“Don’t be silly,” Norm said. “People our age don’t get divorced.”
“They do now,” she said. “I’ll keep the house and, since I don’t hold an outside job, we’ll split the savings and work out alimony. You’ll have to move out.”
“Is that right?” he said indignantly. “And where exactly am I supposed to go?”
“I’m sure there’s a place at the garage, some unused corner you can store a cot. You like it there best, anyway.”
“Well, I’m not going to. How about that?”
“I’ve seen a lawyer,” she said. “You’ll be served papers and asked to leave.”
“Old woman, I think you’ve finally had one too many hot flashes and fried your brain.”
“I haven’t had a flash in ten years, that’s what you know!” she said.
“All right, I hate like hell to ask this, but what the devil has you asking for a divorce now after all these years?”
“If you have to ask, you don’t deserve an answer.”
“Is it those widows again? Because they didn’t mean no harm.”
“Is that what you think?” she shot back. “You’d’a gone home with any one of them!”
“Well, did I?”
“No, but just because you’re lazy.”
“Lazy! I been working my whole life! Never took a day off! I’m seventy and I’m still bringing home a paycheck! I think you maybe lost your mind!”
“I want you to get dinner at the diner and, on your way, stop at Seth and Iris’s house and tell them I’m not having Thanksgiving this year. Because I’m getting divorced. I should be all settled before the baby comes so I can help with the day care.”
“I’m not doing that,” he said. “That’s a damn fool thing to do. I’m ignoring you because of your Alzheimer’s, but I’ll get dinner at the diner because I’m hungry. And if you want to tell them you’re getting a divorce, you go right ahead. Ruin their holiday! See if I get you out of it.”
He put his cap on his head and headed out the door.
Gwen called Iris on her cell phone. “Iris, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to have Thanksgiving for the family this year.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Aren’t you feeling up to it?”
“I’m feeling all right,” Gwen said. “But I’ve decided to get a divorce.”
Gwen heard the opening and closing of a door through the phone line and the next thing she knew Iris was waddling into her living room, cell phone in hand.
“You’re getting a what?” she asked.
* * *
Charlie had never seen his mother happier. In fact, though he’d only known Blake for a few months, he’d never seen the Ironman happier, either. By the time Charlie got home from the wedding at the Lacoumette farm, there was an obvious special light shining in both their eyes. They were seen talking softly from time to time, giving each other little fits of secret laughter. And they held hands. Right out in the open.
This was a mother Charlie had never experienced and he liked it. He was having little fantasies about Blake stepping into the role of his stepfather; he couldn’t help that. But he kept his mouth shut, crossed his fingers and didn’t ask any questions. All that really mattered was that things just stayed nice for everyone concerned. Even if they didn’t end up living happily ever after, he’d appreciate it if they’d just remain happy for a while.
When Lin Su had someone other than Charlie to focus on, to think about all the time, Charlie had a much easier existence. He was progressing in his training, reaching his goals and surpassing them, and he wasn’t having asthma attacks. He had started doing some exercising without using his inhaler first and he didn’t have to always use it afterward. On a couple of cool, sunny days, Blake loaned him a bike and helmet and they went out for a long ride together. Lin Su hadn’t even told him to be careful or asked him if he had his inhaler and EpiPen.
The whole town was getting ready for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Predictably, Lin Su, Charlie and Blake would be sharing Winnie’s table. Lin Su and Grace would work on the cooking of a robust turkey and all the trimmings. This might be Grace’s last big event—she was having her baby in about three weeks or so and her new employee at the shop, Ronaldo, was delighted to be taking over for the Christmas holidays. She planned to work when she could, helping with arrangements, wreaths and other decorations, but after Thanksgiving she was going to be around the house a lot.
Charlie had a little something going on in his life that no one knew about, and pretty soon, like any second, it was going to come out. He’d been communicating with his aunt Leigh. She’d answered his email, asking about Lin Su, of course. He was cautious. He told her that his mother didn’t know Charlie had been searching out his roots and was sure she’d try to talk him out of it if she knew. She might even forbid it. That aside, he had a lot of questions.
So they exchanged emails and she answered what questions she could. Yes, as far as she knew his biological father was alive. He’d been a high school student with Lin Su. When Lin Su left the Simmons family, Jake went to Princeton. He was an attorney like his father, like Leigh and Lin Su’s father. Leigh’s mother and father divorced almost immediately after Lin Su left, then their mother passed away from cancer soon after at a very young age—fifty-five—and her father, Gordon, had remarried in less than six months to a woman only a few years older than Leigh. A woman her sister Karyn’s age. The family relationship was somewhat strained.
After about ten emails, Leigh wanted to speak to Charlie. He warned her that he’d have to find a time when he was alone because he hadn’t yet told Lin Su what he’d been doing.
You just tell me when you’re available, Charlie, and I’ll make the time, Leigh sent back.
When Charlie found a private moment to call his aunt, Leigh said, “You really must tell your mother right away. This is her family. She deserves to know.”
