Henry
Leah said Miri would learn from this experience. She said it wasn’t realistic of them to think puppy love could last. But learn what? Not to trust? Not to believe? Not to love? He didn’t agree with Leah. He wished he could make Miri’s sadness go away. But there was nothing he could do except be there for her.
Christina
Jack was beside himself. They were in his room at Mrs. O’Malley’s. He paced up and down, punching his fist into his open hand while she sat primly on the edge of the bed. “And now Mason won’t come to Las Vegas because of that little bitch.”
“Do you know why Miri broke up with him?” Christina asked. “No. Do you?”
“Because he lied to her. Because he’s been…” She tried to put it delicately. “He’s been sleeping with Polina, the girl who cooks at Janet, the one Daisy took in after she lost everything in the Williamson Street crash.”
“Mason?”
“Yes, Mason. Polina told Daisy and Daisy told me. She thought I should know because of our…closeness.”
“My little brother?”
“Yes, your little brother. Polina said Mason broke up with her right after Miri found out he was cheating.”
“This is crazy. We’re talking about kids.”
“Polina’s not a kid. But she has one.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph! How do we know this is really true?”
“Why would Daisy lie to me? She’s not a gossip. But you should ask Mason yourself.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!”
“I wish you’d stop saying that.”
“What should I say?”
“I’m sorry, Jack.” Christina softened. “It must be hard for you to hear this.”
“What’s hard is that he thinks he can’t confide in me, that he thinks he can’t come with us.”
“Give him time. Let him cool off. I’ll bet you anything he’ll change his mind. If not right away, then as soon as he finishes high school.”
“But that’s another year. Who’s going to be around to watch over him, make sure he’s okay until then?”
“Any boy who can run into a burning plane, not once, not twice, but how many times?”
“I lost count,” Jack said.
“Well, any boy who can keep his head straight through all of that is going to be okay.”
“But you can’t be sure, can you?”
“If you want to stay…”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Because if you don’t want to leave him…”
“I didn’t say that, either.”
“All I mean is, I’d understand. And my parents would be over the moon.”
“Until you tell them about us.” Jack took a couple of practice swings with an imaginary baseball bat. “When are you going to tell them, Mrs. McKittrick?”
“When the time is right.”
Fortunately, he didn’t question her about when that would be. Because she hadn’t the faintest idea. “Are we having our first fight?” she asked.
“We’re never going to fight.” He fell back on the bed and took her in his arms.
Miri
Miri found out from Dr. O that Mason refused to go to Las Vegas with Christina and Jack. He’s not going because I’m going, she thought. Well, guess what? She’d decided to stay home with Irene and Henry. Henry and Leah could have Rusty’s upstairs apartment and she’d move in with Irene, downstairs. So Mason could go with Jack and she’d never have to see him again. Until Henry broke the news that he’d accepted a job with The Washington Post and he and Leah were moving to D.C. after the wedding. Just like that. He promised that when she visited, he’d take her to see the White House and all the other sites.
Okay, then she’d stay with Irene, and Ben could move in upstairs. When she announced her plan, Rusty said, “But Irene and Ben are coming with us.”
“I don’t believe you!” Miri ran downstairs to find Irene.
Irene said, “I should let my girls go without me? Are you crazy? Never!”
Ben said, “There’s plenty of real estate opportunities in Las Vegas. Not that I need the money, but I like the idea.”
—
LATER, at the twice-postponed pizza supper, once because of Miri, once because Dr. O couldn’t make it, Dr. O said, “I can promise you this, Mirabelle. I’ll love your mother and take care of her, and you, as long as I live. And I’ll never give either one of you a bum steer.”
“What about Natalie? Would you give her a bum steer?”
“Miri,” Rusty warned.
“It’s okay,” Dr. O said to Rusty. “Mirabelle doesn’t trust me yet. But I’m hoping, in time, I’ll earn it.”
“Stop calling me that,” she said to Dr. O.
He looked hurt. “What would you like me to call you?”
“Miri.”
“Okay,” Dr. O said. “From now on it’s Miri.”
