Why would Kate be calling about a Valentine's Day dinner all the way across the country? Was this just her unique way of drawing out Kate's big news?
16. Sharing the News (Feb 2013)
“How’s Williamsburg ?” Kate’s
mother asked as they talked on the phone.
“Wonderful!
Like coming home.” Kate and Mister were spending a long weekend in Williamsburg with a family that Kate had known growing up
in Alaska .
“We got to tell the Morttes we’re expecting!” Kate told her mother. “Mrs.
Mortte did a very enthusiastic ‘baby dance.’”
“Oh good!
Now I can talk about it! Have you told Mrs. T yet?”
“No, but I
will. I’ll call her when I hang up with you, and then the three of you can gab
about it as much as you want.”
“Great!
Well go call her then!” And Mrs. Laurie Wills was off the line in an instant.
Kate
laughed. Her mother had been very patient, waiting for Kate to tell all of her
friends. Mrs. Mortte and Mrs. T had both been so encouraging while Kate had
been wishing to have children that she especially wanted to deliver the good
news herself. She picked up the phone to dial Mrs. T. At any rate, I’m sure she’ll know the news right away, since I never
call just to chat.
Kate
couldn’t have been more wrong. Mrs. T answered the phone and was enthusiastic
and cheerful (as always) when Kate identified herself. But instead of saying,
“Do you have some exciting news?” as Kate had expected, Mrs. T went an entirely
different direction.
“I assume
you’re calling about the Sweetheart dinner?” she said, bustling efficiently
about her kitchen.
Kate was
taken aback. Why would she be calling about their church’s Valentine’s dinner?
She hadn’t even remembered that it was an annual event until now. Maybe she was
being sarcastic? Kate decided to play along, “Yes, of course!” she said, “Tell
me all about it.”
It was Mrs.
T’s turn to be taken aback. “Wait,” she said slowly, “You want me to tell you about it, or do you have something to tell me?”
Kate stared
blankly at the wall in front of her. This
is unbelievable, she thought, does
she think I’m someone else? She abandoned subtlety and said, “No, I do have something to tell you. I’m
pregnant!”
Mrs. T
gasped and exclaimed, “Well! That IS good news…I never would have guessed!...” she gushed on with
congratulations and questions of health for a few minutes and then she slowed
as a thought dawned on her. “So, you really weren’t
calling about the Sweetheart Dinner, were you?”
Kate laughed heartily. “No, of
course not. Mister and I are here in Williamsburg
with the Morttes, and my poor mother has been asking over and over if I’ve told
you, she’s being dying to talk about her new grandbaby. Why on earth would I
call about the dinner?”
“Aha!” Mrs.
T’s smile came through in her voice and Kate knew the laugh lines were around
her eyes at that moment. “Well, you know that each year at the dinner there is
some kind of contest for the couples or the tables to do that the young people
judge. And I’ve been asking your
mother if she would ask you for
ideas…but I can see that she’s had other things on her mind.”
“How
funny!” Kate exclaimed. “I suppose she must be pretty preoccupied. I just spoke with her, and she still
hadn’t mentioned it! I suppose I never notice because she’s always very focused
when I talk with her!”
“Yeeees.
I’m sure she is.” Mrs. T had a flair for the comic side of life and infused
those few words with every ounce of her good, dry humor.
“Well, you
should call her and give her a hard time about forgetting to ask me about it.” Kate
grinned.
“Yes. I’ll certainly
do that.”
After
talking over ideas for the dinner, they hung up and Kate laughed aloud. Her
mother was always so good at accomplishing requests from other people, she must
have been really distracted to have
forgotten to mention the dinner all those times that they had talked. Of course
she knew that her mother was excited, but it was always fun having extra
evidence of just how excited she was.
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