Two Roads Home

by Raney, Deborah;

  “Well, I sure don’t know where it is.” His tone said, “And why are you bothering me with it?”

  Tempers had been short all day, and it didn’t help matters any that Dad had checked a walk-in guest into the room at the other end of the hall after supper. Mom had cornered Jesse and begged him to keep the girls quiet tonight, which did not sit well with him.

  “Does she know what she’s asking?” Jesse said once they were alone. “And why didn’t she tell you? Now if they’re noisy, it’s all on me.”

  “Oh, she didn’t mean that. You know Mom. She just gets frazzled when they have guests.”

  “You mean she’s frazzled six days a week?”

  Corinne ignored that. He was just looking for a fight.

  At least the room where the man was staying had a private bath, unlike theirs. They’d be traipsing across the hall a dozen times before the night was over, getting drinks and going potty and brushing teeth—all times three.

  Poppa had taken Sari and Sadie into Langhorne to the swimming pool this afternoon, so hopefully they were worn out enough that they’d go right to sleep. Simone, on the other hand, had taken an extra-long nap, so her batteries were fully charged. She was likely to be burning the midnight oil. And there was no keeping her quiet if she didn’t want to be.

  A minute later, still hearing Jesse muttering and digging in the closet, Corinne asked, “What are you looking for?”

  “My last nerve.”

  She didn’t find that very funny given the circumstances. “If you’ll tell me what you’re looking for, maybe I can help you find it.”

  “I’m fine. You worry about the girls. I think I can get myself ready for bed.”

  “You’re just a regular barrel of laughs tonight, aren’t you?”

  He ignored her.

  For the last four days, the two of them had painted at the old house, which was really the new house, and hauled more furniture back to the new house, which was really the old house, because they simply didn’t have room for it. She and Jesse had started calling the two homes “the big house” and “the little house” in their conversations, just to be clear which home they were referring to. She didn’t want to add to the confusion, but in her mind she’d begun to switch the labels to “the nice house” and “the tiny house.”

  They’d accomplished a great deal and Corinne was feeling better about how the house would work for them, but they were all exhausted to the point of extreme crabbiness, and it seemed to be catching, since even her formerly good-natured mother had been cranky. Of course, Mom’d had three little girls underfoot for most of the week, so Corinne understood why she was crabby.

  It was time for everyone to move back to their own homes. She’d talked to Danae a couple of times, and it sounded like they were already almost settled in the big house. Corinne knew she’d eventually have to go over and ooh and aah over what her sister had done with the house, but she was grateful the painting and moving had given her a good excuse to stay away so far.

  “Hey, babe, will you do toothbrushing duty tonight so I can go help Mom get stuff laid out for breakfast tomorrow?”

  No reply.

  She tried again. “Jesse?”

  “I heard you. Yeah, go ahead. I’m on it.” He emerged from the closet. “Come on girls. Everybody follow me.”

  He seemed more himself, and the girls were giggling, so she went down to help her mother lay out breakfast makings for the inn’s lone guest, a Mr. Fordham from St. Louis, who Mom seemed convinced was a “secret shopper” that would be evaluating the inn for some mystery publication.

  Corinne doubted he was that, but she did feel guilty that her parents had essentially shut down the inn for the whole week on her and Jesse’s account.

  Corinne came back up to read bedtime stories to the girls, and heard Mom and Dad talking to the inn’s guest in the kitchen below. He was a talkative fellow, and she had to admit that some of the questions he asked made her wonder if her mother was right about him being there to review the inn. If so, they had nothing to worry about. Mom was being her charming self, and the scent of her famous Apple Cinnamon Crisp—served with a big scoop of cinnamon ice cream, if Dad had anything to say about it—wafted up the stairs.

  It was after nine o’clock when the girls finally settled down and went to sleep. Jesse had an early class and fell asleep before the girls. Corinne decided to make herself scarce, and instead of going downstairs as she had the last few nights, she curled up in bed with a couple of magazines.

