Dovid stood there, bemused. Hey, he had no problem being called Rabbi. He just wasn’t sure exactly what a “sick chill” was

T

he was still nervous. Maybe one day, she’d breeze into Rebbetzin Weiss’s house all like, “Rebbetzin, I’m on the couch looking at old albums, don’t rush!”

But today was not that day. She sat as upright as she possibly could without actually banging into the table, but it was getting difficult. They say the last trimester is the hardest, but aside from the fact that she was taking up so much space, she was really enjoying this stage.

Rebbetzin Weiss appeared in a flurry of notebooks and bags and pens.

“So sorry to keep you waiting, I was just meeting with a kallah and we went overtime. I’m sure you remember how it is.”

She smiled happily at Estee who tried to smile back. Did she remember how it was? She wasn’t sure. It seemed so long ago. Eleven months and a lifetime.

That Estee, the calm, poised kallah, was so unattainable these days. Who was that girl? What was she so smug about?

“Anyway, Estee, tell me, how things are going?”

Rebbetzin Weiss leaned forward, and all the hurrying ceased. Estee had her undivided attention and while it was intimidating, it was also quite flattering.

“Things are good,” Estee said slowly. “Baruch Hashem. I tried taking a step back and being hands-off with his schedule and it actually worked out incredibly. He was really happy. But it left me feeling weird. Why should I be happy that he’s happy that I didn’t pressure him to go learn? He’s supposed to be a learning boy. I married him because he was a learning boy. If he wasn’t a learning boy, I definitely would not be here as Estee Rosen, that’s for sure.”

Rebbetzin Weiss didn’t say anything, so Estee plowed on. “And then yesterday, I made him a beautiful dinner for his siyum on Kiddushin.”

“Mazel tov,” the rebbeztin murmured.

“Thank you. So I made a beautiful dinner, with china and candles and fresh rolls, and long story short, we ended up in a huge fight that only ended when he asked me if he should go out to work.”

Estee wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but the tears were rolling down her face, probably obliterating the makeup she’d carefully applied before driving over.

“As if I’m so shallow and so gashmiyusdig that he needs to reluctantly leave his bench in the beis to go out and provide for me. When I’m the only one in this marriage who actually seems to care about his learning!”

That was it. It was all out.