Her Mother's Daughter

by Lesley Crewe

  “Hey, Tansy, how’s it going?”

  “Good. Can we talk?”

  “Sure.” Bobby motioned with his beer bottle to his friends. “Sorry, guys, I need to talk to the lady.”

  His friends made appreciative noises and one of them yelled, “Can’t you talk to me too?!” They laughed as Bobby led her away.

  “Don’t mind them,” he smiled. “They’re joking. So how’ve ya been? I haven’t seen you around.”

  “I’ve been busy.”

  “Well, it’s good to see you.”

  They walked towards the edge of the beach.

  “Can we sit down?” she asked.

  “If you like.” He took off his jacket and placed it on the dune grass for her to sit on. He sat beside her and put his arm around her again. “Are you sure you’re not too cold? Don’t you want to sit by the fire?”

  “No. I want to be right here with you.”

  “I’m flattered.”

  “Are you seeing someone?”

  “You mean do I have a girlfriend?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “You could say I’m a loner.”

  Tansy’s eyes widened. “A loner? The only time I ever see you, you’ve got a crowd of people around you.”

  “Doesn’t matter who’s around you. It’s a state of being.”

  “Oh.” Tansy was unsure what he meant.

  “I just live day to day. Life is an adventure.”

  “It’s not much fun around here.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” He looked out over the water. “I love it here.”

  Tansy couldn’t wait anymore. “Bobby?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please kiss me.”

  He smiled before he reached over and did as she asked. It was slow and almost lazy, soft and warm. If it was possible, it was better than before. He took his time as he pushed her back onto the grass and lay on top or her. Everything was in slow motion after that. She pulled at his shirt until she got her hands underneath and felt the hard muscles in his back. When he pressed down and moved his body against hers, it was as if she’d melted into the ground and become one with that dark velvet night.

  He reached down to unbutton her jeans. She tried to help him. And that’s when he groaned and let his head drop, as if he’d remembered something.

  “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

  He looked at her. “How old are you?”

  “What difference does that make?”

  “It makes a big difference.”

  “I’m almost eighteen. I’m old enough.”

  “Not quite.” He rolled away from her and lay on his back.

  She was desperate. “I’ll never tell anyone. No one has to know.”

  “I’d know.”

  She got up on her elbows. “Don’t you like me?”

  He sat up and rearranged his shirt. “Sure I do. You’re a sweet kid.”

  “I’m not a kid.”

  He stood and reached his hand towards her. “Come on, now. Let’s go back the party.”

  Taking her hand, he pulled her up and then reached down for his jacket and put it over her shoulders. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head, as if she were a little girl.

  Tansy wanted to die.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Bay and Gertie were in the kitchen helping Bay’s mother slice up a whole tub full of small cucumbers so she could make bread-and-butter pickles. They had an assembly line going. One washed, one peeled, and one sliced.

  “Once we have enough,” Liz said, “we have to put some rock salt in the bowl.”

  “What does that do?” Gertie wanted to know.

  “You leave it overnight and the salt draws the water from the cucumbers. That way you’ll get a crisper pickle.”

  “How did you learn this stuff?” Bay asked.

  “My mother, of course,” Liz said. “She had me making pickles by the time I was ten years old. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. She won first place for her pickles and chow every year at the fall fair. But I’ll never forget the year Mr. Greer entered his pickled beets as a lark, and didn’t he win. My mother was heartbroken.” Liz smiled at the memory. “My dad took us out for ice cream that night to try and cheer her up.” She shook her head. “Silly things you remember.”

  Bay and Gertie grinned at each other.

  Bay’s dad came in the back door. He held out a nail and a drill bit. “Bay, could you run down to the hardware store and get me a pound of three-inch galvanized nails and a one-and-a-quarter-inch drill bit? I’m in the middle of something out there and I want to finish it before dark.”

  “Sure. I need money, though. How much will it be?”

  Her mother pointed at her purse. “I have a ten in my wallet. Take that.”

  “I’ll stay here and help your mom,” Gertie said.

  Bay wiped her hands on a tea towel and went to get the money. Her father gave her the nail and the drill bit. “Show these to Burt and he’ll know what to give you, but make sure they’re galvanized nails.”

  “Okay.”

  “Thanks.” Out he went back to the shed.

  Bay was almost out the door when her mother said, “Put a sweater on. It’s cold out.”

  Bay took her sweater off the hook in the back porch and put it on as she ran down the back steps. It was one of those September days that made her glad to be alive. Fall was in the air. It smelled like black earth and leaves and McIntosh apples. The air was crisp, and on days like this the light made the far shore past the lighthouse look close enough to touch.

  She almost wished she had a skipping rope. This was the time of year little kids headed back to school and sat in their classrooms looking out the window, longing for the dismissal bell to ring. Skipping ropes made her think of thick sidewalk chalk, and hopscotch, and the smell of crayons and Elmer’s glue.

  “What are you grinnin’ about, girlie?” Eldon shouted from his front porch.

  “Nothin’, Eldon. Need anything at the hardware store?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do. A couple of twenty-amp fuses. Here, I’ll give you the money.”

