Trouble's Brewing (12 page)
Heavens. All those sleepless nights must have caught up with me, because the next thing I knew a blonde stewardess tapped me on the arm. “Ma’am, please put your seat in an upright position in preparation for landing.”
That’s when I realized my head had sunk deeply onto Donna’s shoulder. I turned and looked at her, surprised. “Oh, my. I must have fallen asleep.”
Donna patted my hand. “You’re probably exhausted.”
I pulled my seat forward, and the stewardess smiled at us. “It was a pleasure to serve you and your daughter today.”
Donna and I exchanged glances. It wasn’t the first time someone had mistaken us for mother and daughter. Not only were we both petite blondes, though my hair had grayed and my dress size expanded, Donna was, after all, the closest thing I had ever had to a child. At least that’s what I’d thought, before my birth son, David Harris, had arrived in Summit View looking for me.
Donna handed me a Ziploc plastic bag. “Thanks for the prayer bars,” she said. “It was the perfect finish to the Reuben.”
I tucked the bag into my oversized purse to recycle later. “One of Fred’s all-time favorites.”
I keenly felt his absence. He hadn’t wanted me to make this trip. But it was something I had to do. Something he’d have to understand.
The jet’s landing gear suddenly dropped, and I grabbed Donna’s hand.
“It’s okay, Vonnie. We’re almost there. Look out the window.”
And there it was, the Los Angeles I’d left over thirty-five years ago, shining like a jewel in the late afternoon sun. As the plane soared in over the runway, I knew I was finally closing this unfinished chapter in my life. A chapter that made my heart pound with uncertainty. I was facing either a homecoming or the reckoning I justly deserved.
Half an hour later, Donna and I were standing by the luggage carousel in LAX when I sucked in my breath as the image of my dead husband, Joe, bounded toward me.
“Ladies, you made it,” David Harris called.
Somehow, I couldn’t resist allowing him to pull me into his strong arms. He even smelled like Joe. At least, he had the same taste in aftershave cologne, definitely Old Spice. His black hair was parted on the side, just like his dad’s, and he flashed that famous Jewel smile with those beautiful pearly teeth.
Donna stood back. “You’re late,” she told him.
“Traffic,” he said as he reached to hug her too. Despite herself, Donna seemed caught in his embrace before she pushed away. “I’m not your sister.”
His brown eyes twinkled. “I know.”
Donna frowned, ignoring the comment. “There’s one of our bags now,” she said, pointing.
“I’ll get that for you,” David said then, moving toward the rolling conveyer belt covered in suitcases.
We squeezed into David’s black Mazda 3 and headed for the freeway. David asked, “I can’t take the suspense much longer. What’s the big mystery?”
Donna’s voice practically squeaked from surprise. “You don’t know?”
I turned around and looked into her round blue eyes. I reached back and patted her leg. “It’s not his fault, dear,” I interjected. “I didn’t know how to tell him.”
He glanced at me, amused. “Well?”
I flopped my head on the headrest and shut my eyes. “Take us to the hotel, and I’ll explain everything.”
“I wish you’d let me take you to the house.”
“No, no. I don’t want to impose. Besides, that was your mother’s house.”
David was quiet for a moment. “I’d love to share those memories with you.”
I shook my head then looked at my grown child who was almost a stranger to me. “It’s hard enough to imagine my only child was alive and raised by another woman, but to see her house, I suppose that would do me in.”
David raised his eyebrows but kept his eyes on the road, shifting into higher gear. “But why?”
“She was a movie star. Me? I’m just a nurse and a mechanic’s wife.”
David chuckled. “You don’t know just how good that sounds to me. But promise me that you and Donna won’t leave until I serve you dinner there at least.”
“You cook?” Donna asked from the backseat.
“I have a few specialties, and I’m a whiz at the grill.”
“Make it steaks, medium rare,” Donna said. “And we’ll be there.”
After we had arrived at the Holiday Inn and wheeled our luggage to the room, I patted the bed beside me. “Sit down, David.”
David crossed the room and stood before me. I tried to make eye contact with him but couldn’t.
“What’s this all about?” David asked, sitting beside me on the bed.
How could I tell him? Why hadn’t I already? I guess it was because my silence was a habit I didn’t know how to break. Besides, I didn’t Stirring Good-Bye know how David would react to the news. I took a deep breath. “Your grandmother, Maria Jewel, and her family are here in L.A.”
