The Legacy (69 page)

Andrea sniffles and wipes her eyes.
Getting into bed, she turns out the light and lay awake for
awhile, thinking about Cisely and Adagio and how special they
made her feel. For the first time in her life, she feels important,
like she is here for a reason and her life isn't a total waste. She
can't believe how much has changed, how
she
has changed. For
the past year there has been no hope. Now her heart is filled
with it, and she wonders how it happened so quickly. How can
she be so happy when just this morning she had been shrouded
in despair?
She doesn't have an answer. But she loves the feeling and
never wants it to go away.

Adagio and Cisely pick Andrea up and take her to dinner.
The evening is full of warm conversation. She is again full of
questions, which they happily answer. They make plans to treat
her to brunch in a few days.

Andrea gets up early on Saturday to get ready, wanting to
look nice. After showering, she puts on a white blouse and the
only dress slacks she owns. They are a pair of black slacks she'd
bought to wear to her grandmother's graveside service. She
likes them because they make her look thinner. She pairs the
pants with black dress pumps. She leaves her wavy hair down
to fall just past her shoulders. Since she has never owned any
makeup, she'd made a trip to the dollar store yesterday and
purchased some blush, mascara, and lip gloss. Smiling, she
applies the cosmetics with care.

When Andrea answers the door, Cisely immediately tells
her how lovely she looks and Adagio echoes her sentiments.
Andrea blushes deeply and thanks them, feeling beautiful for
the first time in her life.

They
enjoy
a
leisurely
brunch
at
one
of
the
nicest
restaurants Andrea has even been in, and she does her best to
take everything in, unable to believe she is really there. She
smiles
at
Cisely
and Adagio
throughout
the
meal,
feeling
renewed gratitude to have them in her life.

It has been two weeks since meeting Cisely and Adagio,
and Andrea still marvels at the changes in her life. She has
never known such peace. Before meeting them, she truly didn't
think she had much to live for. Now, not only does she have a
life, she
loves
life. And she is being blessed beyond belief.

One of those blessings has been a new job. A man who
recently
moved into
the
apartment
building
next
to
her
rooming house owns a small car dealership and had been in
need of a receptionist. Andrea applied for the job, using Adagio
and Cisely as references. Fortunately they happen to be visiting
Andrea when he stopped by to talk with her about the job and
were able to meet him. The four were instantly taken with one
another.

Andrea enjoys her new job and really likes working for
Mr. Cole, or Jacob as he likes to be called. Getting to know the
older black man, she finds she has a great deal in common with
him. Jacob had been raised by a single mother who died five
years ago at the age of eighty-three. He never knew his father
because the man had been married when he had an affair with
Jacob's mother. Jacob says he holds nothing against the father
he never knew because he's made mistakes in his own life. A
couple of times Andrea, along with Cisely and Adagio, have
dinner at Jacob's home. Since he lives alone and has no family,
he enjoys having them over.

Cisely suspects Jacob is lonely a lot of the time. She and
Adagio feel a great deal of empathy for him and stop by the car
dealership to see him whenever they can. They also visit
Andrea while they're there. Cisely is happy to see the bond
forming between Andrea and Jacob. They have both been
alone in the world, so the friendship is very important to them.

We spend our final week in Winston Salem visiting a few
friends we've made and saying our goodbyes. While we will
miss everyone, we will miss Andrea and Jacob most of all. They
will always have a special place in our heart.

Phillip calls us a couple of times during the week. We've
missed him greatly and eagerly anticipate seeing him again. He
fills us in on the rest of the family and how things are going at
the restaurant. He tells us how well our grandson, young
Adagio, is mastering his grandfather's recipes, and he is now
cooking at the restaurant once a week.

Adagio tells Phillip how proud he is of them both for
running the place so well.
We long to see our family again and look forward to the
day when we are reunited.

Two days before we are scheduled to leave for Italy, we
stop by Andrea's place and catch her in the middle of doing
some genealogy. She has been gathering all the information she
can get her hands on during the past week. She has copies of
birth and death certificate and is beginning to piece everything
together. She is excited about some of her findings and has
been anxious to share them with us.

“Oh, Cisely,” she says as we sit around the table, “I can't
tell you how good it feels to finally know something about my
family.”

