Reciprocal Factoring

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, please pray for me," Annie prayed and shut off the taps.

William was attempting to pull himself up over the rails of his crib. He gave his mother a cheeky smile when she playfully fussed at him.

"You're getting too big too fast," Annie told him, smoothing down the tuft of hair that stuck up.

In the morning, Annie had a small epiphany. Before she could talk herself out of it, she called Miss Shirley.

"Annie, hi, how's Faye doing?" Shirley asked. "William okay?"

"Hi Miss Shirley, hope I'm not calling too early," Annie said, now realizing it was six forty eight in the morning.

"No, no, sitting here, reading the newspaper; oh my God, I swear the world's gone mad," Shirley said. "John's got the right idea. He reads the sports, then the funnies, and then the stock market and then leaves the room."

"Miss Shirley, tell Michael he needs to be at nine fifteen Mass, St. Richard's," Annie said quickly before she lost her nerve, before Shirley Priestly could say anything else.

"I sure will," Shirley promised.

Annie ended the call and got William out of his crib. She fed him his breakfast, cleaned him up, then dressed him for church.

"Now, try to be a good boy while I get ready, okay?" Annie cooed, putting him into his playpen.

"Hey, Willie, be as bad as you can," Henry said.

"Daddy, why you telling him that?" Annie laughed.

"One thing I learned about kids, learned this from you, tell them one thing, they'll do the other, every time," Henry smiled.

"Oh, whatever," Annie said, returning to the kitchen to fix herself a bowl of oatmeal.

"Yeah, I know you'd tell me stay away from Michael, he doesn't have any rights to see his boy," Annie thought as the microwave counted down.

The truth was, caring for Faye was wearing Henry and Annie to frazzles. They were steadily becoming exhausted. And William was becoming more and more active.

Annie was surprised, and disheartened by the number of nondescript compact cars in the parking lot of St. Richard's Cathedral. She couldn't remember the color of Michael's car as it had pulled out of the Newhart's parking lot. She found a parking spot and pulled in.

Praying silently, Annie got William out of the car and lugged child and diaper bag to the front doors of the church. She smiled and nodded to the people that greeted her.

He was easy to see and Annie's heart again gave a little lurch. Michael was Catholic, had completed the rites of Communion, Reconciliation, Annie could remember when it had been called Confession, and Michael had confirmed his faith. They'd also performed the rite of Holy Matrimony in this very church. But Michael looked out of place, lost as he sat, fidgeting.

"Hey," Annie said quietly as she walked up to him.

"Hey!" Michael said, truly surprised. "I uh, I'm supposed to be meeting my mom here."

"No. you're supposed to be meeting me here," Annie said, setting her jaw firmly against the warring, competing voices of her father and her mother in her head. "Come on; we're going to the cry room."

"I, oh, okay," Michael said and got to his feet.

"You're in church," Michael," Annie said before she could stop herself. "You're not supposed to wear shorts in church anymore."

"Oh. I uh, last time I went, it was all right," Michael said, chastened.

"Well, we're going to be in the cry room; no one will see you," Annie conceded, leading him to the mirrored wall.

"Hey, Annie, how's it going?" Jason Breaux said, rocking J.J. on his knee as his three year old daughter Joan Angel Breaux talked with her doll next to him.

"This Jack? You Jack?" Michael demanded, fists clenched.

"This is not Jack. This is Jason," Annie said forcefully. "You going to behave like a caveman? Then you can just leave. Right now. You hear?"

"Sorry," Michael said, chastened again.

"How's Bailey?" Annie asked, giving the scrawny young man a reassuring smile.

"Mad at me," Jason smiled.

"So what's new?" Annie smiled.

"Sit down," Annie ordered Michael, taking a small pew.

When Michael did sit, Annie handed William to him. Then she pulled the kneeler down and knelt to pray.

"Oh my sweet Jesus, please tell me I'm doing the right thing," Annie fervently prayed.

"This Jack, he come here?" Michael asked when Annie sat back.

"He does not," Annie hastened to say; afraid that Michael would become violet toward anyone he decided was the unknown Jack.

"But, you don't want to be friends with Jason anyway," Annie said, speaking loud enough for Jason to hear. "He's a Saints fan."

"He's a what?" Michael said, cringing in horror.

"Hey Annie? Blow it out your ears," Jason laughed, nudging his daughter. "Tell Miss Annie the Saints are the bomb."

"Touchdown Saints!" Joan agreed.

For now, William was being quiet as Michael held him. Annie fished some toys out of the depths of the diaper bag and smiled as Michael amused William with William's Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear.