“I have family here?” He stood. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“The Jewels and I, well, we’ve been estranged, I guess. I … I wasn’t ready to face them.”
He looked down at me. “What made you change your mind?”
“After you found me, I finally called the family, and when I did, I got some bad news.”
He sat back on the bed and reached for my hand. “What’s wrong?”
I looked into his earnest eyes. How could I deliver David such a blow? I took a deep breath before pressing on. “It’s your grandmother, Maria. She’s had a heart attack. The family has asked us to come to the hospital.”
David walked to the window and looked out at the parking lot and the freeway beyond. He turned back, his features awash with worry. “How bad is it?”
I stood up. “I … I don’t know. We’ll find out when we get there. The family is expecting us.”
David was silent as we drove through the evening rush-hour traffic. When we pulled into the hospital parking lot, he helped me with the door, then Donna climbed out of the backseat.
The sun had set, giving way to a horizon of gold gilding an inky blue sky that blotted into darkness. The crescent moon had risen, and scattered stars competed with the glare of the parking lot’s overhead lights.
I took David by the hand. “I haven’t seen Joe’s family in over thirty years. I don’t know how they’ll feel when they see me or how they’ll react when they see you.”
We rode the elevator without speaking. When the door opened in the hall outside the lobby of the ICU, the three of us hesitated. Finally, Donna stepped out and reached for my hand. “Come on, Vonnie.”
David followed like a lost puppy.
When we rounded the corner, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw—a room filled with familiar faces. When they spotted us, a stunned silence interrupted their conversations. A woman who looked remarkably like the Maria I remembered stood up. “Vonnie, is that you?”
I hesitated. “Nina?”
The pause that followed terrified me. I was returning to a world I had betrayed with my absence. I couldn’t expect grace, but I hoped for mercy.
Nina’s eyes filled with tears. “Vonnie! Yes, it’s me.” She held out her arms, and I rushed into her embrace. “It’s been over thirty years. I’m no longer that ten-year-old in braids,” she said.
Donna stepped beside me. Nina turned to stare. “Who’s this? Your daughter?”
Before I could answer, she saw David, and her hand went to her mouth. “Joe! Oh!” Her legs buckled, but David reached to steady her.
“I’m David Harris,” he said. “Joe’s son.”
Nina gasped then buried her face in her hands and leaned into David’s chest. At first, David looked bewildered; then he did what came naturally to him. He wrapped his aunt in his arms and held her while she wept. When she was able to catch her breath, she smiled up at him then turned to the family, including her husband and their three grown children, all older teens and young adults, one holding a sleeping toddler on her lap.
“This is Joe’s son, everybody. David. He’s home at last.”
The crowd of relatives gathered around David, taking turns hugging him, welcoming him to the family. David’s eyes at first registered shock, then filled with a warm pleasure. He seemed starved for the hugs they were desperate to give. I stood back with Donna and tried to take it all in. As I watched the fanfare, I couldn’t help but wonder. What had David Harris’s life been like with his movie star mother?
Nina finally turned to me, wiping her eyes. “Vonnie, I don’t know whether to shake you for running away from us or to kiss you.”
I hung my head. “I know, Nina. It was so unfair to you all.”
Nina turned to stare back at David. “But you know, Vonnie, it’s okay now. Joe’s son is home. And it was you who brought him back to us.”
I nodded. “I would have never known he was alive if he hadn’t come looking for me.”
Nina smiled, and I decided to brave the subject I was dreading. “How’s Maria?” I asked.
“Let’s sit over here away from the commotion,” Nina said, pointing to a bank of gray padded chairs. Donna and I sat beside her.
She leaned toward us. “Mama’s dying. She doesn’t know yet about David, but she’s been asking for you. Are you ready to see her?”
I nodded. Nina stood and took my hand. “Then come with me, Vonnie. It’s time.”
Together, Nina and I pushed through the double doors and into the corridor of the ICU to room four. The name on the door read “Maria Jewel.”
Nina pushed me ahead. “Mama. It’s Vonnie. She’s come to see you.”