  She must have fallen asleep sitting up, because the next thing she knew, Simone was standing at the foot of the bed crying. The alarm clock on the nightstand said one forty-five. Jesse stirred beside her in that way that told Corinne he was awake but playing possum so she would handle the kids. She’d never minded that little game when he worked and she was home with the kids. She didn’t feel quite as magnanimous about it tonight. But Jesse did have class in the morning.

  She threw the covers back and eased her legs over the side of the bed. “Sweetie, shh. It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”

  “Mama!” Simone cried louder, and Corinne knew she wasn’t likely going back to sleep on her own.

  Sighing, she got up and started toward the end of the bed. “Ouch!” Stupid bed frame. Pain zinged from her big toe to her ankle.

  “What?” Jesse sat straight up in bed. “What’s going on?”

  “Go back to sleep. I just stubbed my toe.” She moaned and wondered if she’d broken it.

  Simone cried louder.

  “Can you hush her up?”

  “Jesse, what do you think I’m trying to do?”

  He mumbled something she couldn’t understand. Which was probably for the best.

  Simone toddled to the corner, crying ever louder.

  “Sweetie. Mama’s right here. Come here.” Feeling her way across the dark room, she tripped on Sadie and stumbled. She caught herself on the mattress, but not before her knee hit the floor with a thud. Thank goodness, Dad hadn’t opted to put the inn’s guest in the room below them. Hopefully he was a sound sleeper.

  Determined to avoid turning on the light and waking the other girls, she felt her way to where she heard Simone crying. She picked her up and one whiff told her that a dirty diaper was the culprit for waking her youngest. “Oh, baby girl. That’s a stinky one. Come here. Let’s go get you changed.”

  Where had she put the diaper bag? She felt along the edge of the wall where she thought it was but to no avail. Combing the wall for the closet light switch, she finally found it. But she guessed wrong and turned on the overhead light. Like it had been choreographed, Jesse and both the older girls stirred and moaned.

  “Babe . . .” Jesse squinted up at her. “Can you please turn that off.”

  “I’m trying to find the diapers,” she hissed.

  He mumbled something that sounded like, “Well, I’m trying to sleep.”

  She gave him the benefit of the doubt, certain he would never be so rude and insensitive. Yeah, right.

  She turned on the closet light and switched off the room light, but opened the closet door wider just for spite. Unfortunately, a simple diaper change was not going to do the trick. This was going to require a bath and a full change of clothes, which might be just the trick to calm Simone down anyway.

  She gathered clean pajamas and a diaper, flipped off the light, and started across the hall to the bathroom.

  “Mommy? Where are you going?”

  “Go back to sleep, Sadie. I’m just going to change Simone.”

  “I wanna come too.”

  “No, it’s the middle of the night. I’ll be back before you know it. I just need to get your sister bathed and changed. You go back to sleep.”

  “She gets a bath? In the whirly bathtub?”

  “Go to sleep, Sadie.”

  “But I never got a bath. No fair!” Sadie burst into tears.

  “Corinne?” Jesse sat up in bed. “I really do have class in the morning.”

/>   “I know, I’m sorry. Why don’t you go sleep on the sofa in the basement. It’s cooler down there anyway.”

  Without a word, he slid out of bed and headed downstairs.

  Corinne gave in to Sadie just to keep her quiet, and the three of them went across the hall to the bathroom shared by the two rooms on the second level. She closed the door and turned on the water, doing her best to keep the girls quiet while she undressed them and lifted them into the tub. She turned to find their towels and ran smack into a man’s bare chest.

  By the time she realized it was Jesse, it was too late to take back the blood curdling scream.

  “Where does your mom keep extra blankets? It’s cold down there.”

  “You scared me half to death.” She knelt beside the tub and lathered a washcloth. “Look in the closet in our room. I think I saw some blankets on the top shelf.”

  Jesse padded out. And Sari padded in. “How’s come everybody left me alone,” she whined.

  “You were sleeping.”

