Mom's the Word (23 page)

I'll say,
Karol thought.

“About those two. You might want to give them a call once you're settled.”

“Any reason? Is something wrong?”

“I wouldn't say that. Just give them a call.”

Dyanne raised an eyebrow. She rested back against the car.

Neal stopped midsentence and kissed Mia's cheek. “Miss Dyanne is going to be a mommy. I have to take her inside so that she can rest. Do you understand?”

Mia nodded furiously. When Neal walked off, the little girl began to clap her hands. “They're starting a new tree, Daddy!”

Rob swallowed and waved for Karol to come home. “Yes, baby. A new tree. Isn't that wonderful?”

Karol held up a hand to Rob to signal she was coming, but she stayed right where she was. “I just want you to know that I'm sorry for how I treated you at the beginning, when you first moved in. You know, sometimes the grass always looks greener on the other side, but we've all got something to deal with. I'm so thankful that you looked past my actions and became my friend. Now go and rest. I'll leave you goodies on the porch whenever I go out. I'll e-mail you funny pictures. On Sundays, we'll sit on the porch—”

“Don't. You're acting like me now, making lists. Let's just be, Karol. Whatever time you make for me will be a blessing. Now, I've got to go. Big Daddy is waiting.” She nodded toward Neal, who was tapping his foot on the porch.

The two women, who had seemed so different when summer began, now looked more like sisters than neighbors. Karol had slimmed down. Dyanne had filled out. Karol had straightened her hair a little. Dyanne's refused to do anything but curl. More than anything, though, it was the peace on their faces that bore the most resemblance. The peace of knowing that sometimes there aren't any answers, sometimes there aren't even questions. Sometimes there is only the enduring truth that Fallon stated so often and so simply—“God knows.”

I'm not the fairest of them all

No stilettos hold my promise

Between eyes, plain and brown

Rest the diadem, undeserved

Beauty upon my brow.

Perhaps when I am old

And once again young, the

Reflection of You will

Greet me in the panes

Of unwelcome windows.

Until then, when I look

Up and see a queen

Staring back, I

Will blow her my best kiss.

 

—Karol L. Simon

After the books arrived

One year later

T
here was a fence now, but it went around two yards instead of one. It kept the puppies out of the road and the rabbits out of the garden. Behind both houses were two smaller homes: one crisp and contemporary and the other rustic and natural. The children had their run of the place, especially the baby. When anybody put her down, that is.

“It's my turn to hold Anya!” Mia smoothed a wayward curl and crossed her arms, pointing a demanding finger at her oldest brother, Ryan.

He wasn't impressed. “Look, I'm watching the baby, okay? And you, too. Just try and keep your clothes clean. As soon as
People
magazine is done interviewing Fallon, the ceremony is going to begin. And nobody wants a dirty flower girl.”

“Except me,” Neal said, walking up behind them and taking the baby from Ryan's arms. “I like my flower girls any way I can get 'em. Right, baby girl? But you do look really pretty, Mia. I'd hate it if everybody else didn't get to see your new dress. So I guess you'd better do what Ryan says and keep clean. Later on, we'll come out here and play baseball.”

Her eyes widened. “Promise? With the real bat?”

He nodded. “And the real ball, too.”

A wind kicked up, sending the scent of jasmine and cherries rushing past them. Even the baby leaned forward and reached out her hand, as if trying to catch some of the aroma.

It was a great day for a wedding or at least their version of one. Dyanne had been crushed at first that her dad and Fallon had gotten married without them, but her father reminded her of his own heartache when she and Neal had eloped to the Leon County courthouse in Tallahassee after their college graduation. Dyanne calmed down a bit then, expressing some regret of her own about her shotgun wedding.

After today's vow renewal for Kelvin and Fallon, Neal would probably have to plan a real wedding of his own. He doubted that his parents would come. They'd never been close with Dyanne. Not even now, after the baby. It hurt sometimes to think of it, but Neal didn't think of it much. He was too busy spending time with people who loved him, the new family God had given him, the new friends.

Dyanne and Karol were inseparable now, off to the gym most mornings for Latin dance, lunch and brainstorming about books several times a week. They all ate dinner together most Sundays depending on who was in town, and Neal had started going to church early to clean windows with Rob and the boys. Hope and Singh came to visit often, too, each time teaching Neal and Dyanne some new little thing about their house, which was quickly turning into a home. It was a good life, one Neal hadn't imagined could exist, though sometimes, like today, it was stretched too taut with things to do.

