Page 17 of Miracles and Marriage
Zoe wandered around the living room. The big-screen TV was another surprise. She couldn’t picture Cal sitting still long enough to watch a show. He always seemed to have too much energy. There were paintings on the walls—mostly of scenery, though one wall had a grouping of small pictures of New Orleans scenes. She was charmed by the historic dwellings captured. She wondered what the rest of the flat looked like, but now wasn’t the time to ask for a tour.
After all the years she’d known him, she knew so little about him. The years they’d spent together at work didn’t give her insight into his life.
In only a couple of moments, he was back and they were on their way.
As they sped south, Zoe wondered what she was doing. She’d worked with Cal, but they weren’t precisely friends. Yet she couldn’t let him face the coming tasks alone.
“Tell me about your uncle,” she said some time later.
She knew talking about people kept their memories alive. Her best friend had died when they’d been in college. She still missed Edie. There weren’t too many people around who Zoe could talk to about her friend. Each time helped a bit.
“He never married. Probably thought it would lead to more children and I was enough.”
“How did he come to raise you?” she asked.
“He was my mother’s brother. When she died, he stepped in. I’m sure he thought my father would eventually return, but he never did.”
“Where did he go?”
“Who knows? He took off when I was two weeks old. Couldn’t face raising a kid alone after my mom died, I guess. My mother died right after I was born. She had cancer.”
“How sad. She missed all of your growing up.”
“She should have had treatment, but said it would have harmed the baby. She risked her life to give me mine. The risk didn’t pay off. She died at age twenty-two.”
Zoe felt a pang of sympathy for the woman she’d never met. Yet she also felt a connection. She’d risk anything for her baby, including herself.
“I can understand that,” she said. “If I can get pregnant, I’ll do anything to keep the baby—to give it a healthy life.” She glanced at Cal. “You missed knowing her, but she sounds special.”
“I heard about her love and sacrifice all my life. My uncle was the one who thought she should have treatment before it was too late. Though he said more than once that there was no guarantee that earlier treatment would have saved her. At least he had me to remind him of her, he often said. It wasn’t easy for a single man to raise a kid. Not me, anyway.”
She nodded.
“A single parent’s role is always hard. That’s why God planned for two-parent homes.”
“Yet you plan on a single-parent home.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll find someone I can fall in love with. But either way, I want that father to be around, not to take offlike yours did. Did you mean it when you said your uncle was the last of your family?”
“Except me. My mother’s parents died when I was small. I never knew my father or his family. I wonder if he even told them I was coming. Anyway, no cousins that I know of. No elderly aunt waiting to dole out comfort and sympathy,” Cal said.
“I have lots of family…I can’t imagine being alone in the world,” she said slowly.
“I’ll manage.”
She had no doubt, but it still seemed sad.
Sometime later Cal turned off the highway onto a city street. He wound through shopping areas and then residential, ending up pulling into a driveway to an older home. The yard was a bit shaggy, the shrubs overgrown. Despite that, it felt welcoming and inviting. The large front porch was unexpected, and displayed the age of the house. Modern homes rarely had front porches. Thanks to air-conditioning, people didn’t sit out much.
“This is it,” Cal said, gazing at the home.
Before they could get out of the car, a neighbor came from his house next door and crossed the lawn.
Cal got out to greet him.
Zoe scrambled out and gazed over the car at the two men.
“So sorry,” the older man said, reaching out to shake Cal’s hand, gripping it with both of his.