  “I have enough. I’ll catch you on the way back.”

  Eldon raised his hand in thanks.

  It was a ten-minute walk, and by the time she got to the store, her cheeks were red from the biting wind and her hair was every which way. The bell tinkled on her way in as she entered a world inhabited by men. Paint cans and tools and brown bags full of nails and screws and washers seemed to be everywhere. Burt was at the back of the store talking to two men who held a piece of equipment, so instead of interrupting him she slowly went up and down the aisles looking for the proper size of drill bit. She picked up packages and measured them against the one she held, because she couldn’t remember if her dad said one-and-a-half-inch or one-and-a-quarter.

  “Can I help you with that?” a voice said behind her.

  She spun around and saw the nicest-looking boy she’d ever seen in her whole life. Flustered, she kept her head down and looked at the package. “My dad wants a drill bit but I forget what size.”

  “May I see it?” He held out his hand and she placed it on his palm. “Hmm. This is one-and-a-quarter-inch.”

  “How can you tell right off the bat?”

  He smiled at her. “Guys know this stuff.”

  She smiled back at him. “Oh.”

  He reached over and took a package off the hook and gave it to her. “Anything else?”

  “I need two twenty-amp fuses and a pound of three-inch nails.”

  “I’ll show you where they are.”

  He led her over to the next aisle. Bay snuck peeks at him, because she couldn’t believe he was talking to her. He stopped in front of the nails. “A pound, you say?”

  “Yes. I can get it.”

  “It’s no trouble.” He reached for a brown bag. “Did your dad happen to mention if he wanted galvaniz
ed nails?”

  “Yes! I almost forgot. Thanks.”

  He scooped up the nails in a couple of handfuls and weighed them on the scale.

  “I didn’t know it was so complicated,” she said. “I thought they came in bags.”

  He smiled at her. “You don’t look like the type of girl who spends a lot of time in hardware stores. Now, one more stop.” He led her to the fuses and handed her the package.

  “There. You’re all set.”

  “I feel as if I should pay you.”

  “You can. You can let me buy you a soft drink.”

  “I can’t. I have to get back. My dad needs this.”

  “I understand. I’m Bobby, by the way. Bobby Campbell.” He held out his hand.

  She put her hand in his. “Bay. Bay Gillis.”

  “Bay. That’s an unusual name.”

  “It’s short for Elizabeth.”

  “Well, Elizabeth Bay, the least I can do is carry your bags home. A pound of nails is heavier than it looks.”

  She still couldn’t believe he was speaking to her. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I’d like to.”

  “All right.”

  Bay paid for the items and he took the bag. On their way out the door he offered her a stick of Doublemint gum. Afterwards she couldn’t remember what they’d talked about, but it was easy, as if she’d been talking to him her whole life.

  They stopped at Eldon’s and gave him the fuses and she blushed when he told Bobby that she was the nicest girl in town. When Bobby agreed with him she blushed again. They were at the house before she knew it. He looked around. “I think I’ve been up this street before. Can’t remember why.” He passed her the bag. “I’m sorry…are you going out with anyone?”

  “No.”

  “Would you like to grab a coffee at the snack bar tomorrow?”

  “Okay, what time?”

  “Three?”

  “All right. Bye, Bobby. Thank you.”

  “Goodbye, Elizabeth Bay.” He gave her a big smile, put his hands in his pockets, and walked away.

  She, on the other hand, skipped to the garage and gave her father the bag before she danced across the lawn and up the back steps. When she sashayed into the kitchen, only Gertie noticed, as her mother was up to her elbows in hot vinegar and sugar. Bay gestured for Gertie to come upstairs. The two of them ran into her room. Bay shut the door and hopped up and down.

  “What the heck happened to you?”

  Bay grabbed her by her shirt. “I met the cutest boy.”

  “Aww, how come I’m never around when cute boys are being met? Who is it?”

  “Bobby Campbell.”

  “Never heard of him.”

  “Take one look and you’ll never forget him. He wants to meet me for coffee tomorrow at the snack bar.”

  “I’ll be the customer with the fake nose and glasses.”

  They met for coffee and Bay forgot that Gertie was there, hiding conspicuously behind the dessert menu three stools down. Bay didn’t look in her direction once in the forty minutes she was there, so Gertie eventually wandered out. All Bay and Bobby did was talk, anyway. It got boring after a while. And though Bay said they were doing it again the next day and the next, Gertie didn’t sit in again.

  Bobby tagged along the day she had to take her neighbours’ kids to the local library after school and he was there when she went to the laundromat for Flo, to do her extra bedding after her washing machine died. As he walked up her street with green garbage bags full of folded cotton sheets, he stopped and looked at her. “You’re a real Holly Hobby, aren’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you ever go anywhere without doing something for someone? If I wanted to go for a walk with you tonight, would you meet me at the wharf and just walk?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thank goodness. I thought I had to share you with the entire population of Louisbourg.”

  “I’m worth the wait.”

  That night she put on her prettiest top and washed her hair and opened up the perfume she’d saved for a special occasion. It was warm enough for just her jean jacket. When she left her room, Tansy came out of the shower, towel-drying her hair. “You look nice.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You goin’ somewhere?”

