Holding On (Hooking Up) (13 page)

There was fuming silence on the other end of the phone line, so I took advantage of it and plowed ahead.

“You
will
stop filling that wonderful little boy’s head full of nonsense. Do you hear me? This is enough. He’s an innocent little boy, not a pawn for you to use. You’re mad at Ryan? Fine. You shouldn’t be, because you’re the one who left him. You’re mad at me? Fine. But I only got involved with Ryan after you cast him aside like garbage. So, if you’re pissed off, that’s your problem, but take it out on us, not him. You’re done using him and frightening him, do you hear me? Enough is enough!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, ice in her voice.

“Yes, you do. What I should do is kick your ass, except you’re not worth it. But Benjie is, and if you mess with him again, you’d best be prepared for the consequences.”

“So now you’re threatening me?” she asked with a purr. I was sure she was considering calling the police on me again. She must have forgotten what happened the last time she tried to pick a fight with me.

“No. I’m guaranteeing it. Mess with him, and you mess with me. You might not care about what you’re doing to him, but I do. I love him and it’s my job to keep him safe, and that includes from you. You can’t hurt him anymore, you spoiled, manipulative bitch. Go ahead, call the police. See what they say when I tell them all the shit you’ve done. Leave him alone!”

I hung up and turned to find Benjie standing there with wide-eyes. He was shaking. With a moan, I gathered him up into my arms and held him while he burst into tears.

“Honey, I do love you. I love you with all my heart. No one is going to hurt you, ok? Not with me here. You don’t have to worry about anything. I’ve got you.”

“Catie, I’m scared.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t want to go live with Mommy. I want to stay here with you and Daddy and the new baby.”

“You’re not going to live with Mommy. You live with us, and soon we’ll all be together in our big new house.”

“Promise?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we all be together?”

“Mommy said you’d forget to pack me in a box to move me to the new house. Catie, I don’t want you to forget me but I don’t wanna get put into a box.”

“Benjie, you’ll sit in your car seat in the car when we move. We’re not going to put you in a box.”

“And you’re not gonna die?”

My stomach clenched again. That awful woman had done a number on my boy. “No, Benj. I’m pregnant, not sick.”

“Ok. I’m sorry, Catie.”

“Me, too. And I’m sorry you heard me yell at your Mom.”

“It’s ok. When I get in trouble, I get a talking-to. You gave one to Mommy ‘cause she’s bad.”

“She’s not bad, but she’s done some bad things. Understand? But she’s still your mom, and she does love you. She’s just a little mixed up right now. Go on, sweetie, get ready for school. We’re going to be late.”

He wiped his dripping nose on my shirt and scampered out of the room, leaving me in a heap on the floor. My stomach clenched again, but I noticed a difference this time. It wasn’t my stomach. It was the baby. It moved! I felt it!

I smiled big. It seemed I’d gotten my Benjie back and by all indications, I wouldn’t be the only one looking after him.

Chapter 15

“Heidi, this is great, really, but I have no furniture to sit on, and nothing to serve food to our guests on. How the hell are we supposed to give my mom a party when everything’s packed?” I gestured around us at the mountain of boxes in my living room and glared at my friend, who appeared very unconcerned about both my plight and the mess in our apartment.

“But we promised we’d throw Maria a party, and you’ve been so busy we’re having a hard time planning anything. We’ve been trying to pin you down so we could go over all this stuff and it’s almost too late now.”

“And I’m not busy now?” I asked, pointedly staring at the mountain of boxes strewn all over the apartment. Some stacks nearly reached the ceiling.

She looked around sheepishly. “Well, ok, you’re busy, but it’s now or never, you know. Maria deserves this ‘Welcome Home’ party and if we wait too long, it’ll be sort of pointless. She won’t be new anymore.”

“But why do we have to hold it here at the apartment?”

“I didn’t think we’d be able to rent a hall or anything this soon to the event.”

“Did you call and ask?” I wondered aloud, exasperated.

“Well, no. But I figured—”

“You figured it would be easier to host it here. Heidi, I have no problems with a party. In fact, it’s a great idea. It was a great idea when you first brought it up before she got here. But not at my house. Not right now. Two months ago, maybe. But when everything I own is in boxes, not so much.”

