Chapter 7
Harge suggested giving Rindy a lesson with the film, and Therese did consider it. She knew Rindy was interested, that she liked watching the photos appear in what she used to think was magic liquid. And Therese liked that interest. She liked explaining things to Rindy and being listened to so closely, having Rindy look at her as though she were doing something amazing.
But Rindy was still a child. She could be impatient and overeager. There’d been spills and near-misses before, and Therese thought Rindy might’ve grown a little wilder under Lizzie’s influence, a little more excitable. Or it was a natural part of growing up. Therese didn’t have much to compare to. She only hoped that Rindy never got as bad as some of Angie’s more energetic relatives.
She could’ve developed the photos with Rindy there, but her hesitance wasn’t all about the child. Bringing her pictures into reality had always been a solitary activity. Just her, in the darkness, with a simple, reflexive task to focus on. It was quiet and it gave her time to think. Rindy’s presence wasn’t unwelcome, but it was still relatively new to her. It required split focus, giving more attention to the person in front of her than anyone who might be in her photos.
Carol only kissed her and said she should do it however she wanted, when asked, so Therese developed the photos on her own the next night, while Carol picked Rindy up from school and helped her with her homework. Carol definitely had the harder task. It wasn’t that Rindy was being defiant, not really. She simply found her new brother to be a far more interesting topic of conversation and speculation than her math homework. Carol tried for patience, succeeded mostly. When Therese entered the living room and held up an envelope while Rindy’s head was lowered to her subtraction worksheet, Carol resorted to bribery.
“Look at this,” she said, eyeing the page. “Only five problems left, and all these that you’ve done are right so far. Good job, sweetheart.”
Rindy put down her pencil. “Can I take a break now? Daddy said I should draw Mouse and Sascha a card for when they get home.”
“I know. But Daddy would want you to finish your schoolwork first.”
“He would not. He knows Sascha’s more important than carryovers.”
“Sascha’s very important, but so is math. Nice try. Finish your problems, alright?”
“Mommy.”
“Rindy. Schoolwork first, then you can draw your picture after. Or you can start it after you see what Mama has for you.”
Rindy looked up sharply, then spun in her seat at the kitchen table to stare at Therese, who’d settled on the sofa. “You got me something?”
Therese picked up a furniture magazine she had absolutely no interest in, hid her grin. She could feel Rindy’s eyes on her, searching for some prize. Which she wouldn’t find, as Therese had stashed the envelope under one of the pillows next to her while Rindy was scratching away. “I did,” she said, the smile obscured by the magazine cover, but coming through in her voice. “But you’ll have to finish your homework if you want to see it.”
This tactic proved something of a double-edged sword. Rindy’s sudden eagerness to complete her task came with a sloppiness that wasn’t there before. She rushed through a few problems, made mistakes that weren’t due to lack of understanding. Carol had to correct her, tell her to try again.
It was a frustrating exercise that surely felt more time consuming to Rindy than it really was. The moment Carol checked her work and pronounced it perfect, Rindy leapt from her seat and joined Therese on the couch. Therese had to quickly and subtly tuck the envelope between the couch cushions to keep it from being crushed when Rindy climbed up next to her.
“Mama?” she asked, eyes bright with excitement.
Carol followed at a more reasonable pace. “Rindy. Let her breathe, please.”
It was a chuckle more than an admonishment. Carol sat on Rindy’s other side, a bit further away than was necessary, Therese noticed.
“Please.” Carol repeated the word with emphasis, giving a gentle poke to Rindy’s back.
Rindy squirmed closer to Therese. “Please, Mama, can I see the surprise?”
Therese fought back a laugh at the overly polite begging. “Of course you can.” Pulling the envelope from where she’d hidden it, she slid the stack of photos out and tossed the envelope aside, careful to keep the contents of the pictures out of Rindy’s sight.
“You took new ones?” Rindy asked. She liked seeing the things that Therese chose to capture, asking her why she’d picked them, why she’d used one setting on the camera over another. She asked questions Therese often hadn’t considered consciously until Rindy voiced them, forcing Therese to analyze what had often become reflex at this point.
Therese loved it, honestly, despite how it could become overwhelming. She loved Rindy’s interest in her pictures, though she didn’t always feel it was warranted. But this, what she was about to do, she loved even more. “No,” she said, turning the stack so Rindy could see the first photo. It showed the exterior of an Atlantic City hotel. “These pictures are all yours.”
Rindy’s eyes went huge as Therese showed her the first few shots. “Our trip!”
Therese laughed at the enthusiasm, stronger even than she’d expected. “Yup. You want to show Mommy and me?”
Rindy did want that. She happily launched into great detail about how, when and why she’d taken every shot. Often, she said things about lighting and angles that Therese was sure she didn’t understand in full, not that that mattered. It was beyond sweet, hearing Rindy trying out phrases Therese had taught her. Carol looked and laughed along with them, but kept herself a little bit further away than Therese would’ve liked.
Not every shot came from Rindy. She was in several with Harge, on his shoulders in one, posing by the pool in another. That one had Carol leaning in to whisper into Therese’s ear about how there had been less of Harge on his first honeymoon. She’d broken one of the cardinal rules of the house by tapping the middle of the picture, and Harge’s slightly protruding gut. Therese coughed back a snort and let that one go.
