While You Were Sleeping

"As a rule, once a decision is made it's discussed with the other elders within the family, but not always. Because our family is so spread out around the country now, we also have a network within the family to let everyone know the decisions the Matriarch makes: people like your cousin Donna for instance. Grandma Gates sent Donna to college because our family needed someone skilled at networks, so she now keeps the family up to date on everything."

Jennifer's eyes went wide at the mention of her cousin. "Oh, I understand now."

She went back to her school homework.

Marcy started to move, and then a thought occurred to her. "Jennifer, why did you ask such a question?"

Jennifer once again put her pen down and looked at her mother.

"When you came back with Martin and you walked hand in hand up the drive. Grandma was there that day and standing next to me; we were both watching you walk up the drive. She asked me to phone cousin Donna. Grandma even told me the number."

We were only seeing Louise and Andrew periodically by then. I suspected they were hanging around for a reason. I hadn't any idea it was going to be this.

Now Marcy was totally confused. I just waited for the punchline.

Marcy placed her hand on her daughter's and gently held onto it. "What did grandma ask you to tell Donna?"

Jennifer looked really proud of herself. "She told me to tell Donna to send the letters to both Grandmas that she was holding. Grandma told me that she had found the next Matriarch."

By then, Jennifer's chest puffed up with pride, she looked directly into her mother's eyes and said, "Grandma said, you're it."

Marcy let go of her daughter and grabbed her phone off the counter, quickly dialing Donna's number from memory. It rang twice before the speaker connected and all three of us heard, "Good morning, Matriarch, what can I do for you."

*******

The next few days were interesting. It's a good thing I was a stay-at-home worker, because Marcy was a basket case. She fought Donna tooth and nail against being the next Matriarch. Of course, the Grandmas got called in, as well. All Jennifer and I did was sit back and say nothing. So far Marcy hadn't asked my opinion, and until she did, I wasn't stupid enough to get involved in something that had been a driving force in her family's life for generations.

Both grandma's and Donna eventually backed off. We knew that Donna was fielding all enquiries from the family. News travels fast, even more so with today's technology. Throughout the weeks Donna was the buffer between an undecided Marcy and the family that wanted to welcome the new Matriarch, as well as offer advice, call on favors and anything else that would place more pressure on a woman that, at this moment wasn't mentally equipped to take on the role of leader of a family in its hundreds and spread across thousands of miles of this country.

Louise and Andrew no longer came around. They now had what they wanted, and that was each other. I suppose to Louise, she had made her choice regarding the next Matriarch, and it was down to Marcy now to get her head around it and get on with it. Marcy and Jennifer lived in my part of the duplex and had since the day we arrived back from France, so to those that saw us walking around town, we now lived as a family.

I heard the tap on my home office door and looked at Marcy, feeling slightly confused since my house was open house to what I now called my two girls.

"Can we talk? I mean really talk?"

I pointed to the seat across from me, she smiled and thanked me.

"Since all this came out, I've taken you for granted. I'm sorry about that."

"Jennifer and I know you've had a lot on your mind, Jen's still feels a little guilty that it was down to her to tell you that you were now Matriarch."

Marcy nodded, I watched as she placed her hands between her legs and closed her legs. I had been around her long enough to know it as a tell.

"I'm going to have the same discussion with Jennifer later, I needed to talk to you first."

Her eyes came away from my chest so she could look directly at me. "You have been what I've been looking for my entire life. I know it's still early, but I plan to marry you when you pluck up the courage to ask me. I will even throw in a readymade family into the deal if that's what it's going to take to get you to put a ring on my finger."

We both smiled at that. Little Jennifer had us both wrapped around her finger, she knew it and thankfully, it hasn't cost us much more than walks in the park with her in the middle holding both our hands, plus the mandatory ice creams at the park, of course.

I leaned across and touched her knee. "I love you and have from the day you were sat against the door of the apartment at the nudist resort. That won't change, I'm holding off on getting on one knee to ask you to marry me, because you have enough going on at the moment."

Her eyes went wide and she lunged across the space between us and we just held each other.

"You do know you're in for some amazing make up sex tonight, don't you?"

I just held her tightly to me, I whispered since her ear was that close to my lips. "Every night with you is amazing, from the sex to the cuddles, the showers together and the dreams and thoughts we share."

Her body heat increased as she digested what I had said to her. This time I pushed her away from me so that I could emphasize my point.

"Some would say that we're going too fast. Not me; you're both a part of my life and even looking back, I just can't see life continuing without either of you in it. I love you, Marcy Cartwright, maybe not legally, but your daughter has been our daughter for some time now."

We kissed, held onto each other and kissed again. Finally coming up for air, Marcy had one of those looks on her face.

"Martin, I need to make some drastic decisions concerning the family. I want to ask Donna to live next door, I need her close to me, but I also welcome her input."

I nodded first and that got me a smile. It made me hard, as well, and Marcy wriggled on my lap in acknowledgement.

