had waited years for this, and Melissa smiled as they drove away. She had the odd feeling that Marla was smiling at her, and wished her well. She could imagine her saying “Take good care of our girl.” And Melissa promised her silently she would.
Chapter 17
Norm picked Melissa up at the Boston airport and drove her home. She tried to describe all of the past few days to him in the car on the way back. It sounded more like a movie now than real life. Marla had been larger than life, and she had left behind a daughter who loved her, and had all the right values and was a good mother herself. It was the only legacy that mattered in Melissa’s eyes. More than all her movies and the fact that she was a star. Michaela was her best legacy. And it was Melissa who had given her the gift in the beginning. And now Marla had given her back.
She said something to Norm about it the next day when he got home from work. She’d been thinking about it all day.
“It’s funny how people come and go, isn’t it? Michaela disappeared out of my life. Then Robbie came, and he left, and now Michaela is back again. Marla left, and now I’m here for Michaela and her kids. Carson walked out, and now here you are. Your wife left, and I came along. One person leaves and another one shows up. It’s as though we always have what we need, in different forms, at the right time, and not the way we expected.
“Life takes people away, so cruelly at times, and then gives someone else back. And nothing happens the way we plan it. Robbie should have lived a long life, but he didn’t. My marriage to Carson seemed so solid, but it wasn’t. It collapsed like a house of cards. And then Jane came along, and seemed like such a bore, but she’s perfect for him. And you were completely unexpected in my life. You thought you were married forever, but you weren’t. I finally accepted that Hattie would be a nun forever, and now she’s not. Michaela was gone forever, and now she’s back. We actually have no idea what’s going to happen, or how it’s going to turn out.” He thought about it and agreed with her, and he liked the way she put it.
“We’re not supposed to know,” he said, thinking about it. “It would take all the fun out of living. Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he said, looking nervous. “Now that you’re a respectable grandmother and a mother again, and they’ll come to visit, do we need to get married?” He was hoping she’d say yes, but didn’t know how else to put it without scaring her off.
“ ‘Need to’? No, I don’t think so. It’s not a guarantee of anything, and we’ve both learned that it won’t protect us. If one of us goes rogue, the whole thing falls apart.”
“I’m not planning to go rogue, are you?” he asked her, and she shook her head.
“I kind of like it like this,” she admitted. “A little naughty, a lot of fun. It’s very sexy. I don’t want more kids. I’m almost too old anyway, and you don’t want them either. I kind of love it the way it is.” He was a little disappointed, but didn’t want to sound weak, or “wet,” and admit it to her. “You could move in though. That would be nice.” She smiled and moved closer to him, and he liked the sound of that.
“I like that idea. It sounds manly, ‘she’s the woman I live with,’ ” he said, deepening his voice, and she laughed.
“Just sinful enough, but not too much so,” she teased him, and got the desired result. He couldn’t keep his hands off her, and didn’t want to.
“And if we live together, we can make love anytime we want,” he said happily.
“Sounds like a plan,” she said, and followed him up to bed.
* * *
—
He moved in that weekend. Hattie drove up for the day to tell Melissa about her plans for Africa, working with the UN team. They were sending her reams of information, and she was leaving in five weeks. She had just signed her papers for the Vatican and the archdiocese, requesting to be released from her vows. Her hand shook as she signed them, but she still knew it was right.
Hattie and Norm