Chapter Sixteen

Family Planning

Vanessa, so good to see you!” Javier’s parents rose from their seats when she approached the table. They each hugged her before sitting.

“Mani tells us that you have made him the happiest man in the world already. I’m glad you could make some time to see us today, so we might share the joy as well,” Papi said warmly.

“Yes, I know you would probably rather be holed up with him somewhere, celebrating,” Mami said with a good-humored directness. “But as much as I want grandchildren, I think it’s nice to have a little break to meet the old folks as well.”

Javier chuckled. Vanessa choked on her water and coughed.

“Rosa, be gentle with her. She doesn’t know our sense of humor yet,” Papi smiled encouragingly to Vanessa.

“Speaking of sense of humor, did y’all pass that statue down the street on the way here?” Mami interjected.

“Statue?” Vanessa knit her brows. “The Confederate soldier statue? No, we came another way.”

“Well, you ought to look him over when you leave, if you’re not in too much of a hurry to be alone again,” Mami teased.

“Why?” Javier smiled impishly. Vanessa had the fleeting thought that if their children looked like their father, they would get away with an awful lot of mischief. His mother gave way almost instantly when he grinned.

“Well. Somebody dressed him up. What do you call it, Edgardo? Yarn pirates?”

“Yarn bombing.”

“Yes. Somebody yarn bombed him. He’s wearing a Viking hat and toting a huge crocheted banjo.”

Vanessa and Javier looked at one another and burst out laughing.

“Friends of yours?” Javier asked when the laughter had subsided.

“I’m pretty sure, yes. I wondered why Squeak said she left her banjo behind. They must have gone back after they dropped me off.”

Javier’s parents raised their eyebrows in polite question.

“Vanessa won me over from a bout of foolishness through honorable lucha libre,” Javier’s supple lips tried not to smile as he gave this information.

“Well, that’s as it should be,” Mami said in a mock matter-of-fact tone, smiling only with her eyes. “And?” she prodded.

“Her luchadora name is,” here he leaned in and whispered, “Banjopera, banjo plus opera.”

“Ah,” Mami said. “And someone you know celebrated,” she grinned.

“Well, you may have won the match, my dear, but my son has won the real prize,” Papi smiled, causing Vanessa’s smile to broaden. “I see the ring fits. Do you like it? It belonged to my Great Aunt Maribel. She was a Bohemian in New York in the nineteen twenties and thirties. She emigrated from Argentina after the first war. I wish you could have known her. Aunt Mari had such a spirit, and a laugh to make a room vibrate! Mani says you have something of her energy.”

“Thank you,” she looked from Papi to Javier and back. “I love the ring, but I have a feeling I’m going to like the stories around it even more.” Vanessa rubbed the back of the band with her left thumb. “Is the ring from Argentina as well?”

“Oh, no. Maribel received it in 1922, from her lover Solomon. He was a painter from a family of jewelers, and she was his model. She always said that ring was why she would not be Sol’s mistress. It was nicer than the one he gave his wife, and Maribel did not truck with such disorderliness.”

“She sounds like quite a forceful personality,” Vanessa chuckled.

“Oh, she was. Samuel and Mani used to argue over who got to have the ring after she passed.”

“Is Samuel married?” Vanessa asked.

“Who? Our Sam? No, he’s far too busy dating all the eligible young women that his patients set him up with. He’s not like our Mani here, who kept an eye out for the right lady and brought her home as soon as he might,” Mami’s eyes twinkled. “At least, I assume he has brought you home.”

“Javier tells me you like books,” Vanessa said, changing the subject.

Mami looked blankly for a moment. “Oh, yes. You call Mani by his first name. All of the oldest boys in the family are named Javier for their first name, so I am unused to hearing it. My sister-in-law Cecilia calls my Edgardo by that name, you know.” She paused a moment, switching course. “But, yes, I like books. I love classics, best sellers, mysteries, romances. When the boys were young, I focused on my old favorites and Pulitzer winners, because I could only read a book per week then. Retirement has allowed me to cast the net wide again. Who is your favorite author, Vanessa?”

“I like a lot of modern literary fiction, but Jane Austen is the one to whose works I return. I read all of the novels except Northanger Abbey at least once a year.”

“Then I understand why you like Mani,” Mami looked at her son with undisguised pride.

Vanessa agreed wholeheartedly, and, feeling as though she had passed a test, she relaxed.

“Has our son sung for you yet?” Papi asked after they had given their orders.

“No, but I’m eager to hear him. This ‘banjopera’ sounds intriguing.”

“Your take on my style was rather impressive,” Javier whispered. His parents did not hear him over the low, happy hum of the restaurant.