Lilah was in several, the last days of her pregnancy obvious. Rindy hugged her belly in one, and Therese understood why Carol kept some distance during most of the explanation. She’d warned Carol that the pictures were there, and Carol only said of course, that it would be especially Harge-esque to commemorate his honeymoon without including any photos of his bride.
He looked happy. Different from how Therese had ever seen him. Lilah was blonde and pretty and, as Abby told them at Christmas, shared some obvious similarities with Carol.
The last two on the roll, the ones Harge mentioned specifically, were also the last two in the stack. Therese grew a little impatient and a little nervous for Rindy to reach those. Part of her worried that Rindy would be disappointed by the reality of the brother she would soon be sharing a home with. A larger, more rational part recognized the unlikelihood of this as she waited out Rindy’s rambling explanation of one shot after another.
Finally, they moved from an innocuous shot of Harge outside a gas station (this was during their drive home) to the one below. The woman in this picture looked very different from the one in all the others. She was pale, almost matching the white sheets tucked up around her waist. Her lips were red though, as dark as the roses on her bedside table. She was bundled up in a pink bathrobe, her hair loose but done perfectly around her face. Her smile was bright, but Therese could see how tired she was, even as she looked adoringly at a blanket wrapped bundle. The baby was a dark red color, and rather chubby faced. The red contrasted with the light blue of his hospital cap.
Rindy, for the first time in long minutes, was struck speechless. She gazed at the photo in open wonder. “That’s Sascha?” she asked.
“It is,” Therese said, then showed her the final picture. “You can see better here.”
In this one, the subject was the baby himself, not mother and baby. His skin was that dark red, and his cheeks chubby. His eyes looked puffy, like a boxer who’d lost a match or two already. His little fists made of impossibly tiny fingers curled next to his face as he looked owlishly at the camera. The blanket that wrapped around him had been undone to his waist, just enough to see the shirt he was wrapped in, see how chunky a baby he actually was.
Adorable. Not as cute as Jacob, or the baby pictures Therese had seen of Lizzie’s but who could compete with Captain America’s children?
Rindy’s dumbstruck expression morphed into a grin almost too big for her face. “That’s my brother,” she said, louder, with authority this time.
“It is,” Therese said. “What do you think?”
Rather than answer, Rindy twisted around to see Carol. “Mommy, Mommy look. There’s Sascha!”
“I see, baby.” Carol squeezed Rindy, kissed her hair. “He’s something, isn’t he?”
“He’s my brother!”
“He is. Do you want to say something to Mama for showing him to you, getting his pictures ready?”
Therese let out a huff of air as Rindy suddenly jumped at her, holding her neck in a cheerful death grip. Rindy’s thanks were numerous and loud, and Therese thought she might lose hearing in one ear just before she lost consciousness. She hugged Rindy back nonetheless. “You’re welcome,” she said, as much as her constricted airway would allow.
Rindy jumped and hollered for several minutes after that, traced tiny fingers over the much tinier ones of Sasha’s hand in the photo, then resumed running, jumping, and yelling. Carol laughed and let it go longer than Therese would’ve thought before reminding Rindy of the neighbors, and of the card she’d asked about making.
“Best let her get some of the yelling out here,” Carol said after Rindy rushed to her room for art supplies. “She won’t be doing it at Harge’s for awhile.”
Therese laughed as Carol scooted closer on the couch, taking Rindy’s spot. She could finally snuggle herself under Carol’s arm, and did just that. As she adjusted, Therese saw the photos again, spread haphazardly across the table as Rindy went through them. Therese would set them neat again later, she decided, ignoring the professional part of her brain that wanted to do it right now. The baby pictures were still clearly visible, on top of the mess. “You okay?” she asked Carol, arm wrapping around her.
“Of course.” Carol hugged her close, used the fingers of one hand to sift through the pictures. She took one that featured Harge by the pool, another that had him shaving, flecks of cream still dotting his chin. In the second, he was still in an undershirt, not the pressed, fitted suits that were his usual. “There was less of him on our honeymoon,” Carol said again. “Poor woman. No wonder she had a fat baby.”
Therese choked on nothing, laughing and hurting at the same time. “Carol!”
“What?” Carol kissed Therese’s temple; tone cheerful as she picked up the solo shot of Sascha. “Look at him.”
“Carol!”
“It’s not an insult. There’s nothing wrong with fat babies, they can be cute as hell. I’m only saying Rindy was smaller, so I would’ve put this one as small too. Especially since he came early. Earlier usually means smaller.”
“So, he’s healthy.”
“Oh, hale and healthy. And a little fat.”
“You’re terrible.” Therese was grateful though. Carol hadn’t made any rat comments, or compared the baby to an overstuffed rodent. There had been many, many rat comments since Carol heard the Mouse nickname. Enough that any break from them was welcome.
“No, no, terrible will be Harge’s parents, when they find out. Jennifer likes things perfectly proportioned, you know.”
“You’re dying to tell Abby, aren’t you?”
“God yes. She’ll be happier than she was the weekend we met that backup dancer from one of Steve’s USO shows.”