"And Eric likes this?" Kitty asked dubiously as she watched Jackie expertly knead and flatten and then transfer dough to a wide pan to cook on the stove.
The dough sizzled and Kitty's eyes widened as she saw it balloon and rise and Jackie deftly flipped it on to its other side to brown.
They were alone in the Formans' kitchen making dinner. Jackie, after having shooed Eric out so she could present him with his much missed chapatti, had thought that it would be great if everyone could try it too.
"He loves this," Jackie told her happily, recalling the countless times she had watched Eric wolf it down with stew, with meat, with roasted vegetables, and even plain with butter.
"My boy?" Kitty asked again, frowning and leaning forward to inspect the stack that Jackie had already placed to the side. "My boy who wouldn't eat anything more foreign than an avocado?!"
"Yep," chirped Jackie, tossing her hair back over her shoulder as she shaped and tossed another circle of dough onto the pan.
Kitty harrumphed. She pulled on her oven mitts and bent over to pull out the baked potatoes and butternut squash she had been roasting for dinner. The oven door banged shut a little harder than was necessary, and she set down the tray a little louder than required on the counter top.
Jackie's hands stilled as she looked over, a slight frown marring her brows. "Um, Mrs. Forman, is everything okay?"
"Everything's just fine, dear."
"Uh," mumbled Jackie, at a loss as Kitty started pulling open drawers violently. Lots of clinging and clanging sounded within as she rummaged through them, muttering under her breath about missing tongs among other things.
Jackie finished browning her last chapatti, all the while highly aware of Kitty fuming around behind her, and turned off the stove. She reached for a kitchen rag, wiping her hands slowly and watched as Kitty finally pulled out the tongs she was looking for, brandishing them wildly as she headed back to her potatoes and squash and attacked them viciously.
Jackie came to stand silently next to her, observing as Kitty roughly picked up food and dumped them on serving plates, muttering and mumbling under her breath. When the tray was clear, she threw down her tongs and fisted her hands on the counter top, breathing heavily.
Jackie shot her a sidelong glance, then tentatively moved to clear the counter, placing the tray in the sink. She moved the plateful of potatoes to the dining table and glanced back again to see that Kitty still hadn't moved. She bit her lip, wanting to offer comfort, but not exactly knowing how.
"Mrs. Forman," she began uncertainly, "uh, I'm sorry, but if you would tell me what's wrong, or-or if I did something to upset you—"
Kitty interrupted her with a loud sigh, and to her alarm, Jackie saw a bright sheen of tears across her eyes.
"Mrs. Forman!" she cried, moving closer to Kitty, but Kitty held up a hand and quickly brushed at her eyes. She shook her head, swallowing hard. After a moment, she looked bravely up at Jackie.
"Forgive me, dear. I'm just being silly. But it hurts so much to know that I don't know my baby boy anymore!" Her face crumpled as her words ended in a loud wail and Jackie fumbled over herself to try to do something, anything, to get her to stop.
Finally she grabbed several tissues and hunted under the sink for Kitty's hidden stash of schnapps, before emerging with that and a bottle of wine.
"Here, Mrs Forman," she said gently, handing her the tissues, and then coming back with two empty glasses. Clueless as to which Kitty would prefer, she poured them both out and pushed both glasses towards her.
"Oh bless you, honey," choked Kitty and downed the wine in three gulps.
Jackie looked on, wide-eyed, then reached for the bottle to pour out more wine. She squeezed Kitty's hand comfortingly, helpless as Kitty sobbed loudly, feeling for the older woman. She struggled inside for words, unsure as to what to say, and wished desperately that she had some of Eric's propensity for saying the right things.
"Eric...," she started, "Eric he..." She trailed off, swallowing hard, knowing that everything that Kitty was upset about was brutally true.
And knowing that, Jackie felt a hollow sort of despair that what she had come to learn about Eric, and how it had affected her, would affect Kitty a thousand times more.
