Impossible Things

by Alexandra McBrayer

  She finished her coffee, got a hot chocolate and cookie to go and went out into the cold feeling happy.

  An hour later she was no longer feeling happy. Instead she felt stressed out and worried. After going from shop to shop she still hadn’t found anything for Isabella or Lucas.

  Her grandmother was hard to shop for and she wanted something special for Lucas, but she needed to get back to the office before Rodrigo and Chiara missed her.

  This was probably the last chance she’d get to shop before Christmas so she went in a few more stores and was about to make her way back when she saw a shop across the street with a Chinese name that she’d never heard of before. Deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to try she went in.

  The minute she walked in the door she spotted the perfect present for her grandmother. It was a silk scarf in a vibrant scarlet that Lucy knew would perfectly match Isabella’s lipstick shade.

  The clerk wrapped it for her and she was about to leave when she glanced over and saw a display case full of jewelry. Curious she stepped over and her eyes fell on a pair of onyx and silver cufflinks.

  She smiled.

  Cufflinks were the male version of jewelry and after all the jewelry that he had given her it was her turn to give some to him.

  She bought them and left the shop smiling again with the knowledge that for the first time in her life she had bought presents that reflected the personality of their owners. The presents were small but thoughtful, and she had spent half of her thousand pounds but she didn’t care, because she was so happy with each of them.

  She walked back to the office on a different side of the street and when she passed a stationary store she glanced in the window to see a white leather picture frame. She went in and bought it and had them wrap it up. She had only known Chiara for a week but she wanted to give her something to thank her for everything that she had done.

  When she got back Rodrigo and Chiara were in his office. They looked up when she came in and she smiled at them.

  “I thought maybe we’d worked you too hard and you ran away,” Rodrigo said, smiling in relief.

  She sat her packages on the floor and said, “No, I went to get something to eat and to Christmas shop. I hadn’t done it yet.”

  Chiara laughed, “I start my Christmas shopping in August. I have to with two kids or I’d never get it done otherwise.”

  They talked for a few minutes, and Lucy was ecstatic to find out that the pieces they’d spent the week working on were going to be ready for London fashion week.

  At five Rodrigo closed his laptop and said, “Your grandmother is going to be furious with me. It’s Sunday and I worked all day and kept her granddaughter from her. We need to go home.”

  He stood up and Lucy capped her pen and stood up as well. She took her papers back to the office that she was sharing with Chiara and then went back to Rodrigo’s office. He was going around the room turning off lamps and Chiara was putting her things away in her briefcase.

  Chiara stood up and approached her brother. “I love you,” Rodrigo said and leaned down to kiss his sister on the cheek and to embrace her.

  “Ti amo,” Chiara said and kissed him back.

  Chiara came across the room and hugged Lucy, “Have a wonderful Christmas,” she said, “And I’ll see the two of you in the New Year.”

  Lucy pulled back, “We won’t work again?”

  Chiara laughed and shook her head. “No, even Rodrigo isn’t that much of a slave driver. We’ll see each other the week before the runway show. They need time to make the pieces and everything else is done. I’m going home to see my family and we’re going to celebrate Christmas and then take the kids to the Amalfie Coast to see my parents.”

  Chiara reached into her purse and pulled out a small, wrapped package, and handed it to Lucy. “This is for you.”

  Surprised Lucy smiled at her and took the package before going over and taking out the package for Chiara from her bags. “And this is for you. I saw it and thought of you.”

  Chiara smiled and ripped open the package. When she saw the white leather frame she looked up at Lucy and said, “Thank you, it’s beautiful.”

  Lucy shrugged, feeling suddenly shy and hesitant. “It reminded me of your beautiful white coat and I thought you could put a picture of Diego and your kids in it for your desk.”

  Chiara nodded and leaned forward to kiss Lucy on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said again.

  Lucy opened her present, pulling off the pretty red paper to see a leather box. When she opened the box and saw that it contained a beautiful pair of ruby and diamond earrings she gasped.

  “Oh no, I can’t,” she said and Chiara reached out and put her hand on Lucy’s. “Of course you can. These are from me and my mother and we want you to have them.”

  Not understanding Lucy asked, “Your mother?”

  Chiara nodded. “Even though in technicality you’re Rodrigo’s granddaughter, you’re the only granddaughter from him that our mother is ever going to get. So she wanted you to have these. They were her mother’s. She also sent your mother a pair which Rodrigo will give to her tonight.’

  Lucy felt the tears pouring down her cheeks. “Thank you,” she said, “Thank you so much, and please thank her for me.”

  Chiara had tears in her own eyes as she said, “You can do that yourself. In a few weeks Rodrigo will bring all of you to see us and you can thank her then.”

