Among the Ducklings (25 page)

When Isabel
remained silent, Phil then added, “Good luck Isabel.”

After Phil hung
up, Phil realized to his horror that he had just done to Isabel the same thing
Isabel had done to him. Isabel had chosen Richard over him because of a promise
she had made to him, and now he had chosen Stacy over Isabel, because he had
made a promise to himself to give Stacy a second chance. Now, thinking about
the sadness that he sensed in Isabel's voice when he said it was too late, he
hoped that Isabel did not feel the pain that Phil was feeling at the thought
that they might never be together.

##

The next
three and a half weeks were uneventful. Isabel kept replaying in her head her
last conversation with Phil.
 
It didn’t
go well and still, Isabel couldn't get Phil out of her mind. She had even gone
to church to pray to God to free her from her sinful thoughts about Phil. So
far, that had not happened.
 
She heard
that Phil was still coming to the Center in the afternoons, but he would soon
stop, as his ankle had almost healed. She knew it was only a matter of time
before their paths ceased to cross, and the thought of not ever hearing Phil’s
voice or seeing him again was taking a toll on her.
 
She didn’t remember when the last time was
that she had a good night’s sleep.
 

That’s why
she was happy to leave the house when Lucy called one day to propose that they
go to a restaurant that evening.

When Lucy
came to pick her up for dinner, Isabel was walking without a walker, which
amazed Lucy. She had leg braces and was supported by a cane.
 

“Well, look
at you,” Lucy said. “Are you sure it's a good idea?”

“It's about
time,” Isabel said. “The daily treadmill exercises are horrible but, as you can
tell, I'm happy with the results.”

“I can see
that,” Lucy replied.

They dined
at a restaurant that served Caribbean-style food and drinks. Lucy had just finished
talking to Isabel about her upcoming cruise, when she asked, “How is Rebecca?”

“OK, I
guess.”

“Don't you
think you should try to repair your relationship with her?”

“I'm
trying,” Isabel said.

“She seemed
genuinely sorry about the whole thing. Besides, Richard is more to blame,
Rebecca could be his daughter. Well, almost,” Lucy said.

“Rebecca is
as equally responsible as Richard.
 
I've
forgiven her, but it's very hard to forget what happened. I raised her as my
daughter, but she lied repeatedly to me,” Isabel said.

“Think
about it, she could not come out and say that she had slept with your fiancé,”
Lucy added.

“I guess
you're right. I'm trying,” Isabel replied. In reality, Rebecca tried her best
to make it up to Isabel, preparing Isabel’s favorite dishes when she was at
home, and surprising Isabel with an album of pictures of her and Rebecca at
different stages of their lives.
 
Isabel
had been moved by Rebecca's efforts.

“By the
way, did you receive the test results?” Lucy was asking about the paternity
test that was done the week before.

Exactly a
week ago, Mark's mother called Isabel to tell Isabel she was sorry about how
things had gone between the two of them. When Isabel realized that there was
some truth to what Melinda had said at the restaurant, she had understood
Melinda's reaction, and discovered that she was beginning to like Melinda after
all.

“We are
going for an ultrasound tomorrow, and they also said that they would do the DNA
testing.
 
Can we get a lock of Mark's
hair for testing as well?” Isabel had asked Melinda.

“No
problem,” Melinda had responded.
 
The
following day, Melinda not only brought the hair sample, but she even went with
Isabel and Rebecca to the ultrasound exam. By the time they left the doctor,
everyone was happy to see the baby's heart beating and to learn that everything
was normal.

“The DNA
result should be here any day now,” Isabel replied, continuing her conversation
with Lucy.

“By the
way, did you ever do anything with Richard's ring?” asked Lucy.

“I tried to
mail it to Richard but he was no longer living at the Miami address, so I gave
it away to charity. I also learned from Tia Marcia that Kristin didn't take him
back,” Isabel replied.

“His
fault,” Lucy added.

“Yes,
you're right.”

Lucy thought for one second before asking,“What if
the baby is Richard's? How are you going to locate him?”

“Me?
 
It's not my baby. I'll let Rebecca worry
about that,” Isabel said.

“I guess
she still will have to take responsibility for some things,” Lucy said.

“You know
what's lost in this pregnancy situation?” Isabel asked,
looking
 
pensive
.

“What is
it? Zen master,” Lucy asked in a teasing tone.

“While
everyone talked about whose baby it is, not one person said that Rebecca
shouldn't be having premarital sex in the first place,” Isabel said.

“Don't be
so old fashioned,” Lucy responded. “We're not living in the
Middle
Ages, you know.”

“That's the
problem. Isn't it?” Isabel said. “Everyone thinks that abstinence is
old-fashioned.”

“I'm not
getting into an argument about abstinence versus protection with you,” Lucy
said, thinking about her own pregnancy when she was still a teenager. Then,
changing the subject, Lucy asked, “What about Phil?” have you heard from him?

“Not
really.
 
I heard he is almost done with
his therapy,” Lucy answered.

“How do you
feel?”

“I miss
him, but what can I do? He thinks that I wouldn't have called him if it wasn't
for the fact that I broke up with Richard,” Isabel said. “You know, he might be
right.”

“That's not
true.
 
I think that sooner or later, you
would have realized your mistake.
 
You
love him and that counts for something,” Lucy said.

“Let's talk
about something else,” Isabel said, as she asked the waiter for the check.

##

The last
few weeks had also been hard on Phil.
 
Stacy had a business emergency and had to return to California.
 
