Claire joined them and filled them in on the agenda for the next three days. Marie was glad to hear all four of the Feinsteins would be joining them on Christmas Eve.
Claire, Marie, and Karen spent Christmas Eve morning preparing an elaborate brunch as various family members arrived. By eleven o’clock, all ten of them sat down to eat.
More interested in the lively conversation than the food, Marie didn’t eat much. It wasn’t the content of the conversations she found so enthralling, but rather the endless stream of voices interacting with each other and captivating each other’s attention. Unlike Thanksgiving, when there had been so much tension, the atmosphere at this meal was light and lively.
After the meal, Evan and Arthur volunteered to clean up and wash dishes to “give the womenfolk a break,” as Evan put it. None of the womenfolk objected.
Finished with the dishes, Arthur and Evan joined the group, and everyone talked until it was time to pile into two cars and go to the food pantry in Kansas City where the Brooks family had volunteered their time for the past five Christmas Eves. Three hours later, they headed back home, tired, a little sad, but feeling fulfilled.
“When do you expect the Feinsteins?” Marie asked.
“Any time actually,” Claire responded. “I just called Gloria to let them know we’re home.”
Right on cue, the doorbell rang, and a minute later Rachael burst into the kitchen where the women were gathered.
“Hi, all! Hi, Marie.” She gave Marie a big smile.
“Come here, you,” Claire said to Rachael. “You look so pretty today.” She patted her on the head. “And different somehow. How was your trip to Kansas?”
“Pretty nifty. Marie has the coolest apartment.”
“Nifty?”
“It’s a whole other language,” Marie explained.
Claire put her hands on her hips. “Well, Rachael. I’m glad you had such a kick. Now tell me what else is buzzin’, cousin.”
“Mrs. Brooks!”
“Well, tell me what’s new.”
“My birthday is today.”
“No kidding. That’s just crazy!”
The roar of laughter brought Ben into the kitchen. “Rachael, are you behaving yourself?”
“Yes, Daddio.”
Ben squinted and frowned. “Rachael…”
“Just kidding,” she said back in a sing-songy voice.
“Why don’t you come into the living room with Brenda and Denise?”
Marie was certain Rachael would have rather spent her time with the grownups, but she followed her father’s orders anyway. “Okay,” she groaned.
“Ben,” Claire called to him before he left the kitchen. She lowered her voice to no more than a whisper. “She’s so bubbly. I’ve never seen her like this.”
Ben glanced at Marie, then back at Claire. “She hasn’t stopped talking about her trip to Atchison since she got back. I hate to say it, but I think I’m going to have to loosen the reins on her a little. It seems to have done a lot of good, thanks to Marie.” He gave Marie a heartfelt smile.
“Hey, it was my pleasure. She can be a handful, but she has such a good heart. I thoroughly enjoyed being with her.” She gave Ben a wink. “I think I had just as much fun as she did. I wanted to…”
“So when can I go back there, Dad?” Rachael’s voice swept into the room from somewhere around the corner.
Ben glanced at everyone and heaved a big sigh. “She’s a handful, alright.”
Claire made her traditional lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner. Everyone groaned afterward before they retreated to the living room for a glass of port. It appeared everyone had enjoyed Claire’s cooking a little too much.
After everyone had settled down in the living room, Marie shot a glance at Claire, who then went into the kitchen. She came back with a cupcake that had a candle in it. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday,” while Rachael beamed. Marie waited for her to blow out the candle before saying anything.
“Well, you’re officially a teenager now, Rachael. How does it feel?”
Rachael smiled a sweet smile. “It’s cool.”
Marie handed her a small gift box. “Happy birthday.”
Rachael tore open the box, grinning from ear to ear. Inside were two gold heart-shaped earrings. But her smile soon faded to disappointment. “They’re for pierced ears,” she said softly.
Marie tried hard not to smile. “I know.”
Rachael stared at Marie for a confused moment, and then her face lit up. “Get out of here. Pierced ears?!”
Marie nodded. “Read the note.”
She read it out loud.
I hope you like the earrings
I may just have to borrow
Both your ears, they will be pierced
The day after tomorrow!
Love, Marie
“What?!” Tears filled Rachael’s eyes. She ran over to Marie to give her a big hug but then quickly pulled away from her, eyes wide, mouth open. She clutched Marie by the shoulders with a tight grip. “Wait! Does Dad know about this?”
Her question was enough to make everyone roar with laughter. “Yes, of course your dad knows.” She put her hands on her hips. “I had to ask him first, you knucklehead.”
“The day after Christmas?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Man, that’s fantabulous!”
“Okay…is that good?” her father asked.
“Really, Dad. Yes, that’s good.”
“Oh, okay.”
After the commotion set off by Rachael settled down, Claire and Jonathan talked about the next morning, how they would open gifts and then attend the ten o’clock church service.
Marie woke up on Christmas morning to the sweet smell of Claire’s cinnamon rolls. She and Karen dressed quickly and joined the others at the fireplace for the opening of the presents. The day had dawned dreary, but that didn’t hamper the cheery moods in the Brooks household.
