Mary
When I got out of the car, Piper ran toward me. I wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic welcome and it warmed my heart. I opened my arms to give her a big hug. I turned to make sure I’d shut the door and noticed a man looking at the car. He looked a bit disheveled and it worried me that Rachel and Piper were living in an apartment complex with such shady looking characters.
I watched him walk away and then I walked with Piper to where Rachel stood. “Who’s that man?”
Rachel shrugged. “He had the wrong address.”
“Well, thank goodness because he looked like a hoodlum.”
Piper patted my arm. “What’s a hoodlum?”
I smiled. “That’s what my father called boys who were bad. They were hoodlums.”
“Justin was a hoodlum today,” Piper said.
I patted Piper’s head. “Who’s Justin?”
“A boy in my class. He was mean to Jacy. He pulled the little braids on top of her head.”
I nodded. “That was bad. And Jacy’s the little friend you met the first day, right?”
Piper nodded. “She’s my bestest friend. She even made me this necklace.”
Piper leaned forward and touched the necklace around her neck. “See.”
“I see. That’s a very pretty necklace. It’s especially pretty because Jacy made it for you.”
I held up the bakery bag I was carrying. “I stopped on the way here and picked up a French baguette. If you have bread, you can put this in the freezer.”
Rachel smiled. “Thank you, Mary! A fresh baguette. Perfect. Much better than the sliced white bread I was going to serve. Should I warm it up?”
I nodded. “You can. Just wrap it in foil and stick it in the oven for a few minutes.”
We walked into the apartment and Rachel went to check on the lasagna. Piper pulled me toward the dining room. “I want to show you what I did.”
She pointed to a place setting. “I set the table all by myself!” She pointed to the outermost fork. “And this is the salad fork and this is the dinner fork. Outside in.” Her toothless smile made my day.
Then she ran over to the desk in the corner and picked up a picture she’d drawn and handed it to me. It was a picture of the three of us and had a big, bright-yellow sun in the corner and flowers on either side of us.”
“What a beautiful picture. Thank you, Piper. I’ll have to put this on my refrigerator with the others.”
Piper pulled up her shirt.
“Piper, what are you doing?” I asked.
She pointed to a squiggly line on her stomach. “I have a scar just like Madeline.”
My hand flew to my heart. She had drawn a green appendectomy scar on her belly using a magic marker.
“I’m as brave as Madeline!”
I thought my heart would melt all over the floor. “You’re braver, Piper. You’re the bravest little girl I’ve ever met.”
Piper pulled down her shirt and took my hand, pulling me toward the stairs. “Come, Miss Mary. I want to show you my room.”
Rachel had just walked into the room and I looked at her, wondering if it would be okay. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Go ahead,” Rachel said. “I’ll put the bread in the oven and call you when dinner’s ready.”
Piper led me to her room and I sat on the bed because she said she wanted to show me things. She opened a small, white jewelry box with pink flowers on the outside and a ballerina on the inside. It was a music box and when you wound the key in the back, it played and the tiny ballerina spun.
“That’s a beautiful jewelry box,” I said. “I used to have a music box when I was little, but it wasn’t nearly as nice as yours.”
“My mommy gave it to me. She’s dead.”
My heart was breaking. Piper was such a sweet child. “I’m sorry you lost your mommy, Piper. But I’m glad you have Rachel. She loves you very much.”
“Rachel said we’ll be together forever. But Mommy said that, too. But she left me at daycare. I don’t want Rachel to go away – ever!”
Tears gathered in my eyes and I sniffed. “I’m sure Rachel wouldn’t want that either.”
Piper shrugged. “Sometimes I think Rachel gets mad because she has to take care of me.”
“Oh, Piper, sweet child. I’m sure Rachel isn’t mad at you. It’s just that sometimes things happen that we don’t expect to happen and it takes time to get used to it.”
“Like mommy dying?”
“Yes, like your mommy dying. No one thought that would happen but it did. She was very young and so no one expected it.”
“Does that mean I’ll be young when I die, too?”
I opened my arms and Piper walked toward me and I gave her a big hug. “I’m sure you’ll live to be very old and, when you’re my age, you’ll have grandchildren to play with. You can read them Madeline.”
“Or Cinderella,” she said.
“Or Cinderella.”
“Maybe I can read them both. And the house book that Rachel likes, too.”
I smiled and heard Rachel calling us for dinner. “Guess dinner’s ready. Should we go down and help Rachel?”
