by Tif Marcelo
Diana scrolled up to the next text, to number she didn’t recognize:
Offer still stands. I’d like to see you while in town. —C
She flushed from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, then admonished herself. Crew had been exciting and new, but nothing more. She only had a few days in the country, which was just enough to sort through the most important thing in her life right now: her family’s past.
Even if he was the best kisser, and had magical hands, and said things to her that Carlo hadn’t had the imagination to say.
She exhaled a cleansing breath and left the message unanswered, then jumped out of bed. First things first. Three hours until their meeting with Colette, and she would need every second to gather her composure.
* * *
Hot Stove Café was located in the northeast corner of Las Cruces Hotel’s first floor, marked by heavy, dark wooden double doors, where the hostess greeted them with zeal.
“For two?” She nodded at Diana and her mother, who was a half step behind.
“We’re … we’re meeting some folks here. Colette Macaraeg?”
“Oh, of course. Follow me.” She led the way past empty wooden tables with shaded lamps hanging overhead. As Diana wound through the dining room, her stomach came to life and she drooled at the smell of cooking food. More so, her eyes ate up the view of the baywalk through the back windows.
“Wow, I love that,” she said aloud.
“There’s more to see in here,” Colette’s singsong voice answered as Diana and her mother were led into a private dining room. Colette stood beside the round table that was set with colorful, cheerful tableware, mouth open in shock. “Oh my God. Are you … ?”
Behind Diana, her mother answered, “Margaret Gallagher-Cary.”
“Tita Margo. It’s nice to meet you, finally. What a wonderful surprise, and what a gorgeous skirt. The chevron pattern is stunning.” She took Margo’s hand and placed it up to her forehead. A sign of respect to elders, called the mano, the gesture took Diana aback. It felt so intimate.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Margo said.
As if remembering, Colette turned to the man next to her. “Both of you, this is my husband, Philip.”
“A pleasure,” he said, shaking both their hands. “Ate Diana, I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you when you first arrived, I was out of town.”
“Always out of town.” Colette breathed out. “Which should be interesting when the baby comes.”
“I’m an attorney,” he added, then wrapped an arm around Colette’s shoulders, squeezing. “And I promise I’ll be home more, mahal.”
“Fine. Okay.”
Diana warmed at the couple’s back-and-forth, then stepped aside as a member of the waitstaff excused herself and created another setting on the table.
“Here, sit to the left and right of me, Ate and Tita.” Colette pulled out the chairs for them and signaled the hostess to bring them water. “Are you settled in, Tita? And did you rest well, Ate Diana?”
Margo gave Diana a conspiratorial look. “I think it’s safe to say that after the initial surprise of my arrival, we slept well.”
Diana’s face burned up like a furnace. “Yes, exactly.”
“That’s wonderful. Wow, this is such a gift, to have the both of you here. Soon, Johnny Pascual, who’s administering the DNA test, will join us. And my brother seems to be running late. I’m sorry.” Her smile was sheepish. “He has an ex-fiancée, and her children have become like my brother’s children, since they were together forever. But she has a habit of taking advantage of it. She took off on some trip, and, well, it’s tricky.” She lowered her voice. “He loves the girls, but the lines are blurred sometimes. Or actually, erased altogether.”
“No need to say more,” Diana said, well versed in a myriad of family dynamics. Her longtime conclusion had been that all families were dysfunctional.
“So there are children? So I am like a grandmother figure?” Margo’s hand fluttered to her chest.
“Oh my goodness, yes. I didn’t even think … yes. You’ll be addressed as Lola, is that all right? Or however you prefer.”
“No, no, Lola will be fine.” Her mother’s eyes misted, and Diana had to look away. She understood that Margo’s reaction was due to the idea that she was a grandmother in general, but Diana couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed she wasn’t the one who’d made her mother’s eyes water like that.
“I’m sorry, but I think I need a moment. Is the bathroom—” Margo said.
Colette sat up in her seat. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes. Just a little makeup running, and I don’t want to be a mess when the children are here. Just point me toward it.”
