Page 3 of Gravity of Love
From that day on her parents were inseparable. The summer after high school, they got married and decided to put the money she’d saved and his savings into a down payment on a condo in San Francisco instead of her dream vacation so they could start their lives. They both worked two jobs, and within two years, they saved up enough money for the two of them tofinallygo on a honeymoon, which was going to be…herdreamEuropean vacation. But the day they were going to the travel agent, Frankie’s dad got the call he’d been waiting for, he gothisdreamjob as a San Francisco firefighter, and so her plans were once again postponed.
The third time was the charm, or so she thought. Three years into his career as a firefighter, he’d accrued enough vacation time that they were going to once again book their tickets. A week before they left, she came down with the flu. Two days before she was set to board the plane, she still hadn’t been able to shake it, so she went to the doctor and discovered that she was pregnant with not one but two babies, who would be Frankie’s twin brothers. Because her pregnancy was high risk, she couldn’t fly to another country. The twins were born healthy and happy and fourteen months later her mom thought she had once again come down with the flu. This time she peed on a stick and discovered she was pregnant with Frankie. Then, four years after Frankie was born, her dad died in the line of duty.
Overnight her mom became a single parent raising three kids in the Bay Area. She was determined to stay in the city because AJ, who was later diagnosed as being on the spectrum, was in a school where he was thriving, and he didn’t do well with change. So, she didn’t want to take him out of it, especially not right after their dad had passed.
She was hired by the Sterlings as their live-in housekeeper and cook. After moving out of their three-bedroom craftsman, Frankie, her brothers, and her mom moved into a one-bedroomcaregiver cottage on the Sterling estate. Frankie lived there until she left to attend NYU, and her mom lived there until she retired last month, although it seemed she would be moving back, but not into the cottage.
“If this is too weird…we don’t have to…I don’t want to…you are more important than?—”
“No, Mom,” Frankie cut her off. “I just… I want you to be happy. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“I am happy, Mouse.”
Mouse was short for Mighty Mouse, Frankie’s nickname, which was given to her by the eldest Sterling brother.
“I am so, so, so, so happy.”
“Well, I can’t argue withfour so, so, so, soes,” Frankie teased.
Her mom sounded happy, really, truly happy, and that was worth more to Frankie than a trillion dollars. Or even being tied to the Sterlings.
After her dad passed, her mom suffered from severe depression. As an adult, Frankie realized she’d battled with the disease when her dad was alive, but he’d protected his kids from it. For decades, her condition went untreated until, finally, Mrs. Sterling noticed and got her the help that she needed, right before Mrs. Sterling herself passed away. For the past ten years, things had been better, but it was still something she struggled with.
“Coming!” her mom shouted. “I have to go, Eddie chartered a private plane for us and we are at the air strip in Boston. The pilot has refueled, and we are ready to take off again. Give Yaya my love and tell her I hope she feels better! Are yousureshe doesn’t need us to come out?”
“No!” Frankie quickly spat out. She’d led her mom to believe the reason she was in Hope Falls was out of worry about Yaya because she wasn’t feeling well. She knew Yaya would not appreciate Frankie’s creative rendition of the truth, aka nottelling her mom that she and Tristan broke up. Yaya valued honesty and kindness above all else. She had a zero-tolerance policy for liars. She had a pillow that was cross-stitched with the phrase “Half-truths are also half-lies.” Yaya firmly believed that she should tell her mom about Tristan, vacation or not.
Yaya was her paternal grandmother, but she treated Cora like a daughter. In the Costas family, there was no such thing as “in-law.” There was a joke that “the family” was basically a mob or a gang, once you were in, the only way out was death. Yaya had five sons, and out of all the women her sons married, she madeno secretthat Frankie’s mom was her favorite. Seriously, she gave her mom mugs that said, Favorite Daughter-In-Law. She was referred to as her favorite at family gatherings, to strangers, and during toasts.
There were several reasons Frankie’s mom gained and retained that title. One, she was the only daughter-in-law that didn’t move her son out of state—all the rest moved to be close totheirfamilies. Which meant, Frankie and her brothers lived in San Francisco, a few hours’ drive away. They came to stay with Yaya and Papou in Hope Falls every summer, they spent every Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas with them even after their dad died. Two, Cora gave Yaya her only granddaughter. Yaya only had sons, and all of them only had sons except for Cora, who had Frankie. And the last reason was, Yaya had a soft spot for her because she got a glimpse of how bad Frankie’s mom’s life was growing up. Yaya didn’t like to talk about it, but she’d told Frankie once that Papou had to go pick her mom up at two o’clock in the morning when her dad showed up drunk in the middle of the night threatening to burn the trailer down that Cora and her mom lived in. She didn’t tell her the whole story, just that the police were called and Papou ended up down at the police station with a broken knuckle. Frankie never met either ofher mom’s parents, who both passed away before she was three, she didn’t think she was missing much.
“Yaya’s doing better,” she assured her mom. “I’ve just missed it here, so that’s why I extended my trip.” Frankie gave her mom two truths and a lie.
Yayawasdoing better than she’d been before Frankie arrived. Frankie fixed atonof things around the house that were in disrepair over the past year since Papou passed. She’d also put Garfield, Yaya’s cat who was classified as morbidly obese by his vet, on a diet and had been company for Yaya. She hadn’t known just how lonely Yaya had been.
Frankiehadmissed being in Hope Falls. It had always been her favorite place on the planet. Growing up, her plan was to get an art degree, make a name for herself in the art world, then come back to Hope Falls and support herself by painting, selling her work, and teaching art classes. That plan got derailed when Tristan opened his law firm in Manhattan right after they got together. He asked her if she would “help out” for three months, just until he could hire someone. That was seven years ago.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d even picked up a paintbrush. And she hadn’t visited Hope Falls since she moved to New York. Before he passed, Papou and Yaya flew to New York to visit her once a year. And Papou’s funeral was in Greece, so she didn’t come back for that.
The lie was that she’d extended her trip. This wasn’t a trip. She had no plans on going back to New York. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she did know that wasn’t going to happen.
“Okay, Mouse, if you’re sure you’re okay.”
“I promise, I am.”
“Give Yaya my love.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you!”
The call disconnected with an exclamation of love, just like always. Frankie resisted the familiar urge of immediately spiraling into dissecting every interaction with her mom to take the temperature of where her mental health was at.
Was her voice a littletoobright?
Did she sound tired?
Was she masking?
