Always (4 page)

“Aren’t you going to go check on her?” his
mom asked.

Graham took his time, thoughtfully taking a
bite of bread stick before saying, “No, when she gets like that
it’s just best to let her be.”

“This happens often?”

“She was amazingly strong when we were in
Houston and right up until she had the baby.” He shook his head.
“Ever since then it’s been kinda rough on her, you know–”

“With you going home to your wife most every
night?” She gave him a look that only a mother can get away with.
“I take it that you and Lucy haven’t separated?”

“We’re fine, Ma.”

She snorted disdainfully. “You have a
gorgeous red haired mistress and a beautiful baby girl and you want
me to believe your marriage isn’t falling apart. Honey, I wasn’t
born yesterday. There’s no way you can keep having your cake and
eating it too. One of these days you’re bound to get caught.”

“Lucy knows all about Odessa and the
baby.”

“You’re kidding me?” Her eyes widened in
disbelief. “If I’d have caught your daddy in a situation like that
I would have kicked his ass to the curb faster than he could have
started trying to apologize.”

“I told her if she wanted to leave she
could, but I can’t divorce her. That would kill my reputation and
you know Lucy sure does love all the perks that come with being
Mrs. Graham Edwards.”

“So, she’s okay with you carrying on with
another woman?”

“I wouldn’t say she’s exactly okay with it,
but she’s resigned herself to the fact that if she wants to stay
married to me, that’s just the way it’s going to be.”

“Son, that’s just the craziest thing I’ve
ever heard.” She took a long drink and then asked, “Does Damon know
he’s got a half-sister?”

“No, and it’s best he doesn’t ever find out
about this.”

“My lips are sealed,” she said, gesturing as
if pulling a zipper across her mouth.

“I just wanted you to meet her because she
is your granddaughter.” His eyes went to his daughter sleeping so
peacefully in his mother’s arms. “Do you want me to hold her for
awhile?”

“No, I like holding her. It’s been too long
since I had a baby to fuss over.”

“She does look awful comfortable in your
arms.”

“I’ve held my fair share of babies over the
years, but there’s just something special about finally getting a
little girl in the family.” She smiled down at her granddaughter.
“I hope that Odessa will let me be a part of this girl’s life.”

“We both want that.” Graham breathed a sigh
of relief. “I was hoping that maybe you’d want to take on some baby
sitting duties every now and then. Dess could sure use all the help
she can get with learning how to take care of her.”

“Don’t she have any family to look out for
her?”

“Her mother died when she was a little girl
and her father was a Pentecostal preacher who used to beat the tar
out of her. He kicked her out for being friends with a colored
girl.” Better to admit that, than her racist father had also
disowned her for being a witch. “Her friend, Carmella, and her
family, they took her in and she spent most of her teenage years
with them up in North Carolina.” His grip tightened on his fork.
“I’d like for her daddy to show up cause I’d love to beat the shit
out of that man as payback for the way he mistreated her.”

“That poor girl.”

“Carmella’s good people. She was a nurse in
the emergency room and was there the night they brought me in after
the accident.” He rubbed his temple remembering how lucky he was to
have survived a seventy-five pound steel window crashing down on
his head. “Now she’s doing real good as a midwife and she really
helps out with Amalie.”

“That’s nice, but it don’t make up for
family.”

“She’s got an older sister still in North
Carolina. I fly her down whenever she’s willing to come stay with
Dess. I wish she’d move down here so they could be closer.”

“As peculiar as she seems, I’m guessing
Odessa doesn’t have a lot of friends.”

“Just Carmella.” He wasn’t about to mention
Roger Rohde. Now way was he going to open that can of worms. “I
think her miserable excuse for a father is part of the reason Dess
is so…” He searched to find the right word, finally settling on,
“moody.”

His mother looked as his empty plate. “Maybe
you ought to go check on her.”

Graham wadded up his napkin and placed it on
his plate. He was just about to get up when he saw Odessa coming
toward the table. She’d let her hair down and it fell over her
shoulders in rivulets of crimson, softening her face to make her
look as young and innocent as the day he’d first met her.

