New Beginnings by Charlotte Carter

to church for the eleven o’clock service.”
    Gideon scrubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t feel much like eating or playing a game or Christmas or anything.”
    “Can you pretend? For your mother’s sake? She hates that you’re so down over a girl.”
    Beneath lowered eyelids, the boy looked up at James. Gideon appeared as vulnerable as he had at age six when he’d gotten into trouble for accidentally breaking a ceramic lamp and had futilely tried to glue it back together. A jigsaw puzzle in three dimensions that was well beyond his skill level.
    “I’ll try.”
    “Good man. I’ll see you at dinner then.”
    Two hours later, dinner was a quiet affair. That was followed by an equally quiet game of Monopoly. Nelson, bless his heart, tried to cheer up his brother.
    “Hey, look at you,” Nelson said. “You already own half the property on the boardwalk. Miracle of miracles, I think you’re going to beat me this year.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Gideon muttered.
    “Sure it does. I wiped you out last year. Now you can get even.”
    “I don’t want to get even.” Shoving his cash toward Nelson, Gideon stood and pushed his chair back under the card table. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe I should forget about going to Annapolis. Being stuck off in Maryland for four years would be the pits.” He jammed his fingers in the hip pockets of his jeans.
    Fern’s mouth dropped open. “But that’s what I thought you wanted. To go to the academy.”
    Waiting to see where this was going, James kept his mouth closed.
    “It’s not that big a deal.” He paced across the room to stand in front of the natural rock fireplace. He leaned his elbow on the mantel in a phony lord-of-the-manor pose. “I could just as easily go to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They’ve got a Navy ROTC unit there. I’d still graduate and be commissioned as an ensign.”
    “With a reserve commission,” James pointed out.
    “So what? Later on, if I wanted to make the navy a career, I could switch to a regular commission.”
    “Honey, are you thinking about this only because you want to be near Jenni?” Fern asked.
    Trust his wife to get right to the crux of the problem, James thought.
    “So what if I am?”
    “Because that’s a dorky reason to change your mind.” Nelson slammed him as only a younger brother could.
    “What would you know about it?” Gideon turned an angry glare on his brother. “You don’t even have a girlfriend, unless you count that girl in Australia you talk to on your ham radio.”
    “I know what I want to do with my life, and no girl would ever cause me to change my mind.”
    “So what are you going to do with your life, little brother? Spend it cooped up in some office doing calculus problems?” His voice cried out with condescension.
    Nelson stood to challenge his brother, his hands clenched into fists. “I know I’m going to have a double major in physiology and chemistry so I can study multiple sclerosis and its causes. I’m going to get an advanced degree at a university that’s doing research in MS and looking for a cure. They’re doing some interesting research in Italy, so I’m taking Italian in college, and maybe I’ll get my PhD in Rome or Venice. And no stupid girl is ever going to change my mind about that.”
    The room went completely silent except for the crackle of the fire and the sound of Nelson’s agitated breathing.
    Fern looked mesmerized by Nelson’s announcement, her hand pressed against her heart. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
    James felt pretty much the same way, except he was so proud of his son he wanted to give him a rib-cracking hug.
    Unable to counter his brother’s declaration, Gideon stormed off down the hall toward his room.
    Nelson hung his head. “I’m sorry. It’s just that Gideon shouldn’t—”
    “It’s okay, Son,” James said. “You’ve been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of research, haven’t you?”
    “Yeah, I have.