Chapter 14
Fourteen
“Oh, there you two are,” Mitzi said when Ted and Lillian returned to the tent. “We were just starting to worry.”
“We took a walk to watch the sunset,” Lillian said with a private smile for Ted as he helped her into a chair at their table.
“I heard my wife was seen leaving the tent with a young blond stud,” Theo said, sliding into the seat next to Lillian. “I’m glad it was only you, Ted.”
Ted surprised his grandfather when he leaned over to kiss his cheek. “She’s all yours, Grampa. I wouldn’t dream of interfering with a match made in heaven.” His grandmother winked at him as he took the seat on the other side of her.
They dined on traditional Hawaiian luau fare that included avocado salad, teriyaki beef and shrimp, rice, kalua pork, pineapple broiled in ginger, and vegetable kabobs.
“This is outrageously good, Grandy,” Ted said. “Who did you get to do it?”
“An outfit out of Boston. We thought it would be fun.”
“It’s fabulous.” Ted watched his father get up to greet a late-arriving couple—his old friend and Ted’s boss Martin Nickerson and his wife Jenny.
Ed Duffy had been Martin’s boss and mentor.
When Ed retired, Martin became the chief of pediatric oncology and later hired Ted. He stood to shake Martin’s hand.
“So sorry we’re late,” Martin said. “The ferry was running behind.”
Mitzi squeezed Martin and Jenny into their table between Ted and Lillian and had dinner served to them.
“It was good of you to come, Marty,” Ted said.
“We wouldn’t miss a Mitzi and Lillian production. They’ve outdone themselves tonight.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“I don’t mean to talk shop, but I’ve been trying to get down to see you all week. You’ve been having a tough run of it lately.”
Ted’s gut clenched at the reminder of the recent string of losses. “It hasn’t been my best month.”
“You’ve been around this long enough by now to know we all go through these rough patches.”
“That doesn’t make them any easier. Losing Joey was a particularly tough blow.”
“I’m sure you’re taking good care of your people through it all,” Martin said, sipping from his vodka martini.
“I’m doing my best, but some of them are taking it hard.”
“To be expected. Listen, there’s a three-day conference coming up at Sloan Kettering I’d like to send you to. It’s personal development stuff about physicians dealing with loss and grief. I know you hate that crap, but in light of what’s been going on—”
Sloan Kettering was in New York City, and so was Caroline. “I’ll go,” Ted said.
Surprised, Martin studied him. “That was far too easy. I was prepared for all your arguments.”
Ted shrugged. “I could use a change of scenery.”
“All right then. I’ll set it up.”
“When is it?”
“In two weeks.”
“Marty, let Ted enjoy the party, will you?” his wife said, rolling her eyes at Ted.
“Don’t worry, dear. We’re done.”
The toasting began right after dinner. Because he knew his mother expected it of him, Ted got up to take the microphone offered by the leader of the band that had been hired for dancing.
When he had the attention of the guests, Ted said, “On behalf of all the Duffys, I want to thank you for joining us tonight for this very special occasion. Many of you were with us five years ago, but for those of you who weren’t, I want to tell you a little about the two couples who raised my sister and me, and about two marriages that, in my opinion, set the gold standard for how marriage should be done.
“Theo and Lillian met at a dance at Harvard University in the spring of 1941. Their wedding plans were interrupted on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.” Ted recited the story he knew well but was still amazed to realize there had been so much more to it than he—or his father—had ever known.
“They were married on December 9, and Theo joined the medical corps later that month. He was shipped off to the European theater, and Lillian didn’t see him for three long years, during which time she worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross.
Their son Edward Theodore Junior was born almost ten months to the day after Theo returned home from the war, and a second son, Thomas, was born three years later.
Second Lieutenant Thomas Duffy was killed in Vietnam in 1968.
After World War II, Theo completed his medical training and went on to a long and prestigious career as a pediatric oncologist in several Boston-area hospitals.
Lillian is well known in Boston for her philanthropic work, especially on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund Clinic, a cause that, as you all know, is near and dear to the Duffy family.
Theo and Lillian retired in 1985 and now spend their time playing golf, traveling, and doting on their two grandchildren.
And when I say doting, I mean doting,” Ted said to laughter.
“Soon they’ll have a great-grandchild to ruin—I mean spoil. ”
Theo shot him a scowl, but his eyes were full of amusement and sentiment.
“Please join me in congratulating my grandparents, Theo and Lillian Duffy, on the occasion of their sixty-fifth anniversary.” Ted led the thunderous applause that filled the tent.
