Alexa hesitated before answering. “Since last June.”
Mona, Janet, and Lisa all slowly turned their heads to look at Mike and Karen now. “June?” Janet asked quietly. “Y’haven’t told us in nearly a year that our little girl was back?”
Mike fielded the question. “We wanted to surprise you, of course. For the record, my family doesn’t know yet either, they’ll find out at the housewarming when they come down. It has been a crazy year, to say the least, and it takes some explaining. But Kar and I wanted you to have this reunion moment, ladies.”
“I did too,” Alexa sniffled, smiling. “I wanted to surprise you, I’ve… I’ve been waiting for so long to be with you all again. I know you all so well, I spent my life growing up hearing about you all. You, Kar, Mike, Jordan… the only one I didn’t know about was Alex, in fact.”
“The little boy we all agreed should be named after you,” Lisa choked, tearing up again. “We all hurt so bad when you were suddenly gone. And nobody knew why on this end, either. And the only people who could tell us are both gone.”
Alexa nodded rather sorrowfully, even though she was still smiling. “Mom never stopped loving dad. I was there when she died, and his name was practically the last word she said when she passed. I… whatever happened, it made me who I am today, so I guess I’m thankful, in a weird sense. It was a great life in Europe.”
“Baby, are you ready for a billion, billion questions?” Mona asked, her forehead on Alexa’s cheek again, her eyes closed.
Another smile. “Of course, auntie. I’ve been waiting for this for so long. There probably isn’t a question you can ask that I haven’t thought of already.”
She looked down at Lisa now, a hint of a smirk on her lovely face. “Except for asking if my dad was back from the dead, of course. I didn’t see that one coming.”
“Gnnnnnn,” Lisa groaned, her face in Alexa’s lap now while everyone else laughed. “I just got you back in my life and I’ve already asked the stupidest question imaginable. Farvas redn ikh shtendik eyder ikh trakhtn?”
“Just part of your charm, Heyman,” Mike replied to her question, making Karen, Jenny, and Millie snicker.
Alexa sniffled and caressed her graceful hand through Lisa’s kinky red hair. She’d waited so long to do that. She wanted to do the same to Mona as well. The pictures she’d grown up with meant so much to her. How could she make these women understand how much they’d meant to her?
“You guys were part of the pantheon I grew up with,” she sighed, hoping she’d convey her thoughts adequately as this (rather admittedly) emotional moment. “Kar, Mike, my aunties… I’d heard so much, and when I finally meet you, you’re all every bit as amazing as you seemed to me when my mom told stories about you.”
“Well, y’shouldn’t believe everything you get told,” Janet said, smiling wanly. “I’m not that promiscuous.”
Alexa smirked. “Auntie, I saw you and aunt Mona in the spare bedroom with Mike yesterday. Well, somewhat.”
Mona and Janet’s eyes snapped wide at the statement. “WHAT?!” they both almost shouted.
“Lemme field this one, Alexa,” Alex said from where he was standing nearby. He stood up straight and approached now. The three older women all looked over, remembering he was there now. Under the circumstances, nobody could blame them for forgetting anyone else present, could they?
“We had a lot to unload on you this visit, it’s true,” he explained. “Jordan, Aunt Jen, Alexa… so we spaced them out, to give you time to adapt. The thing was, that meant Alexa was hiding downtown with friends at their condo overnight, and as much as she wanted to surprise you, she was really not likin’ the sound of missing everything either.”
He sat down gently on the arm of the ornate, sturdy chesterfield, continuing. “So we came up with the idea of mom, dad, Jordan and I wearing little cams to catch all the action, from different angles and perspectives. It gets recorded and stored for memories.”
“I admit, I stopped watching when you two pulled Mike into a room,” Alexa said gently, smiling. “I mean, not like I didn’t know about you all to begin with, but I didn’t need to see it.”
Mona looked over at Karen and Mike now. “You got everything so far this visit on camera?”
“Most things, I imagine,” Mike said with a shrug. “Go ahead and tell me that doesn’t suit you.”
The black woman blushed a little. “Well, no, I didn’t say that. We’re being recorded even now, aren’t we?”
“Memories for Alli, and ourselves,” Karen confirmed. “Once this little meeting is over, we can no doubt dispense with the cameras, then it’s up to us all to make our own memories.”
