Chapter 17: Diarmid's: The Third Generation

Seven and a half months after their wedding, Leonie gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Cree.

Although they were proud parents straight after the birth, the excitement and the thrill of having a baby daughter soon wore off. Curtis and Leonie were very much alike, they were party people, social butterflies, they liked to have a good time and dance and drink and generally do their own thing. With the arrival of Cree they both very quickly realised how tied down they now were, how tiring the baby's demands made them feel and how much their partying spirits had been doused by dirty diapers and 2am feeds.

In short, they weren't planning on following through with Curtis's original suggestion of "having a whole pile of babies".

"Don't ever expect me to go through this again Curtis." was Leonie's only comment.

Marjorie and Luke decided to move into the barn and let Leonie and Curtis have free range of the house, small as it was, they needed the extra space now, and Cree was settled into Tara's old nursery.

Although they had the run of the main house, with Leonie being on maternity leave, they were struggling for money. As an elementary school teacher Curtis wasn't making enough to do the things to the house that Leonie wanted to do.

"Ugh..this wall colour is so drab!" she would complain. "I feel like I'm in a khaki green nightmare some days....and those drapes! Do not get me started on those drapes! They look like the wall threw up on them. Also the stove is giving off fumes again and I think the toilet is clogged....the place is basically falling apart Curtis" Leonie would start nagging about the problems she had with the house as soon as he walked in the door.

Curtis felt that they should be grateful that his parents had opened up their home to them and were living in the barn, for their sake, to help them out of the mess they had gotten into from not thinking or planning....anything. The tension between them grew as the weeks passed.

Marjorie was doing well at Plumbob Pictures and had been promoted to Production Manager, which involved some long hours, but
Luke worked evenings mostly, networking with clients over dinner and drinks. So during the day he would try to relieve Leonie as much as possible by taking care of Cree. He really doted on his granddaughter.

To make matters worse Leonie couldn't even cook a basic meal. Curtis found himself coming in from work and going over to the barn to have whatever meal his Dad had rustled up. It began to irk Curtis that Leonie would help herself to a plate too and then settle in front of his parents' TV, because the one in the main house was old and the picture was a bit crackly.

Curtis hadn't noticed that Leonie was so useless, bad mannered and lazy until after Cree had been born.

 Luke had noticed the change in his once carefree son's demeanour. When they were alone he tried to talk to him and offer some advice.

"Having a family son is a very big responsibility. It can wear you down. And it can change you...make you do crazy things. I remember when you and Tara came along, I wanted to give you everything, I wanted to make your lives so much easier and more fun than mine had been. I made some bad choices you know....but Cree won't be small for long, she's growing up...."

"Don't worry Dad. I love my job, I love teaching, you know? I'm going to work hard and try to get a promotion to department head. Maybe if we have some extra cash, Leonie will be happier and make more of an effort."

"I just want you to be happy, son." said Luke. But Curtis could barely remember what happiness felt like.

He was starting to spend more and more time out of the house just so that he could relax and unwind.

The Autumn Fayre Carnival had set up its stalls in the large field next to heir house, so he would spend hours over there and in the nearby Pick-ya-own Pumpkin Patch, in all weather.

One day just before dusk, he heard a familiar low and sultry voice behind him. "Hello there handsome! Need any help there picking the perfect pumpkin?"

Involuntarily his heart skipped a beat.

Curtis turned to say hi to Salome Mayer. She fixed him with an extremely sexy and dangerous stare as she said "Long time no see! Still a cutey though I see?" Curtis was lost for words

It had been well over a year since he had last seen Salome, but the memory suddenly burned bright in his mind of her in her thong at his wedding. Of course at the time he had only had eyes for Leonie. But now he spent a few minutes retrospectively appreciating the sight in his mind.

"Good to see you too, Salome." replied Curtis. And then he felt a surge of bravado "Care to dance?"

 As darkness fell and the rain began to fall, Curtis forgot his troubles and danced with Salome. The stresses and cares of his day floated away.

They talked and laughed about old times and moved closer and closer to the hay bales to shelter from the rain and the wind. Later those same hay bales offered them some privacy for another kind of fun.

And poor Cree was getting bigger, day by day she developed and learned new things. And sadly she spent much of the time on her own entertaining herself.

