Inside the box was a heart-shaped locket.
“It’s beautiful,” Suzanna said and returned the kiss he’d given her moments earlier. Before she had him clasp it around her neck, she popped the heart open. Inside were two tiny picture frames. One held a miniature photo of Annie; the other was blank.
“I left that side empty for a reason,” Gregg said shyly. “Hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, you’ll want to use that spot for a picture of somebody special.”
Giving the locket a quick glance, Annie said, “Grandma’s special. Mama can put her picture in there.”
Everybody laughed but when Gregg smiled at Suzanna, she knew she’d already found her somebody special. She told herself that before next Christmas the locket would have two pictures, and she would wear it around her neck every day for as long as she lived.
Bobby
Finding Suzanna
CHRISTMAS CAME AND WENT IN a blur of activity for Bobby Doherty. There was a dinner at the Garretts’ house, a get-together with Brenda’s cousins, and the New Year’s Eve party at the country club where he downed way too many drinks and ended up stumbling over his own feet. That night Brenda had to drive home, and the next morning she was as frosty as an ice cube.
Before he had one eye open, she plopped a glass of orange juice and two aspirin down on the nightstand alongside the bed.
“You were an absolute embarrassment,” she snapped angrily. “I’m just glad Mama and Daddy weren’t there to see you fall flat on your face.”
“I’m sorry,” Bobby said penitently. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“Too many martinis, that’s what got into you!” She yanked the blanket back and told him he had an hour to pull himself together and get dressed.
He groaned. “Gimme a break. I’m not feeling all that great.”
“I don’t care if your head feels like it will pop off your shoulders, we are not going to miss my parents’ black-eyed peas brunch.”
“Just this once,” he pleaded. “Let’s stay home. I can light the fireplace in the den, and we’ll cuddle up, maybe watch the Rose Bowl Parade. Wouldn’t you like—”
“No! Get dressed. We are leaving here in one hour.”
Somehow, he made it through the brunch. He’d nodded and bobbed his head listening to Jerome Garrett talk about how it was unthinkable that an upstart such as John F. Kennedy could defeat the Republican vice president, Richard Nixon. He’d also complimented her mama’s black-eyed peas and rice, saying that this year’s dish was the best yet. But before the day was out, he’d cast those thoughts aside and slid back into remembering how Suzanna would rub his shoulders or massage his calves after a hard workout. She was soft in ways where Brenda was hard; more sympathetic, more forgiving. There were times in life when a man needed a woman like Brenda and other times when he needed someone like Suzanna.
In the days that followed, the memories of Suzanna became like a drug Bobby couldn’t get out of his system. The more he tried to push them from his mind, the more he was drawn back to them. He thought about how they’d made love in the back seat of his daddy’s car and how she’d twined her legs around his like an ivy climbing a trellis. Back then he couldn’t imagine a life without her, but that was before Brenda.
He and Eddie had spoken just once since that telephone call, and they’d not mentioned Suzanna Duff again, but on the Tuesday after the brunch as soon as Brenda left for the bridge club Bobby called his brother.
After a few minutes of small talk about the bowl games, he got around to what he’d actually called about.
“By the way,” he said casually, “did you ever recall Suzanna’s new name?”
“Nah, I haven’t thought about it.”
“Think you could look into it for me? Dig around, check the program maybe?”
“I don’t think there was a program, and I’m certainly not asking Christine about it.”
Bobby hesitated a moment, not wanting to appear overly anxious, then asked about the name of the country club where the event was held.
“Same as the town,” Eddie said, “Barston Country Club. But you’re not actually gonna try and find her, are you?”
“Not really,” Bobby lied. “Just curious, I guess.” He immediately changed the subject, asking when Eddie and Christine might be coming for a visit.
Bobby waited a week before he called information and asked for the telephone number of the Barston Country Club. When the operator asked if he wanted Catering or the Golf Shop, he answered “Catering,” then wrote the number on the scratch pad in front of him and hung up.
He folded the note paper and tucked it in the breast pocket of his jacket, still uncertain of what he’d do. A voice in the back of his mind whispered that he was asking for trouble, but he reasoned that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. Looking up an old friend wasn’t exactly a crime. Even though he was already picturing Suzanna lying naked in his arms, he kept telling himself that he just wanted to say hello, see how she was doing, ask about the kid. He didn’t know what he’d do if it was Suzanna and if she told him the child was his, but those were pretty big ifs and that was a bridge he didn’t have to cross yet.
Over the course of the afternoon, he read through the Fulmore merger three times then laid it on the credenza behind his desk. His concentration was shot; trying to work when his mind was elsewhere was impossible. He’d be doing himself and the firm a favor if he went ahead and made the call; chances were, it would end up being a big nothing. Maybe a girl who looked a little like Suzanna. Eddie wasn’t necessarily a source to be believed.
Once Bobby knew for sure, he could put the issue to bed, forget about
