Erin parked the car, feeling grateful to have Jordan and Sierra with her. The three of them entered the small grocery store. They were greeted loudly by Sylvia, who was wheeling her cart to the checkout. “A few of us have decided to stop by tonight to see Jack. Do you think that will be a problem now that the dragon lady has left town?”
“How did you know that Delores left?” Erin noticed that four other people in the immediate area had stopped what they were doing and were looking to Sylvia for the latest info.
“Clint at the post office said she shipped a lot of boxes the other day to some place in Mexico. He asked if she wanted insurance and she said yes, the maximum amount. Then Clint told her that he heard she and Jack were moving to California. And she told him he shouldn’t assume things about people.”
The clerk at the cash register clucked her tongue. Erin felt a twinge of regret that Sierra and Jordan were hearing these embarrassing specifics about Delores. Yet in a way it relieved her from trying to explain to them what she herself didn’t understand.
“So,” Sylvia said, “what do you say to a little gathering tonight? Would around six thirty be okay with you?”
Sylvia’s reading glasses were balanced on the end of her nose. The gems embedded in the brightly colored frames caught the light from the overhead lighting, and with each birdlike movement of her head, Sylvia sent tiny sparkles of refracted light onto their faces.
Erin tried to view the visit in terms of what her dad would want. “You know, I think my dad would enjoy some company. Six thirty would be fine.”
“Great. We’ll make it a cookout.”
“A cookout?” Erin hadn’t expected that.
“Sure.” Sylvia gave a sweeping gesture to the others in the grocery store. “You’re all welcome to come. I’ll take care of everything. Paddy can bring a fresh haul of crabs. Jack has the steamers in his garage. We’ll come over early and set it all up. All you need to do is get Jack in his wheelchair, put a hat on him, and park him on the deck. Trust me, it’ll be the happiest day he’s had in a long time.”
“Happiest day,” Erin repeated under her breath. What a different meaning those words were taking on since she and Sharlene had selected them for their wedding consulting business. As alternate a universe as all this felt, Erin somehow knew Sylvia was right. Being with friends on Jack’s deck, even though he would have to be in a wheelchair, would be her father’s happiest day in a long time.
They bought a few groceries and some chips and soft drinks for the cookout. The dour-looking woman at the checkout softened her expression as Erin paid for the groceries.
“Your father always made my day when he came in here,” the clerk said. “He would say, ‘Top of the morning, Glory,’ even if it was the middle of the day. I’m really sorry to hear about his stroke. If you don’t mind I’d like to come to the cookout, too.”
“Yes. Please come.” Erin didn’t know the woman’s name, but she had seen her every time she’d gone to the grocery store.
“I’ll bring a salad.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Erin tried to catch a glimpse of the woman’s name tag, but it was hidden underneath a sweater.
“We’ll see you later, then.”
“Everyone is so friendly,” Sierra said as they drove back to the house. “This is a darling place.”
“I can see why Grandpa likes it here,” Jordan said.
Erin still wouldn’t give Moss Cove the high marks everyone else in her family did.
When they arrived at the house, Erin found that Mike had slipped away to the dormer bedroom for a nap. Jack was awake and sitting in the recliner. A sturdy half grin and airy sound of happiness came from his mouth when he saw Jordan. He held out his left hand. Jordan grasped his grandfather by the wrist, and the two men locked into a wrist-to-wrist hold as Jordan introduced his bride.
Jack turned his head to take in a full view of Sierra, who was hanging back shyly. His eyebrow went up. His grin lifted higher. He looked at Jordan and out of his mouth came, “Buuufoo.”
Jordan broke into a broad smile at his grandpa. “You got that right. I married the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Then Jack cried. Jordan teared up, and so did Sierra. Jack managed to keep the wailing sounds curtailed between his closed lips, but as he did, a string of spittle trickled down the side of his jaw.
Erin stepped in with a washcloth and dabbed his mouth. She had already done so much crying during moments like this that she somehow remained dry-eyed as she cared for him. She proudly watched her son treat his grandfather with respect.
