“How’d you know it was me?” I ask.
“I heard it all go down in real time last night.” He nods to his truck. “Police scanner.”
Of course he has a police scanner in his truck.
“So. You just gonna stand there, Daisy?”
“Um. No. I’m here to pick up Vivian.”
He rolls his head towards the house. “All right then, let’s go. I can’t wait to meet my newest granddaughter.”
I can’t even process those words so I just pretend I never heard them.
We walk up the porch steps and I can immediately hear Vivi’s voice from inside. Pops chuckles for a moment, his hand on the screen door knob. But he pauses to look at me and smiles. “She sounds just like the others.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her voice. She sounds like a Vaughn.”
I nod. What else can I do? I just want to get my daughter and get the hell out of here.
He holds the door open for me and I enter first.
I’ve been in here, obviously. But that was seven years ago and it was a very short trip from the front door to the stairs and I wasn’t paying attention to anything but Vic’s ass at the time, so I quickly scoot out of the way because I don’t know where to go.
This first room is huge. But it’s also weird. Is it a dining room? Is it a foyer? Is it a living room? I can’t tell. There’s a bench where countless motorcycle helmets are piled. A rack holding at least a dozen leather jackets. A dining table directly in front of me that looks big enough to seat twelve, but it’s hard to tell because there are no chairs. And, if that wasn’t confusing enough, there’s a giant TV on one end of the room and an open bedroom door on the other.
“Vicious!” Pops calls. “Your lady’s here.” He yells the first part loud but he’s looking at me for the second part and it comes out soft.
I say nothing.
Gramps appears first. “Lucille! So nice to see you again!” He comes over, takes my hand, kisses my knuckles, then looks me in the eyes. Squints. “You’re not Lucille.”
“No, Gramps.” I look up and Vic is standing under an arch that leads to a hallway. “This is Daisy. She’s Vivi’s mom.”
“My mom,” Vivi says, pushing her way past Vic. “’Member? I told you about her?”
“Oh, yeah,” Gramps says, not paying any attention to me at all.
“Well, who is this?” Pops walks over to Vivi and kneels down. “Is this Rory?”
“Who?”
“No, no. Let me guess. Don’t tell me. You’re… Belle.”
“Nooo,” Vivi laughs.
“Jasmine?”
“No!”
“Ariel?”
“No!” she squeals. “You’re wrong, wrong, wrong!”
At first, I’m annoyed at this. But then I get it. This man has a whole pack of beautiful little granddaughters who look just like Vivi and he’s teasing her. And reminding me of this fact.
“You’re… Cindy?”
“I’m Vivian.”
“Vivian?” Pops looks over at me and smiles. “Nice name, Vivian. I’m very pleased to meet you.” Then he offers her his hand and they shake.
But he knows what I did when I named my daughter Vivian. All his kids have names that begin with V. Vic, Vinn, Vonn, Veronica, and Vann.
And now he’s got himself a Vivian.
He stands back up looking proud as punch. Then he turns to me. “Well, Daisy. It’s nice to meet you too. I hope you will not be a stranger.” Then he nods his head at Vic. “I had quite the weekend, so I’m beat. I’ll be in the basement.” And then he disappears down another hallway.
I look at Vic, ready to get the fuck out of here.
But before I can make my getaway, Vivi says, “Do you want to see my bedroom, Mommy?”
Bedroom? She has a bedroom?
“It’s not what you think,” Vic says.
“No?” Remain calm, Daisy. Do not make a scene.
“No. My nieces have had a room here for almost fifteen years.”
“Come on, Mommy,” Vivi says, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the massive set of polished wooden stairs that are steep and slippery enough to make me worry about breaking my neck should I fall. “I’ll show you.”
There is no good way out of this, so what can I do? I follow her.
We climb up to the second floor—which is massive—and walk into the first room facing the stairs. All four walls are painted with a mural of a pack of princesses and a whole herd of unicorns. There is a castle, there is a forest, there are billowing clouds on the ceiling with a night sky behind them dotted with pinprick stars.
There are also three sets of bunkbeds, four wardrobes, a thick shaggy white rug, and flowy curtains blowing in the breeze that lead to a balcony which overlooks the unkempt backyard.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Vivi is breathless with awe. “And look! I got so many goldfish we had to get a giant tank!”