Something to Talk About (20 page)

“Your dad never mentioned any family at all? Not once?”

Adam said no. “He never really talks about his past and we’ve never really asked him, to be honest. I mean, if someone says they have no family, you don’t figure they’re lying; you just feel kinda bad that they’re all alone. We knew my mother’s family, all her aunts and cousins and sisters and brothers, but no one has ever mentioned a living soul on the Cochran side of the family. And yet, there they are, two of the sweetest old ladies you ever want to meet,” he said with wonder.

"Four
ladies,
” Allie reminded him.

they
left that evening, Reba and
Emmaline
made them promise to come to church with them the next day. “You have to meet the sisters. They’re on their way home from a day in Grand Rapids and they’d be crushed to miss you,” Reba said. When they agreed to attend, she consulted the colorful calendar on the kitchen wall and announced that it was Church of Christ Sunday.

It seemed the ladies went to all the churches in the area on a rotating schedule. From an ecumenical standpoint, they liked to be on speaking terms with all denominations. Reba had inquired about Alicia’s religious preference and nodded brightly when told she was Catholic.

“I was a Catholic for a while,” she approved, “but the Baptists lured me back.” The older woman went deep in thought for a moment,
then
sighed. “That’s why we go to all of
them,
they all have something to offer.”

Adam and Alicia continued to cuddle and talk, stopping every so often for a mind-altering kiss. “So are you going to tell you family about your relatives?” she asked.

“Of course I am, but I’ve got to talk to Pop first. I’ve got to try to understand why he did this, why he acted like these people didn’t exist,” he said reflectively. “I’ve known the man all my life and for most of that time he was the biggest thing in my life, especially after my mother died.
And now I feel like I don’t know him at all.
Not at all, Allie.
This is truly the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me. I feel like I stepped into the twilight zone or something.”

“Dee-
dee
-
dee
-
dee
,
dee-dee-dee-dee
,” Alicia piped in a poor imitation of the theme from the cult favorite and laughed as Adam tickled her.

“Very cute.
Seriously, Allie, I’m
so
glad you were here with me. For one thing, you’re a witness, so when I tell the rest of the family, they won’t think I’m nuts. And for another, I’m always more grounded when you’re around. You keep me sane, baby,” he admitted as he nuzzled her neck.

Touched to her heart, Alicia turned in his arms so they were facing each other. “You keep me happy,” she
countered
.
“Very happy, Adam.”

“My work here is done,” he said lightly, then took a sharp breath as A
licia took him in hand to prove
otherwise.

“Oh, no, baby, your work has just started. It’s my turn now,” she said with a sultry look.

“As you wish, my love.
Whatever you want, whenever you want it
.” He stopped speaking abruptl
y and his voice grew hoarse with emotion.
“Allie
,
"
he gasped and the sounds of his passion filled the room.

Chapter Thirteen

Leah Ross Fuentes looked up with a smile when her youngest child entered the family room. She and her husband were relaxing on the sofa, watching a movie when Alicia called and said she was on the way over. Judging from the look on her daughter’s face, something was amiss. Right after greeting her parents, Alicia flopped down in the nearest chair with a loud sigh of despair. Even Molly and Pansy, her mother’s cheerful West Highland terriers, seemed to sense her distress and jumped off Jose’s lap to see what was ailing her.

“Darling, what’s the matter? I can see that something’s bothering you, tell us about it,” she said warmly.

Jose looked concerned. His entire world revolved around his beloved wife and their children. Baseball was just a paid hobby as far as he was concerned. He loved the game but his family came first. He looked at his daughter’s face full of anxiety and wanted to know who or what was troubling her.

“
Mija
,
what’s troubling you? Has someone done something to you?” he asked gruffly.

“No,
Papi
,
it’s not that. Forgive me for being so melodramatic but I’ve just had the strangest weekend of my entire life and I have no idea what to do next,” she said. She sighed again,
and
then began to explain the events that had occurred over the past few days. “It started when Adam and I went to
Idlewild
.” She patted her thighs to let the dogs know they were welcome and they jumped into the chair with her, scrambling for her lap.
 
As concisely as she could, Alicia told her mother and father about being followed by the older woman and being taken to the home of the relatives Adam had never heard of.

“They were incredibly sweet ladies,
Mami
.
And they were wonderful storytellers and so funny! We went to church with them on Sunday and met the other two aunts, and they were really something else. They’re the ones that told everything, only they told
me
and not Adam, and now I don’t know what to do with it all.”

Leah looked perplexed.
“With what, darling?
What do you mean?”

It wasn’t an easy story to tell. On Sunday morning she and Adam had joined
Emmaline
and Reba for service at the Baldwin Church of Christ,
and
then gone home with them for lunch. It was then that they met the other two aunts, Daphne and Dahlia, the most eccentric ladies she’d ever encountered. They lived next door to
Emmaline
in a pale green cottage with yellow trim. Like Reba, it was hard to judge their age, for despite their white hair, their caramel skin was
smooth and unlined.
They were identical twins, exactl
y alike from their fashionably short hair to the outfits they wore, neat denim skirts with soft cotton knit twin sets, one in violet and the other in blue, with comfortable-looking loafers on their feet. Their voices were just alike, too, so that you had to be looking at them to know who was speaking, and as they routinely finished each other’s sentences, it meant the listener’s eyes were constantly going from one woman to the other.
 