Sierra stepped closer and slipped her left hand into Jack’s left hand, giving it a squeeze. Jack lifted her hand to his dried lips and placed an awkward kiss on the back of it, as if she were a princess and he was a loyal subject. Sierra smiled at him warmly.
Erin was amazed. Her father had never been like this with her, all tender and gushy. Nor had she seen him this way with her mother or any other woman. She remembered him, as a physical education teacher, always in coaching mode. The limitations on his ability to express himself and the way the stroke had affected the emotional centers in his brain revealed a big teddy bear in the man she had known only as disapproving and never satisfied.
Jack drew Sierra’s hand back and blinked as he held it up so he could take a good look at the wedding band on her finger. Jordan held out his hand to show the wedding band on his finger. “See? We’re official. Husband and wife.”
Jack winked at Sierra and let go of her hand so he could give Jordan a hearty thumbs-up signal. Jordan beamed as if he had proven at long last to his grandfather that he was a man of worth, even though he never had become the athlete Jack pushed him to be. The two men were communicating in front of Erin in a way that had never happened before. She couldn’t help but think how rich and affirming this moment of blessing was for Jordan and Sierra. Erin knew that if her father had come to the wedding in the same state he had been in emotionally and physically all his life, Jordan wouldn’t have received any of this.
This small treasure was hidden away in the vast darkness of her father’s condition. She only wished Mike had been there to see it revealed.
Before Erin had a chance to tell her father about the party that was coming to him that evening, Sylvia arrived. Marge opened the door for her, and she walked right up to Jack and looked him over. He gave her an equal inspection with his one good eye.
“Well, I’ll give you this, Jack O’Riley.” Her voice was much louder than it needed to be. “You’re a whole lot better off than you might think you are.”
Sylvia didn’t qualify if her statement applied to his physical condition or to the loss of Delores. It didn’t matter. She had had her say.
“We’re going to use your crab pots and steamer from the garage. You have any problems with that?”
Jack moved his head a bit and made a flipping motion with his left hand as if giving her permission to have at it.
“As soon as your nurse there puts you in the wheelchair, we’ll push you out on the deck. The sea air will put a shine back in those baby blues of yours.” Sylvia gave Marge a nod as if she was now in command. “He likes his navy blue stocking cap, don’t you, Jack? Make sure he has it on when you bring him out. Although it’s a gorgeous afternoon, and you might not need a hat at all.”
Erin and Mike had been so occupied with caring for her father’s basic needs that they hadn’t even attempted to take him outside for fresh air. By the look on his face, he was eager for the opportunity.
Marge went to work with all his medical needs while Erin, Jordan, and Sierra followed Sylvia out into the tidied garage. With the four of them working together, it didn’t take long to set up what Erin thought looked like the starting pieces of a distillery. Sylvia gave directions to Jordan, and he put the huge crab pots and steamer in place over a big portable propane stove.
Sierra made herself at home and set about decorating the patio with three strings of white Christmas lights she found
in the garage. Two of Jack’s cronies arrived in a truck that they parked on the grass and unloaded a beat-up old ice chest that took both of them to carry.
Mike came outside a few minutes later and stood back, taking in the free-for-all. “What’s going on?”
Erin sidled up to him and slipped her arm around his middle. “It looks like the circus has come to town, doesn’t it? Sylvia has arranged for a cookout.” Leaning closer, Erin whispered, “Between you and me, I think she’s celebrating Delores’s departure.”
A scowl rested on Mike’s face. “You sure your father is up for this?”
“Yes, I am. I think he is.”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt him to have a change of pace. He seems stable enough. It’s actually a good way to have a going-away party for him without calling it that.”
“I think you’re right.”
“I’ll help Marge to wheel him out.” Mike went inside while Erin found a broom and swept off the deck.
