by Harper Bliss
Her mom separated herself from Eileen. “Is this Naomi?” she asked. “Why, I haven’t seen you since you were yea high.” She held her hand to hip height.
“Mrs. Callahan.” Naomi dipped her head.
“It hasn’t been that long, Trudy, since you’ve seen her. You came to Naomi’s graduation party for high school and college.” Sophia turned to Naomi. “You’re still my baby, though, even if you’re all grown up.”
Naomi rested her head on her mom’s shoulder.
Eileen, struck by the image, gazed at her own mom, not feeling a modicum of a connection.
Her mom glanced at Eileen’s bad arm and then spoke to Naomi’s mom. “Do you remember when Eileen fell off her horse when she was six or seven and broke her arm? She was determined to get back on that horse the very next day. Nothing ever stopped my Eileen. I wanted her to be a surgeon. Go on darling, show them your steady hands."
Right then, Maggie whispered into her mom’s ear.
“Would you excuse me? I need to attend to something in the kitchen.” Her mom and Maggie walked away briskly.
Julia shook her head, placing a comforting hand on Eileen’s shoulder. In her sisterly way, she seemed to understand Eileen needed some space, and Julia whisked Sophia away on the pretense of showing her the Christmas tree in the library.
Naomi, with a supportive smile, asked, “Why don’t you show me your bedroom?”
Upstairs, in her childhood room, Eileen leaned against the window sill. “It’s changed drastically since I lived here.”
Naomi’s eyes swept over the austere room. A threadbare oriental rug was situated in the center. A wrought iron bed frame with a saggy mattress sat against the wall, a slate embossed quilt covering it. “It’s surprising, really. Given the grandeur downstairs.”
“Guests are never allowed upstairs.”
“Are we breaking the rules?” Naomi’s crooked smile enchanted Eileen.
“Most assuredly.”
Naomi approached Eileen, threading her arms around Eileen’s neck. “How come Phil doesn’t know about your stroke?”
Eileen turned her head to the open door. “Did you hear that? I think it’s time to sit down for dinner.”
“Are you sure it is? Or you’re avoiding the subject?”
“I would never.” Eileen motioned they should go back downstairs.
Chapter Eighteen
As they sat at the dinner table, Naomi was still digesting that Eileen was a Callahan. And that her own mother was here, at this very party, sitting right across from her and Eileen.
“It’s so unlike my mother to not have assigned seats at a dinner like this,” Eileen said nervously. “I wonder what caused this softening effect on her controlling ways?”
“Maybe she’s just happy you’re in town,” Naomi’s mother said. “Personally, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if Naomi left.”
Naomi cringed. Not only because of her mother’s overt adoration, but even more so because she didn’t really know what to do about this situation.
Should she inform her mother that she and Eileen were seeing each other? If she’d known they were going to run into her here, Naomi wouldn’t have hesitated for a second to tell her mom beforehand. Because now, surely, her mother was putting two and two together quickly—Naomi could practically read it on her face. Or maybe she was just being paranoid.
“I can certainly understand that,” Eileen said.
Goodness. Was Eileen going to continue to give away hints like that as well? Naomi needed to get her mother away from the dining table as soon as possible. But they’d only just sat down. The dining room was buzzing with hushed voices and the scraping of chairs as the last couple of people found a seat.
“Do you remember babysitting Joey?” her mother asked Eileen, her eyes growing dark at the mention of his name.
“Yes.” Eileen paused for a moment. “I think I do, actually.”
“Joey dying so young really made Naomi our miracle baby.” Her mother straightened her spine. “I’m not sure I would have coped if Naomi hadn’t come along.” She gave Naomi a warm look.
Naomi wanted to respond, but this whole conversation was making her unease grow a mile a minute. Finding out that Eileen had babysat her brother wasn’t exactly helping. How was she going to break the news to her mother now? If she couldn’t get her mother away from the table any time soon, Naomi could only resort to changing the topic of conversation.
“Did you know Eileen has won a Pulitzer, Mom?” she asked.
“Oh, I thought you were a photographer.” She looked at Eileen.
“I am,” Eileen confirmed.
“The prize isn’t just for writers,” Naomi said.
Her mother scrunched her lips together before saying, “Who would have thought.”
