When the Music Ends (The Winter Rose Chronicles) (27 page)

            Silence.
It was not a meaningless threat. The building company had worked heavily with
Daniel’s investment firm, so that they could provide retirement benefits
and mutual funds opportunities for their employees. If MC&R went to one of
his competitors, he would lose a substantial commission for himself and a
massive investment for his company.

            "Does
your father know about this?"

            "He
does. Oh, and just so you know, I’m a partner in this company now. And
how people treat my wife really matters to me. Keep that in mind, Daniel.
I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you want to do, but in case you
forgot, the wedding is Saturday at seven at Our Lady. I suggest you be there,
but either way, this conversation is never to be mentioned to Erin. Let her
think you love her enough to support her just this once."

            He
hung up.

            "Will
he come?" Roger asked, looking up from his desk in the little office
space the company owned downtown.

            "I
think so. I hated doing that. How stupid."

            "I
hate to say this, but both of the Jameses are pretty stupid."

            "Erin was lucky to have gotten the best parts of their personalities without all the
selfishness and greed."

            "You’re
right."

******

On Saturday, Erin put on her silver dress again and they all headed
to Our Lady Catholic Church to have their marriage sanctified. All the Murphys
joined them except for Jason, who was in a state of rebellion against both
marriage and the church. That was fine. Erin had always been a little afraid of
Jason anyway. Even though he was closer to her age, it was kind and friendly
Sean that she had fallen in love with. And now she was marrying
him…again. It was lovely.

            They
gathered at the front of the little chapel and the long wedding mass began. Erin tried to listen to the words that would turn their marriage from a legal to a
spiritual one, but it was impossible to concentrate. Despite their years of
closeness and intimacy, Sean still captured her attention like no one else.
Just before it was time for them to say their vows, the door at the back of the
room opened and closed quietly. Erin was facing forward and didn’t turn
around. Her attention was focused on her husband, whom she vowed, again, to
love, honor, and cherish until death did them part. This time they were
promising to God, not just to the laws of the land, and that made it all the
more serious, solemn, and beautiful. Erin’s shy smile was breathtaking as
Sean, his voice confident, promised to love his wife for the rest of his life.
It was the easiest promise he had ever made.

            And
then it was over. Sean kissed his bride gently on the lips and turned her
around to face the small group in the room. As they were presented, Erin took in the beaming faces before her. Ellen, Roger, and Sheridan were all looking on
approvingly. A little apart from them, a tall dark-haired man was sitting in a
pew, nodding. Her lips parted in surprise.

            The
wedding over, the couple was dismissed and Erin went straight to her father.

            "Oh
Daddy, you came. Thank you." She hugged Daniel tight. He hugged her back.
He had not been a cruel father, just a distracted one. But he did love Erin, in his careless way. She knew he did, and she could tell by his expression how seeing
her here, seeing how her face lit up, how her eyes filled with tears, just
because he had taken an hour out of his schedule for her, told him something he
had never realized before.

            "Congratulations
pumpkin," he told her gently.

            "Thank
you."

            He
released her with a kiss on the forehead and turned to shake Sean’s hand.
Sean looked at his father-in-law with approval. Although it had required
nothing short of blackmail to get Daniel here, something about his expression
and demeanor said that he finally understood a few things about his daughter
and his own responsibilities. The past couldn’t be changed, but perhaps
the future could.

            The
family was going back to the Murphy house for dessert and wine (sparkling grape
juice for the bride) and Roger graciously extended the invitation to Daniel,
who, shockingly, accepted. Between getting married in a way that Ellen Murphy
approved of, and seeing her father, and her absolute delight over finally being
pregnant with Sean’s baby again, Erin was glowing with joy. Her face
looked angelic. Her husband was also beaming. His marriage to Erin was so far
simply wonderful. He had chosen well.

In the week that remained before the girls had to return to school, Erin took care of one more piece of business. She ferreted out a midwife group and got a
checkup. They were wonderful ladies who simply adored delivering babies. Erin asked about home birth and received a great deal of information. She also made
appointments to meet with them each month. This would mean taking one day off
from school in February, but spring break and Easter would provide natural
opportunities. These visits would also somewhat ease the pang of separating
from her husband. She would come home to him once a month and that helped.
Finally, with many kisses and a few tears, Erin returned to the university with
Sheridan to complete their last semester of undergraduate studies.

            As
Sheridan had predicted, it was a doozy. Erin had begun preparations for her
senior recital at the very beginning of the year, but there was so much left to
do that she was completely overwhelmed. And that was not all she was working on
either. Music majors have so many extra classes to take that she had a full
schedule of coursework and studying as well. And as predicted, she had to rely
heavily on her friend to help her out. She had finally gotten over her
reticence about calling Sean and it made her feel considerably better every
time she heard his voice. But really it was just a hard, very demanding
semester.

            With
everything she was doing, Erin had to spend long hours in the music building
late at night, practicing. This was starting to take a toll on her. Sheridan became rather alarmed at how little sleep Erin was getting, but there simply
weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. It would have
been a strain on anyone, but Erin was pregnant and that made it worse.

A couple of weeks later, Sheridan came back to her dorm room to find
Erin lying on her side on the bed, tears streaking down her cheek, her hand on
her belly.

"What’s wrong?" she asked, alarmed.

"I’m cramping." Erin gagged, swallowed hard.

