Part Six
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
An email arrived this morning. From Trixie. Who addressed us as ‘Uncle Andrew and Aunt Di’! When I see her, I think I’m going to hit her! I just knew that this would be a problem somewhere along the line. They’re going to tease us about this forever, I can just tell.
“Can you pick up that phone, please, Diana?” Mary Gorman asked. “My hands are covered in flour.”
Di nodded and went to answer it.
“Oh, Diana. Just the person I wanted. It’s Helen.”
“Hello, Helen. How are you?” Di asked, reflecting that it still felt awkward to use her sister-in-law’s first name.
They exchanged news for a few moments, before Helen came to the point. “I needed to speak to you about Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Already?” Di asked. “It’s only July.”
Helen sighed. “Yes, but it’s best to be clear about this. We don’t want to have misunderstandings.”
Di frowned and wondered what kind of misunderstanding they were heading for. “Okay, then. What do we need to discuss?”
“You’re invited to the Open House at Thanksgiving, of course,” the other woman began. “I’d like to invite you both to stay here that weekend, though. It’s been a few years since Andrew actually accepted, but we invite him at that time every year. We don’t want that to change just because he’s married, now, but we do understand that you might like to stay with your own family.”
“Thank you, Helen,” Di responded. “I’ll talk it over with Andrew and we’ll let you know what we decide.”
“That would be very good.” There was a slight pause. “The other thing is Christmas. We’ve been inviting Andrew for Christmas every year since… well, since we started being the hosts, I suppose. That won’t change, but I expect that you’ll probably go to your family, or have them come to you.”
“I really haven’t given it a thought,” Di answered. “I’ll let you know about that as well.”
“That would be lovely.” Helen sighed. “I’m glad that he has you, now. He’s been alone too much.” Before Di could respond, however, her sister-in-law changed the subject. “I’m glad we got this out in the open as well. I don’t want to have a disagreement with your mother, but I thought you should know that there’s another place in Sleepyside where you’re always welcome.”
“Thank you,” Di replied, touched. “I will remember that.”
Friday, August 27, 2010
I really have to try not to panic. Andrew is taking a trip to Scotland next month and I can’t get time off work to go with him! I don’t want us to spend a lot of time apart. I knew, intellectually, that this might happen someday, but so soon?
“You’re going to be okay, you know,” Andrew told her, as he packed his bag. “I’ll be back soon enough and I’ll be too busy while I’m away to get up to any mischief.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to get up to mischief,” she answered, wrinkling her brow. “Are you trying to make me feel worse, Andy, or is it a happy knack?”
“Just a happy knack, I think.” He shut the lid of the case and fastened it. “The Gormans will take care of everything here and there’ll be nothing for you to worry about. I’ll miss you, though.”
She nodded and stepped into his embrace. “I don’t like being left behind.”
“No one does,” he replied. “If I could have arranged this differently, I would have. Next time, we’ll go together, with a stop-over in London or Paris on the way home. How does that sound?”
“I like the sound of Paris. Do you speak French?”
“It depends on whether you like it with an atrocious accent,” he quipped. “I know enough to buy a cup of coffee.”
“We won’t die of thirst, in that case.”
He smiled. “Well, that’s all my packing done. I think I’ll head to bed. I have to be up early in the morning.”
“Andrew, it’s only seven o’clock and you don’t have to be up until five. You don’t need that much sleep.”
“I might,” he objected. “You probably need more sleep, too. You look like you need to go to bed right now, too.”
“I do?”
He nodded. “Yes, definitely. You look so tired that you probably can’t even undress yourself. I’ll just do it for you, shall I?”
“You are so kind,” she answered, in a low voice. “What did I ever do without you?”
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
It’s lonely here without Andrew, but he’s doing a good job of keeping in touch. He agrees with me that we shouldn’t do this again if we can help it. I can’t help thinking that it’s different from the other times I’ve been left behind. I really know that he’s coming back and that he doesn’t want to be away.
“Diana! Telephone!” Mary Gorman called.
Di raced down the stairs and snatched it up. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Honey greeted. “How are you?”
