Family Be Mine

by Tracy Kelleher

  Which is how Rufus, Sarah’s office manager Rosemary, and Julie found them.

  “HI, EVERYONE.” SARAH LEANED to the side and waved.

  “Hunt was just helping me get up.”

  “That’s the first thing I thought when I saw you two that way,” Rufus said. He smiled, but then Rufus was always smiling, or so Sarah told herself. “Anywhere special I should put this present?” He held up a large wrapped box. “I want to lend a hand and help you get up, too. It looks like fun.”

  Hunt backed off Sarah and wiped his hands. “Thanks, but I think we’ll be able to figure it second go-round. Shall we?” He held out a hand.

  Sarah harrumphed and wriggled her butt to get closer to the edge of the couch. “All right. I’m ready for liftoff. Let’s do it.” With Hunt hoisting her up and providing balance against her back, Sarah tottered into an upright position.

  “We’ve still got more people to go, but things are definitely starting to rumble,” Katarina proclaimed as she and Ben joined the group in the living room. Katarina was fussing with her hair, replacing a clip that appeared to have slipped out. Her sensitive redhead skin was flushed.

  There was another knock, and Katarina’s neighbors and more of Sarah’s patients spilled in.

  “I wouldn’t miss it, especially when I heard that Sarah baked a cherry pie, my favorite. It’s enough to make you forget all about cholesterol and HDLs,” Sarah’s office manager, Rosemary, said. An enamel pin of twin baby shoes adorned her V-neck sweater. She passed her present to Ben and the others did likewise.

  Ben looked to Katarina. “Where do you want these?”

  “You can put them on the sideboard in the dining room,” she said, using her finger to count heads.

  Hunt raised his eyebrows at Sarah. “You managed to bake a pie, but you don’t have time to wash socks?”

  “So maybe my priorities are a little skewed, but you’ll think differently after you’ve eaten some.” She turned to welcome the group. “Gosh, I can’t believe you all came out on a week night. That’s so sweet. Katarina said it would be just a few people, but this is a little overwhelming.” Then she blinked. “If we’re all here, I say let the party begin.”

  “Hold on,” Katarina said at the sound of another car pulling into the gravel driveway. “I think I hear a few more people. She glanced out the narrow sidelight by the front door. “Sarah, why don’t you come by the door and help me greet the remaining stragglers? Everybody else, gather around, too.”

  Hunt maneuvered next to Ben. “Here, let me help you do the manly thing with the boxes.”

  Ben dumped them all in Hunt’s outstretched arms. “I thought you were confident in your masculinity.”

  Hunt juggled the boxes. “A real man knows when to build up brownie points.”

  There was a knock at the door. Louder than the first two had been.

  Katarina stepped to the door. “I’d recognize my grandmother’s rapping anywhere. Her knuckles are so strong from making all that strudel.”

  Julie sniffed loudly. “Never mind the strudel. I can smell her plum cake wafting through the door. Now the party can really begin.”

  Katarina held up her hand. “Not so fast.” She swung open the door.

  In stepped Lena Zemanova, the aroma from the freshly baked plum cake preceding her. She crossed the threshold, turned around, and made a yanking motion with her head. There was the sound of soft-soled footsteps on the stone front step.

  Everyone bent their heads to get a better view.

  A polyester pant leg and a single cream-colored FootJoy came into view.

  “Surprise!” Lena shouted. She gestured triumphantly with her hand.

  “Oh, my God!” Sarah blanched and covered her mouth.

  Katarina clapped and gazed proudly at Sarah. “You never guessed, did you?”

  Sarah shook her head. Slowly. She had yet to blink since the door opened. “Everybody, this is my mom, Penny Halverson, all the way from Minnesota.”

  They all shuffled forward for introductions

  Except for Sarah. Instead she wobbled back and forth.

  Hunt dropped the boxes.

  And caught her in midcrumple.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “MOM, I STILL CAN’T believe you came.” Sarah wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sniffed away the tears that wouldn’t stop coming. The baby shower had been fun, and everyone seemed to have had a good time and eaten more than their fair share. In fact, once she had gotten a piece of cake herself, the way Julie had reminded her, her dizziness had subsided immediately—much to everyone’s relief.