“And proud,” Adagio adds. “Okay, show us what you
have so far.”
“All right.” Andrea unrolls the pedigree chart.
Adagio takes his glasses from his pocket. He puts them
on and bends a little closer as she points out all the names on
the chart and tells us what she knows about them. We both
notice the blank spot where her father should have been listed.
“Why do you not have your father's name written here?”
Adagio asks.
Andrea looks up and sighs. “Because I don't know my
biological father's name.” When my puzzled expression joins
Adagio's, Andrea says, “Darren Gaston wasn't really my father.
My mother just picked his name to put on my birth certificate.
My grandmother told me that my mother was rather messed
up. She didn't want me to one day go looking for my real
father, so she used one of her many boyfriends' names.” She
pushes the hair back from her face. “Grandmother never knew
my father. She only knew what my mother told her about him.”
I squeeze her hand. “Well, not being a part of your life is
his loss, isn't it? And your mother's as well.”
Andrea doesn't respond. She smiles sadly and returns her
attention to the chart. Her eyes move up to her grandmother's
name, her eyes melancholy. I can tell she still misses her. Her
finger moves up to the name of her great-grandmother. “My
grandmother wasn't too close to her mother.”
“Do you know why?” I ask.
“Well, she said it was because she was a hateful woman
who spent her whole life being judgmental of others and was
just
basically
a
miserable
person.”
She
pauses,
becoming
thoughtful.
“My
grandmother
thought
her
mother
was
probably that way because of her own parents.”
Adagio sighs. “If that is true, then how sad for them.”
Andrea
nods.
“You
know,
my
grandmother even
mentioned something about her mother having a sister that the
family had basically disowned. She never knew why.”
Adagio and I shake our head's sadly. Looking into his
eyes, I know he's thinking about my past trials with my own
family. Life is just too short to hold onto grudges.
“Did your great-grandmother ever tell your grandmother
what happened to her sister?” he asks.
“Not really. She just said she married some Hawaiian guy
and moved away. I don't think anybody heard from her after
that.”
I study Andrea's features. Her look is subtly exotic.
“Forgive me, but would you mind if I asked you what your race
is?”
“No,” Andrea answers. “I inherited my Cherokee blood
from my mother. As for my father, I couldn't tell you what race
he is. He had to have been dark though. Maybe black. Who
knows.”
“God knows,” Adagio says. “And as diligently as you are
researching your family, I'm sure you will find out one day as
well.”
“I hope so, because deep down I have always wondered.”
Adagio finally checks the time and decides we had better
get going if we want to get over to Jacob's in time for dinner.
As we stand, Adagio and I embrace Andrea and tell her how
grateful we are to have her in our lives.
“I feel like you are my family now,” Andrea says smiling
through
misty
eyes.
“I'm really
going
to
miss
you.
Since
meeting you, I haven't felt alone in the world.”
“You never will be,” I tell her. “We will always be
thinking of you. Maybe you can even come and visit us one day
soon. We'll even foot the bill.”
“I would like that,” she says with a smile.
We have no idea, however, as we leave Andrea's that
pieces are about to be connected, which will complete a puzzle
that will give new depth to our lives.

We enjoy the delicious dinner Jacob prepared. He had
informed us earlier that it is actually a going away dinner for us
and told us how much we will be missed. We will miss him as
well.

We
repeatedly
compliment
Jacob
on
his
cooking.
Southern cooking is something neither of us have ever been
able to quite master, even though I was born and raised here.
Jacob tells us he learned everything he knows about cooking
from his mother, and since he's hasn't had anyone but himself
to cook for since she died, he's had plenty of time to practice.
He is happy to see us enjoying it so much.

We dine on breaded catfish, garlic potatoes, green beans
flavored with bits of ham, and cornbread. Dessert is pecan pie
and bread pudding. I can't help smiling as I watch my husband
mentally taking notes of how everything is prepared, and I am
sure he will be asking Jacob for his recipes before the night
ends.

“I can't believe you've never been married,” Andrea says,
taking another bite of the fish. “You would make some lucky
woman very happy.”

Jacob smiles, his expression thoughtful. “I came close to
being married once, but . . . it didn't work out. It turned out
that we were more different than I'd realized, and we didn't
want the same things–like me wanting to get married and her
not wanting to be tied down.”