“It’s straight ahead.”
“Thank you.” Margo turned to leave just as a server came in with a tray of sparkling water bottles and orange juice.
“She’ll be fine,” Diana reassured Colette, though she worried, too. “The last day has been a doozy for her.” For more reasons than this. But she gestured to the meticulously decorated table. “This, however, is amazing. Thank you.”
“It’s no problem. You both are family, like I said.” She frowned. “What’s wrong? You look upset.”
Diana shook her head. They both had been so open online, and Colette was gracious and hospitable. Relax. “No, it’s just—all of this is … surreal.”
Colette sighed. “I feel the same way. But there’s nothing to do but embrace, it, right? This is a blessing. Frankly, I always wondered if Lolo had family elsewhere. He was in the States until he was in his twenties.” Her face became solemn. “Honestly, though, it’s still a shock. After you contacted me, I spoke to my lola and confirmed that my lolo enlisted from California, from Marysville. But I …” She looked away.
“What is it?”
“Here’s the thing: my lola? She’s old and secretive and sometimes mean, but she wasn’t always that way. Time did that to her. She doesn’t like to talk about the past at all. She’s pretty tight-lipped.”
Diana took a breath. “Okay.”
“And, I wanted to tell you that …” Colette halted when the double doors reopened and a staff of three carried in dishes and placed them on the lazy Susan. Behind them followed two little girls in matching flowered summer dresses. They ran around the table and threw their arms around Colette, who peppered them with kisses. Margo walked in shortly afterward, a wide smile on her face, and took her chair to wait for introductions.
“Where’s Tito Joshua?” Colette asked the older child.
“I’m here.” A man’s voice followed just beyond the doors. “Johnny’s outside on his phone. Mukhang serioso. Must be about business. Anyway, he apologized and said we should get started with the meal because he’ll be a while. Girls, what did I say about running indoors?”
Diana had the cold bottled water to her lips, and glancing up just as Colette’s brother walked in, she sputtered.
Because this gorgeous man, now fresh-shaven and in slim-cut slacks and an oxford shirt was Crew, from last night.
“Joshua, this is Diana Gallagher-Cary. Our cousin,” Colette said.
Cousins.
The word pushed Diana into a full-on coughing fit.
“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Colette patted her on the back.
“Yeah, um. You.” Diana’s voice cracked and she stood. Did she … had she … “You said your name was Crew.”
He halted at the door when they locked eyes, and like a hiccup, he started up again. “I … because my friends call me Crew. For Cruz.” His eyes darted around the room to Philip, then to Margo, then Diana, finally halting at Colette. In a way Diana had experienced only with good nurses in the delivery room, a message leaped between them. But Diana didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Because she didn’t know him.
If she had, she wouldn’t have gotten into bed with him.
“Wait. You said your name was Ana,” Crew—no, Joshua—said with a raised eye
brow.
“Um … Ana for Diana?” Diana croaked. “You said you were part of the wedding party.”
“I was, am, I mean! I manage the hotel.”
“Joshua. Josh!” Colette yelled. “No, you didn’t! Of all people, Josh.”
“We didn’t,” Diana and Joshua said at the same time.
Margo giggled. “Oh. Oh my.”
“Oh my God, Mom. This is so embarrassing.” This was too much. This was oversharing. This was crossing the line. She didn’t need to know this.
“Wait, wait. Stop!” Joshua said above the flurry of voices, and the room went silent. “Diana, I am her brother, but we are not blood related. Which means you and I aren’t related.” His body seemed to deflate. “Girls, why don’t you go get a toy from Ate Carolina. Remember? At the front podium?”
The girls ran out at the word toy, and Joshua closed the doors behind them. He gestured for Diana and her mother to sit. Joshua took the seat across from Diana.
“I am adopted. My mother was Colette’s nanny, and her mother took me in as a child. I’ve never known my life without Colette and her family.”
“Our family, Joshua.”
