Leo Pahdocony, Jr., riding his fancy bicycle right up the stairs to her front door, brought five copies of the newspaper. Leo, Jr. was set to join the Olympic cycle team when he went to Rice in the fall. Reggie, his mother, was set on her son not following in his father’s footsteps and kept him on track for an education that would bring him fortune and keep him too busy to look at girls, who were obviously looking at him and his steel-hard body. Marilee didn’t think Reggie needed to worry about the girls. Leo, Jr.’s first love was bikes.
“Thanks, Leo.” She left off the junior out of respect that seemed his due.
“You bet.” With strong arms, he flipped his bike around and rode off down the steps, going off like a rocket on the walkway.
Marilee went into the kitchen and laid the newspapers on the table. There at the bottom of the front page was her and Tate’s picture.
Gosh, it looked good, it really did. Tate was handsome as all get-out. His warmth shone out. And she didn’t look so bad…looked pretty, actually.
Marilee read the headline: Publisher And Associate Editor To Wed.
No matter what happened from here, this would please her mother.
“Mama, I have the copies of the announcement. If you’re going to be home, I’ll get the children from school, and we’ll come up with the paper.”
“What announcement?”
“The engagement announcement—it’s in the Voice today.”
“Oh, yes, dear, bring it…and will you stop and get a quart of milk, a loaf of bread and a pair of panty hose? It’s turned so cold, I don’t want to go out.”
After ascertaining the correct color of panty hose, Marilee hung up, then went to her bedroom to put on shoes and lipstick and a comfortable old barn coat. Seeing her trench coat caused her to blush. She pushed it out of sight.
She checked her nightstand drawer for a piece of chocolate and found a lone Hershey’s Kiss, which she ate, but it did not satisfy the craving that had come over her, so she checked the kitchen cabinet, where she liked to keep chocolate in various forms. There was only powdered cocoa. Her purse was empty of chocolate, too.
Taking up the copies of the Voice, she said, “Come on, Munro,” to the dog, and headed out the door.
Driving at a rapid rate, she pulled the Cherokee into the Quick Shop and got a chocolate bar and two small packages of Hershey’s Kisses. The Kisses went into her purse, while she ate the chocolate bar as she drove to school. She had to eat fast, as it was only a couple minutes’ drive. Seeing Munro eyeing her, she put a small bite down for him. “You can’t have any more. Chocolate can kill a dog.”
At the rate she was consuming it, chocolate might kill her, too.
When she pulled into the waiting area for parents, she jammed the last of the bar into her mouth and chewed it while she wiped chocolate smears off the steering wheel with a tissue. The end-of-school bell pierced the air, and instantly children came pouring out of the building. She jerked the rearview mirror around, checked her mouth, wiped it with a tissue and applied lipstick, then tucked the chocolate-smeared tissues deep into her purse.
Should any woman with such a chocolate addiction consider herself sane enough to get married?
Getting out of the truck, she stood beside it, where Corrine and Willie Lee would be sure and see her. They had the past days been walking home from school in the balmy weather.
Munro saw the children first and started off to meet them with his tail wagging. There was Corrine; her bright red sweater shone out. Corrine was clearly going to be willowy and beautiful, like her mother, Marilee thought with a pang. Anita had so many problems that seemed to stem from possessing a beauty that she could not manage to handle.
Willie Lee, dragging his book bag and with one tennis shoe untied, came running forward to fall on his knees and hug his dog and be kissed all over the face.
Munro was such a blessing, Marilee thought with gratefulness to God for sending the dog, one more stray that Willie Lee had attracted. It was because of the dog coming into their lives and bringing an important computer chip in his collar that Willie Lee could receive a reward and now be financially set for life. It was a miracle that even now she found hard to believe.
“I didn’t know you were coming to get us.” Corrine eyed Marilee in the way she had of summing up a situation.
“I think you deserve a treat today, Missy,” Marilee said sweetly and hugged her niece. “And we’re goin’ up to Grandma’s.” She noted that Corrine’s expression turned carefully blank.
