Straight From The Heart
Insert Standard Disclaimer … Here
Setting: Season 2.
"Morning, Rosie!" Olivia greeted as she bounded into the kitchen one morning, a stack of red envelopes in hand. The spacious room was warm and inviting, flowers and cards covering almost every available surface. Stanley had bought both of his girls a dozen bright red roses and had helped Mason sign his name to two smaller bouquets for his sister and stepmother. Jack had sent vases of flowers over for both Karen and his green card bride, plus a single white rose tipped with pink for Olivia.
"Good morning, Miss Olivia," the older woman responded, bending down to receive the hug Olivia offered her each and every morning.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Rosie. Here." Olivia stuck out her arm, proffering one of the small red envelopes.
"Oh, thank you!" Rosario beamed, pulling the little rectangular valentine out of the envelope, admiring the card. "Ooh, Care Bears. My favorite."
"I have one for everyone. Butler and Driver and Gardner and Daddy and Mason and Mommy and Grace and Will and –."
"What about Karen?"
"Oh." Olivia stopped short, caught off-guard. "She doesn't get one of these," she mumbled. "But I have one for Jack and Grandma and Marlo and Ruby and –."
"Look what I made you for breakfast," Rosario quickly cut her off, anticipating that this list could drag on for some time and include everyone the young girl had ever met. Rosario held up the frying pan so she could peer inside, Olivia gasping upon seeing a pancake shaped like a heart staring back at her.
"Cool!" she decided, tossing the rest of the envelopes down next to her plate and getting comfortable at the kitchen table; the rest of her mail could wait until after breakfast to be delivered.
As Olivia dove into her pancakes, her little brother trudged into the kitchen looking rather annoyed, a trail of glitter in his wake. He climbed into his chair and slammed a pile of red construction paper, doilies, and ribbons down on the table next to his plate. "What's that supposed to be?" Olivia wrinkled her nose, clearly disapproving of Mason's handiwork.
"Valentines," he muttered.
"They don't look like Valentines to me," his big sister judged.
"Shut up, Livvy!"
"Well, I think they're beautiful," Rosario mediated, sliding Mason's pancake onto his plate and ruffling his hair before heading back to the stove.
"Good, 'cause here's yours." Mason picked up one of the two handmade cards that lay on the table and handed it to her. "I don't cut very good," he explained in regard to the unidentifiable shape that the card was in and Olivia scoffed at him from across the table.
"That's okay, Mason. I love it anyway." Rosario smiled her thanks before pointing to the other, more elaborate, card he had made. "Who's the other one for?"
"Nobody," he answered quickly, shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth.
"You're only giving out two cards? Don't be cheap, Mason."
"I made 'em myself. They're specialer than yours."
The siblings glared at each other across the table for a few minutes until Olivia finally broke the silence. "I coulda helped you cut out the hearts."
"I asked Karen and she yelled at me."
"What for?"
"I woke her up."
Olivia watched him for a second before shaking her head. "Moron."
"She yelled about it longer than it woulda took to do it."
"Okay, hijo, don't worry about it." Rosario approached the table again. "I'm sure she was just grumpy because you woke her up early," she reasoned as Mason scowled. "Your father's going to drop you off at school on the way to his meeting, so go get ready."
The kids' eyes lit up at the prospect of not being driven to school by their ancient driver and they scrambled off their chairs as Rosario turned back to the stove. Mason picked up his undelivered valentine and not-so-subtly dropped it onto Karen's plate while his sister was busy rooting through her backpack. Mason turned and scampered away before he could be questioned about this unnatural act.
Olivia deposited the pile of red envelopes into her bag to be delivered later and pulled out a different, bigger card. She had made this one herself and it absolutely reeked of Valentine's Day. It was made up of hearts of all different shades of red, pink, and purple, with white ribbons and glitter covering the front. Inside, was a handwritten note. Olivia glanced over her shoulder to make sure that Rosario was still turned away before quickly dropping the card onto Karen's plate as well and bolting from the room.
"Hey hey hey! Watch where you're goin', shorty!" Karen yelled as Olivia flew past her as she fled the kitchen. "Hiya, Rosie."
"Good morning, Miss Karen. What would you like for breakfast?"