Mia got a mischievous look and started off, with Neal and Ryan running behind.

“Don't do it, Mia. Your dress!”

The little girl—who wasn't so little anymore—had a lead on them and had already grasped a handful of what everyone had feared most when dressing Mia in her pink satin dress.

The cherries.

Dyanne had them planted while she was pregnant and had eaten so many of them the summer before that Anya was nicknamed Cherry before she was even born. Still, the sweet fruit was responsible for many messes, most of them including Mia.

And today wasn't a day for messes. There'd been enough of those.

Just as Mia was about to put the cherries in her mouth, Grandma Faith rounded the corner. With a deft stroke, she pulled the silk handkerchief from the pocket of her suit and confiscated the cherries.

Mia wailed. “Number Two, please…I was gonna eat those!”

“That's Grandma to you and no, you were not going to eat those. You're a flower girl, but I don't see why you can't spread a little fruity love, too. I'll put these cherries in your basket and later, you can eat your fill of them. But for now, you have to stay pretty, so that all the rainbows in your basket will want to come out. They're shy, you know.”

“Like me?” Mia asked.

Neal rolled his eyes. If that child was shy, so was Fallon. “Are they almost done, Faith? Is it time yet?”

Though nearly twice Neal's age, Faith had a timeless grace about her. He couldn't help but smile as she smoothed back her hair before checking her watch.

“The interview is far from over, dear. In fact, they want to talk to you next.”

“Me?”

Faith nodded as Neal handed his little cherry off to Ryan. She shook her head. “Yes, dear. They want the baby, too.”

Already sweating in his tuxedo, Neal tried not to groan. In the months since Anya had been born, there had been numerous stories about the twin who survived and was discovered during Fallon Gray's famous “Legacy of Love” book tour.

Fallon had not only gotten married right after the baby was discovered but written the bestselling memoir,
The Best Daughters I'll Never Have,
in a record nine days and on her honeymoon at that. The memoir of Fallon's failed marriage, infertility and late-in-life love mingled with her love of gardens, children and family had launched the GracePages line and skyrocketed to the top of every bestseller list, which was a great thing for everyone. The downside? Two of the main figures in the book were Karol and Dyanne and little Anya, too. Neal was now known to millions as the Mango Man and sometimes, like today, he just wasn't up for it. Still, he sucked it up and entered the flowerbed that was Fallon's home, wearing his best smile.

When he entered the house, the front room was empty. He should have known something then. He headed into the kitchen anyway, noting that he'd have to get Dyanne if she was a part of this. She knew how much he hated surprises—

“Surprise!”

Neal froze. It wasn't a room full of voices, but one. One he hadn't heard in person for a very long time. He turned slowly. Anya burped as he did.

“Mom?”

His mother kissed him quickly before wrenching the baby from his arms. “It's me,” she said before letting loose a mouthful of baby talk so incomprehensible that even the baby turned back to Neal with a funny look.

He shrugged. “They can't help themselves. Be kind,” he whispered to his only daughter. He watched the two women, older and younger, in amazement. The shock of seeing his mother hadn't quite worn off.

“How did you get here? What about the interview? Where is everyone?”

“Your dad brought me. He's in the backyard. The folks from
People
are back there. I saw one of them gnawing on a rib. I think Fallon has changed her mind about the attire for the vow renewal.”

Great. Neal had figured that Fallon would change her mind about something, which was why he'd tried to just run everything through before the unexpected arrived. When the interviewer pulled up thirty minutes before the family wedding ceremony Fallon and Kelvin had missed out on the year before, Neal had started to worry. Now he started to laugh.

“It is what it is,” he said, loosening his tie and stepping into the backyard. What he saw there took his breath away.

All of his brothers, his father, his cousins, friends that Neal hadn't seen since undergrad—they were all there, smiling and waiting. Dyanne was there, too, next to Fallon's pool holding a bouquet of purple hydrangeas. Fallon's bouquet.

“I don't understand,” Neal said after withstanding the crush of hugs and handshakes from his family and friends.

Fallon, barefoot and wearing a caftan and a wreath of roses on her head, danced over and gave him a kiss. “You wanted so much for Kelvin and I to have a ceremony. You planned everything so nice, but, baby, we had all the fanfare we needed back on that Ferris wheel in Las Vegas. Then I remembered Dee Dee telling me how you both had to pack up and move right after college and all you had time for was a justice of the peace wedding.”

