Buckeye and the Babe

by Olivia Gaines

“Had to stop in town, Ma. I brought a pan of Ms. Ethel’s chicken and dumplings and an apple pie,” he said, placing the tray on the table on the porch. Mary Neary’s focus rested on Cabrina.

  “And what do you have there, young lady?” Mary wanted to know.

  “I have grape sodas and the apple pie,” she said.

  “Good. If I had to eat one more blueberry anything, I was going to start driving for Virginia. We’ve eaten so many blueberries, my shit is blue,” Josiah Neary said getting to his feet.

  “Daddy, for Pete’s sake. We just got here, and you are talking about your bowels. I have no idea why you think we want to hear about that,” Gabe said.

  “I don’t give a shit about Pete or anything else for his sake. I am telling you ahead of time because that woman Zeke married has either made a bargain with a blueberry pimp, or she is hoarding a blueberry bush in the back of the house. Besides, if you are staying here for three days, then you may as well get ready for blueberry pancakes and pies and cookies and shortbreads,” Josiah said. “I am going to eat this whole damned apple pie just to get the taste of blueberries off my tongue.”

  “Oh, hush up, Joe,” Mary said. “Is this the surprise you said you were bringing?”

  She was looking at Cabrina.

  “No, the surprise is the dumplings and apple pie. This is Cabrina, Tameka’s best friend of twenty years. She is also my wife,” Gabriel said, moving to the front door, ready to dig into the goodies that he’d brought. He carried the pan of dumplings with him as he left her standing there, twisting in the wind with an apple pie in her hands and two grape sodas. He would probably come back for the sodas, but not her. The man’s mind was always on food. He’d left her alone on the porch with his parents. One sideways introduction and like that he was off to eat.

  Josiah and Mary Neary were without words as Cabrina raised her soda bag holding hand, waving at her in-laws. “Hi,” she said, suddenly feeling the need to throw up.

  Chapter 14 – A Tearful Reunion

  Josiah and Mary Neary had a myriad of questions for their new daughter-in-law, who seemed nervous, but the spark in her eyes raised the hackles on old Joe, who went into FBI mode. Gabriel, their middle son, was a thinker. He wedded this woman for a reason, but Josiah was more interested in why the young woman married his son. They had to have been married on Friday since they started driving on Saturday. A woman didn’t marry a man on the same day she met him unless she had an agenda. He planned to find out what she was cooking up and planning to serve to them on her pretty plate.

  Pushing the small table that sat between him and his wife forward, he offered Cabrina a seat. She sat slowly on the old wooden table, ready for whatever these two were planning to dish out. There was no way to know what type of FBI Agent Josiah Neary was or his role with the organization, but in her estimation, the man had nothing on Nelson and Courtney Robinson, overprotective parents with only one girl child. Her father’s technique for getting information out of her rivaled the best interrogators with the CIA. Over the years, she’d learned a few techniques herself, and she was very good at her job. Joe Neary was about to learn that his son, had married his match in more ways than one.

  “I am Mary and this is Josiah. You can call him Joe,” Gabriel’s mother started the conversation. “I guess since you are now our daughter-in-law, you can call us Mom and Dad if you are comfortable doing so.”

  Mary’s eyes stared at the curly ponytail on Cabrina’s head and traveled all the way down to her feet. Cabrina gave a small smile to the woman. Her body relaxed in demeanor but her insides were gurgling. She wanted to get inside of that cabin and see her friend. Holding her head immobile, she cut her eyes to Joe, waiting for his first question.

  He cleared his throat.

  Cabrina didn’t flinch.

  Joe crossed his legs, rubbing thick stubby fingers across the stubble on his chin.

  “If I am to understand this, you met Gabe on Friday and married him on the same day,” Joe started.

  “Yes, Sir, that is correct,” Cabrina answered.

  “That sounds fishy as hell to me, young lady. I am all for love at first sight, but unless you were drunk, high, or bouncing off one of those new drugs, people don’t do that anymore,” Joe said. “Gabriel doesn’t make rash decisions, so I know he had a reason for marrying you. Why did you marry him?”

