Christopher was in a rush. He was always in a rush but this time he was hoping something positive would come from this rushing off.
He looked in his rear mirror and could see the domestic row just outside the front door. The twins were a handful but Anita knew how to handle them or rather she did until the new baby arrived. Seven! Seven children and all living at home in some sort of ordered mayhem.
Christopher had always wanted a large family but had never envisaged seven children. All his friends joked that as a doctor they had expected more medical constraint. Apart from two and three all the other children had been unplanned but now perhaps was the time to say enough is enough. He would speak to Anita when he got back. It was always so hard to find time to talk to each other properly and besides, Anita was suffering from post natal depression. It was affecting him and seven the most. Him, as before the birth of Seven they had still exercised a very healthy and active sex life; and it affected Seven as he picked up on Anita’s anxiety and tears. Christopher couldn’t work out who cried the most- mother or child. But this drive to pick up his research assistant and wife might help Anita cope with the day to day running of the house.
Then maybe if she wasn’t so tired they could resume the long lost lust that had held them together all these years.
Christopher was getting a research assistant funded through a grant from a leading pharmaceutical company. The assistant was coming from Australia and bringing his wife with him. It was agreed that his wife would help Anita in running the household in lieu of rent for one of the former labourer’s cottages. The cottages were kept in a reasonable state for when visitors wanted to stay over but didn’t want the drama in the main house. Everyday is full of drama. Christopher often thought of escaping to the guest houses but had the sanctuary of his sterile lab and office in the bowels of the house, the cellar which used to be his grandfather’s sanctuary. It wasn’t a laboratory then just a place of “refuge” he would call it to get away from grandmother. These days they would call it a man cave. He used to take Christopher down there as a boy and regale tales of adventures. Christopher would sit and be in awe of his grandfather. So when the house was willed to him he knew he had to keep sanctuary down there and with his own laboratory he could work from home most of the time.
Junior enjoyed being with his father and also wanted to be a doctor so would be found down in the laboratory learning from and helping his father.
Junior, the eldest was named after Christopher but because of the fights between Anita and his mother it was easier to call him Junior. No one objected to that.
Christopher’s mind then drifted to the ongoing feud between his mother and Anita. He had learned long ago not to get involved in this constant nitpicking and to a certain extent his laboratory gave him a place to hide when his mother came to stay. Nothing was ever good enough for his mother and she had taken an instant dislike to Anita when she met her. She accused Anita of deliberately getting pregnant to capture Christopher as he was a brilliant catch for a girl of no consequence and certainly no morals. Eighteen years on and they still were at loggerheads about everything and especially the seven children .
Christopher smiled to himself and drove off to collect his new research assistant and his wife. It would be good to have someone with an enquiring mind to challenge his hypothesis. Dare he say it – someone of a similar intellect.
The future looked bright and he was certain the intimate part of his relationship with Anita would soon return once she got this additional help around the house and children.
That was a lovely thought he was going to hold on to as he drove off to the airport.