The Consequences of Two Phone Calls

I don't know what led me to the answer I gave, unless it was the example of my father, who'd provided so much help and support over the years. I wanted to be the man he was, not the one that had raised Bridget. I looked at her and said, "You are using my spare bedroom. If you'd like, you can stay there until Dick and Joyce return or until you have located a place to live for work. Maggie will be home for supper this evening and you can meet her then. I'll not promise what her response to you will be. She's wondered why her mother's family doesn't love her the way my family does and she may be quite angry at you. Or she may welcome the opportunity to reconnect. You'll have to be prepared for either or both responses."

CHAPTER FIVE

When we arrived at the house, I parked the car, pulled the suitcases from the trunk and walked Moira to the guest bedroom. The sheets on the guest bed were clean and I took towels and a washcloth out of the linen closet for her. I showed her the bathroom, which was across the hall from Maggie's bedroom and told her that she and Maggie would be sharing. My bedroom at the end of the hall had its own bathroom. I told her that I had to mow the lawn and then go grocery shopping, but she was free to explore the refrigerator, enjoy a nap or simply relax on the sofa. Maggie would be home after 4:00 P.M. but I'd be home well before that.

I need not have been concerned with Maggie's response to meeting Moira. When she got home from Chloe's she found a stranger sitting in the kitchen watching me prepare dinner. I introduced the two of them to one another, explaining to Maggie that Moira was her mother's sister and she could refer to her as Aunt Moira. They immediately began to talk and it was clear that Maggie's initial response was positive. Within a few minutes, Maggie was taking Moira on a tour of the house and the yard, chattering away all the while. The initial meeting, at least, had gone well. I wasn't sure what further developments might bring.

As it turned out, Dick and Joyce's stay in Pittsburgh was much longer than planned. Brian's wife had some complications after the pregnancy and they ended up staying an additional three weeks, returning home only when Brian's in-laws returned from Europe. By then, Maggie and Moira had bonded and Maggie wanted her to stay. I was reluctant, as I did not think either of our reputations would benefit from sharing a house, even if we were not sharing anything else but my daughter's attention. I agreed to give it a try with the clear understanding that if anyone objected to the arrangement, it would have to end. The three of us settled into a routine and Moira began making the same kind of effort to support Maggie and me that Bridget had made with my parents. We were roommates, not really friends, and there was no physical contact between us except an occasional brushing by each other in my somewhat too small for two persons kitchen.

I gradually warmed up to Moira in the same fashion as my father had warmed to Bridget. She was nearly eight years younger than I was, which made her only ten years older than Maggie. They were more like sisters than aunt and niece. Moira threw herself wholeheartedly into Maggie's life, so much so that I designated her as an alternate contact for Maggie's school and gave her access to Maggie's medical records and authority to take her on doctor's visits. Moira became friends with Sally, started attending Father O'Reilly's church and generally integrated herself into our lives. My father accepted her as part of the family and she had even managed to get my mother to warm to her, a feat worthy of mention.              

With the passage of time, I will admit that having Moira in the house caused some lewd and lascivious thoughts to pass through my mind. She was attractive, petite and had a propensity for wearing t-shirts and shorts or jeans around the house that failed to disguise her obvious assets. In short, she had a great figure and an extremely pleasant personality. There were occasions when my personal provisions for sexual relief were fueled by fantasies of her in my bed. Because she was my sister-in-law, I limited myself to fantasies only. This went on for a year.

The following summer, for the first time since Maggie was born, I planned to take a vacation that actually went somewhere instead of just hanging around the house. Maggie and I had occasionally taken day trips to the Jersey shore, but I had never had the money nor the time for a real vacation until after I graduated and began working for the college. My parents had a small motor home and I intended to borrow it and take two weeks to drive down through Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee, stopping at Civil War battlefields, an amusement park, and the Grand Ole Opry. I also planned to do some hiking and fishing along the way. Maggie was enthusiastic until she asked Moira what she wanted to do on the trip and was told that I had not invited her to come. When I got home from work that afternoon, there was a very angry and determined little girl waiting for me. In no uncertain terms, she told me I was not a nice man because I'd planned a trip without including Aunt Moira. She was, I was informed, part of our family and needed a vacation as much as we did. Families did things together and excluding her was mean and hateful. If Aunt Moira wasn't going, Maggie didn't want to go either.

