He glanced at her and offered a gentle smile.“She likes you.She taught you how to make my favorite dessert, didn't she?”
Mae felt a moment of confusion, thinking he mixed up what she was asking.Mae wasn't talking about Aunt Sue, but his birth mother, the woman coming to their house in November and possibly staying for Thanksgiving.
“Ann Marie gave birth to me, but we never bonded, still have not.We make a cordial effort, acknowledging the roles, with neither of us closing the gap.My ear is a reminder of her failure,” he said.“My life is a reminder of my success.You are a reminder that in my heart, there is love.I got me.I got you.I got us.”
“You got us, Thom,” she said, feeling better by the moment.“So, July and the swamp, huh?”
Chapter Nineteen - Melee
Agreat deal happenedin the Brown’s lives in three weeks, much of which Mae was still trying to wrap her mind around as they prepared for the arrival of her family.The first week after returning from Chicago, Jiminy, still missing Petr but having found a new connection with Megan, arrived to help unload the moving truck.Megan, delighted to have something else to do and another soul to talk to, happily aided Mae in setting up the barndominuim for her family’s arrival.
More shopping needed to happen for sheets, towels, bedding, along with stocking the pantry in the barndominuim with foods her family liked to eat since Thom was adamant that they were not staying in his house.He didn’t think a quick tour of their living space by her mother, sister, nieces and sister-in-law was necessary either, but he understood women would want to be nosey.
He walked past the dining room, noticing the china in the cabinet.These, he surmised, must have been in the boxes Mae had kept stored in the storage unit.He recognized the blue Royal Albert place setting along with the matching tea set and dinner service.He stared at the china cabinet, realizing his wife must have saved for a long time or really ran up a credit card to own the sets.In his mind, he couldn't think of any friends to invite over to sit and have a meal on such regal dinnerware, but then he thought of Aunt Sue and Kimbrae having tea at the dining room table with the adorable petit four plates.He was smiling when she walked up.
“Admiring the china?”
“Yes, Wedgewood.Royal Albert.Must have set you back a few pennies,” he said.
“No, Elsa Stanhope gave it to me along with the dining room table and china cabinet,” she told him.“You know, charitable, tax-deductible hand-me-downs to the poor, misfortunate black girl.I didn't argue.I accepted all of that shit and put it in my storage unit.Look at it now in our nice home.Thank you, Elsa Stanhope.”
“Cheers to Elsa Stanhope,” he said, nodding in agreement.“Oh, I have something for you.”
“For me?”she asked, looking down at his crotch.
“Yeah, that too, but later,” he said, laughing.
Thom took her by the hand and led her outside, coming around the side of the house to a blue Hyundai Sante Fe.Mae's mouth dropped open at the sight of the SUV.She pointed at herself, then at the vehicle.
“It's not new, but it has low miles, god gas mileage and is gently used,” he said.“I hope it's okay.You have a lot to get done and need room to load in stuff you’re buying around town.You like it?”
“Thom, I love it,” she said, opening the door to her like new vehicle.
Mae sat behind the wheel, feeling the soft leather seats and taking note of the features.When she started it up, she tried not to cry but couldn't help herself.The tear fest didn't stop during the second week either, when Mae took a flight into Chicago to pick up her train engine.She drove it to Alton, coming in on the 9:04 line and was shocked to see her husband in the old train station, hitting the switch to change the lines, allowing Mae to steer off the 9:04 line onto her private track which led into her own barn.
The barn also held her tools, toys, and all the items she had kept in storage to maintain her train engine.She had her own garage for Big Black where she could drive the engine into the rear doors to park it and out the front doors to take Big Black for a ride on the lines.Tears ran down her cheeks in sheer joy at no longer having to pay storage fees to house her baby or have men come over to mansplain to her how to care for her engine when she was the one who actually had the experience and knowledge, being a former engineer herself.
