by Betsy Talbot
UNFOLDING
A LATE BLOOMERS
SHORT STORY
BETSY TALBOT
© 2015 Betsy Talbot
https://www.BetsyTalbot.com
To every woman who’s ever wondered if she made the right decision.
Who cares?! It’s over and done with, and what you do next is what really matters.
So make the most of it.
Chapter 1
“Do you even have to get a divorce if you were married by an African tribal chief?” Ivy cocked her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think they keep records on that sort of thing, Lil.” Ivy pulled her dark red hair to one side as she considered the logistics of Lily’s announcement. With her emerald dress and her milky white skin, Ivy looked like a delicate porcelain doll, at least until she broke the spell by opening her mouth.
Rose turned her head to shoot Ivy a sharp look, willing her to be quiet so those with beating hearts could react to Lily’s news. “I didn’t even know you and Nico were having problems. Why didn’t you tell us?” Rose’s warm hazel eyes turned to Lily as she grasped her hand and squeezed it.
“I don’t even think I knew until it was too late,” Lily responded. “That’s the problem with working out of the country for months at a time. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for fighting, but there’s plenty of space to drift apart. I probably should have realized that going in.” Ivy sighed and picked up her wine glass. “Funny to think that my whole career is spent responding to other people’s catastrophes, but when my life falls apart I have no idea what to do.”
Vi, the oldest of the group, took a maternal tone. “That’s what we’re here for, love.” Vi’s warm smile radiated across the table. This tall, sharp-looking woman with the dark Cleopatra haircut was surprisingly soft on the inside.
Lily’s jet-black hair was pulled back in a tight bun with only a few loose tendrils framing her almond-shaped eyes. She wore a red silk cheongsam, a traditional Chinese dress that hugged her slender, toned body. The cap sleeves revealed traces of the sleek muscles from her martial arts workouts – what Lily not-so-jokingly referred to as her therapy for all the pain and suffering she witnessed around the world. Her red lips completed the outfit, and Lily knew she looked better than she felt. It was important to wear the right kind of uniform for the situation, not unlike the scrubs she usually wore for work.
Work was how she met Nico, also a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières – better known in the States as Doctors Without Borders. They both worked in Africa, and after a three-month assignment treating everything from HIV to malnutrition, they returned to New York together.
Ivy was right, the blessing by the tribal elder in Africa wasn’t something she had to undo, or even could. But after that magical ceremony under the stars in Ethiopia with Nico, they did make the marriage official at the courthouse in New York. Yes, there would be an official divorce.
Daisy flagged down the waiter, a Brad Pitt lookalike who was probably an aspiring actor. Daisy and Fake Brad Pitt could be fraternal twins with their athletic stature, blonde hair, and innocent-looking-but-probably-trouble faces. “Can you bring us a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a plate of Great South Bay oysters?” The waiter nodded and turned as Daisy watched for a second longer than necessary. When she turned her eyes back to the table, her friends were smiling.
“What? This is an emergency, my friends. You may know medicine, Lil, but I know food. And champagne and oysters are just what you need right now. You have to battle misery with joy.”
Ivy raised her eyebrows, a slow grin spreading on her face. “So the waiter is part of your plan of joy? I saw the way you looked at him! Still, I concur with Dr. Daisy’s assessment. We need food, drink, and sexy men to get through this crisis…STAT!”
The five women laughed a little harder at the joke than necessary, thankful for a bit of humor to break the sadness of Lily’s announcement. Around them, the other diners talked and clinked wine glasses in celebration of New Year’s Eve, oblivious to the burned and cauterized wound that was now Lily’s love life.
When Lily wasn’t out of the country working for Doctors Without Borders, she shared an apartment in New York with three other doctors like her. With their busy and conflicting schedules, they were rarely ever in the apartment together, and that included her soon-to-be-ex-husband Nico, on assignment in Haiti. He was living in a tent while they were drinking champagne in the big city.
