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Olivia,
standing beside her, who he was, Olivia had answered, 'He was one of Mac's
teachers, and important in our lives,' in a tone of voice which forbade
further
questioning.
When there was not something blooming, she managed to make arrangements from
weeds and leaves garnered from her walks.
Olivia looked around the pleasant room. 'My dears, Rose's baby isn't going to
make that much difference in your own lives. You are married. You have made
the
rectory into a
charming home. And with a baby of your own on the way, you're going to have
plenty to keep you occupied. And you, Mac, have a lot of sheep under your
care.'
A Live Coal in the Sea>129
Camilla added, 'And I'd like to get my course work finished and my thesis at
least started before the baby comes.,
'Good, but don't push yourself,' Art said. 'You have time.'
'Camilla, my dear,' Olivia continued, 'there's a tradition in my family that
every young mother needs help the first six weeks after a baby is born. I
hope
perhaps you would prefer me to a nurse.'
'Oh, Mama, yes, that would be marvelous. My own mother, well, even if she
weren't pregnant with her own baby, she's used to being waited on, rather
than-'
'Good. That's settled, then. Now. Art and I do have news, too. Art has been
elected bishop of North Florida.'
They had known he was up for election, so the news was not a surprise.
'I think you ought to be pope,' Camilla said. 'Fortunately we don't have
popes.'
Art grinned. 'I'm not sure I want to be a bishop, but I've prayed about it,
and
it seems to be what I'm meant to do next. It's Florida, and that's home for
me.'
'Jacksonville,' Olivia said, 'where Art grew up.'
'On the wrong side of the tracks,' Art said. 'I'm not too excited about
living
in the classy part of town in a mansion which will be a lot for Olivia to
manage
even with help. But it means we can spend time at the beach house, and you
can
come with the baby and get away from all the Mrs. Lees in the parish.'
Camilla hugged her father-in-law. 'Oh, Papa, I'm excited for you. I don't
know
much about what a bishop is supposed to do, but whatever it is, you'll do it
superbly.' She turned to Olivia. 'Mama, are you happy?'
Olivia replied slowly, 'We've been in Nashville a long time. It's been our
home.
But it's time for Art to move on. Yes, I think I'm happy, though I'll miss my
friends.'
Madeleine L'Engle»130
'You'll make new ones,' Art assured her. 'You have a great capacity for
friendship.'
'And you.' Olivia turned again to Camilla. 'Are you making friends?'
'Dr. Edith Edison, my advisor at the university, is a good friend, Mama. And
I'm
getting to know some really interesting people in Athens.'
'Not in Corinth?'
'I feel out of place. I don't have the right accent. I don't do the correct
things, because I don't know what they are.'
Mac laughed. 'Darling, don't sound so tragic. You're doing superbly.'
Art said, 'You go to church on Sundays and sit in the front pew where the
rector's wife is supposed to sit. You're learning when to stand or kneel or
sit.
It's a strange world for you, and you're doing nobly.'
Olivia said, 'Give yourself credit, my dear. When I married Art it was a
difficult transition for me, even though I grew up in the Episcopal Church.'
Camilla smiled. 'At least I'm not trying to explain Mach's theory to anybody
but
the kids.'
'The kids adore her,' Mac said. 'Pinky and Wiz Morrison never used to come to
youth group, their mother told me, and now they're two of the most faithful.'
Mrs. Lee came to call again, bringing wine jelly, an old Southern remedy for
anyone who needed strengthening, and surely Camilla, in her delicate condition
'It's too bad your parents are so far away, in 'Paris, did you say?'
'Yes.'
'A young woman needs her mother at a time like this. And your husband is very
close to his parents, isn't he?'
'Yes. We both are. Mama-' She caught herself. Mrs. Lee would not understand
Camilla's closeness to Mac's parents, her
A Live Coal in the Sea»131
distance from her own. 'Mac's mother is going to come when the baby is born.'
'Not your own mother?'
Camilla was not going to tell Mrs. Lee that her own mother was pregnant,
would
be having her baby almost at the same time as Camilla's. 'Paris is very far
away, and Mac's parents are wonderful.'
'You're very lucky, sugar. Not all young wives get on well with their
in-laws.'
'I know I'm lucky. I love them.'
'And I gather Mr. Xanthakos is about to become a bishop?' Mrs. Lee was
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