“Photographers,” Naomi muttered under her breath. Under the table, she felt a hand on her knee. Eileen must really be making an effort—and wanting Naomi on her best behavior—because she was sitting to Naomi’s left and moving her right hand must be extremely difficult for her. Naomi knew that much.
Naomi looked away from the table for an instant, straight into Trudy Callahan’s face. Surely Trudy was smart enough to put two and two together as well. Naomi needed to speak to her mother before anyone else said anything about what they suspected about her and Eileen. She didn’t want her mom to find out that way.
She pushed her chair back. “Mom, can I talk to you in private for a minute?”
“Now?” Her mom eyed her quizzically. “The starters are about to be served.”
“It’ll only take a minute,” Naomi insisted, and stood up. She avoided Eileen’s gaze, afraid Eileen would try to interfere with Naomi’s desire to confess. But it was Eileen who had brought her here, so she’d need to find a way to understand. She might not be close to her own mother, but Naomi was to hers, and she couldn’t bear this secrecy any longer.
“Okay, darling.” Her mother followed Naomi into the hallway. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Aren’t you wondering how I ended up at the Callahan pre-Christmas party?”
“You and Eileen are friends,” her mother said. “That much is obvious.”
Naomi examined her mother’s face, trying to figure out if she was playing dumb—being friends with the Callahans probably meant being very good at keeping the peace at all times.
“We’re more than friends, Mom.” There, Naomi had said it. She wished she could have broached the subject in a more delicate manner, and in the warmth of her mom’s house instead of this cold corridor in the Callahan mansion, but the circumstances had given her no choice.
“W-what do you mean, darling? Eileen used to babysit your brother. She’s old enough to be…” She paused and shook her head. “Surely it’s not very serious.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Naomi. I’m a bit shocked. I just never thought that you and Eileen were a possibility.”
In her state of shock, her mother had, perhaps, found the exact word for what Naomi and Eileen were. A possibility. Not one with many options, but a possibility nonetheless.
“I realize it must come as a bit of a shock. Especially having to find out here.” Naomi glanced around the hallway. From the dining room she could hear the clatter of silverware. Dinner was being served. Naomi wasn’t very hungry.
“Trudy doesn’t know yet, I assume?” Her mother inched a little closer.
Naomi shook her head. “Nobody knows. Eileen didn’t know I was your daughter and I certainly didn’t know she was a Callahan.”
“Oh, darling.” Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She cleared her throat. “Are you, um, in love with her?”
Naomi huffed out a breath. “I don’t know. How could I even be in love with someone who’s only here for the holidays?”
Her mother held her a little closer. “The other day at lunch. That’s what I was seeing. You’d met someone.” Naomi felt her nod. “My motherly intuition is still very much in working order.”
“At least she’s not Jane,” Naomi offered.
Her mother came to stand in front of her, and put both her hands on Naomi’s shoulders. “Darling, whatever this is, or whatever it turns out to be, just enjoy it. I’m not going to be the one to judge you. I know that life is much too precious for that.” She leaned in and kissed Naomi on the forehead. “Shall we go back in there?”
Naomi nodded and followed her mother back inside. Now she needed to find a way to discreetly let Eileen know that she’d told her mother. So much for this being just a fling, then. Maybe it was easy for Eileen to keep something like this from her family—they barely played a part in her life—but for Naomi, things were very different.
“Good thing the starter’s a cold dish,” Eileen said. “I was about to send out a search party for the two of you.”
Naomi shot Eileen a sheepish grin. Before she could say anything, an immaculately dressed waiter asked if she wanted white wine.
“I’m driving,” Naomi said, and held her hand above her empty wineglass.
Eileen leaned over and, with her left hand, scooted Naomi’s hand away. “I’ll call us a taxi. You look like you could do with another drink.” Her soft gaze landed on Naomi’s.
“Okay.” Naomi allowed her wineglass to be filled.
When she looked across the table at her mother, she saw her glancing intently at Eileen’s right arm.
“If I may be so indiscreet to ask, Eileen,” she said. “What happened to your arm?”
