Grandma Betty strokes Lo’s forehead. “Yes, he is. And as smart as Ty too.”
“So, you’re helping out with Lo?”
“Wednesdays only. He goes to daycare the other days, but Wednesdays Charmaine has to work until seven at that ad agency. Helps to run a focus group, whatever that amounts to. I didn’t want Ty watching the baby. He has homework to do.”
I ease into the swing beside her. “You’re a pushover, Betty.”
“Hmmph. Takes one to know one.”
“Charmaine seems to be doing very well at her new job.”
“We’ll see.”
“You’re not optimistic?”
“Optimism doesn’t really enter into it, girl. Charmaine knows what she’s gotta do: keep her head down and her lip buttoned. She’s never been able to do that before, but now she’s got this little man to think of, so maybe she’ll wise up.”
We sway back and forth, the only sound the squeak of the swing’s chain, the party a dull roar behind us. After a while, I find the words to ask her what’s on my mind.
“How do you know if you can be a good mother, Betty? How do you know if you’re ready?”
“Ain’t nobody ever ready. Doesn’t matter how old you are, how smart you are—you’re never ready to be a parent.”
“Well, how can you know if you’ll be good at it? Once you’ve got the baby, it’s too late to turn back.”
“You remember when John McCain ran for president against Barack Obama?”
One thing I’ve learned in my conversations with Grandma Betty—she’s the queen of the non sequitur. I have to trust that this is going somewhere. “Uhm…yeah.”
“I always admired McCain because of how he made it through being a prisoner of war in Vietnam. See, when he joined up in the Air Force, he didn’t say to himself, ‘I better not do this unless I’m sure I can survive being locked up in a cage in the jungle.’ I’m sure there were many times when that young man wanted to just lay down and die. But he didn’t. He made it out. And he went on to run for president.”
“You voted for John McCain?”
“Don’t talk crazy, girl. I voted for Obama.” Betty puts her foot on the floor and stops the motion of the swing. She turns to face me. “What I’m sayin’ is, you gotta just step up to the plate. You can do more than you ever thought possible.”
THE END
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Have you read the first two Palmyrton Estate Sale Mysteries?
Another Man's Treasure
Treasure of Darkness
If you’ve read all the Palmyrton Estate Sale mysteries, it’s time to try the Frank Bennett Adirondack Mountain mystery series:
Take the Bait
The Lure
Blood Knot
Dead Drift
About the Author
S.W. Hubbard is the author of the Palmyrton Estate Sale Mysteries, Another Man’s Treasure, Treasure of Darkness, and This Bitter Treasure. She is also is the author of three Police Chief Frank Bennett mystery novels set in the Adirondack Mountains: Take the Bait, The Lure (originally published as Swallow the Hook), and Blood Knot, as well as a short story collection featuring Frank Bennett, Dead Drift. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the anthologies Crimes by Moonlight, The Mystery Box, and Adirondack Mysteries. She lives in Morristown, NJ, where she teaches creative writing to enthusiastic teens and adults, and expository writing to reluctant college freshmen. To contact her, join her mailing list, or read the first chapter of any of her books, visit: http://www.swhubbard.net.
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This Bitter Treasure: a romantic thriller (Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery Series Book 3) Page 25