On the Road [again]

by Sheila Horgan

  The girls didn’t want to intrude. When Carolyn called to announce that she had a great-granddaughter named Evelyn, they were thrilled. Carolyn explained that Suzi had come up with the name herself. Eve for a new beginning and l-y-n after Carolyn. She was so touched. Her Suzi was a mother now. She would be a good one.

  Carolyn explained to the girls that Cara would be staying at the hospital with Suzi until she was released. Suzi had had a C-section, and the family was a little concerned that she would have a rough time of it for the next few days. Cara had instantly volunteered, as always, to jump in and take care of everybody.

  Carolyn was quick to assure Adeline that Cara was able to work at the hospital, as Suzi and Evelyn would likely sleep quite a bit.

  “Don’t be silly. Cara is free to take off just as much time as she needs. That girl gets the work of three done every day. She deserves a break now and then. What better way to spend it? I’ll give her a call in the morning.”

  The next few days were a blur of Suzi and Evelyn and the girls in a support role for Carolyn. They made sure she got some rest and proper meals and gave her rides to and from the hospital.

  It wasn’t until Suzi was home, and spending a few days with Cara and A.J., that Carolyn relaxed.

  For a minute.

  Then it was Adeline’s turn to need support.

  They were at the loft, eating takeout, when the doorman buzzed. “There is a young man here to see you, ma’am. He claims to be your grandson. Christopher.” There was noise in the background. “I’m sorry, ma’am. That’s Christophe.”

  “I know his name, Harold. Please send him up.”

  Adeline face was an instant mask of serenity. The girls knew that wasn’t a good sign.

  Moments later, Adeline’s doorbell chimed. She took a deep breath, the only sign she was stressed, and opened it to a handsome young man.

  “Grandmother, how are you? You look well.”

  “I’m feeling much better, thank you, Christophe.”

  “I know things have been rough. Really rough. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

  “You are here now. Please, come in. Let me introduce you to my friends.”

  The introductions were formal.

  Adeline sat rod straight in her chair. Christophe, directly across from her, was obviously trying to work up his nerve.

  Anna decided that she would break the tension. “Christophe, can I get you something to drink?”

  “That would be great. Thanks. I can help you get it. Just point me toward the kitchen.”

  Adeline’s eyebrow rose slightly.

  “Grandmother, may I get you something?”

  “A cup of tea would be lovely, but there is no need for you to wait on me, Christophe.”

  “No problem. Really.”

  Carolyn smiled. “How about we all go in the kitchen and fix some drinks and snacks?”

  Christophe didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “Grandmother? Eat in the kitchen? This I gotta see.”

  The first twenty minutes were stiff and uncomfortable, but with the help of Anna and Carolyn things began to lighten up. The girls were soon being regaled with stories of Christophe’s childhood. His humor was dry. He described himself as a spoiled child that was more than willing to take advantage of the situation. He shared with Anna and Carolyn that his allowance could feed a reasonably sized village by the time he was only a young teen.

  Anna smiled warmly. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I am a curious soul. What is it that brought you from spoiled child to aware young man?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “I would certainly try.”

  “Okay. I was sitting at home one day, trying to decide which video console I was drawn to — I had them all, what a waste — when I heard a scream from the first garden. I’m not sure why I responded at all. Normally I would not concern myself with the goings-on of the staff, but for whatever reason I went to the window and saw that one of the gardeners was injured. I would find out later that he, quite without thought, tried to dislodge a branch from a mower, and the blade caught his palm… ” He motioned to the fatty part of the hand below the thumb, with a striking motion toward the pinky. “He was bleeding a lot ,and I just seemed to be pulled out of doors to assist. I ran to him, in fact, and looked at the wound. It didn’t appear to be severe enough to warrant an ambulance, but surely he couldn’t drive himself to the hospital to be attended to, so I took it upon myself to drive him. A kindness most parents would reinforce, but my parents took affront to and tried, however ineffectually, to punish me for. After all, we can’t have members of the family being of service to the servants. What would the neighbors think?” Christophe contorted his face into such a ludicrous impersonation of his father that even not knowing the man, Anna and Carolyn had to laugh. Adeline was not nearly as inclined to do so, but couldn’t help herself.