  Not knowing what else to say Lucy nodded her head and reached out to hug the older woman. Before Chiara pulled away she said, “Welcome to our family Lucy.”

  Chiara left shortly after that and Rodrigo and Lucy were quiet on the drive home. It wasn’t until they were stopped at a light that Rodrigo said, “Oh! I almost forgot,” and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

  He handed it to Lucy and she took it and unfolded it to find that it was an envelope. She opened the envelope and reached it and pulled out a check. When she saw how much it was for she couldn’t help but say, “Wow!”

  Rodrigo laughed. “Chiara and I had no idea how to determine how much to pay you. While you’re designing the collection for us, it your work and you’re not really an employee. So we calculated how many pieces we expect to sell and divided it in half. That’s your share.”

  She turned to look at him, “But what if they don’t sell?”

  Rodrigo shook his head. “Lucy they’re going to sell. Believe me, I know my job and the pieces you designed this week are going to sell as quickly as people can get their hands on them.”

  Lucy looked down at the check in her hand. It was the most money that she had ever seen in her life. It was more than her parent’s entire mortgage.

  For a second she thought about going shopping again but then realized that the presents that she had picked out were perfect. It wasn’t about the money spent; it was about the thought that went into each gift.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  When they got to the house it was silent and Rodrigo went looking for her grandmother while Lucy went to change her clothes. There was a knock at her door a few minutes later and she said, “Yes.”

  Rodrigo opened the door and said, “Lucy you’d better come.”

  He turned and Lucy felt her stomach drop as she rushed after him. They went into his and Isabella’s room and found her mom and grandmother on the bed. Her mom was lying in Isabella’s arms and was crying her eyes out.

  Lucy flew across the room, “Mom what’s wrong?”

  But Rosaline was too upset to tell her. Instead it was Isabella who said, “Your father called. He told her to come home and bring you with her.”

  Lucy looked at Isabella and saw the fear in her grandmother’s eyes.

  It had been too good to be true, Lucy had put off thinking about her mom going home, but it had always been there in the back of her mind.

  While she knew that there was no way she was going back to the states, she knew her mom would. She wished with all her heart that Ro
saline would stay in London as well.

  “Mom, I’m not going with you.”

  Rosaline nodded through her tears and choked out, “Of course you’re not. You have a life here now. You have a job and family. I would never expect you to come with me.”

  Lucy reached down and grabbed her mom’s hand. “But you’re my family too. Can’t you stay?”

  Rosaline began to cry again and Lucy rubbed her shoulders as Isabella rubbed her hand over her daughter’s hair and made soothing noises. When she was finally able to stop crying Rosaline said, “I have to go. He’s my husband.”

  Lucy took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said a quick prayer before saying, “Mom I love you and I love dad. I do. But I don’t think he’s right for you.”

  Rosaline looked up at her daughter. She didn’t say anything she just watched Lucy as she said, “Life is very short mom. Very. Tomorrow something could happen and take one of us. I don’t want you to live in unhappiness for a single second and I don’t want to either. I want us to live.”

  Rosaline and said, “You sound so much like your grandmother,” and smiled up at Isabella.

  Lucy nodded. “I know I do. Dad was right, she is infectious. But not because of the beautiful clothes or the jewels or even the beautiful men,” she turned and smiled at Rodrigo who was pacing back and forth at the end of the bed. He stopped for a minute and smiled at her.

  She continued, “What’s infectious is her love of life. That’s what I’ve learned in my time here. That’s what she’s taught me. Life doesn’t hand you happiness, you have to go after it. You have to refuse to take the life that is given to you and to go after the one you want.”

  Rosaline sat up and pushed her black hair out of her eyes. Without make-up and with a runny, red nose she looked like a young girl as she stared at Lucy. “But I love him,” she said, and Lucy nodded.

  “I know you do. But sometimes we love the wrong people. You didn’t want me to stay with Sam because he was wrong for me. I don’t want you to stay with dad because he’s wrong for you.”

  “He’s my husband,” Rosaline said and Lucy answered, “I know. But you’ve tried enough mom, you’ve given enough to him and your marriage. It’s time to give something back to yourself.”

  The words were whispered as Rosaline asked, “Divorce?”

  Lucy nodded and asked, “Mom if you could live anywhere in the world and do anything you wanted to do what would it be?”

  Rosaline looked confused as she shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never done anything. I went to college but that was it. I never had a job after your father and I got married.”

  Lucy leaned forward and her words were a whisper as she said, “A new life mom. A new you. You can be anything or anyone you want to be. It’s not too late.”

  The three women sat talking for the rest of the night and Rodrigo went downstairs to watch TV.

