by Rebeca Seitz
“Because knowing the problem means exploring solutions. Do you have any idea of the plethora of obstacles to getting pregnant? I do! I’ve been reading and researching for months. And the vast majority of those obstacles now have methods to overcome. But we can’t find a solution until we know which problem we are facing.”
He closes his eyes and I don’t know whether we’re about to enter a new phase of this argument or if he finally understands my position.
When he opens them, I can see the tiny red lines in the whites of his eyes. He has not slept lately. There are new lines around the edges of his lids and more gray at his temple, now that I take the time to see it.
“So that I’m clear, you have no plans to leave me if we find out the problem is me?”
“Of course not! Why would you think that?”
His sudden embrace nearly knocks me from my seat. Have I been so cold as to make him believe a pregnancy means more than our marriage?
Hadn’t I just said as much to the sisters? If I am asking him to get honest with his physical condition, I have an obligation to get honest with my mental one. That’s fair. But I never meant to convey that I’d leave if his physical problem— if there even is one—is insurmountable. I wouldn’t do that.
I pull back and make him look at me. “Scott, I love you. I hate what we’re going through right now, and I’d do anything to take it all away. The fastest method I can see for taking it away is to define exactly what we’re up against. And that means you getting tested.”
“I agree.”
Did he say that? Or is my imagination crafting reality?
“You agree?”
“I do. If you want me to get tested and you promise me that you aren’t going to stop loving me no matter what those tests say, then I’ll go.”
“Oh, Scott.” His heart beats hard beneath my ear as I lay my head on his chest. I can feel my own heart beating harder than a hummingbird’s as it hovers over a feeder. He does love me. Enough to avoid a course of action that might make me leave.
Why is communication so difficult in a marriage? Even when I’m certain I have been nothing but clear, the message received can be so very far from the one I intended.
“I love you.” That, at least, cannot be misunderstood.
His arms tighten around me. “I love you too.”
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Tandy’s tires crunched as she steered her BMW into the driveway of Zelda’s house. No sign of life presented itself, but Tandy couldn’t be sure if that was due to the dead of winter or Zelda’s real absence. Surely she wouldn’t have moved away within twenty-four hours?
She shoved the car in park and pulled up on the emergency brake. This wouldn’t be easy, but Daddy deserved to love the woman he’d chosen.
Taking a deep breath, Tandy stepped into the frosty wind and bent her head against the cold. Within seconds, it had invaded her coat to chill her skin. She shivered as she approached the doorbell and pushed its button.
Give her a few seconds. Even if they feel like hours with this frigid air swirling all over the place. When no one answered the door, Tandy pushed the doorbell again and followed it up with a knock.
“She ain’t there.” An older man, his white hair buffeted by the wind, appeared from the far corner of the next house. He pulled a large trash can behind, its wheels grating on the gravel of the shared driveway.
“Excuse me?”
“You looking for Zelda?”
“Yes. I need to talk to her.”
“Ain’t here. Packed up all her stuff in one of them big U-Haul things and left. Wouldn’t have said so much as a good-bye if I hadn’t been coming outside anyway.”
Tandy struggled to process the information. Zelda packed up her whole house and left in a day?
“Did she say where she was going?”
“Hmmph.” The trash can must have felt like dragging boulders, as stooped as his shoulders and back were. Tandy hurried off the porch and to his side.
“Here, how about I help with that while you tell me where I might be able to find Ms. Zelda?” She took the handle from him.
“Much obliged.” He stuffed the weathered hand that had been pulling the trash can into the pocket of his army surplus jacket.
Tandy walked toward the end of the driveway, slowing her step so the man could keep up.
“Far as I know, she went down to Florida.”
“Florida?” Where Tandy used to live. “Did she say which part?”
“Sure did. Now, let me think here. What was the name of that town? Same as one in Italy. I remember because when she told me, I thought she was up and going to Europe.”
“Naples?”
“That’s it. Naples. Said it was good and warm there this time of year and she wanted to thaw out her old bones.” They reached the end of the drive and Tandy positioned the trash can so the sanitation workers would pick it up. “Thought for a bit about joining up with her, but too much heat in winter ain’t good for a body, you know what I’m saying? Body needs seasons to get itself in order, and they ain’t no seasons in Florida. Just sunshine and heat all the time. Can’t tell whether it’s Christmas or the Fourth of July unless you look at a calendar.”
Tandy smiled, remembering her struggle to get into the holiday mood when the thermometer read seventy-two degrees. “I understand. So she’s driving the U-Haul to Naples herself?”
They started back up the drive. “Tried to tell her the foolishness of that, too, but she said she drove it here from her last place and she could just as well drive it to her new place. That’s one tough woman, you ask me.”
“She’s definitely that.”
“Tough and mad.”
“Mad?” Tandy glanced over at the old man, but his face remained turned to the stones on which they walked.
“As a wet hornet. Don’t know what got up in her craw, but something sure did. Ain’t seen a woman that mad since I came home with my bride, Annalise.”
“Your new wife was mad at you?”
“Not her. Lord, no. Anna was sweet as pie every day of her life, God rest her soul. Betty Livingston though didn’t take too kindly to her man coming home from war with a French bride.”
