Part 6.2 – Leaps and Bounds
Della was rosy-cheeked and in feisty spirits the first morning awakening in her new surroundings. Perry had packed her own nightie and robe, as well as a new gown and slippers her mother and aunt had bought in a tote they had also purchased, on top of a stuffed grey and black striped stuffed cat her brothers had picked out for her in the hospital gift shop. When she saw the toy she let out a squeal of 'Eloise' and Perry stuck his fingers in his ears. He had never heard such a girlish noise from her and while it surprised him, he understood her excitement. She talked often about the little cat that had lived to be twenty years old, the only pet she had ever known as a child. After Eloise passed she headed for California to find a new life and bury her grief for her father, for Gregg, and a sweet kitty that had loved her above all others in the family. Perry would like to give her a kitten, and she would be thrilled, but their life was too unpredictable to bring an animal into.
In her own pajamas, which Perry slipped and called 'jammies' in front of Alice, who laughed hysterically, Della improved by leaps and bounds almost hour by hour. Kathy returned to duty the day after Della's move from the C.C.U., and visited her as often as she could. Her recovery was under the care of new physicians, both of whom were an enormous improvement over Dr. Moultrie.
At the house, everyone settled into a familial routine of waking, eating, heading to the hospital, returning for dinner and either chatting or playing cards after dinner and then retiring to their nicely appointed rooms. Perry learned that Alice held cigarettes in contempt, and he and her sons spent quite a bit of time on either porch smoking and talking about fishing. They made plans for him and Della to visit during the summer when they could take a trip to the Big Lake for some deep freshwater fishing. Perry began to think that having a family wasn't so bad after all and while Alice Street was barely old enough to be his mother, she behaved more like a mother to him than had his own, and he discovered a great affection for her blossoming.
On day nine of Della's hospital stay, Kathy showed up early in the morning with a big grin on her face. She wanted to be the one to give them the best news of all: Della was being released that afternoon. Della shook with excitement as she dressed in the one skirt she had brought with her, and her mother had to help her button the soft cashmere sweater Alice suspected had been purchased by Perry, along with a few pieces of scandalous lingerie she had discovered while putting away clean clothes. Della insisted upon saying goodbye to the nurses in the C.C.U. ward as well as in the emergency room, and Joe the orderly, who had been located and drafted into wheelchair duty once again, pushed her around the hospital as she bade everyone farewell.
Perry could see that she was ready to leap from her skin with excitement to get home, and as he pulled the Cadillac up to the emergency room doors, she sprang from the wheelchair, flung her arms around a surprised but delighted Joe, and fairly danced toward the car. Perry laughed as her brothers assigned her to the middle of the seat between them over the 'hump' of the drive shaft just as when they were children. Mae and Alice crowded into the front seat with him, and they were off. As he drove through the streets of Carmel toward their house, Perry glanced often in the rearview mirror at the woman who held his heart as she teased and bantered with her brothers.
It was probably the happiest day of his life.
And then they were home and it all went to hell.
Mae and Alice took over everything, relegating him to insignificant tasks that had no bearing on Della's care. Out of respect for the two older women, he said nothing, accepting their directions with quiet acquiescence. He tried to find time alone with her, but there was always someone near her, fussing over her, caring for her. He wanted to care for her, wanted to fuss over her, but the most he could manage was an occasional agreeing 'harrumph' when Mae or Alice required bolstering for their intentions. Della sensed his frustration, and experienced quite a bit herself. She had envisioned her homecoming quite differently, and quite frankly, it had been in bed wrapped in Perry's arms. As the afternoon bled into evening and plans for a celebratory dinner came together, it became obvious that Alice expected Della to sleep alone in the master bedroom, while Perry was relegated to sleeping in the den. Della watched him move about the house doing the bidding of her mother and aunt, preparing the steaks they had picked up on the way home from the hospital with uncharacteristic moroseness, and she knew he had envisioned her homecoming much differently as well.
Clean-up duty was assigned to the men while Alice and Mae took Della upstairs for a bath. Perry could hear her protests all the way up the stairs and smiled to himself. He heard a door shut firmly, and his smile widened, certain that Della's fearsome independence had surfaced and she had pushed her mother and aunt from the bathroom and was currently preparing to bathe herself in solitude.