Neal frowned. It hadn't been as bad as Fallon made it sound. “It was complicated. I got a graduate teaching position at the last minute and had to report to campus. Dyanne got her job at Wallace. We had to find a place in New York quickly, which is hard to do. It was okay. We've been so many places since—”

Neal's father cleared his throat. “Don't try to cover for us, son. Your mother and I didn't handle things very well. We thought you were too young and to be honest, we weren't sure that Dyanne was the right woman for you. I'm delighted to say that you both proved us utterly and completely wrong. We're here because we should have been here a long time ago. We're here to celebrate your marriage with you and your friends.”

“Thank you, Dad.” It was all Neal could think to say. His head was sweating and his suit was sticking to him, but in that moment he didn't feel any of that. He could only feel a weight he hadn't known was there slide off his shoulders and crash into Fallon's pool.

“So this is just for us then?”

Fallon shook her head. “Nope. You know me better than that. You just got the best gifts. Come on out everybody!”

And so they came: Karol and Rob, Eric and Faith, Hope and Singh, Pastor Newton and his wife, half the church and most of the neighborhood poured into Fallon's backyard. Husbands and wives all of them, some still in their work clothes, others in flowing gowns and rented suits. All smiling and holding hands. Ryan filtered through the crowd passing out candles.

When he got to Neal, he apologized for not filling him in. “The ladies made me promise. You understand.”

He did understand. All too well.

Pastor Newton's voice filled the spaces between them. “Thank you everyone for coming. We've come out today to celebrate family and the way God made the family—marriage. We thank each of you for coming out to renew your commitments. We commit to you as a church, as a community and as family that we will pray for your marriages and stand as witness today to the love you all share. Light the candles please.”

Hope and Singh lit the first candle. They passed it to Rob and Karol. Dyanne and Neal took the flame next and the light continued on, guarded by cupped hands against the evening wind. When Kelvin and Fallon passed the final flame to Pastor Newton and his wife the sun had set and the flickering candles, each held tight by a pair of hands, seemed to dance across the yard. Floating candles were lit in remembrance of spouses who had passed on. They wafted lazily across the pool giving even more light.

Neal looked down at Dyanne, who was holding the baby while he held the candle. It was all he could do to keep from carrying her home right now.

“I know this is getting pretty romantic, so I'm going to keep it short. Some of you all look pretty renewed already. Let's pray.

“Father God, we thank you for creating marriage. Please bless each union here. Renew the commitment to love, honor and cherish one another. Where there are strangleholds, bring freedom. Where there is contention, bring peace. Most of all, Lord, bring You. We have so many problems, but You are the answer to them all.

“Bless our children. Help us to raise them to love You and to love people. Help us to be vulnerable with one another and accountable to each other. Give us a vision of what You want our families, our church and our community to be. Give us the victory in every area of sin that besets us. Thank you for being the third party in all of our marriages. Pass between our broken pieces now and make us one. Make us whole. In Jesus' mighty name…”

“Amen!”
The shout echoed off the water as well as the lingering breath when everyone blew out their candles. All around people were hugging and crying. It was hard to hear what they were saying, but you didn't have to hear, really. Neal didn't have to hear. He knew. He was about to say it, too.

He kissed Dyanne's cheek. “I'm sorry.”

She tugged at his chin and returned the favor—on his lips. “You need to work on your aim. And your apologies. Save them for when they're needed. There's nothing for you to be sorry for.”

Neal took Dyanne's hand and started toward Rob and Karol, who'd left Hope and Singh and were moving toward them, too. People held out their hands to take the baby, but Dyanne shook her head.

“I'm sorry because tonight I realized that our not having a wedding was a big deal. I've always acted as though I was the one who's done all the sacrificing, but you've given up a lot, too. You might have had another job if I hadn't packed us up for Columbia so fast. I made you stop going to church, pushed away your friends…. Now those are all the things I need, the things I love. Your things.”

Dyanne wiped away a tear. “Our things. God brought them all back to me. To us.”

In the center of the yard at the edge of the pool, the two couples met up. Ryan wriggled under someone's arm and reached out to take the baby. This time, Dyanne consented, probably because of the way Anya kicked up her heels and cooed at the sight of Ryan. It didn't hurt that Fallon and Kelvin were right behind him waving.

“We'll take her back and put her to bed,” Dyanne's father said, disappearing into the crowd before she could object.