The Problem with Dreams

Chapter 47 - Thanksgiving at Julie's

The Abernathys plus Zackary and Matt pulled out of the driveway from their Malibu Hills home. The gate closed behind them as Greg directed their car out onto the roadway that would take them to the highway and eventually to the freeway, headed for Los Angeles. It was early and although the sky had begun to grow light, the sun was not yet up beyond the horizon. The movement of the car combined with the early hour soon lulled all three kids in the back to sleep. Greg smiled as he saw them all leaning up against one another in their sleep through the rear view mirror.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep too?" Greg asked his wife as they reached the highway. "You're also short on sleep."

"I am, but I can't sleep," Susan told him. "I brought my Bible. I thought I might try to read once the sun comes up and we're on the freeway."

Greg arched his brow. "Are you really that nervous, Susan?" he asked softly.

"I know I shouldn't be. But I want to handle this well, Greg. I feel somehow it's important ... in the scheme of things," Susan told him seriously.

"In the scheme of things? You mean across all our lives, this one particular meeting is important?" Greg asked.

"I think across all our lives, this is the furthest we've gotten. The timing of this holiday family meal in relationship to the coming of the child is significant. This is where our union is either handled well or it's not in the eyes of the Lord and our family. Remember ... we always hid when I was pregnant before," Susan said. "Never before did we dare to do something like this."

"We hid only after you got large enough it was too uncomfortable for you to go into town," Greg recalled.

But Susan shook her head. "We were afraid of the villager's reactions as Katherine and Harald. They accepted our marriage as long as we lived on the edge of town, but to openly advertise our union by appearing pregnant in public and with you, we both felt wasn't wise," Susan said. "And yet hiding it ... as we had before as Jalyn and Cadence ... that's what they did wrong. They hid both their marriage and the children that resulted from it."

"Except they didn't. I took the boy to town ... that's what incensed them," Greg reminded her.

"Yes, but even then you were trying to hide him from some of the villagers, and we didn't do it together. We didn't face them," Susan pointed out. "I wasn't with you when you took him ... neither was little Marie."

"And you feel that's what today is all about," Greg said.

"I do. I agree the context is different ... we're facing your family at a holiday dinner, not confronting villagers at the well or in the marketplace," Susan said. "They've had time to accept our marriage ... to accept our family thus far. Maybe ... even though I'm a gentile ... perhaps they will be able to accept this."

Greg fell silent as he considered what she was saying.

"You attach far more importance to Ruth's acceptance than I previously imagined," he told her. "Do you truly see her as the modern equivalent of the villagers?"

"I see her as the modern person most likely to object," Susan said, "both for personal reasons and religious ones. Norma may too, but she isn't currently a part of our lives."

"No, she isn't ... and you might be right about that in regards to Ruth," Greg said as he thought about it. He fell silent for a while then said, "Pray Susan. Read your Bible and pray. I think you may be right; symbolically, today is a very important day."

They didn't talk any more as Greg drove. Susan was content to let him focus on his driving and Greg was unwilling to break Susan's concentration as she meditated, read her Bible and prayed.