Chapter 16: Wet Wedding

This is Curtis Diarmid, all grown up and with a wedding imminent, on the brink of some theoretical awesome future he is beholding there in the near distance.

Curtis graduated college and went on to train as a teacher. He has just taken a job at the local elementary school and his beloved, Leonie is working for the local paper. They have no money, they have a fortune in student loans to pay back and they are relying on the goodwill of Curtis's parents for room and board.

This is Leonie's mother who is in town for the wedding. Marjorie, although introduced to her, now can't remember her name so refers to her constantly as Mother Locke, until she can hear someone else address her by it. Mother Locke came by herself, so Marjorie assumes there is no Mr Locke, but doesn't like to draw attention to it by asking.

Although Marjorie is doing well at work and has had some big bonuses from recently completed film projects, she and Luke were reluctant to splash out on a huge wedding for Curtis and Leonie. They had channelled all their spare cash into converting their barn into a living space to give them more room. It was out there on the morning of the wedding that Leonie and Marjorie got ready for the big day, with the help of their maid, Trixie. The ceremony was being held in the front garden. Marjorie stood glaring out of the front door at the weather - it certainly looked very dull and overcast.

Both Leonie and Trixie were thinking it was a bit rich wearing your own wedding dress to your son's wedding.

Over at the house, Luke Hans and Tara were in charge of welcoming guests and ushering them to their seats. Luke had been sneaking several glasses of Asti from the fridge while Marjorie was getting ready, claiming it was for his nerves. But really he just wanted to have fun....his head was feeling very light and giddy at this stage.

Curtis waited until his Mum went out to greet guests and then he sneaked out back to the barn to secretly check that Leonie was okay.
"You look....amazing!" he gushed.
"You realise that its bad luck you being in here!" laughed Leonie.
"I just had to see you, I can't believe we're really together...here...really doing this."said Curtis
"You look so handsome Curtis! How could I not want to marry you? Now get out of here before you use up all our good luck." she beamed.

As Curtis rounded the front of the house the first spits of rain began to fall. His heart sank. The last thing he wanted was Leonie's day and hair, make up and dress being ruined by the rain. Silently he cursed the idea of the cheap homemade outdoor wedding in late Autumn.

He saw his grandmother Tessa standing by the flowered trellis arch, dressed as though it was the height of summer and she was at a wedding on the Riviera, loudly declaring that the wind had gotten up and there was heavy HEAVY rainstorms forecast.

She waved around a brightly coloured umbrella, "Good job I came prepared, you have to with these exposed-to-the-elements weddings!"

The bride emerged finally and everyone began to take their seats as the proceedings got underway. Luke was concerned that Lesley had not yet arrived. He had called her at home and on her cellphone several times but there was no reply. He signalled to Curtis to carry on they couldn't delay things any longer.

At the last second the Mayer sisters arrived, supposedly still friends with Leonie, they had never forgiven Curtis for dissing their advances and were bitterly jealous of Leonie and her wedding Curtis. Both of them were defiantly wearing thongs. No one wanted a scene, so everyone pretended like they hadn't noticed.

 "Rain, rain! Go away!" sighed Leonie. She was already half drenched. Curtis was inspired by this, his musicality coming to the fore, he started singing in a strident and bluesy baritone.

I'm gonna love you like nobody's loved you.... come rain or come shine.
High as a mountain and deep as a river.... come rain or come shine.
I guess when you met me it was just one of those things.
But don't ever bet me cause I'm gonna be true if you let me.




Leonie forgot the rain and kept time with her foot, gazing at her man, as Curtis continued...

You're gonna love me like nobody's loved me come rain or come shine
Happy together unhappy together and won't it be fine?
Days may be cloudy or sunny
We're in or we're out of the money

But I'm with you always, I'm with you rain or shine....

 As Uncle Jethro visibly swooned at the performance. It was the most romantic thing he'd ever seen. Curtis and Leonie exchanged rings and with that, they were wed.

 And they no longer even noticed the rain.

There was still no sign of Lesley. Jethro could not believe that she would miss the wedding of her only grandson. There must be a serious problem. He decided when the ceremony was over he would drive up town and see if he could find her.

The wedding guests rose and applauded. Rice was thrown and the happy couple moved to one side for the cutting of the cake. They had to speed things up because the ground was getting waterlogged and starting to flood.