“That’s why I haven’t told her,” he said. “Because I asked and asked and she made up stuff, like my biological father was dead, and wouldn’t talk about any of it.”
“You still have to tell her,” Leigh said. “Maybe once it’s out, she’ll actually be relieved. Pleased. I’ve wanted to find her for years. It seemed like she was so briefly part of my life.”
“But then why didn’t you look for us? We weren’t hiding.”
“Oregon was the last place on earth I expected you to turn up, for one thing. For another, my mother said that when they discouraged her from having a baby while unmarried, she went back to her Vietnamese family on the East Coast. I looked for Huang Chao. I admit, I didn’t do an exhaustive search, but I looked. I spoke to a couple of people who had also been immigrants at the same time and they made no connection. But now that I know she’s alive and well and that I’m an aunt, I want to see you both. Maybe help you put the pieces back together.”
“Why didn’t her adoptive father want to know where we were?”
“It’s very hard to explain him—he’s a selfish man. Unemotional and self-centered and busy with his life. He saw Lin Su as my mother’s idea, someone in the past. You have to understand Gordon—he was hardly ever around. When he was around, he was on his phone or in his office. He attended our graduations and Karyn’s weddings. He presides over family holidays as if we’re all close. But I don’t believe he’s ever phoned me just to chat. He’s just not much of a father.”
“I found him first,” Charlie said. “But I couldn’t find a working email address or anything.”
“He’s a retired partner now, consulting, traveling, playing a lot of golf. He has an email address—it’s one of the ways we communicate, through texts and emails. Very likely he just ignored your emails.”
Charlie laughed. “Like me and my mom. That’s how she keeps tabs on me. And if I don’t text right back, look out.”
br /> “Tell me, Charlie—did your mother go back to her people?” Leigh asked.
“In a way. She worked for a Vietnamese family in their shop. We lived with a lot of different people I don’t even remember while she worked and went to school to be a nurse. But I had a lot of colds and bronchitis and allergies so she learned the best climates—she couldn’t take the East Coast and I couldn’t take the winters or allergens, she said. We’ve been living in Oregon since I was about four.”
“And she did all that with no help from her adoptive family,” Leigh said, a sadness in her voice. “I want you to tell your mother that I’d like to see you both. Please, Charlie.”
“Let me think about it. You don’t know her. She gets upset if I even ask!”
“Then be brave, but do it. No more living in the shadows. You have family. Your biological grandmother might be alive for all I know. I’ve read that many immigrating Vietnamese were separated from their families for many years, always searching. Have you ever noticed the number of websites dedicated to finding your Vietnamese family?”
“Where do you think I started?” he asked.
“Lin Su’s adoption was sudden and mysterious and my parents said they didn’t know much of anything about her, but I find that hard to believe. I really can’t see them adopting a child they knew nothing about. They weren’t above outrageous stories if it served their purposes. You tell your mother we’ve been in touch and I’ll reach out to my father and ask a few more questions.”
“Can’t we wait till I’m about thirty and self-supporting?” Charlie asked. “That would be a good time to tell her.”
And his aunt Leigh laughed.
* * *
Iris tried talking to her mother-in-law about this current divorce insanity, but all she could get out of Gwen was that it was about time she lived her own life. She was tired of being married to a grumpy old man who didn’t want to do anything but go to the gas station every day.
“But, Gwen, he took you on a cruise!” Iris said.
“For all the fun that was. He hardly spent a minute with me.”
“Is this about those women?” Iris asked.
“He asked the same question. Funny how that comes right to mind, yet no one wants to talk about how terrible it was.”
“You two need counseling,” Iris said. “I’ll find someone for you.”
“Well, I’m not going to counseling with him! It’s too late for that.”
“Then just tell me why? After all these years, after a wonderful family and grandchildren, just tell me why?”
“Oh, darling, it isn’t about you!” she insisted. “It’s not you or the kids or the new baby! I’ll always be your mother-in-law, sweetheart. I’ll always be Nana to the baby. And I’ll help you with babysitting, of course I will. I might get some kind of job, however.”
“Gwen,” Iris said sternly. “Why?”
“He doesn’t love me, Iris. I think he never has, but my generation... We get married and that’s it. Even if we have to live without love in our lives.”
“Gwen, Norm is a little grumpy, but he...”
“A little grumpy?” she asked, laughing outright. “He didn’t talk to his youngest son for how many years? I can’t get him to wear a clean shirt to the table! He doesn’t care about me! I’m setting him free. I’ll be going on my next cruise alone!”
* * *
“It’s the cruise,” Iris told Seth. “This is all about the cruise. Norm was delightful on the cruise. He had a wonderful time. He was very social. There were those widows who flirted with him and he loved it. Gwen’s feelings are very hurt. That’s all this is.”
“He wants to know if he can use our spare room until he finds his own place,” Seth said.
“Oh, my God,” Iris said. “I think my life just flashed before my eyes.”
“Maybe he’ll be delightful,” Seth said.
“No! No! Tell him to make up with his wife!”
