The Prayers in Rossford

On Christmas Night

Continued

When Fenn Houghton woke up, he could hear Christmas music and pots and pans dinging downstairs. He knew the house was more or less full. This morning was bright and sunlight was struggling through the thick curtains.

He was on his stomach, face buried in pillows. Todd must have been downstairs. At least, he wasn’t here. Fenn turned over slowly. His throat was dry and his mouth was gummy. Sipping from the glass of water he kept by the bed and downing two Aleves he acknowledged how youth had flown by, quick and full of its own pains. Now middle age approached and there wasn’t a morning he didn’t pop pills. Time to be reflexive about this. If he had the same longevity as everyone else in his family, or most people in the world these days, the bulk of his life would come after thirty-five. He wasn’t at the end of anything, no, he thought, drifting back into sleep. He was at the beginning of at least fifty more years of infirmity.

“Are you going to get up or what?” Todd demanded.

Fenn turned over, shielding his face while Todd put a cup of coffee down beside him.

“Do you remember that time,” Fenn said, “before we were married, when you had your place and I had mine and I slept as long as I wanted to, and you never came into my room and told me to get up? Let’s pretend we’re back there again.”

“It’s eleven o’ clock,” Todd said, dragging Fenn out of bed and pulling him into pajama pants, as he raised his arms up to put on his tee shirt.

“It’s Christmas, goddammnit. It’s eleven on Christmas day which translates to wake up sleepy head.”

Todd dragged him out the bedroom and Fenn said, “I despise you sometimes, Meradan.”

“Yeah, I love you too, baby,” said Todd.

Downstairs his mother was stirring the sweet potatoes, and his grandmother was finishing off the macaroni while Adele put the finishing touches on turkey.

“It’s about time,” his mother said.

Adele added: “We could hear you calling hogs for the last hour.”

Fenn looked at all of them and said, “From hogs to heifers.”

Lula cackled, but his mother wagged a finger and said, “Now, see here.”

“Here you go.”Lee, holding Dylan, slipped Fenn a glass of something.

“Damn!”Fenn swore. “It’s more nog than egg in here.”He went from the cup of coffee in one hand to the egg nog in the other, and then said, “I need a cigarette. Danny, could you get my cigarettes? Where’s Tom?”

“Tom’s playing organ for the Christmas morning Mass,” Lee said, handing the baby to Todd whose fingers were aching for him.

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” said Lee. “Brian drove back home early this morning to be with his family.”

“Here you go,” Danasia handed Fenn his cigarettes and he said, “Thank you, baby,” as he lit one.

“Noah, Naomi and James are still at the apartment,” Danasia continued. “And Milo and Dena will be here later with Nell after they’ve had dinner at the Affrens.”

Fenn frowned and looked around the kitchen, “Where’s my niece?”

“She’s with Will,” Adele said, moving to the potato salad to chop onions.

“She said she had some sort of surprise for me.”

“That’s never good,” Fenn said, and putting his cigarette down, he reached for the baby.

“You know?” Fenn continued, “I never thought Brian would go back to Pennsylvania for Christmas. I sort of thought we were his family.”

Adele barked out a laugh.

“What?”

Adele pushed her hair back, and lifting the large casserole dish full of macaroni, said, “How could someone who slept with your man and broke up your house be family?”

And just then Layla opened the door and entered with her surprise.

The macaroni just missed crashing and Adele vacantly placed it in the stove and shut the door, staring murderously at her daughter.

Lee said, “Goddamn.”

Lula said, “Goddamn.”

Beside Layla Lawden stood Vanessa Lawden, Julian’s mother, Hoot’s mistress.

Layla said, “I brought your sister.”

“How could she…? How could…?”Adele choked on her words as she walked back and forth in the little study Todd used as his office. “That little… That treacherous heifer. I should… I will,” Adele crushed her fist into her palm.

“Adele,” Simon began. He had arrived approximately five minutes after Vanessa Lawden, and four minutes after Adele, in a rage, had locked herself in Todd’s study.

“That… bitch!”

“Vanessa?Or Layla?”

“Hell,” Adele exploded. “Both of them.”

The door opened and Adele made to fly for it with her fist, but it was just her brother.

“Is everything kosher in here?”

“Fuck no—”Adele began.

“Nothing,” Simon said calmly, “is kosher in here.Not yet.”

“Well, you have to come out sooner or later,” Fenn said. “Because I’m having a hell of a time being the happy host with the sister we never knew.”

“Who is a treacherous slut!”

“Who is Julian’s mother,” Fenn reminded her.

Adele stared wildly at her brother.

“Layla had a point.”

“Layla had no right!”Her mother fired back. “When we get home I’m gonna light a fire in that little girl’s ass.”

“Layla is seventeen, almost eighteen, and I doubt she’d let you do that,” Fenn said.

After a moment, he added, “In fact, I doubt that I would let you do it.”

When Adele’s eyes lit up, Fenn gave her a look that said her anger was irrelevant, and continued:

“When you get home, all you can do is be pissed off with her, and what’s the point in that?”

“Look,” his sister said, “I’m not you. I… you just forgive Tom, invite Brian into your house. Make him family and shit. I am not you.”

“No, you’re not,” Fenn agreed. “You haven’t even forgiven them for something they did to me ten years ago, almost.”