Ten minutes later, the man of honor was wheeled out the door and onto the deck wearing sweatpants, a clean knit golf shirt under a fleece jacket, and his navy blue stocking cap. Erin realized at once that the green fleece jacket Marge had grabbed for her dad was Erin’s Paddy’s Crab Shack fleece.
The stunning part was that he was so slim now he could fit into her jacket. Never did Erin expect to see such a thing.
Paddy of Paddy’s Crab Shack gave a cheer when he saw Jack on the deck. He had arrived earlier with an ice chest full of live Pacific crabs. She had a feeling he would like that her dad was proudly “wearing the green” for his pal.
Marge had shaved Jack, tucked his ragged hair under the cap, and effectively hidden all the tubes from view. He was smiling his new crooked smile, and he looked happy. All the worry lines from his forehead were gone.
Eight guests arrived by the time Jack was out on the deck. All of them greeted him with dignity and lots of camaraderie. Sylvia was right, Erin thought. This was good. This was going to be her father’s happiest day.
The large boiling pots for the crabs had been set up near the garage and carried a fishy scent. She was amazed at how everyone stepped in and went to work as if they hosted this sort of gathering every Saturday night. A folding table appeared from the back of someone’s car, and it soon was filled up with paper plates, a big bowl of coleslaw, a plate of baby carrots with hummus for dipping, vinegar and sea salt potato chips, and triangular wedges of watermelon neatly arranged on a serving platter made from an old stop sign that had been pounded up around the edges.
The people’s spontaneity and the event itself put a steady smile on Erin’s face for the first time that week. She soon noticed she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stop smiling. Her dad was wearing himself out with delight. About a half hour into the gala, she noticed that he closed his eyes and dipped his chin. Erin went to his side and could tell that he was just checking out for a short break the way he did physically and emotionally.
She took it upon herself to release the brake on the wheelchair and attempt to push him back into the house. The movement roused him, and he made a horrible guttural sound in protest. “I was going to take you back inside, Dad. Just for a little bit.”
“No!” Like a toddler he pointed his finger decisively at the ground the same way he had earlier that week when they told him about the plans to return to Irvine and he had made it clear he wanted to stay in Moss Cove. Now he wanted to stay on the deck in the middle of the party.
Erin acquiesced. It was his party, after all. She leaned over, looked him in the eye, and sang, “It’s my party, and I’ll sleep if I want to, sleep if I want to . . .”
Her dad laughed.
It was a wonderful sound. She hadn’t heard him laugh in a long, long time. The laughter that rolled out in response to her silly song was the guffaw of a carefree soul. It was the sort of laugh that rolled from his barrel chest when she was in elementary school and he used to take her to the pool at the community college. He would send Erin and her brother up to the top of the high dive and then coach them from the water and watch them jump. Whenever either of them managed to accomplish the dive or jump the way he had instructed, Jack O’Riley would laugh instead of praise them.
Some of Erin’s happiest childhood memories were of coming up from a carefully executed dive with water still dripping from her nose and eyelashes, and in her ringing ears she could hear her father laughing his happy laugh. That sound meant she had done something right.
It had been a long time since Erin had heard that laugh from her father. And here he was, sitting on the deck he had built with his own hands, confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak a full sentence, and yet he was laughing.
Erin spontaneously planted a kiss on her father’s forehead, and he tucked his chin, returning to his turtle state of survival.
“Are you ready to dig in?” Jordan approached Erin with two plastic trays in his hand. On each tray rested a whole crab, steaming and ready to be cracked open with the implements included on the tray.
“Wow, is this for me?”
“Yes, all yours. This other one is for Sierra. Where did she go?”
They looked around and saw that she was coming their way from the car with something in her hand. Jordan called out to her, and she held up a pouch.
“Oh, I love that woman,” he said.
Erin beamed.
“She’s bringing her iPod and some portable speakers I bought for her. A little music will definitely get this party started.” Jordan motioned with his head for Sierra to come over to where he was standing on the deck. “Here, you take this, and I’ll take care of that.”
