She paused and took a deep breath.
“We think that he turned the lights on and somehow, somewhere there was a short and it blew. He was ... he was ...”
“Electrocuted?” I could barely get the word out myself.
She nodded.
“And the restaurant burned down around him?”
She nodded again and stared straight ahead.
“Oh, Auntie Lil.” I moved next to her and hugged her. We stayed in silence for a few moments.
“His uncle thinks ... thought ... that Antonio was going to propose that night. He had purchased a ruby ring. They found the ring in the rubble.”
She looked down at her hand.
I always thought the chunky piece of gold with the cloudy red stone that she constantly wore was a family heirloom. Now I knew differently.
I had so many questions!
Chapter Seven
“Is that why Pop worries about you so much?”
“He wasn’t old enough to know anything about it.” She shook her head. “The older sisters knew that Antonio and I kept company, but I never told any of them how serious we were becoming. I think your Poppy knew, because Antonio would surely have asked permission to marry me, but we never talked about it after the accident. It was different times, dear.”
Wow. My Auntie Lil was WAY stronger than I even knew.
“Then what happened?”
“What do you mean? You know what happened. I went to secretarial school, became a secretary, and—”
“No, no, no. With his family, with you and other boyfriends.”
She tilted her head and gave me a sweet smile.
“Life happened, dear. His uncle sold the property and went back to Italy. The building was torn down. It’s actually the spot where that Discount Tire is on Fifth Street now. I suspect there aren’t too many people left who remember the fire.”
“But Auntie Lil. You? Boyfriends?”
“He was the love of my life, Annalise. Eventually I dated. There were other nice men, but no one measured up to Antonio. And after a certain age, I just decided that maybe it wasn’t for me to get married. Not all people get married, you know.”
“But ... no children ...”
“In a family as large as ours, when you’re the oldest you generally end up helping raise the younger ones, so I had my share of raising children. And I have all my wonderful nephews and nieces. At this point, I have any number of great-nephews, great-nieces. You know I love spoiling you and giving you back to your parents.”
I sighed.
“Oh, I know what you’re thinking,” she smiled. “But I haven’t missed out. This has been my life journey, and it has been a wonderful one!”
I hugged her.
“And, Annalise, don’t you worry. You’ll find a nice young man.”
“Me? How did this get to be about me?”
“I know how much time you wasted worrying about this Dylan.”
I loved the way she dismissed him as “this Dylan” as if he were a character in a bad soap. Well. Come to think of it, maybe he was.
“Oh, Auntie Lil,” I waved her off. “That chapter of my life really was over a long time ago. I really think those emotions only came to the surface last month because I was sad about losing my job, and then he was getting married, and—”
“You don’t have to explain. I can tell that you sorted that all out. You really are a lot like me, sweetheart, and I don’t just mean in looks.”
“Ha!” I said. “We have the same eyes and hair, but I would be amazingly lucky to look half as gorgeous as you did at my age.”
She smiled and took a long draw from her coffee, made a face at how cold it had become, and waved the server over.
“Yes, ma’am?” he asked. “Can I get something else for you and your daughter?”
We looked at one another and burst out laughing.
With fresh beverages in hand, we continued our review of the itinerary and guidebooks, marking the sights we most wanted to see.
“Auntie Lil, if you don’t mind, I’m going to the newsstand across the way to grab some gum. Do you want to come with me?”
“I’ll be fine here. Bring me a package of peppermints, though, if they have them.”
“You bet.”
I left my luggage with her and strolled across the corridor to the busy shop. They had a colorful display of best sellers in the front, and, seeing that the line for the cashier was not moving too quickly, I stopped to browse for a minute.
I was engrossed in the back cover of the latest spy thriller, when I nearly fell face-first into the entire display because of an NFL-worthy tackle to my shoulder.
“Hey!” I looked up, ready to lay into my assailant.
Whoa!
He caught me by the elbow so that I didn’t fall, and when he did, I looked up into the most beautiful eyes. Black? Jet? Coal? Who could describe them? They were framed with eyebrows that would have been stern if the inner corners had been tilted a fraction of an inch to the south, but as they were, they were just mysterious. Actually, his entire face looked mysterious, in that multicultural-Keanu Reeves-Henry Golding sort of way. His hair was blue-black, cut into a trendy, short style with bangs that flopped just achingly so.
Then he spoke, and his voice was low and caramel-smooth. “Oh ... I’m so sorry, Miss ... just trying to run in and grab some gum, and I can see I’m making a mess of things.”
Then the smile.
You know those smiles that go all the way to the eyes? He had one of those with beautifully straight teeth.
It was my turn to speak. I had to say something intelligent to this gorgeous person.
“I ... um ... no ... you ... book.”
Smooth Annalise. Really smooth.
He took both my arms, turned me toward him, and looked down into my eyes.
“Are you sure?”
Somehow, I pulled myself together and was certain that I could at least start a reasonable conversation when I heard a distant bell ring.
His phone. Drat.
