Hope Returns

by Dorey Whittaker

  “But, Dad,” Benny questioned, “wouldn’t asking Lisa to marry you be a good thing?”

  “I sure would like to think so, Benny,” Ben laughed. “But, in life, wisdom is more than just knowing the right thing to do; it is knowing when to do it. We need to respect the fact that Hope, if she comes, will just be getting to know us.”

  “If she comes?” Benny probed.

  “Son, Hope is under a lot of pressure from her fiancé. Lisa said he resents Hope coming here to spend time with her, and she is not sure Hope will have the will to withstand all of his pressure.”

  “Wow. I didn’t know that was going on, Dad,” Benny said with great compassion. “She must really be upset that her daughter is going through all of this. So, what you are saying is, you are not worried that she would not accept your proposal, but that you don’t want to ask while she is under so much pressure, right?”

  “That’s right, Son. Loving someone means you also pay attention to what they are going through instead of just thinking about what you want at the moment. Remember, even if Hope does come, Lisa still has the Thursday meeting with Mrs. Reiner. Lisa has a lot on her plate right now.”

  “Dad, aren’t those good reasons to do something positive for Lisa?”

  “Benny, I’m not saying I won’t pop the question tonight. I am saying that I need to pay attention to more than my wants tonight. If Lisa needs to keep her focus on Hope for the next few days, I need to respect that and be patient. We will have to wait and see, but it will happen and I’m happy you love her almost as much as I do.”

  Later that afternoon, Lisa and Susan were at the terminal gate early, waiting for the passengers to disembark. The plane sat on the tarmac for several minutes before the ground crew rolled the ladder up to the plane’s door. Lisa watched as these men seemed to take forever securing the blocks under the wheels. Then they climbed the ladder and knocked on the door, signaling to the stewardess that it was okay to open the door. One by one the passengers deplaned, their arms filled with wrapped Christmas presents. Everyone took their time, as if deliberately intending to cause Lisa agony. Then, Lisa caught a glimpse of Hope, standing behind a fairly large man, but it was definitely Hope. Lisa grabbed hold of Susan and spun her around, as she declared, “Hope is here! Now Christmas can officially start.”

  Chapter 12

  Driving home from the airport, Lisa tried to keep the conversation light. She asked no direct questions about the past week. “Hope, how did that rewrite go that was causing you so much trouble?”

  “I’m still working on that, Mom. I only have two days once I get back home to turn it in and I want it to be perfect. This is the first really big task my boss has assigned to me and I don’t want it to have any mistakes,” Hope replied. “I wanted to bring it along and work on it on the plane, but because this is a hush, hush project, my boss said he didn’t want anything removed from the office.”

  “So you love your job then?” Lisa questioned.

  “Yes, I do,” Hope responded with great confidence. “I never realized how rewarding it would feel to have others review my work and be pleased with it.”

  Susan remained quiet as she drove home, listening to her sister ask innocent questions that kept the conversation safe, and hearing Hope begin to bubble with excitement as she answered the questions. As Susan pulled into the Thomas driveway, Hope said, “Mom, it feels good to be respected. I am actually beginning to feel like an adult, but enough about me. Am I going to meet this wonderful man you keep telling me about? Is your Ben coming for the holiday? ”

  Lisa, beaming with pride, said, “Yes, Hope, Ben is here and I can’t wait for you to meet him.” Helping Hope with her luggage, Lisa quietly reviewed their hour-long conversation in the car. There was not one word of Michael and she wondered if that was good or bad. She studied Hope’s demeanor closely, wishing she knew her daughter better. Was this just a facade of happiness Hope was putting on? It bothered her that she did not know the little signals you pick up on when you know someone really well. But, she knew that would come in time.

  Scott, Ben, Benny, and Harry came out of the house as soon as they heard the car turn into the driveway. “Let me get that suitcase, Hope,” Scott offered, while Ben made his way around the car to introduce himself to Hope. “Welcome to Atlanta, Hope. I’m Ben. Did you have a nice flight?”

  Hope studied this gentle giant of a man smiling down at her, with his hand extended. “It’s nice to finally put a face to all of my mom’s stories about you, Ben. I guess you already know my mom is crazy in love with you, right?” Hope teased.

