In the Unlikely Event (29 page)

BOSTON, FEB. 13 (UPI)—Plans for a Valentine's Day wedding went awry because a tall bride-to-be has disappeared after leaving a note to her still taller fiancé, and her engagement ring pinned to a pillow. She said she just couldn't go through with the ceremony.

Walter James Curran, 27, of Philadelphia, waited in a hotel room for some word of his fiancée, Kathleen Lorna Flynn, 23.

The Valentine Day's wedding scheduled for Thursday was to climax a romance that began at a convention of tall people's clubs last year in Kansas City. Curran, a strapping six-foot-five engineer, made a radio appeal last night, urging his five-foot-eleven fiancée to return.

Mrs. Barton Flynn said her daughter “simply vanished into thin air” on a shopping trip, after getting out of the family automobile.

23

Miri

Miri tried to imagine what went wrong. What would make Kathleen, the tall bride-to-be, decide at the last minute she didn't want to marry Walter? Had she come to her senses and realized all they had in common was their height? Did she find him hopelessly boring? Or maybe she wasn't attracted to him. Maybe she was disgusted by the idea of having sex with him. Maybe she didn't like the way he smelled or the way he chewed his food or the way he mispronounced certain words. Maybe she never wanted to get married in the first place but her mother told her she'd better find somebody soon or she
was going to wind up an old maid. He could have had a terrible temper or criticized everything she did. Or maybe she loved to dance and he wouldn't even try. Maybe he drank. Maybe she was in love with someone else. Miri wished she could talk to Kathleen and find out the truth.

SHE TRIED
to convince Irene to invite Mason to dinner on Valentine's Day. “He's a hero. Everybody says so. Just ask Uncle Henry.”

“He was very brave,” Rusty said, backing up Miri, “rushing into a burning plane and saving the stewardess.”

Miri said, “She's not the only one he saved.”

“A hero is always welcome at my table,” Irene said.

Miri threw her arms around Irene.

“What?” Irene asked.

“Thank you,” Miri said.

“I'm not inviting him as your boyfriend,” Irene told her. “So don't go getting any ideas. I'm saying it would be a
shonda
not to include him.”

“Relax, Mama,” Rusty said. “They're just kids.”

“I remember when I thought
you
were just a kid, Naomi.”

Irene used Rusty's real name only when she was dead serious. And it always shut Rusty up. She turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Miri felt bad for Rusty that night and went to her room, where she sat on the edge of the bed and held Rusty's hand. No words were necessary. They both knew what Irene meant even if she hadn't spelled it out, as if what happened with Mike Monsky was Rusty's fault. Well, in a way Miri supposed it was. She'd let Mike Monsky trick her into going all the way, hadn't she? Getting into that Nash with him, a car where the seat actually turned into a bed. She would never go out with a boy who drove a Nash. No boy was going to trick her into doing anything she didn't want to do. Which made her think, maybe Rusty wanted to do it. Maybe he didn't have to trick her at all.

She'd learned about the Nash a few years ago when Rusty was teasing Henry about his car. They thought she was asleep. “It's so
old,” Rusty had said. “And that rumble seat! You can't make love in a rumble seat.”

“I suppose you think I should get a Nash,” Henry said. “One with a seat that turns into a bed.”

At which point Rusty threw her shoe at Henry. But Henry ducked and laughed.

“I will never get into another Nash as long as I live,” Rusty said. “And neither will my daughter.”

Miri kissed Rusty goodnight, something she didn't automatically do these days. Rusty gave her such an appreciative look she vowed to be kinder to her mother.

On her way out of Rusty's room, Miri spied part of a white box tied with a red ribbon, sticking out from under Rusty's bed. Could it be a gift from Longy? That would be disgusting! Or from Natalie's cousin Tewky? Even worse. Or wait, maybe it was for
her
. Rusty might have bought her something for Valentine's Day. Maybe pajamas with hearts, or a set of day-of-the-week underpants. She knew she was way too old for day-of-the-week underpants but she'd always wanted them. Natalie said when she was young she'd never worn hers on the right days.
Too much trouble
. But Fern was obsessive about getting the days of the week right.

ON VALENTINE
'
S DAY
the Other Naomi came home from the office with Rusty to join the family for dinner. Miri thought of the Other Naomi as “Miss Rheingold” because she'd been a finalist in the national contest. She lived in a studio apartment in Greenwich Village, a fourth-floor walk-up opening into a tiny kitchenette. Miri and Rusty once spent the night when Miss Rheingold got them tickets to see a production of
Peter Pan
. Miss Rheingold knew the guy who wrote the music and lyrics, Lenny Bernstein. She showed Miri his photo. He was sitting at a piano.
Good-looking, isn't he?
Miss Rheingold had asked Miri. The photo was signed
To Naomi, Best wishes, Lenny
. Now Miss Rheingold was thirty-one and single. Miri didn't know about Lenny. But she knew Miss Rheingold's fiancé had been killed in the war and she swore she'd never fall in love again, though
she wouldn't mind marrying somebody rich. Miri didn't understand why Rusty enjoyed spending time with Miss Rheingold, except they were close to the same age and single. All of Rusty's old friends from Battin High were married and didn't include her when they threw parties or went out with their husbands on Saturday nights. She was a double threat—too good-looking, and with a reputation for being loose, which she wasn't. As far as Miri knew she'd never had another boyfriend—not since Mike Monsky got her in trouble. Once a month Rusty spent the night at Miss Rheingold's apartment and always brought the
Playbill
and theater ticket stub home to Miri.

