"The people at the hardware store are convinced that we are eating the paint" said Patrick when he walked into the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm still trying to figure out how we have turned a project that was supposed to only take one can of paint into three" she replied with a laugh. She was sitting at the kitchen table where she had been taking a break while Patrick went to get more paint for Angela and the baby's bedroom.

"It is also a mystery how a project that was supposed to be done by lunch has turned into an all day project" he added

"At least we almost have the first coat of paint done" she said

"Yes, we are almost halfway finished" he replied

Shelagh got up out of the chair and the walked up the stairs to Angela and the baby's bedroom. Shelagh picked up the paintbrush to finish the trim and Patrick picked up the roller and they started painting again.


The afternoon dragged on, and felt like time was slowing down with each stroke of the brush that was made on the wall. In these moments Shelagh questioned if they would ever get done painting this room. Shelagh snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Patrick say "Hell's teeth" in an angry tone. Shelagh quit painting and walked over to him and asked

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get these lines to go away" he replied in a frustrated tone.

"I can barely see them and they will fade a little more when the paint dries" she said

"It just seems like the more I try to fix it, the worse it gets" he told her

Shelagh realized that he was talking about more than just the paint on the wall. Seeing Susan Mullucks come to clinic a few days earlier, it reminded him of the painful consequences of thalidomide and the blame he brought upon himself for prescribing Distaval to along with the other mothers he had given it to.

"Patrick, you were only doing what was best for and the other mothers at the time. There is no way that you could have known that Distaval would have such terrible side effects" she said

"The Mullucks are only at the beginning of the many obstacles that they will have to face with Susan because of medicine that I prescribed" he replied

"But you didn't know that thalidomide was harmful or I know that you would have never prescribed it to begin with" she told him.

"I try to tell myself that, but it doesn't help because it doesn't change the fact that Susan has deformed limbs" he said

"At least we know now that Distaval is harmful and we can prevent the same thing from happening to other families" she replied.

"I am grateful that we got an answer to the cause of more babies being born like Susan and for having a way to prevent it from happening again" he said.

Silence filled the room and they started to paint again. Time passed eventually they worked there way closer to each other.

Shelagh turned around to grab a rag and she felt her paintbrush bump into something. She turned to the side that Patrick was on to see beige paint smeared on Patrick's arm. She watched him look down at his arm and look up at her, unsure on how he would react.

"I didn't mean to do that I'm so sorry" she said

"Well that's how it is going to be?" he asked in a light tone

"How would you feel if I did this?" he added as he wiped his finger on his roller and smeared paint on Shelagh's face.

"Oh Patrick" she said as they laughed. He cupped his hand around her face and they embraced in a kiss.

"I think I solved the mystery of what is making this project last so long" she said in between kisses and giggled.

"Well I don't mind the delay" he replied