Page 80 of Second Chance

32

Secrets

[Denton]

Pissed off. This is my mood the next day despite an unforgettable evening with Mati. Everywhere I go, it’s as if people give me the stink eye like they know something I don’t. The donut shop for tar-tasting coffee. The grocer for some fruit for my sister. The service station for a tank of gas. It’s as if they all hold a secret they know I don’t know. I’m almost relieved to return to the dilapidated farm until I remember I have unanswered questions. I don’t even consider my resting mother or the worry on Dolores’s face as she sits beside her.

“Who is Calvin Chance? And was he in love with Mother?”

Dolores’s head slowly looks up at me. She’s tired beyond her years, and the strain in her eyes tells me our mama’s death is going to take more of a toll on her. It’s not that I’m heartless to our mother, but Dolores and she have a different bond.

“It’s Mama story,” she says, her voice low as her fingertips frame the corner of her lips for a second.

“Well, it sounds like it needs to be told to me.”

Tears well in Dolores’s eyes. “I…I don’t know…”

“Forget it,” I interject as her voice fades. I turn for the door, not paying a second of attention to my mother and stomp down the stairs. I need to do something, exert some energy somehow.

As I near the final baluster, I skip the last two stairs with one hop.

“Denton, don’t jump down the stairs.” The statement reminds me of a being a child, running through my grandmother’s house, feeling like it was my own personal playground with two stairwells and an upper floor all to myself.

Magnolia stands at the edge of the hallway, near the staircase, and I almost plow her over in my quest for the outdoors.

“Not now, Magnolia,” I warn as if she isn’t the respected matriarch of our family.

“I think now is the perfect time.” She spins on her old-lady heels and taps, taps, taps down her wide hallway to the parlor. The sway of her elder body leaves no argument. I’m to follow her as if I’m the errant child who skipped a few steps.

“Sit!” she demands as she takes her typical chair facing the direction of the drive.

My mouth opens, but she holds up a gnarled hand.

“I heard you upstairs,” she begins.

“I didn’t mean to raise my voice.” It’s something I’d say as a child. Her hand rises higher.

“Child, let me speak.” Her hand lowers as does her head, shaking from side to side. “Being a parent is difficult, Denton. It’s the greatest pleasure and the biggest pain in the ass. Children have minds of their own.” Her eyes narrow behind the pop bottle glasses. “And they can’t help who they love.”

I fall back into the chair I sit in. This is one lecture I’m ready to hear from my grandmother.

“Your mother’s dying, Denton. That doesn’t mean she’ll confess all her sins, though.”

“But you know them?”

“Of course, I know them. I’m her mother.”

I choke on the comment. My mother certainly doesn’t know my sins, does she?

“Who’s Calvin Chance?”

Magnolia looks away from me. “He was your uncle,” she replies. Her hesitation prompts me.

“And who else?”

Magnolia turns back to me.

“Your mother met him first at that damn dance hall. She planned to run off with him, but he left without her. A military man. His brother swept in and took over. Kip Chance was a smooth talker.” There’s an edge to my grandmother’s voice I’ve never heard before. “He worked his way into her heart, among other body parts, and her bank account.” Magnolia smooths down her skirt, ignorant of the dirtiness she portrayed in her words.