She picked up the phone and dialed, and when it rang she placed it on speaker.

"Good morning, Matriarch."

"Donna, I've made some decisions that for one person is going to be life changing. I want you to relocate here."

The pause was expected.

"Donna, do you have anything holding you there?"

"No, Matriarch."

"Donna, so help me, if I hear you call me that one more time, I'm letting the air out of the tires on your wheelchair."

The laugh coming down the phone was infectious, but a whole different set of problems came into focus, if what Marcy had just said was true.

The laugh eventually slowed to giggles. "That's cruel, very well, Marcy. No, I have nothing holding me here."

Marcy smiled. "From a personal standpoint I have to say good. I need you here Donna, I will arrange transport for you. Plan on staying for a week. We need to make lists, the house, for instance, will need your input of what disabled equipment you prefer rather than me just putting stuff in that's of no use to you. Start planning please.

"Marcy, I need to keep in touch with the family, for the short term I can bring a laptop with me, what do you have in the way of internet access?"

Marcy looked at me, the plea in her eyes didn't go amiss. I was sure my Wi-Fi would stretch to her side of the duplex so I said loudly enough for Donna to hear what I had in the way of internet.

Donna wasn't aware I was listing in and it took her a moment to reply, "Well, it will have to do for now I suppose, but I'm going to have to get internet sorted while I'm there."

I was a little annoyed by Donna's comment. I was assured that my internet service was top of the line. Donna must be running some serious stuff if she needed more than the service I had. The girls talked logistics for the next ten minutes and then said their goodbye's.

Her next call was to one of the builders. We timed his visit to coincide with Donna being there the day before.

*******

Donna arrived mid-afternoon, and I helped her into my place, something she wasn't expecting. We sat at the kitchen table, I made us drinks while Donna and Marcy might as well have been speaking Turkish. Other than a name or two that I knew, it turned into facts, logistics and at one-point Donna reminded Marcy that I wasn't part of the family.

That got Marcy's back up straight away, and after the rebuke, Donna apologized. To me, Donna was going to be the perfect foil for Marcy. I could see why she wanted her close. While Jennifer was still at school, we both gave her the history of the door. She was in tears by the time we had finished. It was only then that we took her to see it, and also the place that she would be living in for the rest of her life if she wanted that to happen.

It helped that the duplex was a single-story affair. Donna decided which room was going to be her bedroom and what room was going to be her communications room. The rest of the rooms rapidly sorted themselves out. I offered to give her the name of my internet company, but the look she gave me sure made me wonder. Even more so when a derisory, "No thanks," left her lips.

We left Donna next door and on the phone to someone who spoke the same computer language that Donna was using. I was looking out the window when the school bus pulled over and Jennifer got out, I opened the door to the house for her, and she met Donna in the hallway. They didn't need introductions; I figured the wheelchair was a giveaway.

*******

Marcy found me in my home office. A new story was on the computer, but I was staring out the open windows at the garden.

"You're hiding."

She sat on my lap. I welcomed the touch, all of it.

"No, just keeping out of the way. A week isn't a lot of time to pull someone's life apart and transfer it here."

The pause was only because I was trying desperately to find a starting point to what needed to be said next.

"Marcy, we need to talk."

She quickly stiffened on my lap, I helped her off and she sat across from me. A hint of concern played across her eyes.

"Marcy, Donna is right, I'm not part of the family."

I held up my hand to prevent her from saying anything. After taking a few deep breaths, she nodded for me to continue. My argument was simple, she was Matriarch now, her efforts had to go towards that, not trying to defend me every moment one of her family pointed it out to her.

"Please don't get me wrong, I have made my opinions of us clear to you already: once you are more settled and comfortable with being Matriarch, I have every intention of throwing you over my shoulder and walking you down the isle, so that God and everyone we either care or don't care about will know that we are husband and wife."

That one act must have played out in her head because she laughed so loud, even Jennifer peeked her head around the door to see what her mom was laughing at.

Fortunately, the rest of the conversation we had went the same way. She realized now that my support for her while she was getting Donna settled and the rest of the family used to the fact that there was a new Matriarch in town would always be there, I needed to take a step back, so she could get on with it.

Donna met the builder in Marcy's place, they were talking for about an hour, he pushed a tape measure at things and scribbled notes into a small book before tucking it into his pocket and announcing that he could start the work in a week. Donna said ten days and they both shook on it.

*******

My book took a back seat; I wouldn't have been able to do much with all the builders' noise coming from next door anyway. Jennifer and I did stuff over the weekend while Marcy and Donna, along with the movers, moved her in. Once peace settled again in our little corner, a man turned up looking really nervous around people, Donna took him next door, and she even went as far as to close and lock the door between our houses. We didn't see either of them for the next few hours.