“Hey, Ma-ma.” Willie Lee grinned up at her from behind his thick glasses.
“Hey, sweetheart.” She kissed him.
“You smell like choc-o-late,” he told her.
It took twenty-five minutes to get to Lawton and her mother’s house in a neighborhood of upscale twenty-year-old residences with sweeping lawns. Marilee pulled to a stop in the concrete driveway.
Munro had to wait in the car. A dog was not allowed in Grama’s house, where there was pristine white carpeting. Willie Lee wanted to wait with Munro, but Marilee told him, “Honey, it’s gotten too cold.” The wind was cutting through her coat. “Munro is okay. He has a winter coat. You do not. Come on inside with me and Corrine.”
She felt compelled to add to Munro, who gazed at her with sad eyes, “We won’t be long.”
Corrine carried the stack of newspapers, and Marilee hoisted the sack of groceries. They hurried, heads down, through the cold wind to the back door, which turned out to be locked.
Marilee pounded on the storm door.
The inside door opened. “Well, goodness knows…don’t break the glass.” Her mother stood back, gesturing. “Come in so we can get this door closed. You’re letting in the cold.”
The door got closed. Marilee took a good breath.
“Hello, Mother.” She bent to kiss her mother’s cheek. Her mother was a petite woman, and Marilee often felt awkward next to her.
And then she noticed her mother’s chic black dress and pumps—stepping-out clothes. “You’re looking pretty.” Her mother was looking lovely these days, having lost weight and gotten very stylish since she had become a patron of the local art league.
“Oh…” Her mother smoothed her dress. “I was out at a meeting today and some shopping…but I got tired and thought I’d just not bother to get these things. But Carl likes the milk for his coffee…he just won’t stop to get it.”
Marilee set the bag of groceries on the counter, thinking of Carl not being inconvenienced, and how she wished she had not dragged the children into the store.
Her mother smiled brightly. “Here, you children sit at the table. I have apple juice for you.” She looked questioningly at Marilee. “I didn’t know if they liked this kind, but it’s all I have.”
“They love apple juice, thanks, Mom. Here, y’all take off your coats.” Marilee helped Willie Lee, wanting to circumvent any possibility of him knocking over his apple juice.
“Marilee, this isn’t the kind of panty hose I wanted.” Frowning, her mother stared at the package.
“It was all they had. It’s nude, like you wanted, and that’s your size, right?”
“Well, yes, but I don’t know if I’ll like this kind.” Her mother sighed. “Oh, well, I’m sure I can return them.”
Marilee thought perhaps she should offer to return them.
The teakettle whistled on the stove. “I’m making us tea,” her mother said, brightening. “Isn’t this a day for tea? It’s so seldom that you all come up to see me, and I have some exciting news.”
“You do?”
“Yes. I found out just a few minutes ago, when Carl called. We’re…oh dear, I don’t have any Earl Grey.” She raised her head from the container and looked at Marilee with doleful eyes.
“That’s okay, Mom. I like regular best, anyway.”
“Well, Earl Grey is my favorite…and it seems to settle my stomach.” She pressed a hand over her abdomen. “I wish I had known I was out of it. I would have asked
you to get some at the store.” She stared forlornly at the teapot.
Marilee had the brief fantasy of calling Homeland and asking if they could deliver a box of Earl Grey in five minutes.
Popping to her feet, she looked in the refrigerator, thrilled to find a lemon. “Here’s a lemon, Mom. It is wonderful in tea, and good for the stomach.”
“Oh. Well, okay. Will you slice it, dear?”
As Marilee went to the counter, she glanced over to see Corrine’s deep brown eyes watching her.
She cut several slices from the lemon and brought them to the table. Her mother followed with the teapot and cups on a tray, sliding the newspapers aside to make room. Marilee’s gaze glided over the papers, and she asked, “What is your exciting news, Mom?”
“Oh!” Her mother slid into a chair and pressed her hands together. “Carl and I are going on a cruise.”
“You are?”
