Mary Ellen Courtney - Hannah Spring 02 - Spring Moon (7 page)

“She wouldn’t talk to Mom, or Celeste. She thinks Celeste believes in the stork. When Celeste hears it’s Adam she’ll go ballistic.”

“Why? Adam’s a great guy.”

“She’s already jealous of you. If Chana marries into your family too, she’s going to feel really ganged up on. Like you’re a bunch of hillbillies.”

“She believes in the stork and she’ll think we’re hillbillies? Her daughter is as much a part of this as my nephew.”

“I know. But look at it from her perspective. Meggie is going to be an aunt to her own cousins.”

“Meggie and Chance are none of her business. Why do you care what she thinks?”

“I don’t.”

“It sure sounds like you do.”

“I just don’t want it to get weird for Chana.”

“Yeah, well, nobody does. But as you’re so fond of saying, it is what it is. You and your wife are just going to have to suck it up. One of you can have the talk with her. You’re her parents. Better hurry, hillbillies breed like rabbits.”

I hung up. He called back. I punched the button.

“Call your wife, Jon.” I hung up again.

Hillbillies? Where had that come from? I was past steamed and into totally confused. It doesn’t happen often, but when your spouse goes sideways it’s disorienting. I felt like I’d seen behind a curtain, and I didn’t like what I saw.

I went back in the kitchen. Mom was singing “Here Comes The Sun” and swaying Chance, while Arthur looked on smiling. Eric pulled one of his famous casseroles out of the oven, and Anna showed Meggie where to put the forks on the table. Everyone but Chance was pretending not to have heard my tone of voice in the other room. He made a distress chirp like a downed aircraft. His father was doing the same thing on my cell in the other room.

“What did he say?” asked Eric.

“That we’re hillbillies and his wife is going to be upset.”

“You’re upset?” asked Mom. “I thought you loved Adam. Why is everyone acting so surprised?”

“Not me, Mom. His other wife. No one is surprised. And yes, I love Adam. I think it’s great. They’re perfect for each other. I’m going to feed Chance.”

I took Chance out of her arms.

“You just fed him,” said Mom.

“Yeah, well, he can eat again.”

Meggie stuck her thumb in her mouth as I boiled out of the room. Jon called again. I hit the mute button. I didn’t know how to begin to process the things going through my heart. Anna came in and closed the door.

“Did he really call us hillbillies?” she asked.

“He said his wife is going to go ballistic, like Chana is marrying into a family of hillbillies. That she’s already jealous of me. I’m sick of it. It’s not like I broke up their marriage.”

“I’m sorry, Hannah.”

“Me too. I don’t want Chana and Adam to have to deal with that. You better warn him about Chana’s parents.”

“All we can do is give them our support.”

“I wouldn’t count on Jon. He’s more worried about how his wife is going to take it than any body else.”

“You’re his wife, Hannah.”

“Not today I’m not.”

Dinner was quiet. Mom held Chance. He really worked her for a guy six weeks old. I’d probably need to buy an extra suitcase to cart home his loot. I got Meggie in the tub and Mom came in to say good-bye.

“I was looking at Chance tonight, I think he’s going to look like your father,” she said. “I wish he’d lived to meet him.”

“I know, Mom. I think about it all the time. All the what iffs. He would have loved his grandchildren.”

“He loved you all so much. He was just like Eric and Jon with you kids.”

“I’m not happy with Jon right now.”

“I know.”

“I don’t know what to do about all this.”

“Maybe you need to change your mind,” she said.

“What’s that, some AA thing?”

“I heard it at a meeting, I don’t know if I’d call it an AA thing. A woman was talking about all the years she lived with resentment. Then she changed her mind. She decided to start wanting everyone to have what they wanted. She said it helped.”

“I don’t see how that applies to Celeste. She can’t have what she wants unless I give her my husband. I should marry her husband next, speaking of hillbillies, maybe he can change his mind about raising Jon’s children.”

“Oh, Hannah. Don’t be so dramatic. Nobody is more snobbish than people climbing the social ladder.”

“Jon’s the one who said it.”

“Jon knows her, he was married to her.”

“Well, I still think changing my mind sounds pretty dramatic.”

