The Problem with Dreams

Chapter 82 - Naming over Dinner

"Yes it should, but I was surprised you knew that," Greg commented.

"I'm not sure I consciously did. It just felt like the right answer to me," Susan told him.

Greg arched his brow as they got up to go. "Cadence, you never cease to surprise and amaze me. You are a conduit of the Lord when it comes to timing."

Susan smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I do try."

Greg smiled too.

They paid the check and Greg took Susan by the hand as they walked back to their car.

c

Greg and Susan continued to talk of the significance of naming during the time they spent with Melody that evening. As the evening wore on, each of them found themselves asking the infant what she thought of the idea at some point during their discussion, and each were astonished by her response. Their question elicited a focused reaction on the part of their daughter; an episode of staring much longer and more intense then they'd experienced before.

"What do you suppose?" Susan asked when it happened a second time. "You don't think she's actually understanding us, do you?"

"I don't know. We've long held the eyes are the windows to the soul. You and I know that from personal experience. The things we are discussing are at the level of the soul ... that portion of an individual that is both timeless and ageless. A soul doesn't need to mature in order to understand the things one's mind can barely comprehend," Greg said.

"Sometimes the soul knows things the mind doesn't comprehend," Susan told him. "Like me and our dreams. You know my brain and my soul don't agree on that most of the time."

"Exactly. It may be that on level, Melody does understand our questions," Greg mused.

Susan hesitated as she looked into her daughter's face. The moment was gone and she was once more the tiny infant with no more awareness of them than the fact they were in the room and that Susan smelled like food. Melody began rooting against her chest and Susan opened her blouse to offer the baby her breast. Melody took it into her mouth with her usual vigor. Susan gasped slightly as she did.

"Well if she did understand us, she is certainly not thinking of it now," she said.

"Nor would I be if you did that to me," Greg commented as he studied his wife's exposed breast. Its shape had changed since the last time they'd been intimate, a change brought about as a result of the milk Susan's body was now producing which she was feeding to Melody. And Greg found himself trying to remember if the change in Ruth's body had been quite so pronounced when Julie or Alan were small and she was nursing them. He didn't think so, and he found his attention drawn by the change.

Susan watched her husband's expression intently as he stared at her breasts while she was feeding Melody, absorbing the fascination, the curiosity, and the awe she saw reflected there.

"Did Ruth nurse Julie or Alan?" Susan asked her husband after a time.

"She did, but I wasn't around all that much at the time," Greg shared. "Also, she didn't want me to watch. She usually shut herself away with the baby at feeding time."

Susan nodded. "I don't think I've ever done that."

"No," Greg agreed. "You never did. I wish I remembered the details though. You would think after the four lifetimes together where we've had children, I would."

"Well you didn't survive to see the baby we had two of the times. I didn't either, one of those times, so that only leaves two where you and I were married and we had an infant together," Susan said reasonably.