  Ben’s face turned bright red as he pushed Benny forward, “This is my son, Benny.”

  Stepping forward, Benny offered, “Let me take that garment bag for you, Hope. I’ll make sure it gets into your bedroom. By the way, Hope, I was just helping Mrs. Thomas set the dinner table and she placed you and me together. I guess they realize we are too old for the kid’s table, and too young for the real adult conversations.” Then embarrassed at saying she was not an adult, he added, “Well, at least I’m not old enough. I’m only seventeen, but I am closer in age to you than you are to any of the adults at the table. I will try not to bore you.”

  “I doubt that you could bore me, Benny. I would be honored to have you as my table companion.” Then with a wink, Hope added, “Besides, then you can fill me in on the romance between our parents.”

  “So you don’t mind that my dad loves your mom? Benny cautiously probed.”

  “Not at all, I think it’s great. Lisa deserves someone special in her life after all she has gone through.” Then leaning in close, Hope probed, “Your dad is great, right, Benny?”

  “He sure is,” smiled Benny, as Hope placed her arm around his shoulder and teased, “Looks like you and I might become related one of these days.”

  Holding the front door open for her, he whispered, “Maybe sooner than you think, Hope.”

  Benny carried the garment bag and suitcase upstairs and placed them in the bedroom saved for Hope. He couldn’t wait to tell his dad about their conversation. Benny rushed back downstairs, made his way over to his dad and waited patiently for an opportunity to whisper his news in his dad’s ear. “Dad, I don’t think Hope has a problem with you and Lisa. She teased me that she and I might end up brother and sister one of these days.”

  Putting his arm around his son, Ben cautioned, “That’s great, son. At least that is one less thing to worry about, but I still need to decide if Lisa can handle that kind of distraction right now. You just keep your eyes and ears open. Between the two of us, we will know when the time is right.”

  After everyone was introduced, Hope laughingly suggested, “I think I need everyone to wear name tags for the first twenty-four hours. Not only can’t I remember all your names, but keeping track of who belongs to who is going to be a real problem.”

  Harry chimed in, “Hope, if you see anyone with red hair, they belong to me.”

  “Got it, Harry,” Hope teased right back, “red hair goes with Harry and Carol Anne, right?”

  “Right,” Scott interjected, “and all the other kids without red hair belong to Susan and me. That makes it real easy.”

  Benny walked up next to Hope and offered, “Actually, Hope, it will take longer than twenty-four hours to get everyone’s name and relationship down.” Teasingly, Benny added, “Just do what I do, address all the adults as sir or ma’am and then start talking. They won’t realize you don’t know who they are; they will just think you are a well-bred, good ole’ southern child.”

  Hope giggled, “That might work for you, Benny, you are a good ole’ southern child. I’m from southern California, remember?”

  Holiday dinners around the Thomas table were always lively, but this year was proving to be exceptionally so. Harry, the hilarious, as he had been dubbed, now found himself the perfect cohort for his humor. As soon as Harry realized Ben’s susceptibility, he made it his mission to drive Ben into uproarious laughter, which,
in turn, had everybody at the table unable to breathe. Once or twice, Ben excused himself in order to gain self-control. Once reseated, Harry needed only to cast a questioning look in Ben’s direction, and Ben would again dissolve into crippling laughter.

  Mrs. Thomas allowed this to go on for quite awhile, until finally tapping her knife against her water glass, “I think that is quite enough, Harry. You are going to make Ben sick if you keep this up.”

  Taking a submissive pose, Harry agreed to dial it down and asked, “So, Benny, I understand you were on your school’s wrestling team last year. Maybe you and I can spend an hour or so tomorrow over at my gym so I can see some of your moves. What do you think about that?”

  Feeling uncomfortable, Benny said, “I’m not very good at it, Coach. I didn’t make the team this year.”

  “That’s okay, Benny,” Harry said, noticing his discomfort. “We can just have some fun. You won’t be trying out for a position on my team so there is no pressure here.”

