Chapter 27 Daisy - Shine Again
DAISY Shine Again
So can I call you Aunt Daisy?” Greer asked in that fairy-tale-princess voice of hers. She smiled up at me sweetly as I popped revolting dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets in the oven.
I would make tacos tomorrow, but tonight had been crazy, and nuggets were the best I could do. I had come into this wanting to be super babysitter, maybe even have them liking steak or something as exotic as turkey by the time Amelia and Parker got home. But, for night one, dino nuggets it was.
I looked down into her pretty little face. George was snuggled up with Aunt Tilley. She was reading him a Mickey Mouse book over and over again with the patience of a saint. She seemed lucid. And it was amazing how calm he was with her.
Greer waved her fairy wand in my direction, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Well,” I said, “I’m not your aunt.”
She scrunched her nose. “Why not?”
“Because aunts and uncles are brothers and sisters of your mommy and daddy or people who are married to brothers and sisters of your mommy and daddy.”
My stomach flipped. It was very, very early days, and, yes, I knew realistically that I was dating a man who—if Carmen was to be believed—didn’t have the best track record. I shook off the thought. His past didn’t matter. What mattered was who he was now, who he was to and with me.
I shook my head, focusing back on Greer. I knew from my experience with children that the logistics of large families could be complicated.
“So is Aunt Tilley Mommy’s sister?” she whispered. “She’s very old, Aunt Daisy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, no, Aunt Tilley is your mommy’s aunt, so she’s your great-aunt.”
“Because she’s grrrreat!” Greer said in a Tony the Tiger voice, jumping up in the air, her crinoline princess skirt floating up and then falling over her legs again.
The screen door slammed. It was a sound so familiar, so soothing, the sound of my grandparents’ house, of fried chicken in the kitchen and sweltering Southern summer days.
It was a sound that brought me such peace, if only for a moment, that I realized how lovely my childhood had been, mother or no.
What to do about seeing said mother again was haunting me.
I changed my mind every five minutes. I was happy to have babysitting as an excuse to put off making any decisions.
The still little boy who had been glued to his great-aunt seemed to actually fly as he called, “Uncle Maaassssoooonnn!”
“Uncle Mason!” Greer squealed at a decibel that made me want to cover my ears. She jumped into his arms with the force and confidence of a little girl who knows a man will always, always catch her.
Mason kissed my cheek. I smiled. “Can I interest you in a dino nugget?”
“No, but you can interest me in the details of your home visit. I have been anxiously awaiting the text that never came.”
I put my hand to my forehead. “I’m so sorry! They were an hour late, and I had to rush straight to get the kids from preschool and then… well…”
Greer was in Mason’s arms, and George was on his leg.
“Are you suggesting that my beautiful niece and charming nephew can be challenging? I am offended!”
“But the home visit went great. I got approved to foster in my new house!” My heart swelled.
“So does that mean…”
He trailed off, but I knew what he was asking. “I probably won’t know for sure if I get Maisy until the day they decide to release her from the hospital.” I looked around and whispered, “Unless someone decides to claim her before then.”
“So, they could just, like, get her back?” Mason asked.
I nodded. “Unbelievable, but yes.”
Greer shimmied down from Mason’s side. George grabbed an empty paper towel roll off the counter and swatted his sister’s arm with it. Then he took off.
“Hey!” she called, running behind him.
Aunt Tilley—in a pair of black pants and a blouse, not a costume—walked into the kitchen.
“Sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t let them behave that way.”
She waved her hand, and I covered my mouth. “Oh my goodness! I need to make you dinner.”
She shook her head. “No, no. I make my own dinner. I’ll make some for you too. I was planning on it.” She smiled at Mason. “And I hope my favorite nearly nephew will stay too, please.”
I didn’t know this woman well. But I could tell that she was about to ask me for something. She was off to a great start. Feeding me was a great way to my heart.
The screen door slammed again, and I heard Elizabeth’s distinctive voice say, “George Thaysden, do not hit your grandmother with a paper towel roll.”
Tilley sighed and rolled her eyes. “She’s here. Of course she is.”
“But it’s a pirate sword!” George protested. “Argh!”
“Right,” I heard Olivia say. “It’s a pirate sword, Elizabeth. Don’t be so pedestrian.”
I ran into the entrance hall, realizing that I should probably be policing this moment, and Amelia would likely be getting calls in Jost Van Dyke that her babysitter was unfit.
“We were coming to see if you needed help,” Olivia said.
