Judy Christenberry - Rebecca's Little Secret

JEFF AND REBECCA SAT with Joey between them. He leaned against his mother most of the time, but Jeff kept a hand on his shoulder. “Are you hanging in there, Joey?” he asked.

As Betty had said, Joey’s tooth was wrapped in ice, and Joey held a bag of ice on his mouth, too. He lowered the ice. “Sure. It doesn’t hurt much.”

“Keep the ice on your mouth, sweetie,” Rebecca said, squeezing Joey’s hand. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”

“No, it shouldn’t since Dr. John’s last patient went in half an hour ago. Then we’ll find out what can be done for your tooth, Joey.”

“I’m sure it was a baby tooth,” Rebecca said again, as she had several times earlier. “His adult teeth won’t come in for a couple of years.”

“We’ll wait and let Dr. John decide that.” Jeff stretched out his legs, trying to ease the tension he felt. He’d found it more difficult to withstand Joey’s pain than anything he’d ever suffered himself, including a broken bone when he was playing football in high school.

The nurse returned to the waiting room to call Joey in. Both Rebecca and Jeff got up and accompanied him to the door.

“Hello, Jeff,” the man in a white coat said in greeting. “Why don’t you introduce us?”

“Sure. This is my son, Joey, and his mother, Rebecca Barlow.”

“Hello. I’m Dr. John Ballard. Now, let’s see what happened, Joey. Can you smile for me?”

Joey took down the ice pack and bravely tried to smile.

The dentist patted Joey’s back. “Good try. Now I’m going to lift your lip, okay?”

Joey nodded.

The doctor looked at Joey’s gums. Then he asked if the tooth had been saved.

Rebecca handed him the tooth wrapped in a clean cloth and buried in a bag of ice.

Dr. Ballard set the bag of ice down on a nearby table, withdrew the cloth and unwrapped the tooth. “This is a baby tooth. There doesn’t appear to be any damage to his gums or any future teeth. His replacement tooth might not come as soon as we’d like, but it will come in.”

“Is there anything we should do?” Rebecca asked anxiously.

“You might give him some children’s Tylenol to ease the pain, and use ice until the swelling of his lips goes down. If he continues to have pain, call me.”

“Thank you for seeing us today,” Rebecca said with a genuine smile.

“Yeah, John, we appreciate it,” Jeff added.

“You might want to get his teeth cleaned in six months or so. Give my nurse a call.”

After they left the dentist’s office, Rebecca said, “I like him. I may start going to see him, too.”

“He’s married.” Jeff was trying to eliminate the dentist from any potential flirting with Rebecca, just as he had Bill.

Rebecca gasped. “Should that make a difference?”

“I just wanted you to know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, hoping she wouldn’t guess his reasoning.

“All right.”

They got into Jeff’s car and rode silently back to Vivian’s home. Jeff got out of the car with them and came in. As soon as everyone knew they were back, they crowded around Joey as if he were returning from war.

Betty offered Joey a bowl of ice cream. Peter offered to do anything Joey wanted. Vivian was sure he needed to go to bed at once. Will promised to teach him how to avoid such pain in the future, and Vanessa was giving him kisses.

“I feel totally useless,” Jeff muttered.

“You weren’t useless at the doctor’s office,” Rebecca told him. “That’s the first time I’ve had someone to rely on when we had an emergency. I appreciate it.”

“Have you had a lot of emergencies?”

“Once, when he was eighteen months, he swallowed a penny. Another night, he ran a very high fever, and I had to take him to the emergency room because I was afraid he had some horrible disease. The waiting is painful when you’re the only adult, and you’re not sure if you’re doing the right thing.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.”

“Well, we both know that’s my fault.” She moved away to stop the conversation. “I think Joey needs to go to bed, and I’ll bring him up a tray of food. Maybe a grilled cheese sandwich and some tomato soup, Betty, if that’s possible?”

“’Course it is. I’ll have it ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you so much. Tell everyone good-night, sweetie.”

“But, Mommy, I think I should get to watch television,” Joey informed her.

Rebecca didn’t get angry. She just smiled and said, “And I think you should do as I said. Up the stairs and into your jammies.”

He gave in easily, which showed her how tired he really was. Trauma always wears out a person.

“May I help you put on your pajamas and get ready for bed?” Jeff asked.

“Hey, yeah, ’cause we’re both boys,” Joey agreed, intrigued with that idea. “Mommy, can he help me?”

“Of course. That would be nice. I’ll go find your pajamas while you wash your face and hands.”

The three of them left the family and climbed the stairs. “I can see why Joey might be spoiled a little. They’re very loving,” Jeff said.

“I don’t think you can have too much loving. When we lived in Arkansas, there was only me and Joey, and Mrs. Button, who baby-sat him. We’ve really enjoyed having family here.”

“I know what you mean. I haven’t had any family since my uncle died. At least none that I knew of.”

Rebecca refused to say anything else about their situation. Joey and his dad took a long time in the bathroom. Rebecca handed in the clean pajamas. Then she told them she was going down to get Joey’s dinner.

When she came back up with the tray, Joey was in bed and Jeff was reading him one of his favorite books. She waited until Jeff finished the book. Then she asked him to pile up the pillows so Joey could eat. They both teased him into eating most of his dinner.

Rebecca gave him two children’s Tylenol tablets and watched his eyelids grow heavy. She kissed him good-night and encouraged him to hug his daddy’s neck. Then she told him she would leave the light on in the bathroom and he should call her if he needed her.

“Maybe I should stay. I could sleep in the other bed in his room so he won’t bother you.”

“He won’t bother me. I said that so he’d know he wasn’t alone, but he’s going to sleep well tonight.”

“I feel like I’m not being very helpful.”

“I told you I appreciated your going with us to the dentist. That helped a lot.”

As they came down the stairs, Betty came running down the hall. “Mr. Jacobs! I forgot to tell you to call your office when you got back. Your fiancée was there waiting for you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Jeff. You shouldn’t have gone with us. I didn’t know you had a date with Chelsea.” Rebecca felt terribly guilty.

“Damn! May I use your phone?” he asked Betty.

“Of course you can. And Miz Vivian said to ask you to stay for dinner. It will be ready in five minutes.”

“Let me see how things stand with Chelsea. Then I’ll let you know.”

Rebecca was going to excuse herself, but Jeff caught her hand and stopped her from leaving the library. “Chelsea? I hope Harriet told you about the emergency.” He stood listening for several minutes. Rebecca looked away. “I see. Well, then, I’ll see you Saturday morning. I’ll pick you up at nine, okay?”

After a brief moment, he hung up the phone. “That’s interesting,” he said.

That remark got her attention. “What was interesting?”

“It appears Bill took Chelsea out to dinner and then took her home. Her only complaint is that he refused to kiss her good-night.”