Her mother and Carl, who was the owner of Cooper’s Appliance Mart, had in the past year taken to traveling often to sales conventions. Her mother launched into explaining how she had just last night been telling Carl she was tired of winter, and how he had called to tell her there was a small convention of appliance salespeople taking place on a cruise out of Miami to the Caribbean.
“We can fly directly to Miami. I am so excited! Margaret Springer from the League went on a cruise last fall and said she had the best time. There’s all this food and dancing…of course, Carl won’t dance, but he likes to eat, and there’s lots of card playing, too.”
“What is a cruuze, please?” Willie Lee asked.
Marilee, struck by a difficulty with the description, said, “It is a trip that people take sailing in a big ship on the ocean. Some trips are sailing across the ocean and some are sailing from island to island.”
“They are trips for people to relax and have a good time out on the ocean,” her mother said to him, speaking slowly and in the loud tone she always employed with Willie Lee, as if he were deaf. “People dress up in their prettiest clothes and talk and dance, and they can shop, too, right on the ship.”
Marilee noticed Corrine tapping the stack of newspapers back toward the center of the table. Her niece regarded her pointedly.
“Oh, Mom…here’s the announcement.”
“The announcement?”
“The engagement announcement in the Voice.”
Marilee passed a copy to her mother, who said, “Oh, yes,” shot her a smile and then dropped her gaze to the page.
“Why, honey, this is a really good picture of you and Tate,” she said with surprise. “What a couple you two make.” Her tone held a warmth that Marilee felt all over. “You really look lovely here, dear, and Tate looks so handsome.”
She had made her mother happy.
Then, “Oh, dear.”
“What is it?” Where did the happiness go?
“Well…” Her mother’s eyes came up slowly from the paper, and she gazed at Marilee with anguish. “That’s the very week of our cruise.”
Marilee, who distinctly remembered telling her mother the wedding date, looked at her mother, and her mother looked back with eyes just like Munro’s. People forget…people make mistakes.
“I just can’t cancel on Carl.”
Marilee shifted her gaze and said, “Mother, don’t worry about it. It’s okay. Our wedding is just going to be small and short, not a big ceremony.”
Hearing herself, she clamped her mouth shut.
“Well, my being at your wedding really isn’t all that important,” her mother allowed. “The important thing is Tate being there.”
Marilee smiled at this truth. She was a woman grown. She did not need to impress her mother. She would never be able to impress her mother. And God knew she did not need at this late date for her mother to stand by her side.
Twenty minutes later, noticing that Willie Lee was falling asleep on Corrine, Marilee put him into his coat and lifted him into her arms. He was gaining weight; she did not know how much longer she would be able to carry him when he fell asleep. She would do it as long as she could, she thought, shifting his body, holding him so tightly that he gave a little grunt. She relaxed her hold.
At the door, her mother said, “I hope you understand about the cruise. It will be so good for Carl to get away. He stays under so much pressure.”
“It’s okay, Mom.” She found the words came easily.
As they went out the door, she spied the package of panty hose on the counter. “Corrine, honey, get those hose. I’ll return them for you, Mom.”
Her mother thanked her profusely.
Willie Lee and Munro lay together on the back seat, beneath a wool throw Marilee kept in the Cherokee. The faint snoring was Munro’s.
“You wanted to return the panty hose,” Corrine reminded her as they went past Homeland.
“No, I don’t feel like it now,” said Marilee, watching the rush hour traffic. There was not such a thing as rush hour in Valentine. All the traffic made her feel a little insecure, and she felt the obligation to be alert, as her windshield kept misting over. She was always more cautious when she had the children with her.
“I’ll do it for you, Aunt Marilee.”
Marilee, stopped at a light, looked over to see Corrine’s heart-shaped face with an eager-to-please expression. Experiencing a warm rush of emotion, she gave her niece’s arm a squeeze. “You are about the sweetest thing on earth, you know that?” Corrine ducked her head, as she always did at compliments. “But I would much rather you stay warm and dry in the car. Let’s just get ourselves home.”
Her own home, with her children around her. There was no better place.
