A Marriage Meant To Be

‘N-not exactly,’ she stammered, surprised just how hard one simple phone call could be. ‘I—I wondered if Con has been in contact with you yet?’

‘No…As I said, I haven’t heard from either of you in…’ He stopped suddenly. ‘Callie? What’s the matter? You sound strange. Has something happened? Is Con all right? Are you?’

‘W-we’re all right…sort of,’ she said with a hitch in her voice as tears threatened. Martin was one of the few people who knew just how long the two of them had been trying to start their family. ‘I—I mean, we haven’t had any accidents or anything. It’s just…Con’ll be contacting you soon to do whatever you need to do to sort out about the divorce.’

‘Divorce?’ he echoed in disbelief, then burst out laughing. ‘Oh, very funny, Callie. You had me going there for a minute. If there’s any couple not likely to divorce it’s you and Con. So, why did you ring? Is it that invitation for a poor bachelor otherwise condemned to a diet of junk food?’

‘Martin, I’m not joking,’ Callie said as the tears started slipping down her cheeks. ‘I’ve moved out of the house…moved away completely so I won’t be an embarrassment to him when he—’

‘Callie, what the hell’s going on?’ he interrupted sharply, no laughter in his voice now. ‘You’re crazy about the guy and he loves you, too. What—?’

‘Not any m-more,’ she hiccuped, fighting the gathering flood of tears. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be in touch again as soon as I’m settled somewhere, so you’ll know where to send the papers.’

‘Damn the papers!’ he snapped, clearly rattled. ‘Callie, talk to me. Tell me what’s been going on. Something must have been, to get the two of you in such a state. And it must all be a monumental misunderstanding because there’s no way—’

‘I’m sorry, Martin, but I—I just can’t…can’t talk about it,’ she interrupted, hating to be rude to someone who had been a good friend to both of them, but this was so much harder than she’d thought it would be. ‘Speak to Con. He’ll tell you all about it.’

This had definitely not been one of her better ideas, she realised as she tried to mop up her tears without letting Martin know she was crying or attracting too much attention from the people around her.

She’d been waiting for Marian to say her farewells to Jess and the new baby before she drove Callie to see her new venture, and she’d decided to make use of the time by contacting Martin. She obviously should have waited until she was somewhere more private than a telephone kiosk that was little more than a clear plastic bubble.

‘I—I’ll call you in a little while,’ she promised before she fumbled the receiver into its cradle and sobbed.

A persistent tapping beside her head had her hastily smearing the tears away with both hands before she turned to face the elderly gentleman standing nearby.

‘Are you all right, missy?’ he asked in concerned tones. ‘Is there anything I can do?’

‘There’s nothing anyone can do,’ she said bleakly before she could put a curb on her tongue. ‘I’m sorry. That was rude,’ she apologised swiftly when he blinked at the rebuff. ‘I’m all right, really. I just…had some bad news and…’

‘Take yourself home and make yourself a cup of tea,’ he advised kindly, giving her arm a pat with a gnarled, blue-veined hand. ‘I find that even if it doesn’t make the problem go away, it sometimes makes it easier to cope with.’