“That’s right. That’s who I am,” Adele said. “And… Hoot and that woman made a fool out of me for twenty years.”

“And,” Fenn added, “the wound is still fresh.”

For some reason, Adele hadn’t expected Fenn to understand. She was subdued. She nodded.

“I know,” he said. “If… If I had to accept Tom into my house, or Brian… A month after what had happened, I know I couldn’t do it. And I’m sorry you have to. It’s only been sixth or seven months. But… you do have to, Dell. We both do. She’s here.”

Fenn kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you out here in a couple of minutes.”

And then left the room.

Hands folded across her chest, Adele said, “Fenn has spoken.”

“Is what your little brother says always law?” Simon asked, amused.

Adele said, “Well, you know him… Yes, it is.”

Simon nodded and touched Adele on the elbow.

“Listen. You and me… We’re going to go out there, and you’re going to be civil and decent not for her sake, but because it’s who you are. That’s the woman I know, and you’re not going to let this…. You’re not going to let her get the better of you. You’re not going to sink to her place. And,” Simon said, touching her under the chin and grinning down at her, “I’m going to be with you the entire time.”

Adele nodded giving an almost smile, and then, taking his hand, she headed out of the room with her man.

There was a long rapping on the Millers’ door, and then another long rap.

“I’ll get it,” Brendan said, rising from the table.

“Dena!”

“Get your ass over to Fenn and Todd’s right away!”Dena burst into the house followed by Milo.

“Merry Christmas,” she said as Carol came out of the dining room.

Milo waved, awkwardly, and said, “Merry Merry, all!”

“You have got to get over to Fenn and Todd’s.”

“I had planned to. Eventually,” Brendan said.

“Not without me,” Carol said.

“Brendan, bring your friends inside,” his stepfather called.

Brendan shrugged and gestured them inside.

In the dining room, Liane Miller stood up and said, “We’ve got plenty. Sit down.”

“Oh, we’re on our way somewhere, ma’am,” Milo told her. “We just wanted to invite Brendan—and Carol—” Carol nodded, “over later on.”

“Well, we’ll be there,” Carol said.

“But do you know who else’ll be there?”

Brendan opened his mouth, and then raised an eyebrow.

“I suppose a bunch of people will be there.But… anyone special?”

“If you count Julian’s mother who had a secret affair with Layla’s dad for twenty years and also happens to be her aunt, then yeah.”

“Shit!”Brendan said.

“Bren!”his mother reprimanded.

“I… I mean…”Brendan put a hand over his mouth.

“I know I’m missing something,” Carol said.

“You know Layla?” Dena looked at her.

Carol nodded.

“Well,” Milo explained, “her mother found out that her father was having an affair with another woman and this woman had a son: Julian.”

“Knew that. For the most part.”

“And then it turned out that this woman had been married to Layla’s dad. And divorced. And they’d gotten back together and been fooling around for the last sixteen years or so.”

“Oh, my,” Liane Miller, who had not meant to be listening, said.

“Yeah,” Dena said. “And then it turned out that Layla’s mother’s father had an affair too, and that this woman, the other woman, is actually—”

“Fenn Houghton and Adele Lawden’s half sister,” Liane said. She knew Fenn and Adele, though not well, and here Dena nodded.

“That,” Mr. Miller said, “is one story.”

“And—”Milo added, “today Layla decided to surprise her mother and her uncle by bringing the woman to Christmas dinner.”

“Oh, no,” Brendan wailed.

But Carol clapped her hands together, laughed and cried, “Oh, Snap!”

“I can’t believe I did it.”

“Yeah, but we know why you did it.”Will said, sitting in the window seat beside her.

“I don’t even know why I did it,” Layla said.

“Just,” she said, “it seemed like it was time. I am becoming friends with Julian. I couldn’t stand Julian. Why? Because of something his mother and our father did. That’s it. That and his name’s Julian, which I still think is pretentious, but you know what, that’s not his fault either.

“And… she is my aunt. We are a family, so…”

“So you brought her here.”

“Layla!”

“Oh, shit,” Layla said.

“We’ll go out together,” Will offered his hand.

“You want to march out in front of my mother.”

“I’ve seen your mother.”

“You’ve never seen her angry.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Says the white boy about the middle aged Black woman.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Will said, leading her out of the room. “You’re my girl, and that means I’m at your side.”

Adele was on the other side of the door, and she said, “Will, I need to talk to my daughter.”

“All right,” Will nodded.

“Alone.”

“If she wants that,” Will said. “And I don’t think she does, Mrs. Lawden. Layla was just doing what she thought was right. And I support her. I agree.”

Adele entered the room and looked at Will for a very long time, and then said, “Layla, you are very lucky.”

“Will,” Layla said, “I need to talk to my mother.”

Will looked at her carefully, and Layla said, “Yeah. It’s okay.’

Will nodded and walked away slowly.

“You should have told me what you were planning.”

“If I had told you, you would have said no.”

Adele opened her mouth.

“You,” her daughter repeated, “would have said no. And I couldn’t have that.”

Her mother looked at her.

“Because we’re a family,” Layla said. “And we’re going to act like one. Now…”Layla shook her head in frustration, “Get over it.”

And then she turned around and went down the hall.