He grabbed it to answer, asked the caller to wait, turned back to me, and said apologetically, “Great. As long as you’re not hurt here. I’ve got to take this call and run.”
And he was off, talking on his phone, striding purposefully down the corridor toward the VIP lounge ... out of my life forever. All that was left was a whiff of his delicious cologne.
I stood like a goof for a minute, then remembered to complete my original task.
As I walked back to my aunt with my sad little pack of gum and her peppermints, I suddenly remembered where I had seen his face before. He was the man who had missed the train earlier! Great. I guess I had now become the girl who LITERALLY always just misses meeting the man of my dreams.
“You know, you’re supposed to be keeping me out of trouble,” mocked Auntie Lil. “You were gone so long, I thought I needed to send out a search party.”
I shared the details of my brief encounter.
“How exciting!” she said. “You need to put that in your travel journal!”
We had agreed to each keep a journal of our trip to make it easier to recount our tales to the family when we got back home.
“Oh. Sure. That’s all I would need. I can just imagine the responses. Let’s see: Ma would ask me why I wasn’t more careful because the stranger could have been a pickpocket. Nicky would revert back to junior high and make kiss noises. Pop would ask me why I wasn’t by your side constantly.”
“Absolutely. You’ve pegged the reactions to a tee,” Auntie Lil laughed. “Now we had better move to our gate or we’ll miss our flight. Wouldn’t that be a story to tell!”
By the time we got to our gate, the first groups had boarded—premium first class, business class, and those with children and who needed assistance. We were the next group called.
“Welcome!” said the chipper flight attendant as we entered the jet and she reviewed our tickets. “Please take a right toward your seats.”
I peeked toward where she indicated.
Yikes!
I had seen seats in first class before, but those in premium first class were a whole other animal. Each seat was its own individual pod. Each pod could be stretched out into a lounge chair or even into a bed. Passengers who had already settled in were slipping off their shoes and slipping on special cozy socks provided by the airline. As a flight attendant provided champagne or other cocktails, they put their carry-on goods in one of the stowaway areas built into their pods. Large TV screens were built in at the far end of each pod and could be moved forward for the passenger’s comfort.
All I could think was “Wow!”
As we settled into our comfortable, yet definitely less posh economy seats, I commented to Auntie Lil, “Those seats aren’t even full! Why don’t we sneak into one of them?”
“One of the benefits of that seating is that you can board when you wish, dear. I’m sure they’re all spoken for. And I’m pretty sure they’d check our tickets before they’d let us up there.”
“You’re right,” I grinned. “It’s fun to dream though, right?”
“I’m happy to be right here with you,” she patted my knee.
I gave her a hug. After all, I didn’t want to seem ungrateful for the fact that she was paying my way on this journey.
“These seats are great,” I said. “I like the fact that it’s just the window and aisle and no middle, so it’s just the two of us here!”
She smiled and we buckled in for the lengthy flight.
Chapter Eight
Auntie Lil stared at me.
“Is it possible for you to sit still?”
“Seriously? How can I, Auntie Lil?”
She looked at me and burst into laughter. “You are extra fidgety and we’ve only just left Denver.”
I guess she was right. From the moment the seat belt sign went off, I had stood up and sat down several times to retrieve and replace items from my carry-on bag in the overhead compartment. I moved my iPad from the seat pocket in front of me to my lap and back again, buckled and unbuckled my belt, donned then removed my sweater. I couldn’t help it! This was the most exciting journey I had ever embarked upon.
“How can you sit there so calm and collected, Auntie Lil?”
She turned and wordlessly peered at me over the top of her stylish reading glasses.
“But, Auntie, we’re going all the way across the world. Don’t you have even one butterfly?”
“I know, but I’m not going to accomplish anything by dancing around like a jumping bean.” She turned back to studying the in-flight magazine.
Humph.
I turned to my other side to see who was sitting there. After all, this person would be my traveling neighbor for the next half day. A trim young woman who looked to be my age was filing pages in a small accordion file. I took in her neatly shorn strawberry-blonde hair and comfortable navy tunic and slacks, and determined that she must be some sort of saleswoman on her way to San Francisco for business. She finished her task and looked my way. Fearful that I was caught staring, I tried unsuccessfully to glance back at my iPad.
“Too late,” she said with a smile. “I caught you!”
I turned back with a sheepish grin.
“Sorry if I disturbed you. I was just getting a feel for who my neighbors are.”
“No problem,” she said. “I fully understand. I had already taken a moment to steal a glance at you and your ... mother?”
“Aunt”
“Aunt,” she concluded and stretched her hand across the aisle. “Welcome to the neighborhood.”
“Thanks. I’m Annalise Fontana, and this is my Aunt Lil, well actually Lilliana.”
“Glad to meet you Annalise. I’m Sister Mary Grace Connolly.”
“You’re a nun! But you aren’t in a habit.”
“Our order is not veiled, but we do wear a uniform of sorts.” She pointed to her outfit. I noticed then that she wore a modest crucifix around her neck.