“I tried to get it all planned before, but you’ve been busy. I’ll call the bar. I bet Ernie’d love to host a party for us.”

“Um, the bar? Ernie’s bar? It’s sort of, uh, informal, isn’t it? For my mom? Heidi, I’m just not sure.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust. It was a great place for us girls to hang out, but Mom deserved better than our beer-soaked hangout.

“It’ll be great, I promise. I’ll decorate. Oh, but I forgot— you can’t drink,” she said, apologetic.

“I don’t have to drink just because I’m in a bar, you know.”

Her face lit up. “You’re right. I didn’t think of that.”

I shook my head. She was not usually this airheaded. “Good lord, your brain is fried, isn’t it? Did you stay up all night planning your wedding or something?”

“No, we were practicing for our honeymoon, if you must know. Peter is quite imaginative—” she started with an avid look in her eyes. I held up my hands in surrender.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“So is the bar ok? I’ll make it nice.”

“I guess. Call Ernie and get it set up. Let me know if you need money, ok? I’m going to be late to pick up Benjie if I don’t leave now.”

“Alright. I’ll call Ernie. Thanks for letting me do this,” she said, squealing a bit and giving me a gigantic hug. “It’ll be so much fun!”

“Thank you, sweetie. It means a lot to me that you’d do this. I should have done it myself months ago.”

“Hey, what are friends for?”

With that, she scampered off (Heidi was one of the few people I could actually say scampered) and I waddled off to pick up Benjie.

Heidi called me that afternoon and told me she had good news. Ernie had agreed to let her hold my mom’s party at the bar the following Saturday, and he even promised to clean out the back banquet room that for years had been used as storage. And he only charged us $50 to rent it for the evening.

Mom was thrilled with the idea of a party and before we knew it, we had about a hundred guests lined up. She asked that we invite all of Ryan’s coworkers as well, and Kelly and Heidi were positively drooling over getting to see all those ‘hunky men in uniform’ off-duty. As the guest list grew, so did my trepidation over getting them all inside the banquet room and feeding them all, but Heidi assured me she’d take care of it. She told me on more than one occasion that she had it covered.

And did she! She was a one-woman army, fearlessly planning a party that would surely become the talk of the town. Heidi insisted on buying balloons and streamers and she spent hours making a Welcome Home sign for Mom. When she had to work, she sent me and Kelly out on shopping sprees with very specific lists of things she wanted us to get, and heaven help us if we got the wrong thing! She was making me exhausted, but inside, I was touched by all the small details she threw in to make Mom’s night magical. It served to remind me how much love I had in my life from so many different places. Kelly and Heidi loved me, and they knew how much my Mom meant to me, so they weren’t only doing this for her, but for me as well.

The night of the party came and we all met at Kelly’s house to get ready, since hers was the closest to the bar, and there wasn’t enough room (or hygiene) in the bathroom at Ernie’s to get four women ready, especially when one of those women had an expanded waistline. I’d bought a maternity dress for the occasion, and I loved it. It was black with little jet beads that sparkled when I moved and it served to soften my rather obvious baby bump. I felt pretty. The girls and Mom all looked amazing, too, and even though I envied their tiny waistlines and limber movements, I wouldn’t have traded them for the world.

“Maria, I want you to wear this,” Heidi said, holding a beautiful magnolia blossom out to Mom. “It goes in your hair. Do you want me to put it in?”

“Oh, Heidi, thank you so much! You’re such a sweet girl. I can see why Caitlin loves you so much,” Mom said as she rushed to hug Heidi.

“Here, sit over here and hold still,” Heidi instructed, easing Mom onto a backless stool. Mom’s hair had been styled into a graceful updo, and the waxy-white petals of the magnolia blossom looked gorgeous against Mom’s dark hair.

“Mmm, smell that? That’s what my youth smelled like. There are magnolias everywhere in Florida, and I used to love to play outside when I was a girl. The scent of magnolia reached my nose with every whisper of the wind. Magical, I tell you.” Her eyes closed and she breathed deeply, a look of beatific peace on her face. She was transformed in that moment to a much younger woman, as if the magnolias had somehow bloomed into a youth potion that was activated by smell. Love welled up inside me, clogging my throat with happiness. She was radiant, my mother, and I knew I’d always remember this moment, the way she looked, the way she made me feel.