“Lonely,” Di answered. “Andrew’s still away. I miss him so much. Three more days to go.”
“You’re lucky it’s only three days. I thought I’d call and commiserate. Mart has a work trip on at the moment and he’s away for a whole month.”
“Oh, Honey! I’m so sorry to hear that. Is it making things difficult with the wedding plans?”
Honey laughed. “No, not at all. Mart doesn’t have to do much other than show up on the day. My wedding planner is doing all of the work. I think I’ve made about a million decisions, but that’s my main responsibility – and to show up whenever I have a fitting.”
Di shook her head, reflecting on the difference to her own wedding. “It makes me glad I had a simple wedding.”
“Not as simple as Trixie’s,” Honey pointed out.
Di laughed. “Can you imagine my mother’s reaction if I’d tried that?”
“Can you imagine my mother’s if I had? After she had to endure it with Jim?” Honey added. The two burst into laughter.
“I remember being surprised at how composed your mother was at Jim and Trixie’s wedding. She seemed so serene.”
Honey giggled some more. “Only because she’d taken something to calm her down,” she confided. “She was furious.”
“Like my mother was when I told her I was marrying Andrew and living here,” Di noted, ruefully. “Honey, do you think I’ve done my mother some kind of disservice by following my own heart?”
“No, I don’t,” Honey told her. “I think your mother was upset about being separated from you, but she’s getting used to it now, isn’t she?”
Di scrunched up her nose. “I’m not sure, especially since the next time we visit Sleepyside, we’re going to be staying at Crabapple Farm.”
“You think your mother will be offended?”
“I know she’s already offended,” Di clarified, “but if we don’t, then Mrs. Belden – I mean, Helen – will be offended.”
“Mrs. Belden wouldn’t be offended,” Honey objected. “Not that that’s any reason to go to your parents when you’ve been invited to your husband’s brother’s, especially since your husband should have the chance to spend time with his brother and it would be easier for him to do that while staying in his brother’s own home, with him there, not that he couldn’t if you were staying at your parents’ home, which isn’t all that far away, but still, it’s not quite the same, is it?”
“No, it’s not,” Di agreed. She sighed. “I don’t know that we’ll ever get this sorted out. And Trixie is never going to accept Andrew and me, either.”
“She has,” Honey told her, in a quiet voice. “She’s keeping up the teasing, but I’m sure that she’s already accepted it. She finds it a bit hard to imagine how you got to where you are, but if someone else criticised you, she’d defend you in a moment.”
“Like her and Mart.” A soft smile played around Di’s lips. “I’ll have to remember that, the next time she’s telling me I’m strange.”
Friday, October 1, 2010
I think I’ve changed my mind about absences. Our reunion was so good that I think I’d endure being apart just to experience that again. Andrew, on the other hand, thinks it would be more fun all around if I just came with him. I’d like to try his idea!
“Have we got everything?” Andrew asked, as he surveyed their luggage. “Did you pack the kitchen sink?”
Di stopped rummaging through her handbag to glare at him. “I have not over-packed.”
“Haven’t you?” he asked, mildly. “It’s funny, but I would take one small bag for myself for a week at Crabapple Farm, but for the two of us, we seem to have the two biggest ones we own.”
She eyed him. “You’re not thinking of accidentally-on-purpose leaving one behind, are you?”
“What would happen?” he asked. “If you somehow arrived in Sleepyside without your clothes, would you have to go without?”
“No,” she answered, laughing. “I’d have to borrow some – probably the most awful dresses that Trixie owned that she left behind when she moved out.”
He looked crestfallen. “I liked my idea better. Maybe we could try that for a weekend away sometime, without my relatives.”
She smiled. “I think I’d still like to pack for that kind of weekend. I have something that’s just the thing.”
He glanced at the suitcases. “Would it happen to be in one of these?”
She nodded.
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me which one?”
She shook her head.
Andrew shrugged his shoulders and picked up a suitcase in each hand. “Well, let’s go, then.”
