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Volume No. 1 Issue No. 74 - Monday December 12, 2005 |
Born Too Late - A Novel by Raglan Riviere
 by Raglan Riviere
The full version is available online at http://www.lulu.com/content/194659 for as little as $2.00
After years of childless marriage Mary Hodgson has become very depressed. She was thinking seriously of adoption, but her husband, John, was totally against the idea. They live in Brampton, Ontario, but return every year to spend the Christmas and New Years with friends in Miami, Gene and Martha Lee.
In January 1989 John shares his feelings about adoption with the Lees, revealing that his low sperm count was responsible. That year Gene rounded up a group of old school friends for an impromptu re-union party where John met his old girlfriend, Kelly Wiseman, and they remembered the good old days.
She had not married because, she confessed, she was still in love with him. This ignited the old flames, culminating in the consummation of their former lust for each other.
In June the following year Gene and Martha telephone John and Mary to enquire whether they were still undecided about adoption because they had found a suitable baby for them, if they were interested.
The Hodgsons had already placed their name on a waiting list for the last six months without success. They accepted Lee's offer. All arrangements were made and the Lees flew to Brampton to deliver the child. John named him Lee as a show of gratitude to his friend.
One year later the Hodgsons take young Lee to Miami to celebrate his birthday with friends. At that gathering Mary became visibly upset at Kelly's bizarre preoccupation with her adopted son snatching him from her embrace.
Several months following the incident Kelly, distraught and still angry with Mary, left them a recorded telephone message revealing that young Lee was in fact John's and her biological son.
John found himself in a dilemma. He had committed adultery and was deceived by his good friends, Gene and Martha.
John and Mary's relationship turned sour. She was unforgiving. But, they continued to shower their love on young Lee. Then one day in the family room while watching TV, Lee miraculously brought his parents back together by innocently, and playfully, joining their hands together.
John and Mary flew to Miami to confront their friends to learn the true story of the birth and adoption of young Lee. There was no authentic, legal transfer of parenthood because John was Lee's biological father.
Gene had obtained the legal forms from his lawyer and forged the whole thing with Kelly's consent, securing her anonymity. Gene could not see anything going wrong unless Kelly took the matter to court to reclaim her son.
Meetings between the Hodgsons and Kelly, mediated by the Lees, failed to resolve the problem amicably. John was in favour of shared custody but Mary was not.
Kelly claimed to have fallen in love all over and longed to hold her son, which Mary had denied. She regretted acting so hastily in giving up her son and wanted him back.
Martha, Gene and John held Mary mainly responsible for the failure of the meetings. On their return to Brampton John reiterated that Mary's accusatory approach toward Kelly was the cause of her insistence on full custody.
A quarrel ensued which dealt a most devastating blow to their marriage. Mary left John and sought refuge at her parents.
Kelly contested the adoption in Court, which ruled that since she had given free, unsolicited and unconditional consent to the custody to John adoption was not an issue.
Therefore, Lee would remain with his biological father and stepmother while Kelly was granted unrestricted visitation rights. An Appeal Court overturned the ruling, however, on the grounds that custody was, a priori the right of the biological mother. John was granted unrestricted visitation. Lee Hodgson was returned to his mother in Miami.
The atmosphere at the Hodgson's home became tense and cold. Mary hated when John went to visit in Miami and she no longer visited Lee. In the meantime the relationship between John and Kelly grew closer on each visit.
The warmth in Miami became more attractive and desirable than the cold and tension in Brampton. John chose to resettle in Miami.
Mary had stopped visiting the Gene and Martha and kept in touch with John through letters and phone calls. Then, Mary received a letter from a lawyer, claiming to represent John, asking if she would consider a divorce.
Mary's suspicions that the inquiry was initiated by Kelly were confirmed when she later received a letter from John in which no mention was made about the request for divorce. Her suspicions led her to employ a private investigator to find information on John's place of residence, etc., which revealed that he was staying at Kelly's.
This led her to answer the lawyer's letter stating that she was not contemplating divorce at the present time.
Mary's curiosity prompted her to break the ice and call her old friend Martha Lee to gather information about the true relationship between John and Kelly.
This led to her accepting an invitation to spend a vacation weekend in Miami when she would surprise her husband at dinner. She also met young Lee who cried over her absence. She was so overwhelmed by Lee's unhappy situation that she recommended John lives with Kelly as a real family for his son's sake.
On her return to Brampton she re-writes the lawyer stating that she would facilitate matters if John wanted the divorce. But, the following week, she discovered that she was pregnant with his child.
She shared the good news only with her parents, for the time being, but wondered if she did the right thing in keeping her pregnancy from John and agreeing to release him from their bond of marriage.
Mary learnt from John that while he was prepared to live with Kelly as a family for Lee's well being, he would not marry her. However, that if Mary wanted a divorce to let her move on with her life, she should go ahead and file incompatibility. He would not contest. Mary replied that he should do the filing since he initiated their separation.
The months passed by and Mary began to show her pregnancy. She was adamant in withholding it from John, against her mother's advice, until he filed. The very day she received John's notification she was rushed to the Peel Memorial Hospital with labour pains. The next day she was the proud mother of her first son, John Hodgson Jr.
In Miami John continued living with Kelly. Because he would not marry her, she became extremely frustrated and unfulfilled. Consequently she began dating a legal colleague. Both Lee and John became hindrances to her newly found personal life and offered full custody of Lee back to his father, which John accepted. They were welcomed as tenants at Martha and Gene's.
Mary finally wrote John about their son and telephoned the news to Martha and Gene. This prompted an immediate visit by Martha and young Lee to Brampton where Mary was brought up to date on John and Kelly's separation.
John was ecstatic about the birth of his second son and wasted no time in visiting Brampton. This set the stage for rekindling their lost love.
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