“Just watch that Duffy doesn’t get into things, and that the stew doesn’t boil over. That’s all I ask, other than not opening the door if you don’t know who’s at it,” Roisin continued, making her way past the stewpot and fire, and out the door. She turned around a moment and smiled.
“Won’t be long,” she reassured Clarice again. “Babette’s isn’t far, and we just have one or two things to discuss,” she continued. “That’s a girl.”
And with that, she waved her croissant in goodbye, turned east, and then north a little ways, hoping that Babette could answer the questions on her heart. If not, she couldn’t say she didn’t try to find out… and she was sure that Bettina wouldn’t know the answers; she never seemed to, unless it was gossip.
Careful not to get dust in her food, she ate the rest of the croissant rather quickly, the chocolate already melting on her fingers in the heat.
And just as she finished the last bite, and had licked her fingers clean, she reached her destination.
Now, we’ll see what Babette has to say, aye, she thought as she hallooed through the slightly open doorway. “Quelqu'un à la maison? Je viens de parler avec Babette, s'il vous plaît.”
“Ah, c'est que vous, Roisin? Venez, entrez,” she heard her friend call, and smiled.
Well, if nothing else, they could visit a while; answers are helpful, but so is a welcome greeting.
Seventeen
Vancouver, Washington… July 4, 2025
“But, Mama,” Duncan shouted from his room as Paloma stood, waiting at the front door, “I wanted to watch different movies than those; we borrow the television from the Iglesiases again, and all we get to watch are… are… kid movies?”
Sighing, she glanced down at Confetti a moment, picked her up, and waited. She refused to have a yelling match with her son.
“Mama, what’s he complaining about,” Cherish asked rather loudly from the dining table nearby where she had been talking with Kristof about Fourth of July traditions. Her recently-shorn curls bounced as she moved suddenly toward her mother.. “You don’t even let me have movies for my birthday,” she said, her face bunching up like she was going to cry.
Stomping away, Cherish bypassed her mother and headed out the door, slamming it. Paloma watched through the side window as her daughter ran down the sidewalk in the direction of her brother and sister-in-laws and silently prayed that’s where she’d go, even as Duncan shouted his displeasure some more.
“Chosen, Duncan, get in here. Now,” she called to them once the sound of her son’s voice died down for a moment. Kristof glanced at her and gave her a weak smile.
Confetti mewled to get down and scrambled away, her lithe, multi-colored body skittering under the edge of the now-tattered green velvet couch even as the twins trudged toward her, grumbling. Kristof cleared his throat even as Paloma glanced between the older man and her boys.
“I’m not even going to comment on how ungrateful youth have become these days,” the man muttered, readjusting the A’s cap on his head before returning his eyes to the oatmeal in front of him.
“Hey, I’m not ungrateful,” Chosen argued even as Duncan’s face fell. “I like most of the movies we have to choose from.”
“That’s the way, son,” Kristof returned. “Thankfulness is something I learned, but it took a long time; at least you are beginning earlier than I. Stay that way,” he continued as Paloma slid into a seat at the table and the boys followed suit.
Duncan continued to grumble a bit as he added fixings to his cereal, then turned toward Kristof in the near-silence of the room.
“I’m thankful for lots of things,” he informed the man. “Just not being stuck with movies I could watch at the Iglesias’ house, or over at Uncle Jason and Aunt Me’chelle’s. I wanted to watch something new; something exciting. Something that my friends could say they hadn’t seen, either,” he said, his voice low as he reached for and poured milk, then set it back in the center of the table.
“Don’t you see your parents are trying to help you? They chose movies they knew wouldn’t cause harm to anyone who comes over,” Kristof told him, his voice shaking with the effort to keep his volume at a level the boys could hear.
“But….”
“Now, Duncan,” Paloma said, reaching for the milk. She poured herself a glass of it as she watched Chosen shake his head. “Mr. Sage is right, you know.”
