Finding Someplace (13 page)

“Listen, don't jump all over me. You want me to say that I predict Dad and Mom will be like newlyweds by the time that ball drops on New Year's Eve? Okay. Your fantasy.” He turned to see his sister's unhappy expression, and he softened his tone. “I don't mean that they've stopped loving, but there is some deep anger they gotta work out.”

Reesie said nothing. Was Junior right? Had her mother abandoned her father? Was the thing between them
not
about her, or his job, at all? She slipped back to inch open the dining room door, not knowing what to expect.

Their parents were sitting together on the sofa, their heads together as they spoke in low voices. That didn't look like deep anger. They were talking, and it had to mean something. She didn't care what Junior's two cents were.

Before Reesie could ease away, Daddy looked directly up at her.

“Come on in, Reesie. We won't bite you—or each other,” he said, waving her in with one arm and keeping the other around Mom's shoulders.

Reesie's heart began to beat fast. Then her mother patted a spot on the sofa and smiled, looking younger somehow.

“Really, it's okay,” she said. They seemed so much the way they used to be, so close to their hugging, kissing displays of affection that embarrassed Reesie and Junior and entertained their friends. So close.

Reesie walked slowly past the brass reindeer marching through tinsel across Aunt Tish's dining room mantel. She blinked as the sparkling ball decorations on the Christmas tree shook and shimmered, bouncing points of light into the huge mirror between the front windows. Everything was reflected there: her parents' bodies so close that they formed one shape; Reesie's own expression of anxious hope. She looked away.

“We want to talk,” her mother said. Reesie sat down beside her.

“Hey, Lloyd Edward Boone Jr.!” Daddy called loudly.

Junior appeared holding a double-decker sandwich with both hands.

“Mmmm?” He'd taken a bite out of it.

“Get in here. Your mother and I have something to say!”

Junior sauntered in, draped himself over an upholstered armchair, and then took one look at his father and slid to the floor.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “S'up?”

Reesie wanted to throw something at him. After the conversation they'd just had in the kitchen, he couldn't imagine what was up?

“A couple of things,” Daddy said. He leaned forward. That was when Reesie noticed one of the bags he'd carried off the train, sitting between his feet. He reached into it and pulled out a pale blue envelope.

“Reesie first. This is for you.”

She took the envelope and turned it over, squinting at the spidery old-fashioned script that read,
Miss Teresa Boone
.

“You found her! You found Miss Martine!” Reesie shouted, ripping the letter open.

“Oh, read it to us!” Mama said, sounding as excited as Reesie felt.

“Okay.” The single sheet of paper trembled in Reesie's hands.

Dear Teresa,

I hope this letter finds you safe with your family. Lloyd and Jeannie have done excellent work in raising a girl like you. I want to thank you for showing an old woman how to put up a stiff fight. Eritrea has told me that you stayed strong. I hope you grow up to find everything in life you are looking for.

Sincerely,

Martine Odette Simon

“Wow,” Junior said. “She's talking about
you
?”

“You chill out, brother!” Daddy shot at him. Reesie paid Junior no attention for once. She reread the note in silence.

“I really had to do my policeman thing to locate her,” Daddy said. “She had heart surgery and she's staying in a rehab place in Baton Rouge.”

“Thanks, Daddy.” Reesie smiled at her father.

“That Andr
é
is a pretty surprising young man, seeing after her the way he did,” Daddy said. He dug into the bag again, this time pulling out a small box, which he placed on his wife's lap.

“Lloyd! We weren't going to exchange gifts—”

He quieted her with another kiss, and Junior made a face. Reesie smiled, and when her mother gave her a should-I-open-it? look, Reesie nodded eagerly.

Her mother opened the box. At first Reesie couldn't see what it was that her mother grasped to her heart. She covered her face with her other hand and started to cry softly. Reesie leaned against her shoulder, and even Junior stopped chewing.

“What is it?” He crawled forward on his knees to see.

“It's—it's…” Mama couldn't quite compose herself. Reesie peeled her fingers back to reveal a small, very plain gold heart, no bigger than a nickel. She'd never seen it before.

Daddy cleared his throat. “This is the first piece of jewelry—”

“First gift,” Mama corrected him gently.

