* * *
Christy returned from church by herself, and I resisted the urge to ask where Lily was.
“It’s a beautiful day,” she said as she threw the curtains wide. Then she tried to open the window. “Ugh! Stupid thing.”
“I’ll get it,” I chuckled.
“Thank you, Mr. He-Man.” She bounced up and gave me a kiss. Then she clasped her hands behind her back and batted her eyes. She changed her mind almost as quickly. “Oh my gosh, what’m I doing? We can’t fool around. I have calls to make. I won’t be long, I swear.”
“No problem. I think I’ll—”
“No, stay! Um… please? I’ll make it worth your while.” She moistened her lips.
“Do you need some attention before you make your calls?”
“No. I’ll behave.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course.” She picked up the phone and dialed. “Hi, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day!”
They exchanged a few pleasantries, but then Christy’s eyes bulged, and I nearly hurt myself trying not to laugh at her side of the conversation.
“I did,” she said. “On my birthday. I swear. I told you… No, I really did. Mom, I am,” she insisted. “Every day. Can we change the subject? Please? No, Mom— Yes, I know it’s important. I know.” She listened for a moment before her shoulders fell. “Yes, Mom. It’s my body,” she said in a defeated monotone. “It’s my life. It’s my choice. Mom!” She shot me a nervous glance. “Can we talk about this later? Paul’s here, and—”
Her face went from disbelief to alarm to defeat. She held out the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”
The color in my face drained away, along with my amusement. “Hello?”
“Hello, dear,” Anne said. “I never thought I’d have this conversation, but someone has to.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I agreed, and she didn’t correct me.
“I trust I don’t need to explain what we’re talking about.”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good. Did she really go to the doctor?”
“Yes, ma’am. On her birthday, like she said.”
“And she’s taking the pills?” she pressed. “Every day?”
“Every day.”
“Have you seen her do it?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I glanced at Christy and decided to elaborate. “She does a little ‘all gone’ thing.”
She’d stick out her tongue, show me the pill, and swallow it with a sip of water. Then she’d open her mouth to show it was empty. She occasionally did the same thing with semen, and I smiled at the connection.
“I know the one,” Anne said calmly. “Make sure she keeps taking them. She’s a big girl, but she’s stubborn. And it pains me to say this, but she thinks the Church has her best interests at heart.”
I snorted and didn’t trust myself to say more.
“They do in most ways,” Anne continued, “but not in this. You and I do, though. So I’m going to hold you responsible.”
I gulped. “Me?”
“Yes, you. You’re the man, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I said feebly, “but this isn’t about me.”
“It is if you want to continue sleeping with her.”
I goggled at her bluntness. Christy began to panic, so I controlled my expression and reassured her with a gesture.
“You know I like you,” Anne said, “and you make Christine very happy. But she’s my little girl, and I’ll never forgive you if anything happens before she’s ready. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re in complete agreement.”
“Good. Now, Harold will be home soon, so I need to go. Take care of Birdy. And give her my love. To you as well.”
“Thanks. And… um… Happy Mother’s Day.”
“Thank you, dear. Goodbye.”
“Bye.” I hung up and took a moment to recover.
“I don’t even want to know,” Christy said.
“She loves you. And she wants you to be happy.”
“She has a strange way of showing it,” she grumped.
“No, she has a grown-up way of showing it.”
“But… does she have to talk about it?”
“That’s what grown-ups do. Besides, she’s your mother. And you’re her only daughter.”
“Can’t I be her only daughter she thinks is a virgin until her wedding night?”
“It’s a little late for that,” I chuckled. “Now, who else do you need to call?”
She glared. She knew I was trying to distract her, but she decided to go along with it. “Marianne.”
“And…?”
“Lynne.”
“Anyone else?”
“My granny. My nana. And your mother.”
My eyebrows ticked up.
“She’s going to be my mother-in-law. Of course I’m going to call her.”
“She’ll be happy to hear from you.” I smiled and waited. “Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Make your calls. Then take off your clothes when you’re done.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m going to tie you to the bed and give you a million little reasons for taking the pill.”
She frowned at first. Then she figured it out, and her mood improved dramatically. “You should probably make it two million. I’m very stubborn, you know.”
“Oh, I know. Very horny, too.”
“Exactly! So… four or five million?”
I laughed. “As long as it isn’t a million-billion.”
“No. Even you can’t come that much. Although…”
“Yes?”
“We have the rest of our lives.” She laughed. “That’s still the worst line ever. Worse than ‘talk about the first thing that comes up.’”
“So sue me,” I said.
“I’d rather use you. Mmm, like a semen fire hydrant.”
I snorted at the mental image.
She turned serious and slipped into my arms. “Thank you,” she said softly. “For being patient with me. For making me laugh. And for not getting upset when I feel guilty.”
“It’s what I do.”
“Mmm. And thank you for loving me.”
* * *
Christy and her helpers went to work on the molds once they’d set completely. I was busy with classes and my own project, but Nikki had enough experience to take apart the boxes, and I trusted her to do it right.
I stopped by to bring them lunch and check on progress. Lily was there, of course, and she made sure I noticed her. She didn’t do anything silly, but she smiled and waved. On Tuesday she ran up and gave me a hug. Christy was more sanguine about it. She stopped what she was doing and came to give me a kiss, but she was clearly focused on work.
“I think we’ll be ready to pour the marble tomorrow.” She listened to herself and frowned. “That sounds weird, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.”
“Then I have a ton of work to get them ready for my review. The show’s just an afterthought.”
Nikki finished cleaning a mold section and joined us.
“Good job on the boxes,” I told her. The parts were all stacked neatly in the corner, ready for the casting process. “The patriarchy approves.”
“Whatever,” she said, although she enjoyed the compliment.
“What do you think?” Christy asked her. “Can we cast tomorrow?”
“No way. We have to rebuild the boxes and then reassemble the molds.”
“That won’t take long,” Christy argued.
“She’s bad about time,” I said before Nikki could reply.
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
Christy glared but didn’t interrupt as Nikki did some work in her head. I did the same, just to double-check her.
“We should be ready on Thursday,” she said at last. She looked to me, and I nodded agreement. “Will you be here?” she asked. “We can use the hoist, but it’s faster by hand. The buckets weigh about fifty pounds.” She rolled her eyes at Zoah. “He tried to lift one, but he isn’t good at that either.”
“Be nice,” Christy chided.
I grinned at Nikki. “Are you saying you need an agent of the patriarchy?”
“They have their uses.” She pursed her lips with a grin, and I decided that she was pretty, in a punk-maybe-lesbian way. Her grin turned to exasperation when she saw my interest. “Get bent.”