Chapter 13 Save the chosen one
Gabe’s phone rang and before answering, he announced, “I’m going to go outside to help my parents.”
Gabe, Leah, and Shira were sitting in the living room with the TV on to some football game. Leah’s father had even come out of hiding to watch with them. Over in the kitchen, Savannah was setting out all the serving platters. Everything was ready. Well, except Leah.
She stood up and watched Gabe stop in the kitchen to tell Savannah his parents had arrived. Savannah immediately wiped her hands and fluffed her skirt while Gabe let himself out the front door, leaving it slightly open so as not to lock himself out.
All the Rosenbergs came to attention in the foyer, ready to greet their guests. They waited a minute, and then another minute went by. And another.
“Do you think everything is all right?” Savannah asked Leah, who had no special insight. She hadn’t spent much time with Gabe’s parents. Even when she visited them for Christmas, they didn’t seem particularly interested in getting to know her. They were busy with their hobbies and routines and mostly let Gabe and Leah do their own thing, which honestly, Leah was happy about. She didn’t much like the idea of having to spend holidays impressing Gabe’s parents. “Should you go check on them?” Savannah asked Leah.
Leah was about to protest, but then she heard them walking up to the house. “Here they are,” she announced with relief that she didn’t need to leave the side of the Rosenbergs to check on the Russos. Was it bad that she felt more comfortable as a Rosenberg? After all, she’d be a Russo soon enough.
The Rosenbergs waited impatiently until Gabe pushed the door open, a look of surprise appeared on his face when he saw the family there, but the look quickly transformed into a smile.
“Savannah, Clark, meet my parents, Nancy and Sam,” Gabe introduced. Gabe’s parents were significantly older than Leah’s, or at least that was how it looked to Leah. Nancy had wild gray hair that looked like she had tried to tame it with a barrette but had given up. She didn’t wear makeup or jewelry, but at least her face was clean, unlike the first time Leah had met her when she was covered in paint that Leah had first thought was some awful skin disease. Gabe’s father Sam had a thick mustache, which looked like it had just been trimmed. He tilted his bald head up to smile, his shoulders round and hunched forward like he was reading something close at his desk.
“Nice to meet you!” Savannah exclaimed. She plastered a big smile on her face and reached her hands out to shake theirs. “It’s so wonderful to meet Gabe’s family! He’s such a wonderful man!” Her enthusiasm was suspicious to Leah. “I hope the drive wasn’t too terrible.”
“The traffic was terrible!” Nancy responded. “This is why we’ve avoided holidays for the last few years. Thanksgiving on a cruise is so much simpler! But this is nice too.”
“Did you take the 295?” Leah’s dad Clark asked Sam. “Best to avoid Manhattan.”
“All of Manhattan is on the 295!” Nancy exclaimed even though the comment had been addressed to her husband. “All those city folk want to be out with their families for the holiday. I thought we might end up sleeping in White Plains!”
“But we got here all right,” Sam confirmed with a smile.
“Do you have a decanter?” Nancy asked, holding up a tall chrome gift bag. “This wine is heavenly! We bought it at a vineyard in the Alps last Easter. But it needs to be decanted!”
“What’s a decanter?” Clark asked while Savannah said, “Oh, I’m sure we’ll find something.”
“Sam, I knew we should have brought a decanter!” Nancy exclaimed. “Such a waste to drink the wine without one! But oh well, what a shame! We’ll survive! I assume you have a bottle opener at least?”
Savannah nodded. “Leah, please help Nancy open the wine!”
“Oh, and I made something for you!” Nancy said, pointing to Gabe who was carrying a rather large square wrapped in brown paper. Leah wondered what it could be, but then she remembered what was all over the walls of Nancy and Sam’s apartment. Nancy had picked up painting in retirement, Gabe had told her. That’s why she was covered in paint when Leah first met her. Leah and Gabe slept in her studio, which smelled like aerosol that first Christmas.
Gabe held out the painting. Clark took it from him. “Well, thank you,” he said, without opening the paper.
“Open it!” Nancy insisted. Clark smiled and gently ripped off the paper revealing a painting that Leah couldn’t exactly make out. A closer look revealed that it was similar to all the other paintings in the Russo’s home—nudes. “It’s a little abstract,” Nancy explained. “And that is where the beauty comes from.”
Clark blushed with the painting in his hands. “Wow, yes, uh, thank you,” he stuttered. “Who is the artist?” He moved the painting around as though examining it.