  And they were all much too generous.

  Now she had all these cute little outfits and a fancy jogging stroller. It was sitting, adorned with a large bow, in front of the fireplace in Katarina and Ben’s living room, while Sarah and her mother reclined on the couch. This time, Sarah had thought to put a throw pillow behind her back so getting up wouldn’t require the jaws of life.

  Just about all the guests had gone except for Julie and Lena and her mother of course. And Rufus. He, Hunt and Ben had mysteriously disappeared into the study.

  “As if I wouldn’t come to my only daughter’s baby shower! I can’t tell you how delighted I was to get Katarina’s call,” Penny said. “And you know, your pie was delicious. You must give me the recipe.”

  “It’s Aunt Gladys’s, Mom. I know your apple-rhubarb pie has won blue ribbons, but Aunt Gladys’s cherry pie is pretty good, too.”

  “You are so right. At the church auctions, her cherry pie always went first. Tell me, what’s that flavoring in her crust?”

  “Nutmeg.”

  Penny nodded. “I knew it. Gladys would never tell me. She’s so competitive, a typical oldest child. She always had to be best—at school, with beaux, even what parts she got in the Christmas pageant. Somehow she never did get used to having to share Mother’s affection when the rest of us came along.” She looked at the flames flickering in the fireplace. “Nutmeg, you say?”

  Sarah nodded philosophically. “How come families are always so complicated? Nothing ever seems to just run smoothly like in books or on TV. You and Aunt Gladys always on edge. Wayne, losing his job at the printing factory in Duluth last year.” Wayne was her second brother who had moved back in with their parents.

  “Well, it’s not like he sat on his duff. You know he found a job at the local Home Depot, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I suppose that’s something to be grateful for. But what about other things like Dad having to get two stents. Thank God, he gave up smoking.”

  “And didn’t I hear about it.” Penny tsked. “Now I have to listen to him going on about how the doctors don’t let him eat anything with taste to it. You know he’s banned low-fat yogurt from the house?”

  Sarah wiped another tear from her cheek. “Yeah, that would be Dad. I don’t know how you put up with it.”

  Penny patted her on the thigh. “Listen, no matter what, we just about all manage to come together on Thanksgiving, even if Gladys always makes such a fuss.” Penny didn’t mention that Sarah hadn’t made it to many Thanksgivings in the past ten years or so.

  Still, she could easily imagine her father rising from the table after polishing off two helpings of tofu pumpkin pie. He’d pull the waistband of his trousers up over his belly—granted, smaller than it had been in years—and go over and kiss his wife’s forehead before retiring to his recliner and football.

  There was nothing wrong with her family, Sarah realized, even if this was the rare occasion when conversation didn’t end with her gnashing her teeth or feeling as if she’d let them down in myriad ways.

  And now she wondered, as she fingered the fine stitching on the baby quilt that her mother had given her, had she ever succeeded in her quest to transform herself into something more—something more interesting? After all, here she was happily sharing baking secrets with her mother. Talk about predictable. But was predictable necessarily wrong?

  She scrunched t
he quilt to her face and breathed in the fresh scent from drying on a clothesline. “I know I thanked you already, Mom, but I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me that you brought me the family quilt,” she said from the heart.

  Penny chuckled. “Why of course, silly girl. It’s always been passed down from mother to daughter. That’s the tradition in our family. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.” Penny beamed and patted her daughter on her knee.

  That only set off another bout of tears.

  “Sorry. It’s just the hormones.” But Sarah knew it was more. “Oh, Mom—” she hiccupped “—I know you say it’s a family tradition, but I’m hardly leading my life in a very traditional way. I haven’t exactly embraced the married couple, nuclear family model.”

  Penny frowned thoughtfully. “No but…”

  The sound of footsteps clumping down the stairs muffled the rest of her words.

  “So is it safe to come down yet?” It was Matt, Ben’s sixteen-year-old son. He peeked his head into the living room and saw Sarah and her mom. “Sorry, I thought I heard everybody leave, and I was hoping there’d be some leftovers. There’s nothing like writing up a chemistry lab to make you hungry. And don’t worry. I left the crazy dog in my bedroom.”