Erin and Sierra sat beside each other on the built-in bench that ran along the edge of the deck. They simultaneously turned to face the ocean, preparing to watch the sunset as they figured out how to attack the well-boiled crustaceans in front of them.
“I’ve never eaten a whole crab before,” Sierra said. “How do you start?”
“I’m a novice, too. I think we use this to crack open the shell and then use this slender fork to pull out the good stuff.” Erin pushed up her sleeves. Sierra did the same. The challenge began. Both of them found it impossible not to get completely hands-on and pull off the legs one by one, cracking the shell, consuming the tender white meat.
“This is incredible,” Sierra said after her second bite. “Is yours as good as mine?”
“Better,” Erin said playfully. “Look at that sunset.”
Mike came over and joined them. They watched reverently as the huge orange ball slipped behind a bank of clouds far out at sea. The lavender-shaded clouds seemed to bob along the surface of the deep like a lumpy mountain range belonging to some other planet. Erin had no difficulty believing she was, indeed, on another planet. Nothing was familiar; yet everything around her rang true. She was eating an entire crab for the first time in her life, sitting close enough to her husband to feel the warmth of his body. Next to her was the sort of daughter-in-law she had hoped all three of her sons would find. And only a few moments ago, her father had laughed.
The last drop of sun disappeared behind those otherworldly mountains, and as it did, another verse of Scripture from long ago skittered into Erin’s thoughts from across the sea: “In quietness and confidence shall be thy strength.”
Quietness. Confidence. Strength. Those were the qualities she dearly needed in her life right now. She believed the Lord was at work doing more than she could see on the surface.
Just then the music started. Through the tiny speakers that Jordan had set on the outside kitchen window sill came a gently rolling instrumental intro followed by a mellow rendition of “What a Wonderful World.”
Everyone looked around to see where the tune was coming from. Some of the crusty guys standing out on the lawn by the back of Paddy’s pickup truck lifted their bottles of beer to Jordan. He grinned at his new bride. She grinned back. Without a word, Sierra put her tray to the side and wiped her hands on a dish towel she had
brought out earlier to clean off the benches.
With quick, dainty steps, Sierra went to her husband. The two of them met in the middle of the open deck, taking a waltz position as if they had been dancing together their whole lives. As everyone looked on, Jordan and Sierra treated them to a charming, loving dance as they stared into each other’s eyes.
Then Erin remembered. This had been the music for the first dance at their reception a week ago. She hadn’t been able to sit back and enjoy the moment then. This repeat performance was so much better.
The tangerine shades that illuminated the evening sky cast a warm glow over their small celebration on the bluff. The song’s words encircled the young couple. Jack, who was only a few feet away, lifted his head, stuck out his chin, and made sounds like a baby.
Erin realized he wasn’t crying. He was singing. Her father loved this song.
Erin leaned her head on Mike’s shoulder. This happiness was so unexpected. It came from such a place of wreckage. Yet in the midst of all the loss, these elemental graces of life remained, and their beauty ushered in an unfaltering peace.
Mike kissed Erin on the lips. She curled in closer to him.
“Are you cold?” he whispered.
“No.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
Mike wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as the song ended. Twined together they watched as their married son gave his blushing bride a backward dip, held her until the final note ended, pulled her back to himself, and kissed her good.
Erin turned to see Mike’s expression. The glimmer in his eyes told her he was feeling it, too. This night was a gift to all of them.
The next song was one Erin didn’t recognize. It was a twangy country tune with a fast string of lyrics. One of the men by the crab boiler pots joined in, singing nice and loud. The enchanting “wonderful world” moment flitted away.
Mike stood and wheeled Jack closer so he could be in on their conversations if he wanted to. He had to be strapped up in the wheelchair due to the paralysis, and it seemed he was having difficulty breathing. Mike tried to adjust his position, but Jack pushed him away. Marge did a quick check of the tubes and his mouth. He pushed her away, too.