Chasing Ever After

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  Mom was anxious to meet her. I’d thought she was going to have a damn heart attack from excitement when I called her to tell her Sadie would be coming home with me. It took five minutes just to get her to shut up and another fifteen to get her to promise not do or say anything embarrassing. After I explained Sadie’s family dynamics and that whole situation, she promised to make Sadie feel welcome and comfortable. My mom had a big heart and a soft spot for the lost and broken and while Sadie wasn’t exactly broken, she was hurting and a little lost. My mom and the rest of my family would love her, I already knew that, it was too hard not to. I just hoped that Sadie liked them as well. It was important to me that she like my family.

  “Tell Mama Reid her favorite son misses her,” Spade said as we made our way out the door, “and her oatmeal cookies.”

  “You’re not her favorite son. In fact, my mom doesn’t even like you, asked me not to bring you home anymore.”

  “Bullshit. She loves me. You’re just jealous that she loves me more than you.”

  It was true that my mother loved him. I was actually surprised that he wasn’t tagging along this trip, but I was glad he wasn’t. He was my best friend, but I wanted as much time alone with Sadie as I could get. I could only guess that he knew that. He wasn’t a complete dumb ass. Well, not all the time.

  “Whatever douchebag. See you on Monday.”

  We loaded up in my truck since it was better on the snow and ice than the Impala. Sadie bunched up an extra sweatshirt and used it as a pillow, leaning her head against the window. She shut her eyes, effectively closing off all conversation, so I turned the radio on and let the music fill the cab. She either slept, or pretended to sleep for the next hour.

  She’d been frustratingly distant since that night in the hotel room when I almost attacked her. Walking away without taking anything more than a kiss had been brutal, I think on both of us. I’d seen my own need and desperation matched in her eyes. It would have been so easy to put us both out of misery, but it wouldn’t have been right. Telling that to the rest of my body hadn’t worked though. I had lain awake all through the night imagining how soft and warm her skin would be, the sweet noises she would make, what it would sound like to hear her cry out my name.

  Things had become more than a little uncomfortable at that point. I’d tried everything to take my mind off of the beautiful red head in the other room. I was embarrassed to admit that I’d had to relieve the tension myself like a damn teenager when nothing else worked. Even afterward, it had taken a while for my mind to quiet enough to find sleep.

  Now, Sadie looked so peaceful with her head resting against the window and her lips just barely parted, which led me to believe that she really was asleep. A few strands of her hair fell over her face. I reached over to brush them back, my fingers lingering on her cheek. She stirred slightly and I pulled my hand back, but her eyes remained shut. It wasn’t until a little while later that her head lifted and she looked over at me.

  “Where are we?” She asked sleepily.

  “We’ll be crossing into Connecticut in just a few minutes. You slept for about an hour.”

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

  “It’s fine. If you’re tired you should sleep. My mom is so excited, I doubt if she’ll let us get to bed before midnight tonight,” I told her. “I should probably warn you that you’ll also be spending most of the day tomorrow with my mom, my sister and niece and my grandma.”

  She looked at me nervously. “What? You won’t be there?”

  “I’ll be there, I’ll just be busy. It’s sort of a tradition that the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend, all the women get together and bake and decorate inside while us guys hang lights and go cut down a tree. Then in the evening we’ll decorate the tree together, watch the first Christmas movie of the year, my mom always picks It’s a Wonderful Life, and eat cookies and drink cocoa and all that.”

  She looked thoughtful for a minute. “I’ve never decorated a tree before.”

  “What?” I asked in disbelief. “You’ve never had a Christmas tree before?”

  “I’ve had a Christmas tree, before I moved out of my parents, but my mom always hired a professional tree decorator. Clayton was always gone for Christmas and I never saw the point of putting up a tree just for myself. Jax always did in her apartment, so I spent those two Christmases with her. Last year I had to work when Jax, Ky and Izzy put up the tree at Jax’s.”