  She wasn’t going to lie. There was no need. His parents deserved the truth and to get a feel for who she was as a woman. They also needed to understand that a deeper connection had formed between her and Gabe over the last few days. Gabe was her husband and she was his wife. She was planning a life with their son and he was equally yoked with his choice of a spouse.

  “I married him because he asked me to,” Cabrina said flatly.

  “Young lady, I’m sure he’s not the first man to ask for your hand in marriage. I think you married him because your friend was married to his brother, and this was the best way to keep an eye on her to make sure Tameka hadn’t made another mistake,” Joe said.

  “You are partially correct,” she said, to Joe’s surprise. “The other reason is that your son is really handsome, smart as a whip, and kisses like angels are alive in his lips.”

  Mary smiled at her.

  “What are you running away from, young woman, to marry a man you just met?” Joe wanted to know.

  “A life of mediocrity I guess,” she said. “After my friend disappeared for nearly a year, I realized that waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect anything was stupid. Life is meant to be lived, and I wanted to live. The past four days have changed my entire world. If Gabe can give me all of that in four days, what will the next 40 years be like?”

  Mary was still smiling. She asked, “Cabrina, what is it that you do for a living?”

  “My parents own an insurance company. I specialize in annuities and burial programs,” she said, waiting like a cat to pounce and turn the tables on them.

  “Burial programs?” Mary asked, but Joe was still leaned back in the chair watching her body language, searching tell tales signs of a practiced liar. Thus far, he’d found none.

  “Yes, Mrs. Neary,” she said. “Often, parents take out policies thinking to leave something for their kids to pay off debts. However, they often fail to consider that their children are idiots.”

  Joe uncrossed his legs. His eyebrows furrowed, listening closely to what she had to say next. Cabrina knew she had them on the hook, and what she did for a living, she was very good at. She had it down to a science. The Nearys were about to find out what their son saw in her and that she was not just another pretty face.

  “I say, idiots, because as parents, you have raised them to be independent and self-sufficient, but parents don’t teach their kids how to live without them,” she said. “The hundred-thousand-dollar policy people buy goes down the crapper after Junior decides to have his mother’s coffin pulled down Pennsylvania Avenue by six white horses and doves released every three blocks on the way to the Arlington. I think my favorite by far was the one child who spent the insurance money by having Aretha Franklin bussed in to sing ‘His Eye is On the Sparrow’ at his mother’s homegoing. They lost the familial house the next month.”

  “Get out of here,” Mary Neary said.

  “It’s true. Parents know their kids, and the one you think is the strongest is going to be the one who acts the biggest fool because you are no longer here,” she said.

  Joe’s mind immediately went to Zeke. Cabrina saw it in his eyes. She drove home her point and her diversion.

  “The youngest child is usually the one who spirals out of control because he is the one closest to you. The baby in the family had more time with you and knows a different parent than the older siblings since over the years you softened. This child is the one who will blow the money on something stupid. ‘My parents are dead. We have to live in the now,’ I hear so often,” she said.

  Mary knew she had summed up Isiah to a tee.

  “The smart
parent plans their burial in advance, with pre-paid plots and church services or cremation services already allocated so that when the day comes, and it will come, the funds are already cleared. There is no argument between the children since these are your wishes for how you want your bodies interred. The remaining insurance money is equally divided and there are no questions,” she said.

  “You are good,” Joe said.

  “You have no idea, Mr. Neary,” she said with a wink.

  “A pre-paid plot,” he said, sticking out his bottom lip.

  “Yes, Sir. It is the smart choice for families,” she said. “A few years ago, we had a client who purchased plots for herself, her two children, and one extra. Ms. Ella’s kids thought she was insane and fought with her tooth and nail over wasting money, that was until her grandson was gunned down at a convenience store.”

  Mary’s hand went to her breast in shock.

  “Ms. Ella’s daughter and son-in-law, who had been riding her back and calling me every month after she made a payment, were quickly silenced. That extra plot was where Ms. Ella laid her grandson to rest,” Cabrina said.

  Her focus went to Joe Neary.

