Chapter 47
Note to self:
Kids are the perfect icebreaker.
Maybe ask to borrow Hallie.
By the time we made it back to the apartment, my parents were standing in the middle of a very silent living room. Mom’s face was pale, her gaze darting between the son she hadn’t seen in eleven years and the granddaughter she hadn’t known existed. But it was Dad, his eyes shining with unshed tears, that we all watched. And we waited. To see how he would react, what he’d say.
If this meeting would go very, very badly.
It was Hallie who made the first move. Still clutching that baby doll with the wild hair, she marched up to Dad, tilted her head back, and pursed her lips. “You look like my daddy.”
Dad’s eye widened. “Hi.”
“’Cept Daddy has hair on his head, and he has pictures all over him and he smiles all the time. You aren’t smiling. Why?”
“Uh, well.” He dropped to a knee. “I guess because I’m surprised.”
“Oh,” Hallie breathed. “I love ’sprises.” Her brow wrinkled as she glanced around the room. “What’s the ’sprise?”
Dad cleared his throat. “You are.”
“You’re funny.” Hallie giggled. She held her hands out in front of her, fingers spread wide. “I got a ’sprise. I’m handsy.”
“You are?” Dad shot a confused glance toward us.
“Uh-huh. It means I have nice hands. Are you handsy?”
“I’ve never thought about it.” A smile spread across his face. “I’m your grandpa.”
“Ooooh,” she breathed. “I’ve never had a grandpa afore. Can I hug you?”
Dad sat on the floor and cleared his throat again. I will swear forever that my loud, disgruntled father, who laughed at the sad parts of movies, including the scene when Bambi’s mother dies, had tears in his eyes. Real, actual tears. He held his arms open. “I’d like that a lot.”
“Good idea getting a kid,” I said quietly, sitting on the arm of the couch next to my brother. On his other side was our mother, who had been beside herself. She’d hugged Abe so long, even I got uncomfortable. We’d had to gently pry her arms from him, although she’d refused to completely let go of him and was even at this moment clinging to his arm.
Abe snorted. “Yes. It was my plan all along. Father a child I didn’t know about and use her to unite our family.”
“She is pretty awesome.”
“Agreed.”
Both of us looked over at Dad, who’d already been conned into wearing a princess tiara and reading books with Hallie curled up in his lap. They’d been cuddled up like that for over an hour and while it was hard not to smile when I looked at them together, it was clear Dad planned to avoid the elephant in the room as long as possible. The one with all the tattoos and piercings.
“Has he said anything to you?” I asked.
Abe’s shoulders slumped. “No. He nodded his head in my general direction but otherwise, nothing.”
“Don’t get discouraged,” I hurried to say. “Give him a little time. We sprung this on him.”
“I hope you’re right.” But he didn’t sound optimistic.
Frankie and Ruth joined us a little later. Abe teased Frankie for still being the shortest of the brothers.
“Hey, I have the biggest guns though,” he said, and proceeded to take us all to the “gun show” by flexing his arms.
“You’re such a meathead,” I said.
“He’s sexy,” Ruth said, gazing at Frankie with hearts in her eyes. You know what they say about a lid for every pot. That pot and lid had definitely found each other.
Melanie burst into the middle of our group, her eyes wild, and waved her phone around. “No. No. No.”
“Honey, what’s wrong?” Cal put an arm around her shoulders.
“The weather forecast. It’s just been updated and…and…” She shoved the phone in his face, her eyes filling with tears. “Rain. So much rain. It’s supposed to start tomorrow and go for the next five days.”
“We planned for this. Remember? We have that tent on backup.”
“But…but it won’t be the same. Everything is falling apart.” Melanie threw her arms around Cal.
Mack stepped forward, cradling Karen in his arms. “I’m sure it will be okay.”
Melanie straightened, sniffling. “Nothing is going to be okay. The personalized labels for the water bottles aren’t going to make it. The deluxe nut mix I ordered in bulk is mostly peanuts. My mother hates Portland, and one of the bridesmaids and one of the groomsmen are probably going to get in a fist fight during the ceremony. And…and…the napkins are white instead of cream. It’s all going to be a disaster.”
