Page 49 of SEAL'S Baby Surprise
Austin lets go of me, and gets a basin filled with tepid water. He is also carrying a soft, terry cloth.
Mrs. Hubbard places my hand into the basin, then uses the soft cloth to sponge away the slowly congealing butter. She uses patting, squeezing motions that are only vaguely painful.
“There now,” she says, gently patting the reddened skin dry. Julia comes running back with a potted plant in her hand. Mrs.Hubbard carefully cuts one fat leaf off the lower part of the plant, splits it down the middle, and squeezes the juice out of it.
I sigh with instant relief. “What is that?” I ask.
“Aloe vera,” Mrs. Hubbard explains. “Good for minor burns, insect bites, and such. I try to keep several growing in my kitchen and around my house.”
“How long have you lived here?” I ask.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she says. “Several months. Aloes grow in pots, so they are easy to take from one place to another.”
Austin looks vaguely uncomfortable, so I don’t ask any more. But Mrs. Hubbard seems in a mood to share. “I moved here when Austin needed someone to vouch for him with Family Services. He was one of my students when I was teaching middle school English. Such a good boy, he was. Late with his homework sometimes, but never a scrap of trouble in the classroom.”
Austin’s face gets red. “I wasn’t that good,” he says.
“Well, maybe a little trouble,” Mrs. Hubbard says. “Especially if he was sitting next to Isabel. Ah, she was a wild one, that girl. Austin got suspended for three days because of her.”
“My Daddy got suspended?” Julia asks.
Mrs. Hubbard laughs. “Oh, he sure did. Randal Garcia kept teasing Isabel about her mama. Isabel called him a name, he called her one back, and Austin hit him right in the nose. It made quite a mess.”
“My dad wasn’t happy,” Austin puts in. “But he understood when I told him why. Then he talked to Mr. Garcia, which caused another mess that almost got my dad put in jail. But not quite.”
“Wow!” Julia says, her eyes big and round.
“It was a long time ago,” Austin says. “Almost like another lifetime. Would you like to have supper with us, Mrs. Hubbard? Lee made plenty, and she was doing a good job of it until she thought she had heat-resistant skin.”
The praise warms me, and almost makes the pain worthwhile.
“I’ve already had my dinner,” Mrs. Hubbard says, “But I’ll have a cup of tea and sit with you for a while.”
Austin puts ice into glasses for all of us and pours the mint tea.
Julia nearly falls asleep in her supper and goes off to bed without any argument. That leaves the three of us sitting beside the dying embers in the charcoal grill sipping our tea.
“How is Julia doing?” Austin asks.
Mrs. Hubbard laughs. “You know I won’t give you anything specific while you have someone else around,” she says. “But I will tell you that she is generally doing well. You might ask her how she is doing.”
Austin nods. “I get it. But Lee won’t be a problem.”
“That is as it might be,” Mrs. Hubbard says. “But let’s talk about something else. Lee, did you talk to the people over at the Family Clinic?”
I feel my face grow hot.
“Why the clinic?” Austin asks.
“Regular checkup,” I say. “It’s been a while since I last saw a gynecologist. My mother used to make me go.” I add the last, feeling my face get even warmer. I take a sip of my iced tea, trying to cool down.
“Lee told me you kids had been using condoms,” Mrs. Hubbard says so matter-of-factly, she might have been saying something like you put mustard on your sandwiches. “While that’s always a good idea, you know they aren’t reliable.”
“I know,” Austin mumbles. “That’s how Izzy and I got Julia.” Then he lifts his head and looks at his old teacher directly. “But I’m not sorry. My Judy-Rudy is all I have left of Izzy now.”
“I know,” Mrs. Hubbard says gently, “but you don’t want to have another mishap, do you? I’ve not heard a word about marriage between the two of you.”
Panicked, I burst out, “No marriage! No way.”
