“You and Tom have been so good to us. Don’t think for a moment that anything that makes the two of you happy could do anything for us other than enhance our love for you guys. And as Tom just said about us, we couldn’t be happier for you.” And then raising her glass, and waiting for Kerry to rush back to get hers, she said, “to Tom and Eileen” and everyone echoed her and even the catering folks applauded.
Driving home down the parkway, Kerry spent an inordinate amount of time defending her failure to have noticed the rock on her Mom’s finger. In fairness to her, it only appeared after dinner was done and before Tom gave his toast. But it did not seem right that Suze had noticed it and she hadn’t.
“Big picture, love. Big picture,” Suze repeated.
“I know. Two years ago, you had a brother you never saw and I had no one I ever saw. Now we have, what, Eric”—Suzanne’s brother—”Peter, Michael, Andrea, James, Jennie”—”I think those two’ll be permanent pretty soon,” Suze interjected; “So do I,” Kerry agreed and Suzanne added, “Did you notice Tom’s not-too-subtle prod?” and Kerry said she did. Kerry was focused on driving but the gears in her head were moving.
“I have two more Moms and you have three—Mary, Betty, and my Mom—and I have a father. It’s like we’re in some reality show with a bunch of Catholics and Mormons who end up with all these brothers and sisters and parents. It’s kind of cool.” For a while neither had considered Suze’s actual mother and father as part of their family.
Kerry’s phone rang, and Suzanne answered.
“Hi Mom”—she loved saying that—”driving…She understands. Tell her not to be mad that I was the one who figured it out…Yeah, she won’t let it go…I know, her being Kerry…I love her too. She’s tightening her grip on the steering wheel so I’d better get off. Is it okay if she calls,” Suze looked to see where they were “in about 20 minutes?” Kerry nodded. “Okay. As soon as we get in…We both love you too and we’re both so happy for you both…No, I’m sure Mary and Betty are fine with how it got out…Bye.”
“That was Mom.”
Kerry looked over, “it had better have been,” and Suzanne reached over to touch Kerry’s hand for a second—Kerry liked to have both hands on the wheel but had reached over—and then sat quietly looking out into the darkness, the two of them absorbing a Brandi Carlile song on WFUV.
With the guests and caterer gone and their home now otherwise empty, Tom and Eileen did as they usually did on their Saturday nights. They sat on either end of the sofa, she with a book, him with his tablet. Her legs were inside of his and against the sofa’s back and the couple read till Eileen’s phone rang and she took the call, from Kerry, in her bedroom where she could lie back and talk to her daughter. She was amazed that like some astronomical phenomenon the more she loved her fiancé, the more she loved her daughter, that the total of all her loves, and she was thankful for how many new loves she acquired over the prior two years, was so much more than the sum of them individually. And she knew the same was said for Tommy and his children and for Kerry and the love-of-her-life.
So, she was a bit dreamy on this call and it meant so much to just talk to and with her daughter on this night. Her apology for not telling Kerry before she went public with the ring was batted aside.
“Mom, when I gave Suze your old ring it meant the world to me that she put it on immediately and I know Tom ls the same about you and his ring.”
Eileen took a moment to catch her breath. “Baby, are you happy for me? That’s all I need to know.”
“Yes.”
Pause.
“You are the happy mother I never had.”
She laughed. “Is Suzanne there?”
“Yes, why?”
“When we get off, tell her to give you a slap for me for that ‘lonely woman’ remark when we’re through, although I have to admit that it’s true.”
They spoke briefly after that about whether there were specifics yet—there were not—and after a reiteration about how pleased everyone was, they wished each other, and each other’s loves, good night
When Eileen returned to the living room, Tommy was finishing up his own call with his own daughter and when they compared notes they saw that the conversations were pretty much identical.
She went back to her book and he to his tablet. After five minutes, though, their concentrations were shot and the book and the tablet were closed, the lights were turned off, and Eileen and Tom went to bed.