“The first gift I ever gave your mom. I was working and still in school. Saved up three months to buy it at Maison Blanche so she'd have a fancy name on the box. I found it, crazy enough, wedged in a baseboard in our bedroom after I emptied it out.”

Reesie stared at her brother. What was it he'd said, about there still being love between them? Ma Maw would have said that the gold heart, stuck in the room they'd shared for twenty years, was a sign.

“Jeannie.” Daddy's voice changed, at once reminding Reesie of that day outside the Lafayette motel. “Jeannie, you know Pete and I watched our mother work two and three jobs to buy that house so she could move us out of the projects. That house is her legacy!”

“I know, Lloyd. I know how much more than a house it is to you.”

“But it's not family.” His voice was thick. “Jeannie, I'm asking … I'm begging you. Please come back. Nothing is home without you and Reesie.”

Reesie gulped down the lump in her throat. Her mother fingered the gold heart, but she didn't answer right away. What did that mean? Surely, Mom wasn't thinking of saying no, was she?

“You—we—worked so hard for everything, and now it's all just
gone
!” her mother said. Daddy hung his head, and Reesie could see that he was trying to maintain control.

“But, Mom!” she interrupted. “Everything
isn't
gone!
We're
here—together—for Christmas. This is what I've been waiting for. We
want
to be together! That makes us kind of a home without a house, doesn't it?”

“The kid is making sense, Mom,” Junior added. “Say yes. Just—please, say yes!”

Mom methodically began to take off the necklace she was wearing, and carefully slid the old heart onto the chain. When she lifted her arms to return the chain to her neck, Daddy fastened it.

“You Boones are ganging up on me!” she finally said with a sigh. She looked at Daddy. “I'll try, Lloyd. Reesie and I will come for spring break. Then we'll figure it out.”

Reesie and Junior cheered loudly.

“Merry Christmas to me!” Daddy said, kissing her again.

Reesie knew that one week of vacation wasn't forever, but she didn't care. She was happier than she'd dared to be in months. And a short time later they were in Aunt Tish's kitchen just like always: together, laughing, home.

 

Chapter Twenty

D
ECEMBER 24, 2005

“Reesie! You're going to wear a hole in that rug if you don't stop pacing like that!” Aunt Tish came and stood close to Reesie at the window.

“He said they'd be here at two,” she said. She didn't take her eyes away from the window, because then she might miss Uncle Jimmy's black Escalade as it pulled up to the curb.

“Honey, they're driving through ice and snow to get here.”

Reesie smiled in spite of her nervousness.

“You know, I went on a date with Jimmy once,” Aunt Tish said, clasping her hands behind her back to peer out the window too.

“Are you
serious
?” Reesie laughed.

“Well, it was years before I met your uncle Teddy. I was visiting New Orleans during spring break. He's a nice guy. Just wasn't
the
guy. Know what I mean?” Aunt Tish winked.

“Yeah!” Reesie would have felt weird having this kind of talk with any other adult. But somehow with Aunt Tish it seemed as natural as talking to Dadi or Ayanna—or Orlando.

“So Jimmy's nephew—”

“Orlando.”

“Orlando! Nice name. He talked Jimmy into coming all the way up here to see you? I think he's a friend you should keep,” she said.

Reesie turned at the odd way her aunt said the word
keep
, and saw another mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

“Oh, look! Here they are!” Aunt Tish said calmly, pulling the curtain back. Reesie stumbled around her to the front door and threw it open. A light snow was falling. Jimmy was carefully lining up his SUV with the curb. Orlando's face was turned away from the front passenger window. He'd cut his hair! The neat black waves brushed close to his head made his shoulders seem wider-than-real.

Reesie stepped out into the freezing air without feeling cold at all and yelled, “Hey! Hey! Over here!”

Orlando whipped around in his seat and his grin lit up the interior of the car—at least it seemed to. He opened the door while the Escalade was still moving. Jimmy shouted, but Orlando didn't seem to care. He unhooked his seat belt and jumped out.

