Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 6 After Takemizu

Once they were back from vacation, Harvey was back at work as city planner while Lori was rather at loose ends.

She ran into "Aunt Glenn" (who was really a close friend of her parents but no relation) up at Amelia's Closet, a clothing store in Bluewater Village, and then they were joined by Lori's old friend, Holly Lomax, who had just had twins. Lori mentioned that she hoped to have children soon, too.  She said that in about six months she and Harvey would begin trying to get pregnant, but that meanwhile she was bored. Glenn told her she should take up a hobby; something she could enjoy at home even after she had a baby. Holly agreed, she was looking for the same thing she said. She wanted to be at home, but needed something to fill her time besides the bottles and diapers that had to be done no matter what. They came up with no concrete answers but it started Lori thinking.

On her way out she was startled to see Dylan Ottomas. He was Brian Ottomas' older brother and owned the Club Dante where Brian played guitar Wednesday through Saturday nights. She and Harvey had never gone there, but Harvey claimed he had promised Brian at the block party that someday he and Lori would come up to see Brian's band play. She was a little worried about whether or not Dylan had ever heard of her and how she had run after Brian as a teenager. He didn't seem to notice her though so she shrugged it off eventually.

Early one morning just a few days later a delivery truck pulled up to Lori's house and brought in her new pride and joy; a workstation where she planned to learn to make children's toys. She was busily chipping away at some wood when Harvey got home a few hours later. He came up to see what all the banging was about and Lori turned to him, just beaming,

"Isn't this great? When we have our baby someday we'll have all the toys we need--custom toys!"

She had no idea how adorable she appeared to Harvey at that moment, with her little silver hammer in hand and her face alight. 

He'd confessed to his brother one time, trying to explain the enigma of the woman he loved, 

"See, Lori has this sweet childlike face, the same one she's always had--and she can break your heart with that alone. But then she has this woman's body that's to die for--and she knows it, too. All this along with her funny, sensitive, moody, infuriating and yet fascinating mind. She thinks up these scatterbrained stunts and yet I know she's extremely intelligent. Sometimes it makes me nuts."

Nicky had grinned, "Yeah, forget it, kid, you were a goner years ago from the moment she looked your way. It probably WILL drive you gonzo someday but, man...it's a beautiful way to go!"

Harvey had to. If making toys up in her art studio made Lori happy he was all for it. She stopped her work now and went to their bedroom saying,

"I'll have supper ready soon, are we doing anything tonight?"

He just had to grab her and lay one on her. She giggled afterwards,

"My gosh, Harvey, you're so impulsive."

"I have to work out for a bit after supper, so maybe we could hit the hot tub for a while after that?" he said hopefully.

She winked, "That's a sweet idea."

For months Harvey had been trying to get a garden going in the small greenhouse in their side yard. He'd had to compost most of the anemic plants that resulted. Once he began to really concentrate on his career in architecture he'd not had much time. Also he'd begun to realize he would never be the horticulturist his father was nor did he really even want to be. But Lori had felt sorry for the 'poor little plants' as she put it and kept weeding and hoping they would do all right.

Besides her new toy-making hobby Lori had asked Harvey about redoing the living room.

"Honey, it's practically new. We've barely lived here two years. Don't you like it?"

"Well," she hedged, "I just don't care for the color of the one couch and chair any more--I still like the style though--and having the piano room a different color from the living room just jars. So could we get the couch redone and paint the music room and maybe get some drapes? I changed my mind about just having hanging plants up there for semi-privacy."

Harvey shrugged, he was at the computer working on the accounts now.

"Well, if you want to do that it's okay with me, if you're not going to go berserk. But I can't go with you this time when you choose what you want, I'm just too tied down with work at the moment."

He didn't look up from his screen so he didn't see her look of relief as she went back downstairs to the kitchen.

As he heard her singing to herself in the kitchen, he stumbled across a few things in her statement. With the problems she had with impulse spending, they had decided she would have a checking account and debit card of her own, but that Harvey would have take care of the housekeeping accounts. She was on a generous budget, but it was still a budget. And she couldn't access their other money without his signature on it as well. Lori didn't really care--she hated to balance her checkbook--it never would come out right, she insisted. So Harvey always took care of it for her. Now he could see that she had already gone ahead with her redecorating project and if he didn't get some money in there right away, her over-draft protection would not cover it. She evidently had only mentioned it to him tonight when she realized he was working on the bills. Probably she had not figured on these expenditures showing up in the statement so soon. Also she must be counting on the idea that whatever she had bought would not be delivered right away. 

Harvey was always patient with Lori, he loved her very much, but tonight something snapped in his mathematician's common sense mind. He went downstairs and called her when he got near to the bottom of the steps. She came to the door that led from the kitchen to the living room.

"What is it, sweetie?" she smiled.

"Lori, you don't have to go look at furniture, do you--because you already bought what you wanted."

Her smile evaporated, Harvey was really upset this time. He began to lecture her in a quiet but angry voice about honesty, how she'd promised to talk over large purchases beforehand to avoid impulse buying, but his voice got a little louder as he went on.

Lori just kept nodding and looking contrite with her head bowed while he lectured her. Finally tears started running down her face and suddenly Harvey stopped. He'd said enough. If they needed to talk about it more it would have to be at some later, calmer time.
 

"I'm sorry I raised my voice, honey, but it was a shock; you've been doing so good, really you have. I'll put some additional money in there to cover everything. It's just that when I realized you had lied to me tonight; acting as though you were going to go buy things when in reality you had already done so, well, I just lost it."

She sniffled, 

"Honestly, Harvey, I didn't meant to buy so much or to buy it without talking to you, I just couldn't seem to help myself."

"I know, I know. Your parents talked to me about all this before we married, you know that. It's the bipolar. I just...you have been taking your meds the way you're supposed to, right?"

She looked away, tears still glistening on her cheeks,

"Yes. Maybe you should start giving them to me so you'll know for sure I'm taking them," she whispered and looked at him in misery. She wasn't even being sarcastic or defensive, she just sounded defeated.

"I will do that, but only if you want me to. I don't think it's necessary at this time, though. Meanwhile will you forgive me for jumping on you without giving you a chance to explain? 

She nodded.

"You will? Then how about giving me one of your sweet smiles?"

Harvey put his hands on either side of her face and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Lori smiled a little and all was well again. 

When the re-upholstered furniture arrived along with new drapes and a rug, Harvey couldn't see why she had gone through all this for these very subtle changes. He was much more surprised when they took out her white piano and put it in temporary storage and put in a black baby grand piano in its place. There was just no telling with Lori...

The original way the living room was furnished:

 

The new love seat, reupholstered sofa, new curtains and rug

 

 

The pale blue music room with Lori's white baby grand

The new black baby grand, and the repainted music room. The color flows from the living room into this room and the same for the carpet.

"As long as your happy," Harvey smiled, "Er, you are happy now, right? I mean no more overhauling the living room, okay? At least not for a few years."

Lori was content. She baked and cooked in her beloved kitchen treating and tempting Harvey who had to work out a lot just to keep from growing very fat.  She still devoured books as she always had, wrote happily in her journal each night, and honed her toy-making skills, but she was waiting, Harvey knew. And so they decided that it was about time to start their family. Now that they'd made up their mind to go ahead they were anxious that it not take too long.

Next blog update: Brian Ottomas Ch. 6 After the Block  Party 

Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 7 More Decisions Pt. 1