  “Well damn,” was all I could say. Putting up and decorating a Christmas tree was something that never seemed like a big deal, sure I loved it as a kid, but then it became more of a hassle and as a teenager I always complained when my mom forced me to participate in the family tradition. I never realized that it was something I should be thankful for and not take for granted. “I guess tomorrow I’ll be popping your Christmas tree cherry.” I winked at her. Of course she blushed, and again my mind went back to the naughty places it had gone in the hotel room. I turned up the Christmas song that had come on the radio and that helped some.

  “What is Hamden like?” She asked after a few minutes.

  “Uh, it’s not really a small town, but it’s a lot smaller than Boston. It’s a suburb of New Haven, and it’s a college town, pretty much built around the university where my dad works. It’s an old town and real big on the history of it. There’s a museum dedicated to Eli Whitney because the cotton gin started in New Haven, and they named a lot of shit after him. It’s a nice place I guess, especially for the whole raising a family thing.”

  “Your mom’s a librarian right?” I was surprised she’d remembered. I think I had only mentioned it once in the past.

  “Yeah, she runs the town library.”

  “And your older brother, Zander, he teaches at the elementary school?”

  “Junior high, history. His wife Sarah runs a day care.”

  “And Bree is your sister right?”

  “Yeah, and she’s … well she’s just Bree. You’ll see what I mean when you meet her. She works in some shop in the commercial district, I think selling shoes, or maybe purses, possibly both, but she’s tried her hand at painting, photography, working as a nanny, she even went to beauty school and worked in a salon for like three months before she got tired of that. I think she might be working on a nursing degree now, at least she was last time I talked to her, but it’s been a few weeks so who knows with her.”

  “She sounds really interesting. I bet she has a lot of great stories from all the things she’s tried.”

  I never really thought of it like that. Mostly I just thought of her as my flighty, free spirited and irresponsible sister. I loved her, but it just seemed like she had no idea what she was doing with her life most of the time. I worried about her. “Yeah, she probably does.”

  “And then there’s Marcus, the genius.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know how that happened,” I said. “I mean my parents are both intelligent, but he was doing my sister’s fifth grade math homework when he was in the second grade and by fourth grade I think he had a better handle on my algebra two homework than I did. He was sixteen when he started at MIT. When I got out of the Marines that was part of the reason I chose to move to Boston with Spade instead of going back to Hamden. I wanted to look after my little brother, but hell if he needed me to.”

  I didn’t understand half of the shit my brother talked about, but I was damn proud of him. He was doing stuff that was probably going to change the world.

  “Can you imagine how smart their children will be if he and Maysie have kids?”

  “Fuck, I don’t even want to think about that. I’m not sure if the world could handle it. They’d probably pop out with calculators in their hands ready to discuss the national debt crisis or cure cancer.” I wondered if my brother and Maysie would have kids, they seemed to be pretty serious so I didn’t imagine it would be too long before my brother knocked her up or asked her to marry him. Either way, kids in the nearish future wasn’t that much of a str
etch. Shit, would my little brother have kids before me? Crap, did I even want kids? I mean I’d always known I would want to be a dad someday, but was I ready for it yet? My inner caveman roared yes if they were going to be Sadie’s kids. In fact he wanted to throw her over his shoulder, drag her off to his cave and get to work on making babies right now. He needed to chill the fuck out. The image in my mind of Sadie’s belly round with my child was oddly pleasing though.

  Someday.

  We chatted about my family for a while longer, I filled her in on all the important things she needed to know, like my crazy grandma who dressed like a teenager, cursed a lot and mixed up everyone’s names. I warned her that my nephews enjoy playing practical jokes on everyone and that my dad and uncle frequently get into heated debates every time politics get brought up. It was safest just to avoid that subject all together. I also told her that my mother would have Christmas music playing, nonstop and liked to get tipsy on eggnog and rum. I hadn’t told her any of this stuff before, because I didn’t want her to be able to back out. Now it was too late and she was just going to be stuck with me and my crazy family.

