Marrying Mallory (6 page)

“For a few years, we roughed it and had a tent. Later though
my parents did get an Apache popup trailer. Did you go camping as a child?”

“My mom and I never camped, but I went a few times with
Heather and her family. Toby and I went once before Josh was born.” She glanced
at her watch. “I better head home. Thank you for the coffee and muffin.”

“You’re welcome. I enjoyed talking with you.” His blue eyes
twinkled. “You’re an interesting person, Mallory. And you weren’t even under
anesthesia.”

“I thought you said I wouldn’t be put to sleep for my
surgery.”

“You won’t be. I couldn’t resist a little medical humor.
I’ll get those pictures emailed to you soon. In the meantime, if you think of
any questions give me a call.”

She crumbled up her napkin and shoved it in the empty cup.
Maybe she should apologize for being so pushy. “I’m sorry if I was a little too
assertive about the dinner party. If you decide not to go, I won’t hold it
against you.” She smiled at him. “I’ll still have you do my nose job.” 

“I want to go to the party. It sounds like fun.”

***

The phone rang just as Mallory finished grading a stack of
papers at the kitchen table late Saturday morning. Upon answering it, she
noticed Toby’s voice was upbeat. Whatever had caused him to sound remorseful
and urgent when speaking to her over a week ago wasn’t present now. What had changed?
Hopefully, he was calling because he wanted to get together to tell her what
was going on in his life. And it better not be about Samantha. Why couldn’t his
girlfriend break up with him and instead find a nice single guy to see without
an ex-wife and child? It was too soon for Toby to be serious about someone.
Didn’t he care about Josh’s feelings? He needed time to adjust to his parents
not living together. Adjusting to another woman in his dad’s life was
overwhelming.

Toby said, “So is it okay if I come over this afternoon
while Josh’s at the movies with Billy?”

Mallory missed the part where Toby had said what movie
Billy’s mother planned on taking them to, but she didn’t see any problem. In
the past, Billy’s parents had always taken the boys only to suitable G rated
movies. “Sure. I’d like that. I’ve been anxious to hear your news. I was
disappointed I missed you last night. We could’ve gone and got coffee or
something while Mom watched Josh.”

“How about I bring your favorite ice cream?”

Visions of scoops of chocolate almond ice cream from Dietsch
Brothers appeared in her head. But she should refuse. If his news wasn’t good,
she’d get upset and eat too much. She wanted to keep her weight off so said,
“Thanks but I’ll pass. I’m watching my calories.”

“Hey, I noticed you lost weight. I meant to mention it last
Sunday.”

Hearing Toby say that he’d realized she’d looked smaller
made her loss all worth it. “I lost fifteen pounds. What time do you think
you’ll be here?”

“I’m dropping Josh off at Billy’s at two, so will be at your
place around two twenty.”

“Did you and Josh go out for breakfast this morning?” She’d
thought of calling to see if she could join the boys for their usual Saturday
morning at IHOP. Not only had she wanted to spend time with Toby, but she
missed her little guy.

“No, Josh wanted to stay here and watch cartoons. I fixed my
famous omelets.”

“I always loved your omelets.”

He chuckled. “That’s not true. What about the time you said
I put too much pepper on the eggs? Plus you didn’t like the cheese I used.”

“You did put too much pepper on it that time. And I didn’t
like my eggs loaded with parmesan cheese. You must have used half the jar. But
I understood why you sprinkled the omelet with parmesan cheese when you were
making me a pizza egg.” 

“It’s good Josh appreciates my cooking since he’s here every
weekend.”

What did that mean? Did Toby resent having their son on the
weekends? When they were getting the divorce, he’d insisted on having Josh on a
weekly basis and sharing custody. They both decided Toby’s law practice
required long hours during the week, so Friday and Saturday was the best
arrangement. But that was before Samantha had entered the picture. “I guess you
seeing Samantha on weekends is being cramped with Josh around. Did you fix her
breakfast too?”

“No, she’s not here. And to put your active mind to rest,
she never spends the night. I know how you feel about that and I agree. Also we
aren’t in a serious relationship. We haven’t known each other that long.
Remember?”

