“Yeah,” Keira agreed. “All we need is Mel, Benny and Manny and it’d be like a family reunion.”
Theresa and Vinnie were beaming. Gary looked confused. Bea looked scared out of her brain.
One thing was good, the girls were thrilled and I liked it that they already thought of Joe’s family as theirs. I thought it was a little weird, we’d only met them once, but I liked it.
The rest of it was bad.
I disengaged from Joe and walked forward as Kate announced to Theresa and Vinnie, “We so have to do that!”
Oh Lord.
I ignored the reunion planning and went to Bea first. “Hey Bea.”
Kate and Gary let her go and Bea walked into my arms. I gave her a hug and she gave me one back. When she did, I forgot the current drama and felt Tim’s Mom’s arms around me. They’d been around me before, hundreds of times through laughter, through tears and just because. My eyes stung as the memories assailed me and I pulled her closer.
“Honey,” she whispered.
“I’m okay,” I whispered back but my voice was hoarse.
I didn’t let her go and shoved my face in her neck, smelling her perfume, the same scent she wore since forever, and the tears spilled over.
“Oh, my precious girl,” Bea murmured.
“Missed you so much,” I choked.
“Me too, sweetie.”
I pulled my head away and looked at her to see tears in her eyes and I shook my head and laughed, not because it was funny, just because it was so us.
“We’re the pair, aren’t we?” I asked.
She smiled at me and I felt Gary get close.
“Lemme have a bit of that,” Gary demanded, Bea let me go and turned me into Gary’s arms.
“Hey Dad,” I said into his ear.
“Hey there, my beautiful flower.”
His words, words he meant, words I liked, words said so often to me, made me choke again and I shoved my face in his neck. He held tight until I pulled in a steady breath then he let me go and turned us to the rest of the gang. Kate, Keira, Bea and even Theresa had wet eyes. Vinnie was studying his shoes. Joe’s eyes were on me.
Gary’s gaze went to Joe.
“This your new fella?” Gary asked, his voice studiously friendly.
Before I could answer, Keira did. “Yeah, Gramps, that’s Joe. He’s the bomb.”
Gary gave his granddaughter a small smile that I could see he didn’t fully commit to and then he let me go and offered his hand to Joe.
“Joe, I’m Gary.”
Joe took his hand and said, “Pleasure.”
They dropped hands and Gary looked Joe up and down. “Pam didn’t lie, you’re a big guy.”
“Yep,” Joe agreed and said nothing else for this was true, Joe was a big guy.
Gary turned and pulled Bea to his side. “My wife, Bea.”
Joe pulled me to his side as he dipped his chin to Bea and murmured, “Bea.”
“Am I gonna get a kiss or what?” Theresa demanded to know, getting impatient and butting in. Then she bustled up and grabbed Joe’s face, yanking it down to hers, kissing his cheek then his other cheek then back before letting him go and coming to me to do the same thing. When she jerked my head around I understood why Joe didn’t protest. She was jerking my head around, sure, but the affectionate way she did it felt good.
“Cal, son.” Vinnie shoved in, giving Joe a back pounding hug then he turned to me and whispered, “Cara mia,” then he gave me a tight hug, released me and turned to Bea and Gary and asked, “So, momentous occasion, you meetin’ your daughter’s new man.”
“Um… Vinnie,” I said, “these aren’t my parents. They’re Tim’s parents.”
“Tim?” Vinnie asked me.
“My husband,” Vinnie’s eyes got big and I finished quickly, “he died just under two years ago.”
I could swear Vinnie’s face grew knowing and he looked at Joe.
Before I could assess what Vinnie’s knowing look meant, Vinnie said, “Right,” clapped his hands and finished in a booming voice, including Bea and Gary in his announcement, “family’s family, always is, always will be, thank God. Now, I need coffee. We been on the road since six and road coffee is shit.” He leaned into Bea, who leaned back as he said, “Pardon my French.”
Theresa slapped him on the arm and snapped, “Vinnie, the girls. They don’t need to hear your foul mouth.”
“That’s okay, Aunt Theresa, Joe cusses all the time and he says much worse stuff, like the f-word and the c-word.” Keira, doing her best to make Vinnie and Theresa feel better, threw Joe right under the bus.
I groaned because Bea, nor Gary, would shine their light on Joe cursing in front of the girls. The f-word, Gary would accept on occasion, but not in front of the girls. Never Bea, she went to church every Sunday and taught Sunday school for thirty years. The c-word for both, never, ever. Tim didn’t shy away from swearing but he never did it in front of his Mom or the girls and I wasn’t certain I’d ever heard Tim use the c-word.
Joe slid his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side. I looked up at him and he definitely looked like he was fighting back laughter now.