Page 74 of Home Body

“Today we discovered that our family is bigger than we thought, because we have some relatives we didn’t even know were relatives.”

“’kay.” Rose chomped on a piece of roasted carrot.

“And it turns out we know them! And we like them a lot!”

That got the girl’s attention. “Oh yeah? You mean like cousins and stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“The O’Brien’s. Kenyon and her mom and her dad and her brother. Isn’t that neat?”

Rose glared at her mother in amazement as she took that in. “You mean Mrs. ’Brien, O? My storyteller?”

“Yes, dear,” her grandmother said. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Yeah! Can we bring ‘em over?”

“Of course,” Mamie said. “Just not right now because they’re at their house eating their supper.”

“Oh. How ’bout tomorrow?”

“We’ll see. Maybe not tomorrow, but we’ll have them over some time soon. How’s that?”

“Cool! Can we make ’em a cake?”

“Yes, love.” Dalia stroked her daughter’s hair. “We’ll bake a pretty cake just to share with them.”

“And we won’t make them pay for it. Right?”

Dalia reassured her daughter that when they had company over the cake would be free.

“Do you have any questions?” Mamie asked.

“Nuh uh.”

Brody, sitting next to Rose, reached a hand toward her on the table. “You are one lucky girl, Rose. It’s nice to get a bigger family.”

“Yeah. You can be in our family, too. I mean, if you want. You wanna don’t you?”

“Why yes. I would like that very much.”

“Okay. You can be the, um, I dunno what. Mommy, can he be our cousin?”

“Ah, something like that.”

“Cool!” Rose guffawed like a jolly old man.

Brody offered her a palm and they high-fived.

Like the happy little family they were – at least at the moment – they cleaned up the kitchen together. Dalia invitedBrody to join in as she and Rose went out to feed the chickens, but Mamie said she had something to show him.

When she led him into her bedroom, which was right off the kitchen, Brody immediately marveled at the craftmanship of the room. “Mamie, this is a beautiful room. Look at the woodwork.”

“It is fabulous, isn’t it? Butch built it for us six years ago. This used to be the formal dining room. But seeing that we aren’t ‘formal’ folks, we decided this was a better use for the space. We wanted Dalia and Rose to have their own space upstairs. This room is enormous, isn’t it? They used to feed a lot of people in a big old farmhouse like this that was built for a large family.” Lovingly, she ran a hand across the oak beadboard wainscoting. “This was here. Butch sanded and refinished it along with the crown molding, the window trim, and the floor.” She ran the toe of her shoe over the floor. “He painted the walls this soft forest green, my favorite color. It’s so relaxing, don’t you think?”

Brody cocked his head and squinted suspiciously at his host. “Mamie, what are you up to?”