CALIFORNIA PARADISE
Chapter Thirty-Two
"So tell me, how has the baby changed
your life?" Ruth asked Rose.
They were sitting in a small cafe selected by
Rose. It had icy blue walls with whirlpools of white expertly painted in. They
sat in stiff-backed chairs that faced each other on each side of the pinewood
table with a white tablecloth.
"Jayvelin."
"What?"
"Her name is Jayvelin. Not the
baby."
"I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were that
precise."
Rose’s only reply was a stare.
"Okay. How has Jayvelin changed
your life?"
"Well, how did I change yours?"
Rose knew that Ruth thought she was avoiding the question. But she really
wasn’t. She had never been close to her mother, and now that she was a mother
herself, she realized how important it was to be close with your daughter.
And so the lunch wore on in this manner. And
gradually the mother and daughter grew closer. And through her own mother’s
teachings and mistakes, Rose learned to be a good mother to Jayvelin. From the
start, everyone knew that Rose would never be the stay-at-home mother; the
all-dependent-on-her-husband wife. She refused to sew or cook in any form, and
couldn’t stand the gossip of the other mothers in the neighborhood. She sought
out the company of Jolene and Anna, who had been neglected but never forgotten.
They had their own upper class houses about twenty miles away, and the
friendship sparked a renewed interest when all three women attended the same
dance workshop.
Jolene had given birth to an adventurous baby
boy just a month before Jayvelin was born, and Rose came to her for counseling.
Anna was as stubborn and defiant as Rose, and they had long conversations about
the silliness of other wives.
When it came time for Ruth to go back to
Pennsylvania, she knew she would be leaving her daughter in good hands.
*****
Jayvelin spent her first months of life in a
fairyland masterpiece created and held before her by those who loved her most.
Across the country and past oceans, gifts were sent to her from adoring friends
and relatives, some of whom who had never even laid eyes upon her.
She had countless play dates with Joel
Richard Calvert, Jolene and Rich’s little boy. Rose was told that children
didn’t start actually playing with other children until around the age of
three, but she had always known inspired children were special. Jayvelin and
Joel played with their toys laid out before them and gently resting against
either their father or mother in the nursery by the time they were one and two
months old.
*****
When she was just a year and six months old,
Jack waited until Jayvelin was awake one morning. He slid her from underneath
the covers and she felt a wail in her throat from the sudden cold. But he
quickly wrapped her in his big, warm arms. Then Rose sat beside them, her arms
circling each of them. And they both leaned close and whispered into her ear.
Jack said, "We have a wonderful surprise
for you."
Rose kissed her rosy cheek and in the softest
voice imaginable said, "In just another six months, you’re going to have a
little baby brother or sister."
The deepness of the voice told her Jack was
speaking now. "And the three of us will love him or her forever and ever
until the very end of time."