“My advice is, get him to write you a song. You won’t regret it,” Papi gesticulated as he spoke. Vanessa found his ease comforting and grinned, listening encouragingly. “Ever since they were little boys, Mani and Samuel have written songs for their mother and me. Mani was the ringleader, of course. You want to know how he really feels, get him to make something up.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Vanessa smiled politely at Papi, raised an eyebrow at Javier. Javier cast her a smoldering look from under his brows, so that she had to look away to maintain her concentration. Mami and Papi seemed to notice the exchange and looked on with amused expressions. Vanessa groped for a new thought, but all she could remember was the picture of the chicken on Javier’s phone. “Tell me about Bea the Pea,” she said at last. “That’s an unusual name for a hen.”

“Oh, Bea is an unusual hen,” Mami warmed to the subject. “She won’t lay unless her hay is perfectly smooth, but then she will lay two eggs a day. She’s a princess, that one. “The Princess and the Pea.”

Vanessa laughed and listened with interest to Mami’s descriptions of the rest of the flock. The women grew loquacious. Papi had to intervene with a reminder of the time when the two got going on the subject of sewing and nearly let the food grow cold before they ate it. Dinner passed pleasantly, with each woman agreeing within herself that family life once Vanessa and Javier were married would be happier than ordinary mortals deserved. Javier they exempted, since they both loved him enough to know that he deserved every happiness. Only the closing of the restaurant and the promise of meeting in a couple of weeks to advance wedding plans kept them brief on the subject of the upcoming nuptials.

“You were right,” Vanessa told Javier when they were back in the car.

“You loved them, right? And they loved you, too,” he smiled.

“That, yes. But I was talking about the surprise. I’m glad you didn’t tell me. After a perfect meal, it’s nice to have more to look forward to.”

“You won’t have to wait for long,” Javier grinned and drove the few blocks to a parking deck. They parked and walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. Vanessa was mooning over Javier, so she did not notice where they were headed until Javier stopped under the billboard outside the Carolina Theatre.

“Casablanca!” Vanessa exclaimed when she read the bright marquee. She had forgotten about the show entirely after the night of the launch party.

Javier purchased tickets and guided her into the theater with a hand on her lower back. They sat as close as they could get in the old-fashioned velvet seats, and Vanessa rested her head on Javier’s shoulder. He was so wonderful, and the movie was so beautiful, and he was not even talking during the film as he had threatened to do. Vanessa was completely happy, content, and asleep. An ancient man with a broom cleared his throat loudly by Javier’s side.

“Excuse me, young people. This movie ended half an hour ago. Y’all need to go on home now, because the theater’s closed.”

“Wha—?” they snuffled and sat up in unison. Used to on call hours at the hospital, Javier woke up first.

Javier thanked the man and led a groggy Vanessa to the nearest exit. Gradually, she revived on the way to Javier’s townhouse.

“I hope you like my home, Vanessa. Of course, we will probably want to buy a place of our own when we’re married,” he turned on the lights, revealing a hallway lined with glorious framed photographs, “but this place has its charms. Welcome,” he kissed her lightly.

“Say that again, please.”

“Welcome?”

“When we’re married.”

“When we’re married, I promise to make every attempt to make out with you during old films rather than to talk during them,” he brushed hair behind her ear, “or to sleep through them.”

“When we’re married?” Vanessa leaned her head against Javier’s chest and wrapped her arms around him.

“When we’re married, I’ll introduce you to my giant bathtub.”

“Too sexy,” she shook her head and squirmed.

“When we’re married, I’ll have time to teach you to use my giant…camera?”

Vanessa laughed and looked up, “I look forward to it,” her words purred, low and seductive.

Javier’s breath caught, and he pulled away a little. “I had better put away the camera.” He carried their bags down the hall toward his living room, leaving Vanessa to peruse the photos at her leisure.

She stopped in front of the photo closest to the doorway Javier had used. She was examining the picture, bemused, when he looked in on her. “When did you take this?”

“Ah,” he removed the photo from the wall and guided Vanessa into the living room, where he handed the picture to her. “When we were apart. I used my days off to retrace our steps.”

“Let’s get married here,” she held up the photograph.

“At the Sanctusaurus?”

“Yes. And let’s call him by his Christian name.”

“Fluff,” they said at the same time, laughing.

Javier’s expression grew serious. “I can’t believe how much time I wasted.”

“Let’s not live in the past, Javier. We’re together again now. Don’t worry about our time apart.”

“No, I mean during Casablanca. I had you in my arms in a dark theater, and I did not so much as kiss you, much less try to get to first base.”