“Kristof,” her three breakfast companions corrected quickly, almost together, their differing tones making her laugh.
As she shook her head, still laughing, the phone rang, and everyone settled down long enough for her to answer it. The holographic image of her brother appeared, an unhappy Cherish at his side.
“Did you lose something,” Jason asked, a frown creasing his forehead. “Or did your daughter have permission to come tearing over here unannounced? We were getting things ready for the boys, and now she’ll have to stay all day,” he informed her. “Since it was supposed to be a secret.”
“For us,” Duncan piped up, moving to stand. Paloma shook her head, and he sat back down with a flump.
“How was I supposed to know, if it was a secret,” Cherish argued, her frown nearly as big as Jason’s. “They always let me come over to hang out and stuff.”
“Well,” Paloma said, glancing at the boys, then back to the holographic image, “it goes to show that it’s best to ask instead of assuming, doesn’t it? Like calling before you knocked on the door to see if it was alright?”
She watched Cherish roll her eyes, the exaggerated movement causing her curls to swish just slightly. “Yeah, fine. True; whatever. I’ll call next time, satisfied?”
Cherish glanced to Jason, who raised his eyes toward the ceiling a moment, sighed, and then consented. Paloma counted to ten in her head before answering, breathing as slowly as she could.
How her kids had gotten to be so sassy lately, she didn’t know, but she and Edward needed to discuss it with them before their guests arrived, if at all possible; the boys, at least. Cherish would have to wait for morning.
Hopefully, Paloma wouldn’t regret the wait.
“We’ll talk about this later,” she told her daughter, pausing to sip some of her milk, not wanting to think about how cold her oatmeal would be now. “And Jason,” she continued, “thanks. I owe you one.”
“You do,” he agreed, finally baring a smile. “But actually, you owe Me’chelle, because I’m late for work, and she’s who’s going to be holding the fort down with three kids and a dog now. Just talk to her tomorrow about it; no worries.”
“Understood,” she reiterated, nodding. “I’ll make it up to her somehow. Anyway, I should let you head on out, then. And don’t forget, 6:45.”
“Got it,” her brother said as his thumb neared the middle of the screen before it disappeared. “See you then.”
“But why not?”
“Duncan, your mother and I aren’t doing this with you right now. We’ve already given you our reasons, and quite frankly, not only do we not have to justify our decision to you, but given that our guests will be here shortly, I would imagine you don’t want the movies cancelled because of a whiny attitude,” Edward replied, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked pointedly at his son. “And that wouldn’t exactly be fair to your brother, would it?”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Don’t test me,” Edward warned again as Paloma set the pasta salad she’d prepared for dinner on the table. Duncan glanced down at his plate as Edward reached for his hand to pray, and finally, there was silence.
“Chosen, would you like to pray,” Paloma said after a few seconds of silence.
The air crackled with tension before there was a reply.
“Not really,” Edward heard Duncan’s twin reply in a whisper. “Not tonight. I…”
“I will,” Kristof’s raspy voice announced, catching him off-guard. “You’ve never asked me.”
Edward’s head went up and he peered at the old, nearly-bald man sitting acr
oss from him. His baseball cap was askew, but otherwise, nothing seemed amiss.
“Alright. Thank you,” he finally said, closing his eyes once more.
The older man cleared his throat, took a sip of iced tea, and then began to pray.
“Well, Lord, You know I don’t do this very often, but I’m working on it, so I just want to ask you to bless our meal and the hands which have prepared it; the hands that grew, prepared, and manufactured it; those who harvested it. And I want to ask you to keep us all safe tonight, and help the twins and their friends to have a good time for the birthday movies tonight.,” Kristof said, his voice straining. “And please be with my Imogene as she prepares to come back to the States. Watch over our trip to Israel, and guide us in what to do, even if You never tell us the why,” he continued. “Amen.”
In the few seconds of silence before anyone else moved or spoke, Edward opened his eyes to peer at Kristof. There were tears beginning to roll down his time-etched face, and he looked Edward in the eye, smiling weakly.
