After the wild exotic night of sex at the Pertersons' apartment, the next major event in Erica's life was the birth of her son. She had gone ten days past her due date still awaiting for the onset of labor, and subsequent delivery of her baby. Her doctor then ordered that she be admitted to the hospital on the morning of the eleventh day to be induced into labor. Since that day was a Saturday, Vivian as Erica's birth coach, could easily afford the time to be with her sister without worrying about any negative impact on her school studies that might have resulted had she needed to skip some classes.
Erica was disappointed that her mother deigned not to volunteer to be with her at the birth. Considering that it was February and in the dead of winter, her mother surely could have been counted on to attend as her farm duties were not as arduous as during the other seasons of the year. Erica began to fear that her mother was a racist, and would not accept her son as an equal grandson to their brother Paul's children. Vivian tried to pooh-pooh such a deleterious notion:
"I think you're being too harsh, Erica. You know that Mom is dedicated to being the perfect farmer's wife to Dad. In the past ten years they've only taken three one week vacations away from the farm. And the only other time Mom was away from the farm for more than one day was the two day shopping trip to Chicago with you some five or six years ago. And besides she did not attend the birth of Paul's children even though they were born in Lydiaville."
Erica replied:
"But that's my point with the example of the Chicago trip. I'm certain that she loves you and Paul just as much she loves me. But there is no denying that she has a special relationship and regard for me, considering I'm the first born and a daughter to boot. How else do you explain that it is only I who has spent any extra time with her apart from Dad? I'm convinced that if Matt was the father or for that matter any white man, she would have taken the trouble to come here to be at my baby's birth.
"Her weak excuse that you are here for the birth so it was not necessary for her to come, would be more credible if she had indicated that she would eventually come here to see my baby. And you notice she gave no assurance that she was planning to come to Madison anytime soon. I now believe I'll have to visit the farm if Mom will ever get to see my son.
"As for not attending the birth of Paul's children the fact is that Paul's wife is only her daughter-in-law. That woman had her own mother to provide needed emotional support at the time, so Mom probably thought it best not to horn in. However you noticed when we were living in your barn last summer, Mom was the super duper doting grandmother to our nephew and niece."
Erica sighed mournfully as she concluded:
"The bottom line is that I know Mom still loves me. However I do not think she'll ever love my son. In fact I believe if I do give birth to another child but by a white man instead, her preference will become obvious."
Vivian sighed as well, upon listening to Erica's assessment. She couldn't help feeling that perhaps Erica had a point in her ruminations. However Vivian was not a creature content in continuously delving into gloomy thoughts. So she replied:
"Well at least looking on the bright side is the fact that you are going to give birth to an awesome male child who will become an awesome man if his genes have anything to say about his future. First of all his mother will be the prettiest mother than any of his friends' mothers. Of course that means he will develop to become one of the handsomest males of his generation and will be swamped with female admirers. I believe that is the major desire for anyone of the male persuasion while in their teens.
"And his mother is smart. Her intelligence bodes well for the higher IQ he is bound to inherit."
At this point Erica guffawed as she burst out into full fledged laughter. She protested:
"Come on Vivian! How the hell can you even say that? You know I barely scraped by in school, and just got my high school diploma by the skinniest of margins."
At this point Vivian took a deep breath as she steeled herself to deliver perhaps a life changing viewpoint to her sister:
"You are definitely selling yourself short Erica. I get the impression that you are absolutely unaware of how awesome a person you truly are. One of your problems is the undeniable fact that you are extremely pretty."
Erica guffawed some more as she sarcastically responded:
"Are you certain that is a problem? I think I can safely say that every female on the planet would wish that they were unequivocally considered to be beautiful."
"That is really a superficial desire. The point is that since you were born everyone who has ever come into contact with you have always directly or indirectly remarked at how beautiful you are. And of course whenever you look at yourself in the mirror there is confirmation of such assertion. However such consensus has been detrimental to your self esteem since there is the overt implication that there is nothing else to say about you.
"Overlooked is the fact that you are smart. You yourself do not recognize your own brilliance. You say you scraped through high school but you know that the reason for that was not because you're stupid. You just did not apply yourself to achieve good grades. And it was not that you're lazy. I realize now that because you admire Mom so much, and wished to emulate her so that in your teens you decided there was no reason to bust you ass on your school studies, if you were going to end up as a farmer's wife.
"I think you were aware that you could always improve yourself with knowledge by simply reading about various topics that would interest you throughout your life. The thing is that the lot of a farmer's wife is a very very exhausting way of living. But you were prepared to accept and fulfill such obligations. Part and parcel to such a fatiguing lifestyle is the fact that sex will play second fiddle in everyday life when you reach forty and beyond. Our parents are living proof. Whenever I've had the opportunity to talk to Mom frankly about sex, I saw that she talked a good game about her desires, but nevertheless it was clear that Mom and Dad only get it on occasionally.
"For those who do not know us, we are cavalierly dismissed as sluts and bimbos because of our whorish ways. No doubt there is an element of truth to such belief especially concerning myself. However the obvious fact of life is that we will all die, and we have only one life to live, reincarnation theory notwithstanding. So you were mature enough in your teens to realize that you had to strike while the iron was hot, and thus, your promiscuity had a rationale justification to act accordingly.
"But despite the generally perceived supposition that you were a nobody in high school, you did consistently achieve the highest marks in the mathematical subjects of algebra and geometry. No doubt those marks were instrumental in you receiving your high school diploma. And you achieved this without any extra concentration of study. You should be aware that I talked about your natural mathematical skills to Ralph Peterson during that honeymoon trip last August. It was his opinion that had you been able to pursue a mathematical education you would no doubt progress to his own sphere of mathematical prowess. That is high praise indeed considering Ralph has been the only student at UW who has ever achieved a Putnam fellowship awarded to the top five competitors in the annual mathematical competition. And he achieved that distinction in every one of his four undergraduate years.
"The bottom line is this Erica: if your son inherits your smarts he will become an awesome man indeed for that reason alone. If Mom insists on ignoring your son it will be her loss not to embrace or know anything about her remarkable grandson."
Erica was tearing upon hearing Vivian's comfortable positive viewpoint of her circumstances. She put her arm around Vivian to hug her sister expressing gratification. She said:
"Oh thank you Vivian! Thank you! Thank you! You're my true and only champion. My husband despises me. Mom and Dad seem to be happy that I'm no longer intruding upon their lives. Paul has said nothing, but his disapproval has been patently obvious. His wife had the temerity to advocate I undergo an abortion as a way to get out of my disgrace. But you have been there for me through thick and thin. And you know me warts and all, even more so than the others. I'm so grateful for your support."
Vivian replied:
"Hush Erica! Don't get yourself overwrought. Just concentrate on the fact that you are going to bring a remarkable human being into this world. Although we do not know exactly who the father of your child is, there is no denying whoever it is, we did fuck three super studs last May. Thus, whoever is the actual sire of your child, he will have super genes to contribute to provide for the ultimate make-up of your child."