Page 10 of Merrick

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“You’re too thin.”

“Good day to you too,” she murmured wryly as she stepped up onto the porch. Aunt Sybil wore her age well and had lines crisscrossing her worn face.

She walked without the aid of a walker or a cane and had an erect bearing. She had told Margo that she been highly active and as a black woman in the early nineteen hundreds, had worked ridiculously hard indeed.

“What, they didn’t feed you wherever you were?”

“No.” She braced for the fierce hug and tried not to feel awkward about it. She was not accustomed to intimate touches, unless it was in the act of making love and even then, she only allowed certain things.

Patting her aunt’s back, she stepped back and allowed the scrutiny.

“It is good to see you. Come on in. I made lunch. Your favorite.”

Margo entered into the warm and cozy hallway and followed her aunt to the bright yellow and white kitchen with its yellow and green curtains fluttering in the slight breeze.

“Is that chili?” She asked in delight as she sniffed the air.

“What else? Sit.” Sybil gestured towards the comfortable and slightly worn dining table tucked under the large bay window.

“What can I do to help?”

The woman looked at her in surprise. “Why nothing. Just relax. I’m certain you must be tired.”

“I’m fine, actually.” Margo remarked but sat there watching as her aunt ladled out the delicious chili. “You didn’t have to go to this much trouble.”

“No trouble at all. I am just so happy to see you.” She beamed as she brought over the bowls and set homemade biscuits in the middle of the table. “I have iced tea with lemon wedges.”

“You’re officially spoiling me.”

“You deserve it.” Sybil bustled away to get the jug of juice and glasses. Taking a seat, across from her niece, she dipped her spoon in and started eating. “Will you be going on any more dangerous assignments?”

“It is kind of what I do. I happen to be a cop.”

“I know, honey, but I was thinking that it’s time you stopped and did something less dangerous.”

“Such as?”

“Riding a desk as you call it.”

Margo laughed and felt the discomfort and reluctance draining away.

“I will be considering that pretty soon. This is so good.”

“Isn’t it?” Sybil beamed. “I used to make it all the time for your mother.” She hesitated as her niece stiffened. “She was a good girl growing up.” She added quietly. “She lost both her parents at a very young age.”

“You already told me that.”

Sybil winced at the coldness of her tone but decided to plunge on anyway. “I’m not making excuses for her…”

“It seems as if you are.” Margo stabbed the spoon into the chili angrily. “If you’re going to discuss the woman who abandoned me and left me at the group home, I would rather not.”

“Okay, my dear,” her aunt said soothingly, “I don’t want to offend you and introduce a topic that makes you uncomfortable. Shall we talk about your relationship?”

Margo’s tapered brows lifted. “What relationship?”

“Precisely.” She gestured with her spoon. “You are a beautiful woman. I have lived alone for most of my life and do not recommend it. I could have gotten married when I was in my thirties and foolishly drove the man away. He was such a sweetheart,” Her eyes glimmered a little. “Solid and dependable.

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