by Ines Saint
Emily hadn’t known a thing, either, and she couldn’t believe Leo hadn’t told her. Leo had chalked it up to it being such old news to everyone in town that they no longer gave it a second thought. Everyone assumed everyone else knew, if they even thought about it at all.
Emily and Leo were taking the girls to see a movie at the Greene after work, so Holly locked up and walked up to the café.
Sherry was making coffee in a black lace “Kiss the Barista” apron, Rosa was boxing up some pastries, which seemed difficult considering her long rhinestone-tipped nails, and her grandmother was chatting to someone about how pecan pie was a great gift for a hardheaded person.
This was the after-work crowd, taking coffee and pastries to go. There would be a lull before the after-dinner crowd came in.
Rosa made her way to Holly first. She sat down next to her and patted her hand. “Tell Aunt Rosa what’s wrong.”
Sherry and Grandma Ruby hurried over. “Whew. We finally got rid of everybody. Now tell us what’s on your mind, sweetie,” Sherry said as soon as she sat down.
“I’m just sitting here, why do you all think something’s wrong?”
“You’re here, but you’re not here,” Grandma Ruby said to her.
“Right. Well, at first I was wondering why no one ever told me that Marianne Amador wasn’t Dan’s mom, too, but who cares why I wasn’t told? It’s not about me, it’s about them. Big of me to realize the world doesn’t revolve around me, huh?” she joked.
“You didn’t know?” Sherry seemed surprised.
“No.” She shook her head, remembering the embarrassing moment. “Why didn’t you tell me the day I was in here whining about him and the house?”
“You weren’t whining, honey. You were saying you had accepted it. We were the ones too busy whining about it to think about anything else,” Rosa said.
“How did you find out?” her grandmother asked.
“I ran into Dan and Marianne at Sam’s office. He seemed sick, she hates me, so I told them I was leaving because I was sure Marianne wanted to dote on her son. You should’ve seen their faces.”
Sherry’s eyes widened. “Oh sweetie. You always seem to be stepping into doodoo with those two.”
“Well, how was I supposed to know? No one ever told me. Why didn’t you tell me?” Holly looked at her grandmother.
“You never asked.” Grandma Ruby looked at her as if this was a perfectly reasonable response.
“Why would I ask?”
“Yes, why would she ask?” Sherry laughed.
Grandma Ruby grinned. “You’re right. I guess it’s just one of those things that people talked to death about at the time, but then it became irrelevant when Dan grew up and moved away.”
Sherry regarded Holly. “Johnny never said anything to you?”
Holly shook her head and they were all quiet for a few beats. “I guess I can see why he wouldn’t,” Sherry considered. “He and Sam always looked up to Dan, and Dan never let anyone mess with them. Why would any of them want to talk about the one thing that separated them?”
Holly turned it all over in her head. “Do you think Marianne is the reason Dan went away?”
“I don’t doubt it,” Sherry said.
“Doubt it, I’d bet my closet that was the main reason.” Rosa scowled.
As much as Holly deplored Ella’s obsession with fairy tales, life sometimes felt like one. Dan Amador had a wicked stepmother. Except—“But so many people in town look up to Marianne. How bad could she have been?”
“Marianne does a good job of selling herself, but she isn’t built for certain things.” Grandma Ruby explained.
Sherry nodded. “Like taking a child who isn’t hers into her heart.” “Um, maybe you guys could start at the beginning?” Holly told them.
Grandma Ruby turned around to look at the door, as if to make sure no one else was there. “Short story or long story?”
“Short, please.” Experience told her the long version would meander more than all of Spinning Hills’s winding roads put together.
Her grandmother nodded. “Marianne is originally from West Kettering. Her dad was a top GM exec, well known in the area. Marianne had just graduated from Our Ladies and she was majoring in something or other at UD,” Grandma Ruby began. “Jacob was from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak, but he just had this great magnetism about him. Imagine Johnny’s charismatic smile, Sam’s magnetism, and Dan’s looks and rough edges all wrapped up into one man. That was Jacob.”
“How’d they meet?” Holly leaned forward.