  “No I wasn’t. I was awake the whole time.” She looked over Corinne’s shoulder to where her sisters were swimming in ten inches of water. “Can I take a bath too?”

  Corinne blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Oh, sure. Why not.”

  Two minutes later all three of the girls were wide awake, splashing each other and squealing as they tried to escape Corinne’s washcloth—a game that was more suited to eight p.m. baths than two a.m. washups.

  Apparently her mother thought so too. Mom knocked on the door and stuck her head in. “What’s going on?”

  “Simone had a stinky diaper.”

  “Are you about finished? Because Dad and I can hear you clear upstairs.”

  “Sorry. We’re almost done.” She pulled the plug. “Girls, quiet down and get out so I can get you—”

  Woof! Huck charged into the room, knocking Simone to the floor on his way to the tub.

  Mom gasped. “Who let him out?”

  Sari and Sadie squealed with delight as the big Lab dipped his huge head between them in the tub and lapped at their soapy bathwater. Meanwhile, Simone let out a delayed wail and sat naked on the cold tile, sobbing.

  Corinne wrapped a towel around her and picked her up. “Where was Huck?”

  “Dad put him in the basement for the night.” She lowered her voice to a stage whisper. “Our guest is apparently allergic to dog dander.”

  “Uh-oh. Jesse went down there to sleep. He must have let Huck out.”

  “Why? Are you two fighting?”

  She shot her mother a look. “No! It was too noisy in our room and he has class in the morning.”

  “It is morning.” Mom tied her robe around her waist and turned to open the door. She gave a little gasp and jumped back.

  “What is going on in here?”

  “Hi, Dad.” Corinne gave a little wave and rose with the swaddled toddler on one hip. She deposited Simone in his arms. “Can you get this one ready for bed please?”

  “You’d all better quiet down,” Mom said. “The walls were literally shaking when I came down.”

  A pounding sound came from the hallway outside the bath, and an angry voice boomed. “Is anyone there?”

  Mom gasped again. “Oh, no! It’s Mr. Fordham! Shh! Everybody hush!” She gave her reflection a quick inspection, made a gagging sound, then rolled her eyes and opened the door.

  Corinne couldn’t quite make out the conversation that ensued, but there were raised voices, the masculine one using words like “ridiculous” and “outrage” and “never again.” And the feminine one starting with “sorry” and “apologize” but quickly escalating to “don’t give a rat’s rear end” and “wouldn’t be welcome here anyway.”

  Dad met Corinne’s glance and cringed, hiding his face in Simone’s soggy towel.

  Corinne stood there with her jaw hanging open.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, Mr. Fordham had checked out, without paying, and Corinne sat at the kitchen table with her parents—and Jesse, who’d been jarred awake when Dad confined Huckleberry to the basement again, long enough for the angry guest to make his getaway.

  The girls were asleep—or at least quiet—piled into Jesse and Corinne’s bed, and Huck lay contentedly under the kitchen table.

  Mom blew out a breath. “Shall I put a pot of coffee on?”

  Jesse stretched. “Not for me. I think I’m going to try to get an hour or two of shut-eye before I have to leave.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Corinne rose, then sat down again, frowning. “I’m so sorry, Mom and Dad.”

  Jesse took up the apology. “We should . . . at least pay you for the guy’s room.”

  “Nonsense,” Dad said, winking. “Someday your kids will do something like this to you, and then we’ll be even.”

  They all laughed, but Corinne felt terrible. “But you lost the one paying guest you’ve had all week because of us. I bet you’ll be so glad to see us go.”

  She felt near tears but did not want to lose it in front of her parents.

  Dad patted her hand. “Honey, this is all temporary. Just a few short days from now, you’ll be back in a place of your own, and yeah, sure, there’ll be adjustments there, too. But give it a few weeks, and everything will start to right itself again.”

  “That’s right,” her mom said. “You’ll be settled in your new home, Jesse will be settled in school, the girls will start to sense that their world is stable again . . .”