Curtis's grandfather Durham made several loud and ostentatious toasts and everyone applauded again.

Then they cut the cake. Leonie was relieved that everything had gone so well. She felt elated and couldn't stop gazing adoringly at her husband.

"Here we go, Mrs Diarmid! Here's a nice generous slice for you..." Curtis laughed as he cut the cake.

Tessa was loudly wondering if they should carry the cake indoors since it was getting soaked with the rain. Marjorie was all "Meh, the sponge cake will soak it up...." when there was a telephone call for Leonie.

It was her doctor. "I have the results of your tests," he was saying. Everything faded away and Leonie closed her eyes and held her breath as she heard the doctor say "It looks like you're pregnant. You'll need to make an appointment for a scan and some other routine checks." She said thank you and hung up. She was in shock. How could she process information like that in the middle of her wedding?

The party continued.....

 ....late into the night.....

 .....and early the next morning when everyone woke for breakfast. The party animals were just unstoppable.

Later that morning, when Curtis and Leonie had the house to themselves, she told Curtis the doctor's news. Curtis was ecstatic. "That's perfect." he said. "Let's have a whole pile of babies." and he took his wife in his arms and they totally ignored anything to do with real life, the demands of babies and children, funding this insanity or putting a roof over their heads.

__ ~ __

But there was to be some terrible news.

 Marjorie received an urgent call at work from Jethro, she rushed over to the hospital. Unable to find his mother, he had started ringing round all the hospitals and that's when he found out the news from St Simians General.

Lesley had been admitted the day, the day of the wedding. It looked as though she'd had a heart attack at the wheel of her car, and had run off the road into a ditch. She was dead.

 Although Luke Hans and Lesley had drifted apart, he took his mother's death particularly hard.

He knew that she had not approved of a lot of the things he had done. He knew he had let her down, but in recent times she had begun to soften and there were hints that she might forgive and forget all of his transgressions. Now she was gone and Luke must live with the fact that he could never tell his mother how much he loved her and appreciated all she had done for him.

He could only hope that she was up there looking down on him now, as he told his deepest feelings to her grave stone.

Chapter 15: Time - It's Waiting In the Wings

This is a birds eye view of the Fisher house....if you cast your mind back, you may recall that room at the top was the attic bedroom of Marjorie Diarmid nee Fisher, where she spent her teenage years, where shewould hang out with her friends and with Luke.

The old place hasn't changed at all thinks Marjorie. All her mother's trinkets and collectables sit in their regular places, the smell is the same, the oppression of clutter and heavy furnishings. She has not been back here for many years. Years of shame. The prison years - when she was almost as much in prison as Luke Hans was. The family remained polite, but cool and distant. Her mother preferred to take the hands off approach and let Marjorie thrive or fail as she might.

But now she has accepted an invitation to her sister's birthday. They were never close really, Chloe was an academic girl, a bit of a loner and fulfilled their father's wish for a scientist and high achiever in the family.

Marjorie found her at the bar.

"So glad you came." Chloe murmured, drink in hand, her long blond hair curled and set in a strange and old fashioned style that definitely didn't suit her. Marjorie wondered if she should tell her so.

"How are you Chloe? Happy birthday, by the way. It feels a bit weird coming back to the old place...it's been so long. Nothing much seems to have changed though." commented Marjorie.

"Oh not that much ever does, does it?" said Chloe cryptically. "Except...the hierarchy has flipped. you might say? You're not the golden girl anymore. I am. You won't inherit. I will. You didn't do a doctorate. I did. You didn't achieve tenure at Ryder University, Appaloosa Falls....guess who did?" her tone was robotic and tinged with sarcasm.

Marjorie felt a stab of anger which quickly morphed into pain, and then sadness.

"Well Chloe..."she gulped, trying to hide the hurt, refusing to bite at the bait. "I guess you must be very happy. For what it's worth I am happy too, writing for Plumbbob. There's a chance I will get to direct soon too."

"That's nice." said Chloe coldly.
 "Nice hair by the way." replied Marjorie.

__ ~ __

Tara had come up town with her mother that evening too. While Marjorie was next door, Tara had gone to visit her grandma because she had been unwell and Tara had been worried. Lesley normally bounced back from any short illness, but this time it had taken its toll.

