Part 2 (2/2)
Janet shook her head, then smiled that smile that I had come to look forward to. It was her smile that told me she was genuinely pleased, but at the same time she was pus.h.i.+ng past her shyness. ”No. To be honest, I've been thinking a lot about it too. Can I tell you something that might come off a bit crazy?”
”Considering the household I grew up in, I doubt there's anything you could say that I'd really think of as crazy,” I said. ”So go ahead.”
”I've kind of had a few fantasies since you started asking me out,” she said, her blush deepening. ”The kind I wouldn't feel comfortable telling my parents about.”
I smiled and kissed her hand again. ”We can talk about them later if you like.” My car made the turn into the Mount Zion driveway, dominated by the view of the Bell Tower. ”Just remember, you might think of them as celebrities or something, but they're really just normal people.”
My car parked, and I went around to the pa.s.senger side to help her out. I saw the front door to Zion open as I did, and Andrea was there, holding the door open for the two of us. ”Hey Riley, glad you made it. Dad's got the chops on, he was worried he'd have to pull them off before you two got back.”
”Chops?” Janet asked, looking at me questioningly. ”Pork chops?”
I shook my head. ”Knowing my father, lamb or veal. He likes to show off the culinary skills he's picked up over the years. He's no great chef, but he can put together a pretty mean meat and three veg plate. He knew you weren't vegetarian or vegan, but he didn't know if you were Jewish or Muslim or anything that doesn't allow pork. By the way, are you?”
Janet laughed and shook her head. ”Nope, maybe a healthy dose of lapsed Methodist I think, but that's it.”
I noticed out of the corner of my vision that Andrea was covering her smile with her hand, a knowing look on her face. I led Janet up the steps to Mount Zion, stopping in front of my sister. ”Janet Wayne, this is my sister, tormentor of my days and the keeper of my life on the somewhat straight and narrow, Andrea.”
”Andi,” my sister said. ”The only people who call me Andrea are my father and Tabby, and Tabby only when she's angry at me or thinks I'm acting too much like a tomboy. Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting inside along with everyone else.”
Andi led us inside, Janet holding onto my arm, her eyes big. ”Wow,” she whispered. ”I mean, I was here the night Mayor McCaffery had his party, but it's still a bit strange.”
”You can call him Patrick, or maybe Uncle Patrick if he really takes a liking to you,” I said. ”They may not be blood, and they aren't legally family yet, but they're family, you know?”
”Considering that Tabby and Patrick were just as likely to bust our b.u.t.ts over a bad report card as Mom and Dad were, they'd certainly earned it,” Andi added. ”So Janet, Riley has been a bad little brother, and hasn't told us much about you yet. Just be ready, you're going to get a lot of questions tonight. I hope you don't mind.”
”I'll try my best,” Janet said. ”By the way, I love the skirt.”
”Thanks,” Andi said. ”I don't normally wear skirts and dresses, but this is a special occasion.”
”Really? Why?” Janet asked, then looked perplexed when Andi gave me a knowing look. ”What? Riley?”
”I've never brought a girl home to meet my parents before,” I said after a moment. ”They kind of would just meet in other situations. Kind of what we were talking about in the car on the way over.”
I watched as Janet blushed again, and Andi stifled another laugh. ”Come on, you two. I guess by the end of the night, both of you are going to be red-faced at least a half dozen more times. By the way, has Riley told you about his collection of dolls?”
”They're not dolls, Andi. How many times do I have to tell you they're collectible figurines? Some of them are worth thousands of dollars!” I groaned, thinking of the cupboards in my room in the supposed servant's wing.
”They're posable action figures, Riley. And don't even get me started on what they're made up of.”
”Anything I should worry about?” Janet said, relaxing. It was a skill of Andi's, and one that despite my short term embarra.s.sment was one I could see immediately why she was doing it. By exposing that I too wasn't perfect, it was helping Janet relax and recognize that despite her impressions, we were a real family with real flaws and foibles. Andrea may be shy herself in terms of public speaking, but perhaps that was what gave her the ability to understand Janet and help her relax that evening. ”Don't tell me he's got a collection of bikini models.”
