arched an eyebrow.
“Well, okay, maybe I like to stir the pot sometimes. Anyway, as you said, I just want him to do the right thing. Really. I do.”
Millie smiled at me and said, “Honey, quit pushing so hard! You’ve got to let him do it in his own time and in his own way.”
“I guess, but isn’t there some urgency here?”
“Don’t you think he knows that? He ain’t stupid.”
“I hope! At least now we know the truth about Rusty. I was having some dark thoughts about her.”
“You see? Look at you. Don’t be so easily swayed. I always knew she was a nice woman from the minute she walked in this house. When your brother started all that foolishness, hanging his coat on her nail, I knew something was fishy! Didn’t I tell you what?”
“Yes, you did. And you know what? I would much rather find out that Trip told a whopper than that Rusty didn’t want to take care of his children.”
“Humph! I’m gone save you a lot of time and trouble and tell you what an old woman knows. Your brother is scared out of his wits to take over his girls. This ain’t nothing but plain old fear. You blame him?”
“No. I really don’t. They scare me, too. Listen, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I think Eric has a girlfriend.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Something. Because when I asked Amelia if he did? She told me to ask Eric.”
“Well, did you?”
“No. Not yet.”
“You want me to consult my orisha?”
“Would you?”
“Only because it’s Eric. Don’t want no fool woman messing him up, ’eah?”
“Me either!”
Millie’s gods and goddesses were called orisha and Millie was the high priestess of her Ifa religion and I’ll tell you all about that in due time. But for the moment you have to know that she was connected to the other world in ways Microsoft and Apple had yet to imagine!
It wasn’t until very late that night when I was trying to sleep that I realized something else about Trip and about me. We had barely known the value of having a father because ours died when we were so young. So what role model did Trip have to become a father himself? None but the succession of eager boyfriends Mother had paraded through our young lives. Most of the memories we had of our father were really mine, stories rearranged and retold over the years until we created our own truth, one we agreed on together. The life-changing sorrow and trauma of losing our father in that horrible plane crash was only compounded by our mother’s frosty behavior toward us in the following years. We were just children who needed reassurance that the world around us was safe. But instead, Miss Lavinia became the Ice Queen and only began to come around and show affection for us as she approached the end of her own life. It was no wonder that Trip was so reluctant to just barge in and assume the reins. He didn’t have the first clue about what to do or how he was supposed to feel.
I had probably become the opposite kind of parent from Trip. I was married to an older man who, as it turned out, was so judgmental and dictatorial that it became unbearable. It began on our wedding night, if you can envision such a thing, when Richard made it plain he thought fidelity was a bore. Can you imagine how I felt? When I was in labor, Millie and I found out that Richard was in London, shacked up with his ex-wife, Lois, the trashy thing with the nasal accent that gave certain Yankees their questionable reputation south of the Mason-Dixon Line. His infidelity stung then, still stung now, and probably always would. But the worst insult was to know he preferred Harry, his obnoxious son born during his marriage to Lois. That made me hyperprotective of Eric. His criticisms of Eric made me actually want to do him physical harm. Some days I wished I had.
I looked at the alarm clock. It was just after midnight and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep anytime soon. Thinking about Richard’s attitude and behavior had
“Well, okay, maybe I like to stir the pot sometimes. Anyway, as you said, I just want him to do the right thing. Really. I do.”
Millie smiled at me and said, “Honey, quit pushing so hard! You’ve got to let him do it in his own time and in his own way.”
“I guess, but isn’t there some urgency here?”
“Don’t you think he knows that? He ain’t stupid.”
“I hope! At least now we know the truth about Rusty. I was having some dark thoughts about her.”
“You see? Look at you. Don’t be so easily swayed. I always knew she was a nice woman from the minute she walked in this house. When your brother started all that foolishness, hanging his coat on her nail, I knew something was fishy! Didn’t I tell you what?”
“Yes, you did. And you know what? I would much rather find out that Trip told a whopper than that Rusty didn’t want to take care of his children.”
“Humph! I’m gone save you a lot of time and trouble and tell you what an old woman knows. Your brother is scared out of his wits to take over his girls. This ain’t nothing but plain old fear. You blame him?”
“No. I really don’t. They scare me, too. Listen, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“I think Eric has a girlfriend.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Something. Because when I asked Amelia if he did? She told me to ask Eric.”
“Well, did you?”
“No. Not yet.”
“You want me to consult my orisha?”
“Would you?”
“Only because it’s Eric. Don’t want no fool woman messing him up, ’eah?”
“Me either!”
Millie’s gods and goddesses were called orisha and Millie was the high priestess of her Ifa religion and I’ll tell you all about that in due time. But for the moment you have to know that she was connected to the other world in ways Microsoft and Apple had yet to imagine!
It wasn’t until very late that night when I was trying to sleep that I realized something else about Trip and about me. We had barely known the value of having a father because ours died when we were so young. So what role model did Trip have to become a father himself? None but the succession of eager boyfriends Mother had paraded through our young lives. Most of the memories we had of our father were really mine, stories rearranged and retold over the years until we created our own truth, one we agreed on together. The life-changing sorrow and trauma of losing our father in that horrible plane crash was only compounded by our mother’s frosty behavior toward us in the following years. We were just children who needed reassurance that the world around us was safe. But instead, Miss Lavinia became the Ice Queen and only began to come around and show affection for us as she approached the end of her own life. It was no wonder that Trip was so reluctant to just barge in and assume the reins. He didn’t have the first clue about what to do or how he was supposed to feel.
I had probably become the opposite kind of parent from Trip. I was married to an older man who, as it turned out, was so judgmental and dictatorial that it became unbearable. It began on our wedding night, if you can envision such a thing, when Richard made it plain he thought fidelity was a bore. Can you imagine how I felt? When I was in labor, Millie and I found out that Richard was in London, shacked up with his ex-wife, Lois, the trashy thing with the nasal accent that gave certain Yankees their questionable reputation south of the Mason-Dixon Line. His infidelity stung then, still stung now, and probably always would. But the worst insult was to know he preferred Harry, his obnoxious son born during his marriage to Lois. That made me hyperprotective of Eric. His criticisms of Eric made me actually want to do him physical harm. Some days I wished I had.
I looked at the alarm clock. It was just after midnight and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep anytime soon. Thinking about Richard’s attitude and behavior had
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