Chapter 2
The moment that Valerie had stepped out of the house to grab the mail, she had two little girls running around her, chasing each other, racing to the mailbox. Valerie looked at Lisa, balanced on her hip, and smiled indulgently.
"Your sisters are silly, aren't they?" She bent her head down and gave her a little Eskimo kiss that made Lisa giggle. Reaching over the heads and hands of Angie and Mary Alice, Valerie grabbed the mail from their clutches.
"Oh, here is another post card from Gramma Schiller," she said waving it at the girls.
"Read it, read it," M.A. begged, bouncing up and down next to her mother
"Okay, okay, hold your horses," Valerie winked at her daughter.
Valerie was reading the brief note from the back of the postcard. She held it up so that the girls could see the picture of the volcano on the front as she read the note on the back.
"We will tell you all about it when we get home." The note concluded. Edna and Leo would still be on their honeymoon for at least another week.
"Will they bring us anything from the volcano?" asked Mary Alice. She was intrigued by the huge open hole with steam rising from it, the way it was shown in the picture.
"It's so romantic," Angie was saying. "Spending their honeymoon in Hawaii must be so beautiful." Angie turned to M.A. and said, "I'll bet they never went anywhere near that dirty old volcano, it's just a picture on a postcard"
"They did too," M.A. responded. "They were probably up at the top where they could see the steam," she defended. It was beyond her comprehension why Angie would think that they would send pictures of places that they had never seen. Besides, she thought, what else did you do when you go to Hawaii, if you don't visit the sites?
Angie took an impatient breath and looked at M.A. like she was about to launch into a discussion about how much she didn't know about what you do on a honeymoon. But Valerie deflected her words by announcing that dinner was ready, and both girls forgot what they had been talking about as they raced each other across the porch and into the kitchen.
Albert walked in just as the girls raced past him. He kissed Valerie on the cheek and took Lisa from her arms. Sitting down at the table, he held Lisa with one arm, and extended his other hand to Angie, the family all linked hands in preparation for the blessing on the food. It was a simple thing, it was part of their daily routine, and it was one of the only religious traditions that Albert cared to carry on with his own family.
For years Albert had been subjected to the long lectures from his mother. She quoted scripture after scripture about the evils of men, often she alluded to one man in particular, but she never mentioned him by name. She read excerpts from books and pamphlets that talked about hell and all the pain and suffering that the wicked would be subjected to. The older he got, the more it pained him to see his mother filled with such warped ideas about god and his punishments.
Albert read the bible on his own. And he saw the love and redemption that was taught in the teachings of Christ. It had always puzzled him that his mother seemed to skip over that part, and had become focused on all things negative. It probably did not help that her weekly bible group was made up of all of the divorced, single mothers in their congregation. And it was probably no coincidence that many of their discussions would come around to the evils and wickedness of their ex-spouses. In fact 'ex-bashing' was the preferred sport of these women. It would be easy to remain bitter and hardened with a "support" group such as this.
His mother had always wanted Albert to become a priest. She encouraged him to study for the ministry, but Albert never felt comfortable with that path. Instead he had dreams of becoming a lawyer. He always felt that he could help more people that way. So, although they fought about it, all through high school and into college, Albert stood firm and pushed forward with his own goals. Taking a correspondence course, without his mother knowing about it, he became the lawyer he always wanted to be.
Naturally, this evening, the discussion at the dinner table centered around the postcard that they had received today. It was now displayed on the fridge next to the first postcard that had been sent a week earlier. The one with a picture of a single pineapple growing on a stalk, surrounded by long slender leaves.
Albert looked at his girls, he included Valerie every time he thought of 'his girls'. And he smiled. They were all beautiful. And he still felt like the luckiest man in the world to have such a great family. There was a time in his life that he thought he was just a big loser. After all, he was a man. And his mother harped on the evils of men every single day. He would grow up to be a coward, just like his father, she would tell him.
"You will hurt those who love you," she would say.
According to her, he would become the worst kind of human being, hating and hurting women. After years of this dialogue, Albert had nearly lost hope. He had almost started to believe his mothers predictions that he would never be able to find happiness with a woman. She tried to poison his mind against any kind of relationship. She tried, but she did not succeed. All because he met the one woman that changed his entire universe.