Lily raised her glass. “I’m so glad you are all here. I didn’t realize how much I needed you until now.” She sighed and then put a smile on her face. “Next year is going to be better than this one. It has to be. And tonight I want to think about the future instead of dwelling on the past. To the future!”
Glasses raised, each woman toasted to the coming year.
Vi set her glass down and looked at each woman in turn as she spoke. “We haven’t known anyone else in this world as long as we’ve known each other. After 40 years or so of hanging out together, I have finally decided I’m keeping all of you.” Violet winked. “Which is why I decided to make it official.”
She reached into her purse and pulled out five identical gray boxes embossed with a silver VS logo. Each box was tied with a purple ribbon. Violet passed them around the table. “Go ahead, open them.” Vi began unwrapping the one box she left in front of herself.
“Vi, this is gorgeous!” Rose traced the intricately woven bracelet, five strands of gold joined with a heavy clasp that read, The Late Bloomers. Rose had borrowed a backless blue silk pantsuit from Ivy that draped over her breasts in front, a daring choice for a curvy woman who usually hid her assets in cargo pants and t-shirts. She laid the bracelet across her wrist on her lap, the silky blue of her outfit making the gold shine like the sun in the sky.
Ivy admired her bracelet against the emerald green of her strapless dress and let out a soft growl. “Mommy like! This is beautiful, Vi.” Ivy was used to nice things, and one more was always welcome.
“Thank you, Vi. You are way too good to us, but we’ll never ask you to stop!” Lily smiled, noting how well the bracelet went with her exotic dress. She wouldn’t be able to wear the bracelet at work, but it would fit in very well with her wardrobe of vintage clothes when she was back in the US.
Violet had been making jewelry for her friends since they were in grade school, and she loved knowing when she’d made an impact. Tonight was one of those nights. “You know I’m here working out a deal with Barney’s for my jewelry. And I couldn’t have gotten this far without your support. I made these bracelets as a way for us all to remember our friendship, even if we aren’t all in the same city anymore.” Violet’s eyes watered, but she blinked quickly before the tears fell.
The women all grew up in tiny Hobart, Arizona, five girls saddled with flower names from their free-spirited mothers. Surrounded by a sea of Jennifers, Amys, and Melissas – girls with normal names – the five banded together even more in solidarity. Their fellow students dubbed them the Bloomers, a name they hated. As adults, they finally embraced the name, going so far as to call themselves The Late Bloomers in their overly dramatic late twenties. The drama was long gone, as were their late twenties, but the name stuck.
Daisy looked to Vi as she clasped the bracelet around her wrist. “Business must be very good, indeed! I’m so happy for you, Vi. What happened to that lawyer who was giving you such a hard time?”
“Ugh, Jerome. This guy is killing me, Daze. Every time I think the deal is done, he comes back with something new. He sent me a text right be
fore I got here to ask me to call him. On New Year’s Eve! I should be the one questioning everything, not him. He’s probably done this kind of deal a dozen times.” Vi shook her head.
Rose’s mouth curled up in a sly grin. “Maybe he’s making it hard on purpose.”
“What, like he’s got something in for me? At this point, I’d believe it.” Vi pulled out her phone to read the latest message from Jerome. “Listen to this: ‘One final point to discuss, can you call? I’m available all evening.’”
“Like I said, maybe he’s making it hard on purpose,” Rose said, her smile widening. “I think this guy’s got the hots for you, Vi.”
Ivy drawled, “I’m available aaaallll evening. And here’s the, ah, point I’d like to discuss.” Ivy rocked her hips on her chair, as crude a move as she could make given the snug fit of her dress.
Daisy lowered her voice like a man. “As a lawyer I find that clothes just get in the way of negotiation. Let’s not hide anything from each other, Violet.” Daisy couldn’t hold her impression of Jerome long before she started laughing.
Lily joined in the fun. “Would you like to use my