“Oh, just a silly accident with some annoying long-term consequences,” Eileen said quickly. She’d obviously come to this party with some rehearsed lines. Naomi wasn’t going to contradict her in front of her mother, but she made a mental note to ask Eileen why it was so hard for her to tell the truth about her stroke. It wasn’t something she’d brought on herself. It was something she’d suffered—and maybe that was the problem.
“Eileen has physical therapy at the hospital,” Naomi said. “That’s where we met.”
Her mother nodded. “That looks quite serious to me. You’d best take good care of yourself.”
“I will, Mrs. Weaver. I promise.”
To Naomi’s ears, it had sounded as though her mother had asked Eileen to take good care of her daughter—as in not breaking her precious little heart.
After dinner, Naomi dragged Eileen up to her old bedroom again.
“I hadn’t expected a Callahan dinner to have such an effect on you,” Eileen joked, although Naomi could sense some tension in her tone.
As soon as Eileen closed the bedroom door behind them, Naomi said, “I had to tell my mom. I couldn’t possibly sit across from her for an entire evening, with you next to me, without her knowing. That’s not how things go in my family.”
Eileen nodded as though she had already sussed that out. “What did she say?”
“She was a bit shocked, as you can imagine. I mean, this entire evening has been one big shock for all of us.”
“I know.” Eileen gathered her in her arms. “I should have given you my full name. I just didn’t think it was very important.”
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind thing between us.” Naomi rested her head on Eileen’s good shoulder.
“Hey, I’m happy you can talk to your mom about this. She obviously loves you very much.” Eileen held Naomi closer.
“She regrouped quite quickly. She said life’s too precious to judge me.”
“How about we spend Christmas with your family,” Eileen said, her words flowing above Naomi’s head. “They sound so much nicer than mine.”
Naomi pushed herself away from Eileen’s chest, eager to see her face. “Your mother gave me quite the look earlier. I think she knows you’re keeping secrets.”
“My relationship with my mom is built on keeping secrets. That and crushing guilt and disappointment, of course.” Eileen gave a weak smile.
“I take it you won’t be telling her any time soon that you’re dating her friend’s daughter then,” Naomi said.
“We’ll see.” Eileen expelled a heavy sigh. “We’d best get back before more people start missing us—and start putting the pieces of the puzzle together. We don’t want this to turn into our big coming out party.”
Coming out as what? Naomi thought, and considered her mother’s question from before.
Was she in love with Eileen? As she stood there looking at her, it sure felt like she was.
Chapter Nineteen
Back downstairs, Eileen did her best to blend in with all the guests spilling out of the dining room into the common area. Naomi tripped on the edge of an oriental rug, causing her to stumble.
Eileen steadied her, smiling. “Maybe I shouldn’t have encouraged you to have more wine.”
“It was my heel,” Naomi defended, a sheepish grin on her flushed face.
“Uh huh. Let’s say a combo of the two. We should step outside for some fresh air.” Eileen scanned the groupings of people in the room. “It’s a bit stuffy and not solely because a third of the attendees are wearing bow ties.”
“That sounds lovely. I’ll get our jackets.”
Julia sidled up to Eileen. “I see Naomi is heading to the coat room. Are you two leaving me so early to fend for myself?”
“Don’t fret, sister dear. We’re just going for a stroll by the lake.”
“Is that code for—”
“Jules the Mule who Drools! It’s like my return has brought out the juvenile teenage boy in you. Not everything is about… that.” Eileen whispered the last word.
“Yes, it is and that’s a yes, Smelly Ellie.”
Eileen gnashed her teeth at her sister, not wasting a breath arguing with Julia who clearly had imbibed enough wine to loosen her tongue to Code Red level.
Naomi, with her coat draped over her shoulders, placed Eileen’s in the same fashion.
“You two have a lovely walk,” Julia said, her emphasis causing a muscle in Eileen’s jaw to tense.
Naomi responded, “Would you like to join us?”
Julia’s brazen smile spurred Eileen to say, “James is beckoning you, Jules.” She shooed her away with a flick of her fingers.
Leading the way out the front door, Eileen quickened her pace on the off-chance Julia would take Naomi up on her offer. An overly inebriated Julia was proving to be a loose cannon and the evening had already dealt Eileen enough shock to process.
