They went for a prelunch swim in the big family pool—the other was an adult-only lap pool. Simon had a blast on the water slides and tubes and the pirate ship playground built into one end of the pool. She splashed with him for a time, then sat in a lounge chair and watched him play with some of the other children—two of whom he knew from Explorers Club.
Though the pool was well monitored by lifeguards, Joanna never took her eyes from Simon. As she had every day, she snapped several pictures of him playing. She would make a photo book of their vacation for them both to enjoy and remember.
She smiled when she recognized a child splashing cautiously on the pool steps while clinging to a blond woman who tried to get him to go a bit farther into the pool. “Just go down one more step, Cody,” his mother urged. “The water feels good. It’s just like a big bathtub. Look, you can play with your boat.”
Cody whined and turned to bury his face in her thigh, shaking his head.
His mother sighed. “How do you know if you like it if you won’t even try it? Look at all the other kids. They’re having fun, aren’t they? Don’t you want to be like the other kids, Cody?”
Joanna almost winced, though she quickly schooled her expression.
Maybe Cody’s mother sensed something, anyway. She looked up at Joanna with an expression that could only be described as despairing. “I just want him to have fun. To try new things.”
Like the other children. The unspoken words seemed to hang in the air around them.
Joanna smiled. “I met Cody and his dad at the beach yesterday. Cody played for a little while with my son. He was obviously having fun. They both were. I’m Joanna, by the way.”
“I’m Leah.” But Leah didn’t appear to be in the mood to socialize. The stress Joanna had noted in Ken seemed magnified in his wife.
It was difficult again to put her career aside and not try to analyze the couple’s problems. Not that it took a psychologist to realize
that the challenge of parenting a child with special needs was taking a toll on his parents. Perhaps especially his mother.
She wondered when was the last time Leah and Ken had taken a short vacation away from their son to nurture their own relationship. That, too, was important for all parents. All parents who wanted to stay together, anyway, she amended. A whole different set of guidelines had been crafted for coparenting between separated or divorced couples. It was entirely possible she needed to refresh herself on those guidelines soon.
Hoisting her clinging son onto her hip, Leah muttered, “Let’s go find your daddy, Cody. You like to play with him.”
Giving Joanna a nod, Leah hauled her son away. Joanna could hear Cody saying, “Daddy, Daddy,” as they disappeared toward the lodges.
Shaking her head, she ordered herself to stop being a psychologist and concentrate on her own complicated situation. “Simon, it’s time to get out of the pool,” she called out, standing. “You need to have a shower and lunch before your field trip.”
Ninety minutes later, she walked Simon over to join his group at the van. Sea turtles seemed to rouse particular excitement in the six kids; all of them almost quivered with expectation as they leaped into the van. Joanna waved goodbye and then two of the other mothers, Brenna and Hillary, asked if she’d like to accompany them for cold drinks by the lake while their husbands played golf.
Brenna’s nine-year-old daughter, Addison, joined them, and Joanna was amused by how proud the girl was to be included in the women’s conversation. Joanna, Brenna and Hillary, who was pregnant with her second child, chatted superficially about a range of topics ranging from motherhood to popular literature to favorite recipes. The others learned during the conversation that Joanna was raising her son on her own.
“Sometimes I feel like a single mom, too,” Brenna confided. “When my husband’s not at the office, he’s spending hours on a golf course. But at least this time he brought us someplace we can all enjoy while he hits those stupid balls around.”
“I like it here,” young Addison agreed. “Everybody’s nice. My little sister Cami lost her favorite stuffed unicorn yesterday. Mr. Scott saw us looking for it and Daddy told him what happened, and Mr. Scott found it on the beach. Cami gave Mr. Scott a big hug when he brought it back to her. She almost knocked him down.”
Her mother laughed ruefully. “It was quite a family drama. I think Mr. Scott was a bit startled by Cami’s enthusiasm. Both he and Mr. Farrell are so accommodating. They and the rest of the staff certainly go out of their way to make their guests feel pampered, don’t they?”
Joanna tried to picture Adam being tackle-hugged by a tearful five-year-old. Her amusement had an oddly wistful edge to it. She wondered what these nice women would think if they heard exactly how Joanna was connected to “Mr. Scott.”
Addison rolled her eyes expressively when talking about her little sister, who was on the sea turtle outing with Simon and the others, but it was obvious she was fond of the child she called “the brat.” Patting her swollen tummy, Hillary said she hoped her daughter, Emily, who was also on the turtle expedition, would get along well with her new brother.
Still trying to stay involved in the adult conversation, Addison turned to Joanna. “Do you have any other kids, Miss Zielinski?”
“No, just Simon.”
Addison frowned as if it were hard for her to imagine life without her sister. “Don’t you want any more kids?”
Brenna cleared her throat. “Addison, dear, your questions are getting rather personal.”
Joanna silently agreed but decided a brief answer wouldn’t hurt. “I would have loved more children, but it just didn’t work out that way for me. Still, I consider myself very fortunate to have Simon.”
At thirty-three, she was young enough to have more children—but it wasn’t something she wanted to do again on her own. Her career was evolving, she was facing the big move, and she wasn’t dating anyone seriously enough to consider having children with him.
“Hi, Mr. Scott!”