Looking For You All My Life Part 92

Maggie smiled. "Yes, so don't worry. And speaking of

Jed, I was hoping that you and Leah might be able to post-

pone that dinner engagement with Barbara Harris until I get

back-if it works for everyone."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll mention it to Leah. By

the way, how are things with you and Jed lately?" Her tone

seemed to implicate concern. "I don't mean to interfere, but

it seems to me that something's not quite the same between

you two. Anything I should be aware of?"

Maggie hadn't told her mother about their decision to

slow down their relationship for the time being, and she

wasn't sure she wanted to discuss it now. Besides, she was

*still hoping Jed might answer her email and decide to con-

tinue their relationship electronically. But she had to say

something. "No, we're doing okay. We just thought for

Leah's sake that we should cool things down a bit-give her

more time to adjust to everything, you know."

Audrey's brows arched. "Do you think that's such a good

idea?"

Maggie studied her mother's face. Was this the counselor

or the mother speaking? "I don't really know, Mom. I mean,

the truth is, I'm not too thrilled with the whole arrangement,

but then Leah has so much to adjust to.. .1 guess it just seems

more fair to her. She's had such a hard life..."

Audrey nodded. "Yes, I understand about her life. But do

*you realize that it's not up to you and Jed to make all that

up for her?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Leah is bound to have a lot of needs-it's to be

expected after all she's been through with that irresponsible

mother of hers. And I'm absolutely certain that Jed is being

a wonderful father to her now, but he needs to realize that

there's no way he will ever replace or make up all the years

that have gone by. And if he tries to do it all now, he may be

setting a precedent that will be very hard to maintain in the

years to come. Do you know what I mean?"

"I think so... maybe..."

Looking for You All My Life147

"For Leah's sake, she. shouldn't expect that Jed is always

going to be her superdad, the guy with all the time in the

world for her. He needs to be able to have a life of his own.

Anything else is just not normal-not to mention humanly

impossible. Having such elevated expectations will only hurt

her in the long run.. .when she discovers that, like her mom,

he's only human."

"But he's certainly doing a lot better than her mom

defended Maggie.

"Yes. But Leah needs to keep standing on her own two

feet. Of course, Jed's her father and he'll always love her. But

she's a young adult who needs to continue getting on with

her life. She needs to accept that Jed can't be her all in all."