Ezra 30.
I have a little more understanding, a little more sympathy for Moshe. Not a lot, mind you, he still fucked over my brother and Ruthie. But his actions are not as psychotic as they were before. Meeting Dottie, strange as that first encounter was, burrowing my way into her heart, earning her trust and love, the constant need to shelter her from the hard truths of the world and realizing I can’t stop the battle, but I can shield her as we wage war together…Loving her is an honor, the fact that she loves me in return is a privilege I will work hard to earn every damn day.
The last 6 weeks especially have shown me so much, not just about Dottie, but about myself. Loving someone is tantamount to flaying yourself open and expecting them to hold your organs in place. That might be dramatic, but it feels accurate. I’ve heard my mom say when Zep and I have been sick that she wishes it was her instead of us. And I never understood that until Dot. On a visceral level, I would rather sever my own leg, or eat my own arm, stab myself a hundred times in the gut than witness Dottie struggle. Impotent against a microscopic enemy that ravishes her from the inside out.
However, pride practically shines out of my ass, there’s so much of it when it comes to her. She possesses a strength I know for a fact I do not. She had a moment, a blip in her recovery a couple weeks ago, when she truly saw herself for the first time post-op, otherwise she has truly been a BAB facing everything coming at her head on.
And now, she’s got one more hurdle. Her and her sisters.
Blanche lost her patience with the Cuban Mafia and its leader, Diaz. She insisted on flying down to collect Irving and Uriel herself and bringing them “home”. It’s funny, in every conversation, Blanche always implies “home” is the compound. They each own their own home, as do I, but since Dot and I have gotten together, we’ve spent more time at the compound than anywhere else. Something about the large estate speaks to the four of them. A family, a haven they lacked as children. Stability they’ve craved their entire lives. My mishpocheh is as crazy as the next, more so since we’re a little too violent to be considered normal, but our loyalty is unrivaled. We’ll bust each other’s balls, but we’ll stand in front of a bullet as we do it.
And the Goldman Girls crave that like an addict needs their next fix. Even Blanche. Just don’t mention it or get mushy in any way or she’ll stab you.
“They’re pulling in now. Everyone act natural.” Rose waves her hands in the air, turning to the left and walking a few steps before spinning on her heels and going right instead.
“Very natural, Rose. You’re doing great.” Dot deadpans from her seat across from me. We’ve been playing cards with mom and dad as we wait for Blanche and their brothers to arrive.
“Fuck you, Dot!” Rose gives up, standing in the middle of the room, looking every bit the part of a flamingo with her knee bent and foot on her thigh.
“You could never make it as a spy.” Dad says, barely looking up from his cards. “It’s a good thing you aren’t a dog.” The room silences at my dad’s statement. He fiddles around with his cards, finally selects one and discards it before looking up. “What?”
“Did you just call me a dog?” Rose is near hysterics. She’s a little nervous about meeting her brothers.
“No.” Dad replies slowly. “I said you aren’t a dog.” He glances around the room, wincing when mom smacks his arm. “On the Chinese calendar.” That makes all the sense now. Noticing we’re all still mostly lost, he elaborates, “A dog is best suited for the job of a secret agent, or at least one of the other jobs they recommend, and since you obviously suck at…” he waves his hands at her unnatural pose, “acting natural, secret agent is out.” His eyes drift up as he thinks, “You were born in 1989, so that makes you the year of the snake. Have you ever given thought to a career in fortune telling?”
“What the fuck?” Rose, Sophia, and Dottie whisper in unison. A shiver runs down my spine, it’s so weird when they do that shit. Though in this case, that’s probably a reasonable reaction to my father.
“Poop. Poop. Poop.” Sophia chants, her eyes glued to the entrance of the sitting room. “They’re here. Poopy poop pooperson. They’re here.”
“That’s Mr. Pooperson, to you, young lady.” Uncle Morris jokes, but Sophia and her sisters are too fascinated by the sight of their sister holding hands with two boys who look remarkably…black. Huh.
“I did not see that coming.” Dad mutters. Mom shushes him, rising slowly to her feet, a little shaky as she stands. She follows Dot, Rose, and Sophia as they approach the trio.
Blanche whispers something to each boy, they nod at her, and release her hands. “Irving. Uriel. Meet your other big sisters, Rose, Sophia, and Dorothy.” Irving, he’s the taller of the two, smiles timidly at Dot.
“Big sister?” He jokes, his voice cracking, whether from nerves or puberty, I’m not sure.