His mother was a lost soul. Her terminology. She wouldn't have used it to describe herself, she would consider that to be a ridiculous notion. And she knew too many other people on this planet who did fit the description. But it was the most effective way Albert had to define her. She had been hurt somewhere at sometime in her life, and everything was seen through the eyes of that hurt. Unfortunately she was unable to ever let go of the pain, and it ate away at her until all that was left was a shell, a shell that she filled with every kind of anger, and hurt, and pain. She knew nothing else. That is why her husband left. And that is why Albert had pulled away from her too. He remained at home for a very long time, longer than one would think was necessary for a grown man. But he was sensitive to his mother's pain. And he knew leaving would push her over the edge, and into a worse place. He did not want the responsibility for 'killing' his mother in this way, so he stayed. Well, at least, he lived at home. His mind and his life were elsewhere. He shared nothing but a house with his mother. She was still angry with him after finding out about his law degree, and the fact that he had opened his own business. She belittled him every time she could. It was a lonely life. But it became tolerable after he started to see things in a whole new light after meeting Stephanie Plum.
His eyes lovingly gazed at Valerie. He loved her. He loved his life with her, and sometimes he could see just a little bit of Stephanie in her. He loved that too. His smile was returned, and he let his thoughts run back to the first day his life was turned upside down.
The most happy coincidence had presented itself. His one and only client had disappeared and Stephanie Plum was looking for her. He will never forget the moment she walked into his office. The door squeaked when she opened it, looking up from the work he was doing on his computer, he saw her.
Her wild, curly hair was a halo around her face. There seemed to be an aura around her. But it could have just been the sunlight reflecting off of the lint that was swirling in the air, having been disturbed when the door was opened. Albert only saw the beautiful vision in front of him. She was an angel in jeans and a tight t-shirt. He could have looked at her all day, but her 'associate' had to disturb the moment to play the name game with him. Not very original, she just had to play dumb, acting like she expected to find a real clown, with a red nose and all. Those jokes got old when he was in kindergarten. He had no patience for them now.
Albert still remembered that day as being one of the best in his life. Of course he was so nervous that he may have acted a bit dorky, but any time he spent with Stephanie was good. She was full of life, she was brave and smart and she had a good heart. Pulling himself away from his thoughts, he smiled at his girls again.
Valerie would never know of any feelings he ever had for Stephanie, it would not serve any purpose for her to know. But he knew that her life was better because of it.
He was a better man for knowing Stephanie. He tried harder at his job, after watching how Stephanie poured herself into each job she did. He enjoyed the little things in life more, having been around when Stephanie would do something simple, like eat a donut. Watching her was mesmerizing. Her eyes would close and she would make these little noises. He was inspired to enjoy everything in his life as much as that. And he watched as Stephanie loved Ranger. Albert knew that she had had to fight the odds to be with him. Her obvious passion motivated him to share his love with Val. No, Valerie would never know. Stephanie would never know either. He would keep this to himself. Always. His smile was probably mysterious, and a bit sad. But Val reached over and squeezed his hand. In her smile he saw the love and adoration that he had always dreamed of. He loved his girls. And he loved the life they had built.
After dinner the girls were settled down in front of the TV watching their favorite show.
And Lisa was asleep. Albert and Valerie were cleaning up in the kitchen.
"Oh hon," Valerie casually mentioned. "I think you got a letter in the mail today."
Albert's head shot up. Any mention of letters brought to his mind the ones Mr. Jordan delivered to him. His brow furrowed as he tried to remember how long it had been since he had last seen Mr. Jordan. More than just months, had it been a year yet?
"Albert, is everything alright?" Valerie quietly asked. Albert was still standing in the same spot he had been when she mentioned the letter. But her question broke him out of his stupor and he smiled at her.
"Everything is fine," he reassured her. He gave her a hug, and they finished up in the kitchen. Albert found the letter and slipped it into his briefcase. He would read it in the office tomorrow. It had always been his habit to read the letters alone, in private. No matter who the letter was from, he felt the need to continue that practice.