  At eight he knocked on the door and Lucy opened it to see him standing on the other side holding a pizza box, a bottle of champagne and glasses. He came in the room and sat it on the bed before handing out paper plates and napkins. He kissed each of them in turn before turning and leaving the room without ever saying a word.

  The women looked at each other and laughed and Lucy watched in amazement as her elegant and refined mother and grandmother ate pizza and drank champagne until they became tipsy.

  A little after ten, after more than four hours of talking, Rosaline still wasn’t sure what she was going to do, or what she wanted, so they parted.

  Lucy went downstairs with instructions to send Rodrigo to bed and she found him in his office with Lucas. The two of them were sitting with their feet propped up on the coffee table, holding glasses of beer and talking.

  They both smiled when she came in the room and Rodrigo asked, “Everything okay?”

  She shrugged. “She doesn’t know what she’s going to do.”

  She sat across from them and looked down at her hands. “It’s weird to be the one trying to talk my own mother into divorcing my father.”

  Rodrigo sighed. “I know, but you’re right, she’s not happy. Like you she’s blossomed since she got here. Each day I see the two of you becoming more and more who you really are.”

  Lucy took off her shoes and put her feet up on the table as well. Lucas stretched out his foot and touched hers and she smiled at him before saying, “It’s not about the money either.”

  Rodrigo frowned and sat forward. “What do you mean?”

  Lucy closed her eyes and sat back in her chair. Lucas’ sock-covered foot was still lightly touching hers and it felt warm and reassuring. It was good just to know that he was there. She thought about what she wanted to say and she opened her eyes to see that both men were looking at her.

  “When I was growing up I thought that it was about the money. I thought that Isabella’s glamour came from the things she owned, from the expensive clothes and jewels and from the places that she went. Now I see that wasn’t it at all.”

  She reached up and took down her hair from the bun that it was in and rubbed her scalp before continuing, “It’s not the money at all. Isabella would be Isabella even if she lived in rural Iowa and was poor. It’s the life inside her, the passion and hunger for living life to the fullest that makes her who she is. Even if the only place she could shop was a thrift store she would still be elegant and stylish because she would still care.”

  Both men were staring at her intently and she knew that somewhere in what she was saying existed a kernel of truth about what she felt for Lucas but she didn’t know how to get at it.

  She leaned forward and looked from Lucas to Rodrigo and said, “It’s not that she is shaped by life but rather that life is shaped by her, by her intentions. Even in Iowa she would still be different, she would still be marching to the beat of her own drummer. She would still be going away from the crowd and making her own path through life.”

  Lucas asked, “And what about you?”

  She smiled at him. “I never made my own path. I followed others. When they said jump I jumped. When they told me what normal was, I strove to fit that ideal.”

  Rodrigo asked, “Who’s they?”

  Lucy shakes her head. “They are all the people who try to hold you back. Who try to make you fit into a mold. Who want you to be like them because they can’t handle people that are different.”

  Rodrigo smiled. “I don’t know anyone like that.”

  Lucy shakes her head, “And that’s why you are who you are without hesitation or reservation. That’s why you can love my grandmother like she’s twenty-three and not seventy-three. That’s why you took me in and gave me a home and have been there for me. You’re simply you and you don’t care what others think.”

  They talked for a few more minutes before Rodrigo got up. He was at the door when he turned back to say, “I invited Lucas and his mom to Christmas dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

  He walked out without waiting for a reply and Lucy and Lucas stared at each other. She stretched her foot out so that it was pressed firmly up against his and he smiled at her.

  The clock on the fireplace mantel chimed Midnight and Lucy turned to look at it. She turned back to Lucas and said, “I was supposed to get married today.”

  His eyes were serious as he searched her face. “Are you upset about that?” he asked and she shook her head. “No. I got a second chance and now I’m living the life I want to live.”

  Blue eyes were locked with green as he said, “You could still get married today. You could marry me.”

  Her heart turned over in her chest but it wasn’t in fear. She thought about it. Really thought about it, and then she smiled at him and asked, “Would you get mad at me if I asked you to wait a year to ask me again?”

  He didn’t say anything for a minute and she worried that he was mad but finally he smiled. “So you expect to be around in a year?”

  She nodded and smiled back at him. “I’ll be here, and I definitely want you to
be here. Are you willing to wait?”

  He nodded slowly, “As long as I know you’re not going to run away.”

  She got up and moved over to the couch next to him. She sat down and he pulled her up against him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m home.”

  He kissed her, and the last pieces of the Lucy who tried to fit in, fell away.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  She woke the next morning with a smile on her face but it fell when she thought about her mom. She got up and opened the connecting door but Rosaline was still fast asleep. Putting on her robe she went down the hall to Isabella and Rodrigo’s room and knocked once before opening it.