The Age of Miracles by Ellen Gilchrist Page B

with my youngest granddaughter and one of her friends. I danced with every little girl at the party who looked like she needed someone to dance with. By then I had abandoned the hat. Mother had been right about the hat. Live and learn and mellow. Drive as fast as you can and try not to get a ticket.
    At fifty-eight I have finally left my adolescence behind me. Lucky old fecund world. Whatever we lay down, there is always someone behind us to pick it up.
    My grandson was sitting glumly in a chair. He had never had to put up with his mother having a boyfriend and he wasn’t going to put up with it now. “What’s wrong?” I asked him.
    â€œHim. Edward. He kicked me going into the hotel.”
    â€œYou must be mistaken. He wouldn’t kick anyone. He’s a sweet man.”
    â€œHe kicked me. I don’t like him.”
    â€œOh, my. You want to ride around in the car for a while? Come on, get some cake and let’s get out of here.”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œPlease. I want to talk to you. I want to be alone with you. Get some cake and meet me at the door. Get me a piece of the chocolate one.” He went off to get the cake and I found my mother and asked her for the car keys.
    â€œWhat for?”
    â€œI have to talk to Malcolm. He’s having a fit.”
    â€œAbout the boyfriend?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIt won’t do, Rhoda. He’s too young.”
    â€œNo, he’s not. You don’t care how young Dudley’s wives are. Ingersol’s girlfriends. Why shouldn’t she have some happiness? She’s a wonderful mother. The best mother I’ve ever seen in my life. She’s the light of my life. I want her to be happy.”
    â€œDon’t talk so loud. This is Annie Laurie’s wedding. Well, here they are.” She found her keys in her pocketbook and gave them to me. “Don’t be gone long. I don’t want to stay forever. I don’t want to drive home with your father.” She looked in his direction. He has grown old this year, lost his power. All he cares for now is living, he wants to live forever, to go on breathing at any cost and she has begun to despise him for it. Her power, which was never physical, is still keen, and she still tries to use it.
    I collected Malcolm and we walked out on the porch to go to the car. His mother and the boyfriend were sitting at a glass-topped table, laughing and drinking wine, talking to my nieces and their husbands. “We’re going riding,” I told her. “We want to be alone.”
    We went out to the parking lot and got into the car and my daughter-in-law followed us and got in the backseat.
    â€œHe’s mad at Edward,” I said. “He says Edward kicked him.”
    â€œThey were just horsing around.” She leaned up into the front seat and touched my hand. “He’s the gentlest man on the earth. He wouldn’t harm a child.”
    â€œYou have to let your mother have a boyfriend,” I began. “There’s nothing wrong with that. She loves you. So do I. We love you more than anything in the world. We would never let anyone harm you in any way. We would kill or die for you. But you ought to let her have a boyfriend. She lets you have friends. Edward’s a nice man. He’s the nicest man I’ve met in years.”
    â€œNo, he’s not. He’s mean to me.” He scrunched down into the seat, looked at the floor. Heart of my heart, the dearest thing on earth to me. I touched his mother’s hand. My son had destroyed every relationship I’d ever had after I divorced his father. That was with us in the car. And the pain my son had caused this woman. And the pain she had caused my son. And these children, our inheritance and legacy, our treasure.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “You need to have a meeting. You and your mother and Edward sit down and talk this over. Your mother says he was horsing around. Maybe you