“Well, are we all ready?” she asked, the spell from the flower broken. “We’d best head to the bar. It wouldn’t do to keep our guests waiting.”

We all nodded and picked up our purses. Kelly had rented a limousine for the evening and we all piled inside, laughing like teenagers about to go to Prom. The chauffer had opened a bottle of bubbly and placed it on ice, and Mom, Kelly and Heidi all filled crystal flutes and drank deeply. They really seemed to hit it off, and I was gratified. Of course, who wouldn’t love them?

Music was blasting from the bar as we arrived. The chauffer helped us out of the limo and we were greeted by our escorts.

“You look beautiful,” Ryan murmured in my ear as he put his arm around my waist and escorted me inside. “And you smell good enough to eat.”

“Later, though. This is my mom’s big day.” I smiled at my husband and bent down to pay some special attention to my stepson, who was wearing an adorable suit I’d never seen before. “Hey, Benjie. Lookin’ good, my man.” I gave him a hug and he squealed in childish delight as I buried my face in his cologne-scented neck and nibbled.

“Catie, that tickles,” he said, giggling madly. “Let me go so I can hug Grammy.”

I obeyed his command and he galloped over to Mom, who duly admired his outfit and gave him some grandmotherly attention.

“You’re a handsome boy, young man. Will you be my date for the evening?”

“Sure, but you’re too big. I can’t walk you like Daddy and Catie walk.”

“How do they walk?” Mom asked, mystified.

“Like this,” he said, bending his arm and motioning for her to take hold of his elbow. “You gotta hold me here.”

“Like this?” She obliged, but she had to bend over to hold him properly.

He frowned as he looked up at her. “Yeah, but you’re all bent up. Can we just hold hands instead?”

She smiled at him indulgently and said, “Of course. May I, Mr. Benjamin?”

“Yep,” he said and reached up to place his hand within hers.

I swear they melted the hearts of everyone watching. I looked around and every face I saw was the same, filled with gooey, tender smiles and shining eyes. And it wasn’t just for Benjie.

They watched my mother all night, our guests. And she captivated each and every one of them. She laughed, danced, joked, smiled and generally charmed everyone she interacted with. She was a master at working a room, at remembering names and making everyone she met feel special. She was wonderful to watch, and I spent more time doing that than I did interacting with people myself. She had a way about her that was so open, so joyful, so addicting.

At dinnertime, our guests lined up and filled their plates, buffet-style, and sat at tables for eight. Everyone seemed to enjoy the simple Southern food Mom had requested and before long, the buffet was empty of the fried chicken, okra, collard greens, corn and Cole slaw Heidi had ordered. Over fresh fruit salad for dessert, Mom stood and tapped on her glass with a spoon to call for quiet.

“What a wonderful evening this has been so far! Thank you to Heidi and Kelly and Caitlin, three of the most wonderful girls I’ve ever met. I can’t believe you did this all for me! Thank you! And to each and every one of you, it’s been such a pleasure to meet you. I hope to spend many more evenings with you terrific people. You’ve been kind enough to open your hearts to me, and I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. Now, if we’re all done eating, I think a little dancing is in order.”

The crowd cheered and helped push the tables out of the way to create a makeshift dance floor. Everyone got up and danced, enjoying my mother and her obvious zest for life. Ryan’s policemen friends ate up her attentions with a spoon. It was quite obvious they all had a crush on her. I had seen the start of it the day they helped move her in, and it was fully developed by the time the evening had drawn to a close. She must have danced with all of them twice, and when she wasn’t dancing with them, she was surrounded by them, holding them captive with a smile or a wink. As I watched on, she put out her hand and touched the arm of one of Ryan’s coworkers, and I laughed as a blush climbed over his cheeks.

“Look at Stewart. He’s smitten.” I pointed at him and smiled as Ryan watched them.

“She’s probably lucky she’s twenty years older than most of them.”

“I have a sneaking suspicion that it doesn’t matter to them how old she is. I think they’ll be fighting for her before the night is out.”

“Everyone except for Danny.” Ryan motioned his head in the opposite direction.

I gasped as I turned and saw Ryan’s partner and my best friend in a lip lock. Kelly’s hands were roving Danny’s back and his hands were conspicuously invisible. I had a feeling I really didn’t want to know where they were at the moment.