I'll admit that I didn't realize Maggie and Moira had connected quite so thoroughly. I told Maggie I would talk to Moira but made no promises about whether she would accompany us on our trip. There were plenty of beds in the motor home, but virtually no privacy and I wasn't sure whether Moira was willing to live in what was effectively a rolling one-room efficiency apartment with a man for two weeks.

I pitched the trip carefully to Moira, explaining why I had reservations and what the living conditions for two weeks were going to be. I omitted mentioning Maggie's threat not to go if Moira weren't included, figuring that allowing her to see my child blackmail me concerning her was not going to help her decide and might influence her to say no. I was happy to have her come, I told her, but I thought she might like a bit of time away from her constant diet of us. As I said that, it dawned on me that other than an occasional night out with some of the other nurses at the hospital, she was always with us. Hmmm. Curious. And then I let that thought slip away. Moira asked for some time to see if she could obtain vacation time. When she was told yes, she agreed to accompany us on our trip.

The three of us had a great time. Most nights we camped in private campgrounds, which provided showers and flush toilets, reducing the stress on the motor home's own systems. Two nights were spent in Walmart parking lots. Each night there were several other motor homes parked close by. Apparently, this was a Walmart amenity that I'd been unaware of. Sleeping arrangements were fine. Moira took the bed in the rear of the motor home, I took the bed in the front and Maggie slept in the loft which hung over the cab. We stepped out to allow each other to change. At the end of the trip, we were all a bit tired, very relaxed, and had further bonded as a family.

When we got home, we washed and waxed the motor home and returned it to my parents. We went back to our respective jobs and Maggie started a new school year a few weeks later.

Shortly after Maggie began the new school year, I stopped by the bar for the Friday gathering to catch up on what my hospital buddies were doing. When I arrived, I found them laughing uproariously. I asked what I'd missed and one of them began to tell me about something he'd seen that morning when picking up a patient on one of the wards.

"You remember Doctor Handsy, don't you?" Doctor Handsy was the nickname the hospital staff used for one of the younger doctors who had a propensity for hitting on pretty young female nurses, administrative staff and medical students. He had a hard time keeping his hands to himself, but had gotten away with such behavior repeatedly because his father was head of the hospital's board of trustees and had given huge sums to the hospital. The senior administration was afraid to discipline him or fire him for fear of his father's response. Yes, I remembered Doctor Handsy.

My buddy continued. "There's this cute little nurse that's been working here a bit over a year. She's a slight little thing - red hair, green eyes, real slender. She's one of the Irish nurses they hired in the last international recruiting round." I didn't know the nursing staff anymore, particularly the newer ones, but that sure sounded a lot like Moira. "Anyway," he continued, "old Handsy finally noticed her, or worked his way down his "to do" list to her. I'm not sure which. In any event, he walked up to her at the nurses' station, grabbed her ass and asked her when she was coming over to his place to spend the night. You should have seen her. She got red in face, turned around and slapped him so hard you could hear it at the other end of the ward. Then she said to him, 'If you ever touch me again, I'll have my boyfriend rip off your cock and balls and feed them to you, then gut you like a fish. Now get the hell away from me.' As Handsy slithered away the whole nursing staff on the floor started to clap. I think he finally bit off more than he could chew with that nurse Moira."

When he finished that last sentence, my heart dropped. How many slightly built, redheaded, green-eyed nurses with an Irish accent named Moira could there be in that hospital. My guess was only one. And she had a boyfriend. How was that possible? She was almost never anywhere we weren't. Was this something new? And how would Maggie handle her having an overnight guest or leaving to move in with or marry this guy? How would I handle it? Damn, I thought, this is me discovering I have feelings for her too late, just like her sister.