“Yes, well, but in this case, there is a definite line, and Diana and I did not cross it. In more ways than one. Anyway. This has got to be the most awkward situation I have been in, and God knows I’ve been in too many to count.” He turned to Margo. “I am sorry about early this morning.”
“It’s okay,” her mother said.
“Let’s not talk about it anymore, else you will put me into labor,” Colette interrupted, a hand on her belly.
Diana didn’t even have the mind to ask if the woman was serious, because amid the shock of finding out the man she’d nearly slept with was an almost-cousin, she remembered a line in their conversation:
Do you fight that external force, because it’s obviously nefarious?
Joshua thought Diana and her mother were out for the family’s money.
* * *
As more food was brought into the dining room, Diana pushed the awkwardness and her questions aside in favor of her sudden hunger. The contrasting colors of each dish popped out tantalizingly, and her appetite grew as Colette described each one: kare-kare, or oxtail stew; sisig, which was marinated and fried pork; a noodle dish called pancit; and fried tilapia. “Simple dishes for this first meal. I hope you’re not afraid to try some new things.”
“Are you kidding?” Diana spread the napkin on her lap. “You’re looking at a walking stomach.”
“And I did try my best,” Margo piped up, before taking her phone out to snap a pic of the food. “I had a few friends teach me some dishes over the years. I made some mistakes, but I think I got a couple of dishes reasonably right.”
Diana reached out to her mom’s hand, behind Colette, heart squeezing. She’d taken it for granted how her mother had tried to be everything: mother and father and grandfather. “Yes, you did,” she said. “Your arroz caldo was the best. It kept me alive through med school.”
“You’ll have to show us how you do yours, Tita Margo. The restaurant recipes are family based. Maybe we can do a special that’s based on your version.”
Her mother’s upper lip quivered. “Really? That’s sweet. But you don’t have to say that.”
“Let’s serve it up,” Joshua interrupted, like a crack of the whip. He hadn’t said much since they had started their meal. With a child seated on each side, he’d paid attention to their whims, their questions. Now, he perched at the edge of his seat, scooping food onto their plates. It was sweet, especially knowing that these were his ex’s children, that his affection for the girls hadn’t stopped just because his relationship with their mother did.
Still, Diana thought he was being curt to her. The worst, though, was that she couldn’t be upset that he lied because she had, too.
Diana inhaled each dish to smother her barrage of thoughts, mixing the rice and sauces with a spoon and fork. She took cues by watching what Joshua and Colette added to their dishes, like bagoong, or shrimp paste, that gave it a burst of saltiness, a perfect contrast to the deep flavor of peanut sauce. Soon, Diana was high from a full belly of carbs, and despite the conversation focusing on Diana’s plans, which would now include her mother, she started to zone out. Margo, too, had gone silent, a sure sign she was nearing food-coma status.
While they waited for Johnny, Joshua excused himself from the table to smoke with Philip, and her mother took a walk with the girls in the lobby area. Finally alone, Diana asked Colette, “You didn’t finish what you were saying, about Flora?”
Colette bit her lip. Inhaled. “I should just come out and say it … Lola Flora doesn’t know about you.”
The words startled Diana out of her well-fed stupor, her spine becoming ramrod straight. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t tell her. Well, let me back up. I told her that you contacted me, that we were in conversation, but I haven’t said anything about you coming. Or that you’re here. I thought … I thought it would be better to present you, in person, or soon after I announce it.”
“This doesn’t sound like a good idea at all,” Diana said as Joshua’s words rang in her head. “Joshua thinks we’re trying to infiltrate your family.”
“Ignore him.” She smiled. “He didn’t agree that I should keep it a secret from Lola, although he can’t deny how important it is that you’re here. It’s time to set things right.”
Diana sank back into her chair. “God, we might be giving an old lady a heart attack.”
“It will be a shock, at first. But I also knew if I waited too long, if I had given my lola or the rest of the family the choice, the idea would have been dead in the water. If the family found out before you came, they would have done everything in their power to keep you away. No one wants a scandal. Anyway, I want to bring you to her tomorrow night. Before everyone else comes over.”