Perry, Jamie, and Robbie were in the dining room playing a brand-new game called Yahtzee when Alice, Mae, and Della joined them. Della smelled divine, the acrid, antiseptic odor of the hospital replaced by her favorite Sweetheart soap, curls damp and clinging to her perfect, bare skin. Perry couldn't take his eyes off her as she seated herself next to him and proceeded to beat everyone handily at the dice game. At ten o'clock she yawned, and her mother declared game time over and bed time eminent. Of course she protested, looking to Perry for support, but he merely grunted in agreement with her mother that she had had enough excitement for the day and should go to bed. Almost defiantly she leaned over and kissed him full on the lips, pushed back her chair, and stalked from the room. After a moment Alice arose and followed her daughter, mumbling that someone should probably make sure she actually went to bed for Heaven's sake, while Jamie and Robbie pointedly ignored what had just transpired. Perry scraped back his chair, got to his feet, and disappeared into the kitchen, where he poured himself three fingers of bourbon, drank it in one gulp, and lit a cigarette, because it was his house, dammit. When he rejoined everyone in the dining room, Alice had returned from checking on Della, and she gave him a thinly veiled look of disgust, knowing full well what he had been doing in the kitchen. He felt a millisecond of guilt, until he saw the sheets, blanket and pillow that had been placed on the sideboard, his silk pajamas neatly folded atop the pile. His irritation with Alice, simmering on low ever since stepping into the house that afternoon, threatened to boil over.
The silence was awkwardly deafening for several minutes before Jamie broke it. "Well, lads and lasses, I'm beat. It's time my mother's oldest son hit the hay." He patted Mae on the shoulder, kissed his mother's cheek, deliberately avoided saying anything to Perry, and left the room.
A slight panic overtook Robbie in the absence of his brother, who had always been his buffer between him and the women in their family, not to mention the veritable stranger his sister was involved with. He jumped to his feet suddenly. "I'd better go upstairs, too," he said in a rush. "James is a bear if you wake him up." And he was gone so fast no one had a chance to say anything.
Then Mae, the great traitor, made her getaway just as quickly, with a mumbled good night and a slight wave of her hand, leaving Alice and Perry alone. He stared across the table at her, eyes dark and brooding.
"So I'm banished from my own bedroom," he concluded, nodding toward the bedding atop the sideboard.
Alice studied her hands, which were folded in front of her on the table. "I would be more comfortable if you didn't sleep with my daughter."
"Alice, shouldn't Della be allowed to decide who she sleeps with in her own house?"
Alice held her mouth in a thin, tight line. "I know my maternal concern is overstepping your graciousness since this isn't my house, but I feel very strongly about this. If you were married…"
"I'd like nothing more than to be married," he interrupted with emphatic frustration. "Alice, Della and I live according to her terms. I've spent years trying to understand why she keeps refusing my proposals…you have no idea how helpless I feel now, knowing she didn't tell me about Gregg Martin…."
Alice Street's hand crept across the table and her fingers lightly touched his. "Della loves you," Alice said quietly. "She loves you more than she could have possibly loved Gregg."
"Then tell me why she won't marry me," he implored. "Because I can't for the life of me figure it out."
The raw hurt in his voice stunned Alice and she felt a surge of true affection for him. "Perry, this is something you have to figure out with Della. I can't presume to tell you why she won't marry you."
"Yet you'll presume to tell us where we'll sleep," he grumbled.
"If I backtrack and ask very nicely that you and my daughter occupy separate beds as long as I'm here, will it make a difference?"
"I don't know. Can I smoke in the house?"
Alice sighed with dramatic resignation. "I'm one demanding witch, aren't I? You probably wish I was more like my sister."
"On the contrary," Perry denied quickly. "One Mae is all I can handle."
Alice actually laughed. "People think I'm the older sister, but that's probably because Mae never had children. She's so much more modern than I am." She sobered and patted Perry's hand. "I know I'm asking a lot, Perry, but can you humor this uptight, overprotective mother for a few more days?"
