Tightening the Knot (8 page)

Ellie reached out a hand.
 
“Thanks for having me, Mrs.
Kester
.”

“You’re very welcome.”
 
She took the offered hand with both of hers.
 
“But please call me Jeanette.”
 
This was not the first time Ellie had been given permission to use the first name and might not be the last time, not even on this visit.
 
It might be a long visit.

╣ Chapter 9 ╠

           
At a glance, it might appear that Meredith’s mother was not a great housekeeper, for there was “stuff” everywhere.
 
But the house was clean, very clean.
 
Jeanette had a scrubbing arsenal in the back closet that collected less dust than anything else in the house.
 
Dust, however, was about the only thing she did not collect.
 
A house could never contain too many twist ties or unmatched socks, otherwise known as future dust rags.
 
And the assortments of bread bags, boxes, various-sized screws and nearly empty bottles of who-knows-what might be considered clutter if everything wasn’t organized so darn neatly.
  

           
The house was particularly full this time of year.
 
While most of her compilations grew out of a desire to not be wasteful, the Christmas decorations were actively pursued.
 
She had a passion for Victorian
Santas
in any form.
 
As Greg arrived with his mother, Jeanette had just finished setting the table with the matching Santa plates and delicately painted Santa goblets.
 
The seven assembled around the table for a festive meal.
 
Tom took a seat near the leg he had reattached himself about ten years earlier.
 
Undetectable under the embroidered tablecloth was a web of nails and string and copious amounts of wood glue, though no one knew for sure which actually held the table together.
   

           
As they began dessert, he raised his fork to give one of those fragile goblets a gentle tap.
 
It was either not as gentle as he intended, or hit the glass in just the wrong place as it cracked and left a puddle of water and Santa-shaped ice seeping into the cloth.
 
“Oops.
 
I’m sorry, mom.”

           
“Stay there.
 
I’ll clean it up.”

           
“You
Ichabod
!”
 
Meredith hurled the childhood insult towards her brother.
 
Both had long ago forgotten the source, but
Ichabod
was a long standing, all purpose insult between the siblings.

           
“I didn’t mean to break it.”

           
“Then why were you beating it with your silverware?”

           
“Beating it?
 
It was a light tap.
 
How was I supposed to know it was so fragile?”

           
“Don’t worry.
 
I have plenty of these.”
 
Jeanette was back with a towel and was carefully dabbing the table.
 
She left again with a handful of pieces.

           
“What made you want to tap the glass anyway?”

           
“It never breaks when anyone else does it.”
 
Tom was a little sullen.

           
Bill
Kester
, Tom and Meredith’s father, stood up.
 
“I think I might know where this is going.
 
I better get your mom back in here.”
 
But Jeanette was already in the doorway holding a fresh glass.

           
“What did I miss?”

           
“Nothing.
 
You saw him break it.”

           
“Were you trying to make an announcement, son?”

           
“Ooh!”
 
Jeanette sat down excitedly.
 
“I’m so glad you waited for me.”

           
Meredith glanced at
Judy,
sure a snide remark was forthcoming about the fact that
someone
had an announcement.
 
Judy was silent though and seemed to be intentionally avoiding looking in Meredith’s direction.

           
Tom was a bit frustrated and seemed unsure about saying whatever it was he had to say now that the moment had been through the ringer.
 
His mother was not going to be put off and gently prodded him with, “So let’s have it.
 
You better have some news after all this build up.”

           
“Alright.”
 
Tom stood up.
 
It was clear this was not the way he had intended for this to go.
 
“I’m very happy to tell you all that Ellie has accepted my proposal.
 
We haven’t set a date yet, but are hoping to get married sometime this summer.”

           
There was a general outcry of jubilation, with Judy’s squeal hitting the highest note.
 
Tom shook his father’s hand while Ellie sat quietly, smiling pleasantly at the exclamations.
 
When things settled down and Tom was seated, she stood up and said, “And I’d like to wear your dress, Mrs.
Kester
,” before sitting down just as quickly.

           
“My… Okay… It’s… I think it’s in the attic.”
 
Jeanette had a questioning note in her reply that had nothing to do with the location of her dress.
 
Ellie was tall and thin.
 