Dot opens her arms and tugs him into a hug, her face level with his neck. “Oi, vey!”
“Uriel?” Rose prompts the other boy, slightly shorter and skinnier than his brother. “It’s nice to meet you.” Uriel rushes Rose, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing in close. “Oi, vey!” Tears run down her face, her cheek resting on the top of his head, as she embraces the boy.
Dot holds Irving at arm’s length, “My God, you look…nothing like him .”
Both boys grin wide, but Irving exclaims, “Amen, sister!”
“I’m sorry, we’re hogging the two of you. Sophia—” Dot has barely said her name when Sophia winds her arms around the two boys and crushes them in a hug. She’s surprisingly strong for such a sweet woman.
“Alright, alright. Enough of that shit. They’re men. Quit smothering them.” Blanche snaps, stepping into the room and cuffing both boys at the back of their neck and pulling them along to stand in front of my mom, and my dad, who has finally gotten up from the table. “Uri, Irv, this is Aaron and Judith Kraus. Dot’s in-laws.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Kraus.” They greet my parents at the same time. I roll my eyes as my mom practically melts on the spot.
“Just like we discussed on the trip here, you will be staying with them. From here on out, they are your mom and dad.”
“What?” The entire room questions. Is Blanche high? What the fuck is going on? “Mom—”
She turns to look at me with a soft smile I’ve seen my entire life. “Your dad and I offered to help out with the boys. Raising kids isn’t for the faint at heart—”
Seril and Moshe cheer, “Truth!”
“—we’ve done it and we’d be happy to do it again. Especially for two boys who have been through so much in their short lives. Here, they can get to know their family, spread their wings, and be kids for once. If that is ok with them?” She turns back to the boys, who are both grinning at Shon in Seril’s arms.
“Yes, ma’am.” Shit, they aren’t even twins, and they do the same shit as their sisters.
“This way the girls get to be their sisters, not their parents.”
Dottie slips under my arm and buries her face in my side. Her shoulders shake as she cries, but I know they are happy tears. I blink back the moisture in my own eyes, unable to comprehend how Zep and I got so fucking lucky to have the parents we do.
Like I said, loyal.
“Dad. You want to break out the chore chart, don’t you?”
He smiles with a shrug, his arm around mom’s shoulders. “It worked so well with you and Zep.”
“Esther, David?” Dot calls out to my aunt and uncle. “Are you alright with this?”
Uncle David looks down at his beaming wife. “I’ve already redecorated their rooms.”
Of course, she has.
“Blanche, why didn’t you talk to us about this?”
“Because the four of us would have taken them in and been everything they could ever need. Except their sisters. The compound is the best place for them.” Blanche, being Blanchey, pulls her shoulders back with a haughty look, “And I ain’t changing diapers.”
“I’m 10!”
“And I’m 12! We’ve talked about this, Blanche.”
The rest of my family can no longer be contained, and they crowd around the boys with introductions, hugs, baby snuggles, and food. Always food.
A bit later, Dot and I are standing against the wall, her back to my chest, my arms draped around her waist, as we take in the scene. “It’s a little late now,” I whisper in her ear, grabbing the ring from my pocket, “but are you sure you want all this?”
Dot leans farther back, nestling her ass against me. “Absolutely.”
I smile into her neck, grab her left hand and slide my paternal grandmother’s ring on her finger. “Then you’ll need this.”
She looks down at her hand, turning it this way and that. “It’s beautiful.” She turns in my arms, raises her arms to wind around my neck, and kisses me sweetly. “But all I need is you.”
Mom and Dad separate from the group and come over to us. Dad picks up her hand and rubs his thumb over the diamond cluster. He kisses her cheek then mom takes her from me and hugs her.
When they separate, Dot slides back into my embrace. “Mom, Dad, I can’t believe you agreed to this. Mensches , the both of you.” Dot gushes, wiping under her eyes, her arm waving to indicate the room and her brothers.
My mom places her hand softly on my cheek, her other on Dot’s. “I told you I hadn’t found what I was looking for yet.” She inhales, then exhales slowly. “Rachel has blessed your dad and I. Two loving sons. Four resilient daughters. And now—” She hiccups a sob, watching Uriel and Irving play peek-a-boo with Shon, “we have the opportunity to give those two boys a true childhood.”
Dot arches her neck to look up at me, her lips grazing my jaw as she speaks, “I wonder what kind of men they will become?”
I smirk, dipping to take her lips with mine. “Kosher Nostra’s finest, of course.”