One week after Leta's husband Bob invited her daughter Vivian and grandson Don to move in with them while Vivian’s husband Ed was serving as a radio communications consultant to the Air Force in World War II, Vivian informed them that she accepted the offer.
In anticipation, Leta had already cleaned the second floor of their home from top to bottom. While she herself might not have expected such an outcome, Bob’s gentle persuasiveness was a powerful force, and won the day. Whether Ed raised any objections or not, Leta would never know. Frankly, she didn’t care. Her daughter needed her, and she was there. All of her motherly love was at full throttle with the opportunity.
It was Thursday, and Vivian also shared that she had given notice at both her unsuccessful job as a secretary and current rental arrangement. With their assistance, she and Don would be able to move in that Sunday night. Although it was a bit of a scramble, they succeeded. That night, as Don slept snugly in his own bed in one of the upstairs rooms, mother, stepfather and grown daughter all relaxed in the living room after an eventful two days.
Leta was beaming, but Vivian looked tired. In her head, mother was already concocting ways to alleviate that tiredness, bring some color back to her daughter’s cheeks and perhaps raise a smile out of her. They had already been spending quite a bit of time together—every evening, in fact. At the end of her workday, Vivian would arrive at their home to pick up Don who stayed with his grandmother while his mother was working, eat supper with them and then head home. Now that Vivian and Don had moved in, Leta intended to utilize the already growing intimacy (after over a decade of inconsistency and hesitancy) to heal their severely wounded relationship.
Bob excused himself. He had to work in the morning and needed his rest. He was a line supervisor at a plant that made automobile parts and couldn’t afford to be too worn out on the job the next day.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Leta said after he left them alone.
“Thanks, Mom,” Vivian said. “I appreciate everything you and Bob are doing for us.”
“Of course, you’re my daughter. Don is my grandson.”
“We’ll try to keep out of your way,” Vivian added. “We don’t want to be disruptive.”
Disruptive? Leta thought, and almost responded in such a way as to cause an argument. This was, she realized a fault. She was far too argumentative for her own good. Instead, she took a deep breath and laughed. “I’m looking forward to spending time with you two. Bob’s at work all day. It gets lonely.”
“Well, I at least insist on helping out, cleaning, cooking, any special projects, whatever,” Vivian said.
Again, Leta had to hold back her disagreement. In her mind, she was welcoming a child and a smaller child into her home, and she intended to spoil them. Obviously, Vivian saw their situation differently, so they would both need to adjust. The one thing she knew she absolutely had to do was dedicate herself to strengthening the relationship with her daughter. And she had Bob to help her with that. A more pleasant, easy-going and sensible man she could not have wished for in her much-married life.
However, that first week introduced a challenge that none of them anticipated.
No comments:
Post a Comment