  As the conversation turned to adult topics, Hope observed the demeanor of everyone at the table. Although Harry seemed to take the lead, no one dominated the discussion. Everyone seemed at ease to join in and share their opinion without being insulted or instructed as to why they were absolutely incorrect in their thinking.

  The conversation slid from topic to topic with ease. Hope noticed that, unlike Michael’s dinner table, there were no prolonged diatribes of political significance where an assertive compliance was demanded.

  As Hope watched this family having a pleasant mealtime discussion, she could not help but compare this with all the hundreds of dinner discussions she had endured around the Gundersol table. She thought of the endless reviewing of the Gundersol family history, their recounting, ad nauseam, every political victory ever achieved by a Gundersol. As tiresome as she found these diatribes to be, they were nothing compared to the hand-pounding tirades of Mr. Gundersol when he would begin his admonishments toward his son. “Failure is not acceptable, Michael,” he would shout. “A Gundersol must never lose to lesser men. With all of my money to back you, with the Gundersol name, the education you have been afforded, any failure will fall squarely on your shoulders.” Then Hope recalled the line Mr. Gundersol always ended with, “You are a Gundersol, Son, and don’t you ever forget it and don’t you ever let anyone else forget it either.”

  Sitting here, listening to the light-hearted tête-à-tête from everyone, Hope dreaded the idea of sitting through one more dinner meal at the Gundersol table; let alone a lifetime of them.

  Toward the end of dinner, Mr. Thomas tapped his glass for attention. “Hope, Ben, and Benny, we have a tradition in this house. Tomorrow evening is Christmas Eve. Caroline, my beautiful wife, will have Christmas Eve dinner ready to serve at four-thirty, after which we would all love to invite you three to join us at our Christmas Eve service at church. Then we come back here for dessert and an evening of watching our old home movies. We have done this for the past fifty years in our family and would love to have you join us.”

  “We’d love to, Bill,” responded Ben with enthusiasm.

  Hope chimed in behind him, “So would I, Mr. Thomas. That sounds like a sweet tradition and I’m looking forward to it.”

  Ben squeezed Lisa’s hand under the tablecloth because he knew Hope’s response was exactly the one Lisa wanted. All evening, Lisa had kept her eyes on Hope, watching her banter back and forth with different members of the family. She observed her daughter’s ease as topics went from the profoundly silly to the profoundly serious. The only topics Hope did not join in were those touching the topic of faith. She did not appear to be offended, but rather uninformed and, therefore, ill at ease.

  Often, Lisa would turn her gaze back to Ben and give him a huge smile and whisper, “I am so very happy. You are on my right, and my daughter is on my left.”

  Just as Bill started to rise, signaling the dinner gathering was now over, Ben cleared his voice and asked, “Mr. Thomas, might I have everyone’s attention for just a moment?” Sliding his chair back a little so he could stand, Ben took Lisa’s hand in his. “As all of you well know, I love this woman with all my heart. So, before everyone who cherishes her as much as I do, I would like to ask…“Lisa Jane Miller, will you accept this ring as my eternal pledge to love you, protect you, honor you, and cherish you for the rest of our lives? Lisa, will you please marry me?”

  No one at the table even waited for Lisa’s response because they all knew it was going to be, “Yes.” The cheers drowned out her yes but Ben heard it and that was enough. As Lisa stood there in Ben’s arms, in front of everyone, Susan and Gladys exchanged a glance and cried happy tears for her. Hope quickly offered her congratulations, then turned to Benny and said, “See, I told you we would soon be related, Benny.”

  Chapter 13

  Christmas Eve day was filled with activities. Knowing Hope would be exhausted from traveling, and from their late night gab session, Lisa suggested that Hope sleep in while she got up early in order to go over to Susan’s in time for breakfast. By the time she arrived, Harry and Carol Anne were already there helping with breakfast and setting the table. “Good morning, everyone,” Lisa said as she walked in the front door. “I intended to get here extra early so I could make some cinnamon buns but I just could not drag myself out of bed this morning.”

  Seeing the smile on her sister’s face, Susan questioned, “Did you and Hope have a chance to chat last night after we all left?”

  “Yes,” Lisa replied as she walked up and slid into Ben’s open arms. “We sat on her bed and talked until almost three this morning. I guess our family dynamic, even with our Harry the hilarious over here, really impressed Hope.”

