The Way We Were (3 page)

“Ana, Mark.” Lois Atkins, dressed in satiny black, greeted her warmly. “Welcome.”

Ana had been to their home several times but was still impressed by the magnificent sky-high foyer that sported a huge sparkly chandelier. The rest of the rooms were large and open like this.

“You look lovely, Ana. Nice suit. Armani?”

Like she could afford that. “Nordstrom’s Rack, I’m afraid.”

“It’s perfect for you.”

When other guests came up behind them, she and Mark headed into the great room, which spanned the width of the house with Palladian windows at either end.

“Wow,” Mark said.

“I know. I felt the same way about the place when I came here for the first time. They have a lot of material things, but they’re great people, too. President Atkins donated some of his salary
to scholarships last year. There was this one girl I really wanted to bring to Mount Mary, and she didn’t make the cut. He gave the money to us as an alumni scholarship.”

“That impresses me more than his home.”

At least, they shared that. If she could just get Jared out her mind. But the picture of him and his bleak expression as she’d left him in his den stayed with her.

Appetizers
were served. As she bit into succulent shrimp, she thought of his reaction when he saw her in this outfit.
You look like a glittering ruby.

As coworkers came up to chat, she thought of how attentive he’d been to Opal.

When they sat down to dinner, across from her was the head of the Building and Grounds Department. He was gay, and she remembered some idiots making comments about his sexual
orientation. Jared had pointedly silenced them.

Even when the meal was served, Jared’s favorite prime rib, she remembered fixing it for him on special occasions.

Damn, more trips down memory lane! But tonight, she couldn’t stop them from coming.

Letter number #2

Dearest Annie,

I’ve been thinking about us for the last two weeks and admit I’ve been selfish in wanting
you to come home. At times like these, people should put aside their needs, for the benefit of those they love. It’s just that my mind keeps going over our life together, our routines, keeping each other company. I miss that, and you, so much.

Mostly, though, I want to thank you for letting us come to the house last weekend, visit with the family, and for you keeping Opal a few days
more. It’s helped her in a myriad of ways. I think she understands why you’re doing what you are. I can’t say I agree with it, but I’m on board with what you have to do. Know that I’ll be here waiting for you when you’re ready to come back. My thoughts and prayers go to you and your family, love.

Donuta invited all the girls to come for supper three days before Opal’s surgery. Since she’d reminded her daughters that Ana needed them, all six attended. After a dinner of homemade pierogi and salad, with some wine that even Donuta indulged in, she sat in the living room waiting for Ana, who was checking on Opal and her cousins while the rest of the girls
cleaned up in the kitchen. They teased each other…

“How’s lover boy, Mags?” This from Elizabeita.

“Rafe and I are talking seriously about our future,” Nia admitted. Donuta thanked the good Lord for that.

“Yeah, I’m still getting those stupid emails. So are a lot of people. It’s annoying.”

Hrrumph. Something was going on with Elizabeita, Donuta just knew it. She planned to talk
to Gerald about it.

“Any more news on the cute vice-principal, Sof?” Paulina kept after this sister to be more social.

Ana entered the family room from the passageway to the parlor. “The kids are doing fine. They shooed me out. I think they’re taking Opal’s mind off things.”

“I was hoping that would happen.” Donuta studied her daughter. Her eyes were tired. “Come sit next to me,
moja
córka.”

“Tak, Matka.”
She sat close, linked their arms and leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder. Her lovely hair smelled of lavender. “How are you down deep?”

“I’m trying to be strong. The whole situation reminds me of when Sofia had the transplant.”

“And you did not go to college for a year to help out.”

“I had to.”

“I know. What you do not know is how much I needed you.”

“
Matka
, you encouraged me to go to school.”

“As any loving mother would. But I was unable to give enough attention to the other children. As always, you were a godsend.”

“I’m glad some good came out of it.”

She waited a moment, then said, “You have sacrificed so much for your family.”

Ana was silent. She would not lie to her mother, Donuta knew. For a moment, the girls’ chatter
and the clanging of dishes were the only sounds in the room.

“How is Jared?”