And in that instant, focusing her eyes on the wet pavement ahead, she knew the truest fact to be that these two children were her world. She needed them, maybe far more than they did her. It was a need that she could understand and that her heart expanded to accept.
She was not certain that she could do the same for Tate. Or any man. To allow herself to need a man made her so painfully vulnerable.
When they got home, the Grace Florist van was at the curb. Tiffany, the delivery girl, met them at the foot of the steps with an enormous bouquet of bright flowers in a basket.
“Miz James…these are for you.”
“Oh! My goodness. Thank you,” Marilee instinctively said, staring, stunned, at the bouquet.
“You’d better get them in out of the cold, Aunt Marilee.”
Yes, indeed. Marilee stepped quickly, anxious to protect the delicate iris petals. But, oh, she had forgotten to tip Tiffany! Too late now.
She followed Corrine through the front door and received another surprise—delicious aromas and the sound of voices in the kitchen. She and Corrine looked at each other with questioning eyes.
Then through the house and the swinging door, pushing it wide to behold Tate’s mother, Franny, sitting at the kitchen table, her feet propped up on another chair, paperback book in hand and a coffee cup in front of her. And there was Tate at the stove, a dish towel tucked around his waist, blue shirtsleeves rolled on his strong forearms.
Seeing his bare forearms always affected Marilee, and her gaze lingered there a long second, before Tate’s holding up a wooden spoon jarred her thoughts back to the moment.
“Welcome home, sweetheart. We’re havin’ chicken and noodles, brussels sprouts, fresh, and tossed salad with sesame seed dressing.”
All her favorites.
“I made sugared carrots for those of us who do not favor brussels sprouts.” He winked at Corrine, and then his blue eyes came to Marilee’s, and he gazed at her in an intense manner that caused her breath to catch in her throat.
“Look what I got on the way in,” she said, finding her voice.
“Well, my golly. Do you think they’re for you?” That was Tate, always kidding.
“The delivery girl said they were for a Miz James, but it could have been another.” She set the bouquet on the table. “Hello…Franny.” She was uncertain as
to exactly how to address the woman.
Apparently she had chosen correctly. The woman smiled. “Hello, dear.” Marilee took note again of the woman’s loveliness. Surely that shade of carrot-red hair could not be natural, but no matter, it was a perfect choice.
“There’s chocolate, Aunt Marilee.” Corrine, at the counter, pointed to a cake.
“Well, my goodness.”
Tate came toward her with a cup of something hot. Mocha, she caught by the aroma flashing past her nose.
He said, “I told you, this is a celebration. Sit and relax. I’m taking care of everything.” He set the cup on the table and motioned her into a chair. “Where’s Willie Lee?”
“Oh, my goodness, we left him in the car.”
Marilee was instantly pushing to her feet, but Tate, pressing a hand on her shoulder, said he would get Willie Lee. “He’s gettin’ too heavy for you to carry around.”
She sat there, with the leftover pressure of his warm hand on her shoulder, gazing after him, even after he had disappeared through the kitchen doorway. She heard the front door open and close.
Then she looked at Franny. “I don’t know what I did to deserve finding such a man.”
“Divine selection,” the woman replied, and then motioned at the flowers, “Open the card. Is the bouquet from Tate?”
“Well, I assumed they were from him.”
“Don’t ever assume, dear. You can miss out on so many surprises.”
Marilee, now wondering who the flowers could be from, if not from Tate, plucked the envelope out of the bouquet and opened it to pull out the card.
She immediately recognized the handwriting. “Oh, yes, they’re from Tate,” she said, happiness coming like little flashes of fireworks.
She read, and upon coming to the happiest man in the world, she burst into tears so strong that she had to put her arm around her middle, as if to hold herself together.
Corrine came over and patted her shoulder. Quite quickly in control, Marilee smiled and snatched a tissue from the box nearby and blew her nose. She hated acting so silly in front of Franny, who already must have a skewed opinion of her after that business of the morning. And heaven knew Corrine did not need to see one more emotionally confused woman.
At the Corner of Love and Heartache Page 5
