Bodark Creek - 50. Chapter 50

When Charley promised he’d make it up to me for missing Dock’s funeral, he meant it. After that terrible year, he decided we needed a little rest.

“I’ve been seeing so many people,” he told me over the phone, “only to say how sorry I was. Wouldn’t it be nice to say how good it was to see them instead?”

“That sounds fine to me,” I said. “And next spring’s the perfect time.”

So Charley started making plans for another family reunion, this time to be held at Del and Neal’s.

“It only makes sense,” Del explained. “We’ve got three houses. It’s almost like a hotel. And your house is nearly empty. And Ruth’s and Leona’s. We can put up half the family, easy.”

Even Pat had a spare bedroom, and Joann had the fold-out couch. Albie said he could clean out the second bedroom, which was mostly used for storage. “Too bad we threw away the day bed,” he joked. “We could sleep someone else.”

“Albie, that mattress was sixty years old,” I said. “It was bought before you were born.”

He laughed. “To tell you the truth, it hurt even to sit on.”

Charley had a great winter tracking down relatives. He put together a family tree, and everyone contributed. His wife Faye typed it out, and we all got excited as practically every invitation came back saying, “Yes! I can’t wait to be there!” But once again, I lost sight of the rest of my family the minute I saw William.

“I’m really sorry to hear about Martin,” was the first thing he said. “I meant to write, but I was so busy.”

“Was something wrong?” I asked. I didn’t realize he hadn’t written. We hadn’t stayed in touch.

“My wife died,” he said quietly. “It was long, and it took a lot out of all of us. And when it was over, we mainly wanted to hide.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. “If there’s anything I can still do...”

“I think you just have,” he said, smiling. And we were off.

Really though, I don’t know if it started there or if it was something that had been going on for a long while. The first time he kissed me again, politely, on my front porch after he took me home Friday night, I felt like we were kids playing in the cemetery again, getting everything in before our friends came back.

“I’ll see you for breakfast,” he said. “What time do you want me to pick you up?”

“I can drive,” I wanted to say. But I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to say. “What time are we all getting together?” I asked.

“The invitation said eight.”

“Then quarter of will be fine. It’s less than five minutes away.”

He was there at twenty to. I could see him parked on the highway though I’ll bet he couldn’t see me. I’d been up since six, to feed the animals.

We had breakfast surrounded by relatives. All of Charley’s daughters and his son. Walter, and Dougie, and Sonny’s children, along with their husbands or wives and children and grandchildren. People were eating in every house and almost every place, and just laughing, and talking, and making noise.

“It’s so good to see you...”

And “I can’t believe you’re here...”

And “When did you get so tall?”

After a time, William and I settled on a sofa on Dougie’s old side porch and just started filling in the years.

“You and Martin never came to visit us,” he began. “I’d always looked forward to that.”

The truth was that Martin and I were never very good about traveling. We’d been to the airport in Dallas, and we were once on a plane. But that was just to see what it was all about. We were never off the ground.

“You’re kidding,” William said when I told him.

“No.”

“I can’t believe that. I’m not sure I know anyone else who’s never flown.”

“Well, there are a couple of people in our family I could introduce you to.”

I didn’t go on and tell him it was over sixty years since I’d really been out of Texas. And I couldn’t remember anything about living in Hattiesburg.

But it soon came out. He began talking about all the places he and his wife had been, in the United States and Europe, and he asked about Martin and me. “I guess if you didn’t fly, then you had to take a ship.”

I laughed. “I’ve never been on anything larger than a ferry. And that was in Galveston.”

“A ferry?”

“You know...”

“I know what a ferry is. I just can’t believe...”

He said, “I can’t believe it,” a lot, and I almost got angry. But then I’d look at his smile, and I’d forget who I was with, and it was seven hours later and we were still sitting on Dougie’s porch.

When Joann found us, she asked when we’d eaten lunch. “I didn’t see you anywhere.”

Since there was food in every room, I lied and said, “Oh, we got something.” Then I realized I wasn’t used to lying to my daughter, or to anyone. But the truth was I wasn’t even hungry.

“And I had enough biscuits at breakfast,” William told her, “to last me till tomorrow.”

“Well, don’t miss the desserts,” Joann said, laughing. “I made three of them myself.”

“We can’t miss dinner,” I told William seriously. Then we went on and talked for another hour.

“What’s going on with you two?” Joann asked later. “It’s not like he’s your only cousin.”

“We didn’t mean to be impolite,” I said. Though I didn’t remind Joann that William was actually my nephew.

“I think it’s great that you’re close,” she admitted. “But other people keep asking about you.”

So Sunday, William and I spent most of our time with other people. But we were never far from each other, and I doubt I ever left his sight.

Sunday, there was a big lunch, and everyone made more speeches. Then people slowly started heading home. But it was funny. Although people were expected to leave before dinner, the only ones who did were those who had to be at the airport. The others kept putting it off and putting it off until the sun was pretty well down.

“What time is your plane leaving tomorrow?” I asked William.

“Actually, I missed it already,” he said, laughing.

“Oh, now. You should have said something.”

“Why?”

“Well, you had a ticket. And all that money’s been spent. And I’m sure someone could have given you a ride...”

“I have the rented car...”

“Oh, that’s right.” I’d never rented a car in my life. Before that weekend, I’m not even sure I knew you could.

“I knew what I was doing, Addy.”

