"That's right, I did, didn't I?" she answered, before adding "Well, then, I guess you'll get to start it next time, okay?"
I laughed, and agreed "Deal!" – and getting a laugh in reply.
A few minutes later, we were both cleaned up (again), and had a little fun when we dried each other off.
Back in the den, we found Marilyn having as much fun watching cartoons as the kids, if her laughter was any indication.
Later that day, the five of us went out to a local park where Kelly and I played Frisbee with the kids, and watched as they played for a while on the jungle gym and other toys and rides. As I watched them, I could only wish (as I had so many times before) that I had even half the energy they displayed as they played.
When the kids were done, we all headed for one of the local shopping malls. These were something Marilyn was familiar with, since they had them in the Philippines. As we visited some of the different stores, I was careful to keep the kids from bothering them whenever Marilyn indicated that there was something of a personal nature that she wanted to buy. I saw her, and even Kelly, both give me grateful looks when I would suggest to the kids that while Marilyn was busy, we could go look at something else.
That night was pretty much a repeat of the night before, except that Kelly prepared supper for all of us.
Sunday morning, Marilyn was surprised (and somewhat overawed) when Bishop Ferguson showed up to give her a ride to church. After he brought her back, she told us that he'd picked her up that time just to make sure she knew she was welcome, and that he'd made arrangements for some other people in the area to get her to church and home again until she was able to drive herself. She knew that Kelly and I weren't religious, despite Kelly's having gone to a Catholic school, and was perfectly accepting of the fact that we didn't go with her.
When it was time to head over to Paul's, we all changed clothes and got into my car. Once there, Marilyn was quickly greeted and welcomed by everyone that had met her before, and could make it there. Candice was off on an assignment for the newspaper she wrote for, and couldn't make it – but Jan and the others made sure that Marilyn knew that Candice was looking forward to seeing her again, too.
Between Paul, his boys Leo and John, Sarah's husband Al and their two boys George and Mike, and Bill (my client that had sent me to the Philippines), Daniel had plenty of people to keep him entertained. Ditto for Janet, who had all the girls, Sarah, Bill's wife Trudy, and Paul's girlfriend Stacy.
The afternoon went by with all of us having a great time; everyone was eager to hear how things were going for Marlyn and Ted, and Marilyn had more than enough opportunities to tell everyone about what she planned to do in school, and how happy she was to see all of them again.
When the afternoon finally wore down and all of us were ready to go home again, Marilyn made it a point to stop and thank everyone for coming, and telling them how welcome they made her feel.
On the ride home, Marilyn (in the back seat between the kids so there wouldn't be any fussing about who got a window seat) told us "Thank you, Tito Dan and Tita Kelly, for this afternoon. It was so nice to see everyone again!"
Kelly turned her head to tell Marilyn "Marilyn, it doesn't have to be just this once that you see them. I know that any of them would be delighted to see you, any time you wanted to invite them over, or go over to their place."
Marilyn seemed a little unsure, and asked "Really?"
I caught her eye via the rearview mirror and answered "Really, Marilyn. You are family to us, and they are our friends; so if you will let them, they will be YOUR friends, too."
Reassured that she really was welcome to see them more, she got a happy look on her face before pointing something out to the kids.
The following couple of weeks, we settled into something close to a routine.
After Kelly and I left, Marilyn would catch a city bus to where her Drivers Ed classes were; each class was only a couple of hours, and the first week was spent in the classroom as they taught the students road signs, safety, and all the rest. After classes, Marilyn would come back home and carefully study the material she'd learned that day until Kelly or I brought the kids home. When the classroom instruction was done, an hour or so of each afternoon would be spent at a local game arcade, where she would use one of the road racing games to 'practice' driving. Since her goal was to be safe, versus go fast, her scores were abysmal – something that she took a measure of pride in. Sometimes, Kelly or I would go out with her in her car to let her get a little more practice. By mutual agreement, Kelly and I were intentionally harder on her than we knew the driving examiner would be – our thinking being that finding out how easy-going most examiners were would relax her for the test. We didn't tell her that, though, so the effect wouldn't be lost.
