grady
. . .
“Miss Cleo,can we open the present now?” Charlie asked, staring outside as rain pelted the window like she was in an early 2000s music video. The weather had taken a turn over breakfast, and it looked like we were in for a Saturday indoors.
Cleo smiled over her cup of coffee. “Let me grab it, okay?”
“I’ll help!” Charlie exclaimed. She jumped off the couch and snatched Cleo’s hand, tugging her into the kitchen. All morning, my daughter had been staring longingly at the blue box on the table, sighing every five minutes as though it would speed up how fast we ate. So, naturally, I took my time.
If looks could kill, I would’ve been a goner.
I pushed to my feet, coffee in hand, as I wandered after them. Charlie was damn near vibrating with excitement as Cleo set the box in front of her. “Can I open it?” my daughter asked, not taking her eyes off the present.
Even I was intrigued. I had no idea what it was, but Cleo’s thoughtfulness never failed to amaze me.
“Not yet,” Cleo said. Her fingers tapped on the table, showing her nerves. “I wanted to say I know you didn’t have the chance to meet your grandmother, but she was a truly amazingperson. She would’ve loved you.” Cleo glanced at me before continuing. “Before she passed, she gifted this to me, but I think she would’ve wanted you to have it.”
That caught my attention. While Dad had told me Cleo saw Mom right before she passed, he hadn’t said anything about a present. I hadn’t noticed anything missing, so I wasn’t sure what it could be.
Charlie nodded, glancing back at the present. “Can I open it?”
“Go ahead,” Cleo said. She was wringing her fingers in front of her as she watched Charlie tear into the wrapping paper.
“Daddy, can you help me open this?” Charlie asked. “I can’t do it.”
“Sure, sunshine.” Grabbing a knife from the holder, I walked over and
cut the taped edges. Charlie dug in the moment I stepped away, peeling away the flaps and standing on the seat to peer inside.
“What are these?” Charlie asked.
“They’re mixing bowls,” Cleo murmured, stepping forward to pull my mom’s vintage Pyrex set from the box. “They’ve been passed down through the generations of women in your family, and I wanted you to have them.”
I never paid much attention to family heirlooms because we didn’t have much. Still, I’d heard her talk about those damn bowls more times than I could count, especially to Cleo. It never occurred to me to check and see where they were. I assumed Dad had hidden them somewhere like he did with most of Mom’s stuff. But to know she’d given the set to Cleo before she passed? I don’t know why it made me emotional. It was as if she were urging me to follow my heart, even from the grave. She loved Cleo, knew that Cleo would honor and cherish this set and the memories they’d made with it.
And what did it say about Cleo that, regardless of whetherwe had gotten together or not, she would’ve given this to my daughter so it could stay in the family like Mom wanted? How did she not see she was family? Mom always considered her the daughter she never had, even after we had broken up.
“Can we use them today? When we make the cookies?” Charlie asked, lips curling into a wide grin.
“That’s what I was hoping for,” Cleo said. “And I think we’ll start by making her favorite cookies ever.”
“What’s that?”
Cleo and I shared a knowing smile. “Homemade chewy oatmeal chocolate chip,” we said at the same time.
Charlie scrunched up her nose. “Oatmeal?”
I laughed, coming up and lightly tugging on her unruly braid. “Don’t knock it till you try it, kid. These are my favorites.”
“Mine too,” Cleo agreed. “Your grandmother is the one to thank for that.”
Charlie perked up. “Maybe they’ll be my favorite too!”
“Well, you already love her regular ones, so I’m sure you’ll love these, too.”
As I watched the two of them talk about what they needed, all I could think about was how lucky I was for the women in my life and how grateful I was my mom kept Cleo in her life when I had cut her out.
“Oh my gosh,these aresogood,” Charlie cried, moaning into a freshly baked cookie. We’d had to fight her off the moment they came out of the oven because she was already foaming at the mouth. “I love all of your other cookies, but these are my favorite.”
