"I don't consider what's happening to Jordan to be dirty laundry. God. Christopher," she said, suddenly turning on Daddy, "can you speak up for once?"
"What do you want me to do? I told you we shouldn't keep it from Mother."
"What?" Mama literally cringed and pulled away from him as though he could infect her with a disease.
I stepped back from the door. I. too, knew that wasn't true and I didn't want Daddy to see I had overheard.
"Let's end this ridiculous bickering before it even begins," Grandmother Emma said. "None of that is important. What's important is the girl's condition. Rene will let me know if we need a specialist on the case. Thank goodness you're taking her to the cabin, where no one we know will be able to see her."
"I'm not afraid of anyone seeing her! She's not a freak," my mother practically shouted.
"It's no one's business what she is or what she isn't," Grandmother Emma said, this time not fleeing from Mama. She looked at Daddy and then at the floor as she shook her head. "I feel like such a fool, talking about how she's grown and buying that present without knowing the reason for all this. Such a fool. I won't have it," she said, slapping the arm of the chair. "Don't let me learn something about my own family from someone else again. I'm to be consulted about every decision and every action, do you understand?"
Mama stared at her and then she turned again to Daddy. "Christopher? Well?" Daddy didn't speak. "Did I marry you or you and your mother?"
Grandmother Emma grunted, but said nothing.
"There's nothing wrong with Mother being involved. She knows more doctors and even has connections at the university. Look. Mother," he said, "I'm sorry you were surprised by all this, but it all happened so quickly and--"
"That's all I want to hear or say about this," Grandmother Emma said abruptly. "The important thing is what has to be done will be done."
She rose and walked out of the living room, pausing when she saw me standing there. "Francis," she muttered to herself, but loudly enough for me to hear, and then she continued down the hallway.
Why did she call me Francis or think of her again when she looked at me? My heart was pounding, filling my chest with every thump.
And my curiosity about my great-aunt was too great to restrain. I'd open one of those locked closet doors yet. I thought. In fact, it was almost as if Grandmother Emma was urging me to do so. 7
The Best Birthday Party I Ever Had
.
"How could you say that? How could you make me look like the bad one in front of her!" Mama shouted at Daddy.
Ian heard them and came midway down the stairs. They were standing in the hallway.
"Will you lower your voice, Caroline?"
"No, I will not lower my voice. I won't cower like some child in this house. How could you do that? Are you that afraid of your own mother?"
"I'm simply trying to make things easier," Daddy said, reducing his voice to a loud whisper. "It doesn't do us any good for her to feel we're conspiring to deliberately hide things from her, does it? It's better this way."
"You mean it's better that I'm the sole one at fault?"
"It's easier for me to make peace with her. Just calm down. It will pass," Daddy said.
"You're damn right it will pass," Mama told him. She marched to the stairway, remembered my things, and went back to the bench to get them. "C'mon upstairs, Jordan. We'll put your things away for now," she said, seizing my hand and practically dragging me to the stairway. "It is supposed to be a happy day, your birthday," she added, practically right into Daddy's face.
I looked at Daddy and then at Ian, who seemed disappointed it was only a spat between Mama and Daddy. He turned and went back upstairs to his room. I didn't know what it would take for him to become upset or troubled by something happening in our family. To me he always looked like he had expected it, anticipated it, or at times, even welcomed it, because it was something else to write in his journal, whereas I couldn't hide my fear and sadness.
"Don't worry, Jordan," Mama told me in my bedroom. "I won't let this ruin your birthday dinner."
I really wasn't worried about that. I was confused and troubled about Daddy's lying. It was the first time I caught him doing so. I never thought he was as perfect as Mama. I 'mew he had failed in his schoolwork and I knew he wasn't a very good businessman. Grandmother Emma never let us forget any of that, but I still thought of him as being a good person who loved us. He just couldn't love us as much as our mother loved us because he was too busy trying to succeed.
Whenever my mother complained about my father working too much or being away from us too long, he would throw up his hands and cry, "I'm just trying to get some independence for this family, Caroline. You don't want to be dependent on my mother forever, do you?"
"I don't ever want to be dependent on your mother," Mama would reply, and he would shrug.
"So? Let me work at it."