Variation on a Theme, Book 6
Copyright© 2024 by Grey Wolf
Chapter 156: New York Stories
Thursday, June 19, 1986
Dad was long gone to work by the time we got up. Mom had breakfast ready, though. I’d picked an outfit that worked both as ‘normal clothes’ and ‘dating clothes.’ Fortunately, Mom was used to my dressing fairly nicely.
Once we’d gotten some breakfast, Mom chuckled and said, “It’s still funny, thinking of you on national television again. Part of why it’s funny, though, is that it’s not as surprising as it might be.”
“It surprised us quite a lot!” Jas said.
Mom smiled and nodded.
“The most amusing part for me, I think, is the timing. The show is airing on June 29th. Our family reunion in Wisconsin is on July 3rd. Tim and Helen often watch ‘60 Minutes’, and so do Ryan and Colleen. If anything will set her off, this will!”
I chuckled and nodded, while Jas said, “If it wasn’t that, it would be the rings. At least, in this case, she’ll be fully prepared to face the inevitable.”
“Ma is going to be happy,” Mom said. “She will probably have no idea who Paige is. Or you. Or Angie! Steve will be a challenge. Heck, I’m a challenge sometimes! But she will understand that you’re family and getting married. Helen making a big fuss would upset Ma, though. None of us will put up with that.”
“We just want to get along,” I said. “If she’s quiet, we’ll be quiet. The thing I find the most amusing is that she was so concerned about Angie being around boys back in 1981. I’m sure she regrets that stance now.”
Mom chuckled and nodded.
“I could almost say she’s always had it out for Angie, but that’s wrong. Being fair, she’s trying to do the best as she sees it. It’s just ... it’s not the best for Angie, or for us. And she isn’t good at backing down, much less doing so gracefully.”
“It’s not unlike Cammie’s parents. They were trying to do the best for Cammie in the way they understood ‘best.’ It would have wrecked her life, I think, but I don’t fault their intentions.”
She sighed, then nodded.
“That’s why I’m trying to keep things civil. Well, that and Tim. Anyway ... like you said. If she’s quiet, we’ll be quiet. I really don’t want to say things that can’t be unsaid, but ... if she pushes it, I’ll push back.”
“Absolutely fair enough,” I said. “I really like the rest of our extended family. Mostly, I just feel sorry for Aunt Helen. Living like that sucks the joy out of so many things.”
“And I like the rest of them, too,” Jas said. “They’re wonderful people. Helen is the only exception.”
“She believes all of the real joys will be in the next life,” Mom said. “Sam and I are religious, but we never were that religious. God doesn’t mean us to suffer in this life. And ... well. You know how I feel. I love you, Jasmine, and I love Paige, too. Both, equally and for the same reason. You’re both wonderful people and will be wonderful daughters-in-law.”
“Cue Aunt Helen blowing a gasket,” I said, chuckling.
“I won’t use that phrase with her unless she pushes me to it. With Tim? Maybe. Ryan? Almost certainly.”
“Speaking of which...” Jas said. “This might be obvious, but it might not. Now that we can actually say there’ll be a wedding, we want to talk to Keith and Sue about Kim being a flower girl.”
“Oh!” Mom said, bouncing a bit. “That would be wonderful! Oh, I hope they’ll do it!”
“We do, too,” I said. “We really don’t have any other options, and it would be very special.”
Mom sniffled suddenly.
“It’s...” she said, then got a tissue and blew her nose. Once she could continue, she said, “I really ... I never had a ‘dream wedding’ for you, Steve. And maybe even less for Angie, since ... you know. But this is still turning into that! And ... I know you’re doing it for yourselves, not for us, but that’s part of the dream. That what you want seems wonderful.”
Jas smiled and said, “We’re glad. It really should be that way.”
“We thought about it that way in terms of Grandmother, too,” I said. “We’re not doing anything for her, but I think she’ll like what we’re doing.”
“Oh, I do, too!” Mom said. “And Ma would, but ... well. Ma still would. She just wouldn’t know who you were. She can’t go, anyway. Much too hard to get her down here, for something she really wouldn’t understand or remember.”
Jas squeezed Mom’s hand.
“I’m very sorry this is happening,” she said.