When Piper and I walked into the kitchen, the table was all set and ready to go. “Rachel, you should have called. I would’ve helped you.”
She waved her hand. “No biggie. Did you and Piper have a good time?”
Piper nodded and I did, too. We sat down at the table, Rachel and I on either side of Piper.
Rachel held up a bottle of Ranch dressing. “I only have this kind. I hope it’s okay.”
“It’s perfect,” I said. “Everything’s perfect. Would it be okay if we prayed?”
Piper frantically waved her hand. “I’ll say it!”
“Go ahead, Piper,” Rachel said, reaching out to hold my and Piper’s hands.
“God is great;
Thank you for our food.
Amen.”
“Did I get it right?” Piper asked me.
She didn’t get it exactly right, but it was close enough. “It was perfect,” I told her.
Rachel passed the bread basket to me after putting a small piece on Piper’s plate.
I tasted the lasagna. “It’s delicious, Rachel. I thought you said you couldn’t cook.”
“Well, I’m relieved it turned out. It’s the first time I tried making something from scratch.”
“You did a fabulous job.” I looked at Piper. “What do you think, Piper?”
She nodded. “Almost as good as chicken nuggets.”
“That’s your favorite, right?”
Piper nodded. “Rachel makes them for me a lot. She even bought dinosaur-shaped nuggets. I ate their heads off first.”
“When I was little, my mother would fill my Easter basket with tiny chocolate bunnies. I’d always eat the ears first. What about you, Rachel?”
“I got an Easter basket once,” Rachel said. “And I remember there was a chocolate bunny with candy eyes and a pink bow. It was so pretty I didn’t want to eat it. Then one day I came home and the basket, which was sitting on the floor by my bed, was full of ants. What a mess! I never did get to eat that bunny.”
Dinner was full of great conversation and I honestly felt as if I was sitting and eating with family. After we finished eating, I helped Rachel stack the plates in the sink.
“Would you like some coffee or tea?” Rachel asked.
“I absolutely would love some tea.”
“We only have Lipton’s, is that okay? And mugs, no fancy tea set.”
“Rachel, stop worrying. I love Lipton tea and a mug is fine.”
“I can make dessert,” Piper said.
“You can?” I asked.
Piper jumped out of her chair and followed Rachel into the kitchen. Rachel returned with my tea, after being told by Piper to leave the kitchen. “She wants her dessert to be a surprise,” she said.
When Piper returned, she had a big bowl filled with fruity flakes cereal and chocolate candies. The finishing touch? Whipped cream, of course.
“That looks delicious, Piper,” I said.
“You first.” Piper handed me the bowl.
Rachel leaped out of her seat. “I’ll get you a dessert bowl to put it in.” A few seconds later she returned with three small bowls. I used a spoon to scoop out Piper’s dessert. Piper watched as I took my first bite. I knew she was watching for my reaction. I chewed the cereal and chocolate and swallowed. “Piper, what an incredible dessert! Did you think of it all by yourself?”
Piper nodded. “Do you want to know what I call it?”
“Sure.”
“Mary Magic.”
I started to laugh but fortunately was able to convert the laugh into a smile. “Why, that’s a lovely name for a dessert.”
Piper sat up straight. “I named it after you.”
“I see. Well, it’s nice to have a dessert named after me. Thank you.”
I’m not quite sure how I managed to eat as much of Piper’s dessert as I did, but when Piper asked to finish it, I eagerly handed her my bowl.
“Rachel,” I said, “I’ve been thinking. I’d like more help keeping up with the house. What would you say if you worked for me full-time? I’ll call the agency first thing tomorrow if you’re willing.”
I could tell from Rachel’s reaction that the full-time job offer had come as a complete surprise.
“Full-time? Like I’d come to your house every day?” she asked.
“Except weekends,” I said. “But you would work for me just like you do now, only every day instead of once a week. You can come after Piper gets on the bus and leave in plenty of time to get her off the bus. And when she has time off school, you could bring her with you or not come at all.”
Rachel’s hand flew to her chest. “I don’t know what to say. I was going to ask the agency for more hours but with your offer I wouldn’t need to do that. Thank you so much. I’d love to work for you full-time.”
“Great. Then it’s settled. And we can talk about increasing your salary now that you’ll be working directly for me.”
Piper looked at me and smiled. “Can I still visit and climb your tree?”
I reached over to pat Piper’s hand. “You certainly can, Sweetie. And we’ll still have dinner once a week at my house like we planned before.”