliya McClendon showed up in March. Eugenie and I agreed we'd use French names for any girls and Scottish names if we had any boys. Eugenie assured me we'd only have girls. When I asked her how she knew she explained that the more sex we had the fewer male sperm there were, and she intended to keep my male sperm count way down.

She must have known what she was talking about because Lea Marie appeared just two years later. Then after Sophie Capucine arrived the next year we agreed three misses was enough. Eugenie had her tubes tied. I told her I'd get the snip, but she wouldn't hear it. She was scared; she said if she died I might need to remarry, and she didn't want me shooting blanks for any future wives.

So we made three kids. We were a real family. We scrimped and saved. We cut coupons. We watched for all the sales, and we shopped Walmart. I got my department head's promotion, and two years later I was promoted to administrative assistant.

It took all we had, but we found a house with four bedrooms; it was a split foyer 'fixer upper' surrounded by three acres of weeds. I bought a second hand riding mower, an inexpensive push mower, and a weed whacker. Eugenie bought landscaping ties, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hostas, flox, fica, and a dozen other different kinds of flowers I'd never heard of. We went to auctions. We visited furniture warehouses and filled the house with the best we could afford. We traded in Eugenie's Toyota and bought a used mini-van. I bought a newer second hand Malibu. We were on our way!

I was the happiest I'd ever been in my whole life, and I knew Eugenie was too. There wasn't any money, but believe me there was a hell of a lot of love.

Life went on. The kids got older. My brother and sister both got married. My dad died. Then Eugenie's dad died. Our mom's grew closer. Then when Sophie turned seven Eugenie said it was time she went back to work.

We talked it over. She'd kept her credentials up to date, and thanks to the wonders of the Internet she'd even taken a few extra law courses. We agreed, though our girls were most likely the smartest kids in the county, it wouldn't hurt to start packing some money away for college. We decided that whatever Eugenie made would be used to start three college funds, and then we'd set a little more aside for those long deferred trips to places like Disney World.

Look, we were happy! Eugenie and I had three beautiful little girls. I'd been brought up a Presbyterian, but Eugenie was a devout Catholic. I became a Catholic, a damn good one too. I took classes. I got reacquainted with God. Our girls all did all the things good Catholic girls were supposed to do. I was a public school teacher, but we sent our girls to the Catholic school. Eugenie and her mom wouldn't take no for an answer on that, and by then whatever Eugenie wanted Eugenie got. Every morning before I left for work I kissed my four girls goodbye. I have to admit the children looked terrific in those precious schoolgirl uniforms, and every time we went to school meetings the teachers and the sisters just gushed.

Eugenie scouted around. Returning to her old job down in the old city over forty miles away was out of the question. Our county had a pretty populace county seat. There were law firms there. Eugenie found one. She went for an interview and came back with good news. She was able to set her own hours. She'd be able to get our kids off, and leave work early so she could be free in time to pick them up.

There was only one down side to the deal. Her new office had sort of an unwritten policy that everyone would stop off at the local watering hole for a brief nightcap and get together Friday's after work. According to Eugenie the whole thing wouldn't keep her out much later than 6:00 or 6:30 at the latest. Since I got off work at 2:30 I said I could pick up the girls at 3:30 their normal dismissal time. It all made sense.

Eugenie got started in October, and all that fall right through the winter things went just as planned. Oh every now and then she'd get home of a Friday night close to 7:00, but there were some Fridays she got home before 5:00, and on some Fridays she missed the happy hour altogether. Every once in a while one of her bosses asked her to stay for a late settlement or something, but that happened rarely.

Our first real crisis occurred in April of that school year. Maia had just turned twelve and she started to act overtired all the time. We took her to the doctor, he said it was nothing, but she didn't improve. We decided to by-pass our family doctor and went to a specialist.

What's a parent's worst nightmare? Yes. Maia had leukemia. Our whole world came crashing down around us. Our daughter, our oldest girl, the girl who'd brought us together could die. I vaguely remembered the agreement Eugenie and I had worked out what thirteen years before. Now it was my time. I stepped up. First they had to use all kinds of chemicals and shit I never heard of to clear out the cancerous material. Then I took over. They jammed in the needle and pulled out the marrow, the good marrow that would save my daughter's life.

Guess what? It did. It was a long hard pull, but by the next Christmas it looked like our girl was going to be all right. Were we ever wrong? The God damned cancer came back. That meant back to the chemicals, the treatments, the loss of hair again, the suffering, and the tears at night. The doctors explained it was always harder the second go round. What did we care? This was our girl! We battled through it a second time. This time it worked. Our Maia was really cured. The cancer was defeated! We were saved!

There was only one small minor detail. Hospitals are rife with bacterial and viral materials. One them is something called MRSA. This MRSA is a bastard. Thank god it wasn't Maia who got it; it was me! Man I was down for the count. The experts explained that since I'd given up my marrow my immune system was undermined, and that was what made me susceptible. As long as Maia was safe I didn't care. They went to work on me. I'd never heard of so many different kinds of antibiotics.

I had enough sick days to be able to miss a whole year's work without loss of pay if I needed to so that wasn't a problem. I lost the sick time, but my salary kept coming in untouched. The problem was when I would be well enough to go back there was no guarantee I'd be back at my old school.