  Giving Lisa a boyish grin, Harry offered, “I do my best, Lisa.”

  “Oh, Harry, she thinks you are great,” Lisa clarified. “Hope kept comparing you to her fiancé and wished he was a little less serious all the time.” Then, patting Ben’s chest, Lisa announced, “Hope is so impressed with my Ben. She said anyone who can laugh like he does must make life interesting and fun for everyone around him.” Turning around, Lisa asked, “Where is Benny? I wanted to tell him she always wanted a little brother and thinks he is awesome.”

  “Benny just got up and is in the shower,” Ben offered. “Not exactly sure why, since all of us guys are headed over to the high school gym after breakfast. Harry was able to open the school gym for a few hours so Scott, Benny, and I are going to get in one of Harry’s famous workouts so we can eat all the holiday goodies we know you and Aunt Gladys brought with you.” Then turning to Scott, Ben warned, “Scott, I helped them load the tins of cookies, boxes of fudge and Christmas candies, not to mention the two cakes and three pies. We will need more than a three-hour workout with all those goodies laid out before us.”

  “It is the same every Christmas around here, Ben,” Scott moaned, patting his belly. “Get used to it. Between Aunt Gladys, my mom, and Lisa, the house looks like a pastry shop.”

  “I’ve never heard you complain, Scott,” Lisa teased. “As a matter of fact, you are always the first to ask for seconds, true?”

  “Very true, Lisa,” Scott admitted, “but now that I am in my early forties, I need to slow up on the sweets.” He hesitated for just a second before adding, “Well, maybe I’ll slow down next year.”

  Turning to Susan as she brought in the breakfast casserole, Scott asked, “So what are you gals doing today?”

  “As soon as you guys leave, Lisa and I are packing up the kids and going back to Mom’s house. I want to spend some quiet time with Aunt Gladys and Hope. Lisa has some secret project she and Lisa Anne are doing. Besides, I want to help Mom with dinner, if she will let me.”

  Drawing the discussion back to Hope, Susan asked hopefully, “Lisa, you said Hope is comparing our family with Michael’s family? Do you suppose she is having second thoughts about him?”

  “I certainly hope so, Susan,” Lisa answered back. “But just as she says something critical of h
im, she follows that up with some statement like, ‘but he will get better once we are married,’ or ‘when we have our own place and he is no longer under his father’s thumb,’ kind of remarks. I did my best to keep quiet and just let her make her own comparisons. Hope told me that every dinner at the Gundersol mansion is a war game strategy session. But then she said, ‘but when Michael is elected that should go away.’ ”

  Looking around the table, Lisa paused, then said, “You guys are all great. I can’t tell you how many times last night Hope recounted to me something one of you said or did that impressed her. She is watching how you men are treating us women and she is struggling because, even with all her excuses, he never treats her very well.” Tearing up with thankfulness, Lisa said, “Thank you guys for showing Hope what she should be able to expect from someone she intends to spend the rest of her life with. She has to see it because right now she will not hear it.”

  Ben waited until he was sure Lisa was finished talking about Hope, before he asked, “Susan, would you mind driving over to the Thomas’ house without Lisa? She and I have had no time alone together since I asked her to marry me.” Turning to Lisa with a huge grin, Ben asked, “You don’t mind giving me about two hours of your day today, do you?”

  Once in the car Ben filled her in on his little secret. “Lisa, you and I are not kids anymore. Neither of us is interested in a big fancy wedding. We just want to get married, right?”

  “Right, Ben. So what’s up? You aren’t kidnapping me and running off to elope, are you?” Lisa questioned, only half kidding.

  “No, but I do have another proposal for you. City Hall will close at noon today. I think we should go down there and get our marriage license. I know you want everyone who loves you at your wedding. Hope is here, and we sure don’t want to have our wedding the next time she has to come back here for Gordon’s trial, so, why not now? I talked with Scott last night and he said he could call their pastor and see if he would be willing to come over to the Thomas’ house on Saturday afternoon, at two o’clock, and marry us in front of all our family before we have to get Hope back to the airport for her six o’clock flight.”