I was more than a little subdued that evening when I got home, but I didn't say anything. Moira was entitled to live her own life, find love and generally be happy. But why was it a secret?

Maggie must have caught my mood, because she stayed at the dinner table after Moira and I cleared the dishes. When I came back into the room she looked at me and said, "Daddy, when are you going to keep your promise to me?"

"What promise is that, sweety?" I asked.

"You promised to find me a new mommy once you finished school. You've been graduated for over two years and you haven't even been out on a date."

"Well honey," I said, "the world's not full of women looking to marry your daddy. There are lots of more impressive men out there."

"What about Aunt Moira?"

"From what I hear, your Aunt Moira has a boyfriend. At some point I'm sure she and he are going to want to live together and have their own children."

For the first time since her terrible twos, my daughter went into complete meltdown. "I don't want Aunt Moira to leave! I want her to be my mommy! You need to tell her she can't leave. She's part of our family." By this point, Maggie was screaming and Moira came running in to see what was going on. Maggie leaped at Moira, wrapped her arms around her and began repeating over and over again "Please don't leave us. Please don't leave us. Please don't leave us."

Moira looked at me, uncomprehending. "What brought his on?" she asked. I told her Maggie had asked me about finding her a new mommy and then had suggested that Moira should be her new mommy. When I informed her that Moira had a boyfriend and that they would eventually want to have their own family, Maggie had melted down completely.

For the first time since Moira had come to live with us, I saw her well and truly angry. "WHO TOLD YOU I HAD A BOYFRIEND?"

I told her the Doctor Handsy story I'd heard earlier that day, repeating verbatim the threat she had issued to Doctor Handsy as related by my buddy. She colored a bit and then unloaded on me completely. It was the first time since I'd met her that I had ever heard her swear. "You are the most bloody fucking clueless man in the entire universe. How in the world did my sister ever fall in love with you. That boyfriend I was referring to at work today is you, you fucking idiot. I've been falling in love with you since I read Bridget's and your letters. Every woman deserves a man who loves her as much as you loved Bridget. I came here to meet Maggie. I stayed here because I love Maggie and have come to love you. I want to be your wife, the mother of Maggie and however many other children we decide to have. I've been waiting over a year and you haven't done a damn thing. Will you please get off your bloody lazy ass and be my love?" With that, she turned and ran from the room, slamming her bedroom door and leaving Maggie and me looking at each other in utter amazement.

Maggie recovered first. "You better go to her dad. I think you have one chance to fix this and you better not blow it." Sometimes my daughter is way too smart for her age.

I knocked on Moira's door, then opened it. She was lying on the bed with her back to me, hands over her face, crying. I walked over to her, put my hand on her shoulder and began to speak. "Moira", I said. "You are right. I am truly clueless. I didn't recognize how much I loved your sister until the day she died. I didn't recognize I had fallen in love with you until I heard the Doctor Handsy story today and heard you had a boyfriend. My heart dropped when I heard that. I thought I'd lost you. You do deserve to be loved unconditionally. I don't want to be your boyfriend. I want to be your lover, your husband and the father of your children. I want us to grow old together and live to see our great-grandchildren. Will you please forgive me? Will you please say you'll marry me?"

Moira rolled over and looked at me. She held my gaze for a period that seemed eternal but was probably only thirty seconds or so. "Of course I'll marry you, you darling stupid clueless man. Nothing in this whole world could make me happier than to be your wife and the mother of your children."

Back in the hallway, I heard Maggie cheering. "I'm going to have a mommy again and it's the mommy I wanted more than anything." With that stamp of approval, I reached over, took Moira in my arms, and kissed her for the first time since we'd met.

I called my boss the next morning and told him I'd be late. Moira called in, the first time she'd missed a scheduled day since going to work at the hospital. We went down to the local jeweler's and picked out a ring. It had to be resized, but it was ready in a couple of days and Moira let me put it on her finger the moment we picked it up. We told my parents first because they were available. We arranged two international calls, one to Moira's mother, who was clearly excited that we were going to be a couple. The other call went to Aunt Mary, whose kindness and generosity more than a dozen years ago made all this possible.

