Page 54 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
Phoenix shook his head. “I don’t remember them. I’m sorry. A lot of my childhood memories vanished, because they’re tangled up with other things.”
Her face fell, but she stroked her hand through his hair. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I remember, Granny,” Barrett said as he took her other hand. “Back when it used to feel like it was us versus the world. Our parents would go out, but we would stay here with you. We all camped on the floor in sleeping bags, even you.”
She smiled. “Okay, we’ll do a spoil-a-thon tonight. No sleeping bags, and you can all go home to sleep because you don’t have a bedtime anymore. This should be fun.”
I blinked, backing up a step. “I can go home and let you all…”
Dina waved her hand in fast dismissal, cutting my words off. “Why would you leave? Aren’t you part of them now? Unless you had something more exciting planned besides hanging out with your grandmother on a Saturday night.”
Julian put his arms around her, giving her a fast hug before he said, “We have nothing better to do, but dibs on the car. Nobody else said it yet, so I called it.”
I tugged Phoenix’s tee-shirt to tell him, “You can remember this one.”
“I’m going to make it a point to never forget it.” He kissed my head.
She clapped her hands again, almost out of habit. “I’ll go change then make some spaghetti. Oh, wait.” She snapped her fingers. “I honestly am not sure there’s even groceries here. Jeremy, could you order something? I want groceries, not finished food. I want to cook.”
“Sure, Granny, on it.” He side-eyed me. “So, those are her journals I catch you reading. The ones you won’t talk about—is she spilling family secrets?”
I grinned at him. “Maybe, but the tea was served in 1966. I wouldn’t worry. You don’t even exist yet.”
Julian kissed my cheek, confessing, “This was a good idea.”
“Hey, I just wanted to say hi. This is all Dina’s plan,” I said, since I couldn’t take the credit.Even if I’m really happy we’re doing it.
It turned out that Dina Lent was a fantastic cook, which was funny since they said her son Daniel was a terrible chef. The guys each ate two plates full of pasta while Dina and I dawdled over our first, dipping crusty garlic bread in the zesty sauce.
Phoenix closed his eyes, leaned back, and rubbed his stomach. “I remember this taste. I do. Thank you so much, Granny.”
“I’m glad, my sweet boy.” She stroked his arm gently. “How was your first week of school?”
They all told her pretty much the same thing—everything was fine, so far as they admitted to their grandmother. Then Julian pulled out a familiar real estate board game, and they all started setting it up. I bit my lip and confessed, “I’ve never played.” I’d heard of it, of course. Everyone had heard of it.
Jeremy nudged me with his shoulder. “Good, it will make it easier to cheat you.”
I laughed at both his joke and his speedy delivery. His eyes twinkled, meeting my own and a spark of something heated my blood. Suddenly, I remembered him holding me in the darkness with the television in the background. How he said I wasn’t crazy, and recognized the situation traumatized me.
And I admitted to myself, it felt like a trauma.
Julian squeezed my knee, catching my attention and shifting it toward him. I tried to shake off the ghosts of the past as he said, “I’ll teach you. We’ll play as a team for the first game.”
“You just want to cuddle her the whole time.” Barrett shook his head, scowling at his brother. “I wish I’d thought of it.”
The game was easy enough to pick up on, once they explained the rules. After a few rolls of the dice, I understood yet let Julian make the decisions for fun. I liked watching them interact,sometimes, their brotherly love and competitiveness coming out in equal measures.
Dina glanced up from the board and caught my gaze. “I’m going to break my own rule to ask you where you are in the journal. I can’t stand the suspense of not knowing.”
I smiled at her, actually relieved to talk about it. “You just got married, actually, so it is such a happy part of the story. In the last entry, you went to the Roosevelt then took a plane back to New York.”
For a second, she blinked fast, as if fighting back tears. “Quite a night. If I remember correctly, the journal entry didn’t do it justice. Some days are too full to even put down in words.”
I leaned forward, my own curiosity making me ask, “Can I ask you a question?”
The guys suddenly seemed to go still, and I wondered if she didn’t usually talk about their grandfathers in front of them.
She nodded easily, relaxing back into the sofa. “Of course. I figured you would have more than a few.” Her voice went soft, and her gaze distant. “You’ve been so accepting about all of it, unlike a lot of people I told about my life. If something strikes you as weird, feel free—ask away.”