  “I married Gabriel with my eyes wide open. I don’t run from anything. I don’t cower and am not easily intimidated. I see the world for what it is and people for who they are, and that man has stolen my heart. I love your son. In four days, he has wrapped me around his finger, and my life with him is going to be awesome,” she said with her chin held high.

  “I like you,” Mary said.

  “Can you cook?” Joe wanted to know. His follow up question burning in his eyes.

  “I can cook and to answer your next question, I am not giving him five children which is what he requested. Maybe three, when we are ready, but yes, you will get more grandchildren in the coming years,” she said with a smile.

  The twinkle was back in Cabrina’s eyes and Joe spotted what his son had seen in the woman to make him ask for her hand. He also liked her a good deal. The jury was still out on Tameka, but she and Zeke were finding a rhythm. His other daughter-in-law had shown up in the middle of the night and become Zeke’s wife through necessity, but it was working for them both. Unlike Tameka, Cabrina wasn’t broken though.

  This one had a fire in her. Smarts. And she’d outfoxed one of the best agents in the FBI. That alone earned his respect. Now, he needed to set an appointment with her to discuss his burial plan. He didn’t want his boys scheduling anything extravagant for his homegoing service when the time came. Joe planned to make a visit to the old house in Elyria where Gabe and Cabrina would reside once they got settled.

  Two down. One to go. His thoughts were now on Isiah. He needed to call that one and check on him. He was the action junky. Of his three sons, he was the one who needed to be in the middle of the chaos, firing off rounds at any moving target. He would be the one who would want to spend every penny on a lavish vacation in the tropics drinking bourbon with his brothers. I need to call that boy.

  “Excuse me,” Joe said, leaving the porch to make a call to his youngest. Cabrina took the moment as a chance to get free as well. She wanted to see her friend.

  “Mrs. Neary, we don’t want those chicken and dumplings to get cold. I could almost smell the lard in the dish,” she said, rising.

  “Sweetie, you have no idea, but they are all kinds of delicious, especially with a grape soda,” Mary said, getting to her feet. “Come on inside and meet your beautiful little niece. I can hear her cries. She’s just woken up.”

  CABRINA STEPPED THROUGH the door of the small one-bedroom cabin hit in the face with a rush of warmth, the smell of blueberry pie, freshly brewed coffee, and a crackling fire. She removed her jacket, not paying attention to her husband and his brother or Mary Neary’s disappearance into the bedroom to collect the child. Her attention rested on the yellow wall Aisha had spoken of so fondly.

  On the wall were snapshots of moments of Tameka Neary’s happiness. A photo of her and the baby hung in the center of the wall collage with a mother’s love radiating through the picture. Gone were the long tresses she had tended for years like a constant gardener. They had been replaced with a cropped haircut in a lighter shade than her trademark dark hair. Even in the black and white photos, Cabrina could see a lighter hair color. There were photos of Tameka and her husband, Zeke alongside a friend with fishing poles, and one other of Tameka sharing wine in the kitchen with a new friend.

  Envy coursed through her like a jealous child, seeing her bestie share a laugh with a rival. This Tameka woman had hijacked Aisha’s life. This Tameka woman had stolen her friend. Tameka had stolen Aisha’s life. The woman in the photo she didn’t recognize as tears filled her eyes and her legs began to give way as the lightheadedness overtook her balance. Cabrina’s body crumpled.

  GABRIEL STOPPED TALKING mid-sentence when his wife entered the cabin, her gaze zoomed in on the yellow wall. She looked at the photos without moving and he knew, he knew with every fiber of his being all the emotions were about to overtake her.

  “Excuse me, Zeke,” he said, moving quickly across the small space. His arm went around her waist, and he caught her before she hit the floor, lying her limp body on the couch.

  “Poor thing, she is overwrought,” Mary said, standing behind the couch, holding Michelle.

  “I got her,” Tameka said, taking a seat on the couch, holding Cabrina’s hand. “I got you, Sis.”

  DARKNESS SWAM AROUND Cabrina, leaving trails of green mist as she fought against the emptiness that engulfed her, dragging her under. Eleven months she’d waited, prayed, cried, and followed every trail she could to find, searching for her friend. Aisha was here, living a new life with a man and new friends and was a mother to an infant child. Aisha had moved on as if those who cared for her all those years meant nothing. One short phone call.