Of course, his feet slid on the slick sidewalk and he lost his balance, flying face-first into a snowbank just outside the picket fence. When he looked up, he was laughing. Reesie hopped down the steps and skidded toward the fence to yank the gate open. By accident or on purpose, she tumbled too—and landed spread-eagle like a snow angel beside him.

“Where you at, Peanut Butter?” Orlando was still laughing, wet snow on his eyelashes.

“I'm right here with Frosty the Snowman!” She grinned, her lips numbing.

“Y'all get up outta that snow and come get these coolers!” Uncle Jimmy bellowed. Orlando pulled himself up and offered a hand to Reesie.

“I don't know how you stand this stuff for a whole winter.” He shook his head, and wet melting drops flew off his hair. He looked up at the sky and laughed again.

“This is crazy!”

Reesie punched him in the shoulder, and he grabbed her in a bear hug. They ignored Uncle Jimmy for a minute, standing on the sidewalk. She had to force herself not to cry.

“I'm so glad to see you!” she whispered.

“Back at you, girl!” he said.

“Break it up, break it up!” Uncle Jimmy was all of two hundred and fifty pounds, and in his shearling coat and fur hat, he looked like a big bear coming around the Escalade. He grinned at Reesie the way he always did.

“Good to see you, Reesie. Now, you two get these coolers of hot sausage and crawfish into your Aunt Tish's house.” He leaned toward her and lowered his loud voice. “And tell me: is this Teddy joker that she married more handsome than me for real?”

Reesie, laughing again, stepped back from him, as if she were giving the idea serious thought.

“Sorry, Jimmy.” She pretended to have a sad face. “But I think Teddy's got you beat. You're a real nice guy, though!”

Uncle Jimmy grunted. “Nice guy. All my life I've been the nice guy,” he joked, unlocking the back of the SUV.

“L-let's hurry up!” Orlando's breath puffed in front of his face, and Reesie giggled at how freaked he was by the cold weather.

“Okay, okay!” She pulled crumpled gloves from her jacket pocket and passed them to Orlando. Any other time, he would have gone off about the loud purple color, but now he quickly pulled them on without another word.

“I got Tony's seasoning, I got some shelled pecans, I got fresh okra and fil
é
for the Christmas Eve gumbo,” Uncle Jimmy rattled on while they lugged the coolers up onto the porch. “All I need to know is where I can get the shrimp and crabmeat, and we can get this party started!”

Reesie's mother had appeared in the doorway. “Jimmy! Welcome! What is all this?”

“Miss Jean, we brought Christmas to you from New Orleans!” He stomped the snow off his feet.

Reesie hooked Orlando's arm and scooted around her mother to pull him into the house. They came face-to-face with her father.

“Well, if it isn't Mr. Knight!” Daddy pumped Orlando's free hand. Reesie saw with amusement that Orlando's face turned even redder than it had outside.

Orlando had always talked to her about how awesome her father was, “being a cop
and
a nice dude,” but whenever the two of them were in the same room, motormouth Orlando never had much to say.

“Uh—Merry Christmas, Sergeant Boone.” Orlando's eyes darted toward Reesie. Surely, he couldn't think she'd mentioned that hurricane kiss to her father? She rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly without making a sound.

“How long have I known you, boy? Call me Reesie's Dad!”

“What?”
Reesie couldn't believe how ridiculous that sounded.

“Okay, Sergeant Reesie's Dad. I mean, Mr. Reesie's Dad. I mean—” Orlando sputtered nervously as her father stepped away to talk to Jimmy.

“Oh, this is too much!” Reesie said, pulling Orlando away. “Mr. Reesie's Dad?”

The hallway and living room had become a hive of grown-ups' noisy introductions and overexcited kids buzzing around, trying to get at the presents spilling out from under the Christmas tree.

“Wow! Your cousins are just as wild as my sister's kids!” Orlando shook his head, rubbing his arms with purple hands. He was shivering.

“Still cold?” Reesie asked.

“Kinda.”

“Come this way.” Reesie weaved through the adults and ducked into the room at the end of the hall. It was toasty warm from the blue-and-yellow flames of the gas fireplace. The only sound was some soft jazzy Christmas music coming from speakers mounted high on one wall. Orlando sank into one of the two oversize leather chairs.