“No, it’s fine. Really,” Julie said.
“No, it’s not, actually. Nick, I love you, but you really upset me. You made me doubt myself, and you were rude to Julie. I couldn’t have done it without her. She made me believe I could do it and I did! It was amazing. I can’t even describe how I feel right now. Like I could do anything.”
Julie had heard lots of mothers say similar things right after giving birth. She continued fussing with her bag, but raised her head when Nick spoke, running his hands through his commercial-perfect hair.
“You’re right, Patty. I was out of line. Julie, I’m sorry I was rude. It was just very difficult for me to hear my sister in so much pain. She didn’t seem to have any last time, and I was concerned.”
“No worries,” Julie said. “I understand completely.”
She congratulated Patty and Brad again, promised to email them copies of their family pictures soon, and left the hospital. She wondered why men as good-looking as Nick were frequently such absolute asses.
Chapter 2
Georgie’s cries pulled Julie from sleep. She heard her sister, Jolene, rustling around in the next room, and then Georgie was quiet again. Julie envied Georgie; at least he slept through the night every once in a while.
Julie was grateful to have rent-free accommodations at her sister’s house, and her overwhelmed sister depended on her help. So the arrangement was good for everyone, but now Julie never got any sleep. She’d moved in right after her sister’s husband had moved out. Five months ago, Jolene’s husband had announced he wanted out of the marriage. A week later, Jolene had discovered she was pregnant with their fifth child. That was when Julie had agreed to move in and help her sister as much as she could.
Now Georgie was happily babbling in the next room. Julie groaned. It was only 4 a.m., but she doubted she was going to get any more sleep at this point so she gave up, turned on the light, took two steps to her desk and opened her laptop. She was staying in what used to be her brother-in-law’s study; it contained a futon, a desk, a very small closet and a dresser, and was decorated only with a few of her own line drawings.
She kept a lot of her belongings in plastic storage containers she slid under the futon. Other stuff she’d left boxed up in Jolene’s basement. She signed in to her student account and began reviewing some chemistry notes.
This was a far cry from her studies in art history, the subject of her first bachelor’s degree. She loved art and honestly never thought she’d have to support herself, because she had been engaged to a man with plenty of family money who was poised to join his father’s investment firm.
Derek had encouraged her to major in art history. He said he liked the idea of having a cultured wife. However, a week after graduation, while Julie was in the depths of wedding planning, Derek had suddenly run off and married a young woman who worked as a cashier at a dollar store. They had their first child a few months later.
Unsurprisingly, neither sister was very enthusiastic about men these days.
Julie had decided her best bet was getting a degree in nursing as fast as she could so she could always support herself. The problem was paying for it. Her grandparents had paid much of the cost of her first degree but for this one she was on her own.
Her grandfather grumbled that she should have known better than to have majored in a silly thing like art history. So while moving in with her sister was saving her a lot of money on living expenses, she hadn’t anticipated she’d be paying for it with lost sleep.
The door to her room opened and her little niece, Tori, slipped in. Julie had learned not to expect any privacy in this house unless she remembered to lock her door. Tori was holding her favorite teddy bear and looking forlorn.
“Mr. Pickles is lonely,” Tori said. She climbed into Julie’s still-warm futon and looked at her expectantly. Julie sighed. Chemistry could wait. She turned off the overhead light, closed her computer and sat down on the edge of the futon. Then she began, very quietly, to sing a lullaby to Tori, gently stroking the child’s curly red hair as she sang. That usually helped get her to go back to sleep. Jolene’s day would be an ordeal if Tori didn’t go back to sleep for a couple of hours.
