Their Miracle Baby

Chapter 9

One of the younger men got up and added some wood to the fire, anticipating a good story. No one had missed the fact that Venetia and Lewis knew each other, but they knew little besides that. In a world where there was no television or other entertainment, stories were all that they had, and a new story was always the best.

The men went silent, making Lewis feel uncomfortable at first, but after another swig from the bottle, the alcohol loosened his tongue and he began to talk. Unlike the other times he’d told this story, he never made excuses for himself; even in his slightly inebriated state, he knew that these men would take no excuses.

As he told his story, he tried to distance himself from what had happened, to look at it from an outsider’s point of view. What he discovered was that he’d made mistakes from the very beginning, he should have taken more time to really get to know her. He should have given her more space. Instead, he’d let that force that seemed to make them lose control guide their relationship.

Seen from the outside, he’d done some very stupid things that had doomed their relationship from the start. He really couldn’t blame Venetia for any of it; he’d know how innocent she was, even though she was a grown woman. He’d taken advantage of their s*xual attraction to force a relationship that had no foundation. One of the biggest mistakes a man can make.

When he finished his story, the men were silent for a few minutes. They’d made little comments though out the story but now seemed to be forming opinions. Tradition held that the oldest man in the group would speak first, so Lewis looked to him for his opinion.

He took a swig from the bottle, then said, “You talked a lot about balance, but it seems to me that you don’t have balance in your life.”

Lewis stared at him for a second. He’d always been proud of his ability to balance the areas of his life. “That’s not true, I have plenty of things in my life besides work.”

The old man considered his words then said, “You can balance your time any way you want,” putting emphasis on the word time. “But that doesn’t mean that you have a balanced life. Why do you think you were so stuck on the idea of having a baby?”

“I just thought it would be a wonderful thing,” Lewis said, confused. He’d accepted that the baby had been a bad idea.

“But why? And once you had the baby, what would you have wanted next?”

“I don’t know, a new house maybe.”

“So, you would keep looking forward to what was next?”

“Yes, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?” Lewis said, a thought suddenly occurring to him. He’d been so busy planning their future, he’d forgotten about the present.

The old man just looked at him, waiting for Lewis to understand what he was trying to make him see. “I was so busy planning our future that I forgot to take care of the present,” he finally said.

“I think you might be beginning to understand,” the old man said, nodding to another of the men. He cleared his throat, as if what he was going to say was very important. “Here we teach our children that it is important to not only look to the future, but to enjoy the present. To absorb the people and places around you, to learn something each and every day. To us that is balance.”

Lewis considered his words, thinking about how he’d been living his life, moving from one goal to another. Always having the next big goal in sight. When he and Venetia had become involved, he’d known that she was the one for him. But instead of enjoying the process, he’d tried to skip over the part of their relationship where they built a foundation.

The part where they got to know each other, the part where they learned to compromise, and the most important part, making plans together. He’d decided how their relationship would go based on his goal of having a loving family. Then he’d become impatient when Venetia hadn’t been ready because he wouldn’t achieve his goal.

“I don’t know if I know how to live in the present. I’ve been living in the future so long, it’s the way I was raised,” Lewis said, feeling depressed.

“It is always possible to change ourselves if we recognize our short comings. But you have to want to change. Tomorrow, we will take you hunting. That will be your first step,” the old man said, challenge in his voice.

“I’ll be there, but I don’t know anything about hunting,” Lewis said, getting up from the ground, a little unsteady on his feet.

“After breakfast,” the old man said, waving Lewis away.

When Lewis walked away, the old man turned back to the group and said, “Ronnie has it easy, Venetia is a better student than that one.” And they all laughed.

Lewis could hear the men laughing as he made his way back to the medical hut; it was probably at his expense, but he didn’t care. The new definition of balance was swimming around in his head, making him question all the choices he’d made in the last few months. He didn’t know if he could retrain himself to live in the present, but what better place was there to do it than here.

Regardless of what happened with Venetia, he was going to be here for a while, maybe he could learn to slow down and just be in the moment. He had to admit that their idea of balance made more sense than the forced balance he’d been imposing on his life. Sleep took him as he was wondering what Venetia was dreaming about right then as always she was the last thing he thought about before he went to sleep, except tonight he simply pictured her where she was now instead of where he wanted her to be.

The next morning, they saw each other at breakfast but spoke little, their fragile truce still uncomfortable for both. Venetia was surprised when Lewis took his breakfast over to a group of the village men and ate with them. After he was finished, he approached her as she was heading to the medical hut.

“Do you think you can handle the patients today? I’d like to go hunting with the men.”

Venetia was even more surprised but decided that it would be good to not have him under her feet all day. “That’s fine. I don’t think it will be very busy today. We must have treated everyone yesterday.”

He laughed and said, “It sure felt like it. But I think they all waited for you. You’ve already made quite the impression with the villagers. I’m impressed.”

A little embarrassed, she said, “Thank you, I’m truly happy here. Not only am I helping, but I’m also learning. Ronnie is teaching me about the plants and how to heal with them. It’s exciting to think about all the possibilities.” Her excitement was evident.

The first thought that crossed Lewis’ mind was that if she liked it so much she might stay longer, messing up his plans. Then he immediately saw the error of his thoughts and said, “I’m glad you’re happy. I’ll see you later. Hopefully, it won’t be because you have to treat an arrow wound.” He then turned and walked away. Time to start learning how to live in the present.

Over the next few weeks, Venetia and Lewis devised a schedule that would allow them both to pursue other interests while keeping the clinic covered enough hours of the day to keep everyone healthy. Practicing medicine in the Amazon was not an easy thing to do, and there were many cases that they just couldn’t handle on their own. Some they managed to get to better facilities and some they just made comfortable until the inevitable end, but they both knew that they were making a difference in people’s lives.