“I got a nice almond ring from the bakery,” my mother said. “Help yourself. And there's fresh coffee.”
Even when my mother was in a state, she was still a mother.
“What do you think of my hair?” I asked her.
She looked at me and made the sign of the cross. “Holy Mary, mother of God,” she said. Then she smiled. “I can always count on you to top anything we have going on here.”
“I hear Val's getting married.”
“Thank goodness.”
“And I hear they're all going to live here.”
“What can I do?” my mother said. “They have to live someplace. Am I going to turn my daughter out on the street? They're going to buy a house as soon as Albert gets a little more established.”
There were heavy footsteps on the stairs.
“Your father,” my mother said. “He's moving out. We've been married for over thirty years and now he's moving out.”
Only if he pushed my car out of the driveway.
I went back to Val in the living room and shouted over the baby. “I'm living with Morelli these days,” I said. “Why don't you and the kids and Albert move into my apartment?” This was right up there with poking myself in the eye with a hot stick. I didn't really want to turn my apartment over to Valerie, but it was the only way I could immediately get her out of my parents' house.
“It would just be temporary,” Kloughn said. “Just until we find a place of our own. Boy, that's really nice of you. Valerie, isn't that nice of Stephanie?”
“It is,” Valerie said, shifting the baby so it could nurse.
Lisa stopped crying and Valerie looked like she was morphing back to the serene Saint Valerie. I was thinking that there was probably a lot of my mother in Valerie.
“There's nothing like a baby,” Grandma said.
Mary Alice galloped by and stopped to look. “I'd rather have a horse,” she said.
“When she gets older you'll be able to help feed her,” Valerie said. “And she'll be as much fun as a horse.”
“Horses have nice silky tails,” Mary Alice said.
“Maybe we'll let Lisa grow her hair long into a ponytail,” Valerie said. “Would you like to take the little cap off her head so you can see her hair?”
Mary Alice took the cap off Lisa's head and we were all transfixed by the wispy dark hair that swirled from Lisa's crown and framed her face. Lisa's tiny hands were balled into fists, her eyes were open, and fixed on Valerie.
And just like that, as of that instant, I wanted a baby. I didn't care if it had to come out of my vagina.
“I'll tell your father about the apartment,” Kloughn said. “I don't think he really wanted to move in with Harry Farnsworth.”
“I'll go over and box my stuff so you have room in the closet. You can move in anytime. Only thing, if there are any flower deliveries you should be sure to call me right away.”
“Thanks,” Valerie said. “You're a good sister. I'll make it up to you. And we'll start looking for a place of our own right away.”
I yelled good-?bye to my mom and I went out to Lula.
Lula was in the car, looking antsy. “I don't know what's wrong with me,” Lula said. “I just feel all jumpy. I'm just not myself.”
“You're not still worried about your teeth, are you?”
“I know they're growing. I can feel it. It's unnatural. And I got these cravings. I want to bite down on something. I want to feel it crunch in my mouth.”
“Jeez. You mean like a bone?”