Inevitably, the day came for her to take her test. She passed the written part of the exam with a perfect score. She was visibly nervous when the road test began, but by the time she got back, we could see that she'd calmed considerably. When she got out of the car, she gave us a happy smile, and clapped her hands together in joy when the examiner told us "She did just fine – better than most I have to ride with! If she'll come inside, we'll have her temporary license ready in about five minutes; the regular one will arrive in the mail in a couple of weeks."
It was a very happy, very satisfied Marilyn that came out of the Motor Vehicles building, clutching her U.S. driver's license in her hand. When she got over to where Kelly and I, and the kids, were waiting, she told us "He was a much nicer man than I thought he would be. I thought that you were being kind to me when you were talking to me while I was driving, but you weren't!" – the last accompanied by a look of mild accusation. Kelly smiled and told her what we'd done – and why. Marilyn looked baffled for a few seconds, then understood – and promptly thanked us, admitting that when she'd realized how patient the examiner was, she'd relaxed a lot.
When Kelly and I insisted that she be the one to drive all of us home, she tried to protest – but not too hard, and looked inordinately pleased and happy during the trip.
For the first week or so, Marilyn would ask Kelly or me to keep her company whenever she had to go someplace – she was obviously timing her trips for when we would be home so that we would be available. We agreed, and soon realized that she was using us as a means of building her own confidence. With each assurance that she was doing fine, she got a little surer of herself, and it wasn't long before she was willing to drive herself wherever she needed to go, by herself.
With a driver's license and a car, there wasn't much keeping Marilyn from doing what she wanted to, when she wanted to. She didn't have the slightest hesitation about driving to school and getting herself registered, and buying the books she would need for her classes. She faithfully attended the couple of orientation classes the school held for new freshmen, and was ready to go when her classes started.
For our part, Kelly and I got the kids registered for their school: the primary section of the same Catholic school that Kelly had attended and Jan was teaching at. Jan was teaching the middle school kids, so it would be a few years before anyone had to be 'worried' about our kids being in one of Jan's classes.
A couple of weeks went by before Marilyn approached us with an idea: that she could easily pick the kids up from school, since she finished her classes a full hour before they got out. That way, Kelly and I wouldn't have to interrupt whatever we were doing, and could still be certain that Daniel and Janet were being taken care of properly. Marilyn assured us that the kids weren't any problem, and that she could study for her classes while the kids were home for those couple of hours until Kelly and I arrived.
It sounded like a reasonable thing to do, but Kelly and I were still a bit unsure. Not because we didn't trust Marilyn; far from it. Rather, we wanted to be sure that the kids wouldn't disturb her, and make it harder for her to study. Still, it did seem like a good idea, and we finally agreed to try it.
The kids, of course, thought it was a great idea: they got home sooner, and had Marilyn (who they adored) for company. Marilyn had gotten into the habit of showing us her homework and different quizzes after they'd been graded; after she started picking the kids up from school, we could see from the grades she was getting that she wasn't having any trouble keeping up with her schoolwork. Reassured that Marilyn's education wasn't suffering because of her willingness to try and help us, we decided that it would be appropriate to pay her for what she was doing.
That was the time we had our one and only 'argument' with her.
When we first brought up the idea, Marilyn was horrified, then adamant. We continued to try and reason with her, using every argument we could come up with, and finally got her to concede that watching out for the kids that way was something 'extra'. Then we had the problem of trying to negotiate payment with her – with a twist. Rather than us trying to get the price down, we were trying to convince her to accept more money. It was through a combination of cajolery, threats (to start picking the kids up ourselves, telling her that if she wouldn't accept payment then we weren't going to let her do it, among similar comments), and pure stubbornness that we finally got her to accept the princely sum of $75 a week – and even then, it took a lot of talking to convince her that it wasn't "too much". One of the things that motivated us was the fact that when she'd gone shopping, she'd bought the least expensive things she could, according to Kelly; we were sure that she was already on a tight budget, and wanted to do what we could to help.
The next few months went by quickly. Marilyn was delighted to help us plan a small party for the kids for Halloween, and was honored when she was included in the invitation to spend Thanksgiving at Paul's house.
She couldn't help but notice that Jan or one of the others would sometimes come by for a visit and spend the night with Kelly and me – but she never said word about it.
Marilyn's birthday was December 8th, and Kelly and I and the kids all took her out to eat by way of celebration – and to get her out of the house so Jan and the others could prepare the surprise party we'd planned.
And it was a surprise.
