Page 83 of The Holy Grail

Two birds, one stone

It was decided the ‘Meeting with the Mothers’ would be a combined affair, partly because it would save time, but mainly because both Evangeline and Beverly had expressed a great deal of interest in wanting to meet each other as well.

It was held at Malcom’s place on a Saturday night, and he spent much of the day preparing the meal, wanting it to be perfect.

Good food tended to bring people together—as did really good liquor, so he’d stocked his cabinet with the premium stuff.

When the doorbell rang promptly at 6:30 p.m., Evan went to answer it, and was surprised to see both Evangeline and Beverly standing there on the front porch.

They had apparently arrived at the same time and had already introduced themselves to each other, so after ushering them inside and giving his mom a hug and a kiss, he turned his attention to Beverly.

“Hi Beverly,” he said, holding his hand out. “I’m Evan.”

Beverly disregarded his hand and gave him a hug, instead. “It’s nice to meet you, Evan.”

He then led the two women down the hall to the kitchen, where he introduced his mom to Malcom and Jules.

“Mom, this is Malcom and Jules,” Evan said, motioning to each one, even though it was obvious who was who. “Mal, Jules, this is my mom, Evangeline. ”

There was a round of hugs with Evangeline, followed by a chorus of “It’s nice to meet you’s”, and then hugs for Beverly. Once all that was out of the way, Evan began taking orders for drinks.

“I’ll try a gimlet,” Beverly said. “I know Jules is a gimlet girl, so let me see what that’s all about.”

“I’ll try one, too,” Evangeline chimed in.

“Three gimlets, coming right up,” Evan told them, quickly getting to work.

When he was finished, he brought the drinks to the women, and they toasted to ‘Getting to know one another’, and proceeded to do just that while Malcom was putting the final touches on the meal and Evan prepared the salad.

Not surprisingly, Beverly’s attention was mostly focused on Evan during dinner, since he was the ‘newcomer’ and she spent a great deal of time talking to him, while Evangeline spent a lot of time talking to Jules and Malcom.

They also talked about the weekend spent with Jules’ parents, which livened up the conversation a bit.

“Jules’ dad looks like a short Bruce Willis, and I’m not going to lie. He was a little intimidating,” Evan said.

“Intimidating? In what way?” Evangeline asked.

“In the way he threatened to dispose of my body, if necessary.”

“And mine,” Malcom threw in.

“Define ‘if necessary’,” Beverly said.

“In the event Jules was hurt,” Malcom clarified.

Beverly waved a hand. “That’s just good parenting. I’d do the same.”

“You’d help me dispose of a body?”

“Absolutely.”

He tried to picture his mother helping him do such a thing, perhaps digging a hole in her garden with her perfectly styled hair and pearl earrings, and almost snorted. “Sure, Mom.”

“Would you help me?” Evan asked Evangeline.

“Absolutely. I might have to do some research first, but you could count on me. Oh, and you’d have to do the heavy lifting, of course.”

“Of course. ”

When it was time for Beverly and Evangeline to leave, and Jules was giving them both hugs, she told them, “The next time we all get together, you need to bring Mal’s and Evan’s baby books so I can look at them.”

“That’s not fair,” Evan protested. “We can’t see yours.”

“You had your chance,” Jules pointed out. “You could have asked at any time during the visit with my parents, and my mom would have brought them out in a heartbeat.”

“That didn’t even occur to me.”

“Me, either,” said Malcom. “Well … shit.”

As Evan walked his mom to her car, he asked, “So, what’s the verdict, now that you’ve met Jules and Mal?”

“I liked them a lot,” Evangeline replied. “And I think you’ve chosen well.”

Malcom, who was walking his mom to her car at the same time, was extremely pleased when Beverly told him, “I can see why you love them both.”

After both women had driven off, the two men walked back into the house together, hands clasped tightly.