  Sarah laughed and waved hello. She made the introductions to her mother, and Matt made a mumbling attempt at salutations, which Penny seemed to find perfectly normal.

  “I think your dad is hiding with Hunt and maybe Rufus in the study. Katarina’s with Babicka in the kitchen, most likely cleaning up,” Sarah said. “Julie’s with them, so you’ll have to fight her for the leftovers.”

  Matt nodded, his long, skinny neck undulating.

  “Okay, I’ll even risk Babicka putting me on cleanup duty just to get a piece of her plum cake.” Matt’s nose seemed to guide him in the direction of the food, and the sound of laughter and voices could be heard greeting him from the back of the house.

  Sarah smiled one moment, but got a little down the next. She sighed. “You know, Mom, I’ve never considered changing my mind about the baby, but sometimes I wonder if I’m being fair. To the baby. I mean, here I’m going to bring him up alone. He’ll only have me to greet him when he comes home from school or play ball with or read stories to him.”

  She narrowed her eyes and blocked out the crackle of the fireplace and the hum of the oil burner. Instead she focused on the voices and the sound of cabinets and drawers being opened from the kitchen. That’s what home was all about, right?

  Penny turned to her daughter. “How many children with two parents are really happy? Look at all those parents who hire nannies to push their toddlers in swings or enroll them in organized sports from the time they can walk rather than just sit out on the lawn and feel the grass, and look for bugs or watch the clouds float by. You’ll do that, Sarah. You were always a great cloud watcher.”

  Penny’s words brought Sarah back to the room. “That’s really sweet, Mom. Thanks.”

  Penny ran her hand over the quilt on her daughter’s lap. “You know, I remember you used to insist on carrying around the quilt before you went off to school. Whenever you got tired, you’d just lie down on the sidewalk or on the grass and curl up with your ‘quiltie.’ That’s what you called it. Quiltie.”

  Sarah examined the quilt more closely. “I remember. Gee, I’m surprised after all that wear and tear that it’s in such good shape.”

  “Well, as soon as I heard about the baby back in June—” Penny tactfully left out the whole wedding fiasco, Sarah noticed “—I got to work repairing it.”

  “Aw, Mom.” Sarah leaned over and rested her head on her mother’s shoulder.

  Penny leaned her cheek against her daughter’s hair. She sniffed. “It was well worth it. I’m sure your child will love it, too.”

  “Well, I’ll be sure to take good care of—”

  In an instant, a whirlwind darted into the living room. Fred. All four paws went in different directions as he raced around the coffee table, two times clockwise and once counterclockwise, ending with a Baryshnikov leap over the table. He landed with his front paws on Sarah.

  “Not again,” Sarah moaned. She tried to snatch the quilt from under his paws. That only seemed to make Fred more excited as he nervously sniffed it, his head and tail twitching together.

  “Off!” Sarah commanded.

  Those stern words resulted in Fred kissing her and for good measure, leaning across and kissing Penny.

  “Isn’t he the darnedest fellow,” Penny cooed. “I could just eat him up.” She scratched him behind one floppy ear.

  Sarah shook her head. “I think it’s more like he wants to eat you up, then me, and anything else within easy reach.” She arched her neck back and shouted toward the kitchen. “Katarina! We need you! Quick!”

  Katarina rushed in with a dishcloth in her hands. “What’s wrong? Do you need Julie?” she said, clearly assuming a medical emergency.

  Fred wiggled up on the couch between Sarah and Penny, squashing his butt securely against Sarah. He maneuvered his head around and gave her a large slobbering kiss on her ear before lifting his head over the back of the couch to acknowledge Katarina’s presence. All in all, he looked pleased to have managed to round up even more playmates.

  “Hunt!” Katarina shouted to the study. “Come get your dog. He’s attacking Sarah again.”

  Hunt rushed through the living room doorway, with Ben and Rufus not far behind. “I thought Matt was watching him,” he said by way of an apology. Matt and Babicka came to see what was going on as well. Matt finished chewing and swallowed. “What the he—”

  Babicka gave him a stern look.