Outside, Eileen steered them to the dirt path along the side of the house, leading to the water’s edge.
“Will you be okay in your heels?” Eileen asked.
“Yes, as long as we don’t go too far.” Naomi wrapped her black wool coat tighter around her torso.
They walked shoulder to shoulder, not speaking. Faint moonlight shimmered on the dark surface of the lake, and the water lapped the shoreline.
Naomi bumped Eileen’s left side. “Earlier, when I pulled up in my car, what were you really laughing about?”
“This is the downside of dating a woman so much younger than me. Your ability to remember tiny details such as that.”
“This is the downside of dating a woman who attempts to change the subject every chance she gets.” Naomi pecked her cheek, threading her arm through Eileen’s, holding on tight.
Eileen glanced at her profile. “You’ve noticed, eh.”
“Hard not to. Remember, I’m young enough to remember everything.”
“What’s that like? I can’t remember.”
Naomi laughed. “Oh, you’re good.”
Eileen nuzzled her nose into the warmth behind Naomi’s earlobe. “I hope so, even with…” She didn’t feel the necessity to mention her arm.
Naomi rested her head on Eileen’s shoulder. “Never worry about that, Ellie.”
Eileen smiled over the use of her nickname. “Why’s that? Because I’m okay or you’re too kind to hold my restrictions against me?”
Naomi stopped in her tracks and stood right in front of Eileen. “First, you’re way better than okay. Secon
d, your arms, both of them, are part of you. Newsflash: I like all of you, Eileen Makenna Callahan.” She shook her head. “It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that you’re a Callahan. Your family has lorded over Derby for generations.” Naomi placed one hand on each of Eileen’s shoulders. “I feel foolish, really, not making the connection between Eileen Makenna and Eileen Callahan. There aren’t too many Eileens from these parts.”
“It isn’t the most popular of names, no. I’ve always been the only Eileen in school and at the office. So many girls my age were named Amy or Jenny.”
“I’m trying to think of a famous Eileen—besides you, obviously.”
Eileen laughed. “I’m not that famous. Even your mom didn’t know I’d won a Pulitzer. And, the fact you can’t think of the famous Eileen I’m thinking of only highlights our age difference.”
Naomi scrunched her brow. “Who?”
“Eileen Brennan. She was an actress. Ever see The Last Picture Show?”
Naomi shook her head, chewing her bottom lip, her eyes large and alluring in the moonlight.
Eileen moved her head closer to Naomi’s. “Had a feeling. What about Private Benjamin?”
“That sounds familiar. Who else is in that?”
“Goldie Hawn.”
“I loved her in The First Wives Club. That’s an oldie, but goodie.”
Eileen burst into laughter. “An oldie. Oh, wow!” She mulled this over. “You were probably a wee one when that came out.”
Naomi brushed her lips against Eileen’s. “Stop that. It doesn’t matter.”
Eileen’s breath hitched. “What does matter?”
“What you were laughing about earlier this evening? Clearly.”
“I didn’t distract you enough, huh.” Eileen wore an aw-shucks expression.
“While I applaud your efforts, no, nothing gets past me.”
Eileen jerked her head to the moon overhead.
Naomi studied the night sky. “I’m going to need more.”
“The moon. I was laughing at the moon. Well, not at it.” Eileen wrapped her arm around Naomi’s waist, pulling her closer, eliminating the space between them. “I was struck by it. How it seemed romantic, which isn’t how I usually view the moon or most things, really. I’ve always been a bit serious. I think part of it comes from being the eldest child. And the expectations placed on me being a Callahan.” She sucked her lips into her mouth, not wanting to broach the part of her life that haunted her—the one her mom never let Eileen forget. “My job—it can be difficult to stay upbeat and not dwell on the worst sides of humanity.” She looked at the moon. “Before you picked me up, for the first time in years, when I stared at it, I didn’t associate it with a negative memory, but with romance. I naturally attributed this change to you. Being around someone so young. Full of life. It’s… it’s almost as if the universe knew you were the one thing I needed most in my life right now. To confront… the thing I can’t even tell my relatives about. Not even Phil. We basically grew up together and he’d do anything for me, but the thought of him knowing, or anyone—it kills me.” Eileen rested her forehead against Naomi’s.