wrong time.
Neil had been out of town, doing his job as a sales rep for a major manufacturer of automobile parts. Cara sensed that in low moments he might sometimes wish he’d perished with his family instead of having been spared their fate. But she thanked God for sparing him. She loved Neil every bit as much as she loved her four brothers, and, truth be told, she was closer to him than to Tony or Michael or Sal or Frankie.
Cara had been raised with the philosophy that everything happens for a reason, and all events figure into a divine plan that humans may not comprehend. It was impossible to understand why a wonderful guy like Neil would have such a horrible thing happen to him, but Cara couldn’t help but be glad for herself that he’d come back into her life three years ago when he quit his job and moved back here from Memphis, a thirty one-year-old widower.
Every day when she came to work she looked forward to seeing Neil. What was it he’d told her today about knowing when Mr. Right came along? An empty can in either hand, Cara paused on her way over to the recyclables bin, recalling Neil’s exact words: When you imagine living the rest of your life without him, you won’t be able to stand the thought.
What she couldn’t imagine was ever wanting to work at a different job with another boss besides Neil. Whether or not she married Roy, Cara would keep her job. She would continue to see Neil every day. Their relationship wouldn’t change.
With the lounge restored to a spic-and-span state, Cara returned to the office and tackled her work with renewed energy. Somehow her ruminations about her stable job situation had eased a great deal of the anxiety of deciding whether to accept or reject Roy Xavier’s marriage proposal.
Chapter Two
“Thank you, Aunt Cara!” chorused four-year-old Lea and Lauren in unison. They’d just ripped open Cara’s birthday gifts, identical little-girl makeup kits. “Now we can put on makeup and look pretty, like you!”
Mia, the twins’ mother, feigned insult, arms akimbo. “Your mommy puts on makeup once in a while and looks pretty, too, when she has time.”
“It doesn’t do your Aunt Cara a lot of good to primp,” Cara’s oldest brother Tony addressed his young nieces, a wide grin on his face.
“Oh, no, here we go again,” groaned Cara, clapping her hands over her ears.
Tony raised his voice. “Because Aunt Cara can’t seem to catch her a man to marry.”
“Stop picking on your baby sister,” scolded Rose LaCroix, eyeing her eldest son fondly.
The twins were more interested in their pile of presents than in adult verbal exchanges. They tore the wrappings from two more packages and drew general attention back to themselves, but Cara knew it was only a matter of time before she came in for more half teasing, half serious ribbing about her single status. She’d almost come to dread large family gatherings like this one.
Today the crowd on her parents’ rear lawn included all eight LaCroix siblings, the wives and husbands of the seven who were happily married, twenty-five grandchildren and assorted neighbors and relatives. Cara hadn’t counted heads, but there were between fifty-five and sixty people present. The youngest was her brother Sal’s six-month-old baby boy, Stevie, who was being passed around and tossed in the air and played with. The oldest was Sophia, holding court in a lawn chair and looking frail in a new ruffled pink duster.
Cara had helped her grandmother get dressed earlier. She’d combed Sophia’s fine silver hair, dusted face power and a touch of blush on her dear old wrinkled, gaunt cheeks, and fastened her antique garnet earrings in her ears. While she’d chattered on about various subjects, Cara kept remembering the conversation she’d overheard yesterday morning when her grandmother had described her wonderful dream about attending Cara’s wedding. Cara had imagined Sophia’s thrilled reaction if her youngest—and favorite—granddaughter confided, “Nonna, guess what? The man I’m dating, Roy Xavier? He proposed, and I’ve decided to say yes!”
Cara had almost decided. She’d gone over and over the pros and cons of marrying Roy and come up with all pros except for one single con—she wasn’t crazy in love with him. But maybe she never would fall crazily in love. A year or two from now, Cara might look back and regret turning Roy down.
The only thing holding Cara back at this point was Neil’s opposition. She’d always valued his advice and sought his approval.
Neil was the only person in her circle of important people Cara could trust to be discreet. That was why she hadn’t confided in any of her three sisters or her mother or Sophia. Rose would tell Sophia, swearing her to secrecy, and vice versa. They would tell Natalie, Cara’s oldest sister, once again admonishing her not to tell a soul. Natalie would pass along the news to Angie in strictest confidence. Angie would tell Mia. Inevitably the three sisters’ husbands would be made privy to the secret and they’d tell Cara’s brothers, who would tell their wives. It would be just a matter of time before Cara’s personal business would become the hot topic of family discussion. Everybody would have an opinion and state it— To one another and to Cara, who had learned the hard way not to be a blabber-mouth about her private life.
“We love all our presents!” sang out Lea and Lauren once all the packages had been opened, responding prettily to coaching from their mother.
“Now can we play Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” asked one of the twins’ cousins, setting off a litany of childish requests to play the traditional LaCroix birthday party game.
Eighteen-year-old Mark, the oldest LaCroix grandchild, good-naturedly carried out his assignment for the afternoon, herding the crowd of children over to an outside wall of the garage. A large poster of a donkey, much repaired with transparent tape had already been thumbtacked to the white-painted boards.
“There’s more cake and ice cream for seconds,” Rose informed the adults over the din of laughter and a dozen different conversations.
Cara was just now taking her turn at holding six-month-old Stevie. “Aren’t you precious?” she cooed to her little nephew as he gurgled and smiled at her.
“Hey, could Carmen and I have everybody’s attention? We have some big news to share.” The request came from Cara’s youngest brother Frankie, who at thirty was only a year and some months older than her. Heads turned in his direction. Frankie hugged his wife close to his side, and the two of them grinned at each other, like co-conspirators. “Looks like Stevie’s gonna have a little cousin playmate in less than nine months. Carmen’s expecting again.”
Cara added her sincere congratulations to the cacophony and tried not to look wistful. She and Carmen had been classmates in school, and now the other woman was pregnant for the third time and obviously blissfully happy about her condition.
For a few seconds Cara fantasized, visualizing Roy and herself here in the midst of the LaCroix family, making a similar announcement. Roy would look every bit as proud as Frankie did. Cara could feel his arm around her, strong and supportive.
The fantasy could easily come true. All Cara had to do was tell Roy she’d made up her mind and wanted to marry him. Immediately she could set a date for just a few months from now and start making whirlwind wedding plans to insure that Sophia was well enough to attend. How Cara wanted her grandmother to be there when she walked down the aisle, finally a bride instead of a bridesmaid.
It would make Sophia so happy. It would make the whole family happy and would mark the end to Cara’s being the lone unmarried sibling.
Stevie
