Page 64 of Before the Storm

Josie couldn’t stop shaking, and Cindy panicked and threw blankets around them. But Josie was just overwhelmed with emotion.

“Winnie, what are you doing here?” she kept asking, as though there was any feasible answer. “You’re pregnant! You’re all grown up! Look at you! You’re gorgeous!”

It was true that she was. She had Donnie’s dark and captivating eyes, Tara’s and Cindy’s fine features, and her belly protruded beneath her dark green dress.

“Who is the lucky guy?” Cindy asked nervously.

Winnie laughed and waved her hand. “Long gone.”

Cindy’s jaw dropped. “That’s terrible! How could he?”

Tara didn’t look surprised. She obviously knew the story already.

Josie resisted the urge to say to Cindy,What do you mean? How could he? People leave each other. Remember?

Josie wanted to say,History is repeating itself yet again. But she didn’t say that, either.

“He took off when he learned I was pregnant,” Winnie offered when nobody said anything else. “But it doesn’t matter to me. He showed me who he really was. And I don’t want that kind of person around my baby.”

“What did your dad say?” Josie asked.

Winnie glanced out the window to gaze at the sea as it pounded and pounded its way along the sand. “He was angry, of course. But I sensed something behind what he said. Something like regret.” She folded her lips together. “We have so much to say to each other, don’t we?”

Josie’s heart leaped. She didn’t want to get into any of it too soon. She just wanted to sit calmly with her niece and listen toevery single thing that had ever happened to her. She didn’t want Winnie to leave anything out.

Cindy’s cheeks glistened with tears. Awkwardly, she tapped Winnie on the shoulder and said, “We’ve never met, but I’m your grandmother.”

Winnie offered a strained smile—maybe because she knew what Cindy had done—but hugged her anyway. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you,” she breathed.

Josie and Tara looked at one another as Winnie and Cindy hugged for the first time. The air was taut, and everything felt surreal. Josie wasn’t sure how to rebound from this. On the one hand, she was exhausted. On the other, she could have jumped for joy.

Eventually, Cindy made a call. “Let’s order food and get cozy. It’s freezing out there. Josie, you were crazy to go for a walk.” Cindy bounded into the kitchen as though she’d always been there and proceeded to make more tea and pour wine for those who wanted it. Everyone wanted Winnie to pick where they ate, but Winnie was too distracted, frequently cackling with wonder at being back. Tara made a last-minute decision for Indian food, and Cindy ordered what had to be the entire menu.

“You still like Indian food, don’t you, honey?” Tara asked, clasping her hands.

“I still love it,” Winnie said. “And I’ve entered the ‘hungry’ trimester, I’m afraid. I’ll probably eat you out of house and home.”

“Eat everything!” Tara cried. “Oh, but that reminds me. I stocked up on food, but let me know whatever else you need. There are fruits and vegetables and cheeses and breads, but I’m happy to run out whenever.”

“It’s going to be great, Mom,” Winnie said.

Josie settled back into her cushioned chair, but her heart was pumping so hard that she felt as though she’d just run fivemiles. Winnie sat on the sofa next to Tara and cozied up under a scratchy wool blanket. From the kitchen came the sounds of a frantic grandmother who didn’t know what it meant to be a grandmother.

Nothing about this was quite right, Josie decided. But they would find a way through.

Food would help.

It always did.

When the Indian arrived, Tara and Cindy hurried to laden plates and bowls with curries, naan bread, and rice. Winnie was in the midst of a story about college, telling Josie about a roommate she’d had at eighteen who’d run away to Norway with some random guy she’d met. “Suddenly, her mom and dad were in our dorm room, screaming at me, asking where their daughter was. I was like, I don’t know! She’s basically a stranger to me!” Winnie giggled and took a plate of curry from her mother. “Thank you, Mom.”

“That’s quite a story,” Tara said, beaming. “Did she ever come back?”

“She did. Three weeks later. Her head was shaved, and she had a big nose ring and loads of stories,” Winnie said. “It made me so jealous that I ended up studying abroad in Rome the next year.”

“Rome!” Josie and Tara cried in unison.

“It didn’t make any sense,” Winnie said. “I was studying French literature, but I was obsessed with the idea of Rome.”

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