“I am!” Nancy said. “I’ve been painting since I retired! We don’t have any more space on our walls at home, so now we bring paintings to everyone as gifts!” She giggled.
“You’re so talented!” Savannah commented, eyeing the painting as though she was afraid of getting too close. “It’s very impressive, thank you! Shall we start on that wine? Leah, did you find a decanter?”
Leah had not found a decanter. She didn’t even look because she was sure there wasn’t a decanter to be found. She didn’t think her parents even knew what a decanter was. She shook her head. “I got the corkscrew,” she said optimistically.
“We’ll make do,” Savannah said and motioned everyone to move in from the foyer toward the dining room. Clark placed the painting on the floor, the abstract naked woman watching them as Savannah poured the non-decanted wine into glasses that she handed out first to the guests and then to her own family. Shira declined the glass. Leah wondered if her mother thought anything of this, but Savannah just kept offering glasses to everyone else. “Cheers!” Savannah said. “To family!”
Nancy flicked her head along with her glass before taking a sip. Leah sipped her own glass, wondering how different it would taste decanted.
“Now, Nancy, I would just love to hear about your painting,” Savannah said while guiding her guest to the kitchen. “When did you start?”
Leah’s father Clark, meanwhile, led Sam to the living room where the football game was still on. “Are you a Giants fan?” he asked while Sam shook his head.
“I never did have much time for football,” Sam responded.
Leah watched her parents seek to entertain and connect with their new counterparts in their respective compartments in the home. She squeezed Gabe’s hand and continued sipping her wine. “I’ll go help the moms,” Leah said, while Shira excused herself to the bathroom.
“Wait,” Gabe said and pulled Leah in for a kiss. “Don’t worry, everything is fine. Everyone will get along.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then we’ll get rid of the trouble-making parents,” Gabe said with a smirk.
“Yours will be the troublemakers,” Leah responded.
“We’ll see about that.” Gabe squeezed her tight, kissing her hard on the mouth. “Now go referee our moms in the kitchen.”
“It aerates the wine, which really brings out the flavor,” Nancy was saying when Leah walked into the kitchen. “There are subtle nuances in the grapes that you don’t experience unless the wine is aerated.”
“We’ll have to try that sometime,” Savannah said with a smile, although Leah could not imagine her mother ever using a decanter. The only wine they usually kept in the house was Manischewitz, and Leah didn’t think that wine needed decanting.
The table was set and all the food was warm in the oven or wrapped in foil on the counter, so there was nothing for the women to do except stand around the kitchen.
“Your son Gabe is truly a mensch ,” Savannah said when the conversation lulled.
“Oh yes, we are proud of him,” Nancy responded. “We’ve been so lucky with our children. Gabe’s older brother has such a lovely family. Leah met them on Christmas a few years back.”
Leah noticed the faint look of disappointment on Savannah’s face at the mention of Christmas. It didn’t matter that the holiday was so mainstream, Savannah had continued to pretend that it didn’t exist. In her mind and vocabulary, no Christian holidays existed, there was only Hanukkah, and if you didn’t celebrate that, you might enjoy the winter solstice.
“You must be hungry after your drive!” Savannah pivoted. “Why don’t we sit down.”
Everyone gathered around the table and took a seat while Clark offered everyone more wine, including Shira, who again declined. “You sure?” Clark asked his eldest daughter. “It’s unlike you to turn down alcohol!” He laughed at his own joke and Shira looked at Leah uncomfortably.
“I’m good,” she responded and took her seat next to Leah. Savannah served the turkey, yams, stuffing, and salads, offering everything first to Nancy and Sam, then to Gabe, and then to her daughters, who passed around the dishes and tried to find space for them on the table.
“The food is wonderful,” Sam commented. “I’m impressed your turkey is so juicy.”
Savannah accepted the compliment, but Leah guessed she understood the connotation—that turkeys without butter were just never as juicy.
“Should we say what we are thankful for?” Savannah asked. “It’s our family’s annual tradition. Leah, why don’t you start.”
Leah blushed. “I’m thankful for my family and for Gabe.” She looked at him and smiled. “I’m thankful that our families are supporting us during this exciting time.” Gabe wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.
“I’m thankful for Leah, and her family who has been so accepting,” Gabe went next.