“Iris, when was the last time anyone told Norm anything?”
“Oh, God, you told him yes. You told him he could have the spare room. I’m going to have to kill you!”
“Just for a few days,” Seth said. “It won’t take him any time at all to hate it. His dinner won’t be what he likes, won’t be on time. He’ll have to do his own laundry. Like I do,” he added, lifting one of those handsome, expressive brows. “He can’t make it here. And in no time at all there will be a screaming baby keeping him up all night.”
“Your days are numbered,” Iris said.
“I’ll talk to him,” Seth promised.
* * *
Seth took a slightly different approach than Iris had. He drove his patrol car to the station, wearing his uniform and armed. He parked on the side of the building rather than at the pump, went to find Norm and pulled him away from the other men so they could talk privately. “What in the holy hell is going on with you and Mom?”
“If I could explain her, I’d be a millionaire,” Norm said.
“She says you don’t love her, that you never have,” Seth said.
“She has a bug up her ass about that cruise. Worst idea I ever had, that cruise.”
“You had a good time, but she didn’t.”
“She worried the whole way up to Seattle that I wasn’t going to be nice, that I was going to be cranky and wear my Lucky’s shirt to the captain’s dinner. She lectured me for days. Be nice, Norm. Be courteous, Norm. So I was nice! Sue me.”
“Listen to me,” Seth said. “I want you to go by the flower shop and buy a great big bouquet. Get a bottle of nice wine—she likes that putrid pink shit. Maybe some chocolates or something. Go home, tell her you love her and work it out!”
“I packed a bag this morning. I’m going to go home and get it, bring it over to your house.”
“We’re eating out!” Seth said, at the end of his rope.
“Oh? Where? Because I only go to the diner. That Cliffhanger’s is too fancy for me.”
“We’re going to Cliffhanger’s,” Seth said, though they had no such plans.
“Okay. I’ll see you when you get home.”
“Dad, you can work this out if you try.”
“I dunno about that. She’s got a real bug up her ass this time. Might take a medical intervention.”
* * *
On Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving, Charlie went to Blake’s as usual. But instead of his workout he asked Blake if they could talk about something.
“Sure,” Blake said. “What’s on your mind?”
“Well, I did something my mom isn’t going to like and I have to tell her. I found her adoptive family. I’ve been talking to her sister—my aunt Leigh.”
Blake was speechless for a moment. “Aw, man...”
“Well, I told you I wanted to know things. And she wouldn’t tell me. Plus, she made up shit. My biological father is not dead.”
Blake tried to think fast. “Okay, here’s the thing I should have thought of first and I didn’t. You should have warned her—your mother. You should have said you were going to look for the family if you had the chance, that you were determined. You would’ve had the argument at the front end of this adventure.”
“Too late now,” Charlie said. “Aunt Leigh has wanted to know where my mom is for years. She wants to see her, to see me. And that should be a good thing but I know it’s not going to be. My mom is going to be mad.”
“Why are you so sure of that?”
“Because she told me what she wanted me to believe and I didn’t believe it—that’s going to piss her off. But hey—I didn’t believe it because it wasn’t true!”
“There’s the part that’s going to be awkward,” Blake said. “You admitting you didn’t believe her.”
“But it should be
good! She does have family! Maybe my father disappointed her and he’ll probably also disappoint me if I ever meet him, but isn’t it better to know the truth?”
“Depends on who you ask, Charlie. Some people don’t want to know. And some people think there’s a time and place to know. Maybe she just wanted you to be old enough to understand.”
“I do understand,” he said.
“Did she ever tell you not to research this stuff?”
“Nope. I just asked her why she wasn’t telling me more details and she said, ‘Many reasons.’ Like it was not my business. And it is my business.”
“You have to tell her,” Blake said.
“I know. That’s what Aunt Leigh said, too. But I’m not telling her until after Thanksgiving. I think we should have one good holiday before she kills me. Tomorrow we’re gonna have a good day, all of us together, and then on the weekend I’ll tell her. With you.”
“With me?” he asked. “Why me?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know,” Charlie said. “She won’t kill me in front of you. And if you act like it’s normal, like anyone would want to know and it’s okay, then maybe she won’t kill me at all.”
“She’s not going to kill you. She might be upset, though. You might have to grovel a little, ask forgiveness for doing it behind her back, but you’re a big boy—you can do that.” He took a breath. “Charlie, you’re her whole life. She tries to take care of you, protect you. She wouldn’t keep important things from you to be mean, you know that.”
“I know. But still...”
“You knew she wouldn’t want you to do this,” Blake said. “You’re going to have to take your medicine.”
“But I wasn’t wrong!”
“It’s not about right or wrong. It’s about doing something you know would make your mother unhappy and doing it, anyway. That’s what you have to own. That’s what it means to become a man—you make a decision, you stand by it, you deal with the consequences if there are any. Sometimes fallout that seems all bad is good in the long run. But you won’t know that until you walk through the whole flood. You did what you did. Time to step up, man.”