While Jeanette had been a little thinner on her wedding day, over thirty years ago, she had not been any taller.
 
Her empire-waist, tea length gown might look odd on someone with a full six inches on her height.
 
If the relationship with her future daughter-in-law had progressed at least to a first name basis, she might have suggested this.
 
Instead, she groped for a safer argument.
 
“So… um, your mom won’t be upset if you don’t wear her dress?”

           
“She’s not sentimental at all.”

           
“Well, I’ll just have to look for it after we’ve cleaned up.”

           
There was a weird silence at the table, given the exciting news and pre-Christmas spirit they were all in a short time earlier.
 
Even the men, who had little understanding of sentimentality, wedding fashions or women, sensed that something was amiss.
 
Meredith wondered how many at the table were secretly hoping moths had gotten into the attic.

           
Meredith helped her mother clean up the kitchen after dinner while the three guys absorbed a Hurricanes game and Ellie and Judy sat with Ellie’s wedding book between them.
 
It might have been an odd pairing, but it became immediately obvious that neither woman would rather be doing anything other than fantasizing about the perfect wedding.
 
They spent the majority of the evening discussing possible hairstyles for Ellie’s curly black tresses.

           
Because of the hockey game, Meredith hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her husband.
 
Not that she would have had anything meaningful to say, even if they hadn’t been surrounded by relatives.
 
The point was that she really had no reason to feel like a failure for having exchanged no more than a few lines of small talk with Greg that particular evening, but she felt badly all the same.

           
He left first to return his mother to her hotel and Meredith followed a short time later, determined to make an effort not to ignore him.
 
She took the dog into the back yard when she arrived and heard Greg’s car in the driveway a minute later.
 
She was unexpectedly distracted from all thoughts of a forced conversation.

           
“Greg!” she called.
 
“Come out here!
 
You’re not going to believe this.”

           
He slid open the back door.
 
“What is it?”

           
“Come see what just came out of this dog.”

           
“
Ewww
.
 
You’re not seriously calling me out here to look at dog… the dog’s business.”

           
“Just look.”

           
He seemed unconvinced that this was a good idea, but came closer anyway.
 
Then his mouth fell open.
 
“Is that?
 
She ate it!?”

           
“I can’t think of any other way she could have deposited it in our yard.
 
But I had no idea a dog could eat a whole washrag and even so, I don’t know how I could have missed it.
 
Though it doesn’t look like she really spent much time chewing it up or…”

           
Greg suddenly burst out laughing.
 
“And you tried to blame me for losing it.”

           
Meredith followed Greg from bewildered to amused and they had a good laugh before taking Katie back inside.
 
They got ready for bed making half-serious jokes about the things they’d need to keep out of her reach from now on and Meredith felt pretty pleased with the situation as she tried to drift off to sleep.
 
Until she suddenly realized that the first time in ages she and Greg had enjoyed each other’s company had been sparked by a pile of doggy
doo
.
 
This might be worse than help from her mother-in-law.

╣ Chapter 10 ╠

           
Meredith woke up on Saturday morning feeling as though she had been enjoying a rather nice dream.
 
She closed her eyes and tried to recall the details, but it evaporated quickly.
 
Instead, she focused her thoughts on the day.
 
Greg was having lunch with a friend before catching a new movie.
 
She was supposed to entertain Judy for a few hours on her own.
 
It wouldn’t be that bad and they were all to have dinner with her parents again in the evening.

           
It was around
10 o’clock
by the time Meredith came downstairs and Greg was fully dressed and engrossed in his laptop.
 
She poured herself a bowl of cereal.
 
“No paper today?”
 
It was more observation than question.

           
Greg put the computer aside and jumped up.
 
“It wasn’t here when I got up.
 
I’ll go look for it.”
 
He slipped out the front door.
 
Greg had always been an early riser.
 
Meredith used to joke how that would come in handy when they had a baby wanting
6 am
feedings.
 
When he came back with the paper, Katie was ready for him.
 
She went right between his legs and took off down the street faster than a kid on the last day of school.
 
The paper hit the floor as Greg turned to go after her.
 
Meredith ran onto the porch a few seconds later, but Greg called over his shoulder, “I’ll chase her.
 
You get the leash and catch up to us.”