“Um…”

“Talk, Ana. It’s time.” When her daughter said nothing, Donuta did. “I know you moving in here for months after the boys were killed was the beginning of bad times for you and your husband.”

Ana squirmed. Sometimes, her daughters thought Donuta knew so little about real life.

“It was more than
that.”

“And more than the infidelity, I expect.”

A deep sigh, so sad it hurt Donuta’s heart. “It doesn’t matter. How do you forgive infidelity?”

Donuta had always known this day would come, dreaded it, but now the truth was needed. “Are you almost done in the kitchen?” she called out.

Her oldest said, “Just about.”

As they drifted in, Donuta said, “Close the door to the parlor,
Nia. Then sit down, all of you. There is something I have to say.”

Ana straightened. Probably sensing the somberness in her tone, Nia and Paulina, on the opposite couch, reached for each other’s hands, and Elizabeita moved closer to Sofia on the floor. Her youngest said, “Are you getting married,
Matka
?”

Donuta rolled her eyes. “No.”

Magdalena sat forward in her chair. “What is it,
then?” She glanced at Ana. “Has something happened?”

“Not with Opal,” Ana assured them.

Taking a deep breath, Donuta lifted her chin. “But something did happen, and it is time you know. Time, mostly, that Ana knows.”

Elizabeita said, “You aren’t sick are you?”

“No,
kochanie
. But I have a secret that is going to be very hard for all of you to hear.”

“Okay,
Matka
, just tell us.”
This from no-nonsense Magdalena.

“After Ana was born, your father had trouble supporting us. He had to take on two jobs. He was not home very much. It was hard for me, too, with a third baby so close in age to the others. I was…unkind to him about working, even when I knew he had to.”

“It was probably postpartum depression.” This from Nia.

“Whatever was wrong with me, it caused a break
between us.”

The room stilled.

Best to just get it out. “Your father strayed.”

“Strayed?” Elizabeita again. “As in found another woman?”

“Yes, a waitress at the restaurant where he was washing dishes. Such a proud man, going from his position as a foreman at the electric plant, with people working for him, to such a tedious job, caused him to see things incorrectly.”

“What
happened?” Nia was openmouthed.

“I knew. I dreamed about it.”

“We always feared your dreams,
Matka
.” Elizabeita shuddered. “Remember, when you had ones about Luke?”

“I remember.” She looked at Nia and Paulina. “A few months before we lost the boys, I dreamed something bad happened to them. It was not concrete. I did not know the circumstances, but it was bad.”

Nia gasped. Paulina
shook her head. “Oh,
Matka
.”

“Continue with your story,” Magdalena urged.

“I confronted Stash and he did not deny what he was doing. But he agreed to end it. Do any of you remember when I took in other children to care for over the years?”

“As if we didn’t have enough.”

“Lizzie,” Paulina chided. “There was a reason…right,
Matka
?”

“Your father quit the diner, I earned enough
money to make ends meet, and our lives got back on the track.”

“Wow.” This from Sofia. “
Matka
, did you have anyone to tell back then?”

“No, but I confided in Mary Kate O’Neil when we spent time together during the aftermath of the boys’ deaths.” And Mary Kate had had a similar thing happen to her, but she did not betray the confidence to her own children.

“Why are you telling us now?”
Caterina asked. She wondered if this one knew of her father-in-law’s activity.

“Because of you, Ana.”

Ana’s brows raised. “Me? Why…oh, because of Jared.”

“You asked me just now how a couple ever got over infidelity. You should know your father and I did.”

“More happened than that between us,
Matka
.”

This Donuta had suspected but did not know for sure until now.

Some of
the sisters asked,

“What was it?”

“What more?”

“I knew there was more.”

“Nothing I want to discuss.” She focused back on Donuta. “I’m sorry,
Matka
, that you had to go through those times with Pa.”

“This is life.”

“I remember you being happy,
Matka
,” Caterina put in.

“In the years after, we were, in many ways. Ours was a match made in the old country, and all that goes
with that, but we were friends and though he was a stern man, we loved each other in our own way until he died.”

Ana inched back close to
Matka
. “That was very brave of you to tell us.”

