A Year Later
Millie wandered into the dining room to find Max and his family involved in a lively discussion. 18 month old Thomas was in sitting his chair with something she had put on the Banned Foods list on the tray in front of him. Millie removed the offending item and held up a banana, waited for a lisping "thanks Mummy" and then handed it to him. Mrs Carter watched her latest attempt to indulge her grandson thwarted by his overly strict mother. But she didn't say anything. She took silent satisfaction in her conviction that Millie would learn soon enough, the hard way, that the old ways were always best.
Millie sat down beside Max, who put an arm around her shoulder.
"Mill, just listen to what my mother wants to do to our son."
"What do you mean 'wants to do to'? All I said was that it would be lovely to get him to wear that little sailor suit you had when you were a boy, you know Millie, the one he's wearing in that photo."
Millie knew the photo. She and Max exchanged amused glances. "I can't really see Thomas in that sort of outfit, Mum. Fashions have changed since then." Millie was thinking that sailor suits weren't in fashion for boys when Max was a baby in the 70s either, but she had to bite her tongue on that one.
"But he would look so adorable!" insisted Max's mother.
"Remember Mum, he's not a doll to dress up for our own amusement. He's a little person. How could he play comfortably in an outfit like that? He might tear it, or get it dirty." Max sat quietly, happy to have Millie laying down the law on this one.
"Ah but Millie, you know what Max is like," butted in Mag with a gleam in her eye. "Imagine how insufferable he'd be if he'd never had the humiliation of being photographed in that suit!"
The women all laughed.
"I don't know why I bother even showing up to these lunches," said Max reproachfully. "All you ever do is humiliate me in front of my partner and child."
"Ah you see, if you were a married man you would get more respect," said his mother significantly.
Millie could feel a lecture coming on. She looked over at her son.
"Well, Thomas is a real mess now. I'd better take him out and clean him up."
She took Thomas from the chair and put him on the floor, and he toddled along beside her and out the door.
"So how's Millie coping with work and everything?" asked Johanna.
"Well, I think," replied Max. "She's happy that Thomas is in safe hands with Mum, and he enjoys his days at childcare too. Millie was very worried about leaving him at first. And of course she copes a lot better now she's not breastfeeding. Expressing was a real nuisance then."
"Poor girl, I know she didn't want to stop. Still she did really well going for nearly 17 months," said Mag admiringly.
"Thomas biting her was the final straw I think. She took that as a real rejection."
"I can think of a way you can make her stop feeling rejected," interjected Mrs Carter.
Max sighed. "Would that be, a/ by marrying her, or b/ by having a second child, Ma?"
"This time, the wedding before the child. You don't want to have two bas… two born the wrong side of the blanket."
"Ma, Thomas is being raised in a loving home by two loving parents. What difference would marriage make?"
"None, in anyone's eyes but the Lord's, of course. But why not do it? Don't you love each other? It's absolutely no skin off your nose!"
Max threw a hand into the air. "If you'll excuse me, I'm off to find my bastard son and his strumpet of a mother."
Max's mother gasped in horror but his sisters laughed.
As he walked off in search of Millie, Max worked over yet again the issues his mother had raised in his head. Why shouldn't they get married? It wasn't something he and Millie had really discussed. The only time the topic was raised was by his mother, and he and Millie just laughed it off whenever she mentioned it. Max had no idea what Millie thought about that type of commitment. He knew that she didn't want him to turn into his father, or, heaven forbid, herself to become like either of their mothers, but that was as far as his knowledge of her thoughts on the matter went.
He walked into the front sitting room to find Millie and Thomas playing happily in there. Thomas walked towards him saying 'Da Da' when he entered the room. Max scooped his son up in his arms and went to join Millie on the couch.
"I just called you a strumpet and Thomas the 'b word' to my mother."
"And to think I missed this! How did she react?" laughed Millie.
"She was upset, of course. She likes raising this whole second child thing a lot at the moment."
"Well, I can see why. Thomas isn't a baby any more. I must admit I kind of miss having a baby myself," said Millie.
"Are you saying, we should start…working towards a second child?"
"Maybe. How do you feel about that?"
"Gee, it's a big step, but luckily I enjoy the whole baby creation process a hell of a lot."
"Me too," said Millie, as Max pulled her forward with his free arm and kissed her.
Millie continued, "And of course at your age, it's not like we've got forever to produce that family of four we've always wanted."
Max feigned indignation. "At my age! I'm only 36. You're the one with the reproductive use by date!"
"Many, many years into the future yet, thank you very much."
Thomas struggled his way out of his father's arms and over to some toys, so Max took this opportunity to throw Millie backwards on to the couch.
"I don't know, I think we'd better get onto this straight away."
"Max, you'll warp Thomas!"
"He's not even looking. Anyway, there's not a male in this world who wouldn't benefit from instruction in the Max Carter Style of Seduction."
"I thought the Max Carter Style of Seduction was only meant for me. I'm going to be a busy woman if all males have to learn it. But if warping Thomas doesn't get you off me, might I point out that your mother could walk in at any moment."
Max loosened his grip on Millie and they both sat up again.
Millie grinned at him. "The mother threat works every time! And by the way I notice you didn't even flinch at my family of four line."
Max's face turned serious. "Speaking of my mother, she was asking yet again when we are getting married. I was thinking, well, should we?"
Millie was stunned by the question. "Max, I never expected this. Um, I don't know. I mean we're committed to each other, aren't we, so in that sense why not? But I must confess I've never had a hankering to appear in front of a large group of people in a frilly white dress. What do you want to do?"
"I guess I feel roughly the same about it as you, especially about not wanting to appear in a white dress" Millie laughed at his little joke. She was pleased he wasn't being too solemn about the whole thing. "But seriously, I think why not? It would make everyone very happy – including us I hope – and it would be nice for Thomas and babies 2,3 and 4."
"And there's the added bonus of me getting jewellery," added Millie. "Have I made it clear I'm not a fan of diamonds?"
"Yes I think you have mentioned that once or twice. I'm pleased to see how swept up you are in the romance of this moment."
"You know me, Mercenary Millie! All I care about is jewellery, and I'll do anything for it."
'I think you still owe me then for the emerald earrings I gave you at Christmas. I will be exacting payment when we get home."
Max leaned forward and kissed her, just as Mag walked through the door.
"Taking Mum's comment about another child seriously I see then, Brother?" she said. "Mum wants to know if you're coming back for coffee and cake now."
"Yes, we're on our way," Millie watched as Thomas toddled after his aunty.
"Shall we?" Max asked.
"Yes OK." Millie and he stood up.
"Do we mention about the marriage thing?"
"What about it?"
"That we'll do it?"
"Is that what we agreed?"
"Well do you want to?"
"Yes Max, I guess I do. But let's not hurry or make it into anything too extravagant."
"I agree. I love you."
"I love you too."
"So are we telling them?"
"Nah, I say we let your mother suffer a little longer."
"It's nice to have a future wife who agrees with you on all the important things."
"Come on then, future husband."
Millie took his hand and they walked out to face the family together.