Yeah, she remembered. She felt socked in her gut when she
learned he was dating before the ink was dry on their divorce papers. She
hadn’t expected him to start seeing someone so quickly. After Toby mentioned
meeting Samantha to her, she’d driven the next day to the fitness center to see
what the new woman in Toby’s life look like. She’d gone during her planning
period so Toby wouldn’t be there. Obviously, it would be bad to be checking out
Toby’s new romantic interest while he was there. He might think she was being a
bit obsessive to want to see Samantha already. Okay, more than a bit.
Fortunately, she observed Samantha while she led a Pilates class. No one had
been the wiser.

“And you two are
still
in a relationship. I give it
another month.”

He ignored her prediction. “Are you dating anyone?”

How should she answer? She had coffee with Seth but they
weren’t dating. It might be nice to mention it though, so Toby would know other
guys thought she was attractive. “I had coffee with someone last night.”

“It’s about time. What’s his name?”

“Seth. Before you get too excited, I’m going to fix him up
with Heather. I don’t feel right about dating after being married, even though
I’m divorced.”

“I better get off here and fix Josh a little lunch before
the movie. I’ll see you soon so we can talk more.”

After a weak good-bye, she replaced the phone. She should’ve
kept her mouth shut. Toby got off the phone in a hurry because he didn’t want
to hear a lecture about his infidelity. But she was also going to mention doing
more family things together even though they were divorced. Toby would’ve been
happier to hear she was seeing someone. She wasn’t about to lie and say she
planned on seeing Seth a lot. Well, actually she would have to make several
office visits after surgery, but that was on a professional basis.

They had some good times together. Cozy moments of sharing
their love for each other. Did Toby ever miss their life together? Apparently,
he hadn’t been happy. Instead of coming home to her, he’d had an affair with
Lacey. She’d had many sleepless nights wondering how he could’ve stooped so
low.

When she’d questioned him about his affair, he said without
meeting her eyes, “It’s hard to explain. Things weren’t right between us way
before I had the affair.”

She glanced at the wall clock. It was eleven-thirty. Plenty
of time to bake Toby’s favorite cookies if she had enough oats and raisins. She
needed to stay busy so she wouldn’t worry about why he needed to talk to her.
After she saw she had enough of the necessary ingredients, she felt happy to be
doing something positive for Toby. Divorced or not, they had a son, and they
needed to keep things cordial between them. He’d hurt her deeply, and she’d
gone through months of emotional lows with feeling anger and other times great
sadness. But she worried a lot about Josh and wanted him to see that his
divorced parents were able to get along.     

Toby  can eat some cookies here and I’ll send some home
with him.

She opened the cupboard to get a mixing bowl. Hopefully,
Samantha never baked oatmeal raisin cookies. That was
her
thing. Before
Toby arrived, she needed to say her daily prayer to God to watch over the
father of her child.

Had she made a mistake in marrying Toby? Maybe she’d still
be married if Jeremy had been her husband. God was clear on what was expected
of a married couple. He meant for marriage to be a lifetime commitment. His
plan for marriage was stated in Malaci 2:16:
I hate divorce, says the Lord
God of Israel
. But she couldn’t imagine not having Josh...their son was a
blessing 

 Even though, she could remarry because Matthew 5:32, clearly
said it was allowed when one committed fornication like Toby had, she wasn’t up
to trying again. A second marriage wasn’t going to happen even though her
Christian friends seemed to think it’d be fine for her. She feared a second
marriage might fail, and she couldn’t bear another divorce. Apparently, she
hadn’t been a good enough wife for Toby to remain faithful.  

Chapter Six

Mallory wore a new pair of dark jeans with a green and white
striped fitted top. She’d enjoyed buying a few new clothes in smaller sizes.
She was also glad that her hair was long enough to pull back in a short
ponytail. Toby used to tell her how cute she looked with her hair worn like
that. Funny, she thought her nose looked bigger without any hair around her
face.

