A God in Ruins - Leon Uris [44]
“Adoption?” she whispered.
“No!” he cried. “No! Greer, have the child. I’ll raise it in Colorado, and in time it’ll meet its mother.”
“You’re ready to take on something like this?”
“Very much so.”
Greer wept. “You’re too good for me. I’m a selfish bitch.” She grabbed his hands and pleaded. “You know I can’t start out in New York with an infant.”
“We’ve blown out the lights, Greer. In five thousand years no couple has enthralled each other more. We’re way ahead, baby and all.”
“Suppose we marry other people?”
“He’ll have a mother and a father, and it will be up to you what kind of relationship you want to make. At least he’ll always know where he came from—or she…the thought of a baby girl…really makes me smile.”
* * *
After his nap, Father Sean came down from his apartment to a room seemingly sticky with wet tar. Siobhan, Dan, and Quinn were wearing their Eugene O’Neill faces.
“Am I family or am I the priest?” Sean asked.
“I’ve written and talked to you about Greer Little,” Quinn began. “Unfortunately, I didn’t take your advice. You’re right, Uncle Sean, the piper must be paid. Greer is not your ordinary hausfrau, no offense, Mom. She’s one of the most brilliant communications students this university has ever put out. She’s also a wild woman. She’s graduating and has three or four jobs waiting for her in New York. We thought we’d like to do one year in paradise before we got on with the nuts and bolts of our lives.”
“And she’s pregnant,” Father Sean said, “but wants to continue on in New York?”
“That’s right.”
“They weren’t normal!” Dan cried.
“That’s what they wanted,” Sean said, “not to be normal. Were you quite wild?”
“Yes, sir,” Quinn replied.
“Were other people involved?” Sean asked.
“No, just the two of us.”
“Drugs?”
“One or two joints a week. Nothing else.”
“I felt,” Siobhan said, “Greer was not right for Quinn from the beginning. I also knew if he went to New York after her or if we disapproved, we’d lose him.”
“She can’t cook,” Dan said, “she can’t sew, she can’t ride, she’s not a Catholic.”
“Shut up, Dan. You love this girl?” Sean asked.
“Yes. We…we…we…won’t marry. That would be a farce.”
“What do you want to do, Quinn?”
“I want her to stay here, carry the baby to term, and have the child. I want to take care of it for the rest of my life.”
“Slut!” Dan bellowed. “Dirty, skinny, rotten slut.”
“Dan, stop it!” Siobhan cried.
“Dad, never say that again! Dad, don’t ever say that!”
“Are we so damned certain it’s Quinn’s child?”
“That’s enough, Dan!” Sean commanded. “My Roman collar is off! No and no! You can’t bring a child here into this hatred. Yes, Quinn could leave and this time for good. You are a very decent man, Quinn, but you are innocent of what is required to raise such a child whose mother is alive and in all likelihood might never contact him. Haven’t you had enough of that, Quinn, than to pass down your own misery?”
“You’re not suggesting an abortion,” Siobhan wept.
“Yes, I am,” Sean said, “and God help me.”
“The only way,” Dan mumbled, “is to have her get her abortion and I’ll give her ten thousand dollars.”
“You’ve just told me everything I want to know, Dad. Greer doesn’t want the baby here, same way you didn’t want me here! Too bad my parents let me be born. Go on, man, throw the fetus in a garbage can.”
“Dan, I’m on my hands and knees,” Siobhan cried, “and it will be Quinn’s son.”
“I’m out of here,” Quinn said softly. “Pack my things.”
“Oh, go ahead! Getting to be a routine,” Dan said. “Every time you’ve looked at me since you were ten, Quinn, you’ve blamed me. You’ve looked at me in that way that said, you’re not my father. What aboutmy feelings! I took it all, but this is it. You and that tramp!”
Siobhan was speechless, clinging to Quinn.
“And you, Father Sean, advising me to kill my baby. Have it in a public toilet and throw it in a Dumpster,” Quinn cried.
“Yes, I did,” Sean said meekly.