The three women just hugged Alexa again, their crying finally having slowed somewhat. She sighed, finally feeling relieved, her anxiety gone with her tears. “I have so much to tell you about the past twenty years, but at least we have all the time in the world now. And I admit, once I catch my breath, I’m excited to do it.”
“I’m glad to hear that, because there’s zillions of questions,” Janet agreed before looking at Mike and Karen. “Have you just been planting little surprise bombs around the manor, Princess? Every time we turn around, there’s some new thing we didn’t expect.”
Karen tilted her head at her husband. “It was actually more Michael’s idea than mine, you know what a penchant for theatrics he has.”
“Oh, right, the guy who stepped into some ion contraption and beat it into producing Colossal-Yowie Manifolds to prove they existed,” Janet grunted, giving him a look. “If you beat on me that way, I’d produce them too if it got you to stop, you big lug.”
“No wonder I lost Kat to you,” Jenny said, looking at Mike and winking. “Who could say no to that kind of derring-do?”
Mona, Janet, and Lisa all put up their hands before they began laughing, as the others looked on. Alexa smiled and laughed prettily as well.
“I can’t believe how beautiful you are,” Mona said, looking at Alexa again and caressing her hair through her long, voluminous golden locks. “I mean, we knew you would be when you were a baby, but… God, girl, you’re every bit as stunning as your sister, and you look like a Blackwell.”
“Thanks, I think,” Alexa sniffle-laughed.
“You’ll let me do portraits of you, right, baby?” Mona asked.
“I’ve waited my whole life to hear you ask that, auntie,” Alexa confessed, tearing up again. “Yes, as many as you want, however you want them.”
“We might need to get ‘er a new dress, though,” Lisa mentioned, holding some of the white fabric of Alexa’s dress between two of her fingers. “We soaked this one pretty good.”
“I bought this dress just to meet you all in,” the blonde girl said, smiling. “I may just never wear it again and keep it this way, with all our tears on it.”
“Annnnnd there’s the dramatic streak that proves she’s related to Princess,” Janet said rather dryly, making everyone else laugh. She shook her head. “If your big sister hasn’t already, make sure she tells you about the progesterone and the cough syrup.”
“That was a wild weekend,” Lisa giggled, and the other two women snickered in agreement.
“No, can’t say as I know about that one yet,” Alexa said, shaking her head. “But I’ve heard about the Beijing Scam, that was some of your finest work.”
“Ugh, I can feel that old creeper’s mitts on my legs and butt just remembering the incident,” Mona said with a shudder.
“We’ve reminisced about so many old memories here in this lounge,” Lisa sighed, looking around now. “And we’re gonna have so many new things to find out in here now.”
“We’ll let you have some alone time with Alli,” Karen said, standing up now, assisted by her husband. “Take whatever time you need, ladies. Miss Prospero will keep you furnished with drinks, and we will call you when it is time for lunch.”
Lisa, Janet, and Mona hugged everyone before returning to sitting with Alexa, hugging her quiet questions, which she began to answer readily. Mike closed the door as he, Karen, Alex, Jordan, Jenny, and Millie left the room.
“That went well, all things considered,” Karen said airily, holding her husband’s arm. Alex followed just behind, escorting Jenny, while Millie escorted Jordan. “Lisa didn’t completely flood us out with tears.”
“She won’t tell them about her and Alex, will she?” Millie asked.
“No,” her sister replied, shaking her head. “I don’t see that happening. That is one final surprise left for them today, right, Alex?”
“I’m lookin’ forward to that,” he agreed, smiling as he thought about the rest of the day.
***
A car heading north out of downtown…
“Man, the DVP sucks this time of day,” Jeanie sighed from behind the wheel, despairing of ever getting to their destination. “By the time we reach the manor, Alex and Lexi will’ve been married for a decade. I thought the traffic would be light late morning on a weekend.”
“I ams guessing not,” Freja said with a shrug. Predictably, traffic reports had not been terribly helpful about the jams if you tried to head north. They’d already been on the road for forty minutes, and they weren’t that far from the condo. “Worry not, yndling, let us try getting off on Eglinton instead of Lawrence, to see if that helps our cause.”
It didn’t. Freja shook her head and texted Alex, letting him know they’d hopefully make it for lunch.
***
Back in the Dunsany Lounge…
The three women were doing their best to not bombard Alexa with questions, taking their time with a patience they didn’t feel. Mostly, they were asking about her now that she was back. The individual details of her life could wait for endless later conversations.
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