Small speakers carried the voice of the deacon as he read off some announcements. The Children's' Christmas Mass would be in seven days from today; the eleven o'clock Mass. There would be no six pm Mass on Christmas Day. The St. Richard's Choir would be performing at the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, the seven am Mass and the nine fifteen Mass and the eleven am Mass on Christmas Day.

Annie watched Michael out of the corner of her eye as the Mass proceeded. She almost giggled; he was mirroring her actions; obviously, it had been a while since he'd been inside of a church.

William became fussy; an hour was a long time for an eight month old boy. Annie found a juice bottle and Michael took it and held his son while William greedily drank his juice.

"Wow, boy, leave the pattern on that bottle, huh?" Michael said.

"Now offer one another a sign of Christ's peace," the deacon intoned.

Michael was unsure of what to do. Annie leaned up and gave him a soft peck on the cheek. Then she kissed her son on the top of his head. She waved to Jason and the two mothers in the small room.

"Peace be..." Michael tried to say then looked away from Annie.

"The Mass is ended, go forth to love and serve the Lord," the priest intoned.

"Thanks be to God," Annie said and Michael echoed her words.

"Oh, uh, that test; how long that takes?" Michael asked as Annie prepared to leave the small room.

"Hmm? I don't know. Couple weeks, I guess. Michael, it's Christmas, you know? I mean, everyone's on vacation right now," Annie said flippantly and left the room, hugging William to her chest.

"Yes, God, I know, I know," Annie muttered to herself as she hurried out of the church.

"Hey, I uh, you uh, you want to go to Mother's Finest? For brunch?" Michael asked, catching up to Annie.

"Oh, no, no thanks," Annie said. "Maybe some other time."

"I uh, we can talk?" Michael asked, hopeful.

"No, Michael. I don't think that'd be a good idea," Annie said, almost angrily.

"Oh. Okay. I uh, bye William. Bye bye. Love you," Michael said, turning away.

"God, you are really killing me now," Annie said when she got behind the wheel of her mother's car. "You hear? You are really killing me."

'Did he come?' Shirley Priestly had texted.

'Yes ma'am,' Annie responded, then thought about it for a moment. 'When you learn to text?'

'John got me IPhone for birthday' Shirley responded, with an emoji of a birthday cake and a red heart emoji.

'Kewl' Annie responded.

"Oh! That's it!" Annie whooped and started her car.

"So?" Henry angrily demanded when Annie and William bustled into the house. "Was the little bastard there?"

"Yes, yes, but wait," Annie said, bustling to her mother's room. "Mom, Mom, I got this idea."

Faye's right arm was fairly weak, but she still had some motor skills. Annie pressed her IPhone into Faye's hand and highlighted the screen. Henry slapped his forehead as Annie taught her mother the simple function of texting.

"God damn and fuck, that is just, why the hell didn't I think of that?" Henry said.

"Maybe because you don't know how to text either," Annie laughed as Faye typed out 'I love you' and then 'Tell Potty mouth to go wash his mouth with soap.'

Henry left the house. Forty nine minutes later, he returned with two brand new IPhones. He joyously kissed his daughter and then plugged Faye's brand new phone in to charge.

"All right, this is my phone number," Henry said, showing Annie the phone number written on the inside lid of the box his phone had come in.

"Dad, you just..." Annie said and programmed her number and her mother's new number into his phone.

"Three for Dad," Annie showed her mother. "Unless you want four for Horrible, oops, I mean, Henry."

"Dad is good," Faye gurgled, then typed out. 'What are you?'

"What you think? Two for Annie, or nine for Wonderful?" Annie asked.

'Seven for perfect,' Faye texted, devilish smile on her face. 'No, that mine. Two for Annie.'

"Now, that little mother fucker there?" Henry asked as Faye lay against her pillows to nap.

"Yes, he was. Dad, I know, I know what he did was, it was horrible," Annie said quietly as they left the bedroom.

"It was unforgiveable," Henry snarled as he shut the door.

"No," Annie snapped, surprising her father. "Dad, it was unforgettable. I will never ever forget how devastated I was when that Roger showed us those horrible pictures. I, I, my heart nearly stopped beating."

"And you let that son of a bitch near my grandson?" Henry screamed, enraged.

"He is William's father, Dad," Annie sobbed out. "Dad, he broke my heart, Jesus! He ripped my heart right out of me. But he is still William's father."

'You not a saint,' Henry's new phone buzzed as Faye texted him.

"Enough of that," Henry shouted to the closed bedroom door.

'You not a saint' Faye repeated. 'God sees you.'

"Great idea, Honey," Henry complained. "Give her a way to yell at me."