  We stopped in Hartford to use the bathroom and I started to get nervous, wondering what Sadie would think of my them. They hugged excessively and laughed even more excessively. Their jokes were often inappropriate and nowhere near politically correct. They liked to embarrass one another and stick their noses into everyone’s business, especially Mom and Grandma. They could be a lot to handle sometimes. Most of the time.

  A little over a half an hour later we were driving through Hamden. As we came to my parents’ neighborhood, I took a few wrong turns to give myself a little extra time. “I just … I want to apologize ahead of time for anything embarrassing or awkward my family does.”

  “Ace, I’ve known you for almost two years, I’ve been living with you, Spade, Chris and Danny for a few months now. You really think I can’t handle your family?” She had a point, yet I was still nervous. I couldn’t put it off any longer though as we pulled up outside my childhood home. It was your basic two story, with a basement and attic. It had a wraparound porch and wide yard surrounded by a long wooden fence.

  I climbed out of the car and then got Sadie’s door for her and watched her face as she took everything in. It was a nice house, but it was nothing compared to her family home. I never once thought she would judge it, but I wanted her to like it. She wasn’t frowning so I took that as a good sign.

  “Your parents have a beautiful home,” she said softly.

  “I don’t know if I believe you considering I just saw your parents’ home last week,” I joked, but something in her expression shifted and became almost … sad.

  “That’s not a home. It’s an estate, a manor, a residence, whatever, but it’s not a home. This is a home. There’s a big difference.” She turned and grabbed her bag from the back seat. I didn’t really know what to say, so I took her bag from her and then grabbed mine.

  We didn’t even make it to the porch before Mom opened the door and rushed out to greet us. Unless there was a big event going on, she always took the weekends off from the library to spend time with my father because he had weekends off. She had a flour dusted apron wrapped around her waist and her graying hair pulled back into some kind of bun that was coming loose. She also had smears of flour on her cheek and nose. It was not an unfamiliar sight for me.

  “You made it!” She exclaimed and pulled me into a motherly embrace, but she quickly pushed me back away and turned to Sadie. “You must be Sadie. You can call me Denise. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about you. I’m so glad you were able to come home with Drew.” She didn’t even give Sadie time to respond before hugging her tightly as well, and then she dragged us both inside. “Come on, let’s get in the house before we all freeze to death.”

  Chapter 20

  Sadie

  Ace’s mother wasn’t what I expected. I’m not sure exactly what I had expected, but it wasn’t this tiny woman with a mess of blonde and grey curls falling all over the place and a surprisingly strong grip. I hadn’t been expecting her to squeeze me as tightly as she had. She couldn’t be more than five two or three. She had Ace’s same pale blue eyes that shone brightly and a kind smile that made me feel welcome. She radiated warmth and affection, not at all like my own mother, and it was apparent from her apron and flour dusted appearance that she had been in the kitchen. I didn’t know if my mother knew how to turn on an oven let alone actually bake something in one.

  The inside of her house was even more beautiful than the outside. It was simple, not at all flashy or overdone. It was decorated in warm earth tones, the rug was worn down in places, shoes were discarded by the door, mail and newspapers were stacked on a table by the entryway and family photos, ranging from definitely eighties and older to obviously recent, hung on the walls. The frames were all mismatched but still looked charming. I especially loved the pictures of Ace when he was a kid. I would have to check those out again when I had the opportunity to look more closely.

  She led us through to the living room, which was tidy, but not sterile. There was a large couch that looked comfy. It, like the rest of the furniture I saw, was nice but definitely broken in from use. Again, it was nothing like the expensive pieces that were more for decoration than actual use at my parents’ house. The couches and chairs there were firm and still in pristine condition. It was just further proof that this house was actually lived in and not just a façade.

  “How was the drive? Were the roads slick?” Denise asked.