“Thank you, honey!” Mom said, smiling. “I’m ... I mean, I am, too. But ... Ma had a good life, and she’s happy now. That’s what matters. She’s still having a good life in many ways. There are things I can’t really talk to her about, now, but we don’t have anything lingering that we should have said. And she got to meet all of you when she was still herself. A lot of people don’t have that.”
“Too true,” Jas said, sighing.
I took some time out to call Lee. Everything was set with Goldman, which meant P.C.’s Limited would probably not have any money woes for a while. He was deep into some quality issue, so it wasn’t a long call. Still, it was good to keep touching base with him regularly. I would talk with Michael off and on for a long time — quite likely for the rest of our lives — but building a strong relationship with Lee was important. It might really matter in the not-so-far-off time when P.C.’s Limited became Dell and needed a bigger board. I would undoubtedly be the youngest member of that board, and having at least one considerably older and more experienced person on my side would matter.
We called Francis a bit later in the hopes of not awakening him. They were up and in their hotel room, so we got to talk briefly. He was feeling much better and was ‘feisty,’ as Camille put it. He still couldn’t travel, but there were no other medical restrictions of note, and it sounded as if he and Camille were enjoying their mandatory extra vacation.
Barring any surprises from his checkup later today, they would depart tomorrow on Amtrak. That would put them in Houston fairly late on Monday afternoon. We reiterated our plan to meet them at the train station and take them home. I didn’t mention that everyone else would be there, too. That was a surprise. They might well guess we would do that, but it was still, officially, a surprise.
I picked up Angie for our meetings with Jane. We chatted about nothing big on the way to her office, and then I read my book while Angie talked.
As always, we touched hands when we crossed, and then I hugged Jane once we were in private.
“So...” she said, smiling, after I’d settled in my usual spot. “Angie told me a bit about your celebrity encounters.”
“It really was something,” I said, nodding. “They weren’t the big things, but they were ... things.”
“What was big, in your opinion?” she said.
“A few things. I think the biggest was Jess.”
“Angie said that was mostly your news.”
“It is,” I said. “Basically ... she’s ... I guess I could say we’re more attached now. Or something. There isn’t a good word. Paramour? Romantic partner, but not life partner? She said, and I pretty much quote, ‘You, Jasmine, Angie, and Paige are my home. The people I want to come home to.’ That’s big. She’s not foreclosing finding someone else, but anyone else needs to share, and to understand her commitments to us. It’s very special, and...”
I paused, shrugged, and said, “If I say it’s not something I expected, that’s obvious. It’s almost more that I didn’t have a way to conceptualize even the idea of it until not that long ago. But, now, it just feels natural.”
“That is big,” Jane said. “With most people, I would worry. With you — all of you ... um ... I still worry. It’s just a different worry. We’re long past the point of trying to limit how entangled I am with you two. And, in cases like this, I worry about someone’s heart getting bruised. But I don’t really think it will happen.”
“Thanks!” I said. “I agree. Our relationship is unique. But it has to be.”
“It really does,” Jane said, nodding. “Okay! If that’s all with Jessica, what else?”
“Laura opened up to us more. It turns out her big stuff is a slow burn. That’s probably a good thing. She’s ... we’re settling into being comfortable friends. We even declared ‘Cats’ to be a date. Our first date! Both because of the year, but also because we never dated.”
Jane rolled her eyes.
“That actually makes sense. Which, as usual, is also silly.”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“So ... dating?”
“A casual date to a musical,” I said. “And, in this case, I had quite a few women who would have told me if this was a serious date and I was misreading things. I think that list starts with Laura, but it might not.”
She nodded, and said, “So ... not dating.”
I chuckled and said, “We’re not there. We will, most likely, not get there. If there’s a reason for that to change, it’s Laura feeling alone. But I can only help with that so much. I just don’t see her adding to things that way.”
“That’s likely a good thing.”
“I agree.”
“And the girls who are adding to things?” she asked.
“I’m seeing Darla tonight. From what I hear, things are going well with Hank. They still won’t start dating seriously until the fall, though. I’ll hear more tonight, when Darla is away from her mother.”
“And Amy?”
“We’ve been keeping in touch. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her this weekend. So is Jas,” I said.
“That sounds good,” she said, nodding.
