Lucy
1. When she was little, she thought—she knew—she would grow up to be the ideal woman—leader of her society, mother of several children, devoted wife and homemaker. She thought she would stay where she was born, never thought she'd go anywhere for too long. And when she grew up and married Jude, and they were living in New York as Hippies, she thought of herself as a little girl and could only laugh.
2. When Daniel died, her heart split. It was as though someone had stuck a knife through the crack that had developed when he had gone off and only widened it. And she was miserable. He was the first boy she'd ever known, the first one who'd asked her out and she hadn't minded accepting—and she really had liked him. But when he died, she realized it was just that. She liked him, and she'd had a crush on him the entire time she'd known him, and she was sad when he died—but she wasn't heart-broken. She knew she could get over it. It was how he'd died, where he'd died that really bothered her. Daniel was a good man; he should have passed away at an old age in his bed with his family near by. And yet, he'd been shot, in Vietnam, involved in a war that had absolutely nothing to with him. That got her angry.
3. It wasn't just the draft letter that freaked her out before she came to New York. It was the thought of all those people. And Max was such a people person—what would he do? Would he think of her in the same way as he'd thought of her before? Or would he pity her because she'd lost her boyfriend and keep her wherever he was living… but she shouldn't have been worried about that. Max was Max, for goodness' sake. He took her out to Sadie's gig the first night she was there, and he introduced her to Jude… He introduced her to him, and for that, she would always be indebted to her brother.
4. The League of Spiritual Deliverance… They were so young, and so innocent, and totally in love and infatuated. She couldn't stop hugging Jude, and he couldn't stop hugging her, and it was like they were permanently attached to each other, and Max was laughing at them, and Sadie and Jo-Jo were singing to themselves, and Doctor Robert had given them this drink that was sweet and so nice… she doesn't remember how they ended up on the roof of the bus, looking over the rail and laughing and hugging and singing. Well, it wasn't really singing, she supposed later, when they were mostly in their right minds. But then they went and saw Mr. Kite's circus, and she couldn't help but feel a little crazy… they all did.
5. When Max left for Vietnam, a little part of her shattered. Because her big brother was going away for God knew how long, and maybe he wouldn't come back… and who would protect her? Who would she protect? She truly, sincerely loved Max, her brother, her friend.
But she loved Jude too, in a different, more passionate sort of way, but just as much as she loved Max. And she was confused…so confused… when he couldn't understand that. So she ignored it, the fact that he was apolitical, that he really couldn't help her with this one the way she wanted him to. And then, when she realized that she couldn't ignore it anymore, she hated herself. She couldn't hate Jude—never Jude—but she could hate herself. So she threw herself into her work some more, and when he came into their office… Why did he make her do this? Why did she have to choose between her brother and her lover? She hated that, too. And she couldn't see a way out—she was just making them both herself and Jude miserable, wasn't she? So maybe if she left him, he would just move on, and Max would come home.
She was numb when she packed and headed off to her friend's place for the night.
6. But it was when she was locked in that phone booth that she realized how much she loved Jude. And for the first time—the very first time—her heart broke.
7. It sewed right back up again when she saw him on the rooftop, singing to her—she needed love, she needed Jude. And when they were on the street again and locked in a permanent embrace, she was happy for the first time in months. It all came to her, how much she loved him, how much it all meant to her, and—and—
She was glad.
8. Their wedding was pretty small, and extremely impromptu. Her immediate family had managed to make it, and her mother had brought over an orange dress that she'd once worn to a wedding. Jude was in the same garb he'd worn that first thanksgiving, and Max was his best man, while Prudence and Sadie were her maids of honor. There was no isle, only Sadie's living room floor, and their preacher was Jo-Jo, who skipped a considerable amount of text. She was impressed—Max kept pretty still until Jude was told to kiss the bride. He gave them a total of five seconds before he told his best friend to get off his sister already. And she never regretted the size or importance of her wedding—it suited their style, and it didn't matter, as long as she was with Jude in the end.
9. They had to settle down eventually, she supposed. They moved out of Sadie's, got their own apartment only two blocks away, and Jude got work designing Sadie's album covers. Lucy herself gone to college for two years before her marriage, and she pulled herself together afterwards and finished it—and there was always work for a music major at Strawberry Jamz. So they got on alright, and never gave her parents any cause to complain about their lifestyle.
10. She had three children because she thought the number would be nice—sure, it was narcissistic, but they were the most adorable kids, and she loved them just as any mother would anyways. And she'd liked growing up in a big family, and Jude loved his children, so she wasn't too nervous when she told him she may be having a fourth. He grinned and teasingly told her she'd grown far too confident in the last few years. And she told him he'd made her that way—not that she'd started out particularly low on self-esteem. He laughed and kissed her.
So she supposed, after all these years, after all the trouble they all went through… she was happy.
