Life, Etc. -- Nine

          “Really, Lauren’s coming tonight?  Great!  I want to beat her at Rummi Kube!”  Having Emily enjoy her babysitter took the edge off the guilt Megan felt on the rare occasions she went out.

         Diane picked Megan up at 5:30 sharp.  In the daylight, and especially during the fall season, the drive into Eugene was beautiful!  The windy, tree lined road—more maples of Baldwin ancestry—appeared as a tunnel of red.  Megan smiled, thinking about the stress of the morning, and then her excitement over plans she and Louise had for Danny.

 

“Diane, I can’t help but think this will be a fun project with Danny!”  She had fond memories of her cousin, Sammy, who was also a Downs child.  Megan and Sammy often played together when her aunt and uncle visited.  Though Sammy was many years older than Megan, he played as a child of eight or nine.  Megan loved his gentle soul and saw many of the same qualities in Danny.

“Well, if there’s any possibility of it working, you’ll see that it does, Megan.”  Diane envied the glass-half-full view that Megan took on life.  Even with her divorce and the challenges of rebuilding a life for herself and Emily, Megan’s positive spirit remained.

“Do you want to talk about Roland Fisher and what happened?  You were pretty upset this morning.” 

“Let’s not—I want this evening to be about fun and laughter.  But there is one thing.  Just before he left, Mr. Fisher had a look in his eyes that gave me such a sense of sympathy for him.  He was still angry and I don’t imagine he’s going to give up his fight to do me in—well, do in my shop—but I saw something else in him.  I don’t know what….”  Diane started to interject.  Megan continued.  “And then, too, I’m not sure what part Stephen Forbes plays in this.  I thought he’d defend his head elder, but didn’t.  He left the shop in a hurry and said he’d call and we could talk later.  Frankly, I don’t want to talk to him.  After all, the shop is mine and I’m not selling porn or other questionable material.  I just want this to all go away.”

“Well, Megan.  I don’t know if there’s any connection, but you won’t believe who called me this morning—Mrs. Fisher!”

Megan looked over at Diane and saw her smile.  “What?  So tell me.  Why did she call?”

“Actually, I’m not sure.  She asked if she could come over tomorrow at 10.  She expressed concern that no one else be there.”

 

Megan thought about it in silence.  All she could come up with was a picture of two terribly unhappy people—Mr. and Mrs. Fisher.  Had there ever been joy in their lives?

          They parked near the theater and walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant.  After ordering, Megan looked at her friend appreciatively, “Diane, thank you so much for getting me out and away.  I love everything I’m doing, but I guess this morning....  Well, I really let Roland Fisher get to me.  I did need to get out of Dodge!”

“Hey, what are friends for?  Besides, I need to get out sometimes

too!  I couldn’t adore my kids more, but, as you know, being both Mom and Dad gets pretty exhausting.”  Diane couldn’t believe her fortune finding a friend like Megan.

         

          Diane had grown up in Chicago, an only child of wealthy parents.  Diane—tall, beautiful, auburn hair and with every advantage wealth provided.  But the pressures of owning a successful, high end clothing store and a history of alcoholism from both sides of the family brought the domino effect into Diane’s childhood.  While vacationing in Italy the summer Diane was sixteen, she was awakened one night by the housekeeper of the villa they’d rented.  Diane’s parents had gone into Sorrento for dinner and, as it turned out, drinking.  They had been killed in an accident as they drove back to the villa.

 

          Diane was devastated, but at some level, not surprised it had happened—more surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.  That night, Diane became an adult.  She arranged for her parents’ bodies to be shipped home, got their belongings together and traveled back to Chicago alone.  Her nanny, Ele, who no longer acted in that capacity but remained with the family, agreed to continue on in the household, and stayed with Diane until she went off to the University of Texas, Austin.

 

Diane, while studying for a Fine Arts degree, met and fell in love with Karl Hessing.  He had just finished a degree in architecture and wanted to open his own business.  By the time Diane graduated with her master’s, they couldn’t wait to get married and find someplace to begin life together.

Maple Village literally fell in their laps when Karl’s uncle called to discuss designing a house.  It turned out that his Uncle Ted and Aunt Millie lived in Maple Village and wanted to move to the Oregon coast.   Karl and Diane flew to Oregon at his uncle’s invitation.  While Karl and his aunt and uncle discussed plans for their new home, Diane fell in love with the house the aunt and uncle already owned.  It was large enough to not only begin Karl’s business—an entire sun-filled daylight basement perfect for an office—but enough room to begin a family!  The older couple agreed to sell it to Karl and Diane as soon as they moved into their new home in Newport.

After Karl’s death, Diane remained in their home so as not to disrupt the boys’ lives.  Because she and Karl had been so busy getting his business off the ground, Diane had not made close friends.  And without Karl, she could not have felt more alone.  Her parents were dead. Her grandparents were dead.  And the few remaining family members were scattered around the east coast and some in France.  Even Ele, now in a nursing home, could no longer be there for her.

Karl had not been close to his family, and he, too, had been an only child.  So when Megan moved to town, they made an instant connection.  Megan’s optimism was contagious, and that’s what Diane needed.

The story continues...