The Errol Flynn Family Ch. 6 Pt. 3 Middle Daughter

Lalique had been thinking for a quite a while that she should check out the Wildlife Woods Park. It was right across the street and she’d lived here for a few years now yet she had never been there. She used to like to fish when she lived at home, but hadn’t touched a rod and reel since she moved out of her parents’ house.

So on her next day off she walked across the street to check it out. She found fishing more relaxing than she remembered, or was it just that a child or teen found no need to “relax” so her memories were more about achievement than enjoyment of the activity itself? Always she had been more concerned about the number of fish she caught and the bigger the better. Now it wasn’t really important to her to compete on that score. It was a beautiful fall day and the sky was bright blue. Besides she loved to cook and eat fish, so any she caught would be a bonus.

 

While there she ran into or at least spied several people she knew; Josh Burb, Elaine Ottomas (Brian’s sister-in-law whom she’d met at the street dance), an old friend, lovely Allyn Ferguson, who was the new bride of the deliciously wicked Nicky. More significant or at least more newsworthy the sinister but handsome Edward Cullen showed up and--when a fish gave too hard a tug on his line--fell smack on his butt.  Lalique coughed to cover her laughter. She winked at Edward to show she meant no unkindness. He winked back at her as he stood back up and retrieved his fishing pole. He’d always seem to move so gracefully in Lalique's opinion. Perhaps he hadn’t really fallen by accident?

Later in the afternoon a sneaky and obviously malevolent character came into the park and was hovering behind Allyn and Lalique, muttering softly and sounding like Snidely Whiplash. He was trying, evidently, to talk to one or either of them. Lalique paid no attention but could see it was making Allyn nervous so, barely glancing over her shoulder, she spat out,

"Take a hike, buster, before I call the cops.”

He gave her a fierce scowl but did slink off to another part of the park. Allyn smiled weakly,

“Gosh, Lalique, you’re fearless.”

“Nah, I could tell he’s basically a non-physical type although with nefarious intentions. In other words, he’s a gutless pickpocket.”

Allyn nodded in agreement, but said,

“I think you’re right about him, but I still think you’re brave.”

“I don’t know about that,” Lalique cracked, “I just don’t tolerate fools gladly and I have a BIG mouth. Basically, if you irritate me I’m a witch on wheels.”

They both laughed but she thought ruefully, yep, that’s me; crotchety but courageous Lalique.

“Is there anything you ARE afraid of?” Allyn asked playfully more to compliment her than to get an answer. No reply was expected and none was given.

That night Lalique thought about the question, though and an answer did come to her,

Yes, I’m afraid all right; I'm afraid of being alone and unloved the rest of my life but even more; I’m afraid I’ll never know the joy of being a mother. She had never told anyone except her older sister, Yvette, how much she'd always wanted a family.

This insight gave her pause. She couldn’t make her Prince Charming magically arrive at the front door—that was clear, but she didn’t have to remain childless. It was time to take her life in hand. She went to the bookshelf in the living room and removed an old tome. It was from a long ago sociology class and was titled “You Too Can Parent”. Lalique sighed and began to read.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For a month or so Lalique had been mulling over her options. She’d made up her mind that she would definitely have a child of her own, but now the question was how she would go about getting said child. She no longer expected to get married. She thought about just finding someone among her old boyfriends and having a try at reviving their relationship for a short while, but that was just a quick passing thought. Lazy, she chided herself, and dishonest. 

Finally, she came to the conclusion she would use artificial insemination. Articles she’d read said she would get the hereditary and genetic information about the donor. The hardest thing would be telling her parents; well, telling her mother.

Meanwhile, she realized the house was too small; she didn’t mind for herself but if she was going to have a baby that was different. Lalique didn’t want to lose space in her yard so she planned to “raise the roof”. She got a decorator and contractor and started right away. 

The project provided a lot of room. She kept her living room and kitchen pretty much as it was but now a staircase was at the back of the dining area.

Downstairs she did have two feet added to her old ballet room. Then she knocked through one wall in the living room into her former bedroom making an alcove and now she could have a baby grand and donate her upright to the Children’s Home. The other half of the bedroom was joined with two feet of the music room to make a large playroom. 

"Eye candy", Lalique told her decorator, "I want "eye candy" in this room. It's to be a room specifically for fun (with learning on the side) and I want to reflect that in design and color."

At the far end of the hall there still remained a tiny dance room to use for practice; she liked to do that for the exercise now, if nothing else.

Upstairs were three large rooms, one was her bedroom which she painted a soothing shade of her favorite color; green. She moved her black and white Yoshi screen upstairs from the living room to hide the exercise machine. There would no longer be room for it downstairs anyway once she put in a high chair. The middle room was the nursery which they were still working on, since Lalique kept changing her mind on colors and styles. And the other was, for now, a guest room. There were two bathrooms upstairs as well. One was done in cool restful blues and was an en suite for the master bedroom, the other was in warm earth tones and opened into the hall.

The small little house she’d had now looked massive from the outside. All was ready; she just had to go to the clinic. She had not told anyone but when she began her home improvements her mother knew something was up. 

Lalique had avoided going over to see her parents as soon as her pregnancy began to show, but she could hardly ignore phone calls from them. 

Finally she asked her mother to come over and now that she was in her second trimester, it was obvious to anyone who saw her that she was expecting. She confessed her plans to Olivia who was shocked that Lalique had kept this secret for so long, but mainly was concerned that Lalique was having a baby just to feel loved by someone.

“Dear, you’re extremely intelligent; you know this is a big responsibility and you’ll  be going it alone.”

“I know,” Lalique tried not to be defensive about her reasons and then asked Olivia in a quavering voice, 

“Mother, don’t you think I’ll be a good parent?”

“Of course you will, dear! But tell me that you aren’t doing this from a totally selfish position and I’ll feel better.”

“Of course I’m lonely; of course I want someone to love me, doesn’t everyone? But I want a baby because I, well, I guess I'm more of a nurturer than I thought. I think I have room in my heart and my home to give a child love and understanding.”

That she had the room was now an understatement.

“You wanted a child who is biologically yours, I take it?” Olivia asked.

Lalique hesitated as they walked out to the sidewalk.

“I know; I did consider adopting, but I really wanted to pass along my family genes I guess. Perhaps later, though.”

Her mother hugged her and said as she left for home,

“Well, you seem to know what you’re doing , dear. Let me know anything I can do to help. And, Lalique, please come see us soon, we miss you very much, you know."

One of the last things that needed to be done was to get all the baby clothes and items she still needed.  Telling herself that for all she knew she would really excel at this child rearing thing and maybe want to adopt later, she blew lots of money at the furniture stores in Bluewater Village. Then she trudged over to Amelia's Closet and purchased toddler clothes for both a boy and a girl. Her last trip was to Goth's Apparel in Pleasantview where she bought some new post-maternity clothes for herself and some beautiful silk toddler dresses that were a specialty of Goth's.  By the time she left there her feet and back were killing her and, groaning, she hailed a taxi and headed for home.

She was suddenly getting a little nervous and scared about the actual birth of this new little being. She decided that now, more than ever, she needed the counsel of her older sister, Yvette. Up until now Yvette had not wanted to intrude because Lalique had been so secretive. Now she happily accepted the invitation, though. She promised to come over the very next day which was Sunday. Mark would be spending the day doing things with Simone anyway, so that freed up Yvette's day. The two sister would be able to talk with no distractions. The relief Lalique felt was immense.

The waiting was almost over...

Next update: The Errol Flynn Family Ch. 6 Pt. 4 Middle Daughter