  “At any rate, I drove him to the hospital and helped him fill out his paperwork. He called his son while we were en route. When he arrived, there was a long conversation about how they were going to deal with the bill. They were careful not to let me overhear, but I read lips pretty well. It is a consequence of my parents not allowing us, my sister and me, to partake in their parties. We used to sit up on the steps and look through the opening in the balusters, and read the lips of the guests. It is amazing what a child can learn. Parents, or I should say adults in general, seem to forget that a child is present if they are not causing a fuss. I could tell you stories about some pretty important people. Titans of industry would be reduced to tears.” His smile was bright, showing perfectly straight teeth that an obviously expensive orthodontist worked hard to attain.

  Carolyn was fascinated by the way Christophe spoke. So formal, and years older than she would expect. He was dressed like something out of a magazine, with designer clothing that didn’t have any of the usual hip-hop flair that every socioeconomic group seemed to favor. She had expected him to be wearing a more expensive version of what she was accustomed to.

  Anna had several nephews the same age as Christophe, and although she was enjoying the show, there were a few telltale signs that told her that it was just that. A show.

  Christophe continued his story. “So, at the end of it, what I learned was that the gardener and his son were having a conversation about how they would pay for the hospital bill and how they were going to manage while the father was unable to work. If he didn’t work, there was no income, and there were any number of people depending on that income. He was equally alarmed that his injury might well cause him to lose his job, and the thought terrified him. The fact that I had taken him to the hospital was more cause for alarm, as he saw me as nothing more than the spoiled little wannabe thug that I was. There was a very attractive young woman waiting to see the doctor, and they assumed I was hanging around not to help them in any way, but to hit on her at her weakest moment, take advantage, and leave without her so much as knowing my full name. I hate to admit it, but that does sound like something I would do.”

  The girls smiled at his sheepish confession.

  “I’d love to say that the evening taught me a valuable life lesson and from that point on I have been a stellar example of humanity, but that is not the case. That night I did what I thought was a sign of inner growth. I whipped out my credit card, paid for the man’s hospital bill, quite anonymously I might add, which only added to my contorted belief that I was well on the road to sainthood, and left the two men next to their car, feeling slightly superior and smug, having assured them both that the father’s job was not in jeopardy and that he was to take a few days off to recover and then supervise the rest of the staff as needed until he was healed.” Christophe shook his head. “Such a sanctimonious little shit. Thank you, Mom and Dad.”

  It hadn’t escaped Anna’s notice that Christophe had never once mentioned the name of the gardener or his son. She thought that very telling.

  She wanted to get to know the boy a little bi
t better. “So, Chris, is it okay if I call you that?”

  “Please. I gotta tell you, I’m trying really hard to stay in this formal mode, because I know that is what Grandmother prefers, but it is a challenge for me, because I am really not that kind of guy.”

  Adeline laughed. “Christophe, please, you do not need to put on airs for me. I am well aware of the opinion that your parents hold of me, but I hope that if those opinions were ever a true reflection of my choices and personality, they have gained a certain patina with age. It is my greatest wish that you will be relaxed and enjoy yourself through this. I would certainly prefer it if you were comfortable enough to be one hundred percent yourself.”

  “That would be great, but I don’t want to disappoint you. I have to be honest. I wasn’t the best in school. It just never interested me. I took the classes, I got the grades, because Mom and Dad would be embarrassed if I hadn’t, and you sure as hell don’t want to embarrass them. They would have had me on an analyst’s couch so fast, oh sorry, but I’m smart, and if something interests me, I can apply myself and learn it quickly. I can dress up in a suit and preside over a meeting like something out of a movie. I’m pretty social-media aware, and I can hang with people my own age without too much young adult angst.”

  The girls almost felt sorry for him, trying so hard to impress his grandmother with what he thought she might want to hear. The thing was, Anna and Carolyn knew Adeline well enough to know that it wasn’t his words she was paying attention to. It was his actions. It would take some time for him to win her confidence, and the harder he tried to do that verbally, the longer it would take.

  Anna decided to help him along a bit. “So, Chris, tell me how you ended up on the humanitarian side of things if the gardener and his son didn’t get you there.”

  “You’d think that experience would have taught me something, but I’m hardheaded. I’m not trying to blame my parents for every negative thing I’ve done or what’s happened to me, but they basically raised me to be a little prick. Think every arrogant socialite douche bag you see on television, and that was me — that was how I acted. It was normal to blow a thousand dollars on dinner with a couple of friends and then a few more at the clubs. Can you imagine? I completely destroyed a couple cars. Example would be my last Tahoe. It was a murdered-out beast. At the time I thought it wasn’t nice enough, so I treated it like a beater. Slammed the curb, oh well, bring it home, throw the keys at Jamie — our driver — and grab another set of keys for another car in the garage.”