"That depends. You haven't told me I can smoke in the house."
Alice opened her mouth to sharply lecture him about why she had such a disdain for cigarettes, but wisely closed it. He was a grown man for Heaven's sake, a successful, famous man who knew who he was and what he wanted and very likely got it more often than not. And it was his house. She felt ashamed but stalwart for inflicting her morals on him, because it was her baby girl they were talking about him sleeping with.
Perry suddenly leaned forward and took hold of her wrist. "All right, Alice, you win. I'll sleep in the den, and I'll smoke on the porch."
Alice watched him get to his feet and her shame deepened. "I didn't want to 'win' anything," she offered in a strained voice. "By the time I was Della's age I'd had three babies in four years. I don't make an issue of it with her because she has a right to live her own life, but I'm just not ready to let go of everything I taught my children about morality, even if they have."
Perry circled the table and came to stand before her. He reached out his hands, pulled her to her feet, and kissed her cheek. "Alice, you did a hell of a job raising your children, and I will respect your wishes." He turned and gathered the bedding in his arms. "But just so you know, the instant you leave town, I'll be in bed with your daughter."
Alice watched his retreating back as he disappeared into the den and closed the door behind him. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.
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Perry wasn't asleep, and wasn't awake. He was somewhere in between, where thoughts that refused to be put to rest jumbled together at high speed and made one unaware of reality. That's why he was surprised when Della's hand landed on his chest and her nearly healed lips brushed his.
"Wake up, darling," she cooed.
He laid his hand over hers, keeping his eyes closed. "I'd rather not. I like the dream I'm having."
She laughed softly and kissed him again. "Do tell."
"Well, the most beautiful woman in the world, who was declared off limits by her mother, has suddenly appeared at my side and is kissing me in a most delightful way."
"It sounds wonderful." Her hand was now massaging his chest, sliding provocatively over the slippery silk of his pajama top.
"It is. And it just got better."
She tried to smother a cough and he sat up abruptly, his hands automatically beginning to rub her back. She sighed and laid her head against his chest. "I couldn't sleep," she pouted. "It's lonely in that great big bed by myself. And you didn't come up to kiss me goodnight."
"You kissed me goodnight in the dining room," he reminded her.
She shook her head. "That wasn't a kiss. That was punctuation on my frustration."
"There's a lot of that going around," he agreed. "What are you doing?"
Her hand had found its way inside his pajama top. "I want to feel your heart," she answered as her fingers tangled in his chest hair.
He gently but firmly extracted her hand and kissed it. "I think you need to go back to bed before I do something your mother will hate me for."
Della raised her head and nuzzled his neck. "Can I stay for just a little while? I'll behave, I promise."
Perry lay back against the pillow and pulled her down on top of him. She squirmed and wedged herself between his body and the back of the leather couch. He covered her with the blanket as she rested her head on his chest.
"All right, my love, we'll have a nice snuggle, and then you'll have to go back to that big, lonely bed."
"Shhh," she commanded. "I want to listen to your heart."
He smiled happily into the darkness and promptly fell asleep.
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Alice Street was the first one up the next morning and she quietly made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen to start the first of many, many pots of coffee. Jamie and Robbie had promised to make breakfast before they had to leave for the airport, having decided during the game of Yahtzee to go back to Michigan now that Della was out of the hospital, but she knew everyone would want coffee as soon as they awoke.
As she shuffled into the kitchen she noticed the pocket door to the den was open and crossed to close it so she wouldn't bother Perry as she puttered in the kitchen. She reached for the brass ring but what she saw in the early morning light halted her intent.
Della was lying atop Perry, one arm hugging his massive chest, her head snuggled beneath his chin. Both of Perry's arms were around Della, holding her possessively, securely, lovingly. Both were sound asleep, and both had a relaxed, peaceful expression on their face.
Alice silently backed away from the doorway and headed back up the stairs. She would let someone else 'discover' them, or perhaps Della would wake up and 'sneak' back to the master bedroom and pretend she had spent the entire night there. However the scenario played out, Alice was determined not to be a part of it.