“In a way, it might be very good. It prompted some pretty good conversation about how we — both Jas and I, and also Jas, Angie, Paige, and I — handle these sorts of relationships. It seems likely that they might keep happening. Maybe not? I say, and I mean, that loving more means you can love more. Time, though, is finite, and there will be a point where you just don’t have enough. But ... maybe. Having had that discussion helped when Jess said what she said, but I think it will just pay off over and over again. Both Amy and Jess are fairly easy to embrace. Everyone likes, or loves, each of them. We have a better idea of what to do if someone doesn’t like a new person, though. Or merely likes them a little.”
“In a way, I saw this coming. I just saw it coming very differently. At first, it felt like you might be in this position while still in high school. Lexi, Sheila, and so forth.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
Jane continued, saying, “But you deftly avoided those entanglements, which seems like a very good thing now.”
“It does,” I said, nodding. “Neither of them was right for me. They’re great people, but ... just not right. Sue has her points, but she wants what Gene can give her. She wouldn’t fit me any more than Jess would, and maybe less. And so on, and so forth. Darla is closer than I dreamed possible, but I still think we’re all much better off if she and Hank — or someone — wind up together. We’re a second choice for her, and I don’t know what I think about revealing the big secret.”
“With Amy?”
“It’s still on the table, and solidly so. In a ‘Not for at least a year unless someone completely screws up’ sort of way. We need time, and she needs time. There are things...”
I paused, then said, “Michael, for instance. The others were all solidly ‘on our team’ before we told them. Amy is, too, but it’s different. Was getting involved with Michael a good thing, or did we abuse our knowledge?”
Jane started to say something, but I waved my hand.
“I’m pretty sure you agree that we behaved ethically.”
She nodded.
“Amy will probably feel the same way. But what if she doesn’t? What happens if she thinks we took advantage of him? We can say he’s doing much better than he was in my first life, and that’s true. It has to continue for that to matter — we’re all well aware of how many chickens we tend to count too soon! — but it’s true now. But she has to believe us about that. We could be making the whole thing up.”
Jane started a bit at that.
“You could. That’s true. And ... it’s almost a surprise! I didn’t really think of that, but ... of course, you could. But, if you could do that ... meaning, if you would do that...”
“Anything else we said could similarly be a falsehood,” I said.
“And that would wreck everything,” she said, shaking her head.
“We’re not, and you know we’re not — meaning we’ve given you ample reason to believe and no reason to doubt...”
Jane smiled and nodded.
“ ... but Amy doesn’t necessarily know that. She needs that time and experience. Heck ... she might start out with a question Jas had: did I know her from before and set this whole thing up? Obviously, the answer is ‘no,’ but it’s obvious to me, and you, because of trust, and so on.”
“You weren’t at A&M in your first life.”
“Certainly, but that could be a lie. Or Amy could have gone to UT in my first life. As far as I know, she didn’t, but she could have,” I said.
Jane chuckled wryly.
“It’s all a potentially tangled mess.”
“I feel confident it’ll work out, but it’ll take time.”
“Given your success thus far, I feel confident, too.”
“That might be it for relationships. I have some other things. Angie might have shared them,” I said.
“Maybe?”
“Well, first, we called the FBI tip line.”
Jane looked surprised, and said, “She did not share that.”
“We know who the Unabomber is. Or, rather, I do. Always have, in this life. It just never crossed my mind in an actionable way.”
“Oh, my God!” she said. “That seems like a good thing. I mean, reporting him.”
“They have to turn it into something supported by probable cause. Hopefully, they can. It’s a very easy case for us. It seems exceptionally unlikely that someone else would be the Unabomber in this universe, for one thing. And we know it’s already happening. It’s not like turning in someone who we think is awful, but who might be a saint in this universe.”
She nodded slowly.
“An interesting point, as always. I agree. You can warn people that so-and-so might be problematic, but that’s it. In this case, you know the Unabomber — by that name — is bad news, and you feel certain you know the name of the actual person. That’s fair.”
“And there’s another interesting case,” I said.
“Tell me?”
“We ran into someone. I’m not about to say who, but you would recognize the name.”
“Several someones!” she said.
Then she grinned and said, “Sorry. Couldn’t resist!”
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