Holiday Kisses

“You’re a mind reader as well?” He pulled off his gloves and dropped them on the ground.

“Minds, no. Faces? Some people are easier to read than others. Besides, you’ve earned it.”

“Well then, if you think so.” He motioned to the white Adirondack chairs a few steps away. “You’ve got a lot going on, don’t you, Calliope?”

“No more than most people.” She settled in her chair and slipped off her sandals to sink her bare feet into the thick grass. He could almost hear her sigh the way most people did when they sank into a pool of cool water.

“What’s wrong with your mother?” He took a long drink, sat back and waited. Whether she answered or not wasn’t the goal. Getting her to lower some of those walls she’d built around herself would be nice, though.

“The official diagnosis is borderline personality disorder, although she doesn’t fit any one profile. She’s spent most of her life untethered from reality. Well, most of my life. My grandmother believed it started when my father abandoned her.”

“That’s rough. How old was she?”

“Nineteen. He was...older.” Calliope closed her eyes as if drifting on a memory. “A summer fling that resulted in me. Gran was not thrilled. About him, I mean. She adored me.” She turned her head and smiled. Xander’s heart skipped a beat. She was stunning when she smiled. “Mama had mood swings, got into a lot of trouble. You name it, she did it. She’d run off, call Gran, then come home. It was a cycle I could predict by the time I was seven.”

“Must have been scary for you.” What words could possibly make a difference?

“It was my reality. I had my gran. She raised me, protected me. Might even say she saved me.”

Xander sipped at the sweet tea, tasted the hint of raspberries and mint. “Do you believe that? That she saved you?”

“Oh, yes.” There was that smile again, except as Calliope blinked open her eyes he saw the sadness hovering in the amethyst depths. “Everything I am is because of her. And thankfully I get to pass that on to Stella.”

“Who really is your sister.”

Calliope’s lips twitched. “You aren’t the first to wonder. As if I’d ever deny her being mine. But yes, Stella is my sister. In one of Emmaline’s more lucid periods, she fell in love with a wealthy businessman. For whatever reason, they didn’t get married, not that we ever got the real story, but when she came home she was eight months pregnant. By the time Stella was born, Gran had uncovered enough information about the father to let the family know they had a grandchild on the way.” Calliope held up a finger. “To this day it astonishes me just how much money some people are willing to throw at a problem to make it go away. Weeks later, Stella was born. And Mama...sort of disappeared after that. The time she spent in hospitals increased and that was with consistent therapy and medication. We found her good twenty-four hour care, but she hovers between worlds, never completely in one place. Aren’t you glad you asked?”

“Yes, actually.” If he owed Calliope nothing else, it was gratitude for reminding him how much he appreciated his own family. No matter how much upheaval and turmoil they’d been through over the past year, it was nothing compared to the pain and uncertainty Calliope had weathered. “So Stella doesn’t know her father?”

“No. Oh, she knows the circumstances. She knows his name and I’ve told her if and when she ever wants to find him, I will help her. So far she’s shown no interest in doing so.”

Xander wondered if that would ever change. “So Emmaline lives here now. With Hildy and her family.”

“Even before Gran died I knew I wouldn’t be able to care for both Mama and Stella for long. I met Hildy at a midwives’ conference years ago The dementia care facility she’d been working at for more than a decade had closed so she was looking into other options, but she was limited because of Joshua. She needed the flexibility to stay home with him. I took that as a sign. She and Eddie accepted Mama. Thanks to Stella’s father, I could afford to make some changes to their home, improvements they couldn’t afford. And it’s a blessing for Hildy and Eddie that they can tend their son as well. They don’t have to make special arrangements for him and most of the time, Joshua and my mother are great friends. It’s all worked out for the best.”