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My father sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “She thinks she knows what’s best for everyone and feels empowered to make reality conform to her ideas, but she’s blinded by her own prejudices. As a result, she can’t recognize how happy you two are together, but I can.”
“Thank you. We are happy and while this will be an adjustment to all our plans for the next while, we both wanted to have a family eventually. It’s just happening sooner than we planned.”
“Life is like that. The best laid plans, and all. As long as Alexa doesn’t give up her pursuit of her PhD, and you the business, you should be good. If she does give up on her PhD, she’ll regret it the rest of her life. My advice to you is to do everything in your power to support her in doing her doctorate. Hire a nanny. Hire a housekeeper. Hire a babysitter. Make sure she has time to herself. In the early days, when the baby is new, she’ll be exhausted. She’ll need people to take over so she can sleep, and then she’ll need time away from the house so she can be a normal person and a doctoral student. And the two of you will need time just to yourselves, too. Don’t scrimp on that or you’ll be sorry in the long run.”
I smiled to myself, surprised
that my father had such insight. “How come you know so much about this? Neither of you had newborns.”
“I’ve seen what happens to my friends with children. The first few years are hell on a relationship unless you both have time to yourselves, and time together away from the baby.”
“We’ll do our best. Luckily, I have enough resources to take care of those items on your list. It will be hard for Alexa, managing her morning sickness and still taking classes but if she can make it through the rest of her year, she can take some time off after the baby is born and just get used to being a new mother before she continues with her PhD.”
“That’s good. Don’t let her give up her dream, whatever you do. She can stretch it out a bit to compensate but she shouldn’t give up on it. And you – don’t give up on yours, either. You need to be there for Alexa and the new baby, but you also need to keep working on the business. You have enough money to never work again in your life, but I know you. The space industry is your future. It motivates you and gives you meaning beyond your own personal life.”
“Father, you sound so reasonable and full of good advice.”
“I know, I know – I don’t usually give advice, but I’ve been thinking about you and Alexa since I found out and I want it to work out with you. You have everything, Luke. Everything you could want and need in life. Try to appreciate it. That’s all.”
“I will,” I said, actually feeling choked up a bit from his heartfelt words. “I’ll do my best.”
“Lecture over,” he said with a laugh. “Oh, stay away from that sonofabitch of a soon-to-be-ex-brother-in-law. He has no shame and will only egg you into getting in trouble.”
“I learned that lesson the hard way,” I said and smiled ruefully, rubbing my forehead. “Not going to make the same mistake twice.”
“Good. Now kiss your beautiful fiancée for me and I’ll see you at the beach house on Saturday. I’m sorry I don’t know what to buy as a wedding gift, but you can expect a nice bond for the baby’s future in an envelope.”
“Thanks,” I said. “It means a lot to me that you called and said all this.”
“Just wanted to clear a few things up. Love you, son.”
“Love you, Dad.”
I ended the call, surprised at that turn of events. I hadn’t expected him to call and say those things, so it meant more than I imagined. While I might not have my adoptive mother at the wedding, he would be there to support us, and he would be happy for us.
That meant a lot to me.
I hoped our relationship from then on would be better than it had been in the past. Maybe my mother showing how petty and manipulative she could be made him realize he didn’t want to lose me and Alexa and the new baby.
I hoped so.
That afternoon, Alexa’s parents arrived, and I met them at the airport while Alexa was on campus finishing her seminar. She had arranged to have someone else take her seminar the following week, so we could spend some time getting moved into the apartment, but other than that, our lives would go on pretty much the same as before we were married.
Managing Alexa’s morning sickness and getting settled in the new apartment would occupy most of our time for the next six to eight weeks, when we hoped her daily bout of nausea would end. I hoped Alexa’s morning sickness didn’t last as long as Dana’s, which persisted for months, but we’d deal with whatever life gave us.
I waited near the arrivals gate and when I saw her parents, I smiled to myself. They really were wonderful people. Upstanding. Mr. Dixon was exactly what I expected for a former Air Force jock, fit, greying hair, sharp blue eyes. He had the right stuff – no doubt. Mrs. Dixon was attractive, fair haired and looked really good. I knew that one day, when Alexa and I had been married as long as they had, Alexa would look very much like her mother. That would be a good thing, for she was still beautiful. They walked towards me with their hands held, like they were still in love, and it gave me hope that I would have that kind of marriage – close enough after thirty years that we wanted to always be holding hands.
The three of us hugged and smiled, an extra bit of emotion over the fact that Alexa was pregnant, and we were getting married. We decided to tell them because by now, everyone on my side of the family knew. They might as well, too.
On the drive back to Manhattan from JFK, I told them all about my little sojourn in the courthouse jail and answered questions about the charges being dropped and of course, how Alexa was doing.
“We wanted to come a few days earlier, but I had no one to take over until today,” Mr. Dixon said. “But we’ll stay for a few days next week and spend time with you two getting you into the apartment.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “I know Alexa will be happy to have you help out. As nice as it is, we’ll both be glad to be in our own place and out of the hotel. Alexa can’t wait to use the kitchen and cook real food for a change. We’ve been eating restaurant food for weeks. I’m surprised I haven’t put on twenty pounds.”
“How’s Alexa? Is she holding up despite the morning sickness?” Mrs. Dixon asked.
“She’s strong,” I replied, nodding. “She’s determined to keep going despite it. Luckily, she feels good around noon every day and so we’ve arranged her schedule so that she doesn’t have to be on campus until one thirty or so.”