So I was out. Maia was out, and our other two girls were in a state of perpetual terror. My mom, being a widow and living alone moved in with us. My mom had become increasingly feeble and less secure. I thought she might be on the front end of Alzheimer's. She was almost as big a burden as the girls.

Eugenie was able to keep her job, and now with my mom at our home we believed Eugenie would be able to work full time. There was a problem with that. Eugenie was gone all the time, but Lea and Sophie, scared shitless, became like two clinging vines around their mom whenever she was home. I was either asleep, a grumpy bastard or at the hospital. Maia was home but tired, whiny, and in need of almost constant attention. Then there was Lea and Sophie; they followed their mom around the house day and night.

These were children, fragile sensitive little girls; nightmares didn't just occasionally happen they became a commonplace, and there was only one set of hands, one set of breasts that could calm our girls' fears. Poor Eugenie; she worked all day long only to come home and work all night long too. Eugenie had her hands full; it wasn't just the attention and mom's kisses she had to dole out, it was her home cooking, her special iced tea, her special lasagna or spaghetti, or her uniquely special microwaved hot dogs that mattered.

Thank God the school system's health care was there. We had some prescription costs, but the big bills flew right over our heads. We saw them of course. Talk about scary!

All told it took nearly two years to get back on track. I lost a lot of time, and ended up at a school close to thirty miles away. It was a good school, all our county schools are good, but it put a crimp on other things. Maia missed a lot of time and ended up being held back a whole year. There wasn't anything we could do about that. Hell we were all just glad we were all still together.

I'll say one thing; it took a toll on Eugenie. She'd aged in those two years. How she did it I'll never know, but she was always there for us. I mean always, but she was always so weary.

Well we were off and on our way again. Maia was thirteen nearly fourteen, Lea almost eleven, and Sophie was nine. I had my old job back, at a different place, but I could make new friends and build a new reputation. My mom was with us during the day to help out with the kids, and Eugenie had become an important fixture at her law firm. Things were good again. At least they were for a while.

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They tell me a man can sense it; sense it when something's not right with his wife. I couldn't put my finger on it, but long about the end of fall, sometime after Thanksgiving of our fourteenth year of marriage I began to feel, feel in my bones, something just wasn't quite right.

Eugenie was her old self in most ways, but there seemed to be other things. For one the Friday night good time hour at her work was running a little later than it used to. Now instead of the 6:00-6:30 get home it was closer to 7:00-7:30 and sometimes even an 8:00 get home. There were more late afternoon and evenings during the regular week.

Wednesday's seemed to be a biggie at her office. When I asked her about it she blew me off. She said the firm was growing with the county, and they needed her more and more for late afternoon and evening settlements.

I noticed a modest but real change in her wardrobe. The heels were a little higher, the hems a little shorter, the makeup a little heavier, and the blouses seemed just a tad more translucent. I especially noticed she spent more time getting ready for work on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I guess none of that seriously bothered me but sometime around Christmas her tone, her tone toward the children, but particularly toward me got rougher. Something was wrong.

Each of our work places had their Christmas parties. Ours, being a school, was usually right after work. They usually only lasted an hour or two since there were always several mothers who had to get home to their families. Eugenie's office parties were always bigger affairs, and this year's party was no exception. Her bosses had set it up at the country club.

Eugenie and I both belonged to a club, but it was mostly a sports club. They had a pool, a gym, tennis and squash courts, and a small dance area with a nonalcoholic bar. The country club Eugenie's bosses belonged to was a more exclusive affair. It had a full restaurant that was open to the public year round. I enjoyed eating there, and though the food was passably good the prices were astronomical. They had a casual dining area downstairs, a large dance area, a huge what I'd call a settlement or social room with several dozen couches and easy chairs, and of course on certain nights there was an open bar.

They'd set the party up for a Friday night two weeks before Christmas. Other club members would be there, but a large section of tables was set aside for her law firm. I always enjoyed her firm's parties. I liked the people. Some of the older lawyers were there more in an advisory capacity, and their wives were some of the most interesting and entertaining people I'd ever met. I was looking forward to going.

The night of the big party came. I slipped into my dark grey pinstriped suit. Eugenie had bought a new black dress that to me was the cat's meow. Her hair was up, her makeup was perfect, and she was terrific! We got there right on time and settled in. Eugenie and I got to sit near the Capezios; this was an older couple. I especially like Bernice Capezio. She was a regular at our church, and just someone people liked to be around.

Between the food, the dancing, and the conviviality I had a terrific time. Well I had a terrific time for the most part. Like I said there were other club members there in addition to the law firm. I wouldn't say the place was packed, but it was well attended. There was one man there I noticed. He was one of the town's dentists, or dental surgeon as I heard he liked to be referred to.

I was thirty-nine. I guessed the dentist was a maybe seven or eight years older. I knew he owned one of the big mansions north of town. I'd heard he'd been married a couple times but had no children. I had to admit he was an eye catching fellow. He was easily six maybe seven inches taller than me. He had a football players build, and that shock of blond hair and those icy blue eyes I'm sure had landed him more than his share of babes in his younger days.

My wife was something of an unofficial office hostess so it was partly her responsibility to circulate and make sure everybody was having a good time. As the night wore on I spent more time with Mrs. Capezio just talking about this and that. My wife was gone most of the time, but she'd stop back over every once in an awhile to check up on things.