Father O'Reilly agreed to marry us, even though I still was not a convert. We had a relatively small wedding. Moira's family, my family, plus some of my parents' friends and my bar buddies. Brian was my best man and my brothers were my groomsmen. Maggie was the maid of honor and Moira's sisters were her bridesmaids. It was a vastly different affair than my first wedding. We left Maggie with her grandmother Murphy and her aunts at our house and spent two weeks in Hawaii. We'd agreed to wait until we were married to make love for the first time and I discovered that my new wife had never been with anyone else. Over time, I also discovered that she shared a number of things with her sister, including a number of erogenous zones and a nearly insatiable sexual appetite, even while pregnant.

Our first night together was memorable. I was astonished how much my new wife knew about stimulating her husband and I tried every trick and technique I'd learned from Bridgette as I made love to Moira. Her breasts were so sensitive that she had her first orgasm while I played with them. When I kissed my way down her body to her lower lips, she writhed under me. My first lick of her clit sent her into spasms and she clamped my head so hard between her legs that my ears hurt from the pressure. And she was equally generous in providing me with oral stimulation. By the time I entered her for the first time, we were both sweating, lying in a puddle Moira had generated and breathing so hard you'd have thought we'd run a marathon. We got almost no sleep that night. In the morning, I awoke to find her working to bring me erect so we could begin again. We went through an enormous number of towels during our time in the hotel room and still ended up with wet spots in the bed. I can't imagine what the maids thought when they changed the sheets each day. We saw a lot less of Hawaii than I'd planned, but our time together in bed made up for everything we missed. Besides, we can always go back again later.

I'm pretty sure that our first son was conceived our first night together but we enjoyed a vigorous sex life all through that pregnancy and the two that followed it. It seems that the Murphy family is very fertile. Not being Catholic, once we agreed that three more after Maggie was enough, I had a vasectomy.

We hired an attorney the week we returned from our honeymoon to prepare the adoption papers for Moira's adoption of Maggie. Bridget would always be her first mother, but Moira would be the woman who guided her through her teen years and into adulthood. Maggie was delighted to have a mommy again and she turned out to be a tremendous big sister to her two brothers and little sister as they arrived.

EPILOGUE

I am standing at the doors of the sanctuary next to my beautiful elder daughter, resplendent in her wedding gown. As the organist begins the wedding march, those attending rise and turn to look at her. She slips her hand into the crook of my arm and gives it a slight squeeze. "Are you ready for this, Daddy?"

"I am, sweety."

For a moment I think about how happy and proud Bridget would be at the woman our daughter has become and I'm saddened that she is not here to see what a wonderful treasure she created. We begin to walk down the aisle, on our way to the love of Maggie's life, a man she met as a 14-year-old in high school and who is the only person she ever dated. Father O'Reilly, now Monsignor O'Reilly, is waiting to perform the ceremony. Chloe, her matron of honor is standing there looking at John's best man, his twin brother, her husband and the only man she has ever dated. In the front row sits my wife, still the beautiful slender redhead that she was that day we first met, alongside our three other children. In the row behind them sit my parents, Moira's mother and her sisters' families, and behind them my brothers and their families. Sadly, Aunt Mary is now too frail to make the trip, but we've engaged a videographer to record everything and Moira's mother will be carrying that video to her when she returns from the wedding.

As we reach the front of the church, I place Maggie's hand in John's, then lift her veil and kiss her one more time. Monsignor O'Reilly begins the ceremony. When he asks "Who gives this woman to be married?" I look to my beloved wife, who gives me a slight nod.

In a firm voice, with her blessing and with the express purpose of remembering Maggie's other mother, I answer "Her mothers and I do."

As I say the words, a beam of light shines through the sanctuary window and illuminates the happy couple, Bridget's blessing on the daughter she loved and gave her life to create.