Claire had picked Marie’s name for her gift. The room went silent while she tore off the wrapping paper from the leather-bound book. In the lower right-hand corner was inscribed Brooks Family Album. Marie glanced up at Claire and gave her a curious smile.
“Go ahead. Open it,” Claire said.
Marie’s heart fluttered. She flipped open the cover. The year 1891 had been printed on the upper left-hand corner of the first page. A picture of a dark-skinned Negro woman holding a baby was the only picture on the page. She glanced up at Jonathan. “This is you?”
“Mm-hmm. Keep going.”
Claire had arranged the family photos by year. The number of pictures per year increased as their children and then grandchildren were born. Marie flipped through the pages, not believing Claire had gone to all that trouble for her. When Claire said, “The blank spots are so you can insert photos of yourself,” Marie couldn’t hold back the tears that were pushing their way out.
The last picture was a family portrait they had taken a few weeks earlier, and below it a handwritten note:
Welcome to the family, Marie.
Below were everyone’s signatures. Marie looked up to see that there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
Marie went over to Claire and gave her a strong hug and then did the same to Jonathan. While still in the hug, he whispered, “That was her idea.” And then Marie realized that Jonathan had been so right. In her heart, Claire knew what she had to and wanted to do, but it would take her time to completely shed the hurt, resentment, and maybe some pride too.
Karen, who could be heard crying all the way from the other room, returned in time to see Jonathan begin to open his gift from Marie. Aware of what Marie had done for him, Karen turned on her heel and went right back to the other room where she could cry in private.
Marie tried to contain her smile while he opened the two-part gift, the first being an album she had put together of her life—school photos, copies of report cards, pictures of her and her mother, a copy of her college transcript, photos of her and Richard and their Lake
view brownstone, and more. The second gift was a copy of What Really Went on in the Big House. Jonathan, who rarely showed emotion, had to swipe a tear from his face.
Marie went into the kitchen to find Karen blotting her eyes with a handkerchief. “It’s safe now. You can come back in. It’s time for your gift.” She put her arm around her.
“My gift?”
Not wanting her to be left out, Claire had bought Karen a red, white, and black silk scarf. More tears.
“Boy, you guys sure know how to make a girl cry,” Karen groaned.
After church and following an early supper of Cornish game hens and all the trimmings, they spent the rest of the day talking, laughing, and reminiscing. Marie placed herself in her own timeline each time a story about Jonathan and Claire’s sons surfaced. The twins were six years older than she, and Tré was five years her senior, so Claire was raising three small boys while Jonathan was having an affair with her mother. It hadn’t hit Marie like that until now.
One by one, everyone left the Brookses’ home, Rachael last of all. Since Ben had dropped Rachael off but hadn’t stayed, Marie offered to drive her home in Claire’s car.
Rachael held the open gift box in her lap the whole way home. Marie explained to her what she could expect the next day when she would be getting her ears pierced.
When they reached Rachael’s house, before she got out of the car, Rachael said, “No one has ever done anything like this for me before.” Tears flooded her eyes before she flew out of the car and into the house.
The next day, Jonathan and Marie drove into town for an early morning appointment with family law attorney, Mike Cavanaugh, to discuss Marie’s marriage issues. Karen came along for the ride. A big man, middle-aged Cavanaugh had a stern face Marie thought could intimidate just about anyone in a courtroom. He pulled out a list of possible grounds for divorce from Illinois law, the same list Marie had found in her own research.
“I’m familiar with the list, Mr. Cavanaugh, and except for the felony one, I don’t think I can get him on any of the charges. However, he could get me on several.”
He slid the list across his desk to her. “Which ones?”
Marie studied the list. “Gross neglect of marital duty.” She glanced up at Cavanaugh. “I left him in May of last year. And abandonment.”
“And he hasn’t filed for divorce?”
“Not that I know of. I’d know, wouldn’t I?”
“Not if he doesn’t know where you are.”
“Oh, he knows where I am, alright.”
“Do you know why he hasn’t filed?”
Jonathan jumped in, his face sober. “He wants her back.”
“Do you have any intentions of going back to him?”
“No.”
Cavanaugh sighed. “Before we go any further, have you thoroughly thought this through? Divorcees aren’t looked upon very favorably, shall we say. Do you really want to live with that?”
Marie sat up a little straighter in her chair. “Mr. Cavanaugh, one of my main goals in life is to not let other people’s opinions affect the way I live. If someone looks down on me because I’m divorced, so be it. I have done nothing wrong, and I will continue to hold my head high.”
“Okay, Miss Costa. I just wanted to cover all the bases.” He cleared his throat, signaling he wanted to move on. “Let’s get to Richard’s arrest. What was the felony?”
“He was arrested, along with Joey Aiuppa, for skimming.”
“While you were with him?”
“No, after I left him.”
Cavanaugh stared down at his desk for several seconds. “You may or may not be successful filing under the felony grounds since you were already separated at the time.” He turned toward Jonathan. “I did a little checking on him. He’s not a mobster. He’s an associate at best and probably not even that, but the guy has potential for being a big earner, and my guess is that’s why the Outfit is interested in keeping him around. Does that surprise you, Miss Costa?”