Before moving in with her sister, she’d had no idea how exhausting small children were. Tori was 4. Georgie was not quite 2. Still sleeping in their bedrooms, presumably, were Lizzie, 6, and Eddie, 8. The children were almost perfectly spaced two years apart; both Jolene and her estranged husband had wanted a large family. All of them were named after English royalty: Edward, Elizabeth, Victoria and George were their real names. Julie’s actual name was Juliana. She had been named after her Dutch maternal grandmother, who was in turn named for Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Jolene was irritated that her parents had given her sibling the name of a queen but had chosen her own name from a country song about a red-haired would-be homewrecker, so she’d given every one of her children a royal name. Julie privately wondered what royal moniker the next child would have. Henry? Anne? Egbert?
Jolene’s husband, Ken, hadn’t left for another woman, so far as any of them knew. Jolene swore she’d not seen it coming. But one day, he suddenly asked for a divorce and moved out. Jolene couldn’t believe it at first, and thought for sure he’d come to his senses when she informed him a week later that she was pregnant. After all, they’d planned the baby. But he was resolute. He came to visit the children once a week but did not ask for overnight visits.
At first, Jolene went to great pains to be dressed up and beautiful when her husband came to visit, and to have a good meal ready. Now, however, she stayed in her room while Ken visited. Julie would put together some kind of meal, or he’d order a pizza for himself and the children.
All things considered, Julie was relieved that Derek had left her during their engagement, not after having several children with her. As it was, her poor sister was in a predicament. She hadn’t worked outside the house in years and was unlikely to find employment that would even approach paying for the cost of daycare for all her children. Not to mention, her current obvious state of pregnancy would keep her from looking very employable for several more months. Fortunately, for now, Ken was still paying all the household bills. Julie couldn’t imagine what Jolene would do if he stopped.
Tori was asleep, her small body curled around Mr. Pickles. Julie scooted the sleeping child aside and carefully laid down next to her and in no time she drifted back into desperately needed sleep.
Chapter 3
About every three months, Julie taught childbirth classes and most of the mothers who attended would hire her to serve as a doula. She always did a follow-up visit after the births, too. It was immensely satisfying, but she didn’t like to think about what her hourly rate really came to. Occasionally, mothers had quick births and she was in and out, but that was balanced out by other mothers who had very long labors, and Julie never left until after the baby had arrived. Sometimes there were false alarms, and she’d be called out to help with a birth that wasn’t anywhere near imminent.
But eventually, when she finished her education, she’d be a Certified Nurse-Midwife, and then she’d start earning a very comfortable living. She kept her eyes on the prize, and looked forward to joining a practice so she wouldn’t be on call 24/7 anymore. The thought of being able to go to bed confident that she wouldn’t be awakened by a client in labor (or one of Jolene’s children) sounded like heaven on earth to her. In one more year she’d complete her bachelor’s degree in nursing and then she’d need a year of experience as a labor and delivery nurse to enroll in the midwifery program. That would take two more years. Sometimes it all felt very far away.
Today was Patty’s follow-up appointment. Everything seemed to be going fine, according to Brad, and this would likely be as much a social call as anything else. Of course, with this being Patty’s second child, she was already an experienced mother.
What Julie didn’t expect was to see Mr. Shampoo Commercial sitting in the living room, holding James
on. But she hid her irritation.
“Julie! So glad to see you!” Patty jumped up and held out her arms to Julie, who hugged her carefully. Patty said Jameson was doing great and had already regained his birth weight by his first well-baby appointment, and everything was going well.
“Do you want to hold him?” Patty offered.
“Of course,” Julie said. Mr. Shampoo Commercial stood up and carefully transferred the baby to Julie. He seemed to feel no awkwardness related to their first meeting, so Julie pretended she didn’t feel any, either.
“How many children do you have?” he asked her.
“None, actually,” she said. “Which is pretty unusual for a doula, I admit. I got my start attending my older sister’s births. I was only 17 for her first one, and I was hooked. Her husband didn’t want any part of it.”
“That’s unusual,” Patty said. “If Brad had tried to wiggle out of being there at our births, I’d have … well, I’m not sure what I’d have done to him, but he’d probably have needed an epidural to get through it! So you went to your first birth as a teenager? That must have been some potent birth control.”
