Chapter 5 #2
Marcia clocked Fiona’s presence and barreled toward her, pushing past the extended hand and engulfing her in a warm embrace.
Fiona stiffened, then relaxed into Marcia’s arms like a small child being comforted.
Tears filled her eyes, and of their own accord, her arms rose to return the hug.
Through watery eyes, she met Iris’s questioning gaze.
Fiona nodded. Iris rushed forward and wrapped her arms around both Fiona and Marcia.
The three women rocked back and forth as a solid unit until Marcia spoke, “Right. I’ve got calzones and stuffed pepper soup.
Whatever we don’t eat now, Fiona, you can have for supper. Now, what is it you need me to do?”
Fiona fished a soggy tissue out of a pocket of her jeans and wiped her eyes. “Pretty much all of the furniture can go. I’m not going to need it and it’s not really my taste.” She grimaced apologetically at Iris, who waved a hand in dismissal.
Marcia was writing in a notebook. “How much do you want for each item?”
Fiona blew out a gust of air and frowned. “I hadn’t thought about it. What do you suggest?”
Marcia hoisted herself up on a stool at the kitchen island and looked at the dining room table. “It’s in great shape and wasn’t cheap. We should be able to get you enough to give you first and last month’s rent on an apartment.”
Fiona tilted her head and looked at Marcia in confusion. Then her face cleared. “Oh! No. I’m not moving in with my parents because I can’t afford a place of my own. It’s just…my mother….”
Marcia said, “Now I’m confused. Is your mother ill?”
Fiona shook her head and inhaled deeply before speaking. “My mother is very traditional. It is unseemly for an unmarried woman to live by herself. Now that the divorce is final, and she is selling the house, I have no excuse not to move back.”
Iris and Marcia exchanged glances. Not for the first time, Fiona thought they could read each other’s thoughts. Marcia nodded, and Iris cleared her throat before turning to face Fiona. “You could move in with me,” she said softly.
“What?”
“Hilary and Vincent bought a house and moved out.”
“Oh!” Fiona said. “I didn’t know.” Seeing Iris’s tentative smile, she guessed that the women didn’t want to subject her to someone else’s happiness in the midst of her own pain.
Iris’s house was the reason Hilary and Vincent met.
Hilary had rented the floor above Iris, while Vincent lived in the tiny house on the property.
Marcia leaned forward, clasping her hands. “Technically, you wouldn’t be living with Iris, but does your mother need to know that?”
Fiona shook her head slowly, not looking at the eager faces in front of her. “She doesn’t know that Iris had the house renovated. And, you are family.” She looked back in time to see the smile bloom on Iris’s face.
“You’ll do it?” Marcia pressed.
Fiona opened her mouth to reply, but the ring of her cellphone stopped her. She pulled it out of her back pocket and dropped it on the island. “It’s my mother.” She stared at Iris and Marcia in horror. The phone continued to ring while the women gaped at each other before going silent.
Fiona exhaled sharply.
Iris grasped her elbows.
Marcia said, “Oh, for God’s sake. Rip the bandage off and tell her.”
Fiona stared at her dumbly.
Iris sighed.
Marcia climbed down off the stool, rounded the counter, picked up the phone, and slapped it into Fiona’s hand.
“Do it and get it over with. Iris and I will go take pictures of the furniture.” She grabbed Iris by the arm and hustled her out of the kitchen, leaving Fiona alone with her racing thoughts and ringing phone.
Minutes later, Marcia asked, “How did it go?” She and Iris peeked around the wall at Fiona sitting slumped on a stool.
Fiona waved them in. “Well, it took a while, but she caved.”
Iris and Marcia fist-bumped and entered the kitchen, smiling broadly.
“I may have fabricated a bit. I said that you were feeling poorly and weren’t comfortable living alone.
” Lying didn’t come easy, but it was more of an embellishment than a fabrication.
Part of the reason Fiona had asked Iris to come and work for her was because of Eddie’s betrayal.
Iris still hadn’t quite recovered. Still, Fiona was glad it was a phone conversation with her mother and not a face-to-face meeting.
“Well, you did have that cold last week,” Marcia pointed out. “And you said you’d be lonely without Hilary and Vincent around.”
“True,” Iris agreed, nodding vigorously.
Fiona twirled her bracelet and rolled her lips between her teeth before saying, “I think she liked it that I referred to you as honored mother-in-law.”
Clutching her cardigan, Iris said softly, “I’m the one who is honored to be your mother-in-law.”
Fiona smiled through watery eyes and sighed. At Marcia’s cough, she straightened her shoulders. “Shall we eat?”
The older women busied themselves laying out the food. Over lunch, plans were made for Fiona’s next chapter. A chapter she was writing with help from new friends.