Review, Revision, Edit and Update
Reading A Second Honeymoon twice, aloud and then silently, I had to really think! I missed pluralizing one word and had double spaced in a couple of places. But after my third review, I cleaned up sentence structure in the dialogue for both James and Martha.
A Second Honeymoon
Those frightening couple of days for James Digby had thankfully passed. His wife had fallen ill on the eve of a party they had planned. Watching over her, he had listened to a jumble of their own wedding and the Crawfords’ elopement. Her hair damp, she would fall asleep only to mumble about her grandchildren Ben and Abby and their mother Joanie. When the antibiotic took hold, all the delirium disappeared. Martha was worn out as though she had worked steadily without sleep for days. Their physician had reported their Covid tests were negative. He reminded James to make certain she took the full regimen of antibiotics and to make sure she drank lots of fluids. As she improved, Martha would come to the kitchen in her pink fleece housecoat and matching bunny slippers. Trying to help James with some little task she would soon tire. “Have you seen anyone besides your old sick wife, James dear?”
“No, Martha, we’ve had to isolate here. Except for deliveries of groceries, I’ve not seen anyone. Not even Elizabeth. She's been isolated as well. Miss Emelina and Dr. Jeremy have had to fend for themselves. I’ve kept in touch, and they seem to be still on their honeymoon without our interference.” He had a tray with hot teapot, mugs and shortbread. “Today we're going out on the porch to have our tea. It’s a lovely day.” Blankets were folded and ready at the back door. “But James, I’m not dressed properly to even go out on our porch!” Martha was already patting her hair into place and smoothing the already smooth, soft pink fleece. “I’ll just change.” James turned her towards the back door.
“Martha dear, there is no need to fuss. No one is coming around to see either of us. See, I have blankets all ready to tuck around you. Come, dear, you need some fresh air. The rain has let up and the clouds are breaking. It’s lovely and warm. You can take a deep breath of spring - it’s gotten far too stuffy in here.”
~~~~~
Cuddled up in blankets in the big wooden rocking chair on the porch, Martha finished a second cup of tea. She and James had been quiet, just listening to spring songbirds and enjoying nodding snowdrops with daffodils breaking through the ground. Setting her teacup on the little side table, Martha said “I surely put the kibosh on our party for Miss Emelina and that handsome Dr. Jeremy.” The contented smile had left her face, a tear trickling from one eye. She brushed it away before James could see, but wasn’t fast enough.
“Martha - everyone understood. They were all just concerned that you were ok. We're all keeping the secret. You have time to plan a new party; it will still be a surprise. In fact, it may be more of a surprise, dear.” James had expected that, as she was feeling better, Martha would feel overly responsible for the missed reception. “Well, my thanks to you and everyone for being so understanding and patient with me. I’ll get started on a new plan in the morning.”
“No planning until you are much better, Martha dear. Tomorrow, we’ll start walking each day to build up your strength. We’ll just have our own little honeymoon for the next several days.” James reached out and squeezed her hand.
“Oh, heavens, James. We’ve had our honeymoon right after we married. We can’t have another one. That would be silly. I do look forward to walking with you though.” Behind her words, Martha was already sorting through ideas for Miss Emelina’s belated wedding reception.
“Well, Mrs. Digby, we owe ourselves a second honeymoon and we have the time and quiet to make it what we want. We could take one of our walks over to see Elizabeth. Right now our time is our own.”
“The honeymoon is not actually over until we cease
to stifle our sighs and begin to stifle our yawns.”
~ Helen Rowland
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