“I just thought it was interesting. I’m trying to do it with Arthur’s ex-wife.”

“Arthur doesn’t worry about what his ex-wife wants, his kids do. He only worries about getting you in bed.”

“Boy. That’s the truth. It’s worse now that he’s had a brush with his own mortality and has a new heart. Some men get scared, not Arthur.”

“He can’t scare easy, he married you.”

“Very funny, Hannah.”

“You could change your mind,” I said.

“You’re just like your father.”

“Well, look at it this way. What would it be like if he wasn’t interested?”

“I’d get some reading done and drink less cranberry juice. Night Margaret. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mom left. I poured cups of warm water over Meggie’s shoulders, lost in thought. She started crying. I got her out of the tub, dried her off and puffed on powder. Tears streaked her powdery face. I rocked her and she cried.

I called Jon on Facetime. He answered on the first ring. I handed Meggie the phone and left the room. Jon’s voice rumbled across the ocean, through the closed door, and right into my heart. I put Chance to bed and went in to get Meggie down. She sent Jon kisses through the phone and disconnected. I tucked her in.

I was reading without reading an hour later when Chana came into my room and got in bed with me.

“I heard you talked to Dad.”

“Yes. He’s fine. He’s just worried that you’re too young. I told him what you said about your parents. He asked if you’re using birth control.”

“I went to the clinic at school.”

“Are you sure about you two? It’s just the two of you?”

“Yes. We got tested. What do you think?”

“I think you shouldn’t care what I think. Or anybody else. I told my sister that I had a hankering for butterscotch pudding. She said knowing what I wanted meant I was growing up. If Adam is your butterscotch then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.”

“Mom isn’t going to like it.”

“She might surprise you. Adam is a catch.”

“Adam is Dad’s nephew.”

“How about your grandparents?”

“Mom’s parents will be happy, they’re already proud that I graduated from college. I’m the first on that side. Now I’m marrying a college graduate. They’ll throw a family potluck.”

“Sounds nice,” I said.

“They’re not hillbillies,” she said. “They’re blue collar. They still love Dad.”

“Your Dad wasn’t talking about your grandparents.”

“I know. He’s always been friendly with them. He’s right about Mom.”

I had never given much thought to Celeste’s family. There’s nothing like family mergers and different social and cultural approaches to future grandchildren to wake that sleeping giant of reality.

“How is it to have the two sides of your family so different?”

“It’s okay. They’re very sweet. They’re blue collar, but they’re not rednecks, except when they talk about politics. They love me like I’m extra special. I’m not close to any of my cousins; I don’t have anything in common with them. I’m sort of an outsider. They embarrass Mom so I never spent much time with them. She always tried to keep Glen and them separate. They don’t like him, even though he’s always been nice to them. They still talk about Dad like he’s above them somehow.”

“That must be hard for your mother.”

“She brought it on herself, she cheated on him. She didn’t want to go back there after they broke up. She works hard not to be from there. She’s so careful about how she dresses, has to have new furniture. She tries too hard, then doesn’t fit in either place.”

“How about Grandma and Grandpa Moon?”

“They know. Grandma walked in on us in the guest house.”

“Wow. How’d that go?”

“It was dark. She said, ‘Excuse me,’ and left. We haven’t stayed there since. You were Dad’s butterscotch.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You were. I knew it and I was only seventeen. He’d never been happy like that before. It was the first time I’d ever heard him laugh out of control.”

“Don’t worry CC, everything will be fine. Jackie was surprised we didn’t know.”

“Are you going to the dinner? I’d like you to be there.”

“I don’t have a sitter, but I’ll stop by the house.”

We hugged good night and she went to Adam’s room. I was spent, but I’d changed my mind. I decided that I didn’t care about Celeste or Jon; I was going to be there for Chana. Not that I knew that when she walked in the door.

The next morning I took the kids to the beach after breakfast. We sat on a bench overlooking the Children’s Pool, watched the barking seals and clapped for each wave that crashed against the seawall. Adam and Chana appeared hand-in-hand.

“How are things day one of the big reveal?” I asked.

“Fine,” said Adam. “We just talked to Jon.”

“It helped that he’d already talked to you,” said Chana. “He’s still worried that Mom will be a problem. You want us to take the kids for a while today?”