“Well, actually, I found her births beautiful. But I don’t feel the need to have my own births. I’m more interested in helping other women with theirs, which is why I’m going on to get my midwifery degree. I’ll probably be too busy with my practice to have children of my own anyway,” she said. As she talked, she bounced little Jameson, who so far seemed to be the kind of easy, content baby every mom hopes for.
Patty looked troubled. “Oh, but you’d be such a good mother!”
Julie laughed. “I’m living with my sister right now. She’s got four kids and is about halfway through her pregnancy with her fifth. I get plenty of kid time, don’t worry about that!”
Mr. Shampoo Commercial spoke up. “Five kids? That’s a lot nowadays.”
“It is. She and her husband wanted to have a large family. I expect this one will be her last, though,” Julie said, then immediately regretted having added that personal tidbit.
“I’d have a bunch if I could,” Patty said. “Jameson is so perfect! And Matthew just adores him,” she said. Matthew was the name of her first son, and Patty explained that Brad had taken Matthew for some special daddy-son time that day. “We might have one more. Brad thinks we should stop at two but I’m thinking one more. I’d like to have a little girl. I can’t imagine five, though. So much work. She and her husband are lucky you’re there to help out.”
Julie made a vague sound of agreement, not wanting to air her sister’s private business to a client.
“What does her husband do?” Patty asked.
“Er, software engineer,” Julie said.
“Oh, that’s what Nick does!” Patty said, beaming with pride at her brother.
For a second, Julie forgot that Nick was Patty’s brother. She’d been thinking of him exclusively as Mr. Shampoo Commercial.
“Oh, that’s great,” she said.
“He just got hired at Fairview Manufacturing,” Patty continued. It was a plant on the outskirts of town that made specialized parts for various industries. Julie knew all about it. Her soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law had worked there since college, and if Nick had just started there as a software engineer, Ken was likely his boss. Oops. She’d said enough, clearly, and tried to change the subject.
“So, this guy is producing plenty of wet and dirty diapers, then?” she said.
“Oh, he’s a first-rate diaper-filler,” Nick said.
“Nick would know,” Patty said. “He’s changed Jameson more than I have! He and Brad have it covered. Nick is living here,” Patty added. “He owes a zillion bucks in student loans and we can use the extra set of hands, and so we agreed he’ll live here for a year or two so he can concentrate on paying down his loans and building up an emergency fund. Plus, Matthew loves him and Jameson will, too. He’s like the ideal nanny!”
Nick looked embarrassed at this, and Julie felt a sudden stab of empathy.
“I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a nanny,” he said.
“You’re our ‘manny’ then,” Patty said. “How about that!” She looked pleased with herself but Nick looked embarrassed. Patty decided to throw him a life preserver.
“I get it. I’m living at my sister’s for similar reasons,” she said. “I have several more years of education and being able to live rent-free is a big help. It helps my sister out, too, of course. It just makes sense all around.”
“See, that’s what I said,” Patty said. “People used to live intergenerationally all the time. Grandparents helped when the kids were small. The kids helped take care of the grandparents when they got older. Everybody benefited. But there is no way I could live with my mom.” She shook her head. “That’s a hard nope! And I know it’s the same for Nick.”
Nick was slowly nodding his head.
“Don’t get me wrong. We love our mom, but she drives us a bit batty. She has some extreme political views and tends to want to talk about them non-stop, and she has the TV going full-blast all day with her favorite talk shows. You can’t even have a conversation with her about anything else. Ever since she and Dad split, politics have been her life. And there’s no reasoning with her,” Patty said.
“So long story short, I decided I’d rather live here with Patty and Brad and lend a hand with the kids rather than live with Mom and have to be subjected to her politics all day long. I’d rather deal with poopy diapers than her conspiracy theories. Besides, Brad works some hellacious hours and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon.”
“I get it,” Julie said again, and then realized it was what she’d already said. “I’m sure you’ve done the math. You can eliminate years of loan payments and thousands in interest if you’re able to live with family for a while. I already had a degree in art history, and all this extra education wasn’t part of my original plan.”