Rusty could have entered beauty contests when she was younger and she'd probably have won first prize. She could have been Miss Rheingold for real, not some runner-up, except you weren't allowed to enter unless you were single and certainly not if you were a mother. Well, too bad. Miri never liked the way Miss Rheingold talked to her, using the same tone she used to talk to her cat, as if she were the cat's mother. Miri found that people without children either did that or they acted like you were the same age as them, which at this point, would have been better.

LEAH AND UNCLE HENRY WERE
already there, making small talk with Rusty and Miss Rheingold, when Ben Sapphire came in carrying a box from Nia's Lingerie tied with a fancy red bow.

“For me?” Irene asked when Ben presented it to her. “Should I open it in public?”

“Why not?” Ben said.

Rusty and Henry exchanged looks. Leah looked down at the box of twenty-four valentines on her lap, one from each child in her class. Miri couldn't imagine why she'd thought the family would want to see them.

Irene raised her eyebrows and smiled at Ben without opening her lips. She untied the red ribbon and handed it to Miri, reminding her to roll it up and save it in the ribbon box. Then she took the top off the box, and peeked into the layers of tissue paper, finally pulling out
a silky white robe covered with red poppies. She held it up for the family to see. “Is this beautiful or what?”

Ben Sapphire beamed.

“What a thoughtful gift,” Irene told him. “How did you know I needed a new robe?”

“Who doesn't need a new robe?” Ben asked.

“Try it on, Nana,” Miri said.

“Now? Over my clothes?”

“Yes,” Miri said.

“Well…if you insist.” Irene pulled on the robe, which fit perfectly. She tied it around her waist, and paraded around the room like a model at a fashion show. “Ta dah!” she sang, stopping to give Ben a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, dear friend.”

“It's the least I can do,” Ben told her.

Again, Miri caught the looks between Rusty and Henry.

“I saw a box just like that, with the same red ribbon, in Mom's room,” Miri said. She didn't know why she said it. She was just filling up what felt like an awkward moment. She didn't want any awkward moments tonight. She wanted it to be perfect for Mason, though he hadn't yet arrived.

“No, you saw
that
box,” Rusty said. “I hid it in my room so Nana wouldn't see it.”

“Or are you suggesting Rusty has a secret admirer?” Miss Rheingold asked Miri.

“No,” Miri said. “I mean, how would I know?”

Rusty laughed. “You think there could be any
secrets
in this house?”

“She should only be so lucky,” Irene said. “Who wouldn't want a secret admirer?”

“How about one who's not so secret?” Ben Sapphire asked.

“Better yet,” Irene told him.

When the doorbell rang, Miri jumped up. “I'll get it.”

She opened the door to find Mason holding a single red rose and a box of Barricini chocolates. She would not tell him that Leah had brought boxes of candy, gifts from the mothers of her students, or
that Miss Rheingold had brought a box of chocolate-covered cherries, all stashed in the pantry. He handed her the rose. “Happy Valentine's Day.” He checked to make sure the coast was clear before he kissed her.

Fred was inside his jacket. “I had no place to leave him.”

“He can stay in my room.” Mason handed the dog to Miri and she ran up the stairs with him while Mason waited.

When she came down again she led Mason into Irene's living room. “Mason brought me a red rose for Valentine's Day.” She made a big thing out of running water into a bud vase, trimming the stem and placing it just so.

“And these are for you.” He handed Irene the box of chocolates.

“For me?” Irene said for the second time that night. Miri could tell she was pleased.

Miri introduced him to Miss Rheingold. “This is my friend Mason. This is Mom's friend Naomi.”

“Miss Corsini,” Rusty corrected her.

“Please, call me Naomi,” Miss Rheingold told him. She held out her hand with her bright red nails and Mason shook it. “Pleased to meet you, Mason.”

“Same here,” he said.

“So, this is the boyfriend?” Miss Rheingold asked Rusty in a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear.

Miri shot Rusty a look. What business was it of Miss Rheingold's?

“They're just friends,” Rusty told Miss Rheingold.

But it was clear to Miri that Rusty had told her more.

“Friends are good,” Miss Rheingold said.

“I couldn't agree more,” Ben Sapphire said. “Friends make all the difference.”

Miri stole a quick look at Mason, who was looking at the floor.

For a minute Miri's thoughts went to Natalie. But she didn't want to think about Natalie tonight or where or how she might be. She was glad when Irene called them to the table, where Henry proposed a toast to Mason, calling him a “true hero.”

“I'm proud to have a hero at my table,” Irene said.

“I'm not a hero,” Mason argued. “I didn't even stop to think. I just did it.”

“You saved the stewardess's life,” Henry told him. “She'll never forget you. And neither will the others.”

Mason's leg was jiggling under the table. Miri could feel it. He didn't want to be the center of attention.

“What do you call this?” he asked, holding up a spoonful of soup.

“It's soup,” Miri whispered.

“Yeah, but what kind?”