Theo stood and offered his wife an arm to escort her to the dance floor as the band launched into “The White Cliffs of Dover.” Ted watched his elderly grandparents move slowly but smoothly around the dance floor and thought about what she had told him earlier.
She had no regrets about the choices she had made, and Ted could only hope he would feel the same way when he looked back on his life.
In that moment, he acknowledged that he was standing at a crossroads. The choices he made in the next few weeks and months were going to set the course for the rest of his life. He tuned back into the party when the guests applauded at the end of the song.
Wearing big smiles, Theo and Lillian returned to their table.
Ted stood to hug and kiss them both before he picked up the microphone again.
“Our other guests of honor, my parents Ed and Mitzi Duffy, met in Washington, D.C., during a protest to end the war that later took his brother’s life.
Like his father before him, Ed was beginning his studies at Harvard Medical School.
Mitzi was a junior at Bryn Mawr, and both were active in the student demonstrations that were a hallmark of the sixties.
They were married in 1966 and settled in Boston where Ed followed his father into the family business.
He retired as head of the pediatric oncology department at Children’s Hospital Boston just a few years before he would have had to decide whether or not to hire yours truly.
” Ted paused when the guests laughed at his joke.
“Like her mother-in-law, Mitzi devoted herself to her children and continues to be a tireless advocate on behalf of Dana-Farber and several other charitable causes in the Boston area. Ed and Mitzi will welcome their first grandchild in September. Please join Tish and me in congratulating our parents, Ed and Mitzi Duffy, as they celebrate their fortieth anniversary.”
As Ed and Mitzi danced to “When a Man Loves a Woman,” Ted noticed his grandmother dabbing at tears and reached for her hand.
“Their wedding day seems like five minutes ago,” Lillian whispered in Ted’s ear.
He smiled and squeezed her hand.
The microphone was passed around to friends and relatives who added their congratulations.
“Whenever I hear someone say all families are dysfunctional, I think of the Duffys who epitomize the word functional,” Smitty said when the microphone reached their table. “I thank the four of you for making me a part of your functional family, and I love you all.”
Ted was touched when Smitty’s voice broke at the end.
“I spend my days brokering the end of marriages, and it would be so easy for me to become a cynical disbeliever,” Parker said.
“I think the only reason that hasn’t happened is because of my long friendship with the Duffys.
These two marriages have gone the distance and have done it with so much style.
I also thank you for including me as a member of your family, and I’ll be here in five years for the forty-five-seventy party. ”
Lillian rolled her eyes and groaned, which made everyone laugh.
Chip took the microphone from Parker and stood up.
“I, too, have had the great honor to be included as a member of the Duffy family, and let’s face it, we all want what they have.
In keeping with this great celebration of marriage, I asked Mitzi and Lillian if they would mind if I hijacked five minutes of their party to do something I should’ve done a long time ago.
I’m lucky that my beautiful girlfriend Elise has stuck with me for almost six years, and I’m hoping someday she and I will be celebrating an occasion like this with our family and friends. ”
Elise looked up at Chip with wary, expectant expression.
“Elise, I love you. Will you marry me?” Chip asked as he produced a ring from his pocket.
She gasped and then burst into tears as the other guests applauded.
Astounded, Smitty and Parker whooped and hollered when Chip gathered Elise into his arms and kissed her before he slid the ring onto her finger.
Ted stood up to get a better view and saw Caroline wipe tears from her cheeks. “You two have been holding out on me,” he said to his mother and grandmother.
Both shrugged with delighted innocence.
“You didn’t have any idea?” Mitzi asked.
“Not a clue. I think Chip managed to pull off a total surprise. Elise looks floored.”
“Go on back there with them,” Lillian said. “You’ve done your duty up here.”
“You did a wonderful job, darling,” Mitzi added.
“I’ll be back to collect that dance you owe me,” Ted said to his grandmother before he made his way through the tent to his friends’ table in the back. He hugged Chip and kissed Elise, who was still crying and gazing at the ring on her finger.
“Well done, buddy,” Ted said to Chip. “You surprised us all.”
“I was dying to tell you today at the beach,” Chip said with a euphoric grin. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
“Did she say yes?” Ted teased. “I never heard a yes.”
“Of course I did,” Elise said.
“It’s the end of an era,” Smitty lamented with mock seriousness.
“Nah,” Parker said. “Nothing’s going to change.”
Ted glanced at Caroline, filled with the sudden awareness that everything was about to change.