“I’m not sure . . .” Grandma Ruby chewed her lip.
“Jacob was working on a house on Carillon Boulevard,” Rosa reminded her, mentioning the street that bordered Spinning Hills and Kettering. “Marianne’s house was on the other side of that street.”
“That’s right. Jacob was young, but he was a hard worker and such a polite young man. I don’t know how he and Marianne actually got together, but Marianne’s friends sometimes came by here and they’d gossip about how Marianne wouldn’t let him go, no matter what her father said. I know Marianne was enthralled with him. To her credit, I think she was every bit as enthralled with him the day he died as the day they met.”
“Still, I’m not sure Marianne would’ve signed up to take care of a little one, no matter how enthralled she was,” Rosa said.
“Did Jacob already have Dan?” Holly asked.
“Yes, but he didn’t know,” Rosa replied, eyes wide.
“What do you mean, he didn’t know?” Holly asked, avoiding her grandmother’s gaze. Grandma Ruby would know what Holly was thinking.
Sherry leaned in. “Apparently, Dan was born to an old girlfriend who didn’t say anything to him about it. Jacob didn’t find out until Dan was two. He and Marianne were already married and Sam was a newborn. Jacob was doing well, and I guess Dan’s mom couldn’t take care of him by herself.”
“His mother’s motives for everything were always selfish, Holly. That much was clear.” Grandma Ruby reached under the table for Holly’s hand and squeezed it tight.
“And Marianne wasn’t happy about it. I think that’s when some of us got to know the real Marianne. A lot people still go around kissing her butt, though. She just has that air of superiority and condescension about her. She’s not a bad person, and she was a devoted mom to Sam and Johnny, but she isn’t a good person, either.” Grandma Ruby shrugged.
Rosa nodded. “She’d go around town, insinuating that maybe Dan wasn’t Jacob’s and acting like a saint for taking him in, ignoring that Dan was his father’s spitting image and just a little boy who had nothing to do with adult choices.”
“Who’s his mom?” Holly asked next, her stomach twisting. Ella had been mostly deprived of her dad, too. Because of an adult’s—her—choices.
“No one knows.” Grandma Ruby replied. “Jacob was tight-lipped, and Marianne wouldn’t cross him on that. It seemed Dan would spend more and more time with Jacob as the years went by until he just started living with them. I think he must’ve been seven or eight. Dan would just shrug and tell curious kids that his real mom left. Like it didn’t matter.”
Holly’s self-doubt was replaced with heartache over Dan. His mom had left him? What kind of a woman left her child? And why would Marianne be mean to him? How could the woman’s heart not go out to a little kid who didn’t meet his father until he was two and whose mom left him? “Did Dan give Marianne a lot of trouble?” she asked, bewildered.
Grandma Ruby shook her head. “Dan was always straight as an arrow, acing school, playing every sport he could, and generally throwing himself into everything. He started working side by side with Jacob as soon as he was old enough.”
“The kid never had time to get in trouble,” Sherry said.
“Johnny didn’t need time to get in trouble, though, it just followed him everywhere.” Rosa smiled. “And Sam wanted to play his guitar and work next to Jacob all day. Marianne always blamed both things on Dan
’s influence.”
Holly stared at the wall in front of her, feeling angry at Marianne, and wondering at Johnny, Sam, and their father. Had anyone ever stood up for Dan?
Marianne’s words echoed in her head. Nothing to be sorry about. It was just like Marianne. But many people took what she said at face value.
Sam and Dan were looking over some blueprints when Johnny walked in. “Hey,” he called.
“Hey,” both brothers replied without looking up. Dan coughed. Damn. It was starting up again and he’d already downed a bottle of cough syrup.
“Guess what I’m holding?” Johnny asked. They looked up. Johnny had one hand behind his back.
“Cavaliers tickets for tomorrow night’s game,” he revealed. “And I booked us a room just a few blocks away. It’s a four-and-a-half-hour drive, so we should leave before noon.”
Sam swore under his breath. “I’m leaving for Chicago tomorrow morning. Dan was going to handle a few things for me so I wouldn’t get too far behind, but it should be fine. We’re on track. You should go,” he said to Dan.
