Family Be Mine (8 page)

“M
OM, I STILL CAN'T
believe you came.” Sarah wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and sniffed away the tears that wouldn't stop coming. The baby shower had been fun, and everyone seemed to have had a good time and eaten more than their fair share. In fact, once she had gotten a piece of cake herself, the way Julie had reminded her, her dizziness had subsided immediately—much to everyone's relief.

And they were all much too generous.

Now she had all these cute little outfits and a fancy jogging stroller. It was sitting, adorned with a large bow, in front of the fireplace in Katarina and Ben's living room, while Sarah and her mother reclined on the couch. This time, Sarah had thought to put a throw pillow behind her back so getting up wouldn't require the jaws of life.

Just about all the guests had gone except for Julie and Lena and her mother of course. And Rufus. He, Hunt and Ben had mysteriously disappeared into the study.

“As if I wouldn't come to my only daughter's baby shower! I can't tell you how delighted I was to get Katarina's call,” Penny said. “And you know, your pie was delicious. You must give me the recipe.”

“It's Aunt Gladys's, Mom. I know your apple-rhubarb
pie has won blue ribbons, but Aunt Gladys's cherry pie is pretty good, too.”

“You are so right. At the church auctions, her cherry pie always went first. Tell me, what's that flavoring in her crust?”

“Nutmeg.”

Penny nodded. “I knew it. Gladys would never tell me. She's so competitive, a typical oldest child. She always had to be best—at school, with beaux, even what parts she got in the Christmas pageant. Somehow she never did get used to having to share Mother's affection when the rest of us came along.” She looked at the flames flickering in the fireplace. “Nutmeg, you say?”

Sarah nodded philosophically. “How come families are always so complicated? Nothing ever seems to just run smoothly like in books or on TV. You and Aunt Gladys always on edge. Wayne, losing his job at the printing factory in Duluth last year.” Wayne was her second brother who had moved back in with their parents.

“Well, it's not like he sat on his duff. You know he found a job at the local Home Depot, don't you?”

“Yeah, I suppose that's something to be grateful for. But what about other things like Dad having to get two stents. Thank God, he gave up smoking.”

“And didn't I hear about it.” Penny
tsked.
“Now I have to listen to him going on about how the doctors don't let him eat anything with taste to it. You know he's banned low-fat yogurt from the house?”

Sarah wiped another tear from her cheek. “Yeah, that would be Dad. I don't know how you put up with it.”

Penny patted her on the thigh. “Listen, no matter
what, we just about all manage to come together on Thanksgiving, even if Gladys always makes such a fuss.” Penny didn't mention that Sarah hadn't made it to many Thanksgivings in the past ten years or so.

Still, she could easily imagine her father rising from the table after polishing off two helpings of tofu pumpkin pie. He'd pull the waistband of his trousers up over his belly—granted, smaller than it had been in years—and go over and kiss his wife's forehead before retiring to his recliner and football.

There was nothing wrong with her family, Sarah realized, even if this was the rare occasion when conversation didn't end with her gnashing her teeth or feeling as if she'd let them down in myriad ways.

And now she wondered, as she fingered the fine stitching on the baby quilt that her mother had given her, had she ever succeeded in her quest to transform herself into something more—something more interesting? After all, here she was happily sharing baking secrets with her mother. Talk about predictable. But was predictable necessarily wrong?

She scrunched the quilt to her face and breathed in the fresh scent from drying on a clothesline. “I know I thanked you already, Mom, but I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me that you brought me the family quilt,” she said from the heart.

Penny chuckled. “Why of course, silly girl. It's always been passed down from mother to daughter. That's the tradition in our family. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this moment.” Penny beamed and patted her daughter on her knee.

That only set off another bout of tears.

“Sorry. It's just the hormones.” But Sarah knew it was
more. “Oh, Mom—” she hiccupped “—I know you say it's a family tradition, but I'm hardly leading my life in a very traditional way. I haven't exactly embraced the married couple, nuclear family model.”

Penny frowned thoughtfully. “No but…”

The sound of footsteps clumping down the stairs muffled the rest of her words.

“So is it safe to come down yet?” It was Matt, Ben's sixteen-year-old son. He peeked his head into the living room and saw Sarah and her mom. “Sorry, I thought I heard everybody leave, and I was hoping there'd be some leftovers. There's nothing like writing up a chemistry lab to make you hungry. And don't worry. I left the crazy dog in my bedroom.”