Abruptly, Mom stood, a smile plastered on her face. “You know what we need.”
We all swung our heads in her direction.
“We need pictures. We need pictures now.”
So, we spent forty-five minutes getting more pictures than any one person needed. Theo offered to take them for us so the “whole family” could be in them, and the idea of that made me sad. Theo should be in these photos, too.
“What are you doing?” I said. “Set a timer and get in here with us. You’re part of this family.”
Theo hesitated.
“Of course, Theo.” Mom waved him over. “You’ve always been part of our family.”
Even through all of that, Dad was careful to stay on the opposite side of the room, never getting close enough to Abe to require words be spoken between the two of them. After we finished and someone ordered us pizza, I watched Dad duck out on the patio. I followed and found him sitting at a little wrought-iron table that had a citronella candle working overtime to keep the mosquitoes away.
“Can I join you?” I asked.
“Of course.”
I sat next to him, but we didn’t speak. At least not for a while. Dad and I were like that. We were okay with silence. Which was the exact opposite of Mom, who couldn’t stop talking.
“Wish I had a cigarette.”
“You don’t smoke.”
“Oh, I used to. When I met your mother in college, I smoked all the time. Then she nagged and nagged until I stopped.” He stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankles. “I don’t wish for one often, but tonight, a smoke sounds real nice.”
“Sorry I can’t help you there.”
“Eh. It’s not good for me, anyway.” He rolled his eyes. “And God forbid I did, and your mother smelled it on me. I’d never hear the end of it.”
“You and Mom are so weird.”
His smile was small but sincere. “I love your mother. No other woman out there for me.”
“Even if she drives you crazy sometimes.”
“Especially when she drives me crazy.”
I laughed softly. “Are you okay? I know we kind of sprung all this on you.”
“Yes and no.” I could tell he wanted to say more so I waited. “Yes, because I’ve missed him. Your mother, you kids, we’ve all missed him. He never should have been gone this long. And now there’s a grandbaby. It’s a lot to wrap my head around.”
“She’s pretty cute though.”
He chuckled. “She looks just like you when you were little.”
“Like I said, she’s pretty cute.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He flicked the tip of my nose, like he’s done since I was a kid.
“So, what’s the part about you not being okay?”
A long breath escapes him. “Sometimes a person does things they regret. It’s hard to face those things. Especially when that thing is the son you drove out of your house. He’s so damn different from me, from your brothers. Look at all those tattoos, and what the hell is wrong with his ears? Are those holes on purpose?”
“They’re called gauges and…you know, never mind. I’ll explain later. You finish.”
“I never knew how to talk to him. Still don’t.”
“Is that why you’re avoiding him?”
“You noticed, huh?” His shoulders deflated. “I don’t know how to mend it, how to make this better, and I regret all those years we missed out on having Abe in our lives because I was too stubborn to get over myself.”
I swallowed a lump of my own regret. Dad and I, we had a lot in common when it came to this subject. Ironically, my regret was tied to his regret.
“I gotta figure out what to say to him.” He frowned. “I don’t want to screw it up again.”
I put a hand on his arm. “Maybe the first step is telling him all this.”
“Huh. Maybe so.”
We settled back into silence, although it felt less comfortable now, more contemplative. It was funny how we forget our parents are people, too. My father was as human and riddled with as many fears and regrets as the next person. He also happened to be my dad. He wasn’t the infallible superhero I was sure he was when I grew up.
From inside, I could hear Mom asking Hallie all sorts of questions about her favorite color to her favorite food. Like Grandma Grace used to ask me. Hallie giggled at something Mom said and I couldn’t help smiling at the sound.
Any doubt I had about this surprise reunion disappeared. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows. Maybe this was the calm before the storm. But for now, bringing Abe here gave us all a chance to start to fix what was broken.
Eventually, Dad broke the silence.
“So, tell me about these holes in his ears. What did you call them again? Gadgets?”