Delores said. “Happy Thanksgiving to you, and I’m so glad you called. The kids all came home yesterday and surprised me, but it was for an intervention.”
“You been drinking too much?” Tootsie was genuinely concerned.
“No, it’s an intervention for me to move to be closer to one of them. They gave me a choice, and I thought about it all night. I don’t want to leave the country, so England is out, and I didn’t like New York when we were stationed there, or Arizona, either, for that matter. But I do like Florida, so I’m moving there to be near my daughter,” Delores said. “You are so lucky that your adopted kids live so close.”
Lucky didn’t even describe her good fortune when Diana, Carmen, and Joanie had all moved to her block with their little girls that summer more than a decade ago. They’d brought life back into Tootsie and Smokey’s world and had truly been a blessing.
“Remember, one of them is moving to Virginia pretty soon after we go home. Closer to you,” Tootsie reminded her. “But there’s a possibility that Luke will be moving into Sugar Run.”
“And you don’t have to leave your home or your memories,” Delores sighed.
“I hope I get to stay right where I am until they carry me out feetfirst,” Tootsie said. “But I’ve worried about you being all alone in that house; I’m glad you’re going to live near your daughter. Still, I know how tough it will be to leave it and all your memories behind.”
“The only way I can deal with it is to pack them up and take them with me. Then when I get to my new house, which is actually the guesthouse behind my daughter’s place and is right on the beach, I’ll unpack them first,” Delores said. “I just want you to promise that you’ll come visit me.”
“I promise,” Tootsie said. “And I’ve got room if you ever want to come to Sugar Run and stay a week or a month or as long as you can.”
“You can bet I will,” Delores told her. “The kids are here for two weeks, and in that time they plan to get the house on the market. I’ll be going home with my daughter.”
They talked awhile longer and then ended the call with promises that they would indeed visit each other. “Well, what do you think of that, Smokey? Aren’t you glad we bought our house in Sugar Run? I don’t have to go to some assisted-living care place when I can no longer take care of myself. The girls and Luke will be right there to help me out.”
He didn’t answer, so she took that as a sign that he agreed with her.
Diana awoke on Thanksgiving morning and was about to get out of bed when Carmen poked her head in the door. “You awake?”
“Just barely.” Diana yawned. “Are you bringing coffee?”
Carmen came on in and sat on the bed. “I’m worried, and I don’t want to discuss this at the Sunday-night therapy meetings we’ve been having. I know that you and Luke have reached some sort of agreement, because there’s no tension between y’all lately. And I’ve seen the way he flirts with you with little inside jokes sometimes. But he’s getting letters, and I think they’re from another woman. I don’t want you to go through the pain and hurt again that we’ve both had to endure.”
Diana pushed back the covers and got out of bed. She went to the armoire and got out a pair of jeans and one of her nicer shirts. “Do you remember the first time we got mail from the girls? Remember that Luke got nothing?”
“Of course. I felt sorry for him,” Carmen answered.
Diana removed her nightshirt and got dressed. “I wrote to him and snuck it out to the mailbox. After that, he hasn’t been left out at mail call. I’m the other woman who’s been sending letters to him ever since. He’s answered every one of them but sneaks them into my purse.”
“Well, hell’s bells!” Carmen fumed. “That’s why you carry your purse downstairs every morning and why he wants to go get the mail every afternoon. What in the devil do y’all write about?”
“Everything.” Diana stood in front of the vanity, brushed her hair, and pulled it up into a ponytail. “It’s amazing how much more you can learn about a person with letters. I should have told y’all what we were doing at one of our therapy