“But it’s clear that you have things completely under control,” Elizabeth added nonchalantly, as Greer shrieked and, in a deft move, jumped from the couch to George’s back, stealing the paper towel roll and darting up the stairs.
To his credit, he didn’t freak out, only called, “You’re going to walk the plank.”
He ran over to hug both his grandmothers as the timer on the oven went off. “Greer!” I called. “Dino nugget time!”
Elizabeth shook her head. “That is not real food.”
“I have never,” Olivia agreed.
Poor Amelia. I had a feeling she got a lot of unsolicited parenting advice.
Greer and George both raced ahead of me into the kitchen and climbed onto barstools at the island.
I pulled the nuggets out, squeezed ketchup on their plates, and retrieved the squeezy applesauce from the fridge that would have to suffice as produce. I poured them cups of milk as Tilley, Elizabeth, Olivia, and Mason looked on.
“You’re doing great,” Mason said, laughing, apparently realizing they were all serving as my audience without helping.
Tilley sprang into action first. “I’m going to make us a lovely apple and feta salad with turkey breast,” she said. “Elizabeth, Olivia. Will you be joining us?”
“I have my own chicken roasting,” Olivia said.
Tilley looked tentatively at Elizabeth, who eyed me as I placed the plates down in front of the kids—who dove in with gusto—and said, “Well, no. I suppose you three have it under control here.”
She seemed disappointed.
“Mason, you are so sweet to be concerned about the care of your niece and nephew,” Olivia said teasingly. I loved her tone, which insinuated that he was here for me.
Mason put an arm around each lady and said, “All right then, you two. Love you both, and I will see you to the door so that I can help Daisy with bath time and bedtime. We’d hate for her to quit.”
As they left, I took a deep breath. I walked over to the island and said, “Okay, kiddos. Best dinos ever?”
“Best ever, Aunt Daisy!” Greer agreed. So, I guessed we’d landed on that whole Aunt Daisy thing after all.
“So, Daisy,” Tilley said, casually. “Since the kids will be off to school in the morning and there shouldn’t be much to do around here, would you be willing to drive me somewhere?”
Oh, I was so very intrigued. Mason reentered the kitchen and said, “Aunt Tilley, Daisy is busy. I’m sure Mom will drive you wherever you want to go.”
“Well, see, that’s the thing,” Tilley said. “I’m not so sure she would approve of my going to this particular place.”
Doubly intrigued.
I leaned against the counter, relishing the place of power I occupied and already knowing that I would take her anywhere. “Oh, Tilley, do tell.”
She grinned conspiratorially. “Well, see, Daisy, I haven’t mentioned this to you before, but the theater and I have a bit of history, a love affair if you will.”
I wanted to squeeze that woman to me. She was a little mischievous, and it was so soul-satisfying to watch her work.
“A love affair, you say?”
“Oh, Aunt Tilley,” Mason said. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea—”
“A bad idea?” Tilley interrupted. “Do you know what would be a bad idea, Mason? If someone were to drop to your mother that you are the reason her beloved massage therapist quit returning her calls.”
Mason opened his mouth and then closed it. “But how do you…” He trailed off.
“I’m Aunt Tilley. I know all. I can keep secrets, and I thought you could too, but I guess we’ll see, now, won’t we.”
He laughed. “Geez. All right. Message received.”
Tilley turned back to me. “As I was saying. Yes, a love affair with the theater. You might not be aware of this, but women of a certain age don’t often have the opportunity to try out for the very best parts in a show, but, well, the Cape Carolina Playhouse is putting on a production of Hello, Dolly!
And Dolly is a role I was positively born to play. ”
I smiled at her enthusiasm. But I worried too. “So, let me ask you a question.”
She nodded.
“If you were, by some small chance, not to get the role, how would you handle that?”
She said, “That’s showbiz, baby,” so nonchalantly that I believed her.
“And,” I said, “if you were to get the role, which is obviously much more likely, would you be able to handle that?”
I had no idea if she was likely to get the part. For all I knew, the woman was tone-deaf and flat-footed.
She smiled at me. “I would relish the long hours, the practice.” She locked her eyes on mine. “Daisy, for years I have drifted about in the world letting the past define me, residing there so I didn’t have to face the truth. It is time for me to regain my glory. It is time for me to shine again.”
She was good. “How in the world could I argue with that?”
Aunt Tilley might crash and burn. But I’d be damned if I was the woman who never even let her try.