As she followed him to the car, Di laughed.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s not as if I’m hosting Thanksgiving, or that I even have to cook anything. I just can’t shake the conviction that something is going to go terribly wrong and it’s going to be my fault. Andrew keeps telling me that I’m stressing over nothing, but I can’t help it!
“Tad!” Trixie cried, moving her hugely pregnant frame through her parents’ Open House crowd with apparent ease. “It’s so good to see you. I’m so glad you could make it. Come and meet my Aunt Di.”
“Trixie!” Diana groaned, feeling her face turn pink.
Tad looked between the two, confused. “Your aunt?”
“Yes,” Trixie answered, grinning. “Tad, meet my Aunt Di. She married my uncle in June.”
“She married your uncle?”
“Are you going to just repeat things I say?” she teased. “Yes, she married my uncle. It seems really wrong to me, but she swears its okay, since he’s only twelve years older than her.” She dropped her voice to a stage whisper. “You can’t tell me it’s right, though. It’s just weird to have an aunt who’s two and a half months younger than you.”
Tad frowned. “Wait. I’m confused. The last thing I heard, she was going to marry Mart, wasn’t she?”
“You have been away for too long,” Trixie chided.
“Yes,” he answered, glancing at her distended belly. “No one told me you were expecting, either. Congratulations, by the way.”
Trixie smiled her thanks and returned to the previous topic. “So, you’ve been completely out of the Sleepyside rumour mill? And you didn’t hear that Mart chickened out of the wedding three days before the big day? And that he’s going to marry Honey now?”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t hear any of that. But if Honey’s marrying Mart, what happened to her and Brian? And isn’t that just as weird as Di marrying your uncle, if he’s that much younger than whichever of your parents?”
“My Dad,” Trixie added, absently. “But, you’re right: it is weird and I didn’t even notice! When Honey marries Mart, Di will be her aunt, too – and since she’s already aunt to me and Mart and Brian and even Jim, because he’s married to me, she’ll be aunt to almost all of the Bob-Whites other than herself. I think I’m going to ship Dan off to wherever it is Hallie’s living now so he can marry her and she’ll have the whole set! I’ll have to go tell him.”
As she bustled away, Tad gave Di a sympathetic look. “She hasn’t taken your marriage well, has she?”
Di shook her head. “I thought that after the wedding she would get used to it, but I think she’s getting worse.”
“But you’re happy?” he asked. “Don’t answer that: I can see that you are.”
“Maybe, when her baby is here, she’ll have less time for fretting about me stealing her favourite uncle,” Di mused, as an outrage erupted amongst a group of Bob-Whites on the other side of the room.
“I doubt it,” Tad commented. “I think it will just give her more fodder for teasing – you’ll be a great-aunt, then. Though, by the sounds of things over there, I don’t think you have to worry about being Dan’s aunt.”
“I’m glad of that, at least,” she answered, smiling. “This is hard enough already.”
Tad nodded. “It is hard, sometimes, to have those generation-bending gaps in families – like between me and Spider. He’s more of a father-figure than a brother; it’s been like that as long as I can remember.”
Di considered this, remembering a conversation with Andrew, once, where he told her about being sent to live with a brother sixteen years older than himself. “I think you’re right. Andrew may be Trixie’s uncle, but he’s not properly in the same generation as her father.”
“She’ll get over it one day.” He patted her hand. “And if she doesn’t, you can always tell her it’s your job as her aunt to give her lots of advice.”
Di laughed at the thought. “I can just imagine how well that would go down.”
Friday, December 24, 2010
Why did I volunteer for this? I don’t know the first thing about hosting a Christmas dinner! I haven’t cooked a single thing since I moved here – Mary Gorman does it all. But she’s not here right now and what have I gotten myself into?
“Oh, I’m so glad that’s over,” Di moaned, as she dropped into bed on Christmas night. “I thought this day would never end.”
Andrew snuggled in next to her and snaked an arm around her waist. “You did a really good job. The food was delicious. I had a lovely time.”
She put her head on his shoulder and laughed. “You did, didn’t you? I don’t think my brothers will give you trouble ever again.”
