Ellen received from her husband a set of pearl earrings. Sean gave his mother a necklace with a single pearl dangling from a delicate gold chain, and from Sheridan she got a lovely silk blouse in lavender that matched her eyes. Erin, having seen all the pieces ahead of time, had contributed a blazer in a daring print that featured a complimentary but darker purple. As Ellen pulled the little jacket from the box, an object rolled into her lap. It was another glass ball, like the ones she and Erin had made. It was pearlescent white and covered in lavender dots. Wavy lines in purple, gold and pale green encircled the top and bottom. In a careful script, the word mom repeated around the middle. Ellen gave her daughter-in-law a slightly watery smile and went to hang the ornament on the tree.
Sheridan’s parents had given her a gift that couldn’t be wrapped. They were renting her an apartment near the university so she could continue her studies without having to waste time being a resident assistant. She was overjoyed by this. Sean gave her a book of poetry. Erin had helped him pick one she didn’t already have. When she opened Erin’s package, she squeaked a little. Taking a very great risk, Erin had photographed her friend when Sheridan and Dr. Burke were standing close together. She was looking up at him with soft adoring eyes. His gaze on her was intense, passionate, and since the shot was only from the shoulders up, his ugly clothes did not distract from them. Erin had printed the photo and framed it.
"Oh Erin," Sheridan said, "Thank you."
"I know how important it is to have a picture of someone you care about," Erin said softly.
"Now you," Sheridan insisted.
Erin tore into her packages. Her friend had given her a pin with a little black and silver oboe on it. Roger had purchased a pair of earrings similar to those he had given his wife, but in her birthstone of sapphire instead of June’s pearls. The last box was from Ellen, and it contained three glass balls, ones that Erin had not seen her make. The first was her own, with her strand of dark hair inside. Her name, Erin James Murphy, was painted on it, along with her birth date and the date of her marriage to Sean. She smiled at the sight of it. The second was even more poignant. It said First Christmas Together and was circled at the top and bottom with black bands and Celtic knots that mimicked the wedding rings. In the middle was a small X. Erin looked closer. The shape was formed by a tiny and stylized but recognizable oboe crossed with a carpenter’s hammer. Her name and Sean’s were above the design. The space below was blank.
"We’ll put the date of your church wedding there." Ellen said gently.
The third glass ball was transparent, empty, and blank. Erin looked at her mother-in-law questioningly.
"For later, dear." Ellen said, and Erin choked up a little.
"Sean, where’s your present for Erin?" Sheridan wanted to know.
"Oh, I don’t need anything."
"Don’t be silly. Of course I have something for you. It’s just a little hard to wrap. I’ll show it to you later."
"Okay honey. What did you get?"
Sean looked into his pile. First Sheridan’s gift: a framed picture of the couple’s wedding. They were standing in front of the fireplace in Rick’s office, holding hands as they looked at each other with expressions of deep love. Sean was placing Erin’s ring on her finger.
"Thanks Danny." His voice was a little gruff as he passed the picture around. He turned to his mother’s present: a handmade sweater. He nodded. It was often cold working on half-restored houses in the winter. Finally, from his dad, just a card. He opened it and read. Sean froze and the paper slipped from his fingers.
"You don’t have to do that."
"You’ve earned it." Roger said firmly.
Erin picked up the card. Inside was a briefly scrawled note proclaiming Sean a partner in his father’s company. She squeaked a little and hugged her husband tight.
"Congratulations," she told him. She knew how much this meant. He had talked about it often enough. She crossed the room to Roger and hugged him too, kissing his cheek.
"You’re a wonderful father," she told him sincerely.
"Thank you Erin," he replied.
"But Erin, you didn’t give Sean anything either."
"Oh, I have something for him all right, but it’s going to take me a minute to get it ready. If everyone would excuse me please."
She walked out of the room.
"I wonder what she’s up to. Do you know, Danny?"
"No clue."