“You going to see Heather’s parents?” Johnny asked, looking confused.
“Yeah. They’re worried. Heather wants to show them we’re good at this co-parenting stuff.”
Johnny looked at Dan. “I’m sure we can get Marty or Leo to go. Be ready by noon.”
“Sorry, bro.” Talking threw him into a coughing fit. “I’m just not feeling up to it,” Dan said. In truth, he was running behind on legal work and didn’t have the time, but he didn’t want to say so in front of Sam, so he wouldn’t feel bad about throwing more work his way.
“Dude, forget about the permits. I’ll do it on Monday. Go get some rest. You look and sound like crap,” Sam told him.
“We’ll see,” Dan said.
“Well, let me go see who I can round up. Shouldn’t be too hard.” Johnny walked to the door, but turned to look at Dan just before he twisted the knob. “By the way, I heard Holly embarrassed you a little while ago. Just wanted to let you know it wasn’t her fault. She really didn’t know.”
“Did Holly say she embarrassed me?” Dan demanded. “Because she didn’t.” He’d handled the situation well.
Johnny looked like he was sorry he’d opened his mouth. “No—Mom did. She felt bad that you were embarrassed, and I just didn’t want you to get mad at Holly over it.”
“Why would I get mad at Holly over that?” They’d barely spoken, yet Marianne had found a way to say something bad had happened. What a surprise. Dan coughed a few times. It didn’t matter. She’d never get him to say anything back. He had no trouble biting his tongue. He’d been doing it for years.
Johnny shifted from one foot to the other. “Yeah, you’re right. Forget I said anything.”
“So, you never told Holly that Marianne’s not my mom?” Dan asked, curious about that. How close could they be if Holly didn’t know that?
“Why would he? It’s no big deal,” Sam was quick to say.
Dan bit back a smile. The subject always made his brothers uncomfortable. “I know that. You guys can quit acting weird. I was just wondering why it had never come up when you guys seem to be so close. It’s all good.” What they’d never understand was that it really was no big deal to him, either. It didn’t matter to him, but he’d never be able to tell them the things that did.
“You’re the only who’s acting weird. Lay off the cough syrup, will ya?” Johnny tossed back, eying the empty bottle on the desk before turning to leave.
“Wait,” Dan called after him. Johnny looked back. “Holly brought Sam something in a little paper bag and he won’t tell me what it is.”
Sam shot Johnny a warning glance, which Johnny ignored. “Why, it’s Sam’s very own signature scent.” Johnny faked a Southern drawl and female voice, while pretending to fan himself.
“Yeah, well, Johnny has one, too,” Sam was quick to point out.
“But I’m man enough to own it.” Johnny left before Sam could say anything else.
Dan would’ve laughed, except he was confused. He thought she owned a perfume shop. “She makes colognes?”
Sam shuffled some papers. “Yeah, remember how you said we smelled good the other night at the wine bar? Well, now you know why.”
Dan coughed again.
Holly dropped Ella off at Grandma Ruby’s for an evening of movies and cookie baking and drove home with mixed feelings about her Friday evening appointment with Dan. She was looking forward to seeing any progress he’d made on the house, but she felt strange about everything she’d learned about him.
She parked in her driveway. The house next door was dark, but Dan’s car was parked on the grass on the side of the house farthest away from her. Was he avoiding her?
She walked over and knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. Nothing.
Strange feelings were set aside. They had a deal and he could at least answer the door. She banged just as Dan opened the door. Holly gasped. His clothes were wrinkled, his face was ruddy, his nose nearly purple, and his eyelids drooped over his eyes. She stepped inside. The house was cold. It was early November, but temperatures had dropped to the mid-thirties the last few nights. The house had questionable insulation. “You’re sick! What are you doing in a house with no heat?”
“Your precious Sam and Johnny”—cough—“accidentally locked me out”—sneeze.
“But do they know you’re staying here?”
Dan sat on a step, pulling the grimy blanket around him. “One’s in Chicago and the other’s in Cleveland. I don’t want to bother them.” He sniffled.