We saw him leave out of Donna's door and jump into a car that left quicker than he left Donna. She wheeled herself into our kitchen and proudly announced that she now had internet, she and her friend had done a complete diagnostic and everything was working, despite the move across state. Marcy and I looked at each other and tried so hard to bury the original thoughts we were having, that this was none of our business.

The blessing of both the remaining grandmas was a welcoming relief, although Donna said they weren't needed. Marcy was just glad that she didn't have to fight the elders in the family for a title that both wanted so much, even when Louise was alive. Although I never gave it voice, the cynic in me did wonder if they gave their blessing hoping that she would fall flat on her face like they had done when they tried to steal the mantle.

Over the coming weeks and months, Marcy chose well in having Donna by her side. Together they were a true force to be reckoned with. On the other hand, with the sideways looks that Marcy was giving me, I decided that it was time. After breakfast one Sunday I got on one knee. The speech I had rehearsed for the last week was a waste of time, Marcy followed me to the ground and her kiss was a definite positive to the proposal that never left my lips.

We heard, "Eeeww, that's disgusting," from Jennifer.

"Mom, Martin practiced that speech on me for a week, the least you could have done was hear it before you jumped all over him."

The smirk came next as Marcy said to her daughter, "Nope, that was never going to happen, I've waited forever for this. By the way, do you want a brother or a sister?"

Her eyebrows quickly rose, perhaps thinking that we were going to get down to it on the kitchen floor. "You're both being gross now."

Marcy stood and held out a hand for me, we stood and she looked at Jennifer.

"Martin and I are going to our bedroom to discuss the wedding plans in fine detail, honey, we may be a while."

We both heard Jennifer tell her mother that she was going next door to Donna's and was going to turn the volume up on her TV so she didn't have to hear our discussion.

I never realized the strength Marcy had when she pulled me along the corridor and into our bedroom. I was still beet red after listening to the interaction between mother and daughter.

Marcy pushed me onto the bed and went into the bathroom, coming out later with a bowl of water and a towel over her arm.

"Before we get started, I want it shaved off. From now on, I'm going to leave it to you to shave it and keep it naked."

The bowl was on the bedside table and Marcy was already in the process of pulling clothes off.

"Would you prefer it if I sent you to get it lasered off."

She stopped in her tracks, leaned over and kissed me before straightening up to complete her removal of clothes.

"Thank you, honey, but no. This way I get the fun you give me when you do this for me; lasered means I never get that again, so I'm afraid it's a duty you have for life."

Like I was going to argue with her.

*******

Marcy announced the expected birth of our daughter four months after the wedding. She carried on working until the seventh month, when even Donna shut her down and refused to do anything else until she saw her with her feet up and relaxing.

The baby must have agreed with Donna, because she came into this world two-weeks later and Marcy has been in mother mode ever since. The stay-at-home dad, daughter and Donna looked after Abigail if Marcy had to leave town for a quick visit to family. Other than that, she poured her love into our family. I'd never seen her happier and told her so almost every day.

Louise Gates saw something in Marcy the day she took them both to the park and had that heart to heart. I had seen it, as well: she could face adversity and stare it down, her marriage tanked and rather than feel sorry for herself she got up and figuratively speaking, she got back on the horse that we all call life. I dare say Louise gambled with the family just a little, but she knew Marcy's loyalties, I know the rest of her family have seen that loyalty as well over the months and years.

*******

I had just finished the last of a three-book spy thriller when Carol Channing once again come to visit. It seems some movie studio was looking at buying the rights to film all three books. I stopped the conversation right there and reminded Carol that I didn't talk business with her without my brother in the same room. She shrugged and mumbled that I couldn't blame a girl for trying.

I phoned Callum while Carol was listening, and we could either see him at his office in two days or Carol could come back to our home, since Callum and Tessa were due at the house for a long weekend at the end of the month. We both settled on the end of the month. Carol did stay for dinner, though. I even asked Carol who the studio would find to play me in these movies? The table erupted into laughter when she said that she was almost sure that Roger Rabbit was available.

It seems my brother was also busy in other areas; my daughter Jennifer was being tempted by the dark side. At first, I just thought it was idle curiosity, it wasn't and the straight-A student that she had become had decided to follow Callum's path and be a lawyer. I tried the hurt look, but I guess I just can't carry it too well. We all had a sit down talk about it and decided that it was best that Jennifer followed her heart when it came to her own future.

Jennifer is off to college this year, Callum said Jennifer was family and as such she would have a better chance at his college, so Callum dropped a few heavy hints and sponsored her. During her holidays she splits them with us and doing stuff at his office to see how things work for when she passes the bar exam. He's already told her she has a place in his office if she wants it.

I keep my hand in and write a book about once a year. What pisses off my publisher is that I won't tour and promote my books. It won't matter soon. I snuck out to see the doctor, his diagnosis gives me two years at best. I need that time to strengthen the bonds the family have, ready for what comes next.

I just wonder if Louise Gates is still around. She would look at this as history repeating itself.