"Well, you know what? It was because I let that little bastard around my son that I got that idea," Annie said. "Daddy, it's unforgettable, but it is not unforgiveable. It's not. I will never ever forget what he did, what he did to me. But I need to forgive him for being weak, for being a man."

"No man does that kind of thing to his wife," Henry snarled, his face red with rage.

'Oh really?' Faye texted.

"Enough, Faye, enough," Henry shouted at his wife's bedroom door.

"Fine, I will forgive him for being a little boy, okay?" Annie said.

'They all little boys,' Faye sent to Annie's phone. 'Ask Dad about Trudy.'

"Trudy?" Annie asked aloud, reading her screen.

"Give me that phone," Henry yelled, marching to the door of his wife's bedroom. "Give me that God damned phone. Now."

At five o'clock, a quiet Henry knocked on his daughter's door. Annie gave a pensive smile as Henry looked around at her bedroom then shook his graying head.

"Don't tell your mother, but I ordered us an extra-large meazstravaganza," Henry whispered, even though Faye's bedroom was downstairs.

"Oh boy," Annie smiled. "Need me to go pick it up?"

"Don't bring it in; we'll eat it on the patio," Henry smiled.

They were into the second piece of the salt and fat and carbohydrate laden pizza when Henry said, "Your mother, we, she had two miscarriages. We, we'd pretty much given up; I mean, God, Faye, she was thirty nine, so... Then, somehow, she got pregnant with you, oh God, I was in St. Richard's damned near every day, praying, lighting candles; Father James said I was going run them out of candles all together."

Annie smiled; she'd heard this story before. She swallowed then put the crust into the box before grabbing her third slice.

"Uh, left something there," Henry teased.

"The bones," Annie said, reverting to her habit of calling the crust the bones. "You don't eat pizza bones."

Watch," Henry said, grabbing her two crusts and eating them.

"Whatever," Annie said.

"Anyway, five, six months of bed rest, you were still almost two months premature," Henry said quietly as he wrestled a third slice for himself. "And right after, she, your mom had that infection, oh God, it really looked like I was going to lose both of y'all."

Annie looked away from the tears in her father's eyes. She, of course didn't remember this time period; she'd been an infant. But she'd heard the story so many times; wife and daughter both sick in the hospital, yet he had a business to run, payroll to meet, bills to pay.

"Trudy Williams was a secretary; have to call them administrative assistants nowadays," Henry went on. "I'm sitting in my office, lost, I mean, just absolutely lost."

Annie again put her crust into the box.

"She comes into my office, sees me sitting there, crying my ass off," Henry said, pointing to Annie's crust. "At first, it's just this shoulder rub. Next thing I know, she's got the door locked, and is sitting on my lap; we're both naked."

"What?" Annie nearly shrieked.

"Hey, I'm not proud of it," Henry said.

"No, no, hold on," Annie protested. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You don't, you don't go from shoulder rub to naked just like that. And you both were naked? You both were naked?"

"The shoulder rub felt good," Henry mumbled. "I mean, shit, Faye, we, we couldn't, she didn't want to, we couldn't risk losing you and Trudy, I mean, you have to understand. She had..."

"She had really big tits," Annie guessed.

"Anyway," Henry said, gnawing on Annie's discarded crust. "It went on; Faye, I don't know how she found out, but, for a while there, it really looked like we were done."

Annie slowly ate a fourth piece of the pizza. She didn't know what she was feeling, what she was thinking. It all seemed jumbled in her mind.

"How, Mom did forgive you, how did she do it?" Annie asked after a long moment.

"You'd have to ask her," Henry said heavily. "God knows, it'd been her? There is no way in Heaven or Hell I would have ever taken her back."

"But, okay, I, God, I just don't understand. Mom's in the hospital, I'm in the hospital, and you go off and screw some tramp?"" Annie asked.

"Hey, she wasn't..." Henry denied.

"Did she know you were a married man? And a father?" Annie demanded, throwing the fourth crust into the box.

"Well, yeah, of course she..." Henry said.

"And she knowingly had sex with a married man and father? That makes her a tramp," Annie said decidedly.

'How did you forgive Dad?' Annie texted her mother.

'Think I don't know you have pizza?' was Faye's response.

'Don't change the subject' Annie replied.

'Prayer. And I had baby to think about' Faye responded.

'Did you forgive him?' Annie asked.

"You can have the rest of the pizza," Henry said, getting to his feet.

"Thanks," Annie said.

'Hard but I did forgive him. He was weak. We were not in bed for long time. He was weak' Faye texted.

Annie smiled when her mother's next message came across, 'I like text.'

'I like text too' Annie agreed. 'Good to have my mom back.'

'Yes!' Faye responded.