Holly walked past him and into the kitchen, where she noticed two empty bottles of multi-symptom syrup and a bottle of allergy medicine on a makeshift table. “You’re taking allergy meds?”
“I ran out of the other two and it helps with my stuffy nose.”
“No wonder you look out of it.” There was a tiny and inefficient-looking electric heater in one corner. “Why didn’t you just stay at Leo’s or Marty’s? They’d be happy to take you in.”
“Leo and Marty are with Johnny.”
“Then you’re coming with me,” she commanded.
“No!” Dan tried to stand and nearly keeled over.
Holly tried to help him stand, but she could barely support his weight. She touched his forehead. Hot. “You’re coming next door with me so I can take your temperature. If it’s over one hundred and two, I’m calling your brothers and taking you to the hospital.”
“You shouldn’t risk your daughter by having me come over,” Dan said, before doubling down in a coughing fit.
“I wouldn’t put my daughter at risk!” He was weak. One little shove would knock him down, but she resisted the temptation. “Ella is spending the night with my grandmother, the way she does every Friday night because, apparently, kids need a break from neurotic parents. But I’m pretty sure she’d be immune to you, it’s likely you have the same flu she had last week. She looked exactly the way you do now, just shorter and cute.”
Holly gathered his jacket and some clothes he’d heaped in a corner and helped him next door. No easy task for a five-foot-three woman.
Dan leaned against a wall, shivering, while Holly opened the sofa bed in front of the TV.
By the time she found a thermometer, he was asleep on the sofa bed and snoring. Both his blanket and her decorative throw were covering him. One hand dangled from the bed, and Stanley was licking his fingers. Dan remained oblivious. “Yuck, Stanley. Do you want to catch the flu, too?” She took his temperature. It was one hundred and one.
Rummaging around her cabinets, all she could find for adults was aspirin. It had been ages since she’d gotten sick, but aspirin would do for the fever, and she’d whip up something natural for his cough. His body was already too full of meds. Kneeling over him, she slipped her arm under his neck, placed the capsule in his mouth, and put a glass of water to his lips.
She made a tiny bit of chamomile tea, thickened it by adding
honey and ground ginger, got a spoon, grabbed some vapor rub, and headed back to Dan.
“No, I saw you mixing some stuff ”—cough—“and I won’t drink it if”—cough—“I don’t know what it is”—cough, cough.
“Don’t worry. It’s just one of Grandma Ruby’s old gypsy recipes. It has frog urine, pummeled fish eye, and honey. It’ll make you feel better in no time.”
His lips twitched, and he opened his mouth to say something else. Holly stuck the spoon into his mouth.
“Sneaky,” he muttered in a nasally voice as his eyes fluttered closed again.
Swallowing hard, she unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt. She scooped some vapor rub and massaged it onto his hard, warm chest, irritated at how much she enjoyed doing so. The more she massaged, the slower he breathed. Soon he was sound asleep. It was a good thing, because she’d applied vapor rub to areas of his chest that did not need it.
With her initial round of nursing done, she tried to get ahold of Sam and Johnny, but she couldn’t reach either of them. Every twenty minutes, she took Dan’s temperature. An hour later, it was up to one hundred and two, so she called her own physician, who told her to give him another aspirin and wait another hour before taking him to the emergency room.
At least he was no longer coughing, and he was sleeping, but she still hadn’t been able to reach Sam or Johnny.
“Holly,” Dan’s raspy voice called from the sofa. She knelt by his side and placed a cool, wet hand towel to his forehead again. “I know Johnny or Ruby must’ve told you about my mother leaving.” Holly didn’t say anything. His eyes were glazed over. The fever and antihistamines were doing the talking. “I don’t need your pity,” he said.
“I don’t pity you.” She understood why he could be such a jackass at times a bit better, though.
“Why are you taking care of me then?” He looked up at her, half-delirious. “And why are your eyes so bright and so green?”
“Because I’m a lunatic, remember?” She smiled. “We loons all have exceptionally bright eyes.”