"Eric he...," she repeated, grasping for words, wondering what to tell her, and then quite suddenly, her thoughts cleared, and she smiled. It was a tender one, one that emanated from the depths of her heart to rest upon her face.
"Eric's amazing, Mrs. Forman," she said quietly. "You know him, you've always known him. It just took Africa for all of us to see it too." She breathed out a soft laugh. "For me to see it too."
She met Kitty's eyes. "He's brave, he's loyal, he's strong, so strong, and every day he's an inspiration to me and to everyone who knows him." She closed her eyes briefly, thinking of the months she spent with him in paradise; of hidden waterfalls and starlit skies, feeling her heart shift and her breath catch.
Her words tripped over themselves in a rush to get out, for once she had started, she could barely seem to be able to stop. "He saved me, you know, and he has saved so many people over there. So many, Mrs. Forman. Children. The children... He has given everyone so much, if you only knew—" she broke off abruptly, swallowing again, knowing that she should stop; deciding that some things were probably best left unsaid.
Kitty was looking at her, with something close to wonder on her face. "Tell me more," she prompted eagerly.
Jackie nodded, reaching for her hands. "He's humble," she told Kitty. "Mr. Forman taught him that... and he's capable of so much love, and he's got so much to give — he's the most selfless person I've ever met." She looked at Kitty sincerely. "And you taught him that.
"I know... I know you think he's different. And in some ways he is... But Mrs. Forman, what he is now, who he is now, is all that you have always known that he could be. He's... he's quite honestly... the most... amazing man I have ever known," she said simply.
Kitty stifled a sob, and moved forward to envelope Jackie in a hug. "Oh thank you, sweetie."
Jackie squeezed her back, and then stepped back as Kitty released her. She considered Kitty for a moment before she said gently, "You know, Mrs. Forman, if you wanna know about what Eric did in Africa, you have only got to ask."
Kitty wiped her eyes and waved an arm about in a weak gesture. "I know," she sighed, fumbling with the stem of her glass before she raised eyes to look at Jackie. "But, you see, I was afraid." She gave a hapless laugh. "I know something happened. I thought something happened. And I was afraid to know what." She drained her glass and gave Jackie a tremulous smile.
"He's my baby boy, you know." She stared sadly into space for a minute. "And I'm his mother. I'm supposed to protect him." Her fingers reached for and closed tightly around the glass of Schnapps. "It would kill me to know that I didn't."
Jackie's heart broke for her. She drew in a wobbly breath, vowing that she would do all she could to protect Kitty.
"Oh honey, don't look like that," Kitty told her, glancing up. "Don't worry about me." She leaned forward to smooth some of Jackie's hair in a touchingly maternal gesture.
"Thank you, you know," she said, looking at the face of the girl whom she now knew without a doubt that her son loved more than anything ever before. "For being there. For taking care of him when I could not."
"Eric is everything to me, Mrs. Forman."
Kitty smiled. "I know, sweetie." She pulled her hand back and dusted them off her apron. "Well now," she announced with forced brightness. "Why don't you go look for Eric while I finish up in here?"
Jackie nodded okay, then hesitated, before impulsively leaning over to plant a kiss on her lined cheek.
Kitty watched as she turned and made her way gracefully out of the kitchen, tossing Kitty another small smile as she closed the slider behind her. Kitty stood there after Jackie left, lost in her own thoughts until the tick tick tick of the kitchen clock registered, and she shook her head hard to clear them.
Something alerted her to a presence behind her, and she turned to find Red standing quietly in the doorway leading to the basement. Her shoulders slumped. "How long have you been there?" she asked.
"Kitty, I came running as soon as I heard you wail."
Her eyes involuntarily filled up with tears again. "Oh, Red," she cried. He opened his arms and she walked into them, sniffling into his chest. Then she warbled, sounding muffled against his shirt, "It's not the menopause, I swear."
Red chuckled. "I know, sweetheart."