Marie shook her head. “No, I’ve been aware of his association with suspicious characters for some time.”
“He’s tight with cops—corrupt ones, that is. Not only in Chicago, but in Milwaukee, Gary, and New York as well. Maybe other places, but that’s all I could tie him to. He’s good at skirting the law, and if it wasn’t for Aiuppa getting arrested and snitching on others in order to get a lighter sentence, your husband probably wouldn’t have even been caught.”
Jonathan turned toward Marie. “What do you want to do?”
“Before you answer that, let me just get one more possibility out of the way. You and Richard were married in Illinois, right?”
“No, we were married in Crown Point, Indiana. Why?”
“Hold on a minute.” He retrieved a thick law book from his bookshelf and paged through it. Cavanaugh smiled. “Well, this may be interesting. Are either of you aware of anti-miscegenation laws?”
Jonathan and Marie shook their heads.
“Anti-miscegenation laws make it illegal for whites to marry people of other races. Illinois repealed their anti-miscegenation law years ago, but Indiana’s is still on the books.”
“What exactly does that mean?” she asked.
“It means if you’re caught, it’s punishable by imprisonment. And it’s the white person who goes to prison.”
Marie and Jonathan stared at each other in disbelief.
“Don’t get too excited about this. I’ll have to look further into it. Did Richard know of your ethnicity before you married?”
“No. But then, neither did I.”
Cavanaugh gave Marie a skeptical eye, and then Jonathan.
“She’s being honest, Mike. It’s a long story.”
“Does Richard know now?”
“Yes.”
“Did he find out while you two were still living together?”
“That I’m not sure.”
“But he knows now.”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have to look into this further. When I do, I’ll get back to you, Miss Costa.”
They drove home in silence. When they reached Jonathan’s ranch, he pulled the car into the garage and asked Karen if he and Marie could have a minute alone. Based on the scared look on Karen’s face as she entered the house, Marie had the feeling she wasn’t that comfortable being alone with any of the Brookses.
Jonathan took Marie’s hand. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to anyway. I’d give my right arm to see the look on Richard’s face if he were to learn his marriage to you was voided because of your ethnicity and he was going to jail for it. What a coup!”
“Dad…”
“I know. I know. Something else, Marie. I was real proud of you back there standing up for what you believe in. Never give in to what other people think you should be. Claire’s favorite saying, to thine own self be true, very powerful words, very powerful words indeed.”
Rachael was anxiously waiting inside for Marie. Karen sat beside her on the sofa, her coat still on. “I’m ready,” Rachael said. “Let’s burn some rubber!”
“Hold on, Miss Antsy Pants,” her father warned. “Let Marie catch her breath, okay?”
“That’s okay, Ben,” Marie said. “Just give me a minute to freshen up, Rachael. Then we’ll be off.”
The local St. Charles jewelry store didn’t do ear piercings, so they had to drive to Aurora, which Rachael didn’t appear to mind. Karen sat in the back seat, allowing the birthday girl to ride up front with Marie.
“You brought the earrings, right?” Marie asked Rachael.
“Are you kidding? They’ve been sitting by our front door ever since I got them. Dad said if I checked to make sure they were in the box one more time, he was going to take them away from me.”
“Dads are like that.”
“Marie?”
“Hmm?”
“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you, but didn’t
know exactly how.”
“You can ask me anything, sweetie.”
Rachael turned around and looked at Karen.
“It’s okay to say anything in front of Karen. There’s not very much we don’t know about each other.”
“Okay. How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-four. Why?”
“‘Cause I know the Brooks twins turned thirty last year—they had this big party—so that means you were born after them.”
“That’s right,” Marie said, afraid of where this was going.
“And Mr. Brooks is your father.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So you were born when he was married to Mrs. Brooks.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So how does that work?”
“What do you mean?”
“How was he your father and married to Mrs. Brooks at the same time?”
Marie took in a big breath. With no simple way out of this, she wasn’t going to make any excuses for Jonathan, but she also didn’t want him to lose any credibility with Rachael. Not sure if a thirteen-year-old was old enough to know the truth, she took a chance. “Rachael, Jonathan had an affair with my mother while he was married to Claire.”
“And she was okay with that?”
“Well…she didn’t know at the time.”
“I meant was she okay with that when she found out?”
“I’m sure she wasn’t, but I think Claire is a forgiving woman.”
“That’s crazy. I wouldn’t have forgiven him.”
“Don’t be so sure, Rachael.” Marie paused. “Look, relationships are complicated. No matter how perfectly matched the couple is, there will always be problems. And people make mistakes. They make bad decisions.” Marie glanced into the wide, innocent eyes of the young girl sitting beside her. “Some people say you can tell how strong a relationship is by how the couple handles their problems. I suspect Jonathan and Claire’s relationship is very strong. At least that’s what I see.”
“Marie?”
“Yes?”
“So is everything forgivable?”
“According to the Bible, everything is.”
Rachael gave her a wanting look. “But what do you think?”
Daughters Page 9