Page 110 of Take Two

“Sure,” I say, assuming she’s worried Johnny will make such a mess, he’ll stain Violet’s pretty shirt.

“And you can sit at the head of the table from now on,” Mama casually throws in. And the entire room goes silent. I look at Colt, who looks at me. He then looks at Vickie as if she has some answers, but she stands there with the same confused look as everyone else. Even Violet’s mouth hangs open in shock. The only people unaffected are the boys.

“What did you say?” I ask to make sure I heard her right.

“That’s your seat now.” She takes a shaky breath and says, “I think it’s time.” She leaves her seat and walks to the head of the table. She pulls out the chair for me and gestures for me to sit.

Once I make sure Violet is seated, I approach Daddy’s chair like it’s a bomb that might go off. I look around the room again, unsure if I’m really supposed to sit in it. Then I look at Mama’s face, and her eyes are filled with unshed tears. I slowly sit, and once I do, her tears fall.

When Colt’s chair scrapes across the hardwood floors, Mama holds her hand up and says, “I’m okay, Son.” He sits back down. “I’ll say grace tonight, and we’ll eat.”

Violet leans over and kisses my cheek about a dozen times. When she’s done, we all hold hands, and Mama says a quick prayer. I can barely drink my lemonade with the lump in my throat, but I manage to get it down before I start on my dinner.

We all go on as usual. Evan talks about baseball. Johnny makes a mess, and we talk about the upcoming bachelor and bachelorette parties. I catch Colt’s eye during dinner. He lifts his glass and raises it to me. I do the same and he nods at me.

“I don’t know why Charlie gets to sit at the head table now and not me,” he says with a playful smile. Then he gets up, walks to me, and tries to push me off the seat.

Mama laughs and so do I. We haven’t done this since before Daddy died.

“They would do this all the time,” Mama says. “They would fight over that chair until my husband would drag them both away. When they were really little, he’d lift them both up and spin them around to the living room and dump them on the couch. They’d do that until I had enough of the noise and told them to stop. It became part of our dinner routine. If he was still alive, I bet he’d be doing the same thing with the grandsons, and probably waiting on pins and needles for a granddaughter.”

“Then we got older, and I’d do this.” I shove Colt and he falls on his butt. “This is my seat.” I stick my tongue out at my brother.

“Charlie is the patriarch of our family now,” Mama says.

“Do you hear that, Queen Vee?” Colt says when he goes back to his chair. “Charlie is part of the patriarchy now. Violet, this should concern you too.”

“Don’t make me wash your mouth out with soap,” Vickie warns Colt.

“You boys don’t know this, but your daddy had convinced himself and me that Colt was going to be a girl.” I snicker atthe shocked look on my brother’s face. “He came home one day with a little dress, and he was so proud of himself. Mind you, he had never bought or picked out clothes for Charlie. That was my job.”

Now, it’s Colt who snickers at me. “I guess we know who he loved more,” he jokes.

“He took the dress out of the bag, and I swear—” Mama takes a minute to either compose herself or think of the correct word. “It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” Everyone at the table goes quiet until we all burst into laughter. “It was lace, had ruffles everywhere and was every color of the rainbow. I told him I loved it. That was the first lie I ever told your father.” Mom wipes a lone tear, and the table goes quiet again. “A few weeks later, we found out Colt was a boy, and I threw the dress away. I lied to him again and told him I donated it to the church, but I didn’t. I didn’t want any little girl to have to wear that hideous thing, but if I knew then I was going to lose my husband so soon, I would have kept it.” She runs a loving hand over Johnny’s head and cheeks. “He would have loved these boys so much,” she whispers. “Anyway, we had a girl name picked out and everything.”

She takes a platter of mashed potatoes and puts some on Johnny’s highchair tray.

“What was the name?” Violet asks.

“Christina Leigh,” Mama says.

“That’s beautiful,” Violet says.

“It really is,” agrees Vickie.

“Well, thank goodness I never had to wear that hideous dress,” Colt says, and we all burst into laughter again.

Chapter 61

Violet

While everyone enjoys a pre-dinner drink at Vickie and Colt’s apartment, I run my hands along Charlie’s chest. He’s dressed casually in a white button-up shirt and khakis. Tonight is our bachelor and bachelorette parties planned by Colt and Vickie. Neither one of us knows what we’re doing or where we’re going. Themen are going to meet upstairs at Tara’s penthouse, and the women will leave from here.

“Come on, Charlie,” Colt says. “Let’s hit it.”

“You look so beautiful,” Charlie says. I’m in all white while the rest of the girls are in black. My dress is lace, form-fitting, and short. It only reaches mid-thigh, and the stilettos I’m wearing make it seem even shorter. Vickie also let me use the veil she wore to her own bachelorette party. “I’ll see you back at home tonight because I can’t wait to take you out of that dress.”

Once he’s done admiring me, he looks toward his brother and sister and winks at me.

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