“Your brothers are delightful, even when they’re up to mischief..” He insinuated his hand inside her shirt. “Your sisters are lovely. Your uncle and I have a lot in common. Your parents are so interesting to talk to.”
“My parents are in the next room,” she reminded him.
“And we’re married, so they can’t object to anything we might do in here,” he reminded her, his hand moving higher.
She laughed and leaned into his embrace. “You’re right. And the worst is over.”
“So, it’s time to relax,” he added. “You did it. You are officially a good hostess.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Everything is finally back to normal. All of the house guests have gone home and Mary is back in charge of the household. I’m so relieved! I don’t ever want to do that again.
“Di! My uncle-stealing friend.” Trixie’s voice greeted her down the phone line. “Just the person I wanted to speak to.”
Di rolled her eyes. “May I remind you that I didn’t steal your uncle – he’s right where he’s always been.”
“You know, you’re right. I think that means that my uncle has stolen you, then. I never thought of it that way.” Her thoughtful tone disappeared with the next sentence. “But anyway, I was calling to see what your plans are for next week.”
“Next week? The usual, I think. I’m working. Andy’s busy with the farm. There’s nothing special happening.”
“Good. In that case, can we visit you?”
“Sure. But who, exactly, is ‘we’?”
“Me, Jim and the baby,” she answered. “Since neither your nor my friend-stealing uncle has actually seen her in the flesh, we thought we’d bring her along for an inspection.”
“Oh, Trixie! That would be wonderful!” Di cried, bursting into tears. “I’ve been wishing all this time that I’d gone back to Sleepyside for Christmas so that I could see little Katie.”
“You’re sounding very emotional, Di. Are you sure you’re not following my example?”
Di’s tears gave way to laughter. “No, I’m not going to provide you with any extra cousins just yet. Andrew and I are planning on waiting a little while first.”
“Well, when you do, I’d like a girl cousin,” Trixie answered. “There’s already too many Belden boys.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Di promised, smiling through her happy tears.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Our first married Valentine’s day and it was so lovely! Andrew and I decided that we wouldn’t give expensive gifts, but he brought me a bouquet of flowers. It took me an hour to figure out exactly what he was saying with it. Who knew there could be so many meanings of flowers?
“Are you busy?” Andrew asked, as Di pottered around the bedroom, rearranging things.
She shook her head. “It’s nothing that can’t wait. Did you want me for something?”
“Always,” he answered, grinning. “Just at the moment, though, I will keep that urge in check in order to share something else with you.”
She raised an eyebrow in enquiry, but received no verbal answer. He took her hand and led her downstairs to his study, where he handed her a sheet of paper covered in swirly, feminine writing.
“I just remembered that I had it,” he explained, “so I thought I’d better search it out. I’m sorry you didn’t receive it before the wedding, like you were supposed to. I was so slow off the mark that I didn’t even remember that my mother had given this to me.”
Di traced the first line with her finger, reading, ‘To the daughter-in-law I will never know.’
“She knew she was dying, you see,” Andrew continued. “Hal and Peter were both married and had children of their own, but I was still at school. That was the one thing that she regretted: that she wouldn’t live to see me ‘settled’, as she called it. What she really meant was ‘married’, with a good woman to look after me. So, she wrote this to you. For a long time, I didn’t think I’d ever need it, so I kind of put it out of my mind.”
The tears that had been gathering in Di’s eyes spilled over her cheeks. “Thank you for finding it.”
He kissed her forehead, wiping the tears away. “I wish I’d remembered sooner. I know that Helen gave you some family recipes and things, but this is a bit more personal.”
She nodded, not knowing what else to say, but knew that the letter was something she would always treasure.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Andrew and I had a fight today. And it was over something so silly, too. I thought I was getting the hang of being part of this household, but today I found out that I know nothing at all! How was I supposed to know that this is the week that Mary does the spring cleaning every year and that there are rooms that no one is allowed in during this time? No one told me that. They just expected me to know. But we sorted it out and made up – I like that part, but next time I think I’d rather leave out the fighting!
Di squealed as she opened the letter Andrew had just brought in from the box.
“What do you have there?” he asked.
