Tea and Vlaai

By Marilyn and Atonia

Picking up the phone Ivy decided to call Toni. It was high time she invited her over to see the house and she needed to have a "girl talk". "Hey Toni, it's Ivy. Are you up to visiting? I made an apricot vlaai."

Toni felt drained but this just might be what she needed, “Ivy, that sounds the bomb, give me a few minutes and I’ll be on the road.” After the emotional night she’d just had a good talk with Ivy sounded good to her.

The vlaai on the dining room table Ivy opted to set the table with delftware from her father's collection. "It made it across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans it should make it through tea." she said aloud to no one.

She was glad to have the house to herself. Jim was out having a run and he'd be gone for a few hours at least and Ian and Melanie were tending the store. Hearing Toni's car pull up she hurried to the kitchen door to welcome her.

Toni gave her a good hug, “I’m so glad to see you Ivy, it’s been way too long. I love your house you’ll have to give me a tour.”
Ivy smiled at Toni's comment. "Do you want the tour now or after tea?

“After tea, I could use a cuppa. Gosh did you ever have any idea when we used to sit at the table in that little apartment in New Jersey that we’d both end up in Australia having a cup of tea?”

"No, but then I had lots of ideas that have been turned upside down since then. I'll give you the tour up to the dining room so we don't have to circle back. This is the kitchen there is a half bathroom and laundry room through the doorway next to the fireplace. The oven is so much better than the one I had in New Jersey, Jimmy and Ian will end up fat if I stay home too much. The dining room is just through this hallway I thought we'd have tea in there."

“This is absolutely lovely Ivy and so you. Oh you’ve got your delftware out how wonderful that you’ve finally got a place to use and display your things. You must be so happy,” Toni smiled.

"I don't have an excuse not to use it anymore. You know how my Papa always said to use it. He did every Sunday... like clockwork." Ivy adjusted a tile on a shelf before looking back at Toni. "It makes me feel closer to him, more like he's here." Sitting down at the table she cut the vlaai and put a piece on each plate. "I haven't made this since...well since I made it for him just before he passed."

“Maybe he is here, I feel that about my grandmother I use her Mason plates all the time. This looks delicious Ivy.”

"Thanks for coming over Toni. I needed someone to talk to. Jim is a sweetheart but sometimes...I am not sure what to say to him. I knew you'd understand about Papa. He liked you, I sometimes wonder if he'd like Jimmy too...especially now."

“I always loved your Papa and why wouldn’t he like Jimmy now, he’s calmed down a lot from the early days. You know I’m around Ivy anytime you need to bend an ear, I’m only working three days a week.” Toni looked across the table at her friend, “sometimes we all need somebody to talk to..”

Ivy paused for a second looking at Toni. "You know I haven't been feeling well for the last month or so. Well Ian and Jim asked me to go to the doctor. I am still waiting for the results of some blood work but... I'm pregnant. I don't really even know how to feel about it myself, let alone how to tell Jimmy and I'll have to tell Ian too. " Ivy rubbed her temple a moment a moment before continuing. "Jim has a title defense fight coming up. He doesn't want anyone to know about it, but he has been training for the last three weeks. He is going to have to go back to the States in another month or so. I just don't know what to do. Do I tell him before he leaves or do I wait until he comes back? What do you think Toni?"

Toni was quiet for a moment thinking of her own problems and Jan’s and the root of all of it. “I think you should tell him Ivy and the sooner the better. Tell him first before anybody else.” She ran her hand over her hair. “There’s nothing worse than keeping secrets. I’m happy for you Ivy, don’t you think he’s going to be excited and happy too, why not give him that now?”

"You don't think I should wait until I get the rest of the results back. What if there are complications like....like my mother. I think he'll be happy but he had a family before and lost it. I don't know how he'll take it really. I mean he's getting ready for a fight you don't think it will be too much? and exactly how does one go about delivering the news? I wish my Papa was here. Ian tries but he is no substitute and Mark...will he even care he is going to be an uncle or is he just going to continue to be an ass?" 

“Ivy, you’re getting all worked up over something that should be a happy event.  Find a time when the two of you are together and tell him, tell him the results are not back yet but that you believe you are going to have a baby. My gosh, it would give him something to fight for, to win. At least I think so. You know Ivy, medicine has come a long way since you were born the chances of that happening today is practically nonexistent.” Toni sat back in her chair, “I should have such a problem.”

Looking at Toni Ivy saw hurt on her face. "Toni what do you mean you should have such a problem? What's going on?"

Toni sighed, “promise not to tell anybody even Jimmy…okay? Richie had a vasectomy about five years ago, he never told me Ivy. I’ve been taking my little pills every day for nothing. I want a baby and I made him tell me yes or no if we could and that’s when it all came out. We aren’t even speaking right now.”

Shocked by everything Toni just said Ivy sat in a stunned silence. "Oh Toni. I'm so sorry. No...don't worry I won't say a word to Jimmy.. A vasectomy? Really? I guess he was living that lifestyle when you met. At least he wasn't being completely irresponsible… but then geesh Toni he never said a word before now?"

“No, nothing not even when we talked about having a baby a month ago, so he’s had a month to do something about it, he says its reversible but I don’t know if it is or not. If we ever get back on speaking terms, we’ll see about that maybe. Right in the middle of this after I’d gone upstairs to have a good cry Jan McGee shows up crying. Travis wants a baby and she’s messed up inside from an abortion and can’t and she never told him so that’s where we all are. So you see why I said don’t keep secrets?”

"I'll figure it out and I'll tell Jimmy about the baby. But you have to talk to Richie, Toni. I don't think he meant to hurt you. I don't think these things happen with the intent to hurt each other. Jimmy and I never even talked about children. I never brought it up partially because that is not how I ever saw myself and partly because I love him and I know he misses his kids. I can never fill the void they left. Richie knows he wasn't the Dad he wanted to be for Michael. Maybe he got the vasectomy so he wouldn't let some other kid down. Even if he didn't know about it he'd still be responsible. I see where you are coming from about the birth control pills. But...is having a baby everything? If it isn't reversible, he had it done before you even met each other does it make him any less himself? You still have each other."

“I know Ivy, and I love him in spite of his rotten deeds. He’s paying for it right now I know and it might be mean of me but I think he needs to think about it for a few days. It was a shock, you know? If it turns out we can’t well that’s that, you don’t always get what you want.” Toni looked up, “Travis told me that.”

"Rotten deeds? Toni I don't think I have ever seen you upset like this before. Do you really think he meant for this to hurt you?

“Not intentionally no, but when do you think he was going to tell me Ivy, we’ve been married for six months and together for two years not once did he ever bring it up. I am upset with him and all he can say is he’s sorry,” Toni sniffed back tears she’d cried enough over Richie and didn’t want to spoil her time with Ivy. “I didn’t mean to bring this over here today, it just seems to follow me.”

Ivy felt as if she was seeing a part of Toni she had never glimpsed before. Trying to push her own fears about being pregnant aside she thought about what Toni said about secrets. Was keeping a secret the same as lying? Toni seemed so sure it was. There was already so many things left unsaid between her and Jim. So many topics she thought of as taboo. Jim's kids were part of that unspoken world. But if she was to give him a child... Pushing away her uneaten portion of vlaai she stood up and gave Toni a hug. "Toni your my best friend and you've always been there for me. How about I give you the grand tour now? We'll let marriage and babies work themselves out."

Toni hugged Ivy, it was good to have her to talk to but whether thing would work out between her and Richie…

“Right, thanks for letting me bend your ear, now let’s see this interesting home you have here,” she smiled.

“Right this way” Ivy said as she led Toni out of the Dining room.