He shrugged. "I guess I’ll find out. Anyway, thanks all of you. You did a great job. And thanks for making Erin feel so welcome too. Especially you, Mom. You really turned this around."
"You’re welcome my dear."
"Sean," Erin called, "could you please come here."
"Better go see, son," Roger said.
Sean followed the sound of his wife’s voice. She was in the bathroom.
"What’s up, Erin?"
"Your gift." She held out a small object to him.
He looked at it, not sure what it was…a small white plastic stick. She turned it over to reveal a little oval shaped depression with a blue plus sign in it.
"What is that?"
"It’s a pregnancy test Sean. We’re going to have a baby."
Sean drew in a deep breath. It was no surprise really. They never had bothered with birth control, and Sean was aware how fertile they seemed to be together. But it was still momentous, exciting and scary and overwhelming. Erin was beaming.
He reached out to her, gathering her into his arms and pulling her close.
"I love you little girl," he told her simply.
"I love you too. Shall we go let everyone know? No more secrets, right?"
"Right." He put his arm around her waist and walked her back to the family room.
"Um, everyone?" They all looked up. Sean looked at his wife. Her normally reserved smile was dazzling, rivaling his sister’s for sheer impact. "Erin’s pregnant." There was a moment of stunned silence.
Sheridan recovered first. Squealing, she dashed to her friend and threw her arms around her.
"Congratulations Erin. I’m so happy for you. How far along are you?"
"Not very. Probably about six weeks. I only figured it out a couple of nights ago. Of course, we can pretty much guess when this happened."
"Yes," Sheridan said firmly, "on your wedding night."
It was a good answer, and as likely as not to be true.
Soon Roger and Ellen approached, hugging Erin warmly and congratulating her. Sean still looked rather stunned, and he accepted his parents’ hugs a little numbly.
"Don’t worry son," Roger told him, "you’ll get used to it."
Sean nodded.
"Are you feeling all right, dear?" Ellen wanted to know.
"Yes, for the most part. I did have one bad day during finals. That’s when I got to thinking."
"I see." No doubt she did, and more than anyone was comfortable with. But she didn’t say anything else and the family went off to the kitchen to have brunch.
Later, around noon, bored with the football game and worn out from a busy evening, Erin went to take a nap. Sheridan watched her friend trudge off to bed. She could remember the overwhelming fatigue of early pregnancy. It was so wonderful that one of them would finally be able to have a baby and it be a joy and a blessing. But there was one negative to this situation. Concerned, she pulled her mother and brother into the den for a family conference. Roger was asleep in front of the game, and he wouldn’t really be part of this process anyway, at least not by doing anything different than being kind, generous, and welcoming as he had always been.
"Sean, Mom, listen. I’m so happy that Erin is going to have a baby. She wants one so bad, has ever since…" Sheridan trailed off, not sure how much to reveal to her mother.
"Ever since she lost the last one?" Ellen finished for her daughter. They both stared at her. "Erin told me the other day."
"Yes, since then. Well anyway, this is really going to be hard on her. She’s facing one of the most difficult parts of
pregnancy, the beginning, during her last semester of college. And it’s going to be a doozy. She has some really hard music classes, not to mention her last semester of English and a philosophy. She also has to do her senior recital, which is basically the culmination of her entire course of study. If it doesn’t go well, she won’t graduate."
"It’ll go well. She’s too good for it not to."
"I know, but this is Erin we’re talking about. Do you think she will believe that? She’s already stressed about it. And she’s going to have to do all of it alone, without you, Sean."
Sean grimaced. He hadn’t thought of that part. His wife had to leave in the middle of January to finish school and wouldn’t be back to stay until the middle of May. That was a long separation during a pregnancy. She would be only a couple of months from delivery when she got back.
Ellen shook her head. "Not the best timing. But there’s nothing to be done for it really. What point are you trying to make Sheridan?"
