his mouth. She carried him in on her hip. “He’s hungry,” she said, putting him in his high chair, and then she saw that her mother was being sick in the sink, and she stood and stared and then got a banana and began to mash it in a bowl for the baby. After Connie had wiped her mouth and taken a drink, Maggie said, “Does Daddy know?”
Connie’s eyes looked enormous. “What?” she said.
“That you’re going to learn to drive.”
“Oh. That. No, I think I’ll make it a surprise.”
Maggie had looked up from feeding Joseph. “It’ll be a surprise, all right,” she had said. “When are we moving?”
“What?”
“When are we moving into the new house?”
“We’re not moving. This is our house.” Connie’s face was very pale and there were gray circles beneath her eyes. “I don’t know where you got the idea that we’re moving.”
“Grandpop bought us a bigger house. He gave you keys and everything. He says it has a basketball hoop and a little room over the garage I can have for myself.”
Connie dried her hands on a dishtowel. “Whose side are you on?”
Maggie felt she was going to be sick, too, and wondered if it was just the sharp vinegar smell lingering in the kitchen. “I didn’t know there were sides,” she said.
“Never mind,” Connie said. “I shouldn’t have said that. We’re not moving.”
“Are you sure?” Maggie said.
“We are not moving,” said Connie in a trembling voice, and Maggie had taken Joseph out of his chair and back to the patio.
Out on the patio now, Celeste stepped into the sun, a Pall Mall glowing white against the blood red of her lacquered nails. She followed Connie onto the lawn, off balance because the heels of her shoes had sunk into the dirt. They had their backs to her, but Maggie could hear snatches of what they were saying. Celeste threw back her head and, her mouth working like a fish out of water, blew a chain of smoke rings into the still air. Suddenly she turned to Connie and said loudly, “We’ve all gotta grow up sometime, Con.”
“So when is it your turn?”
“I’m as grown as I’m gonna get. Here’s the God’s truth—you’re more of a kid than I am, never mind the husband and the four kids and the house. You need to start acting like the mother of a growing girl, not just living in a dream world.”
“I was never a kid, Cece. How come I was never a kid? It’s not fair.”
“You’re right,” Celeste said. “But you got no choice now, sweetheart. You gotta hold this family together.”
“I thought the man held the family together.”
Celeste blew more smoke rings. “There’s only one thing men hold, and that’s when they got to go to the bathroom. All right, sorry,” Celeste added, seeing her cousin’s face. “But sometimes I think you watch too many movies. Your daughter needs you now.”
“She doesn’t like me, Ce.”
“Get out,” Celeste said, dropping her cigarette into the grass and rubbing it out with the pointed toe of her shoe. “What’s to like? You’re her mother. Did you like your mother? Do I like my mother? You need to show her things. Remember how old Rose slapped me when I first got the curse? Boom! ‘It’s an old Italian custom,’ she says. I should have thanked her for preparing me for Charlie.”
Connie did not answer. She had her arms wrapped around herself as though she was holding her body together. Maggie could see the construction crew on their lunch break; the two women gave them a little wave, and the men waved back. Maggie moved away from the screen, afraid someone would see her. Celeste put her arm around Connie’s shoulder, and they stood that way for what seemed like a long time: Celeste holding Connie, Connie’s head of black curls on her shoulder, Maggie holding back the sheer white curtains beneath the pink gingham ones. Then one of the men yelled “Back to the grind!” and the women turned and went indoors. Maggie saw that her mother’s face was wet and her long nose a little shiny, and she heard her say softly, her voice breaking, “They’re gonna win, Cece. I can feel it. Ten years from now I’ll be living in one of their houses, sitting on their furniture, wearing their clothes, and my kids will be their kids. She’s already one of them.”
“Don’t overreact, sweetheart,” Celeste said. “You got the ace in the hole. If your husband has to