—
RUSTY CAME to her room and knocked on the door before she opened it. “I wish it could have been different,” she said. “I know people are saying I stole him away from Corinne but I didn’t. You have to believe that, honey. Please.”
“Did you fall in love in an instant, like a flash of lightning?”
“I wouldn’t describe it that way. I was volunteering with the Red Cross. I’d bring him coffee and Danish at the morgue,” Rusty said, “sometimes late at night. He needed to talk, to unwind. It was gruesome work, identifying burned and broken bodies.”
“I don’t want to hear about that.”
“Okay.”
“And I don’t want to hear about the other stuff, either.”
“I understand. But you should know that when Natalie got sick we decided to end it before it had even begun.”
“So then, what…you changed your minds?”
“Staying apart didn’t work out.”
Miri could have laughed but she didn’t.
Rusty tried to give her a hug. Miri stood stiffly at first, then relented. She knew she had the power to refuse but she was losing her will.
“It’s going to be a great adventure,” Rusty whispered.
Miri never thought about her mother being adventurous. If she was so adventurous how come she never went anywhere or did anything except get up and go to work every day, five days a week, and on weekends clean the house and do the laundry? When Miri put that to her, Rusty said, “Because I took my responsibilities seriously. I still do.”
“Would you marry him if he were staying in Elizabeth? Would that be enough of an adventure for you?”
“I love him, Miri. Our lives together will be all the adventure I need. I’d stand by his side no matter what.”
That was a powerful message for Miri. She loved Mason. But she wasn’t standing by his side no matter what. And neither would Rusty, she bet, if the no-matter-what was Polina, or someone like Polina. If the no-matter-what was a pack of lies.
“Would you have gone without me?” Miri asked. That was really all she wanted to know.
“I could never leave you, Miri. How could you doubt my love?”
Even if she could doubt it, why would she? Why make life harder than it had to be? She was so tired from all of it. Too tired to fight it anymore. Too tired to run every time someone she loved disappointed her.
So, that was that. She was going. Mason wasn’t.
Elizabeth Daily Post
JUNE WEDDING
JUNE 22—Miss Leah Rose Cohen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Cohen, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. Henry Joel Ammerman, son of Mrs. Irene Ammerman and the late Max Ammerman, of Elizabeth, were married this afternoon by Rabbi Gershon B. Chertoff at the Hotel La Reine in Bradley Beach. The bride graduated from Ohio State University. The groom served in WWII with the Army in Europe. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and is a reporter for the Daily Post.
The bride wore a tea-length dress of white dotted swiss with a pink sash and carried a bouquet of New Dawn roses and peonies. The groom’s sister, Mrs. Rusty Ammerman, of Elizabeth, was Matron of Honor. She wore a pale pink sheath. The two bridesmaids, Pamela Cohen, of Cleveland, sister of the bride, and Miri Ammerman, of Elizabeth, niece of the groom, wore matching dresses in deep pink cotton sateen.
The couple will honeymoon in Atlantic City, before moving to their new home in Washington, D.C.
33
Miri
It was a perfect day at the Jersey Shore, breezy but not so breezy their hairstyles were ruined or the chuppah was in danger of blowing over. Miri was annoyed that Rusty thought she’d needed to lecture her that morning about how this was Henry and Leah’s big day and no matter what else was happening, no matter what else they were thinking or feeling, they were going to be happy for Henry and Leah. As if Miri needed to be told. As if she would come to Henry’s wedding and mope over her own loss. Although she felt her loss every minute of every day, her love for Henry was stronger.
Leah’s mother was chatty but stayed close to Aunt Alma. She and Irene both wore beige at Leah’s request, a color that didn’t suit either of them. Irene draped a flattering pink floral scarf around her neck, and gave a matching scarf to Leah’s mother, who was grateful. Leah’s father didn’t mingle. Sy’s arthritis is bothering him, Leah’s mother explained to anyone who asked. Dr. O and Rusty decided it was too soon to be out together as a couple so he didn’t come to the wedding. But Ben Sapphire did, and he kept Leah’s father company, making sure he had enough to drink to be cheerful, but no more.