She smiled apologetically and leaned over to
kiss his cheek, whispering in his ear, “I’m so sorry.”

He should have been good and mad at her, but
there was just no denying the almost super-natural effect of her
beauty or the hold she had on his heart.

Odessa took her seat, immediately opening
her purse and handing him a medicine bottle. “Would you open that
for me, please?”

He read the label, seeing that it was the
lithium that his doctor had prescribed for her emotional
imbalances. Something she’d fought both him and Carmella on taking
with any kind of a regular basis. He gladly uncapped the bottle and
handed it back to her.

She swallowed down two of the pills with
water instead of gin and turned to his mother, “I really must
apologize for my abhorrent behavior. I have…” she glanced back to
Graham as if she were searching for the right words.

“I told mom about how your hormones are
still all messed up from the pregnancy and all,” he said.

“There’s that and,” she turned back to his
mom, “you probably already think I’m a little cray cray, so I might
as well spill it. I’m an empathic medium.”

His mother gave him a baffled look, “Okay,
let me get this straight, your mistress thinks she sees
ghosts?”

Graham nodded.

“I don’t just see them,” Odessa continued,
obviously unfazed by his mother’s skepticism. “I feel things. I
pick up on the emotions and physical pain of the living and those
who have crossed over.”

“Its true, Ma,” Graham said. “She knows when
I have a headache even if we aren’t together. I’ll admit that
sometimes it’s downright creepy, but she’s legit with this. I
promise.”

“I ran out of here like that because I was
overwhelmed by a spirit coming through to me.” Odessa fixed her
eyes just above Amalie’s head. “He’s here with us now and he’s
telling me he crossed over the day Amalie was born.” She turned
back to Graham. “Tell your mother what day Amalie was born.”

Graham felt an icy chill seep down his spine
and the hair on his arm prickled with realization. “September
1
^st
.”

“Oh, my goodness.” His mother’s eyes widened
and her hand flew to her mouth as she immediately realized the
significance of that date. “She was born the same day…” She paused
as if she were about to choke on the words. “That was why we
couldn’t get a hold of you when…”

Graham nodded and reached for his drink. He
took a slow deliberate sip, wishing the glass contained more Jack
and a whole lot less Coke.

“He was with me that night,” Odessa said.
“Amalie was born at 7:43 that evening and Graham was right there
holding my hand. Carmella even had him cut the umbilical cord.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Ma.”

His mother vehemently shook her head. “You
were exactly where you were supposed to be. There was nothing you
could have do to have stopped him.”

Dess reached from Graham’s hand. “Why didn’t
you tell me that he shot himself?”

“I didn’t find out until I got to my office
the next morning and got a call…” His voice wavered in the grief he
felt about not being there for his mom that fateful night. He gazed
up into Odessa’s big green eyes. “You’d just had a baby and it
wasn’t like I could have taken you to the funeral with me.”

She blinked back her tears and took a drink.
“I’m sorry I didn’t even think to ask you exactly what had
happened. I was just so exhausted and overwhelmed.”

“What first time mother isn’t?” his mom
said, “And you know how Graham is, he’s not one to talk about his
own problems.”

“Do I ever,” Dess said. “I swear, something
he thinks it’s his responsibility to carry the weight of the whole
world on his shoulders.”

Da Da,” Amalie cooed, stretching her little
arms as she awoke from her nap.

His mother smiled and kissed the top of
Amalie’s head. “There’s no denying this child is yours.”

“She’s the apple of her daddy’s eye,” Graham
admitted.

“Hey, what about me?” Dess asked.

“You’ve never been hard on any man’s eyes,”
he said, squeezing her hand.

Instead of accepting the compliment, Dess
closed her eyes and bit her lip, her face flushing. Graham
swallowed down the lump of dread building in his throat, hoping she
wasn’t about to have another meltdown.

She clutched at the pearls and blinked open
her eyes. “He wants me to tell both of you that he is sorry for
what he did. The pain just got to be so bad.” Dess rubbed at her
temples. “There was something wrong in his head and he was afraid
to go to the doctor, so he just took matters into his own hands. He
went outside and put the gun to his head. His brain just hurt so
bad. He pulled the trigger and then all the pain went away. He was
free and he wasn’t hurting no more.”

