“For dinner. What are you making?”
“Gammon and egg with chips and peas,” she answered, then went on quickly, “Prentice –”
He interrupted again, “Pudding?”
“What?”
“What are you making Sally for pudding?”
Bella tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling, visibly seeking patience.
Fiona giggled yet again.
“Treacle sponge with custard,” she replied, her eyes moving away from the ceiling. “Now, Prentice, listen to me –”
He didn’t let her continue. “Is it homemade?”
“What?”
“The sponge. Is it homemade?”
Bella sighed. Heavily.
“Yes. But Pren –”
“Save me some sponge.”
“Prentice –”
“I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Talking so swiftly her words ran together, Bella declared, “Prentice, we have to talk.”
His voice was soft when he responded, “Aye, but I have a deadline, baby. We’ll talk when I get home.”
Bella made no response and Fiona saw her eyes were glazed again. And Fiona knew why.
Prentice had an attractive voice but when it got soft and he talked to you with love in his tone, well, that would make anyone’s eyes glaze over.
Fiona floated listlessly as she heard Prentice repeat, “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”
Then he disconnected.
Bella gazed dazedly at the phone for several long seconds before she pressed the button to turn it off.
Fiona decided she hated her again.
Prentice might not have called Fiona “baby”. And he might not have cuddled her in bed all night long.
But he had spoken to her with love in his tone.
She hadn’t heard that in well over a year.
She missed it.
Terribly.
Bella went back to making and serving dinner. While they ate it, Fiona thought about leaving them and going somewhere else to haunt for awhile. She was going over her options when Jason made a statement that piqued her interest.
“Kids at school say I’m in a magazine.”
Bella was rinsing the dirty dishes.
She glanced over her shoulder from her place at the sink, her gaze hesitant and she said gently, “Yes, sweetheart.”
He grinned his cheeky grin.
All grin. All cheek. All Jason. No sadness in his eyes. Nothing held back.
Fiona hadn’t seen that in well over a year either.
She missed that too.
“Do I look good?” Jason asked.
Bella smiled.
Then, all of a sudden looking strangely indecisive, she stilled.
Finally, making her decision, she walked to Jason and put her hand on top of his head. Leaning in, her hand slid down to his cheek.
Her face got close. “With your father’s eyes and your mother’s hair, it’s impossible for you not to look good.”
Jason stared at her, probably because her voice shook with emotion.
Bella’s fingers slid through his hair as she watched her hand, the look on her beautiful face a mixture nostalgic and heartbroken.
Then she caught his eyes with hers and whispered, “You know, she’s with you every minute. Here,” she tugged his hair gently. “Here,” she let his hair go and tapped his head with her finger. “And here,” she put her hand over his heart. “I learned that a long time ago,” Bella whispered. “My Mom left me but she left a lot with me and all of it I carry safe, every moment, right here,” she pressed her hand on his chest for emphasis and Jason closed his eyes.
Ghostly tears slid down Fiona’s cheeks and she decided she didn’t hate Bella anymore.
Fiona watched as Bella leaned in and kissed the top of his head and then she went back to tidying the kitchen as if that touching moment hadn’t happened.
Eyes never leaving Bella, Jason made a noise in the back of his throat then gulped in an effort to control his emotion.
Bella, astutely, ignored it.
He slid off his stool, went to get Fiona’s guitar and the book Bella gave him to teach himself how to play it and he brought them downstairs
Seeing him with her guitar and Bella’s book, Fiona finally got it.
And she looked to the woman who was teaching her daughter how to dangle the new cat toy she’d bought Blackie when she was with Sally in the village and Fiona fell in love.
This world was meant to have Jason and Sally in it.
So, as ugly as it was, Bella and Prentice could not be.
And Fiona and Prentice were meant to be.
But, as ugly as it was, Fiona was not meant to inhabit that world for very long.
So, when she was gone, someone had to take care of her family.
And there was no better person to do it than the beautiful woman gamely ignoring her son plucking discordantly at guitar strings while she laughed and played with Sally and her kitten.
Now, Fiona realized, was the time Bella and Prentice were meant to be.
Fiona hovered, shaken by this new knowledge, as Bella put Sally to bed and came back down to Jason.
Then she surprised Fiona further as she gently took the guitar away from him. Expertly tuning it (she had a good ear), she explained what she was doing as Jason looked on with a rapt expression.
Then she played.
Fiona was stunned. Bella hadn’t played twenty years ago. She wasn’t talented but she knew what she was doing and it sounded lovely.
When she stopped, Bella surprised Fiona even further when she explained to Jason, “I was so impressed with your Mum’s playing, when I went home I took lessons.” Her face and tone grew wistful when she said, “I haven’t played in years. I forgot how much I like doing it.” Then she gained control and grinned at Jason. “But it makes your fingers hurt.”
Jason grinned back.
Bella handed Jason Fiona’s guitar and finished, her face soft, “That’s what your Mum gave to me, my love of the guitar. And a lot of happy memories filled with laughter. Those things are what I carry in my heart, gifts from Fiona.”
Jason’s grin died and he gulped again.
Fiona gulped too but she didn’t succeed in holding back her tears like her son did.
Quickly, Bella moved past the moment and with great patience, she gave Jason a few pointers. After awhile, his discordant plucking became something else altogether. Finally, she sent him off to bed with the guitar.
Then she went to her rooms. She opened the nightstand and pulled out a new journal. Opening it to the first page and picking up her expensive pen, she wrote about Fiona’s children while Fiona hovered over her and her book, unashamedly reading while Bella wrote.