Page 72 of Home Body
“Yes, they do. Dalia, you may not have an answer for this today, but in time I’d like to know what kind of relationship you’d like for us to have. I’d love to get to know you. My husband Mack would, too. And you have a brother, Zach, and Kenyon isyour sister. That’s amazing seeing that she already considers you to be a good friend. I understand completely that Mamie is your mother and Butch was your father. Mack and I would never try to intrude on that. We didn’t know Butch but by all accounts, he was a great guy. And your mother is incredible. We don’t want to take away from that but hope to add to it as extended family. But it's entirely up to you how far you want us to go.”
Dalia noticed that Llayne O’Brien’s eyes were the exact same sky blue with a darker blue ring on the outer edge of her pupils like her very own. It felt weird knowing she came from this woman after so many years of thinking Agnes was her mother, who she didn’t resemble at all.
“I know what I’d like,” she said. “Kenyon and I have indeed become good friends. I hope that doesn’t change. As friends, our families will be involved in each other’s lives. That’s a good start. We can take it from there.”
“Good. That’s great. The O’Briens are in for that.”
Their matching eyes met again and Dalia Blackburn and Llayne O’Brien fell into each other’s arms. When they parted, awkwardness and embarrassment overcame them.
“Oh my,” Llayne said.
“Yeah,” Dalia added.
That was all it took for them to break into laughter at their silly clumsiness. Llayne may have given birth to Dalia, but they were still themselves and as such they needn’t be ashamed of their lives. They relaxed as Dalia asked questions about Llayne’s family. Llayne gladly told story after story about her large extended clan, that conversation territory something she felt comfortable with.
As they became more at ease with one another, Dalia warmed to the idea of being from a robust family with lots of folks to call relatives. She and Mama weren’t losing anything, they were gaining a whole bunch of people. It warmed her heart for hermama because if there was one thing Mamie Blackburn adored it was being surrounded by people and making them happy. As she listened to Llayne’s descriptions of her parents and aunts and uncles and cousins, Dalia realized she and her mama would have their work cut out for them with this crew. There were a lot of people.
Her mama was probably going to love this huge family even more than she would.
CHAPTER 42
Mamie sat on a log at the river’s edge watching the clear water chortle its way downstream. It had always mesmerized her, sitting there getting lost in the whirling patterns of nature. She’d been doing it since childhood. Being early summer, pungent lilac bushes bloomed nearby, wild camellias and begonias that had escaped their baskets in shop window boxes dotted the scene, and the branches of giant hardwood trees swayed in the gentle breeze to dapple the landscape with dancing shade. How she loved summertime in Michigan, likening it to heaven on earth.
Since Rose had been born, though, she didn’t often come down to the river, being busy with a child in the house. Once the bakery opened, she’d be able to take breaks to come as often as she wanted, it was so close. She’d bring Rose to teach the child to appreciate it, too.
“Hello, Mamie.”
She shaded her eyes with her hand for a view of who stood in the sunlight. “Hello, Vic. Come have a seat.”
Vic Van Natter, in his shirtsleeves rolled up to the elbows, his suspenders in place, his tie conspicuously absent, his top shirt button uncharacteristically undone, and a straw fedora hatshielding his face from the sun, sat down beside her. “I haven’t seen you here in a while,” he said. “It’s good to see you. How many times do you think we’ve sat right here like this.”
She chuckled. “A hundred, at least. It’s good to see you, too. Do you come down here often anymore?”
“Yes, weather permitting. I sneak out the back door of the bank so nobody sees me so I can have some peace and quiet.”
“Vic, I haven’t properly thanked you…”
“Uh huh. No, no, no.” He shook a finger at her. “You’ve made me a happy man. That’s all you need to concern yourself with. Besides, if there’s anyone on earth who deserves for her dream to come true, it’s you.” He tapped her shoulder with his.
Mamie threw an arm around him, kissed his cheek, and watched him blush. “I have something to tell you. Something you’ll find hard to believe.”
“Oh yes?”
“Yes. Dalia has found her birth mother.” She took her time to tell her old friend the entire story. He listened without interrupting, his eyebrows occasionally rising in surprise.
When she finished, he said, “Good god, it’s so damned tragic that some psycho doctor and his psycho nurse would do that. How awful. I know the sheriff over there. He’ll make sure there’s justice.” He shook his head. “But that’s a big mess with all those poor women who thought their babies died. That’ll make national headlines. But on a personal level for you, how do you feel about it?”
Mamie studied the white clouds lolling in the sky for an answer. “I feel…I feel like this day was bound to come. I didn’t want to admit it, but it’s always been hanging over us as sure as those clouds…” she pointed “….hang over us. I feel glad her mother is an honorable woman, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit there was a twinge in my heart at first for fear that such an accomplished, beautiful woman could take my place as Dalia’smama. But I quickly got over that. I see now that I’ll always be her mama and Llayne O’Brien will carve out her own place in Dalia’s heart. That won’t take away from what my daughter and I have. It’ll add to the family. We certainly will be an unconventional family.”
“Mamie, have I ever told you how much I admire you? You have the biggest heart of anyone I know. From what I can see, all this means there will more people in your life for you to love.”
“True. It might take a while for everyone to adjust, but that’s the only way for us to look at this – a bigger family with more people to love. Now, let’s talk about more people for you to love. Why haven’t you proposed yet to that nice lady named Margaret in Chelsea? It’s been fifteen years. I would admire you, too,” she chided, “if you’d marry that obsessively patient woman.”
Vic’s gaze traced the flow of the river for a bit before he locked eyes with his friend. “Because she broke up with me ten years ago after we’d dated for three years. Her high school sweetheart had come back to town and she married him.”
“Vic, I had no idea. But Lenora at the beauty shop says Vilma told her you’ve always gone over there once a week for lunch. We always assumed it was to be with this Margaret.”
“Lenora, the preacher’s wife told you?”