“We’re a teaching order. I’m returning from where I teach in Salida to our convent in San Francisco,” she said, indicating the brief stop on our flight.
“Is that home for you?”
“Oh, no. I grew up in Michigan. But when I felt the call, I knew that I wanted to be in the Sisters of Grace. That required me to move to San Francisco.”
She went on to explain her teaching order and the particular faith journey that led her there. She looked to be my age, possibly younger, and spoke with such confidence about how she felt the call to religious life and how she moved away from home so easily and now was not even living in the convent where she took her vows. Talk about brave.
“Sister,” I finally said. “Were you ever doubtful that you’d made the right choice?”
Her smile reached all the way to her bright green eyes. “No, I discerned my path early on. I sense that you might worry about your decisions. Is that true?”
I laughed. “Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” I explained my recent descent from the status of gainfully employed with prospects of a long-term relationship to woefully single and left to picking up odds and ends for jobs.
“But you’re on this trip now? That’s a good thing.”
By this time, Auntie Lil had abandoned her reading and joined our conversation.
“She’s doing me a great favor by keeping me company on this trip to China, Sister.”
“Ha!” I rolled my eyes. “You don’t know Auntie Lil. She could go around the world three times on her own. She’s doing ME a favor by taking me.”
“Well. Then you are both doing each other a favor, right?”
Auntie Lil and I looked at each other with smiles and a hug.
“You’re right, Sister,” I said. “So what grade do you teach?”
“I have second graders at St. Mark’s. It’s a small class, only about twenty students.”
“I don’t know. Twenty seems like a lot of kids to manage to me,” I said.
“You’d get used to it. Plus, I’m the oldest of seven, so I have a little experience with a lot of children.”
“Just like Auntie Lil!” I cried, turning to my aunt.
“You get used to crowd management when you’re the oldest, don’t you, Sister?” Auntie Lil smiled.
“Exactly. As a matter of fact, my next-oldest brother is meeting me at the airport in San Francisco. We’ll have a little time for a visit while he drives me to the mother house.”
“Does he live in San Francisco?”
“He works in a high-tech company in the Bay Area,” she nodded. “My father was very happy that he moved there after I did.”
“Sound like anyone we know?” I grinned to Auntie Lil, then responded to Sister Mary Grace. “We have experience with fathers protecting their daughters—and sisters, for that matter.”
We laughed companionably and continued our conversation for the next two hours, until the flight attendant indicated that we were nearing time to land.
“My goodness!” I said. “I’ve monopolized your time the whole flight.”
“Not to worry,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed our conversation.”
The flight attendant returned to the loudspeaker.
“Ladies and gentlemen. For those of you continuing this flight to Singapore, we have an announcement. There will be a change of airplanes. This plane will need to go out of service at San Francisco. Please do not be alarmed. You will be perfectly safe as we land.”
Murmurs shot throughout the aircraft as passengers attempted to figure out what could possibly cause this change.
“What do you think of that, Auntie Lil?”
“Pretty interesting, I’d say.”
The flight attendant continued her announcement with even more interesting news.
“In addition, we will need to add time to our layover until th
e new aircraft arrives. Instead of two hours, we will have a layover of ten hours.”
The murmurs rose to a fevered pitch. Passenger reaction ranged from concern to outrage.
“We apologize for any inconvenience. When we land we will have customer service agents available to handle any emergency situations. In addition, each passenger will be issued a restaurant voucher to be used for a meal during the wait. Your baggage will be unloaded and held in a corral and reloaded so that you will not need to recheck.”
“Wow! This really is a way to start a trip! How will this put us behind schedule, Auntie Lil?”
She checked our itinerary.
“Well. This puts us in Singapore late, obviously, but it won’t cause any problems since we don’t have any organized trips there. It just means we cut some of our touring short before we catch the flight to China.”
“It’s a good thing we’re both up for any adventure, right Auntie?” I said.
“Right-o, sweetie. What shall we do with this unexpected time in San Francisco?” She rubbed her hands together.
“If you don’t mind a bit of advice,” Sister Mary Grace broke in.
“Absolutely! We’ll be glad to take it,” I nodded.
“Well, my brother only needs to drop me off at the convent, then I’m sure he would be happy to play tour guide for you ladies for a few hours. If you’re up for it, that is.”
“We couldn’t impose on him without his prior knowledge!” I cried.
“Oh, he’s my younger brother. He has to do what I say,” she joked and waved the thought off with her hand.
Auntie Lil and I looked at each other.
“She’s right, Annalise. You know every older sister has the right to play that card.”
“I know we joke about that, but seriously ...” I looked into Sister Mary Grace’s eyes. She was absolutely serious about the offer. “Well ... If you’re sure ...”
“Don’t even think about it. I’m just sorry I won’t be able to go along with you!”
It was settled by the time we landed. Sister Mary Grace went ahead of us to meet her brother at baggage claim while Auntie Lil and I waited at the customer service desk to receive our meal vouchers and instructions for returning to the plane so as not to miss our flight.
Passports and Plum Blossoms Page 5