I was shocked by what I saw. There before me lay one of the strongest women I’d ever known, now grayed and fragile. She was wired to a heart-rate monitor while one of her skinny, wrinkled arms was connected to an intravenous drip, and a pulse-ox clamp gripped her index finger, measuring her oxygenation, which to tell the truth, wasn’t all that great. I noted that despite her nasal canella hooked to two liters of oxygen, Maria registered at only 40 percent saturation. Not so good.
Maria opened her eyes then beckoned me closer. Her voice was weak. “Vonnie.”
I went to her side. “Maria, yes. It’s me.”
“Vonnie, I’ve been waiting for you. The angels are ready for me, but I knew you would come. I had to wait till you came.”
I leaned over her and pressed my cheek next to hers. “Oh, Maria!” I sobbed. “How I’ve missed you.”
As I pulled back, a lone tear trickled down her cheek. “And I you.”
The talking seemed to tire her, but she continued. “Our world was ripped apart the day Joe died. But I wanted you to come home, I wanted to tell you …”
I stroked her gray curls, not realizing that Nina had slipped out of the room. She continued, “I wanted to tell you that I loved you like a daughter. I wanted to tell you that I go to see Joe and the baby now.”
I swallowed hard. “But the baby …”
“Mama?” Nina stood at the doorway again, this time with David by her side. “Mama, here’s someone I want you to meet.”
Maria’s eyes left my face and fastened on David. “Joe,” she breathed. “Oh, Joe. Are the angels here?”
Nina said, “No, Mama. This isn’t Joe. This is Joe’s son, David.”
Maria blinked. “David? But how?” Her eyes shifted back to mine. “This is my grandson?”
“Yes, Maria,” I said. “I’ve only just met him myself. I never knew until a short time ago that he lived.”
Maria stared at David then lifted her bony hand. “Come here, my son.”
David approached, his eyes locked to hers. She touched his hand, and he leaned toward her.
“David, you look just like your father,” she said, stroking his cheek.
“Yes, ma’am,” David said.
“Call me
Abuelita
.”
“It means ‘little grandmother,’” Nina supplied.
“
Abuelita
,” David said, smiling down at his grandmother.
She squeezed his hand. “My Joe was a fine man. To be like my Joe, you cannot only look like him, you have to be good like him.”
“I’ll try,
Abuelita
.”
Maria placed David’s hand on top of mine. “You have your mother now; she will help you be like your father.”
Her eyes fluttered, and the green pulsating lines on her heart-rate monitor became erratic.
“Mama, you need to rest now,” Nina said.
Maria smiled. “Yes. I can finally rest with God.”
The heart-rate monitor hummed one long note and displayed a long green line across the screen as Maria turned her head toward the empty corner of the room. She cried out, “The angels are here now. Oh, they’ve come with Jesus and my dear husband, and Joe.”
With those final words, Maria Jewel closed her eyes and was reunited with those she had lost so many years ago. The three of us who were left behind could only imagine the reunion.
The poor dear had been holding on for my arrival, I realized as I watched Maria Jewel slip into eternity. At her last words, my heart stirred as it had never stirred before.
Though I think I wouldn’t have broken down so if David had not looked so absolutely shocked. To meet his grandmother and then to lose her, almost within the same breath, had to be overwhelming.
He still hovered over her, holding her hand. “
Abuelita
?”
The nurse entered the room and turned off the alarms. She smiled sadly. “It’s over,” she told him.
He tried to argue. “That can’t be. I … I’ve only just met her.”
I noticed the Do Not Resuscitate sign attached to Maria’s bed and turned to Nina, managing to ask, “Why the DNR order?”
Nina shook her head as she swatted at a stray tear. “Her last heart attack caused too much irreparable damage. We knew it was only a matter of time. If we brought her back now, it would only be for a few more earthly moments. And forgive me, I wouldn’t want to interrupt the reunion she’s having with the Lord and Papa, not to mention Joe.”
I could only nod.
“She was eighty-two,” Nina continued. “She’d said her good-byes. She was only waiting for you.”
The three of us stood there marveling at the expression of peace on Maria’s face. She looked so beautiful, as if the pain of her death had been overcome by joy. So help me if the tormented face of my own mother didn’t come to my mind. After all the heartache she’d caused by her deception when she gave away my son, it made me wonder.
Will Mother enter into a final peace? I’m not sure that’s even possible.