Honestly, Virginia, I’ve never seen so many hostess gifts!”
Virginia wrinkled her eyebrows. “Hostess gifts?” She brightened. “Oh, you must mean the stuff on the hall table. Those aren’t hostess gifts, my dear.”
“They aren’t?”
“You look so surprised. Surely you know!”
“Know what?”
“Those are wedding gifts.”
“Wedding?” Paul slipped a steadying arm through mine and clamped it firmly to his side.
“Your father and Darlene are getting married at the courthouse in Annapolis a week from next Friday.”
“New Year’s Eve?” I croaked.
“Oh, yes. On New Year’s Eve, just before midnight.”
Paul’s grip on my arm tightened. “Well, we knew they were thinking about it, of course, but we didn’trealize it was so …” He paused, and I could feel him staring at the side of my face as if checking to see if it would crack and explode. “… So imminent.”
“I think it’s sweet, don’t you?” Virginia waggled her fingers in the air. “Then they’ll slip away on their honeymoon, driving into the next millennium together.”
I was sorry that I had eaten that crab ball because I was in grave danger of throwing it up all over Darlene’s clean oak floor and tasseled Oriental carpet.
“Have you met our daughter, Emily?” Paul asked.
“I may have.” She sipped her drink, something clear on the rocks with a twist of lime. “What does she look like?”
“She’s not hard to spot,” Paul offered. “Not with our granddaughter grafted to her hip.”
“My, yes! Cute little thing,” Virginia burbled. “They’re in the living room, I think, looking at the tree.”
I certainly didn’t have an overwhelming desire to look at Darlene’s tree, but at least if I did I knew I wouldn’t see anything of my mother’s on it. As far as I knew, all the family Christmas decorations were either hanging on our tree or still packed away in boxes at my house. I decided to find Emily, if only to get out of that dining room, which was suddenly filled to overflowing with Darlene’s laughter as she swanned in on Daddy’s arm. It was either that manic cackling or me.
But Paul had other ideas. “It’s time,” he said, “to greet the happy couple.” His teeth flashed shark white in the candlelight. “Shall we?” He tipped an imaginary hat to Virginia, then dragged me across the room to a table where Daddy was fixing three cups of eggnog, one each for himself and Darlene and another for a white-haired guy on his right. The Bobbsey Twins, Darryl and Deirdre, had wandered off somewhere.
Paul came straight to the point. “I understand congratulations are in order, Captain.”
Daddy refused to look at me directly and the lobes of his ears changed from pink to red, almost as red as the white-headed guy’s sweater. The left side of his mouth turned up in a crooked grin. “Yes.” His arm snaked around Darlene’s shoulders. “We both realized rather suddenly that we weren’t getting any younger, and with the millennium almost upon us, we thought it might be fun to start out the new century together.”
Perma-grin firmly in place, like Br’er Rabbit, I lay low.
Daddy shifted his weight from one foot to another and said, “Have you met Darlene’s neighbor, Marty O’Malley?”
Mr. O’Malley raised a hand. “No relation.”
My laugh was forced, but I welcomed the change of topic. “You must get that all the time!”
Although they were approximately the same height, the man whose hand I was shaking bore absolutely no resemblance to Baltimore’s newly elected mayor, Martin O’Malley. Marty O’Malley the mayor was broad-shouldered, muscular, and dark-haired, while Marty O’Malley the neighbor was slim, solid, and straight as a tree, with a generous head of pure white hair and an infectious grin. I’d doubt we’d catch Baltimore’s new mayor wearing red-and-green striped suspenders, either.
“Oh, I do, I do,” Marty said. “All the time. And when I show up at
Virginia wrinkled her eyebrows. “Hostess gifts?” She brightened. “Oh, you must mean the stuff on the hall table. Those aren’t hostess gifts, my dear.”
“They aren’t?”
“You look so surprised. Surely you know!”
“Know what?”
“Those are wedding gifts.”
“Wedding?” Paul slipped a steadying arm through mine and clamped it firmly to his side.
“Your father and Darlene are getting married at the courthouse in Annapolis a week from next Friday.”
“New Year’s Eve?” I croaked.
“Oh, yes. On New Year’s Eve, just before midnight.”
Paul’s grip on my arm tightened. “Well, we knew they were thinking about it, of course, but we didn’trealize it was so …” He paused, and I could feel him staring at the side of my face as if checking to see if it would crack and explode. “… So imminent.”
“I think it’s sweet, don’t you?” Virginia waggled her fingers in the air. “Then they’ll slip away on their honeymoon, driving into the next millennium together.”
I was sorry that I had eaten that crab ball because I was in grave danger of throwing it up all over Darlene’s clean oak floor and tasseled Oriental carpet.
“Have you met our daughter, Emily?” Paul asked.
“I may have.” She sipped her drink, something clear on the rocks with a twist of lime. “What does she look like?”
“She’s not hard to spot,” Paul offered. “Not with our granddaughter grafted to her hip.”
“My, yes! Cute little thing,” Virginia burbled. “They’re in the living room, I think, looking at the tree.”
I certainly didn’t have an overwhelming desire to look at Darlene’s tree, but at least if I did I knew I wouldn’t see anything of my mother’s on it. As far as I knew, all the family Christmas decorations were either hanging on our tree or still packed away in boxes at my house. I decided to find Emily, if only to get out of that dining room, which was suddenly filled to overflowing with Darlene’s laughter as she swanned in on Daddy’s arm. It was either that manic cackling or me.
But Paul had other ideas. “It’s time,” he said, “to greet the happy couple.” His teeth flashed shark white in the candlelight. “Shall we?” He tipped an imaginary hat to Virginia, then dragged me across the room to a table where Daddy was fixing three cups of eggnog, one each for himself and Darlene and another for a white-haired guy on his right. The Bobbsey Twins, Darryl and Deirdre, had wandered off somewhere.
Paul came straight to the point. “I understand congratulations are in order, Captain.”
Daddy refused to look at me directly and the lobes of his ears changed from pink to red, almost as red as the white-headed guy’s sweater. The left side of his mouth turned up in a crooked grin. “Yes.” His arm snaked around Darlene’s shoulders. “We both realized rather suddenly that we weren’t getting any younger, and with the millennium almost upon us, we thought it might be fun to start out the new century together.”
Perma-grin firmly in place, like Br’er Rabbit, I lay low.
Daddy shifted his weight from one foot to another and said, “Have you met Darlene’s neighbor, Marty O’Malley?”
Mr. O’Malley raised a hand. “No relation.”
My laugh was forced, but I welcomed the change of topic. “You must get that all the time!”
Although they were approximately the same height, the man whose hand I was shaking bore absolutely no resemblance to Baltimore’s newly elected mayor, Martin O’Malley. Marty O’Malley the mayor was broad-shouldered, muscular, and dark-haired, while Marty O’Malley the neighbor was slim, solid, and straight as a tree, with a generous head of pure white hair and an infectious grin. I’d doubt we’d catch Baltimore’s new mayor wearing red-and-green striped suspenders, either.
“Oh, I do, I do,” Marty said. “All the time. And when I show up at
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