Ben said nothing, his smile subdued as he watched his wife put on coat and snow boots. When the door closed behind her, he went to the girls’ room. “Mom hasn’t decided yet,” he said. “She’s gone to talk with Mrs. Klein.” He held up his right hand, fingers crossed.
“Thanks, Dad.” They said it in nearly perfect unison. Then their stepfather returned to the living room and his book.
* * *
“I know that may sound strange to you,” Lee said, quietly, over the table in the Kleins’ breakfast nook. “But I feel driven into a corner by this. Ben is so patient with me—even the girls are, mostly. But I’m really afraid of this—Life Healing. I don’t mean to be insulting, but I feel, really feel . . . I don’t know. Millennium seems like a cult to me, and . . .”
Susan Klein nodded, and laid her hand atop Lee’s. “My mom felt the same way when I told her I was going to do it. And from a certain point of view it is a cult. But I was twenty-eight and a divorcee with kids, so she wasn’t in a position to do more than wring her hands.
“Actually I felt a little like she did—afraid, that is—but I’d met Chuck a few months earlier. He’d proposed to me, and I really wanted to say yes. I’d dated quite a few guys, but he was in a class by himself—considerate and mature. The problem was, he’d gotten Life Healing at Denver the summer before, and been so impressed, he planned to go back after graduation. To train as a Millennium facilitator—a counselor! Hoping to practice in a center they planned to open in our home town, St. Louis. Chuck! A man with a shiny future in electronic engineering, switching to counseling!
“And it seemed to me I needed to know, really and personally know, what I’d be getting into if I married him.” She shrugged, then grinned. “So I did it, and here I am. You might say I’m hooked, but I think of it as convinced.”
Lee looked at her searchingly, not sure what she hoped to see.
“One possibility,” Susan said, “is to try it yourself before you approve or disapprove the girls taking it.”
Lee shook her head, small quick movements, as if trying to ward off gnats. “No,” she said. “I need to . . . to keep my own . . . objectivity intact. In case it doesn’t work out well.”
Susan nodded, her reply cheerful. “Sounds like a workable approach. Evaluate the results on Ben, and maybe the girls, and from there, do whatever makes the most sense.”
Lee did not brighten.
“Dear,” Susan said, “it may help to keep this in mind. In a few years the girls will overrule you, as I did my mom.”
Lee looked at that. “What does your mom think now?” she said after a moment.
“She treats us all lovingly when we visit—the girls, me . . . and Chuck. When she met him, she soon adored him. She was always a woman with lots of love. And quite good at compartmentalizing, in that case, the cult member from the man and fiancé.”
Lee nodded, still visibly troubled. “Thanks, Susan,” she said soberly. “You’ve helped. You truly have.”
She left then, her coffee untouched. Through a window, Susan watched her walk the shortcut home, a path trodden by their daughters through the snow. She hadn’t added that her mother had later taken Life Healing herself. It seemed best to leave the subject where she had.
* * *
Lee and Ben went to the girls’ room. Becca and Raquel sat reading at their desks, and turned as their parents came in. Lee sat down on Becca’s bed, facing her daughters.
“Girls,” she said, “Dad and I have talked it over. Becca, you have my permission to do—or take or whatever they call it—you have my permission to do Life Healing. She turned to Raquel. “And you can start when she’s finished. If—if everything goes to my satisfaction.”
The response surprised Lee, though on second look it was predictable: It was Raquel who popped off her chair first, bounded to her mother, and threw her arms around her neck. “Oh, Mom, I knew you could do it! I knew you could! You’re the best mom in the world!” Both girls kissed her before Raquel said chirpily, “I’ll be in the computer room,” and skipped off.