Gladys the Love Master

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Barbara Steel and Gladys Kanker made their way up the trailer steps, a basket filled with cellophane wrapped baked goodies in the older woman's hands while paper bags filled with candy seemed to almost pop out of the younger woman's jacket pockets.

The women heard shushing and young male voices whispering 'They're here! They're here!' and footsteps raced away from the door. They chuckled as Ben opened the door, looking at them with an expression that asked, 'what can you do?' as he ushered them inside as the little ones raced towards them, handmade cards covered in glue and construction paper hearts held up for them.

"HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" The boys cheered when they were barely a foot away from the women.

"Happy Valentine's Day, kiddos." Barbara replied softly as she pulled the seven year olds into a tight, warm hug. "How was your class party? Did you get a lot of Valentines? Wait, who cares about the cards, how much candy did you guys get?"

The boys pulled away excitedly and dragged her into the kitchen to see their combined little mountain of red and pink wrapped candy's with store bought paper valentine's attached on the table, "Look, look! We got a lot!" they cried as they pointed to the mass on the table, several empty wrappers revealing that they'd already sampled a few before she had arrived.

"Great job, boys!" Barbara said as she ruffled the boys hair, she then pulled them into another hug and whispered into their ears, "Now," she pulled out three bags of candy from her jacket pockets, "Let's add this to your pile and then sort out yer haul to see what you've got!"

The boys cheered and the four of them each pulled out a chair and each boy opened their little goodie bags and thanked her as they dumped their little bags onto the table and began sorting out the candy into little piles of different brands while Gladys handed her son a small bag of cookies, "Happy Valentine's Day, Ben." She said softly.

He gave her a hug, "Thanks fer coming, Mom. We dropped their cards off at their graves this morning and you, Babs and the cards they made for their crushes are probably the only things keeping them for spending the whole day sulkin' and snifflin."

He felt his mother hug a little tighter and tremble a bit, his father had died the month before and this was the first Valentine's Day his parents hadn't been together since before he was born. After the funeral, Ben asked if she wanted them to stay with her for a while, just until she felt better, but she had turned him down, saying that while she missed his dad, she was not gonna uproot those boys lives just because she knew she would probably never feel the same again without Horace Kanker.

"Glad to be helpful." She finally murmured, hot tears falling down her cheeks despite her determination not to cry, after all, what kind of mother would she be if her son had to comfort her all the time. Her son had lost two women he loved, one by leaving and one from cancer, and then his father for Pete's sake, and he was worried about her!

"Gladys, Ben! Get in here! They're gonna tell us about the Ans again!" Babs called from the kitchen.

"Again?" Ben groaned.

"What? It's only the hundredth time." Gladys said with a smile as she pulled away from her son and wiped the tears from her face, "And it's not like you didn't your father and I about three girls you found amazing and incredible a thousand times before we actually met them." Ben blushed, smiled and began leading his mother into the kitchen, "Come on, Mom, if we don't get there in time, you'll miss the part where that one girl catches a t-rex skull that's falling towards them."

"I don't want that!" She said with a growing smile, "That's when it starts getting good!" She let her son drag her into the kitchen and the three of them each placed a boy in their lap and munched on cookies and candy as the boys told them about the exciting trip that allowed them to met the girls they were determined to marry some day.

Gladys looked at the little boys and saw a bit of Horace in them, recalling how he had told her, the only kid around his age in the neighborhood, about he met her and how he planned to woo her so many years ago… And then she would tell him how and why that plan would not work and would give him better suggestions and advise on how to win this girl over, not knowing that he had been talking about her until she finally realized that he was awkwardly trying all the things she told him to do on his crush on her. When she confronted him about it, her cheeks bright red and her voice wavering, he smiled warmly at her, shrugged and said, "Yeah, your love advice is really good, but it's hard to remember all that love advice when the girl you like is the one giving it to you."

She looked at her son and grandsons, a warm feeling filling her chest at the familiarity of the looks on their faces as the boys told them about their crushes and Ben quietly passed Babs a card (that was probably a left over valentine's card from the boys' packs, not that she would mind, she knew money was tight in this household) that she used to see every day on her Horace's face.

In her grief, she nearly had forgotten how beautiful that happy, dopey grin looked on her boys' faces.

She waited until her grandsons' finished their story, then looked each one of her grandbabies in the eye and declared that, "If you three are really that interested in girls, then I will help you."

Her grandsons lit up, "Really?" they asked, their eyes wide and eager at the idea that they would have help.

"Yes." She said warmly, before slapping the table and making everyone present jump in their seats, "Now sit up and pay attention, cause Grandma's gonna give ya'll a crash course in how to nab a little lady! Babs! Ben! Get these boys some paper and pencils!" she ordered, slipping Jay into a seat beside her while Babs and Ben got up and placed Larie and Tee onto their now empty chairs to gather what the woman had asked for.

Babs giggled as Gladys got up and walked around the table with a stern expression on her face as she made the boys go over what little they knew about these girls, while Ben simply sighed and shook his head as they left the room.

"There she goes again." He huffed, his face turned away from Babs as he said it. She glanced knowingly at him, "It's a relief, isn't it?" she asked.

"Relief? What are you talking about?"

"That she's acting like herself again. That's why you asked the boys to tell that story while she was here, so she could go back to Matchmaker mode and smile again." Babs elaborated as she picked up a few stray sheets of green and yellow construction paper off the floor. Ben turned to her, revealing a small grin, "How long did it take ya to figure it all out?"

"The boys told me as soon as we started sorting candy." Babs purred, her expression going from playful to curious, "But how did you know dangling a potential romance would be the thing to make her stop thinking about Horace?"

"It won't." Ben said plainly as he yanked crayons from between the couch cushions, "In fact, it'll probably make her think of Dad all the time."

"Then why do this?" Babs asked. Ben looked back towards the kitchen, where Gladys was getting the last bit of information out of her grandsons, a smile curling up her cheeks despite her desire to come off as tough and unwavering, then smiled warmly at Babs. "Because I think what she really needed was to remember him through us." He said softly, then offered her a hand, "Now come on," he said, motioning towards the kitchen, "The love master awaits."

Babs chuckled, "That was the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Yeah, I know. I get it from my dad."

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