“Look what Jim and Trixie sent.” She held up a professional baby portrait. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She is. A lot like her mother, except for the hair.” He turned back to the bill he was perusing. “I think I’ll have to see what we can do about saving some electricity.”
“You lose interest very quickly,” she grumbled, still admiring the photo. “Men!”
“What is there to say?” he asked. He set down the bill he held and opened the next one. “She may be cute, but she’s just a baby. Or, are you fishing for an opportunity to have one yourself?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Now? No! We discussed this, remember?”
“Mmm,” he answered, absently. “There’s no problem, then.”
“Andrew.”
“Mmm?” he repeated, still staring at bills.
“Does the idea of babies scare you?”
He laughed and set the bill he held down on the table. “Babies? No. Teenagers? Hell, yes. The responsibility of supervising Trixie in the Ozarks for a week that one time just about killed me.” He shuddered. “I never envied Peter, let me tell you.”
She gazed at the photo a little longer, then put it down. “I wouldn’t think we’d have much risk of following his example. I’m the most unadventurous person I know.”
“When the time comes, I will bear that in mind,” he promised. He turned back to the pile of bills.
Di smiled. “Good. Two of my best friends are experienced detectives. I’d hate to have to set them on tracking you down after you chickened out.”
His head shot up. “Chicken out? I’m not that scared – and even if I was, I’d still have thirteen years before I needed to run away from home. By then, I might have forgotten how troublesome Trixie was at that age.”
“I doubt it,” Di answered. “I’ll have to give you time to adjust to the idea of children, I see. You’ve spent a long time just being the uncle and don’t see yourself in the role of being the father.”
He shook his head. “Until you came along, I didn’t think that was on the cards for me. And I’m not ready to give up our freedom just yet. I still haven’t taken you to see my fishing cabin, or taken that side-trip through Paris.”
“We do still have some things to do,” she agreed.
He grinned. “We really should keep in practice, though, just in case, but I don’t think we should discuss that right now. Mary Gorman is right across the room and she might get ideas about us.”
Di laughed. “Mary Gorman already has ideas about us that are entirely correct. And you’re trying to change the subject.”
“Only slightly. I’m male. It’s only right for me to be more interested in the making of babies, as opposed to actually having them around the house.”
“But when the time comes, you’ll be happy to participate.”
He left the paperwork on the table and embraced her. “All joking aside, of course I will. I will manfully master my fears of Trixie the second – but, like I’ve already mentioned, we’d better keep in good practice in the meantime, so that I’ll remember what it is that I’m supposed to do. Is that good enough for you?”
She laughed and kissed him. “I think it will do for the meantime.”
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Surprise visit from Honey today. I never knew this, but she’s had her father on notice the entire time I’ve been living here, that if his plane was heading in my direction and had a seat free for her that he was to let her know. This is the first time it’s happened that she’s been able to drop everything and come here, though. It’s so good to see her! We had some great girl-talk, just like old times.
“Barbara! It’s been too long,” Di greeted, giving her friend a hug. “I’m so glad you could make it.”
The two women placed their orders and took a seat at the table where Diana and Andrew had always sat.
“It’s been a hectic few months,” Barbara agreed. “It’s not going to get any easier for me, either. A little more than a month and Bob and I are off touring again.”
“I’ll miss you,” Di admitted, smiling. “I’ve got a trip coming up, too – to New York for Mart and Honey’s wedding.”
Her friend drew in a breath. “I don’t know that I’d want to go to the wedding of someone I’d once thought I was going to marry, especially if they were marrying one of my best friends.”
Di shrugged. “It’s okay. I don’t have a problem with Mart getting married to someone else – after all, I did. I’m happy for Honey, too. And it’s not like she stole him from me.”
Barbara nodded. “No hard feelings, then.”
“None at all. I even had a perfectly normal conversation with Mart, the last time I saw him.” Di thought of Andrew and smiled. “And I don’t think that I’ve lost out in any way. Honey and I have both gotten what we always wanted, after a fashion.”
Barbara’s expression was quizzical. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that last part.”
