Page 57 of The Dom

“I’ve got it.”

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was that there were three people crowded together on the little stoop, two who looked to be in their seventies and another who seemed to be somewhere around my mom’s age.

“May I help you?” I prepared a polite but firm dismissal that’d cover whatever reason they had to be here.

“You must be Ashlee.” The older woman beamed at me as she spoke, her accent thick. “I’m your Granny, and this is Gramps. And of course, your Aunt Janette.”

Somehow I managed not to gape at them like an idiot. “Mom! Um, could you come here a minute?”

“Don’t stand on ceremony, honey. It’s a mite wet out here.”

Something Southern, I thought, but not the deep south. I wasn’t entirely sure why that was what my brain was choosing to focus on, but until Mom got here to explain who these people were, I would go with it.

“Mom?” Mom spoke from behind me, and I turned in time to catch my mother’s arm to steady her. All the color had drained from her face, and her eyes were wide.

“Hey there, little bee.” The man had a creaky voice with the same accent as his wife.

“Dad?”

My grandparents?

“Aren’t you going to invite us in, Bobbi, or are you too good for that?” The younger woman had the sort of expression that made me wonder if she ever smiled.

“Come in.” Mom stepped back, taking me with her. “Have a seat. Can I get anyone something to drink?”

“Sweet tea all around,” Granny answered for all three.

Granny?

My life over the past month had been strange, but this was definitely going at the top of my ‘weird shit’ list.

“Of course. Ashlee, would you mind helping me?”

I nodded dumbly and followed my mom into the kitchen, wondering how this conversation was about to go. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised by any explanation at this point. Body snatchers. Aliens. Clones. All of those seemed as likely as the family who’d disowned my mother for how she’d been born suddenly showing up on her front stoop.

“Did they say…who did they…what…” Mom sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against the counter as she tried to gather her thoughts.

“Are those your parents?” I pitched my voice low as I opened a cabinet to retrieve five glasses. Even if Mom and I weren’t thirsty, it seemed like a good idea to have something for us to hold.

“They are.” Mom opened her eyes, that bewildered look still on her face. “And my little sister, Janette.”

I didn’t ask if Janette was always so unpleasant. It didn’t seem like the most important thing at the moment.

“They didn’t tell you they were coming?” I opened the fridge and pulled out the large glass pitcher of sweet tea.

Mom shook her head. “I haven’t talked to them since they told me I wasn’t welcome in the family as long as I insisted on ‘bringing that kind of shame to the family.’”

I handed her the first glass. “Any idea why they showed up here? Or how they found you?”

“None. Not either one.” Mom took a sip of her drink. The color was starting to come back to her cheeks, and she’d lost that dazed expression. “Maybe something happened to my brother. He’s not here.”

I hadn’t known she had a brother. Or a sister. She never talked about them except to say that they disowned her when she’d come out and started dating Mona her junior year of college. There’d been no birthday or Christmas presents or cards. Absolutely nothing.

Something popped into my mind. “They called me Ashlee.”

“What?” Mom looked at me.

“When I opened the door, Gra…your…” I shook my head. What the hell was I supposed to call them? “She said, ‘you must be Ashlee.’”

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