"Bailey's on the rocks. And I want the rocks made outta Cheerios. They're good for me," she added with a small smile as she made her way to the kitchen table, not noticing the irony of her last statement.
Karen's smile slowly slid off her face as she noticed the two handmade cards lying on her place setting. Her brow furrowed in slight confusion as she stared down at her plate, unsure of what to do. Rosario emerged from the cupboard with a box of cereal and noticed Karen's bewilderment. Karen glanced around the room to see if anyone was looking and Rosario quickly averted her eyes, going about preparing Karen's breakfast and smiling wryly to herself.
Karen slowly pulled her chair out from under the table and sat down. She stared down at the cards decorating her plate and blinked a few times to see if they'd still be there when she looked again. They were; this wasn't some sick joke.
Utterly confused, Karen carefully picked up what she could tell to be Olivia's card, sending a shower of unglued glitter into her lap and onto her crisp black pants. She cringed momentarily and hastily brushed most of it off onto the floor. She quickly scanned the note inside, chuckling to herself at Olivia's impressive attempts at grammar and spelling. When she reached the end of the note, however, Karen suddenly sobered and her brow furrowed again. She bit her lip and looked up, glancing around the room before quickly putting Olivia's card aside and retrieving Mason's from her plate.
His card looked oddly similar to the piece of red construction paper that Karen had so adamantly refused to cut for him earlier that morning and she couldn't help but feel a little bad. Instead of the intended heart shape, it now resembled a very asymmetrical circle, a product of his best effort. Karen turned the 'heart' over and looked at the back where Mason had drawn a picture in purple crayon. Unable to spell or write most everything correctly, he had opted to illustrate his feelings for his stepmother instead. Two stick figures were depicted there, one clearly Mason and the other closely resembling Karen. Fully expecting to see her character sporting devil horns or being thrown off a cliff, Karen was stunned to see that they were happy, smiling, and holding hands.
Karen heaved a deep sigh and slapped the card down on the table, letting her hand rest on it for a few seconds before dropping it to her lap. She glanced up at Rosario, who was trying to look like she wasn't peering at Karen out of the corner of her eye. "Rosie?"
"Yes, Miss Karen?" she responded quickly, pretending to be surprised.
Karen was quiet for a long moment. "Why do they like me?"
Rosario shrugged and dropped the cereal bowl loudly onto the table in front of her employer. "Beats me, lady."
Karen scowled for a second, but then seemed inspired. "Ya know what? I'm gonna go buy 'em somethin'. Yeah." Karen smiled, pleased with herself, and started to get up.
"Hold it, lady!" Rosario suddenly yelled, causing Karen to turn sharply in her chair and glance around her quickly. "I don't think that's what they want."
"How the hell would you know?"
"I have kids, you know. I had a life before I met you. Do something special for them."
"I'm gonna buy out half of F.A.O. Schwartz – that's pretty damn special!"
Rosario approached the table with a stack of red construction paper and a shoebox full of craft supplies that she had retrieved from the other counter. "Here." She dropped the items on the table and cleared the plates and untouched cereal out of the way.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" Karen held a doily up between two fingers and squinted, peering up at Rosario through the holes.
"Haven't you ever made a Valentine before?"
"Of course not!" Karen spat, insulted that her maid would think her capable of such a thing. "And I'm not gonna start now!" She tossed the doily away and wiped her hands on her pants as if it were contaminated.
Rosario sighed and sat down next to her. "It's easy. Look." She took a sheet of red paper from the pile and folded it down the center, drawing half a heart beside the crease before cutting along the line. When she unfolded the paper, a perfect heart appeared there and Karen's eyes widened faintly. The older woman proceeded to draw, glue, and attach various things to the paper and before long had created the most beautiful and elaborate Valentine Karen had ever seen.
Her eyes lit up and she clapped once. "Oh, Rosie, that looks like fun!"
"Here, knock yourself out." Rosario pushed the supplies in front of Karen and left the table to clean up the kitchen. The two women worked in silence for a long time, occasionally stealing glances at each other, a newfound respect and admiration in their eyes.
When Olivia and Mason returned home from school that afternoon, they each found a special, albeit not-so-skillfully crafted, handmade Valentine waiting for them. And so did Stanley and Rosario and Grace and Will and Jack and Butler and Driver and Gardner and Marlo and Phil and …