I knew what he was doing, too. Though I hadn’t realized about the plane. And I wasn’t sure I liked what he was doing. At least, I couldn’t explain it. “William, we’re still blood relatives,” I finally had to say.

“Oh, who gives a damn about that? At our age.”

We were both sixty-seven. If someone had told me I was ever going to be in love again, I wouldn’t have believed it. I knew that’s why June moved to Dallas. And she’d met someone, just as she hoped. But I wasn’t looking. I was happy with my family and with my grandchildren. It was true that people I loved were dying. But except for the accidents, that was normal. Falling in love wasn’t.

When William kissed me on the porch Sunday night, his hands wandered just a little.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You’re still beautiful, Addy.”

“And you’re such a liar.”

“No, really.”

I was pleased, but I didn’t know what to say.

William grinned. “Well, at least give me credit,” he pointed out. “It’s not like I’m chasing after some woman thirty years younger than I am. I’m looking at someone I could take home to meet my kids.”

I laughed at that. I sat down in the rocking chair on the porch and laughed till tears came out of my eyes. “Children?” I finally said. “I’m not going to meet your children. What would they think?”

“They’d be happy.”

“Well, I’d be embarrassed. And my children would be, too.”

“I don’t think so.”

“You don’t know my family.”

“I’m part of your family,” he reminded me.

“A very distant part. Though too close to be any closer.”

That seemed to make William sad. And it left me confused.

“You really don’t want to see me?” he asked.

I just had to look at him for a moment in the porch light. His eyes were still blue though his hair was gray and white, and he wore glasses. He was always taller than I was, and thin. And while I was willing to imagine what was under his clothes, I was sure he was nothing like Martin. William hadn’t spent his life working on a farm.

“What time is your plane tomorrow?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t even called the airport.”

“You should.”

“I don’t want to.”

I didn’t need to ask why. But I had no idea how to send him back to Dougie’s old house, where he was staying. We were alone on my farm, and I’d never worried about being alone there before. But I didn’t know what to do with someone like William.

“Are you going to ask me in?” he finally said.

“No.”

“All right then.” And he kissed me quickly and was most way back to his car when I told him to stop.

“I can come in?” he asked.

“You can pick me up for breakfast.”

He was back on the porch in a second and kissed me again like he had when we were fourteen. After he left, I called Joann. “Are you still awake?” I asked.

“Kind of,” she said. “But I’m tired. It’s been a great weekend.”

“Yes,” I admitted. And I told her more about what had happened.

“I knew something was going on,” she said. “But I didn’t expect this.”

“I know.”

“Well, what do you think, Mama?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think it’s terrific,” she said, laughing. “I think it’s just what you need.”

“It’s not even something I’ve thought about...”

“And that’s why it’s great. I mean, if some cousin of mine was suddenly interested...”

“What about Rodney?” I mentioned.

“I loved Rod. You know I still do. And I miss him every day. But Mama, I’ll probably get married again.”

I knew that. And it wasn’t like this hadn’t happened before. Bad things always happened. People died, then other people got married again. But Martin had only been gone a year.

“What are you waiting for?” Joann asked.

I didn’t know.

“He’s charming,” she said. “And he’s good-looking. And he’s so very different from Daddy.”

I’d thought about. William had been a college teacher though he was retired now. And I was sure he had a lot of friends just like him. And while it was fun to spend three days catching up, I wondered what he could possibly say after that, to an old woman who’d mainly spent her life on a farm.

“Let him worry about that,” Joann told me. “It not like you’re getting married in the morning.”

“No,” I said. “We’re only having breakfast.”

That was nice. Almost. We went to a restaurant in town. Well, it was a diner. No, it wasn’t even that. It was just a place that served breakfast and lunch. And the food always seemed fine before. When you didn’t care who you were with or what you ate.

“I should have cooked for you,” I told William. “This is all so greasy.”

“I thought you didn’t want me in your house.”

“I never said that. I trust you.”

“I wouldn’t.” And he grinned.

I laughed. “You know, I can get a ride home from here. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have my car. I know four people I can ask, just sitting at these tables.”

“But what would they think?” he joked.

“They’d think I had a very rude nephew.”

You might have thought that would insult him. But he just smiled. “I have a plan, Addy,” he said. “I want to spend some time with you, and you’ve never been on a plane. Why don’t you pick some place you’ve always wanted to see. Any place in the world, and I’ll make reservations. And I’ll get two rooms at every hotel. We’ll travel as if we were first cousins...”

“We’re closer than that...”

“I just want to be with you. Nothing more complicated. Let’s see if we can get along.”

“That would be expensive,” I said, trying to make him wait. “Even if we just went to St. Louis.”

“Why St. Louis?”

It was the first city outside Texas that I could think of. At least, one we’d need to fly to.

“I’ve never seen it,” I told him.

“Never?”

“Why would I?”

“I was thinking something more exciting than St. Louis,” he joked. “If you could pick any place, where would you like to go?”

We settled for Washington, D.C.

“That’s so educational,” he said, laughing.

“You asked.”

“Yes, I did. And I’d be happy to spend a week with you in Washington.”

“A week? I was thinking a couple of days.”

“Are we going to nickel and dime this entire thing?” he asked. But it seemed like nothing could put him in a bad mood. “Look,” he went on, “I have no schedule. I have money. You have nothing planned. Let’s just go and see what happens. All right?”

I had to think about that. But I didn’t have to think for long. I’d be a complete fool if I didn’t take this chance. And the truth was I thought it would be fun.