Tandy chuckled. “No, I guess she wouldn’t.”
“Them French women, they got a thing or two to teach these Stars Hill girls.”
“Anna was French?”
“With enough of her grandmother’s Swedish blood to be the sweetest, kindest French girl you’d ever have the good fortune of meeting, I tell you.”
“She sounds lovely.”
“Lovely as they come.”
They reached his porch and Tandy waited while he struggled up the two wooden steps. “Thanks for telling me about Zelda.”
“Pleasure’s been mine. I’m Homer Tuck, by the way.”
Tandy grasped his gnarled hand and shook it. “Tandy Sinclair Kelner.”
A grin spread across Homer’s face, and Tandy marveled at all those wrinkles forming little smiles. “You’re Tandy?”
“Yes, sir. Do you know me?”
Homer released her hand and slapped his thigh. “Zelda talked you up one side and down the other the whole time she was loading up that truck. If I was you, I’d stay as far away from Florida as I could. She’s got a couple forms of torture that we didn’t even use in the war lined up for your backside.”
Tandy smiled. “I’d love to, and I thank you for the warning. But I’ve got to get her back here.”
“Get her back?” He shook his head. “I don’t think you’ve got yourself a good grasp of that woman.”
“Unfortunately I do.” Tandy sighed. “I just hope she’s as quick to forgive as she is to get angry.”
Silence stretched while gray clouds built above them and the wind kicked up again. A trip to Florida might not be all bad. At least she could get some sun on her skin. Maybe even take a dip in the ocean in between bouts of begging Zelda to return to Stars Hill.
Fat snowflakes began t
o fall, calling Tandy back from sun-kissed beaches and warm, wet sand. She looked up and found Homer’s wise gaze upon her.
“I ain’t sure what you said or did, Tandy Sinclair Kelner, but I do know a thing or two about the power of forgiveness. I’ll be putting you in my prayers.”
Tandy’s throat closed up and she struggled to respond. “Thanks, Mr. Tuck.”
“Call me Homer.”
She nodded and stuffed her hands in her coat pockets. Backing away from his porch, Tandy moved toward her car. “Thanks, Homer.”
“You’re mighty welcome.” Homer turned and walked into his house while Tandy crunched across the wide gravel driveway. She settled into her car and punched the button to activate the seat warmer.
So Zelda had fled to Florida.
Tandy turned the key in the ignition and put the car in gear. She backed out of the driveway and pointed the car toward the Sisters, Ink office where Kendra should be by now. Shifting gears, she sped along and hatched a plan as fast as the indicator rose on her speedometer.
By the time she parked outside the office and cut the motor, Tandy had a plan.
Nine
So Scott’s agreed to see the doctor.”
Kendra’s voice reminded Tandy that Zelda wasn’t their only problem right now. She stomped her boots on the mat at the back door, leaving little clumps of snow behind.
“It’s snowing.”
“Yeah, I can see.” Kendra looked up from her computer and gestured toward the big front window that overlooked Lindell Street. “It’s getting slippery out there. Did you hear what I said? Scott’s going to get tested.”
“After hearing about Joy’s tantrum, I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Me either. That woman’s wrath would scare me into submission faster than an atheist at the throne of Jesus.”
“Mm-hmm.” Tandy turned on her laptop and waited for it to boot up.
“You know, I expected a little more reaction from you. Last night Joy’s telling us she’s smashing plates and today I tell you Scott gave in and all you can say is ‘mm-hmm’?”
“Sorry.” Tandy opened up a Web browser and surfed over to Travelocity. “I’ve got to get us tickets to Florida, so I’m a little preoccupied.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We’re going to Naples.”
“Italy?”
“Florida.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where Zelda’s moved to.”
“Tandy, hold up. It’s barely been two days. No way has she had time to pack up all her stuff and move to Florida.”
“According to Homer, that’s exactly what she did. Yesterday.”
“Who’s Homer?”
Tandy filled her in while she clicked through the reservation procedure online. “I don’t think a phone call will get her back up here. So we’re going to Florida.”
“And we’re not driving because …?”
“Because Naples is way south. It’ll take forever to get down there, and the longer we wait the longer she has to get madder and madder. We can probably get a deal on a last-minute flight and leave tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“Have you talked to Clay about this?”
“I’ll talk to him as soon as I find flight information.” She clicked a couple more times. “There! There’s a flight leaving at 6:30 in the morning. It goes through Atlanta and gets us to Fort Myers at 11:00. We can be at her door by lunchtime. Fort Myers is about a forty-five-minute drive from Naples.”
“And when are we coming back?”
“I don’t know. This is a one-way flight. Hopefully, we’ll be driving back with her in a U-Haul with all her stuff.”
“What if she says no?”
“Then we book another flight home, but let’s not think about that. She’s got to come back.”
“No, she doesn’t. She can kick our sorry behinds to the curb and tell us to leave her alone.”
“She could. Except that she loves Daddy. She said so herself. If we get out of the way, she’ll come back to him. I’m sure of it.”