“Was that his suggestion?”

“He wants you to call him,” said Chana. “We thought we could take the kids, give you some time alone.”

“That’s sweet, but I don’t need time alone.”           

“You going to see friends while you’re here?”

“No. I’m heading to L.A. the day after the wedding. See Karin and Amy. Maybe I’ll get a henna tattoo.”

“You could get
Mike
in a heart. That would drive Dad crazy.”

“I was thinking more of a lotus flower. You going to call your mom?”

“After the wedding. I don’t want her driving down here and disrupting the wedding,” said Chana. “Dad promised not to tell her. Luckily she’d called him about managing the Big Island restaurant before he talked to you so he couldn’t blab. I don’t know why she’s so worried about being broke; it’s a community property state. Grandpa Tom says he’ll help her invest her money.”

“Oh. Yeah,” I said. “I’m going to take the kids for a walk before lunch.”

“We’ll go with you,” said Chana.

I didn’t want company and I didn’t plan to take a walk. I planned to sit and stare off into space. Celeste wanted to come back and manage one of the restaurants? I asked them to take Meggie for ice cream. Adam carried her on his shoulders up the hill to the village. They were practicing being parents. I sat with Chance in one of the green huts on the cliff and watched waves crash. Jon called.

“How you doing?” he asked.

“Fine. Meggie’s with the kids.”

“They sound good together.”

“They’ll figure it out,” I said.

“How are you doing?”

“I said I’m fine. I’m going to have lunch with Marty when I’m in L.A. See about getting work. I don’t want to drop all those threads.”

“We decided to wait a few years,” he said.

“I don’t want to lose my career, not in this economy. You’re changing light bulbs to save money. Lots of people take their kids on location. They’re both young enough that I don’t have to worry about school.”

“What are you talking about? You’re not taking the kids on location. They live here.”

“They live with me. It would be better. You don’t want to raise kids alone again. It would free you up. You’ll be island hopping. I’ll be in one place. Maybe I can get something in Europe and they can learn a foreign language while they’re young. So how you feeling about Chana and Adam?”

“I told you I’m okay with it.”

“You said they sound good together. You didn’t say you were okay with it. How’d Celeste take the hillbillies?”

“I haven’t talked to her about it.”

“That’s right, you didn’t know when you talked to her about going to work for you.”

He was quiet.

“Chana told me,” I said. “I better get going, I’m meeting them in town. Chana looks beautiful in the dress. Meggie thinks she’s a princess. She looks just like Celeste.”

“Are you running away?” he asked.

“I don’t want to hear that anymore, Jon. I am busy. But I can still work and salvage at least part of my life.”

“It didn’t seem like the time to bring it up.”

“Nope. Never is. Speaking of which, I talked to Chana about birth control. They’ve got it covered better than you ever did when you were out there screwing everyone with a heartbeat. And your mother knows, she walked in on them. So I’ve told you my news. Gotta run.”

“Hannah.”

“Jon, I have babies to take care of and days of pretending to be happy to get through.”

Screwing heartbeats was a cheap shot. I felt like I was going to break out in hives.

I took my own car to the cocktail party. I draped a loosely woven scarf across my sleeping Chance. It shielded him from beady eyes. Judith opened the door and sized me up. 

“You’re still doing the whole India thing, I see,” she said.

“I am,” I said. “It’s comfortable when I’m nursing.”

Chance was in a stretchy suit; his chubby feet, in blue leather shoes with red sailboats, hung down like paws from under my scarf. She the scarf so she could see his face.

“He looks like your grandfather,” she said.

Beautiful little Meggie was freshly bathed and dressed in a sunny Grandma dress with matching sandals. Mom came up and took her hand.

“Come on, Margaret, let’s show everyone your pretty new outfit.”

Meggie hopped off smiling. I dropped my diaper bag by the front door. Judith picked it up and put it away in the closet. She’d never forgiven me for accidentally leaving one of Meggie’s dirty diapers on her patio lounge. You’d think I’d left a dead cat.

“How is Jon doing with the situation?” she asked.

“He doesn’t consider it a situation.”

“What do think?”

“I think it’s none of my business,” I said.