  “It wasn’t bad, a little icy in some parts, but we didn’t have any trouble.”

  “That’s good, and you made it just in time for lunch. I’ve got mac and cheese in the oven that’s just about done and I made pumpkin bread earlier.” Then she looked at me. “Would you like some tea or coffee with your lunch, or I’ve got some fresh squeezed orange juice that I just juiced this morning.”

  “Orange juice sounds great, thank you.”

  “Okay, I’ll go check on the mac and cheese and get lunch ready. Andrew, why don’t you take your bags upstairs and show Sadie to her room.” It was still weird to hear her call him Andrew, but it would probably be even weirder if she called him Ace.

  He guided me up the stairs to the second floor. More family photos and old school pictures lined the wall going up. “Aww, Andrew, you were such a cute kid with your mullet.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Keep moving.” I chuckled and followed him up.

  “This is the bathroom.” He pushed open the door to the first room on the right. “It’s the only bathroom up here so we have to share. I’ll be staying in my old room, which is that one,” he pointed out the next door on the right and then pushed it open to drop his bag just inside. “You’ll be staying in Marcus’ old room, which is this one.” He led me into the last room on the opposite side of the hall. It had been converted into a cute guest room, painted light blue and tan with a matching bed set and throw pillows. The large window looked out over the back yard, but had thick curtains to keep out the light in the mornings.

  He set my bag down next to the bed. “You can hang your stuff in the closet or put it in the dresser, whatever you want. You can adjust the thermostat if you need to, just make yourself at home and if you need anything else, let me or my mom know.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  “No problem, now we better get back down, because I’m sure she’s already got lunch set out and she’ll come looking for us.”

  He was right. When we walked into the kitchen, there were four plates set on a tall, round table. Two full glasses of orange juice sat next to two of the plates, and two tea cups next to the other two plates. In the center of the table was a cutting board with sliced pumpkin bread, a dish of butter and a casserole dish of steaming, homemade mac and cheese and a bowl of fruit.

  His mother was missing from the kitchen, but walked in only a moment later followed by an even older woman wearing skinny jeans, a tight flashy to
p with sequins and a pair of Uggs. This must be Grandma Helen, his dad’s mother, who lived with them. She wasn’t a large woman by any means, but there comes a certain point when skin starts to sag and you just shouldn’t wear tight clothing anymore. Grandma had passed that point, a while ago. Her thinning and, obviously dyed, platinum blonde hair was styled into one big poof on top of her head and her makeup definitely crossed that ‘lady of the night’ line; thick liner, heavy shadow and mascara and ruby red lipstick. I decided right then that I liked her.

  “Hey Grandma Helen.” Ace walked over and hugged his grandmother and then introduced me. “This is my friend Sadie.” She looked me up and down with a critical eye and then frowned. Uh oh. I wondered what she saw that she didn’t like.

  “It’s so nice to meet you. I really like your boots,” I told her, genuinely meaning it and not just trying to suck up so she would like me, even though I did really want her to like me.

  Her frown deepened and she turned to Ace. “She looks like a nice girl. Too nice for you.” She said bluntly to him. “You better be treating her right.” She looked back at me. “You tell me if he don’t treat you right sweetheart, and you make him buy you a pair of these boots. They’re real sheepskin. Make sure he gets you the genuine ones, not those cheap imitations. He can afford it.” I grinned.

  “What are you talking about Grandma? Of course I treat her right.”

  “Don’t give me none of that bullshit, Andrew. I’m your grandmother and that charm doesn’t work on me. I know all about your philandering ways young man. Just ‘cause you’re famous don’t mean I won’t put you over my knee and redden your backside with a wooden spoon if you disrespect this girl. You buy her those boots, you hear me?”

  Oh yeah. I really liked Grandma Helen.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Okay Gran, let’s just sit down and have some lunch. You can beat Andrew with a spoon later.” Denise winked at me and pulled out a chair for her mother in law, who sat down, still giving Andrew a warning look.