Sarah laughed and waved hello. She made the introductions to her mother, and Matt made a mumbling attempt at salutations, which Penny seemed to find perfectly normal.

“I think your dad is hiding with Hunt and maybe Rufus in the study. Katarina's with
Babi
cka
in the kitchen, most likely cleaning up,” Sarah said. “Julie's with them, so you'll have to fight her for the leftovers.”

Matt nodded, his long, skinny neck undulating.

“Okay, I'll even risk
Babi
cka
putting me on cleanup duty just to get a piece of her plum cake.” Matt's nose seemed to guide him in the direction of the food, and the sound of laughter and voices could be heard greeting him from the back of the house.

Sarah smiled one moment, but got a little down the next. She sighed. “You know, Mom, I've never considered changing my mind about the baby, but sometimes I wonder if I'm being fair. To the baby. I mean, here I'm going to bring him up alone. He'll only have me to greet
him when he comes home from school or play ball with or read stories to him.”

She narrowed her eyes and blocked out the crackle of the fireplace and the hum of the oil burner. Instead she focused on the voices and the sound of cabinets and drawers being opened from the kitchen.
That's what home was all about, right?

Penny turned to her daughter. “How many children with two parents are really happy? Look at all those parents who hire nannies to push their toddlers in swings or enroll them in organized sports from the time they can walk rather than just sit out on the lawn and feel the grass, and look for bugs or watch the clouds float by. You'll do that, Sarah. You were always a great cloud watcher.”

Penny's words brought Sarah back to the room. “That's really sweet, Mom. Thanks.”

Penny ran her hand over the quilt on her daughter's lap. “You know, I remember you used to insist on carrying around the quilt before you went off to school. Whenever you got tired, you'd just lie down on the sidewalk or on the grass and curl up with your ‘quiltie.' That's what you called it. Quiltie.”

Sarah examined the quilt more closely. “I remember. Gee, I'm surprised after all that wear and tear that it's in such good shape.”

“Well, as soon as I heard about the baby back in June—” Penny tactfully left out the whole wedding fiasco, Sarah noticed “—I got to work repairing it.”

“Aw, Mom.” Sarah leaned over and rested her head on her mother's shoulder.

Penny leaned her cheek against her daughter's hair.
She sniffed. “It was well worth it. I'm sure your child will love it, too.”

“Well, I'll be sure to take good care of—”

In an instant, a whirlwind darted into the living room. Fred. All four paws went in different directions as he raced around the coffee table, two times clockwise and once counterclockwise, ending with a Baryshnikov leap over the table. He landed with his front paws on Sarah.

“Not again,” Sarah moaned. She tried to snatch the quilt from under his paws. That only seemed to make Fred more excited as he nervously sniffed it, his head and tail twitching together.

“Off!” Sarah commanded.

Those stern words resulted in Fred kissing her and for good measure, leaning across and kissing Penny.

“Isn't he the darnedest fellow,” Penny cooed. “I could just eat him up.” She scratched him behind one floppy ear.

Sarah shook her head. “I think it's more like he wants to eat you up, then me, and anything else within easy reach.” She arched her neck back and shouted toward the kitchen. “Katarina! We need you! Quick!”

Katarina rushed in with a dishcloth in her hands. “What's wrong? Do you need Julie?” she said, clearly assuming a medical emergency.

Fred wiggled up on the couch between Sarah and Penny, squashing his butt securely against Sarah. He maneuvered his head around and gave her a large slobbering kiss on her ear before lifting his head over the back of the couch to acknowledge Katarina's presence. All in all, he looked pleased to have managed to round up even more playmates.

“Hunt!” Katarina shouted to the study. “Come get your dog. He's attacking Sarah again.”

Hunt rushed through the living room doorway, with Ben and Rufus not far behind. “I thought Matt was watching him,” he said by way of an apology. Matt and
Babi
cka
came to see what was going on as well. Matt finished chewing and swallowed. “What the he—”

Babi
cka
gave him a stern look.

“I left him upstairs, I swear,” he said. “And I closed the door tight.”

Julie came out carrying a glass of red wine. “Well, I'm glad it's not a medical emergency because I've had several drinks.”

Katarina glared at Hunt as he crossed in front to retrieve Fred. “Excuse me, last I heard, he's your dog, so don't blame it on Matt. The poor kid barely has time to eat, and it's not his fault that that dog of yours seems to be a Houdini at escaping.”