Reunited, part two

Leta and her sister Mabel had not seen each other in nearly 40 years. When she left her family and moved West, Mabel was still a girl of fifteen and Leta wasn’t even four years old. Now they were grown women, and both were grandmothers.

Even though Leta had participated in correspondence with her over the years, she did not know what to expect. After all, she had always felt that Mabel had deserted her, and even though she was a grown woman, she continued to struggle with the feeling that her older sister didn’t care about her.

Then Mabel was there, in Leta and her husband Bob’s living room. The sisters looked at each other. Mabel was shorter than Leta remembered, and heavier and matronly. She had a pale, round face and silver hair. She had the tight, small lips of her siblings, but her eyes were smaller and her nose was round and hooked, whereas all of her brothers and sisters had flatter, wider ones. The differences of their features increased Leta’s feelings of separation. She did not know who this woman was, and began to develop the uncomfortable idea that there was no reason for them to be together. While she did not move, a growing sense of panic began to infect her. She felt the heat grow inside her from her stomach to her extremities. But before she could do or say anything, she heard a familiar and loving voice.

“Doll-baby.”

In an instant, Leta was once again the little girl who would crawl out from under the bed to greet the sweet smile and open arms of an older girl who would put her in her lap and read stories from the Bible to her.

The long-lost sisters smiled, stepped forward simultaneously and grasped hands. It was as if the entire room exhaled, releasing forty years of tension and regret in an instant.

“Look at you,” Leta smiled.

“Look at me? Look at you!” Mabel returned.

“I’m not your little doll-baby any more,” Leta responded. “I am a grown woman with two children and a grandchild.”

“Me, too,” Mabel noted, “only I have several grandchildren.”

“Great-grandchildren?” Leta inquired.

“Not yet. I’m not that old!”

And they both laughed with the same nasal honk, which they inherited from their father. Then giggled like girls at the similarity.

All the anxiety and trepidation was gone. Here were two sisters whose connection stretched beyond family dissolution, 40 years of separation and 2,000 miles. They felt as familiar as any two people could.

“Welcome home,” Leta gushed.