They laughed, their voices dropping sexily.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you make up for lost time,” Vanessa smiled. She tried to move closer to him on the couch, but winced. “Only, I hope you have another location. You were right about your couch being uncomfortable.”

“Come. Let’s redeem the time,” Javier stood and offered her his hand.

***

“Did you even sleep last night, mija?” Carla ruffled Vanessa’s unkempt hair on her way to her seat from the coffee urn.

“Not much,” Vanessa grinned, remembering the making out from the night and morning. She and Javier had bookmarked a very interesting piano lesson so that Vanessa could come to Fructus.

“Well, you look beautiful. Glowing. Just a little sleepy,” Carla said, smiling when Vanessa looked at her coffee cup to avoid blushing.

“Why aren’t you drinking your coffee today, Vanessa?” Squeak asked. “Usually you can’t resist its Finnish charms.”

“The coffee, excuse me for saying so, tastes like crap today,” Gabi answered grumpily. “What did y’all do, put in soy milk or something?”

“Well, I think it tastes great. I just don’t want to get too caffeinated. I’m hoping for a very awesome nap later.” Vanessa scrutinized the coffee in her cup, looked resolved, and set it on the table next to her. “We haven’t slept together, but sleeping together is total bliss.”

“You sound old, hermana. Or should I call you vieja?” Gabi grumped. Everyone studiously ignored her foul mood.

“I think the coffee’s fine,” Perla said to Squeak reassuringly.

“Me, too,” Carla added.

Percy raised her cup and drank deeply. She looked at Vanessa expectantly and spoke when Vanessa did not seem to respond. “I notice that you are wearing a ring, Vanessa.”

“Huh? Oh. Yes,” Vanessa was staring into space in the same way she often stared at Javier, a lopsided grin plastered across her face. She started and drew her attention back to Fructus. “Forgive me, y’all. I’m a little preoccupied this morning with some plans.”

“I think we all know what your plans are, Vanessa,” Gabi said, more bluntly and less playful than usual. She was eating a pastry slowly.

“Besides the nap,” Squeak winked.

“Wedding plans!” Vanessa held up her left hand and waggled her fingers so that the ring caught the light. “Javier and I are engaged!”

“Engaged!? Oh, mija, I thought you were just getting laid. I’m so happy for you.”

“I haven’t been laid. We haven’t…” Vanessa trailed off when the women looked at her sympathetically.

“You mean he had equipment malfunction?” Perla asked quietly, a small frown darkening her face.

“What?” Her meaning dawned on Vanessa. “No! Nothing like that. We just decided…” She looked at Percy, “I just decided I wanted to wait.”

“So now you’re repressed?” Gabi mocked, finishing her pastry.

“Look, I know my track record makes this seem awkward, but I haven’t stopped liking sex. I don’t feel repressed at all. Actually, I feel free. I just think it would be nice for a change to spend some time connecting in other ways.”

“Like what? Are you putting your new lucha libre moves on him?” Gabi’s mood lightened. The food had restored her.

“Not yet, but I’ll put that on the to-do list. Mostly we’ve been dancing and talking and photographing. I mean, and making out, obviously. We’re going for chastity, not nunnery.”

“He’s taking pictures of you?” Gabi smiled mischievously. “I take back what I said about you being repressed, hermana.”

“So, when is the big date?” Percy beamed.

“You’ll be glad to know that we will marry in October. Hopefully the third Saturday.”

“Good! Mine will be at the end of September, so we’ll have time to get back from our honeymoon,” Gabi smiled warmly. “But why would Percy be glad to know that?”

“Because, my dear friend and protector, Percy found my wedding dress already. It’s a gorgeous, deep-burgundy-colored vintage silk, and it will be perfect for a fall wedding.”

“Oh, mija, you probably don’t know yet, since you didn’t answer your phone yesterday,” Carla beamed and turned to Gabi. “Can I tell her?”At a nod from Gabi, she continued, “My niña is getting married in the Duke Gardens!”

“That’s perfect! Just what you wanted,” Vanessa toed her friend affectionately. “What did Ruben think about the location?”

“At first he was grumpy. He wanted to get married in the church, but all the dates were booked. Then I pulled some strings and got our date in the garden. He argued at first, but I went hormonal on him and started crying.”

“And he changed his mind?”

“His mamá asked him what was wrong with him? Did he think that God didn’t make the sky?”

“Sí. Then she hinted darkly about the sadness of making his baby fatherless if he waited too long trying to find an available church,” Carla added, excitedly. “It was like a telenovela.”

“So he decided the garden would be perfect, and he made it up to me,” Gabi grinned. “Several times.” She gave Vanessa a high five, which she turned into a hand squeeze to amend for her earlier surliness.