“Then call her and tell her we’re getting out of the way. As much as I would love to go soak up some Florida sun, I’ve got stuff to do here and so do you. Call her and see if she’ll let Ma Bell deliver our apology.”
“Kendra, think about it for a second. What if she hangs up on us? Then she knows that we know where she is. Besides, I highly doubt she’s got a phone hooked up this fast. And even if she does, there’s no way to get the number.”
“So get her cell phone number from Daddy.”
“Then he’ll know where she is.”
“Good. He can go to Florida and get her. Even better.”
“Not better. Worse. If he goes to Florida, then she won’t know whether we’re sorry or he’s just ignoring our wishes. And the whole reason she left was to keep from getting between us and Daddy.”
Kendra chewed on a fingernail. “I’m still not sure whether I agree with her on that point, by the way.”
“Whether you agree with her or not doesn’t matter as much as the fact that she feels that way. Which means we’ve got to make sure she knows we’re okay with her and Daddy getting married.”
“Just so I’m clear—we really are okay with that now, right?”
Tandy sighed. “Yeah, we are. She won’t take Momma’s place, and she’s not going to try. And Daddy’s waited a long time to love and be loved. He’s happy with Zelda, miserable without her.”
“And he’s got a ring. Might as well have a finger to put it on.”
“And that, yeah.”
“I still think we should try to call her cell first.”
“We messed up big, Kendra. The apology has to be big too.”
Kendra leaned back her chair, and Tandy remained silent while she thought. Eventually Kendra would see that going to Florida presented the best option for Zelda to believe they were sorry and wanted her to come back.
“Okay.”
Tandy grinned and Kendra shot a rubber band at her.
“You knew I would say that, didn’t you?”
Tandy picked up the phone and dialed the number for the diner. “I had a sneaking suspicion you might.” She turned her back to the next rubber-band bullet and waited for Clay to answer the phone so she could tell her husband she was heading back to Florida.
* * *
“I’M GOING TO miss you tonight.” Clay kissed Tandy’s forehead the next morning and snuggled up to her back. “This bed isn’t made for one person.”
Tandy looked across the expanse of white down comforter and leaned into her husband. “I hear ya. But you do understand why I have to go, right?”
Stars Hill citizens walked down the sidewalk below their second-floor bedroom window, their shoulders hunched against the chilly weather. Thank goodness none of them raised their heads since she’d forgotten to close the blinds last night.
“Yeah. You messed up and you’ve got to make it right.”
“Exactly.”
“You know, if you had told me how you felt about Zelda, this whole thing probably wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand. I could have told you she’d never try to take Marian’s place in your heart or your dad’s.”
“I honestly didn’t think it would get this crazy this fast. I mean, one minute I’m talking to Kendra about Zelda, and the next Zelda’s packing a U-Haul and headed to Naples.”
Clay lay his cheek against the top of her head. “That’s what I’m talking about. You found the time to talk to Kendra but not to me.”
Tandy turned to face him. “I know, but you’ve been so busy with the diner and I spend a lot of time with Kendra over at the office.”
“And I understand that. Still, I’m not too busy to know what’s bugging you, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay. We knew it would be hard for me to not tell Kendra everything in the world the way I’ve always done though.”
“I’m not asking you to keep anything from Kendra. Y’all are
sisters and I want you to be close like you always have. Just keep me in the loop too. I don’t want to be one of those husbands on the evening news saying, ‘I don’t know how my wife flipped out. We didn’t talk too much. If you really want to know about her, go talk to her sister.’”
Tandy laughed. “Okay, I hear you. Tell husband as much as sister. Roger that.”
“Good.” He rolled away from her and stood up.
Tandy paused to admire his physique. “You know, you are one hot man, Mr. Kelner.”
Clay grinned. “Then perhaps you’ll accept my invitation to a shower, Mrs. Kelner.”
Tandy pushed the covers back, shivering at the sudden loss of warmth. “I think it’s my civic duty, sir. You know, saving water is good for the environment.”
Clay wiggled his eyebrows. “Then let’s definitely do our part for conservation.”
She giggled and walked toward the bathroom, putting an extra sway in her hips when she saw Clay following behind.
“I can’t promise, though, that we won’t be in there long enough for the hot water to run out.”
“Don’t forget I’ve got a plane to catch.”
They reached the bathroom and he slid an arm around her waist. Turning her toward him, he leaned in for a kiss. “Then you’ll have to pack a little faster.”
As the heat from his lips flooded through her, Tandy resolved to pack the fastest suitcase in the history of womankind.
Ten
Kendra, wake up.” Tandy shoved her sister’s shoulder as the plane descended into Fort Myers and the pilot’s voice overhead advised they were beginning their descent. “We’re about to land.”
“Mmph.” Kendra turned her head toward the window.
Tandy pulled an ear bud from Kendra’s ear. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty, wake up. Time to grovel.”
Kendra popped one eye open and cut it toward Tandy. “The next time you tell me we’re taking a 6:30 a.m. flight, the answer is no.”
The flight attendant’s voice replaced the captain’s as she advised everyone to return to their seats in preparation for landing. Tandy obediently stuffed her carry-on under the seat in front of her. “It was either this cheap flight or three times the price for a convenient departure time.”