  “I left him upstairs, I swear,” he said. “And I closed the door tight.”

  Julie came out carrying a glass of red wine. “Well, I’m glad it’s not a medical emergency because I’ve had several drinks.”

  Katarina glared at Hunt as he crossed in front to retrieve Fred. “Excuse me, last I heard, he’s your dog, so don’t blame it on Matt. The poor kid barely has time to eat, and it’s not his fault that that dog of yours seems to be a Houdini at escaping.”

  “Okay, okay, I get the message.” Hunt leaned over and grabbed Fred at the neck. “C’mon, boy.”

  Fred squirmed and slipped his narrow head out of his webbed collar. He hopped off the couch and scurried between Hunt’s legs and began his random chase around the room again.

  “Get him,” Katarina shouted.

  Fred feinted and bobbed away when anyone came near, finally coming to rest near the front door. His long pink tongue hung down to his theoretical shoe laces while he panted. Despite the momentary exhaustion, he still had enough energy to wag his tail.

  Penny laughed. “Oh, my, I think he could keep this up for hours. That’s a puppy for you.”

  “That’s a pain in the butt for you,” Ben qualified.

  “You should see what he did to Iris’s garden.”

  Babicka pressed her hand to her knitted cardigan. “Not her garden! Her place is on the House and Garden Tour this year for the hospital fundraiser. She must be beside herself!”

  Rufus stepped toward Katarina. “You wouldn’t have any cheese left, would you?” She nodded.

  Rufus signaled to Matt. “Matt, why don’t you bring me in a couple of pieces? And, Hunt, I’ll take that collar, and if you have a leash, I think I have a solution,” Rufus said in his usual placid tones. You would have thought he was shooting the breeze with one of the patrons at his jazz bar.

  “Hey, whatever works.” Hunt handed the collar to Rufus and retrieved the leash from the study.

  Rufus took it and looked up as Matt came back into the room. “Good, I’m armed now.” He slowly approached the dog, but rather than loom over him, he went to crouch down. “Whoops, maybe I shouldn’t do that. The physical therapy with Sarah has helped a lot, but not enough for this.”

  Sarah leveraged herself up. “Somebody get Rufus a chair.”

  Ben
got one from the dining room.

  “Thanks, put it there.” Rufus nodded to the hallway about three feet from the front door. Fred watched intently.

  Rufus sat and made a big show of breaking up the cheese into pieces. Fred lowered his head and kept his eyes peeled.

  “Fred,” Rufus said sweetly, as though he was talking to a dear friend. “Fred.” He held out a piece of cheese toward the dog. “Fred, good dog.”

  Fred inched forward.

  Rufus sat there as calm as could be, like fishing on a lazy Sunday morning. “Good dog, Fred. What a good dog.” He threw a piece of cheese on the rug close to the dog. Fred stretched his neck and gobbled it up. Then Rufus threw another, not quite so close, all the while cooing and saying words of encouragement. Everyone held their breath, watching the dog inch closer to Rufus.

  When he was in grabbing distance, Rufus again said, “Fred,” but this time he brought his fist to his chest and added, “Fred, sit.”

  Fred—the very same Fred the Manic Dog and Fred the Out-of-Control Mutt—cocked his ears and stared at Rufus. And then he sat.

  Rufus gave Fred some more cheese. “Good dog.” He fondled the dog’s ear and slipped the collar over his head and attached the leash.

  “Our very own Dog Whisperer,” Lena exclaimed.

  Ben shook his head. “I always knew you were a great man, but who would have thought you had magical powers.”

  Rufus continued to rub the dog’s ears. “It’s not magic. It’s just dog training 101.” He passed the leash to Hunt. “In fact, if you’d like to learn more, I recommend you sign up for my beginner’s obedience class for dogs at the Adult School on Sunday afternoon. I believe there’re still a few spots open.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to combine it with Light Water Aerobics on Wednesdays?” Hunt asked.

  “The dog could probably handle it, but it’s definitely beyond your scope,” Rufus replied in all seriousness.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “WHAT A COMMUNITY,” Penny marveled after Rufus had made his goodbyes. “You meet such interesting people, all so involved.”