“Well, it’s nice to see all of my girls happy at last,” Perla said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Squeak waved dismissively. “But how did you get from point A, finding him asleep at your table when we walked in, to point B, engaged and, um, chaste?”

Vanessa told them about the blog. “He said that once something’s on the Internet, it’s there forever. Then he asked me to marry him.”

“That is so nerdy, hermana. Ruben just asked if he could make me an honest woman.”

“It really is nerdy, now that you mention it,” Vanessa laughed. “But seeing as I started this relationship by falling in love with him from scrapbooks, I think he wanted to reach out to my historian side.”

“In short, not nerdy, but adorable,” Percy summarized.

“You have a blog?!” Squeak asked eagerly. “I have to have the address.”

Vanessa gave the URL. “Oh, and I met his family, his parents, anyway. Properly, this time. They are so cool and kind. They’re going to love all of you.”

“We already met them, remember?” Squeak reminded. “We were cracking up with them before we had to leave to help Mary’s family.”

“Speaking of family, I want you all to be my family at the wedding. I’ll invite my relatives, of course, but they are so caught up in their own drama that I probably won’t get more than my Aunt Clotilde and maybe Mama out here.”

“Of course we’re your family, hermana! Hey, you should get Marian to give you away.”

“That’s a great idea! Do you think she’ll do it?”

“I will ask her, as a special favor to you, mija. Of course she will do it,” Carla bent down and kissed Vanessa’s cheek.

“I am so happy for you, Vanessa!” Perla reached out and took Vanessa’s face in wrinkled hands. “I got you a little something. But you’ll have to share with Gabi.” Perla pulled out two large brown paper bags that were obviously full.

“I don’t need condoms, Perla,” Vanessa said, puzzled.

“Just open it,” Perla gestured, handing over the bags.

“Look at all this fabric!” Vanessa gasped. “It’s beautiful, Perla. All my favorite colors. There’s enough here to make…” She stopped speaking as she came to the bottom of the first bag. She lifted up a pattern book. “A complete wardrobe for baby?” Vanessa finished as she skimmed the covers of the book.

“Why did you say she had to share with me?” Gabi asked, eating her third Danish. “I don’t sew, and Ruben’s sisters have already stashed a complete wardrobe for the baby. They won’t give it to us till I’m seven months along, but they keep showing little outfits to each other when I’m over.”

Perla’s face radiated warmth. “If I know our Vanessa, she won’t be able to be still now that she’s happy. You either let her make some of these things for you, or we will all be overrun with tea cozies and aprons and who knows what this Christmas.”

“Tea cozies!” Vanessa yipped. “Oh, good idea, Perla.” She smiled at Gabi. “You know she’s right, so you’d best pick a few of your favorite fabrics before we leave. I’ll overflow my hope chest in short order, and then you’ll get baby clothes whether you like them or not.”

“Speaking of the hope chest, do you have everything you need for the wedding?” Squeak asked. “Percy tells me that you have the dress and a going away outfit and, as Perla hinted, a lifetime supply of aprons. But what else do you need, so we can look out for it?”

“I don’t know. Flowers. Invitations. Tulle. I’m meeting Mami to go over a lot of those questions next week. I was hoping Gabi and Perla could help with the flowers, actually,” she looked from one to the other, “I would rather use what’s in season in y’all’s gardens than have to spend money on stuff trucked in from who-knows-how-far away.”

“No problem. We have loads of fall flowers in the yard, and I can just prune the rose garden at work a little more vigorously than usual the day before,” Gabi smiled.

“I can give you greenery from my eucalyptus trees, and my spider mums and dahlias will be blooming then, too,” Perla enthused. She dug in her huge leather handbag and pulled out a notebook. “I’ll make a note to ask my neighbor if we can have some of her butterfly bush blooms, too, if you would like. She has purples and dark pinks.”

“That sounds lovely. Thanks.” Vanessa had her first flash of inspiration for the wedding, a mental image of mums and roses and spiky purple clusters in low vases at each bar table.

“Are you still going to be freegan once you’re married, mija?”

“I don’t see why not. I mean, I will probably be more moderate, especially once we buy a house and have our own garden. But I would love to do as much as possible to keep down costs and our environmental impact.”

“As long as you don’t try to make me eat or wear garbage, I’m okay with that,” Gabi said, crossing her arms over her chest. She winced and moved them back to her sides.

