They nibbled on their snack in companionable silence until a phone rang from the middle of the plant bed Maggie had been working in.
“Let me get it.” Lena made her way between the roses, lavender, and half a dozen different green shrubs she couldn’t name. She followed the ringtone until it stopped. Where was that phone? After a short break, the ringing started again. “Someone really wants to talk to you.”
“They always call to sell me things I don’t need. My name and number must be on a very gullible list somewhere.” Maggie chuckled.
Lena snorted. Maggie might be the least gullible older woman she had ever met. “Ah, here it is.” She snatched the phone from its hiding place under a rose bush in amazing shades of tangerine and burnt orange. “Oh, the hospital. I hope it’s nothing serious.” She hurried to bring the phone to its owner.
“It’ll be Jess. It’s Friday and time for her to cancel our monthly dinner. Again.” The resignation in her voice was nothing new.
Lena pressed her lips together and swallowed a reply. She couldn’t understand Maggie’s daughter. If Lena had a mother as wonderful as Maggie, she wouldn’t stay away all the time. As far as Maggie had told her, they didn’t have any problems or disagreements; Jess was only too busy with work. Lena handed the phone over as it stopped ringing. “Oh, sorry.”
Before Maggie could reply, it started again, and she answered it. “Riley. Yes. Oh. Oh.” She paled, and the phone shook in her hand. “Okay. How is she? Can I…? Tell her I’ll be with her as soon as possible. Emergency department. Thank you.” She hung up and stared at the phone as if it could provide more information or guidance.
Lena reached over and took her hands, which trembled like a frightened bird. “Hey, what happened?”
“Jess…she…” Maggie looked at her with wide eyes, tears clinging to their corners.
Did she have an accident? “What happened?” She repeated the question in a soft tone.
“She had her baby. I’m a grandma.” As if speaking the words out loud allowed Maggie to understand their meaning, her face transformed. A wide grin illuminated her face like the first rays of sunshine after a storm. “I’m a grandma!”
Lena couldn’t help but grin with her. “Congratulations.” She squeezed the still-trembling hands, but it wasn’t enough to convey what she was feeling. Before she could question herself, she pulled Maggie in for a hug.
Maggie returned the embrace as if they were friends or family and not landlady and tenant. The scent of crushed herbs and warm soil, like summer, enveloped her, and Lena never wanted to let go.
Which was precisely why she retreated to a safe distance after another mumbled congratulations. She couldn’t allow herself the illusion of being part of a happy family if the reality was just the opposite.
“Thank you.” Maggie brushed at her dirt-stained jeans. “I need to change and drive to the hospital.” But she remained rooted on the spot. “I don’t have a present. The quilt isn’t ready. Flowers? Maybe I should cut some flowers.” She reached for the roses and pricked herself on a thorn. “Ouch.”
“Careful. Why don’t you go change, and I’ll get the flowers?” Lena had thought nothing could faze Maggie, who had shown grace and composure even when her neighbor had had a heart attack right here in the garden. She’d taken care of her friend and called the ambulance as if she’d prepared for such an event.
Maggie hastened off toward the house, and Lena decided to pick the flowers quickly enough to have time to change herself. No way would she let Maggie drive herself to the hospital in Seattle and end up in a car crash.
To her surprise, Maggie handed her the car key without discussion.
Maggie’s car was a cute Prius that drove so smooth and silent that Lena didn’t even mind the afternoon traffic. Such a difference from her old, dying Ford.
Maggie looked at the small silver watch on her wrist. She didn’t say anything about driving faster but fidgeted in her seat.
“You didn’t tell me, is it a boy or girl?” Lena tried to distract her. “Did your daughter decide on a name yet?”
“A girl.” She sighed. “Jess was still undecided about the name, last I knew.” Maggie’s tone was very neutral.
Lena glanced to her right.
Maggie smiled, but it was laced with tension
Uh-oh. She had wanted to redirect Maggie’s thoughts in a positive direction. “Were you hoping for a girl when you had Jess?”
“When I was pregnant with Jess, I wished for a boy, not because I preferred boys but because I thought it would be easier for my husband to bond with a son.” She chuckled. “But those two did all right. Actually, more than all right. She always trailed after him, and he encouraged her. She loved to hide in his office when he had patients in there. I will never know what age-inappropriate things she learned by listening in on those conversations.”
“So your husband was a doctor too?”
“Yes, a cardiologist, same as Jess. He mainly worked in private practice, not in the hospital. More time for golf.” She said the last bit in a tone that suggested she was teasing.
Lena had never met Maggie’s husband; he had died a few years ago.
“What does Jess’s partner do? Is he a doctor too?”
Maggie laughed. “No, there isn’t a he in the picture. Or a girlfriend. Jess decided to have a child on her own. I don’t know why she thinks that being a single mother is a wise decision with the work hours she keeps.”
Lena agreed, but it wasn’t her place to say so. She’d never known her father either, and the short time she’d lived with her mother alone hadn’t been an advertisement for happy family life. For a moment, the reminder of what she’d missed itched like an old scar. But