“Art history sounds interesting. But pretty different from nursing,” Patty said.
“Yeah, well, I was expecting to have a different kind of life,” Julie said, without elaborating. Jameson began sucking on his fist and Julie handed him to Patty. “I think he’s ready to go back to Mom,” she said.
“Come to Mama, Jamie boy,” Patty said, and tucked him under the hem of her loose shirt. “He’s a great nurser. Matthew took a while to get the hang of it. I’ve actually been able to start a milk stash in the freezer because I wake up simply bursting if I don’t pump off a bit.”
Patty wasn’t wearing a maternity blouse, but what looked to be one of her husband’s T-shirts. At a week and a half postpartum, most moms were eager to ditch the maternity clothes if they could, but they usually weren’t able to shimmy into their pre-baby jeans just yet. Their husband’s T-shirts and some stretchy yoga pants were what she usually saw her new moms wearing.
She asked Patty a few other questions about her birth experience and about how Jameson was doing, and she recorded the answers on her tablet. Mr. Shampoo Commercial seemed perfectly content to hang out, despite the subject matter, and Patty was comfortable answering with him sitting there. They must share a close sibling bond, she thought.
And then a loud and rude noise erupted from Jameson’s diaper, and Patty laughed.
“Uh oh,” she said. “Um, forget about what I said about my fast healing. I’m feeling way too fatigued and sore to jump up and change this diaper. Nick, save my life, willya?”
“Won’t be my first poopy diaper today,” Nick said, scooping Jameson from his sister’s arms. He carried the baby into an adjoining room and could be heard cooing to the baby and then saying, “Good God, Jameson? What is my sister feeding you?”
“I should feel guilty about making him handle that, but I don’t,” Patty said, laughing. “Serves him right after being such a jerk during my birth. But honestly, he just had no idea what to expect. He’s learned a lot this last week! He’d never changed a diaper or burped a baby. He was here when Matthew was born, but just
briefly, and then he was back to college. By coincidence, he had just started at Fairview Manufacturing a week before I went into labor with Jameson. The whole arrangement seems meant to be, except that he has a crazy boss. But probably not for much longer, and Nick thinks he might have a chance to move up quickly if the rumors are true and the crazy guy is fired.”
Julie said nothing, but she had a terrible feeling the crazy boss might be Ken. If his job was in danger, that did not bode well for Jolene, who depended on his support.
“Well, let’s hope everything goes well for Nick,” she finally said. But if it didn’t go well, he could probably have a second career as a shampoo commercial model, she thought.
Chapter 4
It was Friday night and Jolene had already locked herself into her bedroom, while Julie and the kids worked on making a big pot of spaghetti. She always added finely chopped vegetables because the kids would actually eat them when they were hidden in the sauce. Besides, chopped veggies were a good deal cheaper than meat. She knew Jolene was worried about money and trying to keep expenses down, and the women did everything they could to tuck back money from the household allowance.
Julie was more worried than ever now that she’d heard the rumor about Ken’s job possibly being in danger. If Ken lost his job and stopped being able to pay Jolene a monthly allowance, she couldn’t imagine what would happen. Maybe their grandparents would chip in some money, or maybe they could tap into Ken’s retirement funds. Or maybe Jolene would end up having to sell the house and move into subsidized housing.
She cursed Ken in her head, for about the millionth time, for putting his wife and children into this mess. If he wanted out of the marriage, it might have been nice if he’d made that decision before getting his wife pregnant yet again. She couldn’t imagine how Jolene was going to walk into an interview with her pregnant belly and try to get a job that paid enough to cover the daycare of Tori, Georgie and Baby No. 5. At least Eddie and Lizzie were in school all day. She decided not to talk to Jolene about it; she would only worry and there was nothing at all she could do about it anyway.
Perfect Fit (Small-Town Secrets-Fairview Series Book 4) Page 2