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He told her after they made sure Andie got her breakfast, they could go. A perfect time to get to the club, when it was quiet, to unload her things into the truck. She didn’t have much, but still, it was all she had. She wasn’t going to leave her things behind for some other heifer to have. She had worked far too hard.
So she was grateful. Yes, angry at Mike, but still, grateful that he was here now, driving the truck, ready to help her.
Miss Alice watched them pull up in the alley. “Good time to get here.”
They weren’t there to be helpful to her, but Cat kept that information to herself. Mr. John was there and he helped them to remove her things from the house. The most cumbersome items were her dresses, as some of them had many crinolines and were quite full, but they managed to get all of her clothes out, packing with relative ease.
Both the club owners seemed sad to see her go, and made repeated promises to come see Andie, but Cat’s heart was hardened. She had thought of the nightclub owners as family. Now she could see that was a mistake. They were business people, making business decisions, just as she had made the decision to stay with her daughter that first night in the Home. So, when it was time to leave, there were no hugs, even though Cat could see they wanted to. Handshakes were fine.
“To see your mother?” Mike asked her when they reached the front seat of the van, ready to pull off.
Cat folded her hands. “She wrote me off when I was pregnant. I don’t need to see her now.”
“I need to see her.”
“You won’t be able to get up the hill in this van thing.”
“I’ll park it and we can walk the rest of the way.”
Which is what Mike did. The city steps, embedded in the side of the hilly Pittsburgh terrain for ease of climbing, worked perfectly for them to climb up on. Still, Mike puffed up the stairs and despite herself, her heart tugged. What had happened to him in the war? He never said. Was he okay? Was he able to do all of these things for her and Andie? She had Miss Alice’s one hundred bucks and a little more saved up. She could, she supposed, even if it the prospect made her curl her toes in her pumps.
They reached the top of the stairs and the Bennett home, which made the entire city of Pittsburgh at their feet. Cat loved this view. Sometimes, there was much to see, but not today on a hazy August morning.
“Ready?” Mike took her by her hand and somehow, her hands were still sticky, from sweat or peanut oil—she didn’t know which.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Cat marched up to the door of her childhood home with confidence that she did not really have and knocked on the door. Her father answered the door and they embraced each other. Ten years did a lot to her father. He stooped a bit, but she was so glad to see him. Behind her back, as her father still held her, he shook Mike’s hand.
“You don’t know how I’ve longed for this day.” Her father said to her.
“Mr. Bennett.” Mike was respectful.
“We want to talk to Mama.”
Her father pulled back from their embrace. “Maybe you can wait here. I’ll bring her out, eh? How’s that?”
“That will be fine, sir.” Mike interjected.
Her father squeezed her hand and shut the door behind him.
“It’s not fine by me.” Cat pouted.
“It’s August. A fine morning.”
“Maybe, but it’s having things the way she wants.”
“You mean about not having any darkies or cripples in her house?” Mike tossed off to her and Cat turned her face to him, eyebrows pitched.
“How, how, did you know that?”
“I heard her saying it when I went with you to Allens AME. She meant for me to hear it, sweetheart.”
Cat wanted to dive under something in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry.”
Mike sat down on a metal chair covered in a thick rose point cushion. “At least I know where I stand with her.”
“What do you want?”