The moment vanished so quickly that when Edward blinked, all was set to rights once more, and Duncan and Chosen were reaching for slices of bread. Paloma scooped a small amount of the pasta salad into the bowl in front of her, then passed it to Edward before scooping some into the second bowl in the stack.
”Thank you, Kristof,” Paloma finally voiced as she passed the second bowl along. “I appreciate it; we just wanted to help you preserve-”
“Nonsense and fiddlesticks.”
Kristof’s smile betrayed his words, and Edward began to chuckle.
“Can I call-?”
“Not during dinner, Duncan,” Edward said more swiftly than he wanted.
“But, I….”
The boy ran a hand through his thick, short curls and sighed as his words trailed off again.
“Whoever it is can wait until after dinner, unless its life and death,” he told his son, glancing from one twin to the other to make sure they both understood what he was saying.
“But what if it is life and death,” Chosen asked, surprising him.
“If it’s life and death, there’s not much we can do other than make sure everyone’s safe, pray, and seek God’s face for whatever is happening. But… why would calling someone, suddenly, in the middle of dinner be beneficial for their life and health?”
“Well, it isn’t, but… what if it was?” A sheepish grin came over Chosen’s face as he replied, not quite meeting his father’s eye.
Edward fleetingly sought his son’s eye before a knock sounded at the door, breaking the mood at the table.
“Now, who could that-?”
Paloma rose from her seat even as she spoke, and Edward’s eyes followed her curvy frame as she made her way to the door.
He watched as she peered through the window.
“Why, it’s the new pastor from Open Bible,” she told him. “I saw his photo on the website the other day. I’ve been thinking we should visit. It’s been, what, five or six months?”
She opened the door, ushering in a tall, bald man with a large, friendly smile. He had on dark wash jeans and a blue plaid shirt.
“Pastor Waldorf, welcome. We weren’t expecting…. Would you like something to drink? Have you eaten?”
“Please, call me Ron,” the man said, his voice much deeper than Edward would have guessed, extending his hand to shake each of the adults, and then the twins’ hands.
“Didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner, and I’m glad you at least knew who I was,” he finished after everyone introduced themselves to him, along with the handshakes. “And thanks; I’ve eaten. I understood it was your boys’ birthday, and wanted to stop in to wish them well.”
Edward’s eyes widened a moment before he spoke.
“How did you know it was-?”
“My daughter told me. She goes to school with them, and seems to have a rather big crush on your boy, Chosen, here. Fact, I think they had a date to talk on the phone tonight,” the man said, his big grey eyes twinkling.
Edward glanced from the pastor to Paloma, who was smiling, to Chosen and back again. “Why didn’t you call her earlier,” he asked simply.
Before Chosen could reply, the pastor spoke again. “Apparently, Sue Ellen dared him to try to make the call during dinner.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a couple of small boxes. “And she made these for you boys, so I figured I may as well drop them off. Figured you weren’t about to let your boy here make phone calls during dinner; I know I sure wouldn’t.”
He handed the pale golden packages to the boys, making sure each had the one with their name on it, and smiled again.
“Back in my day, I would have gotten smacked for even asking to interrupt dinner,” Kristof muttered. “These kids are getting off easy.”
Edward had to chuckle at that.
How could he explain in front of the pastor that phones hadn’t even been invented yet when he was growing up? Kristof surely remembered that from their discussions, didn’t he?
“Can we open them now,” Duncan wanted to know, his eyes bright as he gently pushed his plate toward the center of the table a few inches to make room for the task.
Edward met Paloma’s eyes, and she nodded gently.
“Go ahead,” he told them. “May as well, if it will help calm you both down. But no more complaining, alright?”
The twins nodded vigorously, their red-blonde heads bobbing a moment before Duncan tore into his present; Chosen opened his more slowly and carefully.