  Dad gave a little chuckle. “Well, at least until the next time it tilts on its axis.” He pushed his chair back from the table. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to bed.”

  Mom went through the house turning out lights, and Corinne and Jesse climbed to the second floor. The girls were curled like spoons in the queen-size bed, and she and Jesse worked to put together a makeshift bed from the sleeping bags the girls had been lying on.

  She could hear her parents’ low murmurs in the kitchen below them just like it had been when she was a little girl.

  Jesse pulled her head onto his shoulder, and they lay that way until she thought his breaths had evened.

  His voice startled her. “That was quite a night, wasn’t it.”

  She giggled. “Did you hear my mom ream that guy out?”

  “Your mom?”

  She gave him an instant replay of the exchange in the hallway, embellishing the parts she couldn’t hear for Jesse’s benefit. His chest shook with laughter beneath her head, which only made her laugh harder.

  “Shh!” He felt for her lips in the dark and covered her mouth with two fingers. “You’ll wake the girls!” He rolled on his side and exchanged his fingers for his lips.

  She recognized this timeless prelude, sensed his kiss grow serious, but she couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing, still remembering the look on Dad’s face when Mom was out in the hall chewing out that man.

  Jesse tickled her. “What’s so funny?”

  “This whole night. Our whole lives.”

  He laughed with her, and the harder they tried not to, the harder they laughed.

  “Hey!” Dad’s voice came from the bottom of the stairs. “Put a sock in it up there!”

  That sent them into convulsions.

  * * *

  “Sari, can you buckle yourself?” Corinne flopped the heavy curtains onto the passenger seat and jabbed the keys into the ignition. The tears came then, so hard she could barely see to drive. Thank goodness she’d managed to make it to the car before she broke down.

  It was so hard seeing her sister living in “her” house. She got that Danae would have traded her places in a heartbeat to have the three little girls in Corinne’s rearview mirror, and would probably have been happy living in a dump if that’s what it took to have babies of her own. But still . . .

  And why had her sister felt the need to repaint the kitchen and change the curtains? Danae had always complimented her taste, but apparently she hadn’t liked it as well as she pretended.
Corinne would never tell her sister, but she thought the new curtains she’d chosen made the whole room look a little old-fashioned—and smaller. Of course, the rooms in that house could afford to look smaller. She’d had to bite her tongue more this last month than in her entire life. And she didn’t like that feeling.

  She took the right fork of the divided entrance to their former neighborhood and flipped on her blinker. Danae had offered to give back the keeping room curtains from the big house, and Corinne was eager to see if they would work in the dining room of the little house.

  She really was trying to make an attitude adjustment. But it was hard! Counting her blessings helped. For one, Jesse had never been happier. He loved his classes and didn’t even seem to mind the hours he put in at the college where he worked in the field house thirty hours a week for a friend of Dallas’s. His checks just covered the monthly bills, and already they’d had to take out of savings for a couple of things for the house. But they weren’t destitute.

  At least not yet.

  The girls were still enamored with their house, which was what they called the playhouse Dallas had built. Her brother-in-law was already planning a bigger, better playhouse at the big house, and she knew she’d have to get prayed up before she could ooh and aah convincingly over that one.

  Turning onto their street, Corinne counted another blessing. The older neighborhood was tidy and friendly. Her daughters had made new friends with a family two houses down, and Corinne was surprised, but charmed, when the girls’ mother had brought over a plate of cookies the second day after they’d started moving in.

  She and Jesse had started sitting on the front porch in the cool of evening, and she surprised herself by how much she enjoyed visiting with neighbors walking by. They’d barely known their neighbors in the other house, given the distance between acreages. She’d thought she liked it that way, enjoyed the privacy, but she was counting this new neighborhood camaraderie in the blessing column.

  She pulled into the driveway, hoping Jesse hadn’t beaten her home. She wanted to get the dining room curtains switched out and surprise him. He’d actually been disappointed to discover she’d promised to leave their curtains for Danae.