The really confusing thing was their refusal to admit that they were twins.

“We’re not twins, dear,” one of them said. “People insist that we are, but it’s not true. Sister, when is your birthday?”

“August first, of course.”

“And I was born on July thirty-first, so there you have it. We are not twins, because we were not born on the s
ame day,” said Daphne triumphantl
y. “Our mother went into labor late in the afternoon and if God had intended us to be twins ...” She paused
for a breath and her sister jumped in
.

“We would have been born on the same day. We don’t even share the same month,” Dahlia pointed out. “We may have shared a womb for a time ...”

“But we are not twins,” Daphne said emphatically.

Or maybe it was Dahlia, Alicia wasn’t sure. She was sure, however, that these were the two most talkative women in all of Lake County. After meeting Adam and exclaiming over him and shedding identical tears of joy, the ladies cornered Alicia in the kitchen where she had come to help them get dinner on the table. She was making a salad while the sisters gave her the real story about Big Benny leaving
Idlewild
. With one on her right and the other on her left as they talked, it was like hearing in surround sound.

“Francine was a sweet woman, she really was. But she was weak, don’t you think, sister?”

“Yes, I think she was, sister, because, after all, losing a child is the worst kind of tragedy, but the poor thing never got over it. Never did. And they way she hung on to poor Andrew was terrible, wouldn’t you say so, sister?”

“It was terrible, I have to say it. She couldn’t bear to have him out of her sight, she treated him like he was made out of glass,
she
really did. And he was such a jewel, too. He was never a bit of trouble, he didn’t do anything to worry her or cause her any anxiety, he really was a good boy, wasn’t he, sister?”

“He really was, and he loved his parents, too, especially his daddy. Now he might have been good to his mother, but he idolized his father. Andrew thought the sun rose and set in our brother
Calvin,
didn’t he, sister?”

By now Alicia’s head was spinning from the back-and-forth delivery of the aunts. She thought she’d better inte
r
ject something to break up the flow and asked what Calvin was like.

“He was a pistol, that’s what he was!” Both ladies laughed out loud. One of them took up the story.

“He was a man before his time, he really was. He owned and operated a beautiful supper club back when
Idlewild
was a real resort. It was known all over the country, it was called the Hacienda and it was just wonderful, first class all the way.
Beautiful
crisp white linen tablecloths and
fresh flowers on every table.
It was all black and silver and white and had these fabulous mirrors on all the walls. Calvin was the kind of man who could take a lump of coal and have a handful of diamonds in no time. He was smart and popular and got along well with everyone. He had so much charisma and charm it was no wonder he was a success.”

As soon as
Daphne,
or maybe it was Dahlia, stopped speaking, her sister began. “Of course, his life wasn’t easy, because after Aaron died, Francine about lost her mind. Aaron and Andrew were twins, you see, and Aaron drowned in Lake
Idlewild
when they were eight years old. Francine blamed everyone for his death, but especially Calvin, which was ridiculous because Calvin was in Grand Rapids on business that day. She lashed out at everyone, almost went crazy, she did. And she was never quite right after that. She was so beautiful and he loved her so much that he treated her like a delicate doll, and, of course, we did, too. We were so fond of her and so sorry for her loss that we all tended to give in to her every whim, and, of course, that’s what caused all the trouble.”
 
Both women sighed deeply and looked at Alicia with their piercing black eyes.

“We’ve always regretted what we did and if we could take it back, we surely would. But at the time we thought we were doing the right thing; we had no idea it would blow up in our faces the way it did. No idea at all,” said the one Alicia decided was Daphne.

Dahlia looked troubled and wiped away a quick tear as she nodded in agreement. “It was the worst thing we could have done, sister. But Francine was so desperate and we just didn’t think there’d be any lasting harm, we really didn’t. You see, the year Andrew turned eighteen a lovely young girl came to work at the Hacienda as a hostess. The club had hostesses and dancers and singers. There was a regular floor show every night
.
Honey, it was just like Las Vegas,
it
really was. Well, this young girl was named Cassandra and she was just as pretty as she could be, sweet, too. Andrew took one look and fell head over heels for her and she was the same way about him.

“All summer long when you saw one you saw the other, and it wasn’t just puppy love, either. He was truly in love with that girl, even though we didn’t recognize it at the time. Francine was convinced that the poor
child was a floozy, a nasty littl
e shake dancer who was going to lead her baby astray, and she came to us for help. She was so desperate to break them up she was going to tell him that the girl was no good, but she knew that he wouldn’t believe her unless she had someone to back her up,” Dahlia said with a deeply heartfelt sigh of regret

Alicia’s eyes were wide and despite herself she was completely absorbed in the story. “So what did you do?” she breathed.

It was Daphne’s turn to sound regretful. “Francine concocted a tale that she thought was sure to keep her son away from the girl. She told him that he couldn’t be involved with Cassandra because the girl was his father’s mistress.”

At Alicia’s gasp both women lowered their eyes for a moment. Daphne recovered first and went on with the story.

“I’m ashamed to say that we went along with the lie. To this day I have no idea what would make us tell a whopper like that on our own brother, other than the fact that we really feared for Francine’s mental health and we truly didn’t understand how deeply Andrew loved this girl. We all went along with the lie, including Reba, I’m sad to say. And that’s what made Andrew leave
Idlewild
and never return.”