Di spent a moment trying to find the words to express what she felt. “We both always thought we’d marry Beldens, but neither of us is with the one we first chose. That’s okay, though, because we’ve each got one who suits us, who loves and accepts us.”
“I don’t suppose there are any left over,” Barbara joked. “I’m starting to feel left out.”
“Andrew’s eldest brother has two sons and only one of them is married. Or, there’s always Bobby. He’s only sixteen now, but if you give him a few years…”
“No, thank you. I’ll pass on the little brother.” Barbara sighed. “What about Brian?”
Di smiled. “He’s engaged to Bobby’s former kindergarten teacher. I heard last night. I can’t wait to meet her at the wedding. Her name is Desiree and I hear that outside the classroom she has a very non-kindergarten-appropriate wardrobe. Only, Brian and I are both in the bridal party, so I won’t get all that much chance to observe them together.”
“You’re bridesmaid for your friend, who’s marrying your former fiancé?”
“Yes. I told you I was fine with all this.” She patted her friend’s arm. “It’s only fitting, I think, for her to have his ex and him to have her ex as attendants. It shows that we’re all past all those dramas.”
“You Bob-Whites are always surrounded by dramas.” Barbara smiled. “I’d be jealous, except I think it’s more fun to sit back and watch it happen.”
Thursday, May 19, 2011
My idea about skipping the fighting and going straight to the making up works brilliantly, if I do say so myself. We started having another silly disagreement today, over whether we should spend time in Sleepyside after the wedding, like my mother suggested and I rejected straight off. After about two minutes of him berating me, I came to the conclusion that Andrew is right. We’ll go and I’ll get over myself. Men seem to like being told they’re right. I’ll have to remember that for the future.
“Andrew, what are you doing?” Di asked, in her best disapproving voice. She had slipped out of the room where the bridal attendants were getting ready to check up on her husband. It seemed that her instinct was proving right.
He grinned. “What? This? It’s just a pin.”
“You’re not wearing that to Honey and Mart’s wedding.” She set her hands on her hips and glared.
“Sure I am. It’s an important cause.”
Diana strode over and unclipped the pin, holding it up to read it. “Zombie Awareness Month is not an important cause.”
“You’ll be sorry when we’re overrun by zombies and you’re not prepared,” he warned.
Despite herself, she laughed. “Is that your excuse? You want to forewarn all of your family?”
Andrew’s expression turned serious. “Yes, I think it’s my duty.”
“And it’s not somehow related to the fact that you’re married to the groom’s former fiancée?”
He trailed his fingers across her shoulder and down her arm, making her shiver. “Not at all. Purely duty. I am in no way making a comparison between the groom and the zombies. No gloating involved, either.”
She sighed. “I don’t think you really need to be gloating. Honey is such a beautiful person, inside and out. They’re lucky they have each other.”
“I’m even luckier to have found you – despite the odds.” He took the pin from her fingers and set it down. “And I’ll behave myself, I promise. I just thought I’d see if you noticed.”
“If I’d notice?” She shook her head at him and turned away. “Of course I’d notice.”
As Andrew chuckled and went back to getting ready, Di reflected on the way everything had turned out. While this was nothing like she had imagined her future life, it was perfect for her. Everything had fallen into place.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Our first wedding anniversary! Today, I looked back through the pages of my diary and wondered what my life would have been like if I’d actually married Mart – or Rick! I can’t believe I thought I was going to marry that self-interested, characterless jerk. At least Mart has character, and we probably could have made something of that relationship, if he hadn’t run away from me. I’m happy with my life, though, and I’m glad to have made this journey.
“What are you doing, Diana?” Andrew came up behind her, where she sat on the bed, and looked over her shoulder. “Are you writing all of your secrets in there?”
Di shook her head. “I’ve just been looking back over the past few years and reflecting on how far I’ve come.”
He nodded and sat down next to her. “I’m kind of pleased with the way things have gone, myself, as it happens.”
She set down the diary and turned to him. “You are, are you?”
Andrew nodded. “I am. Come here and I’ll show you.”
Diana was only too happy to comply.
