Annie should have known that nothing happened quickly concerning Grandmother, but taking another thirty days before she’d agree to a trip over to the house was a tad much. But being sensitive to the matter, Annie and Mary both agreed that giving her the time she needed was better in the long run. So, when Lilly broached the subject while rocking on the back porch, watching long-neck cranes searching for food, Annie almost fell out of the chair.
“Okay,” Annie said
“I know you and Mary must be chomping at the bit.” Lilly rolled her neck toward Annie and smirked.
“Now, Grandmother. That’s not fair. We’re both trying to be sensitive regarding this. We’re just waiting for you to tell us when.”
“Mary never calls to see how we are doing,” she blurted.
Annie sighed. “I don’t know what to say. She’s a newlywed.”
Lilly narrowed her brows. “What’s that supposed to mean? That they can’t come up for a breath from rolling in the hay to call and see how Patty and I are doing?”
Annie’s mouth dropped open. “No, she does ask. She asks me.”
Lilly waved off Annie’s excuses with a brush of her hand. “Anyway, let’s get it set up for this weekend. I’d rather it be just us. No Danny.”
“I’ll tell her.”
Answering the door in a silk poncho in a paisley design of green and orange on a cream background, Mary ushered them inside. She pecked Grandmother’s cheek, then turning to the other, gave her another quick kiss. She repeated the same with Auntie Patty.
“Those colors are gorgeous with your hair color, Mary,” Patty said.
“Why, thank you, Auntie.” Mary glowed.
“I have tea and biscuits in the living room. Please, come in.”
Grandmother and Auntie made their way into the living room where boxes and containers were stacked on either side of the room. Annie’s gaze drifted around the room.
“I see you’ve been busy,” Annie said.
“Yes, I had Danny go up in the attic and bring down boxes. Thought we could start there.”
Grandmother and Auntie sat on the couch and clasped their hands in their laps.
“I know it seems overwhelming, but we’ll take all the time we need,” Annie said, reassuring them this did not have to be completed today.
“Let’s start by opening one of the boxes, sip some tea, eat some cookies, and just search through the contents.” Mary tugged one of the boxes closer to them and opened the flaps.
Annie poured the tea, sitting opposite of Grandmother and Auntie in a chair Mary had borrowed from the dining room.
Mary pulled out a stack of papers and tossed them on the corner of the coffee table. Lilly leaned forward and flipped through them. “These have no value. We can toss these.”
“Are you sure?” Annie asked.
Grandmother tipped her forehead.
Mary leaped from her chair and hurried to the kitchen. Upon her return, she held a large black plastic bag. She reached for the bundle of papers and threw them inside.
They went through one box in about fifteen minutes. This was going better than Annie or Mary could have hoped for. Breaking down the empty box, Mary set it up against the wall and lugged another toward them. She peeked inside. “Pictures,” she said, lifting out several photo books, loose pictures, and a few boxes of slides.
Each woman took a photo book and began to scan through pages.
“Oh, I remember this picture.” Annie turned the book around and shared the image.
“Your first day of seventh grade,” Auntie said.
“You remember it was my first day of seventh grade?” Annie shrugged.
Void of happiness, eyes wet and dull, Patty said, “I do. It was a very emotional time for you. For both of you girls.”
Annie dropped her gaze back to the photo. The memories came rushing in. Her mother had recently passed away after a long and courageous battle. Annie felt alone and lost. Her father and grandmother, along with Auntie, tried to carry on with as much normalcy as they could. Mary was just five years old. Their dad, a military man, standing tall and brave, never shed a tear in front of them. Years later, he’d tell her he would bawl like a baby behind closed doors. Thank God for Grandmother Lilly and Auntie Patty.
“It’s coming back to me. I remember the outfit now. I didn’t want to wear it, but you insisted that Mom had picked it out for me. She’d hoped to see me in it, but that wasn’t to be.” Annie placed the picture in a pile, turning her attention to the box.
“Your father was so strong,” Grandmother said. “My heart broke for him.”
“I remember that day too. It was my first day in kindergarten,” Mary said.
All eyes turned to her.
“I didn’t want to go to school. Dad told me that Mom would be watching over me that day, and if I didn’t go, she’d be all alone there.” A small giggle escaped her mouth. “So, I went because, of course, I didn’t want to disappoint her.”
“Your mother was a very courageous woman. She fought the tough battle with that C-word,” Patty said. “Is there any alcohol here? I think I need a drink.”
“Wine. Would that work?” Mary soared out of the chair.
“Let me help you,” Annie said.
Mary popped the cork on a merlot. “I don’t want today to be a sad, Debbie Downer sort of day.” She took a wineglass out of Annie’s hand and began to fill it.
“I think it’s good to go down memory lane. We don’t talk about Mom and Dad enough,” Annie said, handing her the next glass.
“For the longest time, I couldn’t. I had so many emotions and feelings about it all. One minute we had her, and the next we didn’t.” Mary took two of the glasses and held them by the stems.
Annie reached for the remaining two wineglasses. “I know, Mary. And I know Grandmother, Auntie, and Dad sheltered us from the real pain. She was dying before our eyes, yet, as children we probably didn’t know the extent of it. But I bet he sure did.”
“This house holds a lot of memories because after Dad was killed, we moved in here. Our entire life was disrupted.”
“We got hit with a double whammy, didn’t we?” Mary took the lead and moved out of the kitchen toward the living room.
“Yes, but I’m so thankful we had them,” she said, motioning toward the two women looking at pictures and other memorabilia.
“I’m thankful I have you,” Annie said, fighting back tears.
“Ahh. That’s sweet. I guess I’m thankful for you too. Although I’d wish you weren’t quite so bossy.” She winked.
Both women took a deep breath and then, with heads held high, entered the room.
“Here we go,” Mary said, handing Grandmother a glass of wine.
Patty gripped her glass with two hands and took an immediate sip.
“Look at these oldies but goodies,” Lilly said.
Over the course of the next four hours, the women went through two bottles of wine while going through four boxes. They made piles of pictures for Mary and Annie to scan, a pile of stuff to toss, and a pile of letters that also brought back a lot of memories.
“To my Dearest Lilly. I miss you more each day. My days are kept busy, but my nights are lonely, and I long for the day I’m home and in your arms.”
“Ahh. That’s so sweet, Grandmother,” Mary said.
“Yes, that’s so long ago, though. I don’t need to keep love letters from Chester.”
“Oh look. A picture of Grandfather,” Annie said, holding up a picture of a dashing man in a uniform.
“Now that I will keep,” Grandmother said, snatching the picture out of Annie’s hand.
The women broke out in laughter.
“Are you sure you can preserve these by scanning them?” Lilly asked.
“Yes. I’ll take them to Costco. They do a fabulous job. They’ll put them on a disc. Then we’ll have them to pass down to Ashton and Carolina.”
“And any grandchildren from Mary and Danny,” Patty said.
“Yes. Of course.” Annie looked at her watch. “It’s getting late. I need to get back to Magnolia and save Jack from the children.”
“We can’t just leave everything in disarray.” Lilly looked around at the piles of pictures and boxes stacked along the wall.
“It’s okay, Grandmother,” Mary said. “We should set up another time to finish going through the boxes.”
They all agreed they’d meet again the following day, but after Annie got them home, and she and Jack were catching up, the phone rang, and in a matter of five seconds, everyone was back on the hamster wheel.