”Not quite. Comic book heroes and heroines,” Andi said. ”He stopped buying new ones a few years ago, but he's still got them up in his room. He might show you sometime. And here we are.”
The kitchen and normal dining room for Mount Zion is one and the same, the main hall where we did the reception a few weeks prior doubling as the formal dining room on the rare occasions that we had to entertain guests. However, most of the time when our family ate together, it was around the large work area in the kitchen, which could sit all eight of us comfortably on tall bar stool-like chairs. With Barbara still out of the country, that made it perfect for Janet to fill that eighth chair. ”Hi guys.”
I had to give credit where credit is due to the rest of my family. For weeks, they'd been bugging me for details about Janet, and I had to admit I'd been pretty scant with giving them up. They could have descended upon Janet like a pack of inquisitive hyenas with a thousand questions. Instead, everyone was dressed casually cla.s.sy, with Mom and Tabby putting the last of the dishes on the table while Dad busied himself over the stove. ”Hey Riley. I'm a bit slow on dinner, give me five minutes,” Dad said. ”Think you can help with the drinks?”
”Sure. Janet, what would you like? We've usually got pretty much everything. Even the hard stuff, if that's what you want.”
Janet shook her head. ”Do you have any iced tea?”
I couldn't help but notice Dad's smile, the old Southerner in him reacting to the choice. ”I'm sure we've got some in there,” he said. ”Lemon or Peppermint?”
”Peppermint if it's not a problem, Mr. Bylur.”
”Mark,” Dad said. ”I'm only Mr. Bylur at work. The two lovely ladies setting the table are my wife Joanna and Tabby. You've met Andrea, and somewhere around the house is Carter, her fiancee. Patrick should join us later.”
I got Janet her iced tea, getting drinks for everyone else. Carter came in just as Dad was plating dinner, Patrick right behind him. ”Guess who I ran into on my way back from changing clothes,” he said. ”Hi, you must be Janet. I'm Carter, and this is my Dad, Patrick.”
”I remember you from the party,” Patrick said. ”It's nice to see you again.”
Dinner started, and I was glad to watch Janet relax as things went on. Part of it was Janet, who I could tell was making an obvious attempt to put aside any residual shyness and fit in, but a big part of it was my family. About halfway through dinner, Tabby set down her gla.s.s to ask a question. ”So Janet, Riley has at least told us that you're in school. What are you studying?”
”Veterinary medicine,” Janet said with a happy smile. ”I've always loved animals, and I only wish that my living situation would let me have one now.”
”Does your rental agreement not allow it?” Tabby asked.
”That's not really the problem. One of my roommates has severe dander allergies, and freaks out if we even talk about it. Unfortunately for me, she's also the one with her name as primary on the lease, and she covers not only one quarter of the rent, but all the utilities too. What about you? I mean, I read about your background when I started seeing Riley, but some of it just seems crazy.”
”Well, Mom will say a lot of it had to do with her hard work,” Carter answered with a grin, ”but I think it was mostly luck. What do you think, Riley?”
”I think I'll let her answer that one. I'd like to keep a bedroom in the house and not in the outbuildings,” I said with a chuckle.
”Oh, Carter's partially right,” Tabby said, ”most of it was luck. You just make the right friends, and things happen. Life changes so much on a whim. Meet the right person at the right time, and it totally changes your life.”
Everyone but Janet and I were smiling little secret smiles at that, although I could tell Janet was perplexed. At least I was in on the secret, but even as I thought about it, I thought about the truth behind Tabby's words. Tabby and Mom meeting in college led to Mom being in the club that night when she met Dad. Their being together led to the creation of Marcus Smiley and Sophie Warbird, which led to MJT and Tabby meeting Patrick. All of that of course leading to the four of us in my generation and Carter and Andrea being together. ”Sometimes fate moves in strange ways,” I finally said, reaching over and taking Janet's hand. ”But I'm glad it works the way it does.”
Chapter Five.
Andrea
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