  One short phone call was all she received in nearly a year.

  Coolness.

  She felt coolness touching her skin as she struggled through the murky to come back to the world. A new life. They both had new lives, but the guilt over the old ones was trying to drown her.

  “Wake up, Sis,” Tameka said, pressing the cool cloth to Cabrina’s neck and forehead. “I’m here, Brina.”

  The thin skin on Cabrina’s fluttering eyelids gave the first signal that she was coming around. Slowly, her eyes opened, trying to focus on the familiar face with different eyes. Eyes that were changed by something horrible, yet still held traces of her old friend’s soulfulness. Tears ran down Cabrina’s cheeks as her bottom lip quivered. Her throat felt dry and crackly as the words eased up her esophagus, coming out like bile from the base of her stomach, uttering the words which had prevented her from sleeping for nearly a year.

  “It’s all my fault,” Cabrina said. “If I would have just driven down with you like you begged me to, none of this should have happened. A whole year of your life lost because I was selfish.”

  “Everything is as it should be,” Tameka said. “None of it is your fault. I made the decision to fly to Georgia. I made the decision to come. It was my own doing and I suffered the consequences, but in the end, it turned out better.”

  Cabrina sat up on the couch. The tears streamed down her face as if a levy had been released at the dam. Shaking hands touched Tameka’s hair, coming gently down the face she loved, touching the soft skin.

  “You are alive. I knew you weren’t dead. I didn’t give up. I never stopped looking for you,” Cabrina said through choked up cries.

  “I knew you wouldn’t, but we are together,” Tameka told her. “I am a Mom now, too. I have a little girl that I can’t wait for you to meet.”

  I have to hold her to make sure she is real. Cabrina touched Tameka’s shoulder, her hand shaking unsteadily. Grabbing Tameka, she pulled her into an embrace, crying loudly without shame at seeing her best friend. The wail of relief grabbed the attention of everyone in the small cabin.

  “I didn’t tell you I loved you before you left
. I have regretted it every single day,” she said through sobs.

  “It’s okay. I know you love me,” Tameka said, trying to fight back the tears. “Of all the people in the world, I felt your love...I have always known.”

  “I love you so much,” Cabrina said. “I love you. I turned my back and walked away from you without telling you that those important words. I was so angry that you were leaving me to start a new life so far away, and I didn’t tell you that my pride prevented me from voicing how much I loved you. I missed you so much I couldn’t sleep. I cried myself to sleep so many nights. If only I had come with you.”

  “We are together now,” Tameka said. “If you had come with me it may have turned out worse. As always, I landed on my feet. Everything is going to be just fine.”

  Tameka pulled out of the embrace, wiping away her own tears with the back of her hands. She took Cabrina’s hands into her own, feeling the bulk of the bridal set on the left hand of her friend. Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at Cabrina’s hand.

  “What is this?” Tameka asked in disbelief. Of the three of them, Cabrina was the one who didn’t want to be married. On her hand was a wedding set.

  “I am officially Michelle’s aunt,” Cabrina said through sobs. “I married Zeke’s brother.”

  Chapter 15 – Transitions

  Ethel’s chicken and dumplings were the best Cabrina had ever eaten in her entire life. The food was so good that Cabrina ate seconds and went back for a small third helping, her appetite fueling her, leaving little room for the apple pie. She definitely was not planning to eat the blueberry one. I hate blueberries.

  Zeke said very little to Cabrina as he watched the interaction between the two women. Mary, Tameka, and Cabrina sat on the couch sharing a quiet conversation as he, his father, and brother sat at the kitchen table. It took a moment, but with a bit of reluctance, Cabrina held Michelle, the questions that formed on her lips swallowed as the child touched her heart, opening a fresh wave of instant love. Zeke knew the feeling. Michelle seemed to have that effect on everyone who held her. His little angel was spreading her joy like an unwanted airborne virus. Cabrina too was infected with the outpouring of unfettered love.