Nancy was next to Gabe. “I’m thankful for my wonderful boys and my grandchildren and that Jesus gave me the talent and ability to paint. I’m so blessed!”
Again, Savannah’s face scrunched with disappointment at the mention of Jesus. Leah tried to focus as the rest of them said their parts—Sam was thankful for his family and health, Shira for her family, Clark and Savannah were also thankful for family.
“I guess we have a lot to look forward to,” Savannah commented once everyone was reclining in their seats. It was the first mention of the wedding.
“Right,” Nancy said. “I spoke with our pastor, who said he would be happy to do the ceremony in our church! He said he could make the ceremony non-denominational, just spiritual.” Nancy sipped her wine as though she had just suggested chocolate instead of vanilla cake, rather than having the wedding in a church.
“Oh, I, uh, I thought we’d host it at our temple,” Savannah responded. “Gabe had such a wonderful connection with Rabbi Daniel!”
Now both sets of parents were looking at Leah and Gabe. Leah was silent, hoping Gabe would jump in, but he just sat there, lips closed tightly. Leah wondered how the conversation jumped from being thankful to this so quickly.
“I think the church would be nice,” Nancy said. “It’s where Sam and I got married. And our pastor doesn’t mind that Leah is Jewish. I’ve heard that rabbis don’t exactly feel the same way about interfaith couples.”
“Well, we’ve been discussing whether this will be interfaith,” Savannah shot back.
“I don’t think you should push Leah to convert so quickly,” Nancy responded. “She has plenty of time to be saved.”
“Saved!” Savannah shouted. “She’s part of the chosen ones! We don’t need to be saved!”
Nancy smirked. “Well, I see this is off to a good start. Next thing I know I’ll have to watch my grandchildren go to hell.”
Savannah jumped from the table. “How could you say something so awful? We’ve invited you in, accepted your son, tried to be friendly with you and this is how you act?”
“It’s not about acting,” Nancy responded. “You are lovely people and we’re so grateful for this invitation and meal, but that doesn’t change whether you are saved. Unfortunately, many truly wonderful people go to hell because they simply cannot accept Jesus as their savior.”
“Jesus is not our savior,” Savannah retorted.
“Exactly my point,” Nancy said. Leah looked directly at Gabe, whose head was in his hands.
“Mom,” he looked up. “You don’t honestly believe that!”
“Of course, I do,” Nancy said. “And I am surprised you don’t! After all those years we went to church. Aren’t you worried about Leah if you love her so much? Won’t you be worried about your children if they aren’t baptized?”
“We stopped going to church when I was a teenager!” Gabe responded.
“But that doesn’t mean we stopped believing!” Nancy responded. “Maybe it was a mistake we stopped going!”
“Enough, Mom,” Gabe said. “This is a ridiculous conversation. I understand you want us to get married in a church, like Savannah wants us to get married in a temple. But being saved? Honestly, Mom, you sound like a nutcase.”
“A nutcase who will go to heaven and be sorely disappointed if her grandchildren won’t join her after they’ve lived long happy lives!” Nancy said.
“Enough, Nancy,” Sam said. “Gabe has to make his own decisions.”
“We didn’t teach him well enough,” Nancy said to her husband, then she turned to Leah. “Leah, I’m sorry, it’s not you. You are lovely and you make Gabe happy! And you will probably be a wonderful wife, but you understand it isn’t about that?”
No, Leah did not understand, but she did not say that. She just looked from Gabe to her mother, who looked like she was about to cry. And then she did cry, the tears came down her face, and Leah expected some emotional explosion like there had been at previous holidays, such as when she cried that no one appreciated her after finding out Gabe wasn’t Jewish at that Thanksgiving years ago. But Savannah said nothing. She simply stood up and took the turkey carcass off the table. She took it into the kitchen and slammed it down on the counter. She came back with the two pies she’d made for dessert—pecan and apple.
“Who wants ice cream on their pie?” she asked, the tears still dripping down her face. No one answered, and Savannah simply started cutting the pies and passing slices out on plates. “You all sure you don’t want ice cream?”
“I want ice cream,” Shira said and Savannah turned back to the kitchen to grab the vanilla bean ice cream from the freezer. Savannah scooped ice cream for Shira and then gave some to Leah and Gabe without asking.
As Leah took tiny bites from her pie, she couldn’t help staring at the face of the nude painting leaning against the wall in the dining room. Leah felt even more naked than the figure on the canvas.