“I’d tried to get him to go see a doctor
about that headaches and he just wouldn’t do it,” his mom said.

Graham looked across the table into the
grown up version of his daughter’s hazel eyes. “I swear I never
told Dess he shot himself. There is no way she could have known any
of this if Dad wasn’t coming through to her.”

“I don’t know what to think,” his mom
said.

“How about some dessert?” the waitress asked
as she gathered up their plates.

“Please bring Graham’s mom a slice of
chocolate pie,” Odessa said, surprising him that she knew his mom’s
favorite dessert. “He and I will split a slice of cheesecake.” She
smiled up at him. “That is, if it’s okay with you.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “And I think I could
use a cup of coffee.”

Dess laughed. “Be sure to bring him lots of
milk and sugar so I can doctor it up for him.”

“She knows you too well,” Graham’s mom said,
laughing right along with her.

“I reckon she does.”

After the waitress left, Graham got a small
box from his pocket and handed it to his mother. “Amalie got you a
little something for Mother’s Day.”

She opened the box and pulled out a necklace
with a circular pendant with one little sapphire surrounded by
chunks of a lighter blue garnet. “This is just beautiful,” she
said, holding it up to her try to unfasten the clasp.

“Here, let me.” Odessa leaned over and
fastened the necklace around his mother’s neck.

“Dess, picked it out,” Graham said.

“I love it,” she said, gazing down to admire
the deep blue stones.

“The sapphire is Amalie’s birthstone and the
garnet is yours and Graham’s birthstone,” Dess said. “When I saw
the two stones together I knew it was just perfect.”

“It sure is. Look at my pretty new
necklace,” she said, as the waitress placed the plate of pie in
front of her. “It’s my first present from my granddaughter
here.”

“They’re both just as pretty as can be,” the
waitress said, filling the coffee cup and leaving almost as quickly
as she’d arrived.

Dess took his coffee cup and doused with
plenty of milk, stirring in a huge lump of sugar before handing it
over to him.

“This pie is really good,” his mom said,
smiling at Dess. “How did you know it was my favorite?”

“Your husband told me.”

“Are you sure she never met Joe?” his mother
asked.

“Nope, not until he popped in today,” Dess
said, before taking a bite of cheesecake.

His mom gave Amalie a taste of the chocolate
filling and the little girl squealed with delight, smacking her
lips for more. She gave Amalie another bite and said, “I think it’s
going to be her favorite too.”

“Well, she is your granddaughter,” Graham
said with a laugh.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Odessa opened up the
diaper bag and pulled out a blue and white swirled candle. “I made
you a candle.”

“Should I even ask how you knew that blue
was my favorite color?”

“That one was just luck,” Dess said. “Unless
Spirit was subconsciously helping with ingredients the day I made
that batch of candles.”

“You made this?” She sniffed the candle. “It
smells wonderful. Is that hyacinth? That’s my favorite flower. I
have then planted all over my yard.”

“I guess Spirit did have a hand in it then.”
Dess absolutely beamed from his mother’s approval. “Hyacinths are
one of my favorites, too, and…” she got that far off look in her
eyes again. “He says he got you those white hyacinths you planted
by the back steps.”

“You’re giving me goose bumps,” his mom
said, hold up her arm. “I don’t think even Graham knew about
that.”

“I told you Dess was legit with this spirit
stuff,” Graham said.

His mother kissed the top of Amalie’s head
and rested her chin there like she was breathing only because of
that little girl. “I can’t even tell y’all how much this means to
me. This child is the most amazing Mother’s Day gift I could have
ever dreamed of getting.”

Odessa

“It really was lovely to meet you, Mrs.
Edwards.”

“I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am
over my grandbaby,” she said, not mentioning anything about her
feelings for me.

Graham’s mother didn’t look like she wanted
to let go of Amalie. She’d taken her into the bathroom and had her
diaper changed quicker than I could pee. Amalie had seemed so
content that I hadn’t offered to carry her out to the car. We
hadn’t taken her out with us much, so I was surprised how well my
normally fussy child had behaved in front of her Grammy.