  “Meeting a friend. You?”

  “There’s another bonfire tonight.”

  Bay started down the stairs. “Try not to fall over a cliff while you’re there.”

  “Try not to yawn too often at Gertie’s,” Tansy sassed back.

  “You’re so clever,” Bay’s voice drifted up from below.

  Bobby waited for her just where he said he’d be. He took her hand and they wandered along the waterfront. They were in no hurry. They talked about what they wanted to do someday and he told her about being an only child and how even though his parents were divorced they still fought with each other and tried make him take sides, which is why his uncle had offered him room and board—to get him out of the situation for a while. He wasn’t sure if he’d go back to British Columbia. “I can fish here as well as there.”

  “Is that all you want to do? Go fishing?”

  “I love it out there on the water. When the sun comes up and the whole sky is pink and purple and the water is so still you think it’s glass, there’s no better place to be. I always want to be right in the middle of all that beauty.”

  “That must be why my dad likes it. He says he feels close to God on the water. He says that’s all the church he needs.”

  “I think your old man and I would get along just fine.”

  She smiled at him. “I think so too.”

  They walked up around the cove and over to the lighthouse. The sun was going down. They watched it as they sat on the rocks that overlooked the harbour.

  “I never want to leave this place,” Bay said. “My sister can’t wait to get out of Louisbourg and see the world, but I think I’d be lost if I left this island.”

  “You’d never get lost,” Bobby said.

  She looked at him. “Why?”

  “Because I’d come and find you.”

  He touched her face with his fingers before he leaned over and kissed her. That was the moment they became one.

  Tansy came through the back door. A delicious smell permeated the whole kitchen. She shrugged out of her pea jacket and threw it on the back of a kitchen chair. “Yum. What’s for supper?”

  “Roast chicken and dumplings,” her mother informed her. “Hang up your jacket, please. I’m trying to keep the place neat.”

  “Why? Who’s coming?”

  “Bay’s bringing a friend over for dinner. A boy.”

  “A boy? Will wonders never cease?”

  “Put a comb through your hair. They’ll be here shortly.”

  “Yes, Mother.”

  Tansy went upstairs and ran into her dad, who came out of his bedroom doing up the top button of his newest flannel shirt.

  “She made you change too, huh?”

  “A lot of nonsense for nothing,” he groused. “This kid should try to impress me, not the other way around.”

  “We know you’ll dazzle him with your famous wit and charm, Daddy.”

  He reached out and messed up her hair. “Where you get your cheeky mouth, I’ll never know.”

  “I’m Jack Junior, remember?”

  “You were supposed to be my boy. What happened?”

  “I changed my mind in the womb just to tick you off.”

  They grinned at each other. Then they heard voices come through the door downstairs. Jack kept going and Tansy ran into the bathroom to splash water on her face. She wondered who this guy was. Bay hadn’t mentioned she was seeing someone. Not that Tansy was ever home to talk to her, but still. If he was special enough to bring to dinner, you think she would have mentioned him before this.

  Tansy took off her T-shirt and put on a nicer blouse, but that was as much as she was willing to do. As she headed
down the stairs, she stopped in the hall mirror to brush her long hair back with her fingers. She’d pass inspection.

  Then she walked into the kitchen.

  Afterwards she remembered Bay’s face first, how happy and excited she looked when she turned around. Bobby looked happy too, until his eyes fell on her. There was only a split second of fear on his face, but Tansy saw it and Bobby knew it.

  “Bobby, this is my sister, Tansy. Tansy, this is my friend Bobby Campbell.”

  He was good. She had to give him that. He came towards her with a big smile on his face. “Hi, Tansy. It’s nice to see you again.”

  Bay smiled. “I didn’t know you knew each other.”

  Bobby nodded. “Yes, we’ve met a few times at the beach during those bonfires they had earlier in the summer. I’m surprised I recognized you, Tansy. I’m used to seeing you in the dark.”

  Two could play this game.

  “I’m surprised I recognized you without a beer in your hand.”

  Bay and her parents gave her a look.

  “Oh sorry, that sounded rude. You know what I mean.”

  Bobby laughed. “Yes, I know what you mean.”

  “Why don’t we sit down?” Liz said. “Dinner’s ready. I hope you like chicken and dumplings, Bobby.”

  “My favourite,” he smiled.

  Tansy didn’t listen to the dinner conversation. She was busy trying to choke down the few bites of food she did manage to eat. No one looked at her anyway. It was obvious her parents were delighted with Bobby. Her mom was thrilled to have a boy to feed, someone who actually wanted a second helping, and her dad was impressed that this young man knew all about lobster fishing. Her father monopolized the conversation, which was totally unlike him. Bay didn’t bother to say anything. She looked blissfully stoned, as high as a kite on a drug called love.

  As soon as dinner was over, Tansy offered to wash up. Her mother looked pleasantly surprised and quickly took her up on the offer before she hustled the others out to the living room, where she served tea and lemon meringue pie. Tansy listened to the four of them laugh and thought what a smooth operator Bobby was. You’d never know he had anything on his mind other than to try and impress his girlfriend’s parents.