“I’ll sew your dress, Gabi, like I said before. I want all of you to be in the wedding. Percy, Squeak, I’d love for you to be bridesmaids, along with Paula and obviously Gabi,” she poked Gabi in the leg with her coffee cup. She had given in to her need for caffeine, confident that Javier’s presence would be sufficient to relax her later. “Perla and Carla, I would love for you two to read something that inspires you.”

Perla clasped her hands to her chest in gratitude.

“Of course, mija,” Carla said, at the same time Gabi looked at her mother and said, “No Jerome.” They giggled.

“We’d be honored,” Percy said, looking at Squeak for confirmation.

The conversation moved on to Gabi’s wedding details, then to Percy and Squeak’s distant wedding plans. Squeak was in raptures about dress possibilities. Talk turned to the dresses each would wear to Vanessa’s wedding, since Gabi’s in-laws had commandeered all design decisions for her wedding party. They were led by degrees to talk about wedding music. Vanessa remembered her music lesson with Javier and made to leave early.

“Yeah, you’d better get in all the good stuff before you get married and it all dries up,” Gabi joked.

“That’s not fair, mija. They are waiting to have their honeymoon on their honeymoon. Besides, most people have way more sex once they are married than they ever had before marriage.”

“I certainly intend to,” Percy said in her matter of fact way. Squeak blushed.

“Not only that, girls, but you should know something else. Sex after babies is even better than sex before. Your body knows its baby’s father,” she nodded at Percy and Squeak, “or other mother, and responds.” Perla waved her finger authoritatively.

“It’s true. Baby hormones can be addicting. People in the room during natural childbirth get a hit of bonding hormones like you wouldn’t believe. I’ve often seen even the strong, silent types crumble to tears when they help bring their babies into the world.”

“Ruben already cries. Everyone in his family cries, actually. But they treat me like a queen, so no complaints.”

“You deserve to be treated like a queen, even if you weren’t knocked up,” Vanessa said quietly. “Don’t think I don’t know you were behind my luchadora success. Thank you, Gabi.” She hugged her friend. “Now, I have to get back to my music lesson.” She hugged everyone “bye”. “Percy, I’ll see you Tuesday. Everyone else——till next week!”

***

On Tuesday, Vanessa was slow to answer the door when Percy knocked. Through a rockabilly rhythm coming from inside, Percy heard the door unlatch and a mumbled greeting, so she pushed the door open. Vanessa was bent over the sewing machine, a couple of pins sticking out from the side of her mouth. A pile of small, bright garments lay on the table near her.

“Adding to your hope chest?” Percy asked, brushing a tiny pair of bloomers lightly with her fingertips.

“Yep,” Vanessa said out of the side of her mouth that did not hold pins. She finished the seam she was running and stuck the pins into a cushion. “Thanks for waiting. I wanted to get that one done, too. I’ve been making one for me, one for Gabi.”

“I’m no expert,” Percy said, rubbing her fingers over the pile of tiny garments, “but it looks as though Perla was really tuned into your style with these fabrics.”

“Yes,” she smiled at Percy’s accomplishment, “you’re right. These are right up my alley. We’ll make you a connoisseur of fabric arts e’er long,” she winked. “In general, I wouldn’t put it past Perla to be tuned in. She called it with Javier, after all.”

“Well, I think you called it with Javier, and Perla just noticed first. You are the one who fell in love with him before you ever met him,” Percy started moving to the music. “Is this a new CD?”

“Hmm?” Vanessa asked distractedly as she wielded tiny scissors. “Oh, it’s one of Javier’s. He thought I would like this band because they have so much jazz and blues in their sound. They make perfect sewing music,” Vanessa smiled and thought the band was the perfect soundtrack for thinking of Javier.

“Which band?”

“Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. They’re from London, but they seem to have the South down pat.”

“I really like them. Tell Javier thanks for the tip. I think I’ll buy some of their albums for Brigit’s iPod as a surprise.”

“Will do,” Vanessa smiled and looked up from trimming threads on a couple of the baby garments. “He loves music. I haven’t snooped yet, but I think I saw a stash of demos on one of his shelves. His parents told me he writes songs.”

“I saw your neighbor when I came up. She was peeking out the door to see who was going up to see you.”

“Right. Margery. I totally owe her some cheese. Javier and I kept her up the other night. She was probably making sure you weren’t he.” She saw Percy’s quizzical brow. “Dancing, I mean,” Vanessa smiled.

“I guess we’d better get to the cheese, then, to preserve neighborly peace.”

On their way down the stairs, Vanessa grinned.

“What is it?”

“I’m going to invite Margery to the wedding. I just realized that her intervention was vital in making me the happiest of women.”

“Happiest? Well, maybe first among equals. But however much joy I wish you, I won’t allow that the rest of us are less happy.”