you have to go?” Madison asked, wandering into the front room in his stocking feet.
“I’m afraid so. I have plans tonight, and I have to go get ready.”
Grace folded her arms across her chest and fixed her attention on the middle of Carter’s chest.
“Can you come back to see us again?” Madison asked.
“I hope so,” Carter said comfortably, watching Becca as she soon joined them, sucking two fingers and leaning against her mother’s side. Coming from the family room were the screechy, frantic sounds and dialogue of cartoon characters on the TV.
“Have a good trip back home to Chicago,” Grace said.
“New York is going to be my home,” he replied. Then he playfully pinched Becca’s nose. “Be sweet.” He turned to Madison and asked solemnly, “Is it okay if I kiss your mother goodbye?”
“Carter—” Grace started to object, but her disapproval was lost in Madison’s response.
The boy shrugged. “Sure. I don’t mind.”
“Madison...” she complained anew.
She barely had time to prepare herself when Carter stepped in front of her. She’d imagined something highly inappropriate. Her wild imaginings had already worked it out. But Carter’s kiss, light and affectionate, caressed her lips briefly and was done.
“I’ll call you before I leave the city,” he said.
He was gone before she could react.
“I’m hungry,” Becca announced.
“I’m going to do dinner right now, hon. Madison, please put your chess pieces away. And if you’re not going to watch that movie, turn it off.”
Madison knelt on the floor and swept together all the chessmen, putting them in a box. “Carter’s fun. I like him,” he said simply.
Grace grimaced ruefully to herself as she moistened her lips with her tongue.
What’s not to like?
Chapter 3
“Hi, it’s Grace. Can I help you?”
“You got a minute?”
Grace sighed. “I have a little more time than that for you, Marjorie, but I’m going into a meeting soon. Is everything okay?”
“As well as can be expected. I was wondering what you’re going to do in May for Benson’s anniversary?”
Grace, who was multitasking as she talked to her mother-in-law, furrowed her brow. “Benson’s anniversary?”
“Of his passing.”
“I don’t have any plans to celebrate, Marjorie,” she said smoothly.
“Good. ’Cause it’s no occasion to celebrate. I’m talking about recognizing the day, all of us visiting his grave.”
Grace quickly bit back her immediate reaction to Marjorie’s suggestion. “By all of us, I take it you want to include Madison and Becca.”
“Yes, I do. I think they need to show their respect.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with you.”
“Benson was their father,” Marjorie defended firmly.
“The key word here is was. Don’t you understand that the children don’t remember Benson? They see his picture, even pictures of him with them as babies, but they don’t really make a connection. He’s just a man in a photograph.”
“That’s your fault. You could do more so Madison and Becca don’t forget who he is. It’s your responsibility as my son’s wife.”
Grace closed her eyes and rested her forehead in her hand, speaking patiently. “Marjorie, look. I’m raising my children, and I know very well what they need to know. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve sat them down to tell them all about Benson. I tell them stories about how he and I met, about Benson asking me to marry him and about what he did when each of them was born. They’re just stories to the kids right now.
“One day about a year ago, Becca comes home after preschool and asks me, what’s a daddy? She was having trouble with the concept, let alone attaching it to Benson. Now she knows that he’s died and gone away, but that means nothing to her because she never knew him to begin with. I don’t think I can force a memory that’s not there.”
“That’s all the more reason why I think you need to mark that day. It’s time she learned about him.”
Grace looked at the time. “Look, I’m sorry to cut you off, but we can finish this later. I have to go. I promise I’ll think about it, but I’m not fond of the idea.”
There was only silence for a moment before Marjorie finally responded.
“Have they met Carter?”
“Yes, they have. I told you he was coming out on Saturday. Don’t forget, Carter is Madison’s godfather. So why would I deny him a chance to see the children? They like him. You’ll be pleased to know that Carter told Madison a lot about what a good athlete Benson was, and how they became good friends.”
“That was nice of him,” Marjorie said grudgingly. “I still feel—”
“I know how you feel. I get it. If it’s not too late this evening, I’ll call you after the children are asleep.”
“Don’t forget that I go to bed myself at ten,” Marjorie said and hung up.
Grace replaced the phone, but instead of feeling angry at her mother-in-law’s imperious attitude, she felt consumed by guilt.
She had no desire to visit Benson’s grave, and even less interest in dragging her children out to stand over a granite marker in the ground with his name carved on it. She was not interested in playing the grieving widow, or in pretending that his death was an unbearable loss. Benson’s death had been hard at first for reasons that neither Marjorie nor anyone else could ever understand. But there was no point in revisiting the past.
Shame at her thoughts forced Grace out of her chair. She snatched up her folder of notes and headed out the office toward the meeting in a nearby conference room. She’d gotten as far as the office door when her phone rang again. She wavered between taking the call and leaving it to her answering machine. She looked at the time again. There was still five minutes to spare. She had been expecting a call.
But it was her father on the line.
“Hey, baby. Am I interrupting something?”
“Hi, Daddy. As a matter of fact, I’m about to go into a meeting. Is this important?”
“Yeah, but not urgent. It can wait. Am I going to see you and the children anytime soon?”