  Carolyn said, “I would think any young man would take advantage of the situation. You were born into a family that had resources, and those resources were made available to you without question. Why would you question using them?”

  Anna added, “When you know better, you do better.”

  Christophe brightened. “Exactly. A while back, I met some people. Not dropping any names, but they are wealthy. Ridiculously wealthy. They make my family look poor. They have five kids around our age, and they all get it. They understand what life is about. They weren’t like me, partying and wasting their parents’ money as if it was their own. They grasped the humanitarian side of things. They aren’t out there spending all their time building huts in third world countries, although they have done that. It’s more about how they treat people and understand how fortunate they are. Didn’t Einstein say something about how he treated everyone the same way?”

  “Yes, I believe he said that he talks to every man the same way, be it a garbage man or the head of the university. I know that isn’t a direct quote, but it’s close enough.” Carolyn laughed.

  “That’s not how I was raised. It was more along the lines of if you were ‘important,’ you were treated well. If you were not ‘important,’ you didn’t matter. How messed up is that?”

  Adeline sounded a bit defensive. “That is not the way that your parents were raised. They were spoiled, I openly admit that, but they were not raised to mistreat anyone based on economic standards or in any other way. I didn’t raise them well, but I raised them better than that.”

  Christophe looked at his grandmother with open affection. “They’ve mentioned that. More than once. They believe since they had the resources and clout, they should have been raised the way I was. They are so messed up now, can you imagine how screwed up they would have been if you’d done that?” Christophe chuckled. “Not trying to be disrespectful, but I don’t respect my parents — at all. I know it sounds messed up, but can you blame me?”

  The rest of the evening was full of stories of Christophe’s youth and his encounters with the young people that had changed his perspective, his beliefs, and the course of his life.

  It was easy to see that Adeline owed her life to these young people she had never met, because had it not been for them, her older children would have gotten away with their plan, and she would now be withering in some undisclosed facility, or dead.

  Anna shuddered as she tried to figure out which fate would be worse. As long as any human being is living, there is hope, but who would want to live under those circumstances?

  Although both Anna and Carolyn found themselves really liking the young man, neither was willing to leave Adeline alone with him just yet.

  When it was time for Carolyn to leave, to go visit with Suzi and Evelyn, she asked if Christophe would like a ride somewhere.

  He graciously took the hint.

  He gave Anna a hug first. He was obviously a bit uncomfortable, but he was a practiced hugger, and Anna took that as a good sign.

  Next he hugged Carolyn.

  He turned to Adeline. “Grandmother, may I?”

  Adeline looked shocked. He had assumed her friends would want a hug, but not his own grandmother. What had his parents said and done?

  “Christophe, you never need to ask. I’d welcome a hug from you at any moment of any day.”

  His hug with his grandmother was much longer and more comfortable.

  “I’m glad I came by.”

  “As am I.”

  “I understand you have no reason to believe what I have told you. I know there will be testing and all of that. You are a smart woman, of that I am sure, but when all that is done, please know that I will be a better person than the people who raised me. If it’s with your organization, great. If it’s not, so be it, but I can’t live without a relationship with you. It’s taken me a long time to grasp the concept of how a family should treat each other.”

  With that he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

  “So tell me, girls, what do you think of my grandson and his stories?”

  Anna smiled and exchanged a quick look with Carolyn. “I think that maybe the boy is the real deal, but there is only one way to find out. I think that maybe it’s time for you to go take a look at your family. You might not want to walk up and knock on the front door, but as we have proven, we can be covert and find out quite a bit when we put our minds to it.”

  ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

  THE TEA SERIES

  Hot Tea

  Sweet Tea

  Iced Tea

  Green Tea

  Peppermint Tea

  Tea To Go

  Summer Tea

  Traditional Tea

  Tea & Honey

  Happy Tea

  Dark Tea

  Shattered Tea

  THE TEA SERIES: THE BLENDS

  (short stories)

  Romantic Blend

  Perfect Blend

  THE GIRLS SERIES

  Las Vegas

  Hawaii Can Wait

  On the Road (Again)

  Spoiled Fruit

  THE AUNTIE SERIES

  Abbie

  Bethany

  LESSONS, THE SERIES

  Consequences

  Coming soon — Promises

  Learn more about Sheila and her books at www.SheilaHorgan.com

  Table of Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  ONE

  TWO

  THRE
E

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  ALSO BY THE AUTHOR