“Yes,” Darcy agreed. “George was a big help. All the boys were good.”
“Susan, Mrs. Brueckner, I’m so sorry about this,” Willow cried. “I was cutting some watermelon for the boys, and Henry said he wanted to cut his own piece, and I had put the knife down on the cutting board and he picked it up and it happened so fast!”
Susan smiled. “Alfred, sweetie, scoot over one chair so Mommy can sit next to Henry.” When Alfred had reluctantly obeyed, Susan took Willow’s hand. “Sweet Willow, don’t worry. These things happen all the time with boys, with my boys especially.”
“Yeah!” Alfred piped up, wanting to be part of the drama. “I fell off my bike last year. Look at my scar!”
“Henry Brueckner?” A nurse with a clipboard beckoned them. “We don’t need all of you,” she added, seeing the entire group jump up.
“You take your son in,” Darcy said. “We’ll stay out here with Alfred and George.”
As soon as Susan and Henry went off, Willow sat down next to Darcy. The two boys were now engaged in a contest to see who could name the color of the next Skittle they would take from the bag.
“Susan is so nice,” Willow said mournfully. “Her husband is a pig, and my mother is…” Tears welled in her eyes.
“Willow, don’t say things like that near the—” She jerked her head toward the two boys, who weren’t within hearing distance but might wander over at any moment. “Besides, you’re old enough to know that people are unfaithful sometimes.” Darcy knew she sounded like a schoolmarm, but this was a course she’d never navigated before. “You really can’t judge people by one act. You don’t know what else is going on in their lives.”
“Yeah, well, I know my stepfather would never be unfaithful to my mom!” Willow crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin defensively.
“Honey,” Darcy softly reminded the girl, “your stepfather was unfaithful to me. You know that.”
Willow frowned, perplexed. “Yeah, I know, but that was different. That was my mother.” She picked at her lip. “I mean, my mom is so beautiful.” Embarrassed, she hurriedly added, “Not that you’re not beautiful, too, but in a different way. Plus my mom said Boyz never really loved you. That you two knew it was a mistake right away.” She wrinkled her nose, doing that sinking into herself thing. “I should stop talking, right?”
Darcy put her arm around Willow’s shoulders. “No worries, Willow. Your mom was right. Sometimes people make mistakes, and Boyz and I both made a mistake when we got married. I was sort of enchanted by his family, and Boyz was looking for someone he didn’t find in me.”
Willow shrugged. “But if he’s found it in my mom, then it will make him so sad…and the dining room table. That’s so gross.”
“You need to talk this over with your mother. You need to tell her what you saw, and how sad that makes you. Everything. All of it.”
Willow nodded again. In a little voice, she agreed, “Okay. I guess I will.”
George and Alfred had finished their Skittles and were blowing into the bags, making fart noises.
“What about Susan?” Willow asked.
Trying to lighten the mood, Darcy said in a comedian’s voice, “What am I, the oracle at Delphi?”
Willow pulled away from Darcy. “Huh?”
“Sorry, Willow. I was kind of making a joke. The oracle at Delphi was a wise woman who answered questions about what to do…this was in Greece, a long time ago. We don’t have anyone that wise in this day and age except maybe Oprah and I don’t have her number. For now, I think we shouldn’t tell Susan. We don’t know how her marriage works. Maybe she doesn’t mind if her husband is unfaithful. Or maybe she has so much pressure in her life with the three boys that one more problem would cause her to melt down. Let’s think about it, okay? And not say anything yet.”
“Okay,” Willow agreed.
Susan and her son came out from the ER.
Henry held up his hand for his brothers to inspect. “I got two stitches!”
“Here, Susan,” Darcy said, handing Susan the car keys. “You drive home with your boys. I’m going to walk home.”
“Are you sure?” Susan asked.
“Absolutely. It’s only a few blocks and the night is so beautiful.”
“Oh, well, then, thank you,” Susan said. “Willow, thanks for babysitting, and please don’t worry. Things like this happen all the time with the boys.”
Willow shrugged, nodded, smiled, and looked worried all at the same time. “I’ll walk home with Darcy,” she said.
Susan gathered up her brood and herded them out the door and into her car.
“Come on, kid,” Darcy said to Willow. “The walk will do you good. Clear your head.”
“I wish it really could. I wish it could clear my mind of the image of my mother—naked!—with Otto. He still had his shirt on and his pants were down around his knees. I saw his butt. So weird.”
“Yes, well, sex can look pretty bizarre.” They crossed South Prospect Street and walked along Atlantic Avenue. The sidewalk was so narrow they had to walk single file. Darcy was glad. She didn’t want to answer all of Willow’s questions about what she’d seen.
When they reached Pleasant Street and could walk side by side, Darcy asked a question of her own. “Did you have sex with Logan?”
Willow shook her head violently. “Yeah. No. Maybe.”
“Well, which is it?”
“We didn’t do it. But we messed around a lot. I touched his—him. He— I can’t talk about it. It was fun, it was exciting, he’s so hot, and he wanted to be with me and I don’t know whether I let him touch me because I enjoyed it or because I was so impressed, kind of honored that someone so old would pay attention to me.”
Darcy put her arm over Willow’s shoulders. “You’re pretty smart for someone your own age, Willow.”
“Well, I know this much. Sex makes a mess of everything.”
Darcy walked quietly, wondering how to respond. Finally, she said, “Sometimes it does. But sometimes, if there’s love, it makes everything all right, at least for a while.”
17
Darcy and Willow arrived at Darcy’s house to find Susan’s car parked in front of her house and Susan sitting on Darcy’s doorstep. The front door was open to the Brueckners’ house and sounds of the boys shouting carried out to the street. Darkness had fallen, and the lights of the houses up and down the street glowed, softening the edges of the houses, blurring the trees, erasing the lines on Susan’s face so that she looked young again.
Susan rose. “Willow, let me pay you tomorrow, okay? I’m in too much of a flap and the boys are wild, and their father just got home.” Before Willow could respond, she reached out and folded Willow into a hug. “You did such a perfect job, taking care of my sons. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Mrs. Brueckner—” Willow cried.
“It’s not your fault Henry cut himself. My sons are walking disasters. I’m only surprised a hurricane didn’t hit the house at the same time.”