"Are you bleeding?"

"No, not that."

"Have you been throwing up?"

"Yes." The expectant mother shot her friend a slightly
hysterical look.

"Oh Lord. Did you call your midwife?"

Erin shook her head, she’s been too panicked even to think of
it, remembering the trauma of her previous miscarriage, so Sheridan grabbed the
business card from the bulletin board beside the computer desk and dialed. She
talked to the midwife for a few minutes and then walked into the bathroom,
scooping up a big plastic cup from the desk as she went by. She emerged with
the cup brimming with water.

"The midwife said you’re probably exhausted and
dehydrated. She said you should drink a bunch of water and lie down and rest.
If the cramping doesn’t subside after a couple of hours, go to the
clinic."

Erin took the cup and sipped. Once she had downed all the water, she
lay back down on her side and tried to rest. Sheridan pulled up a chair beside
her and distracted her from obsessing about her condition by telling a long
story about Dr. Burke. About an hour later, the cramping stopped, the nausea
subsided. Erin sighed with relief.

"Now listen, Mrs. Murphy," Sheridan said sternly,
"you need to take better care of yourself. No more of this staying up
half the night practicing, and you be
darn sure
you have water with you
all the time."

"Yes ma’am," Erin replied weakly. Sheridan was
going to be a great professor someday.

"And you had better plan to stay in bed for a few days and get
your strength back."

"I can’t. I have too much to do."

"Erin, sweetie, your baby is more important. I’ll help
you out, but please, you have to rest."

"Okay."

As Erin had done for her in high school, Sheridan went to her friend’s
professors and explained the situation, collecting homework so she could stay
current with her studies. The rest did Erin a world of good. The following week
she was able, cautiously, to resume her schedule.

            As
winter passed into spring, all the pieces of Erin’s life began to come
together. The plans for her senior recital were finalized, all the arrangements
made and confirmed, the pieces chosen, and she had passed her preliminary jury.
She was working on one special arrangement in her senior music theory class
that she would use to finish the little concert. Really, all that was left was
to keep up with her coursework and practice like a fiend. That, and talk to
Sean. As the big event neared, she told him more and more how scary it was.

            "I
just don’t know how I’m going to get through it. The music is too
hard. I’m going to mess up and not graduate. Why did I have to push it so
much?"

            "Because
you’re Erin. You wouldn’t be my baby if you let yourself settle.
Remember how it was in high school? You weren’t satisfied until you were
first chair oboe in all state, accepted to every college you wanted to go to,
and dating someone six years older. You have always gone for what you wanted,
and gotten it. What you want now is a spectacular senior recital, and
you’re going to do it. Do you want me to come up for it?"

            "Oh,
that’s okay Sean. It’s really mostly technical music, and not very
pretty. I doubt you would enjoy it. It’s kind of a concert for music
teachers, you know?"

            "Are
you sure?"

            "Sure.
I’ll see you next week at spring break and tell you exactly how it went,
okay?"

            "Okay.
Hey, is my sister there? Can I talk to her for a moment?"

            Erin handed the phone to Sheridan and walked into the bathroom. She needed to pee as usual,
and she was really tired. When the conversation was over, she was going to go
right to bed, so she might as well brush her teeth.

            "Danny,"
Sean said, "something feels funny. Erin tells me I don’t need to
come up for her recital, but that can’t be right. Should I plan to be there
anyway?"

            "Sean,
you absolutely
have to
come to this. It’s the culmination of …
well of her whole life, really. You know Erin. She never asks for anything,
especially if it seems like a bother to someone. This is one of those big
gestures I was talking about over Christmas. She needs you to be there, even if
you don’t actually enjoy the music, and to be honest, some of it is
pretty out there. The point is that you need to be there for her."

            "That’s
what I thought. What about if I ask mom and Dad to come too?"

"Great. And see if you can bully Erin’s dad into making
it."

            "Good
idea. I’ll see what I can do."

            Sheridan looked at the bathroom door. She could hear water running inside.

            "There’s
something else."

            "What?"

            "Erin needs new clothes. She’s not fitting well into her regular stuff anymore, and
she’s really uncomfortable. Plus, her concert dress is so fitted, if she
tries to fasten it, she’ll rip out all the seams."

            "Is
she really that big already? It’s only been a few weeks since she was up
for that appointment."

            "I
know, but a few weeks in pregnancy make a big difference. She’s about
halfway through now. And she’s not huge, but she’s showing. She has
this little belly, and her jeans don’t fasten anymore. But she
doesn’t have money."

            "I
can afford new clothes for my wife."

            "I
know. But does she? I know you two have talked about your feelings, but have
you ever talked about your finances?"

            "Not
really. But listen, I’ll take care of this. I can get another credit card
on my account in her name and send it to her. I can’t believe I
didn’t think of it sooner. I must be brain dead. Can you take her
shopping? Make her buy what she needs?"

            "I
can try. Send me the card though or she might send it back. This is Erin we’re talking about after all."

            "Good
thinking."

            Erin walked out of the bathroom in her Tweetie Bird sweatpants and an oversized tee shirt
with an oboe on it. Sheridan handed her the phone.

            "Hi
again love," she said.

            "Hey
sexy baby. What are you wearing?"

            Erin looked down at her sloppy pajamas and laughed. "Nothing special."