"Just this. When I was going through a crisis pregnancy, everyone closed ranks around me and just showered me with love and affection and support, Erin most of all. I appreciate what all of you did for me, but Erin was the one who went to school with me, defended me from the others students, and made them leave me alone. She was the one who went to college with me when I was devastated by grief and made sure I didn’t give up on life. I owe her more than I can ever repay."
"Danny, it’s not a debt. Erin wanted to help you because she loves you."
"I know. I love her too and I want to help her. The bulk of the burden for getting her through this semester is going to fall on me, since I’m the one who lives with her, and that’s fine. I’m ready for it. But I think it’s time for the Murphy clan to close ranks around one of its own again. Erin gave and gave to this family until it almost broke her. It’s time we all gave something back. Sean, it’s almost second nature to you to be there for Erin. You have been from the beginning, but I think you need to do more. She’s not one to ask for anything, so you might want to press her a little, give more than you think she needs. Big gestures will almost certainly be appreciated."
"Of course. Do you think you might be willing to…clue me in from time to time? I’m not really all that intuitive, especially over distances."
"Of course. Now Mom…"
"I’ve been trying."
"You’ve been great. I can’t believe the change. Well done. But just remember always how fragile she is. The Murphy bluntness doesn’t go over very well. She’s pretty sensitive."
"I realize that now." Ellen looked at her children a little sheepishly. "Don’t worry dear. Erin is one of us, and I intend to be as much a mother to her as I am to you."
Sheridan gifted her mother with one of her breathtaking smiles and the little conference broke up.
That afternoon, Erin woke up from her nap before it was time to make Christmas dinner, so Sean took her out for a little drive. It was quite cold, but the sun was shining on the snow, making it glitter. As they approached the car they noticed, on the limbs of a heavily dusted pine, a little red cardinal that chirped pleasantly at them.
"Where are we going?" Erin asked softly, reluctant to break the penetrating silence of the muffling snow.
"It’s a surprise."
Sean drove his wife through town to a pretty little neighborhood near the hospital. The houses there were old and very big, but mostly well kept up. He pulled to a stop in front of one that didn’t match its neighbors at all. It was an eyesore, covered in peeling paint, the front porch pillars half rotten, the steps badly decayed. The only good thing about the appearance of the house was the massive maple tree, nude now, sleeping, but waiting in breathless anticipation for spring. When the leaves appeared, it would be glorious.
She looked at him questioningly. He didn’t say a word, just helped her out of the car and escorted her along the safest path to the front door. He pulled out a key and let them into a house that appeared to be in the last stages of decomposition. Dust billowed from a wrinkled and stained gray industrial carpet. Flypaper hung from the sagging, water stained ceiling, already completely covered in dead insects. The walls sported rags of peeling wallpaper in several different patterns. Erin looked at the devastation and finally said, "Sean, what is this place?"
"This, Erin, is our home."
"Is this a joke?"
"No, baby. It’s ours. I’ve already bought it. I know it looks a little shabby now, but by the time you’re done with school, it will be ready. I’m restoring it."
"You are? Can you fix something that’s such a mess?"
"Sure. It’s what I do. I’ve worked on places worse than this. Most of what you see is actually cosmetic. This place has excellent bones, and under all the muck, some great details as well. Just wait and see how it comes to life."
"I trust you Sean, but it’s a little hard to picture.
"No harder than it is for me to look at a piece of sheet music and understand how the instrument will sound."
"Good analogy," she grinned, "That I understood."
"Okay, let me show you the parts I’ve already finished."
"Show me everything. I want to understand."
Sean gave his wife a dazzling Murphy smile, proving it hadn’t all gone to his sister, and escorted her out to the rest of the house.
***Chapter 21***
The young couple thoroughly enjoyed the rest of their holiday together. The week after Christmas they began attending a class twice a week that would prepare them to have their marriage sanctified by the church. This pleased Sean’s mother very much. Erin still didn’t want to bother with a big wedding, especially not as she had been married for over a month and was already pregnant. They did chose a date, about a week before she had to leave to return to school, to say their vows before the priest and those family members who cared to attend.