And together, they lifted the treasures the pastor’s daughter, Sue Ellen, had made them: shell necklaces with cross pendants. Chosen’s was a blue cross, and Duncan’s was a green cross; both had a delicate silver edging to them.
“Took her hours,” Ron Waldorf confided, smiling again. “Gotta admit, I think she really cares for these boys of yours. First creative project she’s done in weeks. I think the new church, new school, and having new friends has finally begun to sink in. Not like things were in Kansas, that’s for sure.”
“Kansas?”
“Spent most of the last sixteen years there, three different cities, all as a bi-vocational pastor. Farmin’ and preachin’ and workin’ on motorcycles; that’s what I know,” he told them, laughing.
“That sounds tri-vocational to me,” Kristof put in, setting is plate aside and wiping his mouth.
Ron laughed, and most of the family joined in.
It felt good to laugh.
“Would your family like to come over for the fireworks here, or do you already have plans? The kids are going to watch movies afterward; not a lot of fireworks, but a couple of good movies,” Paloma asked once the laughter died down. “We’d love to get to know you better; I was actually thinking that we should go back to Open Bible once we’re home from our trip, I just hadn’t discussed it with…”
Her words trailed off.
She’d thought of pulling their home church apart and going back to mainstream?
Well, the kids were old enough now; it would need to be a family decision.
“Oh, can we,” Chosen asked, excitement in his voice, interrupting Edward’s train of thought. “Can we, Papa?”
Edward sighed.
This was going to be a long night.
Paloma watched the clock strike eleven before she decided to go check on the movie-watchers; in all, the boys had seven friends over, plus their sister. A good-sized crowd for Edward’s office; somewhat packed, even.
As she walked up the steps, she could hear the intermittent sounds of Elliott and Gertie speaking to E. T. on the television between the neighborhood fireworks. A smile crossed her lips as she remembered the first time she’d seen the movie – she’d watched it with her father and brother. It was one of only five movies their father had taken them to before he and their mother had died.
Tears came to her eyes and, opening the door, she smiled through her tears as she glanced around the room.
Chosen, Duncan, Cherish, Clayton, Charlott
e, Izzie, Sue Ellen, and two of the Iglesias boys sat mesmerized, eating popcorn and granola bars and salt water taffy as they watched E. T.’s finger glowing on the screen. Confetti made her way of escape through the door as soon as she opened it.
“Anyone need anything,” she whispered, causing Cherish and Izzie to both jump.
Izzie’s deep brown and blonde braids bounced against the back of her head in the process, causing her to drop her granola bar and rub her neck.
“Shhh,” her daughter scolded her, popcorn halfway to her mouth. “Let us watch, Mama.”
Chuckling to herself, Paloma took care to close the door quietly and padded down the stairs again to where the adults were gathered.
“How’s it going up there with the kids’ movies,” her husband asked her, looking up from the plate of snacks in his hand.
“I have a feeling they won’t complain so much next time,” she assured him, smiling. “They’re most of the way through E. T..”
Jason moved toward her and swiftly gave her a side hug. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
She nodded as she moved further into the room. “I remember.”
“What,” Me’chelle and Edward asked, almost in sync.
“It was the first movie our father ever took us to see in the theatres,” her brother said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. “Our parents weren’t very big on paying for entertainment, but when they did, it was quality; it was something we could learn from and have fun with at the same time.”
Justice nodded in understanding, and he smiled. “Keith and my parents were the same way,” he said. “I think that was one of the first movies our Mama took us to see, too.”
Ron and Suzette Waldorf – a tiny blonde thing with big brown eyes, whose daughter was a near-replica of her – listened in silence. Ron smiled, though there was a question in his eyes.
“So, we saw five with our father, and that was it; we were going to celebrate Momma’s recovery when she got better by going to see a sixth; we’d discussed it in the same conversation as learning she had cancer,” Jason disclosed. “But then they were in that accident and we just never….”
The Angels' Mirror Pack 2: Books Four through Seven Page 98