Carol kneels in front of Rindy on the floor mat inside the apartment pulling off her black fur hat with Therese standing above and closing the door. The chilly evening air from outside shuts behind them. Carol holds onto her daughter’s hat while they rub their noses in greeting.
“Did you have fun in town, my love?”
“We did. We went to the toy shop and saw a movie,” Rindy grins, kissing Carol softly.
“Yeah? What did you see?” she holds Rindy’s arm, gazing up at Therese.
“Mickey Mouse short!”
“Neat. What about Minnie?”
“She was there,” Therese speaks up, feeling Carol’s eyes on the back of her green gingham dress as she takes a few seconds hanging her coat. Rindy moves onward and disappears into the living room with her shoes and jacket still on. Carol stands up in her slippers to collect Therese in her arms, pulling them close.
“Did Minnie bake Mickey a pie again?” Carol whispers before she and Therese exchange a welcome home kiss.
“No. She was tied up on a train track,” Therese replies, laughing along with the blonde, who’s rubbing the small part of her backside resting it accordingly.
“We’re having pot roast with dinner rolls tonight,” Carol now changes the subject, steering them both to walk down the hallway. They stop at the doorframe where Rindy’s lying on the floor coloring in a Santa’s Workshop coloring book. She has draped her jacket on the piano bench with her boots toppled underneath.
“Anything else that needs to be done?” Therese asks.
“The table’s half set. Everything’s almost ready...”
“Mommy—what’s a lesbean?” Rindy questions, her small voice carries above the two mothers. She says “BEAN” like it was some type of dish.
Both Carol and Therese look down at the child, who keeps her face inches between the coloring pages with a broken orange crayon in her hand. A long silence fills the room that’s awkward and uninviting.
“Where did you learn that word, Rindy?” Therese becomes the first one to speak up.
“Grandpa and Gramma’s house. They kept calling Mommy one and made Daddy upset.”
“A lesbian is a woman who only loves women,” Carol explains.
“Instead of a man?”
“That’s right. Instead of a man.”
“Are you a lesbean too, Tez?”
“I’m someone who wants to spend the rest of my life with you and your mother, sweetie.”
“And your grandparents have nothing better to do in their spare time than to talk about Mommy’s life choices,” Carol huffs. “That’s the reason why Daddy’s upset, because he doesn’t like them.”
“Well, I like them,” Rindy decides, having no idea what her mother was talking about.
Carol and Therese exchange a rewarding smile.
“That’s good to know, dear. We’re glad.”