“She’s gone from ‘babe’ to ‘my heart’,” Indy answered.
I saw Ally’s dancing eyes moved to me. “Chickie, you are in trouble.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered.
They all laughed.
* * * * *
We’d had dinner at Tom’s.
By “we” I meant Lee and Indy, Hank (Lee and Ally’s older brother, he was very nice and they all looked alike, tall, dark and gorgeous) and Roxie, Ally, Tom, Hector and me.
Then after dessert, Tom pulled out the photos.
There were loads of them.
I knew he went out of his way. Some of the photos were really old, from back in the days when my Mom was in high school. He must have been up in his attic for hours.
I wanted to try to pretend the pictures didn’t fascinate me but I couldn’t.
I remembered my Mom as sweet and loving but also quiet and subdued. The photos showed a different Mom, laughing and smiling and full of life. I couldn’t help but pour over them and even laughed when the others told stories. Lee, Indy, Hank and Ally didn’t remember my Mom but they had funny (and slightly crazy) stories to tell about their lives while they sifted through other photos. Tom, however, did remember my Mom and he had funny (and slightly crazy) stories to share about her, Katherine and Kitty Sue.
There was one photo I stared at for longer than the rest. It was of the “whole family” (as Tom called them) but, for some reason, my grandmother was in it too.
My grandfather had died before Mom married my father. My father’s parents were, as he described for as long as I could remember, “dead to me”. However I knew when they both died within a year of each other when I was a freshman at Denver University. My Mom’s Mom died when I was three.
I had no memory of my grandmother but the photo showed her holding me, my Mom’s arm around her, Kitty Sue and Katherine close to them, Tom and Malcolm close to their wives, kids scattered around their legs.
My grandmother and Mom had their foreheads together, faces tilted down, smiles huge as they looked at me.
Tom noticed my attention to the picture; he leaned toward me and whispered, “You can keep that one.”
I should have said no, it wasn’t polite to take it but I didn’t say no. I looked at him, knowing my eyes were moist and nodded. Then I slipped it in my purse the first chance I got.
Not much later, the women went to the kitchen to do the dishes and I heard male laughter in the dining room as I heard female laughter all around me in the kitchen.
Dinner, the trips down memory lane, the laughter… it was nice.
But it was scary.
It was scary because I could get used to it.
* * * * *
“So, how are things going with you two?” Ally asked, eyes on me.
“Who?” I asked back.
“Who?” Ally repeated on a grin. “You and Hector, you idiot.”
Me and Hector.
Oh my.
How to explain? Impossible!
So, I shrugged.