It had been ten days since she left. He
wanted to go to California to surprise her, but he needed to complete his
therapy.
 
He was almost finished. Stacy's
absence reminded him how much he missed Isabel.
 
When Stacy was there, his days were filled with activities to keep his
mind busy. Now that Stacy was gone, his days were filled with thoughts of
Isabel. Deep inside, he wished that Isabel had chosen him in the first place.
There wouldn't have been any Stacy or issue about playing second fiddle to
Richard.
 
But life is what it is. As
Jeremy always said, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade and add vodka to
it.
 
Hearing Isabel say that she loved
Richard was his lemons. Stacy was the vodka that made the lemonade at least
taste better.

As
Phil was feeling stupid and sexist for comparing women to fruits and drinks,
his kitchen phone rang. When he heard Jeremy on the line ask about Isabel, he
realized that he had not spoken to him since Jeremy left Miami, after the dinner at Isabel's place.

“How have
you been, buddy?” Jeremy asked.

“Fine.
Michelle?”

“She is Ok.
She's getting ready for a surfing competition.”

“Good,”
Phil replied. “I didn't know that you two still surfed.”

“She
does.
 
How is Isabel?
 
Michelle told me that you've been going out
with Stacy lately.”

“Word
travels fast,” Phil replied. “Actually, a lot has happened since you left.
Richard and Isabel broke up.”

“Way to go,
buddy,” Jeremy said. “Are you going to make your move?”

“No, I'm
seeing Stacy,” Phil answered.

“You're
confusing the heck out of me, Phil,” Jeremy said.

“What do
you mean?” Phil asked.

“First you
told me how much you loved Isabel. Now that she's free, you're telling me you're
seeing your ex-fiancée who left you several years ago?”

“It's not
like that,” Phil said.

“Tell me
how it is, Phil. When you told me that Isabel was engaged, I flew all the way
down there to restore sanity to your head. Then I met and liked her, and
thought she was good for you...”

“You didn't
come to see Isabel, you really came down on business,” Phil said, trying to
change the subject.

“I could
have done everything by phone.
 
What I
don't understand is how you've managed to ignore fate when it intervened.”

“What are
you talking about?” Phil asked.

“Weeks ago,
when I told you about all those tragic love stories,” Jeremy continued, “
you
seemed headed the same way.
 
Now that you told me Isabel and Richard broke
up, fate intervened and gave you a chance, and you just ignored it.”

“You don't
believe in fate, Jeremy,” Phil said.

“Call it
fate, opportunity. Whatever it is, you didn't seize it when it came knocking,”
Jeremy said. “Anyway, tell me what happened to make you change your mind about
Stacy.”

“Stacy had
a miscarriage and lost our baby,” Phil admitted.

“What? Are
you sure?” Jeremy asked. “So why didn't she contact you?”

“She was
depressed and felt bad about it,” Phil said.

“She felt
so bad about it that she married someone else?” Jeremy said skeptically.

“He was
helping her and she was depressed,” answered Phil.

“Phil, I'm
not saying she didn't have a miscarriage.
 
All I'm saying is that it's weird for her to marry someone else and not
contact you for three years,” Jeremy said. “What about Isabel? What happened
between her and her fiancé?”

“I don't
know.”

“Have you
heard from Isabel?”

“I saw her
and she called me couple of weeks ago.”

“What did
she say?”

“She wanted
us to see each other,” Phil said.

“Let me
guess,” Jeremy said, “you said no to Isabel whom you love, so that you can be
with Stacy. Does this sound right to you?
 

When Phil
didn't respond, Jeremy added, “Looks like I may have to spend money on another
plane ticket to Miami.
 
Talk to you
later, buddy.”

##

The next
day, after her therapy, Isabel was sitting on the bench, when Marcia joined her
and said, “Rebecca, just called me.
 
She
wanted to talk to you, but you were already in your therapy session and I told
her that I would give you the message.”

“Is it
about the paternity test?” Isabel asked.

“Yes,”
Marcia answered. “She got the result this morning.”

“Can you
tell me who the father is?” Isabel asked, with a look of anticipation on her
face.

“Well I
have some good news and some bad news,” Marcia said. “What do you want to hear
first?”

“Come on,
Tia Marcia, just tell me.”

“OK,”
Marcia answered laughing, “the good news is that the baby is not Richard's.”

“What's the
bad news?” asked Isabel, uneasily. “Don't tell me that the baby is not Mark's
either.”

“The bad
news is that you will be seeing Mark's mother more often than you wish to.”
Then they both laughed.

Chapter
Fifteen

Stephanie
and Andy had always been close.
 
When
Andy moved to California to pursue his acting career, as soon as he got his
first job, he had sent for Stephanie, his baby sister, after the death of their
parents.
 
He wanted for Stephanie to have
a future, the opportunities and the schooling that were missing in their small
town.

When
Stephanie graduated from college, it was Andy who was in the front row. When
Stephanie completed her training in nursing, as a gift, Andy bought her a new
car, the first new car she ever drove. When she got sick, it was Andy who would
give up job gigs, just to take care of Stephanie.
 
When Stephanie married and divorced her
husband, Andy was always there in times of joy as well as in times of
sadness.
 
If there was ever a saint, to
Stephanie, it was Andy.

So, when
Andy met Stacy in an acting audition, Stacy had just come from Miami and didn't
know anyone. Stacy could tell how infatuated Andy was.
 
Who would not be? Everyone was talking about
Stacy as the type of erotic beauty that only exists in a man’s fantasies.
 
Except that Stacy was as real as she was
deceitful.