Erin sent a card to Motley, inviting her mother, but received no reply of any kind. She didn’t want to call, because her mother could be so caustic and she didn’t feel like listening to any ugly comments. Her father was marginally better. He was still selfish and obsessively absorbed in his work, but he was never mean. She called him.
"Daddy? This is Erin. How are you?"
"Hi pumpkin. I haven’t heard from you in a while. I’m great. I just landed an investment job in the Cities that’s going to bring in some really good figures."
"That’s great Dad. Good job. Um, I wanted to ask you something."
"What’s up?" His tone was tepid, distracted, and she suspected from the tapping sound in the background that he was typing an email while he talked to her.
"Well, I’m getting married." She knew how her dad hated long conversations when he was at work, and explaining how she was both already married and getting married would take far too much time out of his day.
"Really?" That had gotten his undivided attention, and Erin couldn’t help smirking a little. "Congratulations. To whom?"
"Do you know Murphy Construction and Renovation?"
"Sure, I’ve done investing for them. Roger Murphy is a good guy."
"He is. Do you know his son Sean? Well that’s who I’m marrying."
"Sean Murphy? Well done pumpkin. I’ve worked with him too. He’s loaded. He’ll really be able to take good care of you."
"Sean is loaded?" Erin knew Roger earned a good income, but she had not really known that Sean himself would be considered wealthy.
"Oh sure. I’ve invested a ton for both of them. Sean’s in really good shape. He’s also a nice kid. You did good."
"Thank you. He is very nice. Anyway, we’re getting married next Saturday, at seven, at Our Lady. It’s going to be really small, just us, the priest, and his family, but I would like it a lot if you would come too. Can you do that daddy?"
"Next Saturday? Hmmm. I think I have a meeting with some representatives from a real estate firm in Japan. I’m not sure I can get away, but I’ll see."
Erin tried not to feel disappointed. Th
at was as clear a rejection as she ever got from her father. She hadn’t expected he would make time for her, and it didn’t matter really, but she still dared to hope, occasionally, that one of her parents would actually care enough to stand by her, just once.
She didn’t cry, but was still staring glumly at the phone when Sean arrived home from work a few minutes later.
He took one look at his wife’s gloomy face and scooped her into his arms for a long and thorough kiss, complete with wandering hands. That cheered her up considerably.
"So I take it he’s not coming?"
"Nope. I didn’t really think that he would."
"You know something, Erin? You look like a girl who needs to be made love to."
"Oh, yes please," Erin replied eagerly, "Just let me get the casserole out of the oven before it burns."
The casserole didn’t burn. The Murphys did get a little scorched however, in the best possible way.
******
The next day, at work, Sean talked to his dad about the upcoming wedding, and Daniel’s refusal to attend. Roger was appalled by the other man’s lack of concern for his daughter, and the two men agreed immediately about what needed to be done. Then Sean called Daniel at work.
"Hello, this is Sean Murphy," he said to his father-in-law.
"Sean, how are you?"
"I’m great. I guess you heard yesterday that your daughter and I are getting married?"
"Yes. Congratulations."
"Thank you. Don’t you think it would be nice for you to be there? You only have one child, and a wedding is kind of a big deal."
"It is, and I’m really sorry, but I just can’t get away from work. It will be fine though. She understands."
"Oh, she understands all right. She understands that your work is more important to you than she is. And that’s not fine at all."
"I don’t think that’s fair to say. I care about Erin."
"Do you? When have you shown it? When did you attend her concerts, her high school graduation, anything? Are you going to go to her college graduation in the spring? Based on what evidence is Erin supposed to know that you care about her? She has no idea. In fact, from observing you, she thinks she’s a burden and a nuisance. Is that really how you see her?"
When the Music Ends (The Winter Rose Chronicles) Page 17