“Everyone else?”
“The rest of the family.”
At Diana’s raised eyebrows, Colette mumbled something beyond her hearing.
“Before the rest of the family comes where?”
Colette heaved a breath. “To her one hundredth birthday party.”
“What?” Diana shook her head to clear the carb sleepiness from her brain. “You want us to break this news before her hundredth birthday party?”
“At the party.” Colette nodded like she’d just agreed to chocolate for her ice cream rather than dropping the biggest news in her family’s generation. “The DNA test will be back in time—Johnny will see to it. Though, with what we’ve exchanged, the pictures, the letters … in my eyes, the DNA test is mainly a formality.”
Diana nodded, agreeing. Her instincts didn’t doubt that she and Colette were related by blood, though the rest of her emotions had yet to catch up. “But can’t we wait until after the party is over?”
“With a big extended family full of very opinionated people, it’s all about timing. And getting ahead of everyone is probably the best move.”
Joshua and Philip returned, each taking a seat. Joshua glanced at the two of them. “You told her?”
“Yes.” Colette smiled reassuringly. “Until tomorrow’s party, Ate, by the sound of it, you have your days fully planned sightseeing.”
“Just a couple of highlights this first trip. Today, to Antonio’s grave, which is more for my mom.” Diana confirmed, though she was still stuck on Colette’s news. Good God, Flora didn’t know about them at all? How would she explain this to her mother?
She nodded. “You’ll need help and some company. Joshua can assist.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Diana flushed.
“I insist. Right, Joshua? This place might be intimidating to some people. And he’s really got nothing to do.”
“Speak for yourself.” He scoffed. “I’ve got a hotel to run, and have you seen her spreadsheets?”
“What spreadsheets?” Colette waved the thought away. “I’m sure the hotel can manage t
he next few days. And I’ll join in when I can.” She took a sip of water.
“Philip?”
Philip raised his hands, “Work, buddy. Because I actually have a boss.”
“Look, I don’t need any help,” Diana insisted.
“No! This is no trouble at all.” Colette frowned at her brother. “Joshua is just being a bear. Your ex should be picking up the girls soon, and you have the most flexible time out of all of us, Josh. And c’mon.” She pointed to her belly.
His smile was tight. “Fine.”
“Great!” Colette beamed just as Margo returned with the girls and a man just steps behind her.
“Johnny!” Colette greeted Johnny with arms up, an invitation. Johnny bent down and kissed her on the cheek and shook Philip’s hand. “This is Johnny Pascual, my dearest friend. He owns DNA-Corps, a DNA and ancestry lab in Makati. You missed the meal. Are you hungry?”
“No, I’m okay. I’m so sorry I’m late. But I’m ready to get started. I just met Mrs. Gallagher-Cary in the lobby. It’s so nice to meet you, Diana. Colette’s told me so much about you.”
Diana took a deep breath. “It’s so nice to meet you, too, though now I suppose it’s time. Are you ready for this, Ma?”
Her mother sat down tentatively in her chair. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter Seventeen
Margo, in fact, had not been ready. When Johnny swabbed her cheek, she didn’t really understand that it might truly connect her to the Cruz family. When those little girls called her Lola, she hadn’t taken the title into her heart completely. And even as she witnessed her daughter’s interactions with Joshua—admittedly another uncomfortable moment—she had not comprehended that her daughter was truly attracted to him. It was as if Margo was having a lucid dream, alternately solidly in the moment and unsteady, like right now, riding onto Manila Memorial Park.
Margo rolled down the window, letting in the warm air and the scent of grass, as the car passed rows of headstones.
Once places of fear and of sadness, over time she began to see cemeteries as places of gathering and of quiet celebration, even behind tears. Looking out now at flowers being laid on tombs, of a random teddy bear perched on a headstone, and at a gathering of visitors, this place felt more like the continuation of life rather than the end of it.