When we got home, Marilyn started to help get the kids out of the car, and Kelly told her to go on in – that she and I would take care of it, it being 'her' night. She smiled at us, and did as we said; we could hear her shriek of surprise when she saw everyone inside, and the birthday cake and trimmings.
The kids, Kelly, and I came into the house behind her, listening to all the laughter at the expression on Marilyn's face when she realized that all of the fuss was for HER. She turned and looked at us, and simply said "Oh, you!" – provoking another round of laughter.
She was guided to a seat on the couch, where Daniel and Janet eagerly joined her; happy as could be that their Tita Marilyn (she'd been teaching them Tagalog) was having a birthday party.
Over the next several minutes everyone took turns giving her the gift they'd gotten her. Robyn and the others had each gotten her some nice clothing. Paul gave her a solid gold crucifix with a diamond in the center and a gold chain so she could wear it around her neck. Bill's gift was a fancy graphing calculator that we'd seen her drooling over. Daniel and Janet had teamed up to get her a collection of Tom and Jerry cartoons (her favorites). Sarah and her husband had given her a very nice pen and pencil set. Finally, it was my and Kelly's turn – and she was in awe of the nice briefcase we'd gotten her; inside, she discovered that we'd included a high-end laptop, too. Crying, she tried to protest that it was too much, and it was Kelly that told her "Marilyn, if you're going to be an economist, you have to have the right tools. I'm sure that all of us know you will make us proud; but now you can do it without having to work so hard. Happy birthday!"
Marilyn started crying in happiness then, of course. I saw a brief wistfulness cross her face, and knew that what she really missed was having Marlyn and Ted there with us. As though on cue, the phone rang then – and when Kelly answered it, she got a mischievous smile on her face and held it out to Marilyn, telling her "It's for you."
It was a very perplexed Marilyn that stood up and went to the phone, wondering who could possibly be calling her at our place – then finding out: it was Marlyn and Ted, calling to wish her a happy birthday. The joy on her face was something to see; I think all of us had to blink back a tear at seeing how happy she was to hear from the only mother she'd ever known, and the only man she'd ever been able to call 'Papa'. Kelly and I knew that she'd been writing letters home, of course, and gotten replies; but we also knew that a letter was a poor substitute for actually talking to someone.
The rest of us kept ourselves amused – and out of earshot – as Marilyn spent nearly an hour talking with her family back in the Philippines. When she was done, she hung up the phone and came over to give me a big hug, saying "Thank you, Tito Dan. Momma told me that it was you that said they should call tonight."
I hugged her back, and then brushed a couple of tears from her eyes before answering "Happy birthday, Marilyn."
She gave me a happy smile, and went in to join everyone as the cake and ice cream were dished out – after she'd blown out all 18 candles, of course.
A few hours later, everyone had gone home, we'd put the kids to bed, and Marilyn was sitting in the den with us.
I saw her start to say something, hesitate, start again, stop again, and finally ask me "Tito Dan – Kelly – may I ask you something?"
Curious to know why she'd think she'd even have to ask such a question, I hastened to assure her that she could.
Another hesitation, and I listened as she told me "Tito Dan, Tita Kelly, when I was here before, with my Momma Marlyn, I know how happy and safe I felt here. And I know how kind you and all of your friends were to me and my Momma."
I nodded, and she went on "I also know that you made my Momma very happy when you made love with her – both of you. And I remember how afraid I was, that night, when I sat here on this couch and asked you, Tito Dan, to make love with me – and how much it hurt me when you told me 'no'. But I also remembered the reasons you gave me then; and it was a long time before I really understood them, even though I understood, a little bit, what you were saying even then."
I thought I knew where she was going with her little speech, and opened my mouth to say something – but stopped when she held her hand up to stop me and continued "I know how kind you and all of your friends were to help us, then, and the orphanage that I had to stay in – until you, both of you, got the job with the factory for my Momma Marlyn. You have all been so kind to us, and the children that are still in the orphanage, and I know that it will never be possible for any of us to repay you for the kindness and love that you have shown us. All I can do, Dan and Kelly, is to promise you that when I return to my country, I will do everything I can to help make the Philippines a good and honest place; a place where the politicians aren't dishonest, a place where poor people don't have to sell some of their children so they can feed the rest, a place where girls like me have the chance to earn money without having to sell their bodies."