AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Over the phone came a soft murmur of understanding. “Do you know why I left?”
“No.”
“I never liked your father. It’s a terrible thing to say to a child, but it’s true. Your mom swore he was a good man, be he always seemed unsatisfied with what he had.” There was a loud intake of air and Vivian realized her aunt was trying not to cry. “Except for your mom. He loved Tina with all his heart, but the little anchor he had to reality died with her. It started small, but the writing was on the wall.”
Her aunt Kitty sniffed and the next words came out in a shudder. “I wasn’t able to get custody of you. I didn’t think he’d fight so hard for you, but you were all either of us had left of Tina, and he wouldn’t let you go. Eventually he said if I didn’t give up the custody fight, he’d disappear with you into the night.”
“And we moved, anyway.” Vivian remembered her fear of their first move and how her father had made it into a make-believe game. In every move after that one, he’d come up with a ridiculous villain who was chasing them: monsters, aliens, pirates and once—when she was studying American history—the British were coming. Then, one move, Vivian had to leave her first best friend. From that day forward she refused to play along.
“The truth is, Aunt Kitty, I don’t know where my dad is.” Vivian wiped her eyes.
An hour later, they had stopped crying, and Vivian had told her aunt everything.
“It really wasn’t a bad childhood.”
“You don’t have to protect your father.”
Vivian gave a snotty, wet giggle. “It wasn’t a perfect childhood, but he did his best.”
“I wish I could have been there for you.”
“I wish you could have been there, for both of us.” They sat in silence on the phone for several seconds before Vivian asked, “Did you marry? Do I have cousins?”
“I married, and when I divorced I changed my name back to Chin. You have two cousins, Conner is twenty. Carmen is eighteen. You should come visit over a holiday, when both of them are home.”
Vivian thanked the fates that had led her aunt to change back to her maiden name so they could reconnect later in life. “I would love to meet my cousins and see you again. Maybe next Thanksgiving or Christmas. I can bring the baby.”
“Hopefully, you can bring your husband, too.”
A wish Vivian echoed. She respected and liked her husband. Marriages had been made on less, after all, and she had to admit that she hoped theirs might eventually be built on more. Karl’s quiet righteousness wouldn’t be easy to love, but it would be rewarding. And the woman he gave his heart to would never have to worry about his devotion.
They said their goodbyes and Vivian hung up the phone with a new sense of hope. Karl was not her only connection to stability in this world. Even if they were on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, she had friends and an aunt. Soon she would find a job and get an apartment. And whatever relationship she and Karl developed wouldn’t be based on her feelings of dependency and helplessness.
The clouds must have broken because the computer screen became impossible to read for the glare. Vivian closed the laptop, put Xìnyùn back in his cage and headed out for a walk in the sun.
* * *
KARL GOT TO work on Tuesday morning having spent a pleasant Sunday and Monday with Vivian. Sunday, after he’d gone to Mass, he’d taken her to brunch and then to the Field Museum. As they had gone upstairs to look at the rocks and gems, Karl realized how much he felt as if he could be himself when around her. Actually himself. Not the silent, unfeeling lawyer or the smiling, hand-shaking politician, but himself. Someone who could guffaw at stupid jokes and be vulnerable without being weak. The person he’d been in Las Vegas when all he’d wanted to do was make Vivian smile.
Monday felt as if they were a regular married couple expecting their first child. He came home to a home-cooked dinner, they talked about their days while eating, cleaned up, and then he worked while she knitted. Okay, so it felt a little like a regular married couple in a 1950s sitcom—separate beds included—but he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at roast chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli. Dinners like this every night couldn’t last, but he would enjoy them while he got them.