She put the cookies on a pretty blue plate. The cinnamon she
put in the cookies had been a smart touch. Nothing smelled better than cinnamon
baking in the oven. The aroma of spices lingered in the air. Tapping the
countertop, she became impatient. What else could she do while waiting for
Toby?

Maybe make coffee
. She picked up the pot and filled
it with filtered cold water. After measuring the grounds, she decided to start
brewing the coffee because Toby would be arriving soon. It was two fifteen and
that was one thing about her ex-husband. He believed in being punctual.

What did he want to talk to her about anyhow? She’d told
Elizabeth and Heather that it wasn’t about him remarrying. She definitely could
rule that out since he’d just said today his relationship with Samantha wasn’t
serious.

A knock on the front door interrupted her thoughts. “Come on
in. The door’s not locked,” she yelled.

Toby walked into the kitchen, looking blond and handsome.
His eyes went from her face to the cookies. “I picked the right day to visit.”

She smiled. “I baked cookies. Would you like coffee with
them?”

“Sounds good.” Toby paused. “Josh asked me today when I’m
moving back home. Have you mentioned to him that’s a possibility?”

She held the coffeepot in midair as she stared at Toby. “Of
course not. He does miss us being here together, though. On Tuesday evening,
Heather came over and brought pizza. While she sat in your chair, Josh
commented how he liked her there. He asked her to come back to eat. I’m sure
he’d like for us to get back together. He hates seeing your empty chair.”

“I guess that’s normal. Kids can’t accept it when their
parents are divorced.”

“Josh is so little yet so that makes it even harder on him.”
Once seated at the table with their steaming cups of coffee in front of them,
Mallory said, “Please tell me what was bothering you when you called me last
Friday. I know you said later it was nothing. But at the time, it seemed like
something was terribly wrong to me.”

Toby didn’t answer. After a moment he exhaled a deep breath.
“I’m fine but when I talked to you on Friday, I was afraid something was
seriously wrong with me. I wasn’t feeling well so went to see the doctor. He
ordered a battery of tests because of some of my symptoms. I started thinking
what if I died without telling you how sorry I was. So that brief apology for
causing you pain was my way of covering all bases.”

Toby had thought he was dying. “So the tests came back
okay?”

He nodded. “Everything was stress related.”

She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “What
symptoms caused the doctor to order tests?”

He shrugged. “I overreacted. I had severe pain on my left
side. And my blood pressure was high in the doctor’s office. I was afraid I had
heart disease.”

“I can see why you might think that with those symptoms.” 

“I’ve had stress with my big cases. And I’ve been putting in
long hours at work.” He took a bite of cookie. “But I think it was good in a
way that I got a scare about my mortality. It got me to thinking. What if
something happened to me while Josh is young? So I took out additional life
insurance because if I die before he goes to college, it’ll pay for his
education. I should have other money for his needs, but I’d rather not worry
about his college.”

“I thought your firm gave you a $100,000 policy for a
benefit. I guess you don’t think that’s enough for college.”

He nodded. “I actually increased that policy to $200,000. I
want to make sure money won’t be a problem.”

“I appreciate that you want to provide for Josh.”

What if Toby died without being saved as a Christian? Since
he’d brought it up about his mortality, it shouldn’t hurt for her to ask him to
pray for his spiritual conversion. She couldn’t bear the thought of Toby not
being in heaven and having eternal life. “Since you took care of financial
matters, how about—”

“You have that look in your eye. I knew I shouldn’t mention
dying to you.”

“Well, your soul’s important. I can lead you right now in
prayer to accept the Lord.”

He frowned. “I heard you praying all the time for me while
we were married. I’m not a bad person. I think God gave us a brain to use, so I
don’t think we should hassle Him about every problem we have. But it works for
you to pray constantly so that’s fine.”

Should she mention the Bible verse about praying without
ceasing to Toby? Actually there were a lot of verses she could recite to him,
but he hadn’t listened to her while they were married, so why force the praying
issue right now with lots of Biblical reasons. She’d try another approach. “I
think my prayers helped you get your job.”

He looked uncomfortable. “I thought passing the bar might
have helped. Mallory, I do believe in God. Just not the way you do.”