"Look, I didn't set out to have an affair," Henry said, marching back outside and grabbing the second to last piece of the pizza. "All right? I didn't set out to have sex with that woman. But Michael..."

"Didn't try too hard to stop it either, did you?" Annie demanded. "I mean, in your own words, shoulder rub and next thing you know, you're naked?"

"But what that little mother fucker done? He deliberately set out to have sex with other women. Deep sea fishing, my ass. He deliberately went down there to screw some whores. Only reason we found out shit about it was that Rodney, Robbie, whatever his name was come back and told us," Henry snapped, angrily stuffing the pizza slice into his mouth.

"Was it just that one time?" Annie asked.

"Michael? Shit, hell if I know," Henry snapped.

"No, Dad, you and Trudy; was it that one time? In your office?" Annie asked, grabbing the last piece of the pizza before Henry could grab it.

"I uh, Trudy, we uh," Henry stammered.

"So. No. It wasn't just shoulder rub and then we're naked," Annie deduced.

"But the main thing is, I didn't set out to do it," Henry declared.

"Dad, come on," Annie said. "Excuses, excuses, excuses. Okay, maybe the first time, she caught you at a really bad time. But after that?"

Annie threw the crust into the box, then left the back yard through the gate. She put the pizza box into the garbage can and had to smile. How many pizzas were snuck into houses up and down their street? How many boxes were thrust into the garbage cans, trying to hide the evidence? She knew of three women on this block alone that claimed they were on the Keto diet, but Annie was willing to bet they were sneaking pizzas past their husbands and boyfriend. The family on the corner lived the vegetarian lifestyle, until Dr. Lizzy Dachmer was in surgery. Then the oldest daughter would drive to Bully Burgers and the five kids wolfed down hamburgers.

'I smell pizza on your breath' Faye texted.

"What? Me? You're just imagining that," Annie said with a straight face.

'Annette Elizabeth Flynn' Faye laboriously texted.

"Harriet Faye Weisnek Flynn," Annie responded, smiling maliciously.

Faye shot her daughter a half-face smile. Annie giggled. Faye typed out 'No fair.'

"Seriously, Mom, how'd you do it?" Annie asked, sitting on her mother's bed.

"Not easy. Prayer. Went to Father James for counciling' Faye tested, then frowned.

'Not right' Faye texted.

"Counseling; I got it, Mom," Annie said. "But you did forgive him?"

'Not easy' Faye repeated. 'Three years every time he kiss me, I feel sick.'

"Okay," Annie said, leaving her mother's room.

"Hi Miss Shirley," Annie said when Shirley Priestly answered her phone.

"Michael says William's really getting to be a big boy," Shirley said, choking on her words. "He, he says he's really..."

"Miss Shirley, you want to see him?" Annie asked.

"Oh, oh my God yes!" Shirley enthused. "I, when? Where?"

"How 'bout I bring him by tomorrow night? Michael; what time does he usually get off work?" Annie said, feeling tears leaking from her eyes at Miss Shirley's elation.

"I don't know; they, Michael and Matthew live, they don't come over anymore," Shirley faltered.

"Well, let him know we'll be by, what time you want us there?" Annie asked.

"Dinner? I, is that, you used to love that tamale pie Rosa would make; I can have her make that," Shirley excitedly offered.

"Oh, I haven't had, yes, I would love that," Annie agreed.

Annie nodded in satisfaction as she ended the call. After Michael's callus betrayal, Annie had taken her anger out on Michael, and on Michael's family. She knew neither John nor Shirley had approved of Michael or Matthew's actions, but as their parents, they suffered the fallout.

"Are you, you are joking, right?" Henry snarled when Annie told her parents about her phone call and about her plans for dinner the following evening.

"William has two sets of grandparents," Annie said firmly. "You, and them."

"But, but, HE might be there," Henry said.

"He might be. Daddy, what, what if Mom had said you couldn't see me?" Annie asked. "Or Pops or Me-maw? What if she'd kept them away from me?"

'You deserved it' Faye agreed.

"Hush," Henry ordered his wife.

'Christmas is what? Six days away?" Annie reminded her father. "Daddy, William has every right to have his grandparents be a part of his life. It's not right, just because their son's a big butt hole."

"I don't like it one God damned bit," Henry grumbled.

'No one says you have to like it' Faye tapped out.

To Annie's cell phone, Faye tapped out, 'I love text.'

"Me too," Annie smiled and Faye gave her half-face smile.

In the morning, Henry again repeated his displeasure with Annie's plans. Annie softly kissed his cheek and reminded him, this wasn't about him. It wasn't even about her. It was about what was best for William.