“It was an opportunity for you all to know. But now I would like not to speak of it more. If you want to discuss this later, we can.”

Each of the girls hugged her. And found ways to busy themselves
for a few minutes.

In truth, Donuta wished they’d leave. She wanted to call Gerald. She had told him about Stash’s wandering, and right now, she needed his support.

The night before the surgery, Opal couldn’t eat after six o’clock, so Ana and Jared tried to occupy their daughter. Now they were gathered around the kitchen table playing Bananagrams, a game similar to Scrabble,
only each person had her own board. Jared always won at word games, but tonight, Opal was trouncing him.

“Are you guys letting me win?” their smart child asked after the fourth round as victor.

“Nope.” Jared winked at Ana. “Are you?”

“I’m having an off night.”

With a knowing look, Opal pushed the little wooden tile tray away. “Let’s quit.” She popped up off the chair and went to
the sink, got some water. She stayed there, staring out the window. When Ana went to get up to go to her, Jared touched her arm and shook his head.

Opal peered out the window a while longer, then faced them. “I don’t know what to do with myself.
Babka
says that a lot, but I never knew what it meant before.”

“It’s almost nine. We could go upstairs and read,” Jared suggested. “Mom could
do some parts of Huck Finn.”

“You know what I really want? All of us to put on our pajamas and climb into your bed, the one Mom sleeps in now. I can get in between you two. We can watch a Disney movie. I’ll fall asleep that way.”

Ana’s heart gave a little lurch. Her gaze went to Jared’s. He said, “I’m game if you are.”

“Whatever Opal needs.”

His expression was so approving she
basked in it, was calmed by it at such a tension-fraught time.

Jared stood. “Come on, kid. Let’s get changed and meet in our room…um, I mean, Mom’s room.”

Ana followed them up. She closed the bedroom door and sank against it. This space held too many memories, though she’d redecorated. It would have been wasteful to get rid of the main pieces of lovely oak furniture, but she’d added a
desk with her computer on it and a large-screen TV, painted the walls peach and changed the bedding and other accents. Now it was feminine, so different from the neutral greens and browns and blues of the previous iteration, when Jared’s favorite chair and his masculine scent had greeted her when she walked in. She’d also added four plants. Jared was allergic to them.

Pushing away from the
wall, she went to a dresser, opened a drawer and sighed. She liked pretty things. In a fit after she’d found out about his affair, she’d tossed all the lingerie Jared had given her and replaced them with those of her choosing. She picked a pair of long-sleeved sage-green cotton-knit pajamas, donned them and went to the bathroom to wash her face. When a knock on the door sounded, she called out, “Come
in.”

She heard them enter. Opal was laughing. Thank God. When she came to the doorway, Jared’s eyes narrowed. Then he said, “You look cute with your hair up.”

“I used to wear it like this when I was younger.”

“I remember.”

She did, too, especially when he’d unbound it for her. And what followed that sensual experience. To forget, she turned to her daughter. “So, kiddo, did you
decide what you want to see?”

“
101 Dalmatians
. I know it’s kid stuff…”

And tonight, she wanted to be only a kid.

“Sounds good to me,” Jared assured her.

Opal pulled back the down cover and propped up a pillow on either side of her. “Daddy, here.” The left side, where he’d always slept. “Mommy, here.” On Ana’s side. Both parents acquiesced.

“Turn off the lights.”

Jared nodded
to his little girl, who was dressed in pink fleece pants with a matching long tee, making her appear vulnerable. He reached out and switched off his lamp. Only it wasn’t
his
lamp. It was some girly thing that Ana had replaced his with, the one she’d had made with all his favorite Hawthorne books as a base. The whole fucking room was girly, and he hated it. He’d never seen the renovations, had
not come near this room since he’d moved in, and he didn’t want to be here. But he stuffed his anger and smiled. “All cozy now.”

Ana called up the movie to stream. He noticed she was stiff, too. She probably wanted him out of here as much as he wanted to be. The film began and he vowed to immerse himself in it. Kid movies often had classic themes, and he tried to find some in this very popular
show.