"Are you feeling better now grandma?" she asked a tired looking Lesley when she opened the door.

"Hello my dear!" said Lesley "Well seeing you certainly helps! What brings you over?"
"Mum is at a party at the Fishers so I hitched a ride with her...."

"Dad's working and Curtis has his girlfriend over....ugh...he wanted the place to himself. And to be honest I'd rather be anywhere else when Curtis is making goo-goo eyes at his girlfriend."

"Ohh? Curtis is dating? Is it serious? Who is she? Do I know her?"
"Oh grandma, have you been off the planet or somewhere? He's been seeing Leonie Locke for ages now. They're going steady and everything. So yeah its pretty serious I'd say...."

Lesley laughed heartily for the first time in weeks at Tara rambled on with all the news and gossip.

"Well come sit down and I'll make us some supper. You can fill me in on all the details until your mother is done next door." But although she smiled and put on a positive face for Tara, Lesley felt like a heavy weight was bearing down on her and it was all she could do to not let Tara see it.

__ ~ __

Net door, Marjorie was taking a trip down memory lane.

She visited her old room. A couple of party guests were using her old stereo and dancing, but she ignored them. The entire room was as though she had left it only yesterday. Memories came flooding back. her counterpane was the same one that Luke Hans had lounged on. All her old cd's were still stacked in their holder. Her computer was in the same place on the desk in the window nook. All those years ago, all those different futures she might have had. A lump rose in her throat, but she swallowed it back down. Images of her beautiful children Curtis and Tara came to her mind and she knew she would never exchange them for any other future.

She went down a flight of stairs. Deciding to exorcise all ghosts this evening, she knocked on the door of her parent's room. Inside her mother was in bed, ear plugs in place, snoring away in a deep sleep. Sleeping while there were guests in the house - as rude as ever, thought Marjorie. She gazed at her mother's boudoir, all the things she clung onto so tightly might one day bury her, she thought.

And she left without waking Tessa.

__ ~ __

Meanwhile...at the Diarmid house, time was laying the groundwork for its next project. Curtis had planned to propose to Leonie that evening. They were both still in high school, but in six months time they would be free and let loose on the world. Curtis knew he did not want Leonie to get away. He had thought long and hard and his conclusion was that he should ask her to marry him before school finished. He hadn't thought at all about any of the practicalities, such as where they would live, how they would pay the bills, he just had both eyes on the prize - Leonie.

Leonie was  so stunning, sometimes it made it difficult for Curtis to string several words together and make any sense. But tonight he knew he had to get his act together. He cornered her in the kitchen, clearing his throat he put on his best romantic stare and went for it.

"Leonie....ummm you know how we said mutual "I love you's" a couple of months ago? And that like....we always wanted to be together? And that sort of thing? Oh and how I think you're just easily the most drop dead gorgeeeeeessssstic girl in this whole town?" Curtis' brain was frantically searching it's vaults for other romantic stuff to wow her with.
"Ummm yeah?" smiled Leonie. Luckily she was a girl of simple needs and few syllables.

Curtis took both her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. he was wishing he'd gone for a more romantic location now. The kitchen was kind of putting a downer on the mood, but he'd started now so he carried on.
"Ummm....what I'm trying to say is....that.....ummmmm" Curtis suddenly felt panicky. And hypnotised by Leonie's ice blue hypnotic eyes gazing impassively back at him.

"Curtis?" Leonie asked in a husky tone.
"Yyyy..eeesss?" he was floundering now for an anchor, anything.....
"Just say it." said Leonie.

With that Curtis found himself suddenly on his knees, the small jeweller's box out of his pocket and raised towards Leonie.

Leonie gasped. Then she squealed with delight. Finally she laughed and did a small dance.

Without further discussion Leonie took the ring and placed it on her finger. The rapture on her face was all that Curtis needed as confirmation that she was happy with his proposal.

"Errr....I want to marry you?" Curtis offered redundantly.
"Ahhh my girlfriends will be soooo jealous!!" squeaked Leonie.

Curtis took that as a yes.

__ ~ __

The next morning he told the family.

This is their reaction.

They didn't get caught up in the details - where would they live, how would they support themselves, weren't they too young? Shouldn't they get jobs and save some money first?

No. Theirs was the reaction of a family of party animals. They flipped on the stereo and worked it out.